Reflections

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Table of Contents
Incarnating the Gospel ................................................. 2
ADRA and Adventists in the End of Time .........................11
A Christian Perspective on Development and Relief Work ....19
The Role of the Biblical Prophets: ADRA in

the Midst of the Prophetic Community.............................30
Wisdom Tradition on Poverty........................................46
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Personal Bio David R.Syme
Professional Qualifications / Awards:
Masters in International Public Health
BA Theology & History
Registered Nurse
OD Consultant and Trainer NTL
Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal (Great Lakes)
Alumnus of the Year Award 1994; Loma Linda University; CA, USA.
Presidents Award, Loma Linda University, CA, USA
Fellow, Royal Society of Health.
Current:
Regional Vice President ADRA International South Pacific
Executive director ADRA Australia
Vice President ACFOA Office Bearer
Member of CDC
AusAID CDC Accreditation Reviewer
Chair NGO Emergencies Forum
Experience:
36 yrs in development & relief engagement and management at field, national, regional and
international levels
20 yrs field experience on the continent of Africa
Consulting experience with a range of NGOs as well as, WHO,UNEP,UNDP,USDA,CIDA,USAID
Adjunct Professor / Instructor in Development Studies and Public Health at:
Loma Linda University, CA,USA
Andrews University, CA, USA
Avondale College, Australia
George Mason University, VA USA
Considerable experience and engagement with national and international peak bodies.
Interaction USA
ACFOA Australia
ICVA Geneva
Extensive experience with media communications and Development Info-Documentary
Productions
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Incarnating the Gospel
Theological reflections on social ministry
By
David R Syme
ADRA International/South Pacific
Preface
As I have put this paper Incarnating the Gospel together, I am deeply conscious of the
fact that it is a work in progress. I make no claim to be either a professional theologian or
an expert in scriptural exegesis. Throughout my years of ministry I have read widely and
discussed the issues touched upon here many times with peers, pastors and theologians.
There is no question that my thoughts and words are heavily informed and influenced by
many others and I am heavily indebted to them.
The paper is not meant to be an exhaustive work. It introduces many strands of though
and ideas which deserve unpacking to a much greater degree than this short paper permits.
I believe passionately that God calls us to a more authentic, balanced and holistic ministry
within the Seventh-day Adventist Church, today. By authentic, I mean an approach and
commitment to mission which more closely models our Lords ministry. One in which our
pre-occupation in ministry is centrifugal and other focussed rather than centripetal and
self focussed; Out and about rather than in and within!
While much of my own ministry has been involved with ADRAs corporate ministry I am
very clear in my own mind that first and foremost authentic Christian service is a ministry
that must flow out of every individual who has been touched by the grace of God. When that
happens, by the grace of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit we will experience His
power in ways that we have never imagined.
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by David R. Syme
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? 1 James asks.
Martin Luther endorsed the same thought when he once proclaimed that if you preach the gospel
in all aspects with the exception of the issues which deal specifically with your time, you are not
preaching the gospel at all. 2
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency, ADRA, works today at the very frontlines
of an increasingly polarised world. It is a world where a swelling tide of corporate greed and
irresponsibility is blatantly manifest; a global society where true democracy is increasingly
sacrificed at the altars of commercial self-interest and profit. A world where the economic and social
disparity between the rich and poor widens each day. Contributing to these realities are the ever
growing masses of refugees and displaced people, unbridled population growth, unprecedented
environmental degradation, explosive urbanisation and unemployment rates that are casting a pall
of hopelessness across large sections of society. In this environment the Christian church is called
upon to work and witness.
Despite the manifold evidences of this shift that assault our values daily through the media
many professed followers of Christ continue to remain immune or suspicious to the social
dimensions of the Gospel or are too preoccupied with their own spiritual journey to care.
One reason for this is the polarisation of Christian groups into one or the other of two extreme
and rather unbalanced theological positions. There are those who belong to what Stott calls the
escapist school of thought that find little relevance in social engagement unless it directly results
in conversions and acquisition of new membership.3 At the opposite end of the spectrum are those
whose understanding of Gods Kingdom is so tied to liberation and social justice that there is little
room for Gods personal presence and interaction in the process of history. One writer has summed
the tension up well, A Christianity which has lost its vertical dimension has lost its salt and is not
only insipid in itself, but useless for the world. But a Christianity which would use the vertical
preoccupation as a means to escape its responsibility for and in the common life of man is a denial
of the incarnation of Gods love for the world manifested in Christ. 4
The purpose of this paper is to begin to uncover the scriptural balance as taught by the
prophets and our Lord Himself as a theological starting point for ADRAs ministry to the worlds
poor.
Throughout the history of the Christian church, witness and social engagement have been
intimately related. In more recent times the great evangelical revivals of both the 18th and 19th
centuries in Europe and North America involved more than repentance and conversion. In fact a
renewed sense of social consciousness and spontaneous philanthropy were the natural outflow of
those revivals. It is said of John Wesley that he was the man who restored to a nation its soul. 5
Likewise in North America, the great evangelical preacher Charles G. Finney was convinced that
the gospel releases a mighty impulse toward social reform. 6 Ellen G. White also spoke and took
up her pen on behalf of social reform as an integral part of the born again Christians life. Many
1
James 2:14
2
Quoted by Ronald J Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger 1990, WORD Publishing, p 38
3
John Stott, Issues Facing Christians Today, Marshalls 1984, p 14
4
Normal Goodall, ed., The Uppsala Report 1968 (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1968), p. 318
5
J Wesley Bready, England: Before and After Wesley. Hodder and Stoughton, 1939, p. 11,14
6
Donald W. Dayton, Discovering an Evangelical Heritage, (Harper and Row, 1976) p. 15-24
5
who profess His name have lost sight of the fact that Christians are to represent Christ. Unless
there is practical self-sacrifice for the good of others, in the family circle, in the neighbourhood, in
the church, and wherever we may be, then whatever our profession, we are not Christians When
we see human beings in distress, whether through affliction or through sin, we shall never say, this
does not concern me. 7
What then are the implications of the Gospel commission in terms of our social responsibilities
in the 21st century? One most compelling starting point for an understanding of the social demands
of the gospel upon Christian disciples is to be found in the life of Christ Himself. It is difficult
today to understand the actual impact of his words to His disciples in the upper room after the
last supper when he said to them, For who is greater, the one who is at the table, or the one who
serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? 8 The Greek verb used is diakonein which means to
serve at table. This was the task of a slave. Imagine then the shock that the disciples who were still
recovering from the washing of their feet by Jesus when he continues But I am among you as one
who serves. 9
I came to be a servant Jesus says. Paul takes up the same thought when he writes in
Philippians of Christ choosing to lay aside His divinity and to take upon himself the role of a slave.10
Isaiah had foretold that the Messiah would come as a suffering servant.11 Jesus reinforced the
significance of this servant role when he tells his ambitious disciples, For even the Son of Man did
not come to be served, but to serve; and to give His life a ransom for many. 12 To serve and to give
these sum up the driving force of Jesus ministry. He is the king who is a servant the servant who
is the Lord! God takes the initiative in service, even in foot washing, as a dynamic expression of His
divine love. It should be noticed that the washing of the feet at the last supper was both a secular
physical act as well as the institution of an act which was for perpetuity designed to bring spiritual
upliftment and humility to the believer. The carnal nature shrinks from such servitude, but Christ
leaves no room for equivocation or misapplication of His requirements.
I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than
the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. 13
The passage here introduces the idea and relatedness of Christian servanthood and proclamation,
resonating with the themes of service and witness. Service is biblically justified because its
authenticity and justification is found in the example and calling of Christ Himself. If anyone
serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall be my servant also. 14 We are called
to serve because we serve a servant Lord. In doing so, He invites us to accept the revolutionary
precepts of Christs Upside Down Kingdom where the first are always last.
Paul reminds us that our attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus: Who being in the very
nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing
taking the very nature of a servant. 15 The nature then of our service flows out of Christs ministry
to others. As we render service to the needy (the least of His brethren) He identifies it as a service
rendered to Him. 16
7
Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, Pacific Press Publishing Association. P. 504
8
Luke 22:27 NIV
9
Ibid
10
Phil 2:1-11
11
Isaiah 52:13- 53:12
12
Mark 10:45 NIV
13
John 13:16, 17 NIV
14
John 12:26 NIV
15
Philippians 2:5-7 NIV
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by David R. Syme
The parable of the sheep and the goats and the three others that precede it (the parables of the
two servants, the ten virgins and the talents) were spoken in the context of what must be done in
preparing for Christs second coming and the ensuing judgment. They demonstrate the necessary
characteristics and work that those who wait must engage in prior to that climactic event. The
parable of the sheep and the goats cannot be spiritualised away. Its practical essence is but a
natural reflection of Christs teaching that inheritance of eternal life can be reduced to Love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all of your strength and with
all of your mind; and Love your neighbour as yourself. 17 Jesus taught, If you love me, keep my
commandments. 18 Paul endorses that sentiment when he writes, he who loves his fellow man
has fulfilled the law. 19 All the commandments find their fulfilment in true love.
The love that must drive our Christian service is divine not human love. It is the failure to
make this distinction that creates considerable tensions for those who engage in Christian social
service. Even though the works arising from human love and those that emanate from authentic
agape love may appear similar their potential for impacting the recipient are worlds apart. Agape
love by definition evokes the notion of sacrificing self for others expecting nothing in return,
whereas, human love always carries with it the notion of reciprocity, manipulation or expectation of
response. Pauls great passage in Galatians 5:22-23 on the gift (singular) of the Spirit demonstrates
that agape love is the pre-eminent grace. From it and out of it flow the qualities of joy, peace,
longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. It is particularly
interesting to note that the Spirits gift commences with agape love (self sacrifice) as the source of all
that follows but it ends with self-control. The carnal human nature produces the works (plural) of
the flesh which are predominantly social sins. Even the compassionate service that emanates out of
our humanness, tends to come with strings attached; as a means to an end with an expectation and
sometimes sadly, even to manipulate a response from those who we serve.
You are hungry and cold, my friend? Youre welcome! Come in and listen to my sermon and
Ill give you a hot cup of soup and a blanket for the night! Farfetched! Exaggeration! Sadly
no. It is promulgated, in many different ways and under a variety of circumstances, everyday,
by well meaning but unthinking Christians. This approach may be service of a kind but it is not
the authentic service that flows from agape love. It is in fact a distortion of what God has always
intended true service to be. It may buy the recipients cooperation but it has no real power to draw
the recipient to true spiritual experience because the source of its motivation is human not divine.
As Stott points out, love is self giving, and self giving and self control complement one another.
For how can we give ourselves until we first have learned to control ourselves? Our self has to be
mastered before it can be offered in the service of others. 20
The type of service that results from agape love is not a work of pity at a distance but rather
the Christian is called to be incarnated into the life of the needy and those who suffer. True service
always involves true empathy and action. In the same way that the incarnation of Christ was a
16
Matthew 25:31-46
17
Luke 10:27 NIV
18
John 14:15 KJV
19
Romans 13:8 NIV
20
Stott; John, The Contemporary Christian p.152. Inter Varsity Press, Illinois 1992 ISBN 0-8874-1864-2
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physical reality and not simply an appearance or pretence at humanity, so the Christian who serves
is called to enter into the life of the world as salt which prevents decay, which purifies and heals,
which makes life taste better because of its flavoursome presence. 21
How is such service to be fulfilled in the life of the church? The New Testament writers use the
term (diakonia) in two different senses. They acknowledge service in a general sense of
doing something for God and then service in a specific sense of helping those in need. There are
different kinds of service but one Lord, 22 Paul writes. In this sense all Christian life is a service
to God. But Paul also identifies a spiritual gift of service which is specific and must be understood
as essentially different from other gifts, If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him
teach 23
In the NT it is sometimes problematic to distinguish between these two concepts of diakonia

but a specific service to the poor and needy is clearly discernible. The collection for the poor in
the Jerusalem church was called a diakonia. The disciples, each according to his ability, decided
to provide help (eis diakonein = for relief) for the brothers living in Judea. 24 Paul often uses
this word for service as a synonym for relief.25 The relief offering for Jerusalem became a major
pre-occupation for Paul and it served as a powerful means of bringing the Jerusalem and Pauline
congregations together. They did not see eye-to-eye on doctrine but they belonged to the one family
of God. Service creates and nourishes fellowship.26 While the need for Christian service is evident,
the question should be asked as to whether such service rendered to the least fortunate and those
oppressed is only to be given to fellow believers who are afflicted or is it all encompassing?
Christ clearly taught that He came to minister and give His life as a ransom for many. The
focus of the great ethical teaching of the sermon on the mount and other Scriptures leads us to give
service far beyond those who are already followers of Jesus. In fact the least of these mentioned
in Matthew 25; the little ones of Luke 17:2, our neighbour as outlined in the story of the Good
Samaritan and the poor to whom the kingdom is promised in Matthew 18:10 are all portrayed in
Scripture as those who are specially protected by God. He does not limit His care or interest to those
who follow or believe in him. In fact, to the contrary it is the lost that Christ especially came for to
serve and save. Paul also identifies with this broader service to humanity. If your enemy is hungry,
feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink. 27 So then as we have opportunity, let us do good to all
men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (emphasis mine) 28 It is reasonable
therefore to talk about both an internal and external service. Whenever the church has been at
its greatest it has always gone out to serve in the world and its need.
Eusebius commenting on the early Christians writes Others (Christians) gathered in the whole
city those who suffered from hunger and distributed bread to all. As this became known, people
praised the God of the Christians and admitted that the Christians alone were truly pious and God-
fearing, because they proved it by their deeds. Julian, the last of the pagan emperors said These
Godless Galileans do not only feed their own poor, but even ours.
21
Matthew 5:13-16
22
1 Cor 12:5 NIV
23
Romans 12:7 NIV
24
Acts 11:29 NIV
25
cf. Rom 15:25,31; 2 Cor 8:4
26
2 Cor 8:4
27
Romans 12:20 NIV
28
Gal 6:10 NIV
8
by David R. Syme
There is little explicit reference in Scripture, to social transformation or development activities

as articulated today. However in the record of the children of Israel inheriting the land promised
to Abraham there are fascinating parallels with issues of poverty today, many of which spring from
ownership and use of the land.
One theologian has noted that, The land of promise to which Israel came was organized in
Canaanite ways. That is not to say that the Canaanites were evil, but only that the land was
organized in the conventional ways of the world, so that society consisted in big ones and little
ones, in haves and have nots. While the land may have been organized into urban dwellers
and agrarian peasants (or semi-nomads), the urban structure had all the power and regularly
confiscated the produce of the agrarian peasants for its own benefit.
While some observers might consider this quite normal, the Israelites fresh from the covenant-
making of Mount Sinai and the social vision of Moses considered these so-called normal practices
to be untenable, even if well established and conventionally accepted as legitimate. Indeed, it is this
Sinai-Moses tradition of covenant and commandment that propels biblical faith and that endlessly
champions a more excellent way (1 Cor. 13) in the neighbourhood. Thus even in the face of
entrenched power relations, visionary voices in Israel relentlessly insisted upon that more excellent
way in the social relationships.
The book of Deuteronomy, which purports to be the teaching of Moses, stands as the covenental
alternative to the Canaanite modes of production and ownership. It holds passionately to the
strong conviction that the land of Canaan is transformable and open to change. 29 (emphases
mine)
Through his incarnation as the Son of Man Jesus continually identifies himself in speech and
action with his father, the God of the poor and unbounding compassion. 30 The developmental
implications of the divinely ordered, but rarely practiced, Jubilee system are also self-evident.
Christian teaching also abounds with the powerful motif of restoration. Humans have fallen from
their perfect edenic or developed state. The fall had spiritual and social consequences for the
environment and its inhabitants. Restoration to that wholly developed state again is both the object
and ultimate destiny of Christian belief. This theme is highlighted by the prophet Isaiah in passages
that clearly describe restoration in holistic terms. 31 Christ, at the commencement of His ministry
clearly identifies himself with the same spirit of restoration as that expressed by Isaiah. One
implication for a truly Christian approach to development is that the focus of attention must be on
people as participants in that restorative process rather than recipients of projects and services.
Another compelling theme is that of righteousness and justice. This motif dominates OT
teaching and is mirrored in the NT as the seeing and hearing of the gospel; a gospel which both
preaches and demonstrates agape love. The expectations within Marys song of hope and the
responsibilities demanded by John the Baptist as the fruit of repentance both have strong social
29
Brueggeman, Walter. Placed Between Promise and Command, The Land. 1977. Philadelphia; Fortress Press
30
Exodus 22:26-27; Deuteronomy 15:11, then 4;Proverbs 14:31, 29.7
31
Isaiah 58, 61:1-3
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elements. At the commencement of His ministry in Nazareth, Christ identifies his ministry with
both a spiritual and social responsibility and categorically asserts that in him the claims and cries
of the OT covenant are fulfilled. It is hard to escape from the notion that more than just good
works is called for on behalf of the poor in these passages. Advocacy for the poor, empowerment,
environmental responsibility and transformation find true resonance in Scripture.
A further justification for development oriented service is that assistance should not work
against the best interests of those we serve. Relief may not always be the best way of loving the poor.
Love worketh no ill to its neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law, 32 Paul writes. He
expands on this idea in his letters to the church at Thessalonika where he stresses the importance
of work and self reliance. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyones food
without paying for it. On the contrary we worked night and day, labouring and toiling so that
we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such
help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. For even when we were with you,
we gave you this rule: If a man will not work, he shall not eat. 33 Make it your ambition to lead
a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that
your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
34 Enshrined within Pauls thought here are the principles of self reliance human dignity and the
right to work and provide for ones family.
In summary then there would appear to be considerable biblical support for a ministry of
focused development and relief service to the poor and needy both within the church and outside
the church. There is clearly a case for both an internal and external diakonia. It is the latter that
ADRA has been particularly mandated to focus upon.
When a Christian engages in external service whether developmental or relief-oriented another

critical question must be addressed. Is Christian service only justified as a means to evangelism
or does it carry its own sanctity and justification? How should we evaluate such a ministry? Does
it find its reason for being in terms of how many it brought to discipleship with Jesus Christ and
membership in His church or should it be found simply in its ability to meet and answer human
need, in giving people new dignity and personal empowerment and through that humble service
bring glory to God?
The answer must be found in the meaning of itself. The service oriented attitude is a
reflection of the very nature of the incarnated Christ. As such it does not need any other justification
than that which it derives from the life of our Lord himself. This was his very form of existence, his
way of life. The nature of agape love is such that it is always given without strings attached to both
the just and unjust alike. Service to others is the natural outflow of agape love from those who have
been touched personally by the Lord. The criteria by which we must evaluate Christian service are
whether it is truly a response flowing out of gratitude for the gift of grace. In other words, whether
it springs from disinterested love for the needy and whether it seeks to bridge the gap between the
receiver and giver. Ultimately the question is whether it brings Glory to God or not.
32
Romans 13:10 NIV
33
2 Thessalonians 3:7-10
34
1 Thessalonians 4:11
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by David R. Syme
Seventh-day Adventists are uniquely focussed on and motivated by the messages of the three
angels in Revelation35. The first in particular, Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of
his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of
water, 36 highlights Gods identification with creation and the need for our worship to respect Him
and bring Him glory through it. While the Seventh-day belief in Sabbath day worship finds real
resonance in this passage we surely must not limit it to just an argument for our position on Sabbath
keeping. Jesus repeatedly modeled an attitude to worship that was broader than just worshipping
God, one day in seven. His frequent acts of social ministry did not stop when each Sabbath came
around they continued without restraint. Why? Because in and through each he brought glory to
God and through these acts of psycho/social/physical/spiritual restoration manifested his Fathers
presence to the receiver. This is authentic religion. This is ultimate worship.37
What then is the right biblical balance between these critical elements of ministry? There are
three major motifs in scripture which support the holding of social action and evangelism in healthy
synergy.
First, the nature of God Himself. He is both Creator and Redeemer. He consistently
demonstrates His care and concern for the totality of life. At the fall he not only offered our first
parents the hope of redemption but he fashioned clothing to cover their nakedness. He yearns for
his creatures in their lostness and does not wish a single one of them to perish. He calls for them to
listen and be obedient to his words and his commandment and to return to him for forgiveness.
Second, our God is passionate about the poor, the oppressed, the widow and the orphan. He
calls for justice and expects his children to be the voice of the voiceless and the champions and
defenders of those who are victims of human evil. It is not surprising therefore that the Psalmist
exhorts us on his behalf that we must, Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the
rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the
wicked, 38 And Jesus affirms the response of an OT scholar to his question when he says, Love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all
your mind; and Love your neighbour as yourself. 39
The third is the nature of Jesus teaching and ministry itself. Fundamental to this ministry is an
understanding of what his incarnation means for us. The incarnational life of our Saviour is rich in
meaning and holistic in its application to our lives. What is clear within the context of social ministry
is that Christ actualised the character of His Father before humankind by emptying himself of
the divine rights of Sonship and taking upon himself the role of servant hood. 40 God was not only
manifest in the flesh by him but he promises that the same thing will take place in anyone who
receives the Holy Spirit. The believer receives from God a totally new heredity, the life of the Son
of God, until (he) Christ be formed in (us) you. It is axiomatic to point out that the Christ that is
formed in us can only be the servant side of Christs ministry for there is only one saviour for
mankind. As servants we can point people to the Saviour but for most a loving God must first be
actualised and Jesus ministry was a perfect example of an authentic and balanced ministry. In the
35
Rev: 14:6-12
36
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Re 14:7). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
37
Isaiah 58 , John 17:26, James 1:27
38
Psalm 82:3 NIV
39
Luke 10:27-28 NIV
40
Matthew 20:28; Philippians 2:5-11
11
Gospels we see Jesus going about a ministry that comprised both of words and works, seeing
and hearing, but in a healthy but distinct balance.
In Mark we sense Jesus ministry was more about teaching and in Luke it is more about doing. It
is impossible to divide or exalt one activity over the other. They existed harmoniously and naturally
side by side in Jesus ministry. Neither was a servant to the other. Through a divine show and tell,
he put into action the love of God that he was proclaiming. One writer puts it this way, He was
concerned not only in saving man from hell in the next world but from the hellishness of this one. 41
Another author comments, his words explained his works and his works dramatised his words.
Hearing and seeing, voice and vision were joined. Each supported the other. For words remain
abstract until they are made concrete in deeds of love, while works remain ambiguous until they are
interpreted by the proclamation of the Gospel. Words without works lack credibility; works without
words lack clarity. So Jesus works made his words visible; his words made his works intelligible. 42
Neither individual or corporate service then must ever be calculated or delivered with strings
attached. To make service dependent on peoples interest in or potential for becoming a follower
of Jesus Christ would be a tragic distortion of all that scripture teaches us and especially of the
agape love principle that gives expecting nothing in return. People are worthy of our service
because Christ has identified himself with them through his humanity and his sacrifice. However all
aspects of our calling are inter-related and interdependent. The Gospel that our Lord Taught and
demonstrated is not the Social Gospel. His gospel is a holistic one that focuses on every aspect of
human need. Witness in its evangelistic sense is not the motivation for social engagement. Rather,
our restoration in Jesus should result in us spontaneously pouring out Gods love through works
of mercy, justice and compassion. Since witness and service are inseparable the ideal is where both
work together in appropriate synchronisation.
What then, if the church is forbidden to proclaim the Gospel. That the only action possible is
silent service?
Diakonia calls us to serve human need even if there were no reason to hope that our ministry
will now or later create opportunities for explicit proclamation. We must be ready to accept this as
an important part of our Christian calling. We must never seek to hide the source of our motivating
Christian values and should always be ready to give an account of our faith when asked to do so.
If we do not seize an opportunity to proclaim the gospel, when it presents itself, we should have an
uneasy conscience. But we should not have a guilty conscience if we have to wait a long time, or even
if the opportunity to share our beliefs never comes. Ultimately conversion and judgement rightly
belong to God. Our own judgement will be based upon our knowledge of God through His son and
how that has translated itself into our disinterested giving of self to others through loving service. It
is the certainty and assurance of this biblical understanding that provides both the motivation and
raison detre for ADRAs specialised ministry to the poor and oppressed at the social margins of
todays world. It is the very essence of our calling and joy in the Lord to demonstrate an Incarnated
Gospel to the world!
41
Colson, Charles, Loving God, p 145 (Zondervan) 1983
42
Stott, John, The Contemporary Christian p.345, (Inter Varsity Press 1992) ISBN 0-88784-1864-2
12
Personal Bio Niels-Erik A. Andreasen
Niels-Erik Andreasen has been president of Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan
since 1994.
Born in Fredensborg, Denmark, Andreasen lived in Denmark for his first 19 years. He then
studied at Newbold College, England, for three years and immigrated to the United States in 1963.
Andreasen graduated in 1963 with a bachelors degree in religion and history from Newbold
College, Bracknell, England. He holds two degrees from Andrews University: a bachelor of divinity
degree, which he received in 1965; and master of arts in Biblical studies, 1966. In 1971, he received
a doctorate degree in religious studies from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.
Since 1970, Andreasen has served Adventist higher education in various capacities. From 1970
to 1977, he taught religion at Pacific Union College, Angwin, California and spent two years as
visiting lecturer in Avondale College, Australia. From 1977 to 1990, he served in various positions at
Loma Linda University (Riverside and Loma Linda, California campuses). His most recent position
at that institution was dean of the Loma Linda University School of Religion.
In 1990, Andreasen was named president of Walla Walla College, College Place, Washington. He
served in that capacity until July 1994, when he became the fifth president of Andrews University.
Andreasen is the author of three books, The Christian Use of Time, The Old Testament
Sabbath, and Rest and Redemption, as well as various articles and reviews.
He is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and the Biblical Research Committee.
Andreasen is married to Demetra Lougani of Athens, Greece. They have one grown son,
Michael, a daughter-in-law, Marie, and grandson, Caleb.
September 2000
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ADRA and Adventists in the End of Time
By
Niels-Erik Andreasen
President, Andrews University
Seventh-day Adventists are an eschatological people. We believe we live in the end time and that
among all Christians we bear a special responsibility for the world and its peoples, a responsibility
summarized in the proclamation of the three angels messages in Revelation 14:6-12. Those
messages urgently call us to worship the creator of heaven and earth, announce that the evil powers
of this world are falling, and warn of divine judgment. But they put Christians in a quandary as
regards their service to the world: In these latter days, are we simply to warn the world of its final
destruction or are we also to help alleviate the suffering of people and protect the life-supporting
ecology of the earth?
I. The case of Albert Schweitzer

The great European Nobel laureate, Albert Schweitzer, began his career as a theologian,
developed into a distinguished musician, became a missionary doctor in French Equatorial Africa,
and concluded his career as a philosopher. As his extensive bibliography shows, he published widely
and brilliantly in each of these areas. Some think that this unusual career path was motivated in part
by Dr. Schweitzers early study of the life of Jesus (1906), The Quest of the Historical Jesus. In it he
had concluded that the real Jesus of Nazareth differed markedly from what we think of Him in our
time, and that He was in reality an eschatological, end-time messiah whose life and message would fit
poorly a twentieth-century world that was thought poised for another 1000 years of progress. With
this conclusion Schweitzer ended his study of the eschatological Jesus and re-directed his life to the
Christ of faith who called on His followers to help alleviate the needs of the world. He selected Africa
and a lepresarium for this mission. Here, he thought, something practical and redemptive could be
done in the present world.
On the inscrutable mystery of the historical Jesus, Schweitzer wrote thusly, He comes to us as
One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake-side, he came to those men who knew Him not.
He speaks to us the same word: follow thou me! And sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill in
our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal
Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and,
as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is (p. 403).
What can we learn from Schweitzers experience? He studied the life of Jesus, but was unable to
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understand the eschatological message in the Gospels concerning the end of the world, and Christs
soon return. But he was crystal clear about Christs call to service and that led him to spend the
rest of his life as a missionary doctor in Africa. This, along with his philosophy of reverence for life,
earned him the Nobel peace prize.
A few decades after that troubling discovery by Schweitzer, the Englishman C.H. Dodd turned
his attention to the matter of eschatology in the Gospels. How shall we understand the many
references in the Gospels to the kingdom of God, especially the claim by Jesus that the kingdom is at
hand and is within you. He concluded, in contrast with Schweitzer, that Jesus statement about the
end of the world and nearness of the kingdom of God are very clear and that Jesus meant exactly
what He said, namely, that His kingdom was beginning in His own time, and would continue until
our time. He called it realized eschatology, meaning that Christ indeed called us to generous service
toward those in need of redemption and human care in order to help establish the kingdom of God
on earth in His time and ours.
We Adventists differ from both these points of view (and several others that could be
mentioned). As our name indicates, we expect the end of this world, Christs return, and a new
order inaugurated by God. Furthermore, we acknowledge that we came to this conviction in 1844a
long while agoand therefore we cannot claim fully to understand the time and manner of Christs
coming. Nevertheless, we are Adventists and we live and think and work and serve in the belief of
His soon coming. Therefore, as regards ADRAs work, we must link our relief and development
efforts to our faith convictions and our eschatology.
As for the delay in Christs coming, Adventists have a long and strong tradition of commitment to
the work in this world while we await the next. It is alleged that in 1844 a few Adventists neglected to
plant their crops with the expectation that they would not be needed. But if that report is accurate,
it cited the exception, not the rule, among Adventists. Ordinarily, nearly all Adventists have chosen
to live and work fully engaged in this world, but with the awareness that the future of the present
worlds existence and its people lie in Gods hands. Our church organization, our educational and
health work, our financial planning all testify to our strong commitment to the present world, but
always with a tentative, watchful attitude.
In one sense we agree with Professor Dodd, namely, that the kingdom of Christ has begun and
that we must take an active part in the present world to meet the human needs that Christ calls us
to address. This surely explains why Adventists give our funds and lives to development work and
other human services. However, our commitment to help build the kingdom of heaven here and
now is always tempered by thoughts of the fragility of all life on this earth, and the felt burden to
warn the people of the whole world of Christs soon coming. Adventists always live with this tension
between the present and the eschaton.
For example, we Adventists feel most supportive of ADRA and its work when we sense that
our Lord has delayed His coming and obliged us to occupy while we wait by helping to alleviate
the human needs in this world. And we hesitate to support ADRAs work when the soon coming of
Jesus overwhelms us such that we must throw our resources behind evangelistic work. Thus the
second advent stands in our midst, calling us to wait patiently and urging us to get ready. Clearly,
our understanding of the end, including the Advent, the destruction of this present age, and the new
world to come, impacts our understanding of and commitment to ADRA work.
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Precisely what motivates us to work in a world whose end is coming? To answer that question we
must look at the books in Scripture that especially shaped our eschatology, the books of Daniel and
Revelation.
I affirm that we have rightly understood these two Bible books and similar passages elsewhere
in Scripture to be eschatological, or end-time, books. They tell us what is going to happen to Gods
church on earth from the time of the Messiah/Christ to the end of the worldBoutlining both the trials
and then the final triumph of the kingdom of God and His saints. As Adventists have focused on
that important answer we may have neglected, however, some other very important themes in those
books, themes that help us understand how ADRAs work finds its place in the end-time messages of
our church.
Here are four principles of Biblical eschatology that we as a church have not sufficiently
recognized. All occur prominently in the books of Daniel and the Revelation and all address how
Christians must live responsibly in the end of time.
II The Ten Commandments and social responsibility in the eschaton

In Revelation 14:12 we encounter the patience of the saintsthose who observe the
commandments of God and keep faith in Jesus. Generally we read this text as a call to loyalty on
the part of Gods people who are prepared to meet their God. Is that wrong? Not at all. See, for
example, the comments by Ellen G. White (The Great Controversy, 436-437). We must not soften
our commitment to this defining text in Adventist theology and eschatology. But how to express the
desired loyalty to God and His law? Do we do it by a declaration when we arrive in Heaven that we
observe the fourth commandment and believe in Christ, or do we do it through the way we live in the
time of the end? Christ answered that question in Matthew 25 with brutal clarity: it is the way we live
that expresses our loyalty.
Therefore, consider the ten commandments, the law of God, through the eyes of the end
time. Eight of these are proscriptions, two are prescriptions. The latter two, the fourth and fifth
commandments, form an important part of the entire design of the decalogue, and so we will start
with them. We already know that this way of approaching the heart of the commandments was used
in Bible times, (cf. Lev 19:3, and Luke 10:27). Indeed, if we place the commandments on two tablets,
number four and number five are separated, but if we read the commandments from beginning to
end, these two laws are companions, and that is how we will think of them here.
The fourth commandment answers the question: How do we worship (that is, serve) God? In the
polytheistic world of the Bible that was a serious question, and in our poly-religious world today it
remains serious. Each of the first three commandments offer a preliminary, clarifying answer to this
question: only one God can be the object of our worship; no images of Him may be made (that is, we
humans must not define or delimit God); and His name must not be misused, if indeed used at all.
But how, then, do we worship God?
The final and conclusive answer is provided in the fourth commandment. Its principle of sacred
time and divine presence was revolutionary then and remains so in our day. We worship, that is, we
respond to the presence of the Holy One, in sacred time, devoid of secular pursuits. And, secondly,
we do it togetherall of us, without exception. Parents, children, servants, guests, even domestic
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animals. This is revolutionary because, rightly observed, this commandment would radically
restructure our society, its classes of people, and its economic systems. Social and economic barriers
would be broken. Relationships between classes of people would be redesigned. The rhythm of life
would change for everyone. The fourth commandment is truly unique and revolutionary within the
decalogue.
This immediately draws our attention to the positive commandment (the fifth) that follows. Here
we focus on the closest, most intimate, yet extended, social unit, the family. And regarding the most
important part it, the relationship between children and parents, the expected outcome of following
this prescription is not simply family harmony, but also social and economic stability (living long
in your land). That in turn draws attention to the broader and consequent fundamental social
responsibilities outlined in commandments 6-10, which address killing, stealing, lying, committing
adultery, greed and covetousness. This positive command is equally revolutionary: it seeks the order
of all human relationships by paying attention to the unique relationship between parents and their
children at home.
Looked at from this structural point of view, the positive commandments just noted become
the centerpiece of the entire law. That fact was clearly noted already in antiquity (viz Lev 19:3 and
Luke 10:27), and it plays an important role in Adventist theology and eschatology. The first half
of this centerpiece, Sabbath worship, has long been associated with the three angels messages of
Revelation 14, where the connecting link is the reference to Gods creation of the whole world (Rev
14:6). However, a careful reading of Daniel and Revelation indicates that the second part of the
decalogues centerpiece dealing with the family and attendant social responsibilities must also be
at work among Gods end-time people. The one unifying purpose is to honor God in all aspects of
human life.
If one were to ask for a moment what social responsibilities are held up in the Bible as of critical
importance in the eschaton, the following come to mind: being truthful (Dan. 2; Rev. 14:5); being
sexually pure (Rev. 14:4; 17:1-2); maintaining a proper relationship between parents and children
(Mal. 4:6); avoiding greed, covetousness and stealing (Rev. 18:11-24 ); and, of course, maintaining
loyalty to God the creator and redeemer. I conclude, therefore, that in the end time Gods people
stand between those two positive commandmentsacknowledging God as creator of the whole world
and taking responsibility toward ones neighbor. Both impose obligations towards this world and its
people. With equal determination and conviction we are to respond to each obligation until the very
end, and that connects our end-time message with the type of work ADRA does as it protects and
affirms the value of human life, the natural world, and social responsibility.
III. Individualism and universalism

What must I do to be saved? the rich young man asked of Jesus. Fundamental to Adventist
faith, this question is energized by the nearness of the Advent, for now is the time of salvation. Does
this life-and-death question in its present end-time urgency allow for development and relief work
among the nations of the earth?
One of the characteristics of Old Testament prophecy, especially as it merges into apocalyptic
prophecy (such as we find in Daniel and Revelation), is the juxtaposition of individualism and
universalism. What do I mean by this?
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Individualism expresses the fact that a believer in God finds salvation on his and her own,
not simply through membership in a group, whether nation, church or congregation. Among the
end-time messages of the prophet Amos is this telling text, Are you not like the Ethiopians to
me, O people of Israel Says the Lord. Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the
Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?
This text follows a long series of prophecies questioning Israels assumed privileged position
among the nations. First, the prophet agrees with his interlocutors (Israelites in Bethel) that those
other nations are sinful, but counters that Israel and Judah sin in the same measure as their
neighbors (Amos 1-2). And then he clinches the argument by telling Israel that those other nations
also were called by God and experienced an exodus from a distant place into the lands they now
occupied. If that is true, what defines Gods people, those who will be saved in the end? Not their
past history, no matter how glorious, for each nation has its own past ordained by God. Not their
belonging to a nation, for nations, including Israel, are thoroughly sinful. That leaves the individual
believer and his/her own relationship to God. Here is prophetic individualisma new and radical
concept that overturned the traditional notion that each generations salvation derived from its
belonging to the previous generation (Ezek 18: 1-4). Individualism means that each generation
stands on its own. Individualism indicates individual responsibility for ones life (Micah 6:1-8).
Universalism in the prophets refers to the fact that toward the end of Judahs national history
and the Babylonian captivity, God again looks to all nations as objects of His attention. Judah must
relate to the new reality of being one of Gods nations among many, rather than the only nation. The
destruction of Jerusalem and its temple certainly helped to articulate this concept, but more was at
stake. It now appears as though Judahs salvation depends upon her relationship with, acceptance
of, and responsibility toward other nations, and if Gods people do not accept that task, God himself
will force the issue by what has become the diasporathe dispersed universal church of Israel that
became a model for the universal Christian church.
Ezekiel 1-9, the story of Gods displaced throne, illustrates this new universalism. It begins with
a prophetic vision by Ezekiel, a prophet exiled in Babylon. While thinking about Jerusalem and
the temple which had not yet been destroyed and dreaming about returning, he saw in vision the
throne of Godnormally mounted on top of the ark in the most holy place of the distant Jerusalem
temple, but now flying overseas on wings of cherubim to settle in exile. That is the simple meaning
of the vision of the four cherubs, the wheels within wheels, namely, that God joined His people in
exile. In a way this removed the need for Israel to return home to Jerusalem from exile, and, as
it happened, most did not when given the opportunity. But the prophet was troubled. How could
God abandon His place in Zion? The explanation to this bewilderment comes in Ezekiel 8-10, which
portrays acts of sin in the Jerusalem temple, sins so serious that God is (so to speak) driven from His
place. Gradually His throne moves from the most holy place, to the holy place, to the courtyard,
then out of the temple, and finally into exile where it settles. Thus God Himself settled among the
Babylonians, and, according to the contemporary prophet Daniel, established a relationship with its
king, first Nebuchadnezzar, and later Cyrus, who is portrayed by the prophet Isaiah as a model of
the Messiah (Isaiah 45:1-7). In other words, the work and plan of God is now executed among, and
in interaction with, the nations. As a result, all nations play a role in Gods brave new kingdom, and
all people are invited to belong to it (Isa. 56:1-8).
The Seventh-day Adventist church is just now discovering these prophetic principles in a
dramatic way. It is changing from being a national church (like ancient Israel) to becoming an
international church (like Judaism). During the twenty-first century we Adventists will experience
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both individualism and universalism in a new and powerful way. We will understand that salvation
does not come by belonging to a group, but individually. Individuals come from everywhere,
accepted by God regardless of their origin, because His church is universaltruly international.
Surely by Divine providence ADRA developed just as our church reached that point in its
experience. It thus has a two-fold mission to perform. One is toward needy individuals and families
in every nation. That is ADRAs response to individualism and universalism in the end time. Second,
ADRA performs a mission for our church. It must help the church understand clearly that God
plans His work in the world in such a way that individuals regardless of their identification with a
group are objects of His profound concern. So it is that ADRA helps people in need, one at a time,
and offers this help to anyone regardless of identity and origin, and in so doing, ADRA help pave the
way for a new self-understanding of our church in the twenty-first century.
In pointing our church in this new direction, ADRA helps it become a genuine eschatological
church. Evidence of that new role for ADRA is that it developed dramatically as our church stepped
back from being an American church to becoming a universal church. To repeat, I think this is not
accidental, but providential. It binds the mission of church and ADRA together in a unique way
ordained by God. If we accept this premise, outlined by the prophets, the church and ADRA can
symbiotically shape the way we present Gods final message to the world.
IV. The righteousness of God

In Revelation 16:5 we read: You are just in these judgments, you who are and were the Holy
One. The word just, which is a translation of the word righteous, directs the reader to the
character of God as He brings the world to its end in order to impose His righteousness on an
unrighteous world. The most famous text in Daniel for Adventists (Dan. 8:14) uses the same word,
righteousness, about the sanctuary in the last days (it will be made right). Does this concept of a
divine righteousness coming to powerful and final expression in the last days have anything to do
with ADRA work?
The meaning of Gods righteousness in the world is best found in the Old Testament Hebrew
word tsedeq. Although this term has many meanings, all have to do with the idea of restoring
things, circumstances, or relationships to their rightful condition. Its meaning assumes that there
is a normative way for life in the world, but that the norm has been disrupted and awaits complete
restoration. That restoration happens when God, the creator, intervenes in the end of time.
In a comprehensive study of this term in the Hebrew Bible, H.H. Schmid discovered that
restoration to the norm applies to the following very practical activities and relationships of
everyday life, the kind of activities and relationships that ADRA focuses upon:
1. Gods judgments are directed against evil doers and in support of saintly people. He would
alleviate their innocent sufferings (Ps 9:9; 82:1-3; 99:4). Only the highest, meaning true and
only God, is able to set the world right. He will initiate this through His appointed agents on
earth and accomplish it once and for all in the end. In short, monotheism and righteousness are
inextricably bound together, and divided loyalties lead to unrighteousness.
2. The king (or government) is appointed by God to carry out His assignment to set the world
and its people in order (Ps 72:1, 3, 7). The prophets point out that Israels kings (governments)
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failed most notably and repeatedly in this assignment (Amos 5:7), and proceeded to transfer this
important assignment to the Messiah and his government (Isa 9:6; 11:4-5; Zech 9:9). In short,
the call for righteousness in the end-time world extends to what we may consider governmental
responsibilities.
3. Conflict resolution and justice must be accomplished in conformity to the norm of

righteousness (Isa 43:9, 26). This requirement takes us straight to the city gate, the traditional
place of justice and conflict resolution in ancient times. Todays national and international
courts, or arbitration and mediation panels, would be comparable institutions and functions.
The norm seeks a fair process of mediation; it identifies the responsible parties and restores the
innocent. Consequently, Gods righteousness protects an accused person and assures that his or
her life will be spared in times of conflict or alleged wrong behavior that might otherwise carry
an unjust death sentence or a death threat.
4. Wisdom is a term used to characterize the Biblical books of Proverbs, Job, and
Ecclesiastes. Wisdom themes are also found in the Psalms (1, 37, 73), in the stories of Joseph
and Daniel, and the parables of Jesus. These books have several things in common. They were
assembled by wise men and women, or, as we might call them in our time, teachers. Solomon is
the best known of that group of leaders in Old Testament times. We associate him with the book
of Proverbs, which he initiated in his youth; and Ecclesiastes, which he wrote in old age. Second,
these books deal with the physical and social environment in which we live. This environment
was designed by God to conform to a certain order of operations, and wisdom lays out the rules
(or laws of nature), while acknowledging that these rules are not under human control. The
normative laws in nature and in society relate to weather, seasons, animal instinct, work and
rest, economics and social relationships. A wise person can observe, learn and follow these rules
while realizing that ultimately he or she cannot manipulate the world order. However, knowing
the norms gives the wise a measure of serenity and contentment. It is thus not surprising that
Gods righteousness also comes to expression in such wisdom, and the vindication of Gods
righteousness in the end of time extends to the order of the world, including the physical world
(Rev. 21, 22). This means that righteousness while dealing primarily with the actions and
attitudes of God and man, also applies to things, e.g., the words we speak (Prov. 8:8) and the
yardsticks and scales we use in business (Ezek. 45:10).
From this we conclude that life in the end-time requires Gods people to pay special attention
to the concept of righteousness as revealed in Scripture and in the laws of nature. The true God
Himself will be seen to personify righteousness; the kings (governments) we appoint must reflect
that divine righteousness in the way they carry out their political, military and economic agendas.
Judgments, whether individual, national or international, similarly must be characterized by
righteousness. Even the physical world is made by God to follow a certain order to which people
must adhere if nature is to continue its support of life. It is not accidental, therefore, that the
book of Revelation, which describes the end of this world and the emerging new world, concludes
by describing practical measures of righteousness (social and natural order) including a central
government, ample production of food, adequate clean water, health care, safety, and peace among
all citizens (Rev. 21-22).
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V. The end of the world, the Messiah and ADRA work

When will the Messiah come, what are the signs of the end and how do we prepare for that
event? These are not merely Adventist questions, but eternal questions, and they relate to our
understanding of ADRA in the time of the end.
Lukes gospel records an incident in the life of Jesus when these questions were asked and
answered in a very instructive way. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, was arrested and
imprisoned due to his criticism of King Herods lifestyle. While in prison he evidently began to
wonder whether his life and work had been in vain and specifically whether Jesus of Nazareth whose
coming he had announced with such passion and at such high cost really was the Christ. He sent his
disciples to inquire: Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another? (Luke 7:20). The
evangelist reports that at the time Christ was curing diseases and plagues, casting out evil spirits,
and restoring sight to the blind. But He sent the disciples of John back with this answer: Go and tell
John what you have seen and heard; the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is he
who takes no offense at me. (Luke 7:22-23).
These works of piety (righteousness), along with the preaching of the good news, characterize the
time of the Messiah. The rabbis of Jesus era went further by asserting that the Messiah and such
pious works were so closely tied as to become symbiotic. When Israel has learned to live obediently
before God for just one day, the rabbis taught, the Messiah will comet. And, conversely, when the
Messiah will come He will instruct Israel in the law of God. In speaking about the end, the book of
Revelation calls for the patience of the saints, for those who keep the commandments of God and the
faith of Jesus (Rev. 14:12). Traditionally we have associated this patience with waiting, but the very
next verse connects it with pious works (Rev. 14:13). The rest promised to those end-time workers
is not sleep or relaxation, but the rest from pious works that characterized the activities of Gods
eschalogical people.
Finally, the end-time theology of Revelation repeatedly points out that its message extends to
the entire world. Thus the Bible ends (in Revelation) as it began (in Genesis) with a world-wide,
even cosmic, perspective. Between these two events, following the catastrophe of sin, God first
chose a nation (Israel) to do his work, then He reduced that choice out of necessity to a remnant in
Israel, and finally, reduced it further to one person, the Messiah, in order to assure the successful
outcome of His plan. Christ, when He eventually came, chose a small group of followers, first
twelve, then seventy, then an entire church. St. Paul helped take the church to the whole world,
and the revelator extended it to the cosmos. That, therefore, is where Gods work must be done
in the end of time: not in a nation or in a church or among Christians, but in the world. And that
is the justification for ADRA being an international NGO. It patiently does the work which Jesus
mandated us to do when, in the words of Albert Schweitzer, He comes to us as formerly He came to
His disciples by the lakeside, and said to them, Follow Me.
Like all NGOs, ADRA could find its motivation in many different ways, e.g., seeking influence
in the world, finding employment opportunities, creating institutional growth and development. But
if it seeks inspiration and motivation from Christ it will respond to the call that Christ first extended
to His followers at the lakeside when He said follow thou me: help the blind receive sight, assist the
lame to walk, cleanse the lepers, let the deaf hear, bring the dying back to life, and give good news
to the poor. And what about the time of the end when the world is crumbling, its society is failing,
and all creation is mourning and groaning? According to Biblical eschatology that end-time calls us
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A Christian Perspective on Development
and Relief Work
By
President, Andrews University
I. Christ the motivating factor in church-based development and relief work.

The most powerful motivation for service in the Seventh-day Adventist church is the example of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Neither doctrine nor ecclesiastical institution motivates us to serve the world;
only the love of Christ constrains us.
A convincing statement of this perspective on Christian service in found in Ellen G. Whites

book, The Ministry of Healing (l905): Our Lord Jesus Christ came to this world as the unwearied
servant of mans necessityThe burden of disease and wretchedness and sin He came to remove;
He came to give them health and peace and perfection of characterFrom Him flowed a stream of
healing power, and in body and mind and soul men were made whole. (p. 17)
At the conclusion of this book, Mrs. White turns her attention to the service providers: There
is an eloquence far more powerful than the eloquence of words in the quiet, consistent life of a
pure true Christian. What a man is has more influence than what a person does. (p. 469) This is
followed by the well-known sentence: The strongest argument in favor of the gospel is a loving and
lovable Christian. (p. 470)
Once we anchor our thinking in this premise, Christian service becomes simpler to understand.
We see what type of service we are called to perform, how we ought to do it, and what type of
individuals become the most effective service providers. We discover these things by examining the
stories of Christ as reported in the Gospels. The Scriptures preceding the Gospels and the life of the
church after the Gospels provide helpful insights, too, but we will begin with the Gospels. As you are
aware, these passages are a curious genre. They do not offer us history or a theological discourse,
but rather the reports of one persons (Christs) life-changing service for others.
ADRA invokes this same focus in the opening statement of its institutional mission: Reflect the
character of God through humanitarian and developmental activities. Here ADRA directs our
attention directly to Christ, who is God incarnate.
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II. Christs interaction with His world.

The most interesting thing about the service Christ performed in His time is that it broke down
the barriers between people and reclassified all segments of society. The second most interesting
aspect of His service is that it addressed all aspects of human need. These points come to clearest
expression in the parables, but also in the deeds of kindness that He performed.
a. Social barriers broken

According to the Gospels, Christ met human needs in a very down-to-earth manner. His daily
activities could spring from the ADRA reports that we hear in board meetings. He spoke about
common things and daily struggles, such as fishing, farming, building, husbandry, government,
trade, business and finance, labor relations, taxation, jurisprudence, army and police work,
social events, preparation of food and drink, weaving, care for family and children. Few
professions or human activities escaped His notice, even the so-called dishonorable ones like
prostitution and tax collection. Thus He penetrated the carefully erected walls between segments
of society. No class of people was ignored by Him. The young and old, rich and poor, honorable
and outcast, men and women, Jews, Samaritans and Romans--all captured His attention. He also
met with the learned, the powerful and the rich.
b. A redesigned community
Along the way, He managed to rearrange the social groups and classes by the kind of stories
that He told about them. In the story of the good Samaritan, for example, the priests and
Levites became the villains, and the poorly regarded Samaritans ended up as heroes. Similarly
in the story of the great banquet: a feast prepared for the elite that became a feast for the
common people. These stories caused a reevaluation of who was in and who was out, who
acted heroically and who was slighted by the community. Yet He did not ignore the classes He
criticized (the rich or religious establishment), but instead teased them into staying with Him.
And He stayed with them--accepting their dinner invitations, discussing His ideas with them and
complimenting the generous among them.
In my opinion Christ did not rearrange society in this way because He was the social
reformer that many claim Him to have been. In fact He did not propose to do away with judges,
kings, merchants, soldiers and even tax collectors. None of these professions was considered
below the dignity of His followers, and none was very high either. Rather, Christ took a holistic
view of society and of human nature.
c. Holism
By holism we mean that human life and social organization are not to be fractured into
parts, but built into a single whole. By affirming such holism Christ rejected the views of the
philosophers who divided the world and human nature into parts. For example, early Greek
philosophers had speculated that the world consisted of three or four basic physical elements
such a water fire, earth and air. Or that all reality could be divided into material and spiritual
components so that a human being was nothing but an external, material, temporal, secular shell
23
A Christian Perspective on Development and Relief Work
containing the divine, sacred spirit, or true reality. The material shell would be discarded at
death, but the spirit would join God or live on in some other way. Obviously these views are not
holistic.
The Biblical heritage of Christ differed markedly from this Greek tradition by affirming
the holism of life and nature. On the strength of this holistic understanding of life He bridged
all aspects of life. The spiritual and the material worlds came together, as did the sacred and
the secular spheres of life. And this revolutionary assertion of the integrity of life enormously
impacted His development and relief work, as we shall see. The roots of that work reach deeply
into Biblical teachings.
These two sentiments of Christ--a barrier-free and holistic society--underlay His philosophy
of service. Once this philosophy is accepted, service to meet human needs takes on a specific
character, which some call holistic or organic. It assumes a unity within and between all people,
between the material and the spiritual, and thereby arrives at a participatory relationship
between providers and recipients of humanitarian services.
III. Christs approach to development work: some practical lessons

A startling way to focus on the holistic approach to service appears in Bryant L. Myers book,
Working With the Poor (World Vision, 1999). The surprise is his use of the preposition with,
rather than for. We might have expected the title working for the poor. Indeed, many Christians
think of Christ as having worked for or at least as having cared for the poor. But on second thought,
it appears that indeed He did not work for them, but with them. He taught that attention to the poor
(needy, sick, etc) required some form of participation between the service provider and the service
recipient, and even by the observers and other community members.
Furthermore, once we notice the principle of working with people in need, rather than for
them, remarkable results follow. The provider and recipients become partners in service who see
themselves as integrated, whole and complete persons and communities. Here are some examples
from the Gospels:
a. When healing a blind man Christ applied mud to his eyes and instructed him to wash it off
in the nearby pool. This was followed by a discussion of the causes of blindness, the attitude of
the surrounding community toward blind people and their families (John 9).
b. After healing ten lepers, Christ instructed them to submit to an examination by the
authorities. He expected their gratitude, but did not make this a condition for His healing
miracle (Luke 17).
c. To feed the five thousand Christ requisitioned the modest lunch of a small boy. After
offering grace over the meal, He instructed His disciples to distribute the food, and saw to it that
the leftovers were collected and not wasted (Mark 6).
d. The Samaritans (both the good Samaritan and the Samaritan woman at the well) were
awarded full human dignity by Christ, but that was based on the kind and willing responsibility
they showed toward the community--He instinctively, and she with some prodding by Christ
(Luke 10; John 4).
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e. The guests of the great banquet found satisfaction in the pure joy and gratitude over being
invited. They did not storm the banquet hall to find satisfaction, but were compelled to enter.
They did not experience Schadenfreude toward those who missed out, but felt simple and
immediate thankfulness for Gods grace (Matt. 22; Luke 14 ).
f. The rich young man willingly accepted the obligations Christ imposed on him, namely, to
love God with all his heart and his fellow humans as himself, but he declined to follow Christ
and thereby identify himself with those who needed His care ( Matt 19). This would be a negative
illustration of someone who wanted to hear Christ, but ultimately rejected his philosophy of
service. This young man was willing to work for the poor and needy (in fact had been doing it
since his youth, so he claimed) but was unwilling to work with them (by following Christ).
Several principles emerge from just these examples of Christs philosophy of service.
Christ and the recipient formed a partnership by working with and not for each other,
thereby forming a new bonding: they become one in spirit.
The lost dignity of the needy is restored by meaningful participation in service.
As participants and not mere recipients, the needy have real contributions to make.
The miraculously provided food is indistinguishable from the home grown food, i.e.,
some ate the fish and bread prepared in the kitchen, while others ate miraculous food.
Service and learning (new understanding) must operate together.
Full, open and public disclosure of the service follows, i.e., the specialists (priests) are
invited to verify the healing.
Members of the human family stand as equals before God and before each other.
The quality of a person is measured by his/her being, not by his/her doing.
Spiritual gifts come without regard to material or social standing.
The proper response to service is shared joy without jealousy.
Christian service is not preceded by corrections, judgments or the like by the provider.
Effective human service addresses the total person in need.
Christs philosophy of service speaks to both the recipient and the provider. The recipient is
a total person who is being restored, not merely someone whose problem is being resolved. The
provider does not merely deliver goods or services but offers himself or herself to the other. In short,
Christs philosophy implies that service is a participatory activity by wholly integrated persons--
providers and recipients, both retaining their dignity and discovering a sense of their self worth and
a shared goal in life.
Consequently, service involves both action and learning. The recipients of Christs service gain
generous benefits, but they also make new discoveries about themselves, about Christ, and about the
community. This observation takes us to our next topic, which deals with development. Specifically,
development is far more than economic growth or industrial advancement. Christs philosophy
25
of service transforms development as commonly understood into human development, which, of

course, is an educational experience.
IV. Christian challenges to the concept of development

The acronym ADRA stands for Adventist Development and Relief Agency. It began its history
as primarily a relief organization that responded to human or natural disasters with food, medicine,
shelter or the like. More recently it has come to emphasize development activities.
a. The rationale for emphasizing development

Here is the argument for that change in focus: Give the hungry man a fish and he will eat,
but provide him with a fishing pole and he will feed his family, and maybe even sell fish on the
market and end up buying a fishing boat--or a fleet of boats, equipped with the latest in deep sea
fishing technology. Eventually, of course--although the story does not normally extend this far-
-he may deplete the fish population to the point of its near extinction, thereby bring about the
starvation of all those who rely on fish for food. We have to consider this possibility as Christian
development professionals who look at the very heart of relief and development work.
b. Common problems associated with development

The term development as a desired outcome by organizations like ADRA is hardly
distinguishable from the common concept of economic development of the various regions and
countries of the world. Some are considered developed (generally in the west and the north) and
others developing (generally in the southern part of the globe). Further, in NGO terminology the
so-called provider countries are developed, while the recipient countries are generally the so-
called developing countries. These common terms are, of course, more sensitive than the older
terms of first world and third world.
Nevertheless, though more sensitive, even this terminology raises questions about the very
concept of being developed, and what development really means. For example, development
generally refer to material change, social change, economic change, the accumulation of wealth
among more people, and improvements in the quality and accessibility of education and health
care. Though these characteristics of developed economies generally are desirable, they may
come at severe social cost to those who bear the burden of development, namely, workers.
Social upheaval, the dislocation of people, a breakdown of human values, excessive use and
waste of material resources--all may follow as negative consequences of economic development.
More often than not these negative consequences of economic development will fall on women,
children, the elderly, and the lower, less educated or less fortunate classes of society. In a word,
the quick, successful and ruthless economic development may produce such social and personal
stress as to throw development itself into question. Clearly these outcomes do not comport with
Christs philosophy of development.
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c. Responses to the challenges facing development

Yet, development activities rather than relief activities are clearly preferable for an NGO
like ADRA with limited resources at its disposal. This raises questions about the nature
of development itself and about the contribution Christianity may make to a safer form of
development. Awareness is also suggested in several of ADRAs mission statements.
Facilitate the right and ability of children to attain their full potential and assist in
assuring every childs survival to achieve that potential.
Advocate and assist in the use of communities capabilities to care for and responsibly
manage the natural resources of their environment.
Promote and expand the equitable and participatory involvement of women in the
development process.
Work through equitable partnerships with those in need to achieve positive and
sustainable change in communities.
Build networks that develop indigenous capacity, appropriate technology, and skills at all
levels.
Provide assistance in situations of crisis or chronic distress, and work toward the
development of long-term solutions with those affected.
V. The better approach: organic development
a. Transformational/organic development
Taken together these statements recommend something which we may call Organic
Development, or, as Bryant L. Myers calls it in his book Walking with the Poor:
Transformational Development (p. 3). By means of this term (a neologism) he advocates a
form of development that provides positive change for all of human life, materially, socially
and spiritually. I prefer organic to describe that desired form of development. For one thing
it is a real word, but more importantly, it is intended here to describe a development that is
concerned with the entire system of life (in the sense of an organism). Part of this organism needs
transformation, where it is no longer life sustaining, e.g., economic and political discrimination
or oppression. Other parts of this organism may be better served by preservation, e.g. natural
resources, social mores. In some cases parts of the organism may even require destruction, such
as microbes, germs, or bacteria that are life threatening. Organic development is thus holistic
(an organizational term) or symbiotic (a biological term). Either way organic development insists
on pulling the entire organism along in a development process that is inclusive, life sustaining
and life preserving.
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b. Organic development and the principles of Christ

How does organic development fit with the life of Christ and the Christian heritage? On the
face of it, Christ evidently did cut across the typical approach to development that we know
so well from the standard literature, but not in the familiar way of pitting class against class,
redistribution of wealth and services and social and economic re-engineering. I am thinking
about His many statements concerning work and the laborer. For example, the stories about the
industrious investor, the elder brother, the faithful and faithless servants, the laborers hired
at various times of the day (while receiving identical wages), the many employers, landlords,
stewards and servants, are all illustrative of this point. Here is something for everyone to
learn and do, but not social, political and economic revolution. Industry is admonished that
the workers are to work hard and loyally. Employers are put on notice to be responsible,
even generous while also retaining their rights. Somehow, Christ is tolerant of the local social
structure and the economic distribution made possible within it, but He has words for everyone:
to do better, to be responsible, generous and sensitive, to avoid greed, indolence and arrogance
and to honor the symbiotic, holistic inter-relationship between all members of society.
He speaks only infrequently of the natural world, but when He does the same pattern
emerges, for it is part of an organic whole. Fruit trees are to bear fruit; a single sheep matters
to the shepherd; rich harvests are desirable; rain is distributed fairly to all; animal life is to be
protected, even at the expense of religious rules; hunger is to be met with food distribution and
the surpluses; fishing is a good profession. In short, organic development addresses not only the
social and economic spheres of life, but extends to the natural world as well.
Many have wondered why Christ did not set about to change the social or economic or even
political structures of His day, e.g., by urging the expulsion of the Romans. My thought is that
had He done so, His impact on human history would have been powerful, but short-lived, spotty
and time-bound. As it is, His impact is timeless, for it addressed development in an organic,
nonideological way. Thus it has something to contribute to all political, social and economic
isms of His day and ours. That is to say, Christs approach to development is timeless.
VI. The ADRA professional: imitating Christ

We have seen that Christian service, as exemplified in the life and teaching of Christ, is holistic
and participatory. And we have identified a Christian perspective on development that defines it as
organic, meaning that it interconnects the human, physical and social aspects of existence.
But what about the individuals who provide this service--the Christian relief and development
professionals?
a. The counsel of Ellen G. White

We noted that Ellen G. White concluded her book Ministry of Healing by speaking about the
worker, that is, the service provider. A recurring theme in this book holds that the character
and competence of the worker is of critical importance. Indeed, in the chapter entitled
Development and Service Mrs. White points out that humanitarian service requires not only
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the Christian graces such as gentleness, patience, meekness and kindliness, but also the more
professional attributes of courage, force, energy and perseverance.
I propose that one of the primary and distinctive contributions a Christian NGO brings
to development and relief services is the character of the Christian professional. (The same
principle applies to Christian education: while curriculum design, textbooks, and campus life
matter a great deal, it is the Christian teacher who makes the real difference.) Similarly with
development work. All the materials and means of relief and development can be provided
by any well structured organization, but the special qualities outlined here, such as holistic,
participatory service, organic development and the interconnectedness of the human, physical,
social and spiritual aspects of lifeall these qualities depend upon the philosophy, values and
especially the spiritual character of the service providers. Here are some important elements
that make up a Christian provider of development and relief work. Once again we draw upon
Christian understandings exhibited in the Gospels.
b. Taking organic/participatory development seriously

The story of the talents (Matt. 25) deals with development work. The talents represent
resources, monetary or real assets and human skills. Two sets of talents are developed, the third
set is merely preserved. The fact that the third talent-bearer hid his talent in the earth would
suggest that the desirable way to develop the talents carries some risk, such as the possibility
of loss or criticism. The other two talent-bearers each doubled their assets, and were equally
affirmed. However, in fact the result of these investments further increased the gap between
the respective holdings of these developers by 100 %. Apparently, the level of activity, courage,
energy and perseverance matters more than the amount of assets one piles up in the end. In this
type of development what matters is how far a person or region has come, not how it measures
up in relationship to others. This measure of success differs from the way it is measured in the
Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Economist or Business Week. By these standards
a successful company is clearly pulling ahead of the other simply by gaining market share. But
by Christs standard each company is an equally successful participant in the development
work, regardless of the total accumulation of assets.
In practice this means that the development worker is willing to work with any available level
of talents (a plough drawn by oxen in one setting, a diesel tractor in another); is satisfied with
measurable improvements at any level; and is ready to acknowledge the significant progress even
by the one with fewer talents. It is only the hiding of ones talent that is unacceptable.
c. Taking cultures seriously

Though difficult to define, culture plays a role in development work, not only on the
theoretical level, but especially in practice. It is easy to become skeptical about the effectiveness
of many development projects because of deep-seated traditions or practices that have become
obstacles to progress. The permanent harm done by the colonial powers to indigenous societies,
apparently rendering them unable to form effective social, economic or political structures
is often cited. Similarly, resilient tribal patterns or loyalties appear to hinder wide-spread
economic progress. Religious traditions oppose the introduction of new practices in the area of
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health or family life. In all these cases, culture is viewed as an obstacle to development. It is
far more difficult to think of culture as an opportunity for development, not least for Christian
service professionals. But that is what Christian development professionals must attempt to do,
and Christ repeatedly points the way.
Though He did not travel abroad, Christ met people from different economic, religious,
social and national backgrounds: Roman soldiers, religious leaders, military personnel,
government officials, common folk with different nationalities. He did not particularly modify
His goals in order to fit His audience, but He did adapt His approach to facilitate acceptance
and participation on the part of his varied audiences. To the Canaanite women He spoke about
community alliance and rights, to the military officer He spoke about giving orders responsibly,
to the Samaritan He spoke about associations and responsibilities. He walked straight to the
house of the tax collector, dined with a noble Pharisee, and allowed a street women to honor
Him. Once He broke through the cultural barriers He found a common human soul, familiar
needs, and a single spirit that transcended the most pronounced cultural distinctions between
the people He met. And He was able to meet their needs.
d. Taking people seriously

One of the goals of the Andrews-MSA educational program is to make us take Christian
development and relief work more seriously. That is the case with the MSA students, of course,
but also with their instructors, the ADRA supervisors who support the program and the AU
educators who help deliver it. Naturally we want all NGO professionals to take their work
seriously. But in addition to that, Christian development workers are committed to taking
people seriously, primarily the people whom we serve, but also our colleagues in service. I
believe I have heard ADRA articulate one of its goals as: helping people--one person at a time.
That is precisely right, for in Christian development work people transcend programs in
importance.
Recently, several academic administrators came to speak with me about an overseas

graduate program we were offering. The new intake of students was too low, and two sponsoring
institutions began to consider the budget and wondered if we should go ahead with the intake of
only 17 qualifying students out of 30 applicants. What should we do? Open the new intake of few
qualified students, or send the applicants home? All applicants were adult students and leaders
in our church. Suddenly it struck me that we were having a very serious and surely responsible
discussion about a program, without thinking equally seriously about the 17 or 30 prospective
students, their supervisors and their instructors, their skills and talents. Who were they, how
much did they know, what tools did they have at their disposal, what were their hopes and
aspirations? I suggested to my associates that before making a decision about the program we
should see a profile of each applicant and take these people seriously.
I believe that is a mandate we have received from Christ. How often He was urged
by His disciples to send the people away, a crowd of thousands, some children, a Syrian
woman, a prostitute, but each time He beckoned them so as to hear their story. Christian
relief and development work is more than programs that respond to earthquakes, famines,
floods, epidemics. It is service to people, one person at a time, or a crowd at a time. Every
person helped is a person like any of us and must be taken seriously as a person in need, as a
participant in relief and development work, and as a worthy member of a community.
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VII. The well-being of the development worker

Those of you who are leaders in ADRA probably find it difficult to staff the many positions of the
organization with good people. I know how that feels. Sometimes it seems as though the NGO itself
needs a little relief and development in the area of human resources. So we must also take ourselves
and each other seriously. Ellen G. White was keenly aware of the needs felt by the worker, as
she called those who help others, the enormity of the task, the paucity of the resources, loneliness,
occasional hostility, the political things we do that frustrate our colleaguesthis is enough to
challenge any worker.
Christ experienced all of that and more. How did He cope?
Though remaining a humble servant of God, He retained an enormous sense of human

dignity, no matter the material and social circumstances.
Though caring for an endless stream of small problems, He remained absolutely persuaded
that His work was critically important.
Though confronting a relentless array of human problems, He took time for rest and
solitude, i.e., for relaxation, reflection, inner restoration and spiritual communion.
Though given a deadly serious assignment, He knew how to laugh, not at people, but at the
disproportionate and ridiculous state of our lives at times.
Though becoming angry at the great wrongs people do, He did not take His anger out on
people.
Though occupying a position of authority as teacher and leader, He made friends and built
community with close friends and larger circles of acquaintances.
Though being conscious of His special relationship with God, He prayed often, generally
simple prayers on behalf of others, but also for Himself. He was a deeply spiritual person.
VIII. Spirituality and the Christian NGO professional
a. NGO professional vs church representative

One of the pressing issues confronting ADRA concerns its relationship with its sponsoring
church. I hear about it from time to time, and you live with it daily. You are ADRA
professionals, who dispense government aid with no strings attached, but you also represent a
church that informs you of its needs and programs and expects your understanding and special
consideration. You are asked to resolve problems that should have no place among Christians,
and must do so without being judgmental, with teaching, but not with preaching! You have to
carry on in places and among people who do not understand the kind of distinction between
disinterested development work and personal and community loyalty. How is that possible?
Clearly the Christian development and relief professionals first priority is the support of all
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people in need. You are not employed to convert those people, nor even to impress upon them
the superiority of Christianity and Christians. Nevertheless, Christian professionals such as you
remain motivated by the mandate of Christ Himself to serve the world.
b. The Scylla and Charybdis of divided loyalties

Some feel that an ADRA worker cannot navigate safely between this Scylla and Charybdis,
but will shipwreck sooner or later. For example, such a worker might be arrested for being a
Christian preacher in disguise, or be severely criticized for being a disinterested, secular, non-
committed development professional.
c. Spirituality as key
In response to this dilemma, I propose that only a spiritual person can perform the special
duty of a non-ideological humanitarian development professional while remaining a passionate
servant of Christ and His church. I do not intend to develop that thought further here except
to say that a spiritual person is someone who enjoys a heightened presence of God within. It is
someone who is thoughtful and generous of mind toward others in whom the presence of God is
manifested. A spiritual person is well-informed about the life, thought, feelings, and aspirations
of others. Finally, a spiritual person trusts the Spirit that God has given to all humans, does not
reach out to steady the ark all the time, and finds contentment in letting the Spirit do its work
in the life of the people and places where development takes place. A spiritual person is very
comfortable with treating the distribution of food as a purely secular activity with no strings
attached because by providing this food his/her spirit connects with the spirit of the recipient,
and both respond spiritually to the nearness of God, which is a form of worship. That is enough,
for this Spirit is nothing less than the presence of God Himself.
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The Role of the Biblical Prophets:
ADRA in the Midst of the Prophetic Community
By
Zdravko Plantak
Religion Department, Columbia Union College
A story is told of an exhausted woodcutter who kept wasting time and energy chopping wood with
a blunt ax because he did not have the time, he said, to stop and sharpen the blade.
Well, we came to St. Gilgen, (and what a place to come), in order to stop from exhausting
woodcutting and to sharpen the blades. We need this time to think theologically as well as
administratively, to sit back and see the woods and not only individual trees from close up vantage
point of every day existence. We also came to learn so that we would not make a mistake that a
couple of hunters made one day when they chartered a plane to fly them into forest territory. Two
weeks later the pilot came to take them back. He took a look at the animals they had shot and said:
This plane wont take more than one wild buffalo. Youll have to leave the other behind.
But last year the pilot let us take two in a plane this size, the hunters protested. The pilot was
doubtful, but finally he said, Well, if you did it last year I guess we can do it again.
So the plane took off with the three men and two buffaloes. But it couldnt gain height so it
crashed into a neighboring hill. The men climbed out and looked around. One hunter said to the
other, Where do you think we are? The other inspected the surroundings and said, I think were
about two miles to the left of where we crashed last year. Well, with all the exciting changes that are
happening in ADRA International and with all the possibilities of the new millennium, I am sure that
we shall learn the lessons from the past and not allow to crash as close as those two hunters did two
years in a row.
Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote said to his friend: There are only two families in the whole
world, my old grandmother used to say, the Haves and the Have-Nots.1 In addition to this timeless
truth which we must seriously contemplate still almost 400 hears later, I shall suggest that there are
also only two ways to respond to this premise and that greatest prophet of all time addressed this
most eloquently in his famous prophetic Olivetti speech. But, we shall come to this prophet the last.
Lets start from the beginning of what we know about prophets and, through the study of prophets
what we could learn about the prophetic role that we are called to play at the end time.
1
Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote, II, xx, (1615).
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The Role of the Biblical Prophets
It goes almost without saying that Seventh-day Adventist understanding of the role of prophets
and prophecies is primarily of a futuristic and apocalyptic nature. However, predicting the future
through an eschatological emphasis is only a secondary role of the prophets of ancient Judaism.
Their primary prophetic role is socio-ethical, and in particular as visionaries of what can be and
what should be. Since the Seventh-day Adventist church believes itself to constitute the prophetic
minority at the end of worlds history,2 their role should be similar to the role of the prophets in
Jewish society. Hence the importance of examining that role, which is by most Adventists assumed
to be almost exclusively eschatological-futuristic, but in my study I found it to be more of social
reformers and prophetic visionaries.
The Hebrew term Nabhi comes from the root of Akkadian form NABU, which means to call,
to announce. Passive meaning of a noun NABHI and a verb NABU appears in Hemmurabi law
where NABI means called describing a person who received a divine call without any heredity
rights. In that very sense Seventh-day Adventist movement, and our pioneers that led it, were
convinced that they were called, that they received the prophetic calling to be a peculiar people, to
be different, to be Gods true kingdom in the last days.
I return back to the Jewish Scripture, or what we now call the Old Testament of the Bible. And
I want to read some texts with you just to illustrate more powerfully what we are going to study
together.
Nabhi is first used in connection with Abraham. (Gen 20:7) However it becomes a popular term
with Moses. (Deut 34:10) Moses, as provider of the moral law, becomes a standard of comparison
for all other prophets. (Deut 18:15ff)
I venture to suggest that, as I already implied at the beginning, since the Seventh-day Adventist
church believes itself to constitute the prophetic minority at the end of worlds history, our role
should be comparable to the role of the prophets in Jewish society. Therefore, we need to examine
the importance of that role, which is by most Adventists assumed to be almost exclusively predictive,
forecasting and futuristic. I would suspect that, since we, as a community, are so used to reading
Daniel and Revelation, which are somewhat different from other prophetic writings, such as Isaiah,
Amos and many others, that when it comes to reading Isaiah or other major or minor prophets, we
feel fairly uncomfortable or even unfamiliar.
Enid Mellor, in an introductory article Reading the Prophets Today, in the book Prophets
and Poets,3 rightly suggested that the biblical prophets wrote about the times in which they lived,
and prediction was less important than warning and exhortations. They believed themselves to be
commissioned and inspired by Yahweh to speak his word to their contemporaries to point them
away from their foolish ways and to show them true religion and morality. Mellor, like many
modern students of prophetic literature, realizes that there are several roles that prophets fulfilled
through their prophetic title.
2
On Seventh-day Adventisms self-understanding as Prophetic Minority see in Charles Teel, Withdrawing Sect, Accommodating
Church, Prophesying Remnant: Dilemmas in the Institutionalization of Adventism, (An unpublished manuscript of the presentation at
the 1980 Theological Consultation for Seventh-day Adventist Administrators and Religion Scholars, Loma Linda University, 1980).
3
Enid Mellor, Reading the Prophets Today, in Prophets and Poets, (Abingdon, 1997):
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by Zdravko Plantak
The Old Testament prophets had several important roles: 1) they were social, political and
religious leaders who proclaimed the law; 2) they guarded the spiritual life of the nation by being
visionaries. They dared to imagine how the life was supposed to be with, what Walter Bruggeman4
chose as his now famous book title, Prophetic Imagination. Prophets dared to dream and imagine
the way my favorite eastern poet Tagore put it: I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and
saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy. 3) The prophets mediated between
the people and their God and 4) they predicted future judgment but also hope that God would bring
to the most disadvantaged members of society. They were interested in international affairs and the
future in the same breath as they counseled and influenced social structures of their own generation
in their own locality. They could be therefore described as theological and social reformers and
visionaries.
a. Four elements of prophetic teaching

Four essential elements5 emerge from prophetic teachings. First, the warnings which prophets
bring are always a matter of life and death. Every warning, if not taken seriously, is followed by
long-lasting consequences. We see, for example, in Isaiah 40-55 how serious consequences awaited
Israel the captivity and exile. The prophets called Israel to reject evil and death and choose God,
moral behavior and, consequently, life.6 Well, lets look at one example of this principle nowhere
better illustrated then in Deuteronomy 30:15-20.
The second element in prophetic teaching deals with Gods care for those who are without
proper protection within the existing social structures (i.e. slaves, widows, orphans, debtors, the
homeless, strangers, etc.).
Theologian and philosopher Cornel West suggested that a rich life [is fundamentally a life of
serving others], trying to leave the world a little better than you found it.6 It resounds the words of
Rabbi Hillel 2000 years ago: If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself,
what am I?7
And this is not only our prophetic tradition. For example, James Hillman suggests that the
turning point for the Buddha came only when he left his protected palace gardens to enter the
street. There the sick, the dead, the poor and the old drew his soul down into the question of how to
live life in the world. As Hillman stresses, the Buddha became who he was precisely by leaving the
cloistered life.8
The biblical law requires (Ex 23:3 & Deut 16:19-20) that there should be no unjust differences
between people. But in real life this becomes perverted. As Walter Brueggeman put it in The
Prophetic Imagination: then [in ancient Israel] and now, eating that well means food is being
taken off the table of another. Covenanting which takes brothers and sisters seriously had been
4
Walter Brueggeman, Prophetic Imagination, (Fortress, 1978)
5
For this division into four elements of prophetic ethics I am indebted to Walter Harrelson. See his Prophetic Ethics, in A New
Dictionary of Christian Ethics, (1986), pp. 508-512.
6
As quoted in Paul Rogat Loeb, Soul of a Citizen: Living with Convictions in a Cynical Time, (New York: St. Martins Griffins, 1998), p.
14.
7
Ibid., p. 13.
8
Ibid., p. 22.
35
replaced by consuming which regards brothers and sisters as products to be used.9 The economics
of equality is changed to the economics of affluence.
And the prophetic alternative, which is an alternative to a social void of criticism and
energy that prophets bring to the community, must mean, what Brueggeman calls, the primary
prophetic agenda, which is the possibility of passion - passion as the capacity and readiness
to care, to suffer, to die, and to feel for other people. Ultimately, God is one whose person is
presented as passion and pathos, the power to care, the capacity to weep, the energy to grieve and
to rejoice. And prophets must think with God, not whether it is realistic or practical or viable
but whether it is imaginable [therefore they must] think an alternative thought.10 Moreover,
in words of I. F. Stone, If you expect to see the final results of your work, you simply have not
asked a big enough question.
Furthermore, God promises to be a support and help to those who do not have anybody: he
hears their cries, sees their suffering, and brings help when his human agents fail to do so. The
prophets talk about alienation of those who grab land and add house to house and join field to
field until they become alone in the land. (Read Is 5:8) This process of materialism, mirrored in our
own time and expressed in the accumulation of material goods beyond the point of realistic needs,
ends in isolation and in the loss of any meaningful human existence and relationship among people.
Thirdly, God seeks obedience and justice rather than a formal worship or sacrifice. The
sacrificial system and religious festivals (including the observance of Sabbath) were important; but
ethical behavior springing from right motives was even more important (doing the truth instead of
only having the truth). And the basic motive was love which responds to Gods love, Gods choice
and Gods calling. (Deut 7:6-11) Therefore, the motive for ethical behavior and social action is an
answer to Gods love, which he expressed in covenants with human beings. (1 John 4:9.10)
A story is told of a woman who was religious and devout and filled with love for God. Each
morning she would go to church. And on her way children would call out to her, beggars would
accost her, but so immersed was she in her devotions that she did not even see them.
Well, one day she walked down the street in her customary manner and arrived at the church
just in time for service. She pushed the door, but it would not open. She pushed it again harder, and
found the door was locked. Distressed at the thought that she would miss service for the first timed
in years, and not knowing what to do, she looked up. And there, right before her face, she found a
note pinned to the door. It said, I am out there!
How that is different from a cobbler who came to Rabbi Isaac of Ger and said: Tell me what to
do about my morning prayer. My customers are poor men who have only one pair of shoes. I pick
up their shoes late in the evening and work on them most of the night; at dawn there is still work to
be done if the men are to have their shoes ready before they go to work. Now my question is: What
should I do about my morning prayer?
What have you been doing till now? the Rabbi asked.
Sometimes I rush through the prayer quickly and get back to my work but then I feel bad
9
Brueggeman, The Prophetic Imagination, (Fortress, 1978), p. 33
10
Ibid., pp. 41.42.44.
36
by Zdravko Plantak
about it. At other times I let the hour of prayer go by. Then too I feel a sense of loss and can almost
hear my heart sigh, What an unlucky man I am, that I am not able to make my morning prayer.
The Rabbi responded, If I were God I would value that sigh more than the prayer.
God seeks, thirdly, obedience and justice rather than a formal worship or sacrifice - doing the
truth instead of only having the truth. Just look at this chapter that our Adventist pioneers quoted
over and over again. (Isaiah 58:3.4.6.7.8) Philosopher Senecas words ring this truth when he said
that The real compensation of a right action is inherent in having performed it. The question that
is relevant to our discussions is how can we speak meaningfully about the righteous works that we do
without making the old mistake of creating a legalistic religion.
David Noel Freedman observed that the characteristic way of a prophet in Israel is that of
poetry and lyric. The prophet engages in future fantasy. The prophet does not ask if the vision
can be implemented, for questions of implementation are of no consequence until the vision can be
imagined. The imagination must come before the implementation.11
And the fourth element of the prophetic role is of eschatological-apocalyptic character. In this
element of prophetic teaching, the prophet goes outside his immediate domain and speaks about
the global picture of human history. And, ultimately, the prophet speaks about HOPE that is so
often non-existent among people who live their lives in hopeless day-to-day survival situations and
modes. At its center, prophetic eschatology is an affirmation that God will succeed in his desire for
his creation, that he shall win the battle between good and evil and inevitably bring salvation to
his people both in spiritual sense but also in the physical liberation from bondage of hopelessness,
poverty and this earths disadvantage and groaning.
It is the vocation of the prophet to keep alive the ministry of imagination, to keep on conjuring
and proposing alternative futures to the single one that the establishment of the day wants to urge as
the only thinkable one.12
Seventh-day Adventists have usually emphasized the fourth aspect of the prophetic role,
especially in its evangelistic and theological sense. However, rather then portraying the theology
of hope in the Moltmannian sense, we have made out of this eschatological prophetic deliberations
doom and gloom which is more concerned with scaring and frightening people then with the hope
and encouragement that God is in control and will finally concur evil and establish the good rule
of his heavenly government. In its self-understanding as a prophetic movement, Seventh-day
Adventism was usually thought of as a movement preoccupied with making predictions as well as
a movement with a special interest in studying and interpreting predictive prophecy.13 But, as
Jack Provonsha pointed out, Adventism as a prophetic movement should be defined more in terms
of function and role; in other words we should think of ourselves as a people with a mission to the
world.14 Therefore, Adventists should also consider other aspects of prophetic ministry, if they
desire to be faithful to their prophetic calling. One of these aspects, and perhaps the first and the one
that ADRA (but not exclusively ADRA) should be sensitive to in a very special way, is the primary or
11
Brueggeman, p. 44.
12
Brueggemann, p. 45.
13
Provonsha, (1993), p. 50.
14
Ibid., pp. 50-51.
37
social role of prophets. Also, it is my strong opinion that others in our church community, especially
those leaders and lay members who either look at ADRA and criticize it for whatever reason or use
it as an excuse for their personal inaction or lack of involvement with the disadvantaged in the world
should look closely at the biblical evidence that not only supports but demands the kind of work that
ADRA does and similar that ADRA could still think of taking on.
You know, nothing is beyond criticism and re-examination. Sister Helen Prejean writes in Dead
Man Walking, her memoirs of working with death-row inmates in a prison, Get involved with poor
people, and controversy follows you like a hungry dog.
Before I was asked to speak at the PAN-ADRA meetings, I started reading a recently acquired
book Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in a Cynical Time by Paul Roget Loeb. And I read
something that made me think of Adventism and ADRA. As a matter of fact I underlined the section
and wrote on a margin: An example of those who criticize ADRA.
Let me share it with you as Loeb writes his story:
At a small Minnesota college, a half-dozen students were sleeping in makeshift

cardboard shelters to dramatize the plight of Americas homeless. As one participant
recalled, Lots who passed by treated us like a slumber party. They told us we were cute.
But when we kept on for a couple of days they began to get annoyed. One girl yelled,
Homeless people dont have blankets. Youre being hypocritical. I was half asleep but
I said, Yes they do. They have blankets and friends. They just dont have homes. She
looked like shed be satisfied only if we got soaked in the freezing rain.
In effect, the activists were ridiculed for not being pious enough. Yet even had they
demonstrated their commitment by standing in the rain until they became hypothermic, or
by launching a hunger strike, odds are the critics still wouldnt have been satisfied. They
would have turned their argument around, and accused the activists of being too holy, of
taking things too seriously. Whatever the critique, the approach is the same: Identify a
perceived flaw, large or small, then use it to dismiss an entire effort.15
How easy it is to find some inconsistency or small flaw in anything and everything one does not
agree with. But to use these to dismiss the entire biblically based effort is like throwing a baby out
with the bathwater. We must guard against such attitudes by refocusing the biblical and theological
underpinnings and foundations.
b. Examples of the primary (social) role of prophets in Jewish society

The prophets of the Old Testament did not invent new social, economic or moral responsibilities.
They believed and affirmed that the ideal for Jewish society as a whole, and its people as individuals,
was set in the legislation of the covenant between God and Israel. Justice, as a basis of the law and
the pillar of society, was regarded by the prophets as binding for all ages. The guidance that the
prophets gave to Israel regarding social, ethical and economic relationships were clearly based on
the Mosaic Law as expressed in the Ten Commandments.
15
Loeb, pp. 38-9.
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by Zdravko Plantak
The moral law, as an expression of the character of God and as Gods desire for human
fulfillment, was always high on the agenda of Adventist theology. For us the Decalogue is still valid as
a great moral guideline binding upon all people who desire to live in perfect harmony with God and
with other human beings in every age. It is not, and has never been, the means of salvation (Rom 4:
1-3; Heb 11). However the fruitage of salvation is obedience to these precepts that God himself gave
to humanity (Ex 31:18).
For a complete understanding of what God means by his moral law, a Christian must turn to the
God Incarnate. Jesus, in his most remarkable sermon about the law (some call the Sermon on the
Mount the second Sinai)16 claimed that he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matt 5:
17). He continued: Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others
to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these
commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:19).
When challenged to give an account of what he thought was the most important commandment,
Jesus did not allow himself to be drawn into making the mistake of selecting one and
overemphasizing it. Rather, he summed up the law and the prophets into a remarkably concise but
powerful phrase borrowed from Deuteronomy 6: Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and the greatest commandment. And
the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:37-39.; cf. Deut 6:4-5). Asked at
another occasion the question who is my neighbor?, Jesus answered eloquently in a parable that
our neighbor is everyone who is in need, regardless of race, nationality or caste (Luke 10:29-37).
The universality of the Old Testament account of the moral law (Ex 20:1-17 and Deut 5:1-22)
and Jesus elaboration of it (Matthew 5-7) require from people respect for and guarding of human
rights. If God is interested in relationships between human beings, and he demonstrated the desire to
regulate these relationships with the last six commandments of the Decalogue and with the numerous
sayings of Jesus, his children should uplift these regulations and apply them to every situation in life.
The commandments-keeping people, as Seventh-day Adventists desire to be seen, should be the

first to foster good relations with their neighbors. Whenever there is a violation of the love-principle
in the world they ought to be among the first to condemn it and to seek ways to eliminate injustice,
inequality, bad relationships, and violation of human rights in general in order to be true to their
calling of the people of the law.
But at times we have made out of these wonderful instructions of God, limitations and burdens
that have often oppressed rather then liberated people. How different it was in the story of an
intrigued congregation whose rabbi they saw disappear each week on the eve of the Sabbath. They
suspected he was secretly meeting the Almighty, so they deputed one of their members to follow him.
This is what the man saw: the rabbi disguised himself in peasant clothes and served a paralyzed
Gentile woman in her cottage, cleaning out the room and preparing a Sabbath meal for her. When
the spy got back, the congregation asked: Where did the rabbi go? Did he ascend to heaven?
No, the man replied, he went even higher!
16
See, for example, C. H. Dodd, Gospel and Law: Bampton Lectures in America, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951), pp.
62-63.
39
This is exactly where a tablets-of-stone-religion becomes a new-heart-religion, as God intended it

in the first place. The poet Kabir says: What good is it if the scholar pores over words and points of
this and that but his chest is not soaked dark with love? What good is it if the ascetic clothes himself
in saffron robes, but is colorless inside? What good is it if you scrub your ethical behavior till it
shines, but there is no music inside?
Though the theme of social concern is reflected throughout all prophets, three Major Prophets
(Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel) and seven Minor Prophets (Hosea, Amos, Micah, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Zechariah and Malachi) illustrate this most emphatically. Of all these prophets dealing
with social ethics, Amos, Hosea and Isaiah are typical examples of this. Let me illustrate with
biblical texts what I mean and hope that we could take some of these texts out together in our break
out sessions and work through them in small groups. It is very important, I believe, to understand
the primary social role of the prophets in order for us to know what it is, and how are we to be in
the 21st century, a prophetic voice, a prophetic minority, that we as a Seventh-day Adventist church
have been invited to be at the end times.
Lets just open the Bible and look at few of these examples from the prophetic genre. These are,
again, just examples and are not to be thought of exhaustive study because there is so much more
on the social issues and poverty and Gods peoples responsibility to those who are disadvantaged in
one way or another in prophetic literature that goes beyond the scope of this paper.
Well, Amos pointed to the following sins of the nation: exploitation and oppression of the poor
(4:1; 5:11; 8:4-6); corrupt and degenerate religious practice (2:4,6); corruption of justice and
righteousness (5:7.10; 6:12); unnecessary riches (6:4); and neglect of Gods law (2:8; 8:5). He saw
a solution to these sins in repentance (4:12.13; 5:4-13) or, if sins were not repented, eventually in
punishment and judgment (2:5,13-16; 3:2; 5:25-27).
Hosea termed prostitution (4:11-18), lying (4:2; 7:1), violence and murder (4:2; 6:8-9), robbery
(7:1; 4:2), drunkenness (4:11; 7:5), idolatry (4:12; 8:4; 13:2), and rebellion against God (9:15; 13:
16) as the greatest sins of his time. His proposed solution was again repentance or destruction in
Gods judgment (5:1-14; 8:1-9; 14:1).
Isaiah marked the sins of Gods people of his time as idolatry (2:8), injustice (5:7; 59:8),
bloodshed (59:7), rebellion (1:5; 57:4), neglect of widows (1:23; 10:2), heavy drinking (5:11; 28:
1-7) and oppression of the poor (3:14-15; 10:2). Again, like other prophets, Isaiah saw the solution
either in repentance and Gods forgiveness, or in facing judgment, punishment and destruction.
Inevitably, Isaiah emphasized, Messiah will come and establish social justice in His millennial
kingdom.
Reading Isaiah recently again, I could not fail to notice how this is not a monochrome, gray,
plain or boring book. It is so colorful, not only poetically in its wonderful imagery and expressions,
but, for me more importantly, in its theological richness, in the way Isaiah is not one sided in his
expressions about God and Gods characteristics, nor about the community, starting from the
city that God loves, Jerusalem/Zion, the city of God, and moving to other nations that also need
repentance.
Let me briefly recap what we know about Isaiah. He was a citizen of the vibrant city
Jerusalem. He lived in the eight century BC. He was consulted by kings on the great issues of the
day. He did not shy away from political involvement, or from getting involved with issues of justice
40
by Zdravko Plantak
and socio-economic evils of his day. He made his views on such matters known even when he was
not consulted. Probably an aristocrat. Issues of state and national security greatly concerned him.
He was active, charismatic and very passionate. In Joseph Robinsons words, For [Isaiah] the
integrity, more, the very existence of his faith, was dependent upon the decisions taken on political
issues.17
The message tells of Gods punishment of Israel, particular the kingdom of Judah and of
punishment of the nations, for idolatry and injustice; and Gods subsequent redemption of the
people of Israel. Both the punishment and redemption begin in Jerusalem/Zion, reaching from
there to encompass the nations of the world. Although the message is universal in scope, it is never
separated from its historic center the people of Israel.
It is here, in that summary of Isaiah that I come in particular to chapter 1. Because, the message
of punishment and redemption, as remarked by James Ward in his book, Thus Says the Lord, is
summarized in the first chapter, which thus serves as an introduction. The theme of Zions eventual
redemption, stated briefly in 1:26-27, is developed in 2:2-5; 4:2-6.18 I believe that it is in chapter
6 where the prophet gets his call and says, Send me! Therefore, the first 5 chapters serve as a
preliminary introduction. In particular, chapter 1 and 2 appear to be a resume of the collected
oracles of the eighth century prophet, the reason why his call was needed and the solemn task of why
he accepted that prophetic calling in Is 6:8 with the words: Here am I. Send me!
Let me say a word or two on the richness of Isaiahs dramatic expression. It is full of expressive
colors and shades, many levels and layers of meaning. For example, there are distinctions between
the people of God, the remnant, the servants of the Lord. And yet these distinctions between the
nations and other groups within Israel are not hard and fast. The divisions and distinctions are a
major part of Isaiahs concern. And yet, as Peter Miscall put it, we cannot resolve Isaiah into a
simple narrative nor can we resolve it into a morality tale of good versus evil with Israel good and the
nations evil. The story of sin, judgment (2:9-22) and restoration applies to all (2:2-4).19
The richness is in the dramatic speeches in which the characters are not presented as distinct
and historic individuals; they are constructs in the poetic form of Isaiah.20 For example, Israel is
masculine singular in 1:4, masculine plural in 1:5-7 and feminine singular in 1:21-26. Jerusalem is
a woman, and the capital city and metonym for Israel. Israel is judged and condemned, desolate
and devastated, and comforted and redeemedGenerally male, God at times is female, whether as a
woman and mother (42:14; 45:10; 66:9-13) or as Mother Nature (35:1-7; 41:18-19). God is powerful,
judging and even savage; chs. 34 and 63:1-6 contain some of the goriest descriptions of God in the
Bible. He is also mild, forgiving and comforting. God is described in human, animate and even
inanimate terms. He is a bull (1:24), a lion and birds (31:4-5), a gem (28:5), light and fire (10:17)
and sun and the moon (60:19-20).21
Now I turn to chapter 1. The prophetic and pastoral concerns permeate this text. This
passionate reflection breathes moral clear-sightedness and courage under the threat of disaster.
17
In Prophets & Poets, (Abingdon, 1997), p. 32.
18
James Ward, Thus Says the Lord, (Abingdon, 1991), p. 40.
19
Peter Miscall, Isaiah, (JSOT Press, 1993 Sheffield Academic Press), p. 15.
20
This section I owe to Miscall.
21
Ibid., p. 15
41
Walter Brueggemann, an Old Testament scholar, in his recent commentary on Isaiah, calls
Isaiahs canonical method of treatment an open-ended theological interpretation. Each subsection
begins with a helpful geopolitical, historical, and theological summary, followed by running
commentary structured according to his outline. He generally assumes that historical contexts
and theological meaning of the texts are often only loosely linked, due to the perceived, rigorous
reshaping of the historical material.22
Stephen T. Hague stresses that the theological concerns of Isaiah take precedence over
geopolitical concerns, the most important of which is the theme of judgment and hope that that
judgment brings. It is also suggested that for us moderns, as in Isaiahs day, evils gone unnoticed
may lead to a supernatural swoop of nullification directly from heaven.23
Some modern themes that Bruggemann rightly suggests Isaiah contributes to include
consumerism, conspicuous consumption, the wanton exhibitionism of the wealthy, shameless
luxury, exploitation of the vulnerable and resourceless, covetous agribusiness of avaricious
landowners, self indulgence, injustice, urban decline, hypocrisy, militarism, social exploitation,
geopolitics of superpowers, and nuclear waste. He uses modern language well to describe biblical
realities: terrible againstness for Gods judgment, commodity fetishism for the spiritual
force of silver and gold that illustrates the self-deception that things can secure. In light of these
themes, Brueggemann often writes as a preacher or prophet himself. So, for example, concerning
the judgment announced in Isaiah 8, he says, We ourselves are now members of churches so
secularized that Isaiahs rhetoric sounds obscurantist, if we hear it at all.
Just scanning through selected verses of Isaiah 1 and 2, you will notice the strength of prophetic
conviction. Isaiah is not timid; he speaks with full prophetic conviction and imagination. (Read
selected verses: 1:11.13-17.21.23. and 2:3.4.7.10.19.)
As Michael Ignatieff in his highly acclaimed book The Needs of Strangers, points out in
commenting on Shakespeares King Lear, the test of human respect is in lifes hardest cases: not in
ones neighbor, friend or relation, but the babbling stranger, the foul and inconsistent inhabitant
of the back wards of the state hospitals, the Mongol child [the insane, the retarded, the deaf and
dumb, the crippled and deranged].24
c. The Role of the New Testaments Prophets

The role of the prophets in the New Testament was not very different from that in the Old
Testament. John the Baptist, whom Jesus called the greatest prophet of all times (Matt 11:9-11),
invited the people of Israel to repent and to produce good fruit (Matt 3:2-10). After querying
whether Jesus was the Messiah, he received a message from Jesus which he could understand,
appreciate, and identify with. Jesus said: Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The
blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are
22
Walter Brueggemann, Isaiah 1-39, Westminster Bible Companion 1. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1998)
23
Stephen T. Hague, Newville, PA 17241, Review of Walter Brueggemanns Isaiah 1-39, Westminster Bible Companion 1. Louisville:
Westminster John Knox, 1998.
24
Michael Ignatieff, The Needs of Strangers, (New York: Picador USA, 2001), p. 44.
42
by Zdravko Plantak
raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. (Luke 7:22b) This was a powerful testimony
to the true prophets concerns. There is little doubt that only a true prophet would recognize the
Messiah in such a description. That is why Jesus used this approach in explaining his mission to the
imprisoned prophet. Just imagine if we were representing Jesus our Lord to people here on earth,
and they came and ask, Is Seventh-day Adventism true representative of Christ? Are they true
prophets?, would people be able to respond about our mission in terms that Jesus responded
describing his work? Would people say about us, here are the people that have major evangelistic
net campaigns, or the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the
deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor?
John the Revelator was concerned about social as well as eschatological matters. Writing both
about and to the minority of Christians in a society that did not favor them a great deal, the writer
of the book of Revelation was concerned for their safety, their well-being and their rights, which
were being violated through persecution.25 (Rev 2:2. 9-10. 13. 21-22.; 12:1-7.; and 13:4. 15-16.) He
wrote about the new Jerusalem, which will be for the healing of the nations. But about this and other
aspects of the apocalyptic message we shall hear from Dr. Andreasen in his second lecture tomorrow
afternoon.
Jesus of Nazareth was greatly concerned with the social and economic justice of his time. In
his inaugural speech he came to proclaim freedom to the captives, to release the oppressed and to
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.26 However, Jesus did not only preach about issues of social
concern, he also practiced his social beliefs. St. Augustines famous quote came from the observation
of Jesus: Fill yourselves first and then only will you be able to give to others. (Read: Matthew 4:
23 and 15:30) To use words of Meredith Gould from her 2002 book, Deliberate Acts of Kindness,
Compassion, [which is] the awareness of another suffering, [was] a quality-of-[His]-being.27 He
proved through his ministry that virtually nobody was outside of his interest. And he demanded
nothing less from his followers. Even in the most famous of his eschatological discourses, when his
closest followers asked him when he would establish his parousia, Jesus not only answered in terms
of the outside events but also in terms of what his followers must do (Matt 24:1 - 25:46).
Parallel to proclaiming the gospel, the task of the church was to feed the hungry, give drink
to the thirsty, be hospitable to the stranger, clothe the poor, visit the prisoner, and look after
the sick. The social concern thus expressed was to be one of the primary tasks of the community
awaiting the final realization of the kingdom of Jesus or what we Adventists assume our role is as
the last prophetic community on earth. It is living in two kingdoms, here and now and not yet but
nevertheless very soon. Let me, for a few minutes elaborate on this point of Kingdom of God and our
Adventist theological understanding of it.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, most Christian scholars perceived the kingdom of God
as the present kingdom that Christians should work towards and make real on earth. Contrary to
that opinion, the early Seventh-day Adventists, to start with, meant by the Kingdom of God the
eschatological-apocalyptic kingdom established by God at the end of the millennium. Because of
Ellen White, this emphasis within Adventism shifted. Ellen White proposed the concepts of the
25
Cf. Rev 2:2. 9-10. 13. 21-22.; 12:1-7.; and 13:4. 15-16.
26
Luke 4:18-21. Cf. Karl Barth, Deliverance to the Captives, translated by Marguerite Wieser with Preface by John Marsh, (London:
SCM Press, 1961).
27
Meredith Gould, Deliberate Acts of Kindness: Service as a Spiritual Practice, (New York: Image Books/Doubleday, 2002), p. 13.
43
kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory which gave foundation for other Adventist thinkers
to develop the idea further. Initially in the 1950s with the movement of Adventists-towards-
evangelicalism, and especially in the 1980s with the new breed of Adventist theologians and
ethicists, Seventh-day Adventists experienced a new emphasis on a number of issues and doctrines,
including the kingdom of God. This time, the dual nature of the kingdom expressed as the two
phases or stages not only affected the theological discussion of the timing of the kingdom, but also
opened up a discussion about the moral and ethical effects of the kingdom of God. For the first
time the doctrine of the kingdom of God resulted in considerations of a socio-ethical nature. The
conclusion was that eschatology and ethics must go hand in hand.28
The ethical reasoning that springs from the concept of the kingdom of God must be taken very
seriously. There is no doubt that Jesus, both in the Synoptic gospels and in the Gospel of John,
reiterated the dual concept of the kingdom.29 While Jesus proclaimed that his kingdom would
come with power and glory after he had gone to the Father to prepare the place for his followers
in the eternal kingdom, and while he taught disciples to pray for this future kingdom to come and
instructed them to wait for him, Jesus also encouraged them to proclaim that this same kingdom
is at hand in their time, that it is within them, and that they need to make a personal commitment
in order to enter it.30 Jesus proclamation of the kingdom included serious ethical implications:
preaching the good news to the poor, proclaiming the freedom for the prisoners, healing the sick,
releasing the oppressed and proclaiming Gods favor (Lk 4:18-19).
Jesus ethical implications of the kingdom are expressed in the most explicit way in the Sermon
on the Mount. There, the inhabitants of the kingdom are the poor, those who mourn, the meek,
the hungry and thirsty for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the persecuted and the
peacemakers. These are the true salt and light of the world (Matt 5:1-16). In order to take the part
in the kingdom, Christians cannot just talk - they must do the will of my Father who is in heaven
(Matt 7:21). And, in such a way, Gods will was fully manifested in Jesus life - the unselfish life for
others in every moment of his earthly existence as he made himself nothing, taking the very nature
of a servant (Phil. 2:7).
Employing this kind of humility of Jesus, looking after the least of these brothers of mine,
helping our neighbor in need as the Samaritan had done is the true Christian response to the
message of the kingdom. Entering into the sphere of the kingdom of grace here and now is not only
a possibility for a Christian, it is the requirement. For, as Brunt pointed out, how can we possibly
be committed to the principles of Gods kingdom without showing now that we accept and live by
them?31
However, commitment to the principles of Gods kingdom here and now, does not take away
from the anticipation of the final fulfillment of the promises of the second phase of the same
kingdom when Jesus comes. Commonly described, the kingdom of glory is a biblical concept of the
28
John Brunt, Going About Our Daily Business, in Pilgrimage of Hope edited by Roy Branson, (1986), p. 28.
29
Although written at different times and with very different standpoints, Synoptics and John give us the ipsissima vox of Jesus sayings
on the Kingdom of God.
30
Cf. Mk 14:23.; Matt 24:30-31.; Matt 10:7; Lk 10:9.; Matt 25:34.46.; Lk 11:2.; Lk 17:21.; Jn 3:3.5.; Jn 14:1-3.
31
Brunt, Now and Not Yet: How Do people Waiting for the Second Coming Respond to Poverty, Lawsuits, Hunger, Political Oppression,
Sexuality, and Sin?, (Washington, D. C.: Review and Herald, 1987), p. 73.
32
Ibid., p. 16.
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by Zdravko Plantak
eschatological kingdom established by God in his own time, which nobody knows. Jesus command,
Occupy till I come has ethical implications for human rights in the world we live in. The command
gives Christians direction as well as a sense of belonging to the kingdom which was promised in the
Old Testament period, expected by Gods people of all ages, verified by the Incarnate God with
his sacrifice and the resurrection, and proclaimed and lived through by many faithful believers
throughout the centuries. For the contemporary Christian the eschatological vision of our future
hope actually contributes to the content or shape of our daily lives. It helps us see how we should
live responsibly here and now32 How we treat others in this world will not bring about the kingdom
of God, but it should prove that this kingdom is in our hearts, that we are the new creatures who
entered the sphere of the kingdom of grace and that we anticipate the fulfillment of promises of the
kingdom of glory in the near future.
Applications to a Modern Prophetic Community

In short, there are several different roles that the prophets in Jewish society were called upon to
fulfill. Most of the time Adventists concentrate on the prophets eschatological role.
However, in reality, this part of prophetic ministry was secondary to their role of calling
the people back to the God-given socio-economic and ethical principles enshrined in the Ten
Commandments and Jesus elaboration in Matt 5:17-48 and summary of them in Luke 10:27. As
a prophetic movement, which Seventh-day Adventists believe themselves to be to a greater or
lesser extent, the church should balance the proclamations about future events and eschatological
predictions with calling people back to God-given principles of socio-economic justice, Christian
ethics and human rights based on the moral law of the Old Testament and the explanation of it by the
greatest of all Jewish prophets, and founder of the Christian church - Jesus Christ. Not only that we
should proclaim and call to these principles but we should embody them in our existence. And thats
where ADRA, even though not exclusively ADRA (as our excuse), should find its proper and needed
place. As OMahony rightly observed: In biblical times justice needed a prophet. Today, as ever,
prophets are needed. From its very beginnings, the Christian community had a prophetic role.33
Seventh-day Adventists, as well as all other Christians, are called to fulfill this role in the modern
world.
In conclusion, I would like to bring to you a story that you all probably know well. Its a story
of what one recent commentator called a tangled tale of manna and quails, greed and prophecy.34
For the perspective that I would like to share with you I am indebted almost verbatim to Ellen Davis
from her 2001 book Getting Involved with God: Rediscovering the Old Testament.35
Israel has just left Sinai, moving through the desert like a great army on the march, and manna
is falling from heaven like dew for their daily rations. However, some of the people of Israel are
unimpressed by the bread of angels; the riffraff, as Moses calls them, demands God to serve
33
OMahony. The Fantasy of Human Rights (1978), p. 139.
34
Ellen Davis, Getting Involved with God: Rediscovering the Old Testament. (Cambridge, Boston, MA: Cowley Publications, 2001), p.
202.
35
Davis, Greed and Prophecy: Numbers 11, in Getting Involved with God: Rediscovering the Old Testament. (Cowley Publications,
2001), pp. 202-208.
45
them meat. Please notice that the key to this confusing story is the double answer to their craving
that they receive from God. First there is the angry answer. Davis paraphrases it not far from the
original in Numbers 11:20: You want meat? Ill give you meat; youll eat meat till it comes out your
nose! and God pours on the quails.
Now Gods second answer is even more extravagant and almost bizarre nevertheless more
kindly. God pours out prophecy a spirit of prophecy so abundant that clergy and laity alike start
speaking the Word of the Lord.
Unbridled greed and free-flowing prophecy the central message of this story lies in the
connection between those seeming incompatibles. This story is particularly pertinent to us living in
the 21st century and, I suppose to you who are on the cutting edge of dealing with poverty on one
hand and greed of nations on the other. You see, greed is the governing attitude of our world. Our
craving for more then enough is the deadly sin that is already wrecking havoc on a global scale.
Globalization of the world has meant that the greedy have more while there are many with total
insufficiencies that have no other option but to die or fight back with undignified means. If we take
scripture seriously, then we must believe that our greed, like Israels, puts us in danger of Gods
devastating and bitter anger. (Just look at verses 33 & 34.)
That some developed parts of the world and we who live in those (or those who live that way
wherever they find themselves) have much more then is needed, is indisputable. At no times in
history of the world have people lived so much beyond the level of subsistence as we do today, and
there is no doubt that the earth cannot indefinitely sustain the burden that our accustomed lifestyle
imposes on us.
Psalmist describes their problem in a poem (Ps 78:22-25)
because they had no faith in God,
and did not trust his saving power
[though] he had opened the doors of heaven.
He had rained upon them manna to eat;
The grain of heaven he had given them.
Mortals ate bread of angels,
He sent the food ENOUGH.
The psalmist goes directly to the heart of the matter: because they did not trust God, the
Israelites could not be satisfied, even with the bread of angels. Greed stems always from lack of
faith. We crave more then we need because we do not look to God to fill the emptiness we quite
accurately perceive in ourselvesFrantically and vainly we attempt to fill our emptiness with
food or drink or clothes or houses or cars or works of art with all the stuff that fills our shopping
centers or night markets and eventually our garages and rubbish bins to overflowing but does
not satisfy us, because it is not God. Greed is simple but deadly: it kills by a kind of spiritual
malnutrition. The psalmists, those brilliant spiritual diagnosticians, call it leanness in the soul (Ps
106:15).
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by Zdravko Plantak
In the biblical story, the Israelites greed quite literally kills them. When the meat they had
craved was still between their teeth, not yet chewed, they died and the place was called Graves of
Craving.
The great tragedy of Kivrot haTaavah is that Israel already had plenty; God sent them food
enough. Manna is the great biblical symbol of sufficiency. The grain of heaven fell nightly for 40
yrs to win the trust of the people and to teach them the discipline of sufficiency. In the morning they
would gather what they needed for that day and no more, for manna had no shelf life. Anyone who
took more then they needed or could use in a day ended up with a mess of maggots.
So manna was Israels training in the art of sufficiency. Being content with what is enough is not
just a matter of getting by, a strategy for survival in lean times until a better alternative presents
itself. Rather, sufficiency is one of the chief arts of the spiritual life, so that we come to see the
beauty of enough and actually prize it over too much.
And we do all this by treating our material desires always in the context of the needs of those
who will come after us in this world and those who live in other parts and are already Have Nots.
We make room for death by leaving the air and water as clean as we found them, by not taking
more then our share of resources that can be depleted in a few generation but take geological ages to
rebuild like oil, coal, or mineral deposits, or fertile soil. The motivation for voluntary simplicity is,
of course, a hunger for justice: when a few have far too much, many have too little.
This biblical story is deeply disturbing, but it also suggests an element of hope. You might
think how is this connected with the issue at hand the prophetic role and what we could learn
as a prophetic movement. Well, I hope you can see it as clearly as I. The hope here in Numbers
11 lies in Gods second extravagant answer to Israels greed, a spirit of prophecy that fills the
seventy officially appointed elders. Then the overflow of prophetic activity runs out into the camp
of ordinary Israelites, so that Eldad and Medad start speaking Gods truth. And when Joshua
complains that things are getting out of hand, Moses replies in verse 29.
So what is the connection between the greed and this overflow of prophecy? Well, the basic
function of prophets, I imagine here is to give a Gods eye view of its situation. So here at the Graves
of Craving, I imagine prophets were trying to reorient the people from craving for meat to gratitude
for manna. And what does this have to do with us? I sometimes think that ADRA has been a lonely
prophetic voice in the Adventist community calling us to more generous and giving spirit, to a
greater awareness and concern for the poor and disadvantaged, those Have Nots of society that
we so easily forget in our craving and greed. And, at times, I heard the rest of the church and maybe
some Joshuas among us come and say in a loud voice: Moses, my Lord, stop them! (Num 11:28)
But the right response must be of how Moses replies: I wish that ALL Gods people were prophets.
Give us more prophets, Lord.
As Ellen David put it in conclusion to the commentary on this passage: Another [important]
function of the biblical prophets is to speak on behalf of the poor: those people, generally invisible
to us, who suffer because of our selfishness. If we read the daily news in the light of their prophecy,
we will recognize with increasing clarity that our lifestyle extracts a price from people most of us will
never see in person, at least this side of the Resurrection. Third World countries have little to sell
on the global market but the bones of their land its minerals and forests and the cheap labor of
their people. They are exchanging short-term gain forever deepening long-term poverty as their land
is stripped and their water and air are polluted, in no small part by First World industries.
And Joshuas dare, in their ignorance, to come and complain Stop them, make them quite. We
47
should not be involved in such prophetic task. The Lord will come and take care of this problem. Stop them!
But the first model nabhi the prophet that all other prophets were modeled by responds: What, are you
jealous for me? Do you think that there is no space for me and for Eldad and Medad? Come on, Joshua, be real.
If only all Gods people were prophets! God give us more prophets in Adventism, with more moral prophetic
imagination daring to speak out for the poor.
48
Wisdom Tradition on Poverty
By
Zdravko Plantak
Religion Department, Columbia Union College
A. Introduction and Statistics

Topic of this morning is poverty in the light of Wisdom Literature - that is, biblical teaching
about poverty in Wisdom tradition and Christian responses and responsibilities in the light of what
we learn in biblical wisdom literature regarding poverty.
You know, one of the dangers of becoming a part of the church (I dont know if you have ever
thought that going to church or being a Christian could be dangerous), but one of the dangers of
becoming a member of a Christian community of believers is that we cut ourselves off from the world
outside. And in order to come together to worship God and meet other like-minded Christians, we
leave the world behind us. We are in danger of developing a kind of dualism between the church and
the world.1
We often come and do our Christian thinking in isolation from contemporary social reality.
Except that today it has been brought into our midst, so that we cannot forget it.
1. Double listening
Well, I am very anxious today that we wont do our thinking in isolation from the world. I
pray instead that we may open ourselves both to Gods word, on the one hand, and what God
has to say about the poverty, and to the appalling statistics of the world poverty on the other. It
should prove, if you like, a valuable exercise in, what I sometimes call in my teaching classes,
DOUBLE LISTENING. Listening, on one hand, to the voice of God as it comes down to us
through the Holy Scriptures; and listening, on the other hand, the voices of the modern world,
particularly as they come to us not only through the cries and sighs of the oppressed but also
through the official statistical reports of the official departments of the United Nations.
We listen to God.
1
Consider, for example, Martin Luthers concept of two kingdoms.
49
We listen to the United Nations. What a strange thing to do. Not at all! We need to relate
the ancient Word to the modern world. We need to listen to both in order to understand and
make our response appropriate.
2. Statistical challenge2
So, I begin with a few statistics. Its very difficult to take in statistics. I know that myself.
I often switch off when other people begin some numerical statements. Please dont. Try
and absorb this what I am going to say now. More then 1,000 million people in the world,
approximately 1/5 (one fifth) of the world population,3 live in ABSOLUTE or ABJECT poverty.
And those words mean that they lack basic necessities for survival. This means that one fifth of
the world is going to bed hungry every night. Its a statistic worth remembering when we eat our
large Sabbath meals.
Here is another: one third of all the children in the developing world are undernourished.
And another: one fifth of human population own (4/5) four fifths of the worlds wealth which
is the indication of the economic imbalance in the world today. As one author put it recently,
How can we comprehend the moral implications of a world in which Nike pays Michael Jordan
more to appear in its ads than it pays all the workers at its Indonesian shoe factories combined?
Today the five hundred richest people on the planet control more wealth than the bottom three
billion, half of the human population. Is it possible even to grasp the process that led to this
most extraordinary imbalance?4
Here is another: less then 50% of the population of the developing world are literate. Less
then 50 %. Over 80% are literate in the industrialized nations - less then 50% in the developing
world.5
Or take access to clean safe water, for example.6 Thats not luxury, is it? We turn our taps,
or forceps, and out comes clean, fresh, cool water on the mains. Only 50% of the developing
world have access to clean and safe water. So, you see, the imbalance is startling in these
statistics of world poverty.
Now, its in the light of these statistics that you and I are going to turn to Scripture for help.
How are we to think about poverty and the poor in the light of these appalling statistics? Because
we must face them. I want to be frank with you this afternoon and to tell you that I myself am
very troubled by the standard reactions which are given by many Adventist Christians when
2
See some of the identified challenges of the United Nations on world poverty and issues raised by data gathering and evaluating in the
Working Group on International Statistical Programmes and Coordination, Eight Session, New York, 16-19 April 1996, Social Statistics:
Follow-up to the World Summity for Social Development - Report of the Expert Group on the Statistical Implications of Recent Major
United Nations Conferences, as found in http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/social/xgrp2.htm.
3
World population estimated by the United Nations is at approximately 6,211 million in 2002. See in http://unstats.un.org/unsd/seriesa/
introduction.asp.
4
Paul Rogat Loeb, Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in a Cynical Time, (New York: St. Martins Griffin, 1999), p. 3.
5
See statistics country by country in http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/social/literacy.htm.
6
See, for example, World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), Global Water Supply and
Sanitation Assessment 2000 Report. Reprinted report is found in http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/social/watsan.htm.
50
by Zdravko Plantak
they are faced with poverty statistics like these. It is not only a reaction of Adventist Christians
but also of many other Bible believing Christians in the western world today. Seventh-day
Adventist people are meant to be the most biblical people among Christians world-wide. We
believe in the Bible, we say we submit to the authority of the Bible. Well, maybe we do most of
the time. But, I venture to say, not in this case. There are many Bible-believing Christians who
deviate from teaching of God in the Holy Scripture in this matter of facing world poverty.
B. Two common objections against being concerned with the poor

1. The poor are lazy
I want to ask you to consider, in my introduction really, two of the commonest objections
which some Adventists raise against concerning themselves with the poor in order to pacify their
conscience and invade their responsibilities. I am almost embarrassed to tell you what they are.
But here is the first: the poor are lazy. Their plight is mainly their own fault. Help them,
and youll only increase their dependence. Let them give up scrounging and stand up on their
own two feet. I hear that from my brothers and sisters (mostly in the Western World). And
it makes me angry. I hope it makes us all angry; angry with Christian anger. I correct many
papers in ethics classes both in the traditional program at Columbia Union College as well as
through Griggs University, where students express themselves in a very negative way about the
poor. They call them thugs and suggest that it is absolutely their fault why they are in such a
predicament. When I ask a question in the class Are we in the West in any way responsible for
the poverty in the world? or Do we have any responsibility to the starving people in the third
world?, students often stare at me with disbelief and say that they do not understand what I
mean. Are we our brothers keepers? Why would we even ask such questions? Of course that
we have nothing to do with the starving millions on the other side of the world, they imply.
Now, lets think carefully. The Bible in the Wisdom literature, realistic book that it is,
concedes that there is a small minority of people who are lazy. If you read the book of Proverbs,
youll be introduced to a vivid picture of the people who are known as sluggards. And the
sluggards sleep when they ought to be working, and they are told to go to the ants in order to
learn wisdom and industry. Its true that Bible admits that there is a small minority of people
who are lazy. The Bible also teaches that dependence is a dangerous thing and that it is usually a
mark of immaturity. And therefore, better then dependence is independence or, the best of all,
interdependence. The Bible teaches both of those things. But the same Bible goes on to insist that
the great majority of the poor are not scroungers on other peoples charity but victims of other
peoples injustice. There is a great deal about INJUSTICE in the Bible. Our responsibility is not
to condemn the poor, except that small minority, but to support them.
2. The poor are a perennial and insoluble problem.
My second embarrassing excuse that is sometimes uttered is following: Well, the poor are
a perennial and insoluble problem. And since the problem cant be solved, why try to solve it.
Why, objectors go, even Jesus taught that. The poor you always have with you!, he said.
(Mark 14:7.)
51
a. There should not be poor, because poverty is not Gods will
Yeah, I know that verse and its reference. I hope that talk angers you as well. It is very
easy to twist and manipulate Scripture by quoting it out of its context. Jesus did say the
poor you always have with you. But did you know this: he was quoting from Deuteronomy
15. And have you recently looked at Deuteronomy 15. This is the only context in which to
understand what Jesus said. There are two important references to the poor in Deuteronomy
15. One is this, verse 11: There will always be poor in the land. Yes, thats what Jesus
quoted. But seven verses earlier, in verse 4, we read in Deuteronomy 15, there should be
NO poor among you! - because of the provision of resources that God made in the world to
feed the poor and the hungry.
b. There will continue to be poor, because of the continuance of human injustice
So, how can we reconcile these two verses? One says, There will be poor, the other
says, there should not be poor. How do you bring together the will-be and the should-
not be? Well, there is only one way to reconcile them: THERE SHOULD NOT BE POOR,
because poverty is not Gods will THERE WILL CONTINUE TO BE POOR, because of
the continuance of human injustice. Its the will of God that says that should not be any
poor; it is the injustice of human beings that says there will continue to be poor. This is
the only way you could reconcile those two verses. Continuing existence of poverty in the
world is stated in Deuteronomy 15 not as an excuse for inaction, but as an argument for
generosity.
c. Deuteronomy points to the Sabbatical principle
Deuteronomy 15, moreover, points to the Sabbatical Year principle that Adventists in
general and ADRA in particular should uplift regularly. As a Sabbath believing Christians
we should make much more use of the Sabbatical year and what that means in terms of the
weekly cycle of Sabbaths that we utilize in our name and in our reason for existence. Allow
me to elaborate what I mean by this statement and to look at our Sabbath doctrine from
the point of view of the poor and disadvantaged. And for this, I shall utilize several of our
contemporary Adventist scholars.
Sakae Kubo was among the first to point to the meaning of the Sabbath observance and
its relationship to our practical Christian life.7 He raised several points worth noting.
Using Philos expression that the Sabbath is the birthday of the world and consequently
a festival, not of a single city or country, but of the universe,8 Kubo points to the
universality of the Sabbath. And the universal Sabbath makes no distinction among people.
7
Sakae Kubo, God Meets Man: A Theology of the Sabbath and Second Coming, (Nashville, Tennessee: Southern Publishing Association,
1978), p. 7.)
8
Philo, On the Creation, XXX, as cited in Kubo, (1978), p. 19.
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by Zdravko Plantak
Instead it makes all people equal before God.
Gods presence is not limited to any special place or country, building or people. God
selected nothing within space to be his medium through which he could be in contact with
his created beings.9 Indeed, if he had appointed a place or a building to be his holy special
place, this would have favored only people living nearby. Instead, God chose a segment of
time to come closer to people. Time is universal, and therefore no person stands in a place
of advantage. With time all are equal. The Sabbath becomes a worldwide blessing.10 And
if people worldwide are equal because of their equal access to the Sabbath rest, God points
towards the ideal social structure in which all human beings share the same status regardless
of their origin, economic status or gender. The Sabbath, in such a way, presumes human
rights, and promotes them on a regular weekly basis in a very powerful and meaningful way.
But the Sabbath doctrine does not involve only the Sabbath day; it concerns the other
six days of the week as well. The atmosphere and the principles of the Sabbath will not only
extend beyond the worship service to the dinner table and the living room11 on the seventh
day, but they would also become a part of the Sabbath attitude which ought to be practiced
throughout the week. In the words of Jack Provonsha,
True Sabbathkeeping touches the whole of life. The Sabbath sanctifies the week.
One cannot be dishonest on Monday and truly keep the Sabbath, because the
Sabbathkeeping is essentially a posture toward God that is not a one-day-in-seven kind
of activity.12
The concern for other people which the Christian should have on the Sabbath must
be extended to a way of life which the Christian should exercise daily. The Sabbatical
concern, which extends from the weekly Sabbaths to Sabbatical years also, was to teach the
Jews about the needs of the less fortunate, the poor, the widows and the orphans.13 In the
similar way, Christians should develop a greater Sabbatical conscience for the poor, the
unfortunate, the unemployed, and the powerless whose basic human rights are denied.
Jesus is again the supreme example of the way how God desired to have fellowship with
man and how he intended the Sabbath to bring meaning to the worshipping community.
As the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28), Jesus took pains to clarify the true meaning
of the Sabbath. At the time of Jesus, the Sabbath had become a legalistic exercise of self-
righteousness on behalf of different groups of believers who wanted to prove their perfection.
Jesus, however, pointed out to the almost forgotten humanitarian function of the fourth
commandment. As Bacchiocchi rightly notes,
To counteract prevailing legal interpretations which restricted humanitarian service
9
Jack Provonsha illustrates this point by the use of a black rock in the midst of the garden as an inadequate sign for human beings in A
Remnant in Crisis, (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 1993), p. 86.
10
Kubo, (1978), p.28.
11
Ibid., p. 27.
12
Provonsha, (1993), p. 87.
13
Ex 35:12-33.
53
on the Sabbath to emergency situations only, Jesus intentionally ministered on this day
to persons who were not critically but chronically ill.14
In such a way Jesus pressed the Sabbath into salvation history, making it a day intended
for the benefit of humankind (Mark 2:27).
The Sabbath points to equality among all human beings. It is a memorial to God the
Creator. Remembering weekly that God is our Creator, and that all human beings are only
creatures among whom the differences are really non-essential, should encourage Sabbath
observers to accept and respect others regardless of their occupation, ethnic or economic
background or educational level. Richard Rice observed that on the Sabbath day,
...differences of occupation and education lose their significance. We realize that

what we have in common before the Lord is more important than the various structures
that distinguish us during the week, so we can associate with each other as equals and
enjoy each others company as brothers and sisters in Christ.15
Rice extends his idea a step further when he asserts that the basic concept of the
Sabbath must bring forth the idea of freedom. After all, claims Rice, the Sabbath is a day
of freedom, and as such, the freedom from labor means freedom from bondage to other
people. According to the fourth commandment, servants are not to work on the Sabbath.
Since no one is subordinate to another on Sabbath, each person stands before God in his
individual identity and dignity.16
So the Sabbath becomes the true means of liberation for humanity. It celebrates Gods
merciful act of liberation and deliverance from the bondage of Egypt (Deut 5:15) but it also
points to the ultimate liberation from sin and all its consequences which Jesus proclaimed
and exercised both on the Sabbath and at all other times (Luke 4:18; 13:16).
Also, as Charles Bradford remarks in his treatise on The Sabbath and Liberation, the
Sabbath lay at the very heart of the first great freedom movement. Moses delivered Gods
message to Pharaoh: The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my
people go, so that they may worship me (Ex 7:16). This was a direct appeal to Pharaoh to
allow the enslaved people to observe the Sabbath rest. Later, God re-established the Sabbath
as a sign of their liberation (Deuteronomy 5:15).
However, Bradford continues, this arrangement was to be permanent because Sabbath

rest and Sabbath observance have something to do with human dignity and freedom. Yahweh
never intended for one human being to tyrannize another, or for one nation to subjugate
another nation.17
Bradford calls Isaiahs description of the Sabbatical attitude in Isaiah 56:1-7, Yahwehs
manifesto, or Gods sign of freedom, independence and liberation.18 And Yahwehs
14
Samuel Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest for Human Restlessness: A Theological Study of the Good News of the Sabbath for Today, (Rome: The
Pontifical Gregorian University Press, 1980), pp. 194-195.
15
Richard Rice, The Reign of God, (Michigan: Andrews University Press, 1985), p. 370.
16
Ibid.
17
Charles E. Bradford, The Sabbath and Liberation: With the Sabbath, No One Can Keep Us Down, in Anchor Points, (Hagerstown,
MD: Review and Herald, 1993), p. 28.
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by Zdravko Plantak
manifesto is relevant and applicable to the whole human family, especially to the outcasts
- the poor, the powerless, foreigners (e.g. refugees) and eunuchs (politically and economically
impotent). Bradford adds that The Sabbath is a sign in perpetuity and a constant reminder
of the relationships that exist between human beings and their God and between human
beings and their fellow humans - their brothers and sisters.19
Bradford, as a black Seventh-day Adventist, identifies with the theme of liberation

taken up by African-American and Third World theologians. He understands that they are
closer to those parts of the world where the misery index is highest, and why they remind
us that God is on the side of the poor, and as a result why they send out a ringing call for
justice and equality.20 But Bradford cannot accommodate the idea of calling exclusively
for secular, political solutions to human problems. In this respect Bradford sees liberation
theology as not sufficiently radical - radical, in Bradfords definition meaning getting at the
root of a matter. He remarks:
Political solutions are not the final end. They cannot possibly get to the root of the
human dilemma - sin, rebellion against God. Political revolutions only throw out one
group of robbers to be succeeded by another gang.21
However, continues Bradford, there is an authentic theology of liberation which Jesus

came to preach. It was Jesus who promised freedom to the nations - total freedom. His
inaugural message is both radical and revolutionary. And, in the words of Bradford, Jesuss
message makes the Sabbath the sign of liberation and independence. Ultimately, Bradford
concludes, God is for freedom, liberty, dignity, and for the empowerment of all people.
Hence, now is the time for all people to make Gods sign of liberation their banner.22
Kubo similarly believes that the theme of freedom not only reminds us of our deliverance
and liberation, but it commands us to extend the blessing to those under oppression or
servitude.23 It is not enough to enjoy ones own benefits of redemption. One must also work
with God in bringing liberty to the captives, and recovering the sight of the blind, to set at
liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4:18).
Kubo rightly judges that:
Sabbath observance has integral social and humanitarian aspects that we dare
not forget. The Sabbath as sign of redemption points in two directions - to our own
redemption and to that of the oppressed. We must bring rest to those who live in
servitude.24
18
Ibid., pp. 29.31.
19
Ibid., p. 28.
20
Ibid., p. 30.
21
Ibid.
22
Ibid., pp. 31. 32.
23
Kubo, (1978), p. 46. Cf. Sakae Kubo, The Experience of Liberation, in Festival of the Sabbath, edited by Roy Branson, (Takoma
Park: Association of Adventist Forums, 1986), pp. 43-54.
24
Ibid.
55
d. Sabbatical Year and the Year of Jubilee
Coming back to the text in Deuteronomy 15, we find that the extensions of the weekly
Sabbath idea applies to the sabbatical year and the year of jubilee emphasizes almost
exclusively humanitarian aspects. From a week of days to a week of years Gods desire
for the poor and the oppressed to be liberated is the prime concern of the true Sabbath
principle (Ex 23:11 and Lev 25:10). The idea of the land resting (lying unploughed and
unused) on the seventh year focuses on the concern for the poor, the slave, the underdog,
as well as the rights which go beyond mere human rights and, again to those of you who
are environmentalists, I believe that this suggests certain environmental rights that we as a
community should be much more vocal about. This is one of the areas of ADRAs work in the
future which we must not remain silent about, both in the West where we have much to offer
as an NGO to our own local states and governments, but also in the developing world which
tremendously struggles with the issues and effects of the environmental rape.
If one truly observes the Sabbath, one cannot remain satisfied only with ones own
redemption, restoration and liberation. One must show concern for ones neighbor and our
common earth not only spiritually but also physically - and the Sabbath provides adequate
opportunity for this.
As a day of freedom, the Sabbath has important social implications. As Rice rightly
concludes,
It attaches such value to human beings that no person can ever be merely the
property of another. A real appreciation for the Sabbath would therefore make slavery
impossible. The Sabbath speaks against every practice that deprives human beings
of their sense of worth and dignity. Oppressive economic and social structures, which
make it impossible for people to provide for themselves, contradict the message of the
Sabbath. Those who appreciate the meaning of the Sabbath will seek to eliminate such
things.25
Seventh-day Adventists should be among the first to advance the ideas of justice,
equality and freedom among all people within as well as outside of their community. If
they fail to do that, the letter of the law would be observed but the spirit of the Sabbath-
commandment would be totally lost.
Back to Wisdom Literature.26 I want to bring to you three verses (three little known
verses) from that Wisdom collection called Proverbs. These are just exemplary verses from
the Wisdom Tradition. This is not an exhaustive study of every verse on poverty from every
book of wisdom sayings in the Bible. We looked yesterday morning at Jesus and the Gospels.
There are many who include the sayings of Jesus into the greatest Wisdom Tradition. So,
what we are going to do, as we look at the book of Proverbs, is a natural continuation of
what the followers of Jesus, illuminated by the Christ event and His teachings, would do.
Jesus depended on the Wisdom Tradition of the Jewish Scriptures. He read and often
quoted some of the most outstanding of his sayings from the Old Testament. For example,
25
Rice, Reign of God, (Michigan: Andrews University Press, 1985)
26
For the choice of these three proverbs and partial structure I am indebted to John Stott.
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by Zdravko Plantak
the great (so called) Nazareth manifesto, in which Jesus outlined his mission and purpose,
namely that he came to preach and realize freedom to the prisoners, and the good news to
the poor, and to bring the acceptable area of the Lord was a text from the Old Testament. So.
We naturally proceed from the founder of our Christian community, Jesus, the great wisdom
teacher and the Word or Logos of the New Testament, to what is a description of Jesus in
the personalized word WISDOM in the Old Testament. God is Wisdom and Gods ideas and
desires are characterized as Wisdom.
So, I want to bring to you three verses from the Wisdom Literature, namely from the
book of Proverbs. There are other texts that we could have chosen: Psalms have much to
say on the subject, for example. Just think of Psalm 14:6: You evildoers frustrate the plans
of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge or Ps 140:12 which says I know that the LORD
secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy. Indeed we could and maybe
should take Psalm 82 as a whole and study it in our groups later on to see what implications
it might have on our discussion of the ADRAs role as a great representative text of the
Wisdom Literature.
Then we could have consulted Job 30:24 & 25, Surely no one lays a hand on a broken
man when he cries for help in his distress. Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my
soul grieved for the poor? Or Job 34:19: show no partiality to princes and do not favor the
rich over the poor, for they are all the work of his hands?
C. The Biblical Profile of the Poor in the Wisdom Tradition
But these three from the Book of Proverbs are just as good and exemplary verses from the
Wisdom Tradition as we could get. It would not surprise me if all three were unknown to quite
a number of people, and that is why I am choosing them for today. I am almost sure that one or
two of these three are unknown. And together these three verses give us, what Id like to call, the
biblical profile of the poor. If you prefer it, the biblical portrait of the poor in wisdom seeking (or
philosophical) tradition; that is to say, how we ought to think of the poor. These three verse give us
not only the biblical profile of the poor but they give us all the motivation that we need to take our
responsibilities to the poor seriously.
1. Proverbs 14:31. - The poor are human beings created by God in His own image
and therefore we must respect and serve them.
Do you have your Bibles ready? Because there are three different proverbs that dont come
together except that they are all in the book Proverbs. Proverbs for the poor. The first is in
the chapter 14 and verse 31. (Prov 14:31) [he who or whoever - oppresses the poor shows
contempt for their maker, but whoever is kind to the needy, honors God.]
Striking, isnt it? We must never think about the poor without thinking about God who is the
Maker of the poor. Because our attitude to the poor is reflected in our attitude to God and, at the
same time, our attitude towards God is reflected in our attitude to the poor. And if we think of
the poor in relation to thinking about God, it will revolutionize our understanding and attitude
to the poor.
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Look at Proverbs 22:2 Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of
them all. Job also said it well in Job 34:19 the rich [and] the poor are all the work of his
hands?
a. God is their maker
We have to learn to look beyond the poor, behind the poor, to the God who created
them . Oh, that does not mean that God created their poverty. That does not mean that
God is responsible for their poverty. No! It simply means that the poor, because they were
created as human beings by God, have an intrinsic value and an intrinsic dignity that is our
responsibility to recognize. They have this dignity because God made them. And implicit
rather then explicit, he made them in his image and his likeness. The poor are God-like
human beings. That is way we have to respect them. To oppress the poor is to despise God!
To honor the poor is to honor God!. I think that should be enough to change Adventists
attitude to the poor! And Proverbs really repeat this verse again in 17:5a He who mocks
the poor shows contempt for their Maker.
b. Fatherhood implies brotherhood
Here is another implication from the same text. The same God who made them, made
us. That is to say , we share the same Creator. We are equal bearers of the divine image.
Some Adventist Christians echo Cains question: Am I my brothers keeper?, expecting the
answer to be, No, I am not! But the correct answer to Cains question is, Yes, we are!
Ah, but the poor are not my brothers and sisters in Christ, some go on to say. On
the contrary, many of them are. Large numbers of the poor are Christian men and women,
our sisters and brothers in the family of Christ. And the rest may not be our brothers and
sisters in redemption terms but they are our brothers and sisters in creation terms. I was in
Athens two days ago. And when I took 20 or so of Columbia Union College students to the
Mars Hill we read from Act chapter 17. And I was reminded what Paul meant talking to the
philosophers in Athens, when he spoke (in verse 28) of us being all Gods children, God
offspring. He used a special word. He meant that God is the Creator rather then intimate
Father of all. We are his offspring, so we are brothers and sisters, we are related to one
another we have responsibility to the poor on that account.
In a painfully graphic way, Dutch theologian Kornelis Miskotte demonstrates the

religious significance of the poor: The poor man is the real neighbor; the way in which
he stands, or rather lies, in his life has something to do with the nature of the fear of God
itself! The poor man is above all the figure in whom the neighbor meets me, as it were, in
classical form, as a test case. The book of Proverbs bears witness to this.27 As Davis put it,
The neighborly act of the poor towards us who are rich by comparison is literally to lie in
our way as we go about our business.28
27
Kornelis Miskotte, When the Gods Are Silent, (London: William Collins, 1967 [dutch original 1956], pp. 249-250.
28
Ellen F. Davis, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000), p. 94.
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by Zdravko Plantak
Through the poor, the creator of heaven and earth becomes vulnerable to our
contempt! Likewise, in them God waits to be honored. The Gospel parable of the sheep and
the goats (Matt 25:31-46)29 develops this insight: Just as you did it [or did not do it] to one
of the least of these, you did it [or did not do it] to me. Thus we learn that righteousness is
not a matter of conformity to some objective code of behavior. Rather, it is finally a matter of
how we treat God, who is directly on the receiving end of our action, both good and evil.30
The problem people face is when they deal with large issues and concepts and not with
individuals. They say they love humanity but cant stand individual people. And this has
been the greatest problem of all time. For anyone to be able to show cruelty to other beings
must firstly dehumanize them. And that was the often if not always in history of torture and
cruelty to other human beings. Adam Smith, in his Theory of Moral Sentiments, understood
this point some two hundred years ago with precision: If he were to lose his little finger to-
morrow, he says, he would not sleep to-night.. But, provided he never saw them, he will
snore with the most profound security over the ruin of a hundred millions of his brethren,
and the destruction of that immense multitude seems plainly an object less interesting to him,
than this paltry misfortune of his own.31
And two centuries later, Primo Levi described it by his encounter when being interviewed
by Dr. Pannwitz, chief of the chemical department at Auschwitz. Securing a place in the
department was a matter of life and death: if Levi could convince Pannwitz that he was a
competent chemist, he might be spared the gas chamber. As Levi stood on one side of the
doctors desk, in his concentration camp uniform, Dr. Pannwitz stared up at him.32 As Levi
recalls:
That look was not one between two men: and if I had known how completely
to explain the nature of that look, which came as if across the glass window of an
acquirium between two beings who live in different worlds, I would also have explained
the essence of the great insanity of the third German [reich].33
In another book Levi reflects on this event and concludes: If we were able to suffer
the sufferings of everyone, we could not live. Perhaps the dreadful gift of pity for many is
granted only to saints. and to all of us there remains in the best of cases, only the sporadic
pity addressed to the single individual, the Mit-mensch, the co-man: the human being of flesh
and blood standing before us, within the reach of our providentially myopic senses.34
As Jesus said, Just as you did it [or did not do it] to one of the least of these, you did
it [or did not do it] to me. We must express, in Valenzas term, our SOLIDARNOST, or
our solidarity with the poor and the abused. But first we must get to know them, personalize
them and learn about their humanity. In Jesus concept whatever we do must be as if it is
29
Matthew 25 being a great example of the New Testament chapter of the wisdom tradition.
30
Davis, (2000), p. 95.
31
Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments, ed. A. L. Macfie and D. D. Raphael (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), p. 3 [3.4], 136-137.
32
Michael Ignatieff, Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry, (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2001), p. 3.
33
Primo Levi, If This Is a Man, tran. Stuart Woolf (London: Abacus, 1987), pp. 111-112.
34
Primo Levi, The Drowned and the Saved, trans. From the Italian by Raymond Rosenthal, (New York: Summit Books, 1988), pp. 56-
57.
59
done to one of the least of these human brothers. And in doing so, we will honor their
maker. That is the first thing.
2. Proverbs 29:7. - the poor are human beings with human rights; therefore we
must seek justice for the poor specially the equal opportunity
Now, we are ready for the second proverb. Proverbs 29:7. This is the one , I think, many
would not have come across, and I want to urge you to learn it by heart. (Prov 29:7 The
righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.)
a. Justice and equality
It is worth reading it again: The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the
wicked have no such concern. So, here is an addition to the biblical profile of the poor.
First, they are human beings with human dignity because they were made in the image of
God. Secondly, they are human beings with human rights. Because, JUSTICE is about
HUMAN RIGHTS. It is not just sympathy that the poor need, it is justice as well. And how
are we to understand justice for the poor?
When Paul was faced with poverty crisis of the Jerusalem community he urged the more
well off of the church in Corinth (in 2 Corinthians 8) Our desire is not that other people
would be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there may be EQUALITY. And,
then Paul goes on, at the present time, your plenty will supply their need, so that in later
time, their plenty would supply your need, so that there will be EQUALITY. Twice he
mentions equality.
Do you know that the Greek word, ISOTEIS, which is used there for equality, can
also mean justice or fairness. Justice demands certain degree of equality. And what is
meant by this equality that justice demands? Please think very carefully with me now. Our
goal, if we are seeking justice for the poor, is not what is commonly called, egalitarianism.
Egalitarianism is a drub, colorless uniformity. Recently I had an opportunity with 35
American philosophers to spend almost two weeks in Peoples Republic of China. We visited
9 largest and most important universities in four cities and met with our counterparts,
professors and academics in the field of philosophy. The most striking thing at some
of these universities were statues of Chairman Mao Tsetung. And we were reminded of
Chairman Maos cultural revolution through which he attempted a communist version
of egalitarianism. All people to look the same, to dress in the identical clothes, live in the
exactly the same type of house, equipped with identical furniture, and, most importantly,
to think the same. But modern China proves that Chairman Mao failed to a large extent.
Well, thats egalitarianism and it is drub, colorless uniformity, and it is not what is meant
by biblical equality. We know that because God the Creator is not egalitarian. To be sure,
God made us equal in dignity, equal in value. But God did not make us equal in gifts. Some
people he makes more intelligent then others, some more handsome then others, some are
more healthy then others, some are tall, some are thin, and some are not. Hes made us all
different. And our doctrine of creation is of an equality of value with a diversity of gifts.
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by Zdravko Plantak
So, then, what is the equality that biblical justice demands? Its not equality of
everything. Its equality, particularly, in opportunity. Christian women and men should be in
forefront of those who are demanding equality of opportunity for everybody throughout the
world. That means the equal chance to hear the gospel. Isnt that a form of justice? We want
everybody to hear the good news, and everybody to have a chance to respond to the gospel.
We want equal chance to have access to the good earth. God created the planet earth
for all its inhabitants. Not just for a few of them. And the resources of the earth of which
he made us stewards are meant for everybody. This must speak loudly to those who are
interested in environmental issues and in protecting the mother earth so that all people have
equal access to the womb of the earth.
Then there is an equal chance to enjoy the healthcare and food and water with the
rights to subsistence.35 And, above all, an equality of an educational opportunity. You know
that the great value of education is that it helps the young people to develop their human
potential. It draws out what God had made them in order for them to become fully what he
has made them to be. Educational opportunity. Again, Adventist Christian should be in the
very forefront of demanding education. But you heard me say that more then 50% in the
third world are illiterate. They never had an opportunity to learn to read and write, let alone
to develop their full potential as human beings. I believe that ADRA should look seriously
at this aspect of human development which could be labeled educational. And that is why
I strongly believe that ADRA needs to explore ways how to cooperate more closely with our
Adventist and non-Adventist agencies, especially educational and health institutions. There
is too much compartmentalizing in much of our work. And there should be much more of
getting heads together and dreaming or imagining, as true prophets do the way I described it
yesterday afternoon, imagining cooperation and support of these entities.
b. Care and Concern
Come back with me to Proverbs 29 justice for the poor. Verse 7: Notice the righteous
care. The righteous are caring people, but the wicked have no such concern. Did you
notice these words: CARE and CONCERN. They are words that belong to the vocabulary
of love. It is love that cares, and it is love that is concerned. And that teaches me that Love
and Justice, which are very often put in the anti-thesis to one another, belong to one another.
Love and justice are not alternatives. Love seeks justice for the oppressed. We need to care,
to be concerned.
c. Righteous and Wicked
Then there is another thing before I leave Proverbs 29:7 and that is the reference to
the righteous and to the wicked. The Old Testament wisdom literature, the five books of
wisdom: Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon, has a lot to say about
35
See this argument well developed in Amy Gutmann, Introduction, in Michael Ignatieff, Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry,
(Princeton and Oxford, Princeton University Press, 2001), pp. VII-XII.
61
the righteous and the wicked. They set the righteous and the wicked in the contrast to one
another. They say that righteous set God always before them, the wicked neglect God and
dont think about God at all. The righteous meditate in the word of the Lord, the wicked
neglect the word of God. The righteous obey the law, the wicked disobey the law. So, we have
this contrast.
In your understanding of what it means to be righteous and wicked, have you ever
included verse 7 of Proverbs 29? Here is a mark of the righteous that we forget. And the
mark of the wicked that we forget. The righteous care about justice for the poor. The
wicked have no such concern. Not to care about the poor is to be numbered among the
wicked. Does this not speak volumes about ADRA and the Seventh-day Adventist attitudes
towards the welfare and education and care and concern for the poor of the world? Do we
as a community desire to be counted among the wicked by ignoring the plight of the poor
and downtrodden and disadvantaged, I sometimes ask myself? At times there are those who
object for whatever reason to the churchs humanitarian work. Whether they find objections
in the idea of the soon second coming and, therefore, that God will take care of all these
things, or the priority of evangelism which excludes work for the subsistence, I wonder if
these objectors know that not caring for the poor is to be counted among the wicked, and
that showing genuine and practical concern for the poor is the description of the righteous.
It almost sounds like the wisdom of Jesus in that Matthew 25 parable of the foolish and
wise virgins. If we as a community of the faithful believers strive for righteousness and do
not want to be numbered among the wicked, our duty is not only to tell the world about the
hope that our belief in the second coming initiates, but also what that means here and now
in-between Christs first and his next appearing. Jesus command, Occupy till I come has
ethical implications for human rights in the world we live in. The command gives Christians
direction as well as a sense of belonging to the kingdom which was promised in the Old
Testament period, expected by Gods people of all ages, verified by the Incarnate God
with his sacrifice and the resurrection, and proclaimed and lived through by many faithful
believers throughout the centuries. For the contemporary Christian the eschatological
vision of our future hope actually contributes to the content or shape of our daily lives.
It helps us see how we should live responsibly here and now. How we treat others in this
world will not bring about the kingdom of God, but it should prove that this kingdom is in
our hearts, that we are the new creatures who entered the sphere of the kingdom of grace
and that we anticipate the fulfillment of promises of the kingdom of glory in the near future.
We come back to our text in Proverbs. Here is a mark of the righteous and the mark
of the wicked that we often forget. The righteous care about justice for the poor while the
wicked have no such concern. Not to care about the poor is to be numbered among the
wicked.
I just wonder if there may be people who come to worship to Seventh-day Adventist
churches throughout the world, who are in need of making an extraordinary discovery
that, despite the fact that they thought they were righteous, they might have been wicked
in terms of Proverbs 29? And all because they do not care about the poor. Lets take this
to heart, its serious. The righteous care about the poor, but the wicked have no such
concern. Many of our people may need to revise their understanding of the categories of the
righteousness and the wickedness, and re-evaluate where they belong.
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by Zdravko Plantak
3. Proverbs 31:8. - the poor are powerless and voiceless; therefore, we must speak
up for the voiceless and defend the powerless
This brings me to the third verse. Two chapters further on, in chapter 31, and verse 8. The
verses of chapter 31 are said to be teachings of the King Lamuel, but he says that he learned this
wisdom from his mother. He talks about moral self-control and comes to verse 8 where he says:
Speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves. Speak up, and judge fairly; defend the
rights of the poor and of the needy.
Here is the third feature in the biblical portrait of the poor, namely that the poor are
powerless, and voiceless! You know, in the biblical understanding of the poverty, as one goes
right through the Old Testament particularly, poverty and powerlessness are closely related
to one another. Governor of New York, Alfred E. Smith, put it succinctly in his NY State
Legislature when he said: The great curse in poverty lies in the utter helplessness that goes with
it.36
The worst plight of the poor is not so much inability to survive, but they lack the ability
themselves to change their situation. Consequently , it is the duty of those who are neither poor
nor powerless to speak up for those who are. This is what God tells us in his word that he does.
For example, in Proverbs 22:23 he says that if his people do not defend the poor, he will do it
himself. Let me read it to you: Proverbs 22:23a. for the LORD will take up their case.
You no doubt know that God describes himself again and again in Scriptures as God of the
poor, Friend of the weak, Father of the fatherless, Defender of widows, Judge of the oppressed,
Protector of aliens. Listen to this in Psalm 146. The Lord upholds the cause of the oppressed,
comes to their defense, he gives food to the hungry, he sets the prisoner free, he lifts those who
are bowed down, he watches over the alien, he sustains the fatherless and widows. God of the
poor, Friend of the weak those two phrases of an old English hymn are so true.
This is the kind of God we worship. And since this is the kind of God he is, this is the kind of
people we should be. We have got to imitate him in his care for the poor and the powerless. Job
is the biblical character who was like this. He was truly righteous. Listen to what he said about
himself before he was smitten with all his calamities. He said: I rescued the poor when they
cried for help; I rescued the orphan who had none to assist him; I put on righteousness as my
clothing and justice was my robe and my turban. I was a father to the needy and I took up the
case of a stranger. (Job 29:12-17)
a. Advocacy issue
On the way here I was reading a most recently published Tanner Lectures on Human
Values delivered at Princeton University in 2000 by the distinguished Director of the Carr
Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University, Michael Ignatieff. Ignatieff.As he
comments on the NGOs essential function Ignatieff says the following:
By monitoring human rights abuses and bringing these abuses to light, they
36
Alfred E. Smith, Speech, NY State Legilature. Quoted in M. and H. Josephson, Al Smith: Hero of the Cities, 1969.
63
[NGOs] keep state signatories of human rights conventions up to the mark, or at

least expose the gap between promises and practice, rhetoric and reality. Without
the advocacy revolution of the NGOs, in other words, it is likely that the passage of
so many human rights instruments since 1945 would have remained a revolution on
paper. 37
This should at least pose us for a second and make us think if we in ADRA serve the role
of advocacy as much as we should. In your discussions some of you might raise the question
of advocacy and how could ADRA be an instrument, as an international institution and
not only one serving purposes within one state or within the scope of one government, of
advocating causes and plights of those whose basic human rights have been denied. We must
add the voice to the voiceless and, at least, advocacy power to the powerless.
And where is this interest in human rights and desire to be a voice for the voiceless
coming from in the 20th century history of world in general, and of Europe in particular.
You know, probably one of the most lamentable recent examples of the churchs failure to
be the voice of the voiceless and power of the powerless, was that of the so-called German
Christian at the heart of the Nazi regime. In theological literature they are often called
the German Christian. Please do not misunderstand me here. I am partially of German
descent as my grandparents Losching come not that far from where we are meeting today.
So I can be frank about this. We as a community must be frank about it and recently I had
the privilege to comment and edit for publishing approval an Andrews University Press
forthcoming book on Adventism and the Holocaust. So, besides studying this issue myself
I had an early chance to see many other Adventists theologians and historians, many of
them Germans, openly talk about these issues. I am so grateful that we could look back and
admit our mistakes. I hope soon we could do it about Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo/a and other
parts of the world. So, many Christians, including some Adventists, compromised with Adolf
Hitler (and other such tyrants of the 20th century). They attempted a theological defense
of Hitlers myth of racial purity, and they turned the blind eye to the Holocaust as it was
carried out in the gas chambers. And all this is carefully documented by historical scholar
Richard Gutteridge in his book entitled Open Thy Mouth For the Dumb, which is the
quotation from Proverbs 31.38
He traces the complicity of the Christian church in Germany back to the middle of the
19th century. He points out that there were only a few brave Christian leaders who protested
against the growing anti-Semitism of the National Socialism. Karl Barth was an exception.
He called this racial teaching of Adolf Hitler, the sin against the Holy Ghost. Dietrich
Bonhoffer was another. And Dietrich Bonhoffer quoted again and again Proverbs 31 and
verse 8. Listen to Bonhoffer as he writes from the prison: Some [Christians] seek refuge
from the rough-and-tumble of public life in the sanctuary of their own private virtue. Such
men, however, are compelled to seal their lips and shut their eyes to the injustices around
them.39
37
Michael Ignatieff, Human Rights (2001), p. 10.
38
There are other Adventist articles on this issue published in Spectrum magazine as well as the forthcoming book on Adventism and the
Holocaust published by Andrews University Press. See my elaboration on this issue in Zdravko Plantak, The Silent Church: Human
Rights and Adventist Social Theology, Macmillan Press, 1998).
39
Dietrich Bonhoffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, pp. 18-19.
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by Zdravko Plantak
Open your mouth for the dumb and speak out for those who cannot speak up for
themselves. Adventists should have done it in Germany, and Yugoslavia, and Rwanda, and
many other places. Maybe the second world war, Rwandan genocide and ethnic cleansing
campaigns in the Balkans would never have taken place, if Christians, should I add Seventh-
day Adventist Christians included, spoke up. Those Christian churches were guilty of silence
when they should have spoken.
D. Conclusion
Well, I wish to finish. Let me recapitulate for a moment and conclude. Here is the biblical
profile of the poor in the Wisdom Literature. First, the poor are human beings created by God in
His own image and therefore we must respect and serve them. Second, the poor are human beings
with human rights; therefore we must seek justice for the poor specially the equal opportunity.
Third, the poor are powerless and voiceless. So, we must speak up for the voiceless and defend the
powerless. Thats our responsibility.
Recently, I took on photography as one of the hobbies that I loved as a youngster. And last
Summer, it was natural for me, when I took my daughter Natasha to the airport, to take a number
of pictures. When the film started going beyond numbers 37, 38 and 39, I felt that something was
seriously wrong with my camera. Finally I gathered courage and opened the film compartment just
to find out that I forgot to put the film in, in the first place. So, I actually took 39 blank shots, over a
period of weeks, and now all these memories were not recorded on film. Well, I could have gone into
depression and reminiscent on the lost opportunities and be sad (or angry) with myself. And that is
how we could feel after seeing hundreds of lost opportunities and moments when we could have made
a difference. But there is no point in thinking about the could-have-beens.
I finally put another film in and started clicking while Natasha was still there. I took new
opportunities and decided that I could do something about those. And if I missed some before, I
sure was not going to miss them from now on. Well, I hope that we take the spiritual films into our
cameras (and advocate in our own communities for others to do so) and go out to make a difference
because:
The poor are human beings created by God in His own image and therefore we must respect and
serve them. Second, the poor are human beings with human rights; therefore we must seek justice
for the poor specially the equal opportunity. Third, the poor are powerless and the voiceless. So,
we must speak up for the voiceless and defend the powerless.
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Reflections

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1

Incarnating the Gospel ................................................. 2

ADRA and Adventists in the End of Time .........................11

A Christian Perspective on Development and Relief Work ....19

The Role of the Biblical Prophets: ADRA in

Wisdom Tradition on Poverty........................................46

In the NT it is sometimes problematic to distinguish between these two concepts of diakonia

There is little explicit reference in Scripture, to social transformation or development activities

right to work and provide for ones family.

When a Christian engages in external service whether developmental or relief-oriented another

I. The case of Albert Schweitzer

II The Ten Commandments and social responsibility in the eschaton

III. Individualism and universalism

IV. The righteousness of God

3. Conflict resolution and justice must be accomplished in conformity to the norm of

V. The end of the world, the Messiah and ADRA work

I. Christ the motivating factor in church-based development and relief work.

A convincing statement of this perspective on Christian service in found in Ellen G. Whites

II. Christs interaction with His world.

a. Social barriers broken

III. Christs approach to development work: some practical lessons

The lost dignity of the needy is restored by meaningful participation in service.

Service and learning (new understanding) must operate together.

The quality of a person is measured by his/her being, not by his/her doing.

Spiritual gifts come without regard to material or social standing.

The proper response to service is shared joy without jealousy.

Effective human service addresses the total person in need.

of service transforms development as commonly understood into human development, which, of

IV. Christian challenges to the concept of development

a. The rationale for emphasizing development

b. Common problems associated with development

c. Responses to the challenges facing development

V. The better approach: organic development

b. Organic development and the principles of Christ

VI. The ADRA professional: imitating Christ

a. The counsel of Ellen G. White

b. Taking organic/participatory development seriously

c. Taking cultures seriously

d. Taking people seriously

Recently, several academic administrators came to speak with me about an overseas

VII. The well-being of the development worker

Christ experienced all of that and more. How did He cope?

Though remaining a humble servant of God, He retained an enormous sense of human

VIII. Spirituality and the Christian NGO professional

a. NGO professional vs church representative

b. The Scylla and Charybdis of divided loyalties

a. Four elements of prophetic teaching

Let me share it with you as Loeb writes his story:

At a small Minnesota college, a half-dozen students were sleeping in makeshift

b. Examples of the primary (social) role of prophets in Jewish society

The commandments-keeping people, as Seventh-day Adventists desire to be seen, should be the

No, the man replied, he went even higher!

This is exactly where a tablets-of-stone-religion becomes a new-heart-religion, as God intended it

c. The Role of the New Testaments Prophets

Applications to a Modern Prophetic Community

Psalmist describes their problem in a poem (Ps 78:22-25)

because they had no faith in God,

and did not trust his saving power

[though] he had opened the doors of heaven.

He had rained upon them manna to eat;

The grain of heaven he had given them.

Mortals ate bread of angels,

He sent the food ENOUGH.

A. Introduction and Statistics