30 March 2020 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, Our pastor canceled church services last week, at the conference’s insistence, because of COVID-19 fears. My mother and father are furious. They say the disease is a hoax, over-exaggerated, and a capitulation to Satan. They think someone, probably the Roman Catholics, are trying to put an end to […]
by Raj Attiken COVID-19 seems to be holding the world hostage with threats of contagion and economic disaster. As a large-scale human tragedy unfolds, it is natural for us to look for signs of hope and assurance. Different voices are prescribing how people of faith should relate to this global disruption. Although the coronavirus does […]
27 March 2020 | Many churches and pastors have tried to preach online during the past two weekends of the COVID-19 shutdown, sometimes with disappointing results. But a group of pastors in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, area are managing their online church services in a unique way. Rather than each pastor’s streaming his own Sabbath services, […]
by Smuts van Rooyen | 26 March 2020 | A few summers ago I attended the graduation of my son in Oregon, where he received an MFA degree in poetry. He already has a good job as a judge in the California Superior Court system, but it does not seem to fulfill all of his […]
By Jeanne Mogusu | 25 March 2020 | It was an ordinary July day in Nairobi in 2019, as worshippers gathered across Kenya to celebrate the Sabbath. People travelled to their various houses of worship much like they had done numerous times before. But there was to be something different about this Sabbath. Angry messages […]
Richard W. Coffen | 24 March 2020 | It’s interesting that Scripture has numerous passages which we remain completely ignorant of—even though we’ve all at least scanned the Bible numerous times. In this essay, we’ll consider some of these verses and wonder why “The Bible tells me so!” What to Do With Tithe Brother Franklin […]
by Melissa Young | 21 March 2020 | I reached my breaking point today in regard to COVID-19. Until today I was making the best of it. Unlike many of my friends, my job still had me coming into the office. My favorite restaurant was still open. My skating rink still had ice time available. […]
by Vinnie MacIsaac | 20 March 2020 | The 80’s band R.E.M. sang “It’s the end of the world as we know it—and I feel fine.” That lyric has been stuck in my head since the COVID-19 story broke. I don’t know when you’ll be reading this, but I wrote it four days before my […]
by Melissa Young | 16 March 2020 | “I have a testimony I just have to give tonight!” the voice of the girl next to me called out. I was attending a Friday night Bible study at a Seventh-day Adventist church near my home for the first time. So far, the evening had been fairly […]
By Loren Seibold | 13 March 2020 | Yesterday was a weird, creepy day. One cancellation after another, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warnings about the severity of the COVID-19 illness, presidents and politicians lined up at microphones to voice their self-serving concern—these happenings seemed to tumble […]
by Eugene Gerasimov | 10 March 2020 | Once, in Sabbath School, a sister in my church shared her opinion that the reason why God had created humankind to populate the earth was that since one-third of the angels had fallen and had been expelled from heaven, God created humans to replace the followers that […]
by Ryan Brousson | 9 March 2020 | The theme of this year’s conference was “The Great Disruption,” with three sub-themes: politics, theology, and church and culture. My overall thoughts were positive. The messages by the nine speakers, most of whom were the founders or long-time speakers, were thought-provoking and insightful. Many questions arose as […]
