Adventist News Network Released by: Rick Kajiura Phone: +31-30-955-324 (June 29-July 8) or +301-680-6300 Written by: Herb Ford/Rick Kajiura FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 1, 1995 SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CONGRESS, DAY THREE Utrecht, The Netherlands... Will the Bible-promised second coming of Christ to earth ever happen, or is it simply a superstitious religious speculation? That question has been answered with a resounding "Yes, it will happen, and soon!" by the world secretary of the 8.5-million-member Seventh-day Adventist Church at its 56th World Congress now in session here. "We can affirm that we are not following cunningly devised prophetic fantasies when we preach the power and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ," G. Ralph Thompson, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A., told more than 30,000 persons attending the divine worship service of the Adventists' world assembly at The Royal Dutch Fairs (Jaarbeurs) at 11 a.m., Saturday, July 1. Attendance at the world congress has already exceeded expectations on the first weekend of the 10-day event. Thompson said: "The teachings and claims of the Christian faith have been under scrutiny for nearly 2,000 years. And the Jewish faith, from which it sprang, an additional 2,000 years. "Historians, archaeologists, sociologists, and scientists of every description, not to mention biblical scholars themselves, have gone over the Judeo-Christian Scriptures inch by inch, millimeter by millimeter, yet its credibility stands." After all this study, which has been unable to disprove the Scriptures, the world church leader declared, "We can still believe. We still believe in the creation of our world by divine fiat in six days. We still believe Bible prophecy. We still believe that forgiveness for sin and salvation are available through Jesus Christ alone. We can still believe in Jesus' soon return to earth." The church leader said "There was a time when conservative Christians, especially Seventh-day Adventists, were branded as calamity howlers. Today it is the politicians and secular intellectuals who are the calamity howlers. A mood of pessimism is setting in." Believing Christians, though, are "ultimate optimists, he said, because they see an ever-increasing number of signs that earthly history is nearing its end with the coming of Jesus Christ. "What a joy it will be to join in that thrilling moment when the heavens split wide open and Jesus rides down the azure skies in blazing splendor to claim His faithful people from all nations," said Thompson. Affirming the unity of Adventist believers worldwide, the church leader told the assembly, "We are God's Rainbow' family, made up of every nation, kindred, tongue and people. We are not the Seventh-day Adventist Church of Africa, of India, of the Caribbean, of South America, or of the United States; of the Philippines, of the Americas, of China or of Asia. "No, we are the Seventh-day Adventist Church in all of these countries one people United in Christ,' under God, looking forward to His blessed return in power and great glory." During the morning worship service of the assembly on Saturday, Adventist world treasurer Donald F. Gilbert, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A., presented a gift of U.S.$87,000 from the Adventist Church to the United Bible Society for use in producing copies of the Scriptures for worldwide distribution. A special emphasis on the Church's Global Mission program in the afternoon included Davaahuu Barbaatar, the first Seventh-day Adventist baptized into the Church in present Mongolia. The program reunited Davaahuu with Seventh-day Adventist Church President Robert S. Folkenberg who baptized her in Mongolia's capital, Ulaanbaatar, in 1993. The program provided a second reunion for Puth Souvana, the first person baptized in post-war Cambodia. She was reunited with her sister after a 20-year separation. A country that, until recently, had no Seventh-day Adventists, there are at least 36 groups of believers meeting each week in Cambodia today. Initiated at the last world congress in Indianapolis, the Global Mission emphasis presents the peace-making salvation of Jesus Christ to every world people group of 1-million or more. In the last five years, more than 8,186 new Adventist congregations have been organized. Of these, 186 are in areas of 1 million people or more with no previous Seventh-day Adventist presence. A highlight of the program came at the close as Kimberly Joshua of Sweden sang, "This Little Light of Mine," with President Folkenberg as thousands of members of the audience waved small lights. Those attending the international church assembly on Saturday evening, July 1, heard reports on activity during the past five years from leaders of two of the Church's 11 world divisions: Jan Paulsen, St. Albans, England, president of the Trans-European Division; and Bryan Ball, Wahroonga, Australia, president of the Church's South Pacific Division. Paulsen reported that among the 25 countries in his church division, there are those whose attitude toward Christianity ranges from "total indifference to dangerous fanaticism." In spite of indifference and religious intolerance, Paulsen reported steady church membership growth in his division during the past five years. During President Paulsen's presentation delegates gave a standing ovation when Flora Sabatino-Lewis and Meropi Gjika from Albania came on the stage. Flora Lewis is the widow of Daniel Lewis, the first Adventist missionary to Albania. He died in prison as a result of holding to his Adventist faith. Meropi Gjika, 90, was the first person to be baptized in 1992 when freedom of worship was once again allowed in Albania. She had waited for 50 years for the time when she could be baptized. At the same time, she turned in her tithe which she had saved for all that time. Membership of the Church's South Pacific Division, according to its president, Bryan Ball, was 277,799 at the end of 1994. He noted that one of the division's established institutions, the Sanitarium Health Food Company, commands 68 percent of the cereal market in New Zealand. The church-owned company, he said, has produced 323,500 tons of food since 1990. -end-