The Self-Murdering Church

Epilogue

by Suzanne Ocsai

Note: I wrote this first part in the summer of 2011 after I finished writing my manuscript on the first 10 years of GYC history. I was trying to sort through everything I’d learned about the behind the scenes workings of GYC, my Church Youth Department, and the Church as a whole.

Our Church is dying. No, it’s not just dying . . . it’s killing itself.

How? You ask. I’ll tell you how. I was faced with the how the entire time I was writing this book. I didn’t see it at first. I didn’t even realize our Church was dying when I started the project, but soon enough I saw it. And it made my heart break.

I’ll be honest, writing this book depressed me. Oh, yes there were high points. I loved seeing how GYC was able to begin against the odds of not having enough money or support from their local conference in California. I also loved the time my Church youth leaders gave me to interview them—talking with them was truly inspiring.

But in the end, I came back to the same realization that undoubtedly MOST people in our Church have, yet aren’t talking about or doing ANYTHING to remedy! The Divide. Yes, we are a divided Church that will not stand unless we decide to start working together for the common goal of seeing Jesus return in our lifetime. I mean, is anyone really that thrilled about living on a planet where children are sold into slavery, women are abused, and men are destroyed by the other men seeking more power than they deserve? Really?! No. Don’t even call yourself Adventist. Because we, by our very own name, are seeking the Second Advent of Christ.

We are divided over many things. But it all comes down to this . . . it’s not what we view as the correct form of worship that divides. It’s not our varying views of theology that divides us. It’s not dress reform that divides us. It isn’t any of that . . . while the fact that we vary on all of those points probably doesn’t help . . . that ISN’T what divides us. What divides our Church is our pride. It is our pride in each one of those areas. We say, “I’m better than you because I only sing out of the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal.” We say, “I’m better than you because I wear dresses . . . I’m not causing my brother to stumble.” We say, “I’m better than you because I don’t exclude people who live alternative lifestyles.” We say, “I’m better than you because I don’t condemn people for praising God with drums and contemporary Christian music.” We say a lot of stuff that doesn’t mean anything!

But what we don’t say a lot of is this, “I love you even though I don’t agree. I love you even though I think you are wrong. I love you and I know that I don’t have everything completely correct either, but you know what, I am, and I believe you are too, still searching for how God would have us be. How can we work TOGETHER to find HIS ideal?

While writing this book I saw how the two sides (GYC verses the Church Youth Department) couldn’t get along–leadership on one side seemed overly condemning while leadership on the other side wasn’t willing to confront the condemnation head on, and so the young people were caught in the middle to clean up the political mess.

In every generation this happens. 1888 . . . remember the story of that GC session? Pride. And the young people were let down.

When I saw this happening to my generation, I cried. I was so angry and hurt. Why haven’t we grown past this? Why aren’t the youth the most important segment of our Church? Why are our Church leaders on both sides making us choose between the left and the right?

I love my Church. But as I’ve grown up in it I’ve come to see that this judging back and forth is not just something solely between GYC and the Youth Department but something that spans the entire spectrum of Adventism. From GYC to JCI, from the chaplains offices to the youth ministries office, from Women’s Ministries to Pastoral Ministries, from the General Conference to the North American Division and all the other Divisions, from the Michigan Conference to Southeastern California Conference. We are divided. We are separate. We love to point fingers and call each other out. I know . . . I’ve done it. I’ve been overwhelmed with anger and hatred for the side I thought was against me.

But what made me cry that day in my room was obviously not the good I saw on any of the sides. It was the fact that because of pride and personal differences, the good of both sides was not able to be measured together. I believe God ordained people on both sides for a special work. But I don’t believe He ordained one side above another. When I came to the end of the book, what I discovered made me angry because I felt like I had to choose one side over the other.

WE’RE ONE BODY, I wanted to shout . . . Please, get your act together or you won’t have young people to pass your offices to. And I’m talking to the left and the right! This IS NOT one sided. It takes two to tango, whether you dance or not.

In my frustration a question popped into my mind. If we are divided, will we not be attacked? But . . . you don’t often hear about countries in civil wars being attacked. Why not, they’re wide open . . . Why didn’t England attack the United States during the Civil War?

I did some research into this and discovered the reason . . . and that reason . . . made me even angrier.

England didn’t attack the United States for several reasons. 1. England was conflicted as to which side it really wanted to support publically. 2. It was thought that dealing with two separate republics would be easier than one. And then came the third reason . . . the worst reason. They were selling weapons to both sides. They were making money off us . . . while we were destroying ourselves! We weren’t a threat . . . so there was no need to fight us . . . so they decided to make money off us as we killed ourselves for them.

If they were to join a side they would have lost money by entering the war; supporting their soldiers while losing one side of “clients.”

Now, I love my English friends, but this just made me slightly upset . . . to say the least . . . they were making money . . . MONEY . . . off us, while we were killing ourselves.

And then I saw the analogy. We, the Seventh-day Adventist Church are in a Civil War. We are fighting each other for our own agendas while the Devil makes money off us in the form of souls we are neglecting.

Because, while I interviewed each side of the “war” I heard one resounding theme. “We want to be the last generation on earth; we want to reach the world for Christ.”

Really?

Because as long as we continue to fight ourselves we will NEVER be a threat to the kingdom of darkness. Until we can come together and become a united force, we will continue to lose valuable souls that Christ died on a cross for.

Obviously we’re really good at fighting, what if we took that passion and turned it toward the real enemy. Not each other, but to Satan. What if we could unite against the real traitor? How much could we accomplish?

How can we unify? Only through Christ and getting into His Word. Only through daily seeking God in our own lives can our hearts be humbled and changed. By beholding we become changed. And when we start to behold God above ourselves and our agendas and even our personal viewpoints can we become that united Church that can be a threat to the enemy.

In the end, I refuse to choose a side. I will continue to attend and support GYC as I will continue to attend and support my Church youth events. If there is something I don’t agree with at either, I will voice those concerns to the appropriate people and dialog with them about why that was chosen. While understanding there is a Divide in my Church, I refuse to acknowledge its power. Because to me, it has none. I am a Seventh-day Adventist. Not a right-wing Adventist or a left-wing Adventist. Not a Spectrum Adventist, not a GYC-Adventist, not a One Project Adventist, not a Michigan Conference Adventist . . . because I don’t believe God cares if I read Spectrum or if I attend GYC or any other event the church has to offer. What I believe He cares about is whether I have a personal relationship with Him . . . because that’s what guarantees He’ll be able to spend eternity with me . . . the whole reason He came to earth and died on a cross and in three days rose again . . . so I could live with Him forever.

So, until we can set aside our pride and come together with the single goal of getting addicted to the Word of God, we can forget about being the last generation on this earth.

Three Years Later

My journey with my church has morphed and grown since writing this in 2011. I’ve become involved heavily within my church. Through interning two summers at the North American Division headquarters in the General Conference building, through becoming an NAD senior youth volunteer coordinator, through joining the board of the Society of Adventist Communicators—all these things gave me greater insight into my church but also allowed me to see more of what I disdained about my church through allowing me an up-close vantage point.

I’ve found myself more than once being dishonest to the words I wrote in this piece. I’ve picked sides. I’ve neglected relationships based on what side I thought a person was on. And in the end, I’ve found that this is a lonely and broken way to live. This piece was written out of love and youthful idealism for my church. Part of which turned to cold cynicism when I saw more things wrong than ways to fix them—when I saw church leaders continue brushing things under the rug.

Then I looked in the mirror, and I saw my church staring back at me. Yes, church can be defined in many ways . . . the structure . . . the people . . . the building . . . but I choose to believe it is all three and maybe more . . . and I am part of that composition. I am the church. And what I do and say does play a role no matter how small that is. If I choose to bad mouth one organization and uplift another I am in fact tearing down my church. And when I looked in the mirror, I saw someone who was doing just that. Someone who hated a brother just because he identified himself with an organization I disagreed with. Someone who disdained a sister because she felt compelled to live a more restricted life. I was someone who was quick to judge others yet even faster to defend myself and my shortcomings.

I am my church and I am human and I am failing. I am killing it. And I am ready to now take responsibility for that. By God’s grace and mercy, His forgiveness and direction . . . through putting down my man-made idols and walls built from bitterness and pride, hopefully I can become a healer and not a killer. Someone who binds up wounds instead of constantly pouring salt into them. Someone who is a unifier and not a divider. Someone who lets others grow at their own pace just as I want others to allow me to grow at my own pace. Someone who loves and doesn’t hate the people who also look into their mirrors and also call themselves the church. Someone who is like Jesus to the world. This is my prayer. This is my wish. This is my continuing story.

Response to my Great Controversy Article

I was pleased and a bit nervous to read someone’s letter to the editor in the Southern Accent concerning my article about the mass distribution of the Great Controversy (you can read my article here). The reader expressed his thoughts well and brought new insight to the table of discussion. Over all it was a well written and researched piece that gave me more to think about as I form my own thoughts, opinions and beliefs.

Here is the response written by Seth Shaffer. Originally published in the Southern Accent.

Before starting out, let me say that this article is not attacking Suzanne or the articles published the last two weeks in the Southern Accent titled, “The Controversy of the Great Controversy.” This article is simply my opinion of what the author wrote. The author states that she does not believe the Seventh-day Adventist church “should spend millions of dollars and hours into printing and mass distributing The Great Controversy.” After ready the article, it sounds to me that mainly colporteurs and literature evangelists should do the distribution of the Great Controversy, as they will get it into the homes of folks that actually have an interest in ready The Great Controversy.

Ellen White herself says that The Great Controversy is the one book that should be heavily distributed, “The Great Controversy should be very widely circulated. It contains the story of the past, the present, and future…I am more anxious to see a wide circulation for this book than for any others I have written; for in the Great Controversy, the last message of warning to the world is given more distinctly than in any of my other books.”

If we were to rely only on those who feel called to do literature evangelism we could be here for another millennium. Instead of “demeaning the message and weakening the influence of canvassers and their personal testimonies,” I see The Great Controversy Project as a way for all laypeople in the church to have a part in spreading the word of Christ’s life and his message of salvation to the whole world. The author states that when her father was in communist Hungary, a layperson scarified greatly in order produce 5,000 Great Controversies, and how these books were not mass distributed; of course not. Had they been, the communist government would have cracked down on the individual and local church in that region. Thankfully, we live in a country where we are not faced with that problem. We have the luxury of handing out to whomever we meet a copy of The Great Controversy.

In the second article [in the Southern Accent, my article was printed in two parts], the author states that, “I see our church focusing on the last days as a fear tactic…like our own hell fire and brimstone message.” While Ellen White says that “…in The Great Controversy, the last message of warning to the world is given more distinctly than in any of my other books.” The Great Controversy is more than just a doomsday book—it is the history of the world starting before creation and showing how down through ages Christ has waged a war on behalf of our salvation. For example, when a professor says that finals are coming, are they saying that to scare us into studying for them? No! They are trying to prepare us for what is coming. The same is true with The Great Controversy. We need to let others know about God’s love for humanity and HIs plan of salvation whether it is through actions or by the printed page.

Good response, Seth. This is the kind of dialog [Un]Divided is all about.

Finding my own meaning in the Sabbath

Frustrated, I walked into my room and shut the door. It was a mess. I desperately wanted to clean it, but I couldn’t.

It was Sabbath.

I had been so busy that previous week with classes, homework, projects and extracurricular responsibilities that brought me home late each night, including Friday night, and forced me to leave early each morning.

As I sat there looking at everything I could be doing but “couldn’t because it was Sabbath,” I didn’t understand; if “Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27) and cleaning and decorating my room actually relaxed me after a tough week, why was I just sitting here? I could not come up with an answer to that question.

It was then that I realized I really did not know what the Sabbath was all about. “We can’t do this, but we can do this,” not all the rules and obligations made logical sense and they sure didn’t answer my question about where the Sabbath came from. Why was it instituted and what is its purpose?

I decided right then that I was going to throw out everything I ever knew or believed about keeping Sabbath except for the fact that it was on Saturday. I told God that He was going to have to teach me what it really meant to keep the Sabbath holy. Whatever belief I was going to come to in the end on what the Sabbath meant had to be one I could first defend to myself.

Immediately, I started organizing my room. While putting things away, I found a Bible study on the Sabbath and starting going through it. From there, I found other verses and texts. The deeper I went, the more I understood that Sabbath is not about all the restrictions people placed on it. There was and is a lot more freedom involved when we understand the principles behind it.

I discovered that the Sabbath is about having a relationship with God. Think of it this way: the Sabbath is like a wedding ring. What does a wedding ring signify? A commitment to an intimate relationship. That is what the Sabbath means for Christians. It shows the world that we are committed to the God who made the heavens and the earth. To have a relationship with God means that we’ve been justified which means that we have told God we believe He is the only way we can be saved. When we do that, He places His robe of righteousness on us.

With His robe covering us, He then sees us without sin, even though we still sin, if we ask for forgiveness the robe covers us. Sabbath is a reminder that we are seen as spotless and that we are saved as long as we stay in a relationship with God. The beautiful thing is that all of creation points to that one day.

For me, the Sabbath is now not about a list of do’s and don’ts, but about building my relationship with God in whatever way He leads me to do that. The great part about Sabbath is that just as every human-to-human relationship is different, everyone has their own unique relationship with God—therefore, keeping the Sabbath may look differently to everyone.

Originally published in the Southern Accent.

Words of Our Church

This past summer I was invited to speak for Sabbath School at the British Columbia Conference camp meeting.

Speaking at the British Columbia Conference camp meeting at Camp Hope. Photo: Charles Ed II Aguilar

I’d been asked to share my personal journey researching and writing a book about GYC, the grass-roots youth conference that has caused much confusion and controversy within the Seventh-day Adventist Church Youth Department.

At the end of my talk, I passed out paper and asked audience members to write down what they saw was “wrong” in our church and what they thought was “right” and how they could be part of changing the wrong to right.

Not all of them exactly followed the directions and ended up turning in more wrongs than rights, but what they did write is telling of our church across the North American Division. They shared mostly anonymously, and I want to pass along their words. These are words of pain and words of wisdom. Words I don’t completely agree with and words I whole-heartedly agree with. Nonetheless, these are the words of those in our church and I believe they deserve to be heard, respected, and responded to.

Age 39

Church Level – Wish that there was less focus on judging the “exterior” of young people: what hey wear, how they talk, the music they like, ect. If the same amount of energy was placed on being concerned with the “interior” – the spiritual state of the individual we probably wouldn’t lose as many youth. If the “elder generation” spent more time loving on the youth, there would be less us vs. them. Instead of judging perhaps by spending time – inviting them to lunch we would develop a love for them, and instead of seeing them through judgmental eyes, we would see them through Jesus’ eyes.

Age 19

We avoid resolving conflict because confrontation is hard. Why talk things through when ignoring things is so much more rewarding in the short run? I have had a conflict in my life recently, I decided to confront it. I had everything planned out in my head. But when the time came, the words would not come. I felt so frustrated and disappointed in my inability to express myself under pressure. But I didn’t give up. The next day I tried again, and got my thoughts across successfully. Things still aren’t perfect but at least both sides know what the other is thinking. And I’ll keep trying even through it’s very uncomfortable.

How do you speak to and act towards people who are convinced they are against what you do or your ministry?

How do you handle arguments that suggest there should be little or no differences based on the argument that there is only one truth or one gospel or one word? As if there is only one way of doing things?

Female Age 60

I love youth and young adults and so desire unity and supportive camaraderie between all. We all need to develop better transparent communication and conflict resolution in honest, respectful ways and to stay engaged until we are in loving unity. Separate the issue from the person and the unified goal of sharing God’s love to others.

I feel the Church needs to invest in training Godly mediators at all levels-especially a the Conference level who are available to go into the Churches and work with members of all ages to help and train them how to work through all the individual conflicts that come up in a community, between pastor and leaders, youth and sage, etc.

I can be a listening braver church leader willing to challenge (with my youth) the current dictators of our church.

Can I tell my own kids that leaving the church won’t help? Will they listen to my stories of failure and not have to try that themselves?

Am I just afraid to communicate?

Maybe.

Fear of offending and pretending

How do they fell about anything?

Can I tell them the church NEEDS them?

Age 35++

I think we think we are God’s special church-“remnant” and so are in competition with other churches. So-as we are so busy feeling superior to other Christians-why would we feel any different toward fellow SDA’s who believe differently from ourselves.

The more I fellowship in other churches the m ore I realize we need to focus on knowing Jesus and encouraging each other that it’s all about Jesus, not some of the minor theological differences including Sabbath.

Age 24

Reform our school according to GC White and the Bible
Make them, missionary training centers again
Make the World part of every classroom
Require ever faculty sign of faith affirming the 28 fundamental beliefs
Phase our extramural competitive sports
Deal with the Character of God controversy
If you don’t believe God actively punishes you’re not SDA
Phase out regional conferences in the USA
Look to South Africa and England for advice on how to move forward
We are caught between Mathew 10:34 and John 4:8. If you don’t like to wear ties or enjoy downhill skiing or whatever, we can be united. But “conservative” is such because anything else is compromise. “Liberals” believe one thing. We need to realize that there are always two ditches. The point is, there is an ideal, and “conservatives” tend to be closer to it, the main issue is the situation they connect with [word indiscernible] they believe. The church in Acts was easily united, . . . all had the same theology. There are base issues that divide us because they should. It’s not black and white for sure. No one can claim hate is of God, but compromise is not either.

No Age Given

Suggestions “to be better”

1. Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback.

Also thank you for a presentation by a female leader. This is great!

So often females have been excluded in the SDA Church. This sadly creates an unbalance in church representation. Women are not just leaders to women, so although I appreciate Women’s Ministries, I am speaking of a broader approach and infusing females in leadership positions at ALL Levels.

It is disheartening to see that the main auditorium has not one female speaker. We have great ethnic diversity representation however the exclusion of females is harming the church. God did not intend this. He supports equality and social justice.

So again please seriously consider, with fervent prayer for the inclusion of female leaders and begin to address the gender bias that exists.

Today was a fantastic example of female leadership!

Older

Encourage the church to use young people to lead. It’s their church too. Listen to them, let them voice their thoughts.

30-35 Local Church [This person seemed to be suggesting this to start at church to keep young people engaged]

AY Programs

Children’s Program

Sabbath and Bible Programs or class for non-believers

Praise and worship team

Vespers

More participation from young people

Church directory to follow up with missing members

Youth leader

Greeters to be delegated

Involve other churches and promote and other support them

Use different languages

Get children involved in all aspects of worship

Bible for Prayer Meetings could be held at different locations

The Great Controversy Controversy Should our Church mass distribute the Great Controversy? My answer: No.

Before I begin, let me say that I love Ellen White and the Spirit of Prophesy, and I don’t have a major issue with either one. Now that that’s said, allow me to clarify why I don’t believe our Church should invest millions of dollars and hours into printing and mass distributing the Great Controversy.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with what the Great Controversy Project (GCP) is, let me explain. The General Conference began the GCP as a way to mass distribute the Ellen White book so people outside the Seventh-day Adventist family can know what’s going to take place in our world at the end of time. One of the GCP goals as stated on the project website is to place a Great Controversy in each home—in the world. The Church is encouraging members to buy copies of the Great Controversy and distribute them.

GC President Ted Wilson is reported in a Review and Herald Publishing Association (RHPA) news article titled “2012: Big Year for the Great Controversy” as saying “that he has pledges from the world divisions to send out more than 170 million copies.”

I believe we should care about our neighbors and friends enough to let them know what will happen at the end of time. However, I don’t believe a book or this particular method of distribution is the best way to accomplish our ultimate goal of reaching others for Christ. I do believe that this book is a great resource that should be shared and read but the Great Controversy nor this method should not be our primary mode of reaching out for five reasons.

Reason #1. Is our number one goal as a Church to share with other what will happen at the end of time? Or is it to share what Christ’s character is like and what He accomplished on the cross? I believe it is the latter. So perhaps, if this was just a matter of which book to distribute we should think about giving out copies of the Desire of Ages, which is a great book about Jesus that helped me in my personal relationship with Him.

President Ted Wilson stated on the website that one of the points the project is based on is Revelation 18:1 “that describes how God will illuminate the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Sounds good, but is the Great Controversy really the best book to “illuminate the world with the gospel?” I’m not convinced of that. However, this discussion is not about which book to distribute.

Reason #2. By mass distributing the book, we are in effect cheapening a valuable message. I may not agree with the mass distribution the Great Controversy, but that doesn’t mean I don’t agree with getting the book into people homes. It’s the method and reasoning behind the GCP that I take issue with.

When my father was a young man growing up in communist Hungary, a layman sold his house and printed 5,000 copies of the Great Controversy, which were subsequently distributed. My father was allowed to read a copy at a friend’s home, and although he had been raised Adventist, after reading the book, he made up his own mind to be a Christian and Adventist.

What’s the difference in this story and what the Church is doing now? Several points. First, the layman sacrificed everything he had for something he believed in. I understand that a layman named Jack Henderson, who wanted to place the Great Controversy in each home in the United States, inspired this project. But honestly, how many of us are sacrificing everything we have for this message? I don’t see Adventists talking about putting their homes up for sale or anything of the equivalent. Are we even reading the book ourselves? (Which is one of the project goals.)

But more importantly, the books in Hungary were not blindly mass distributed. They were given to trusted friends and acquaintances; people who would value and cherish the book and its contents. My father wasn’t even allowed to take the book out of his friend’s house. There were definitely no mass mailings.

When I was a canvasser, the Great Controversy was my favorite book to place in homes. And it was one of my highest sold books. Why? God, obviously. But I was also excited about the book when I canvassed it to people. I would tell them my father’s story and how he decided to become a Christian after reading it. They could see I was passionate about it and wanted to know more—wanted to read it for themselves. That is how you share a book. With personal experience and passion. That’s how you share any message you want people to hold on to and make their own.

David Asscherick, director of ARISE and former punk rocker, is known for not being able to throw away his first copy of the Great Controversy because a friend had written him a personal note inside.

In addition, the quality of the book itself is being reduced. In the same RHPA news article it was stated that, “From now [January 2012] until April 15, pre-publication orders can be placed at Adventist Book Centers for a newsprint, abridged edition that costs only 49 cents each.”

Makes me think of a 10 cent romance novel more than a cherished book of inspired end-time prophecy.

Reason #3. With the free mass distribution of the Great Controversy, the Church is also cheapening the canvassing work and making it harder for students working their way through school using this method of employment. Like I said earlier, the Great Controversy was my favorite book to canvass because it meant so much to me. It was a big reason I was even out there on the streets canvassing. But if our Church is mass distributing the book, not only are they demeaning the message they are also weakening the industry and influence of canvassers and their personal testimonies. Wasn’t it through the canvasser that Ellen White wanted her books distributed anyway? The Great Controversy Project appears to me as a lazy cop-out to how White intended this book to be distributed.

White wrote in Testimonies for the Church Vol. 4 page 392, “God calls upon His people to act like living men and not to be indolent, sluggish, and indifferent. We must carry the publications to the people and urge them to accept, showing them that they will receive much more than their money’s worth. Exalt the value of the books you offer. You cannot regard them too highly.”

A free-be is rarely regarded highly.

Reason #4. The most effective way to reach a person is not a book but an example. September 11 shook more people up than reading any book did in our generation. Why? Because it was an example of what was possible of happening on a larger scale. I’m not saying that our Church should become militant, I’m saying we should reexamine our focus and provide examples to the world that correlate. If our primary purpose is to share what Christ accomplished on the cross and His character, how would we best do this? Through examples. Movies can accomplish this quite well because we are a visual generation. But if we’re looking for a timeless approach that also saves money, look no farther than your mirror. That’s right. You are the best example to this world of what Christ is like. You know the old cliché, “I’d rather see a sermon than hear one?” Well, I’d also rather see Christ than read about Him first. Reading comes second. First, people need a reason to read.

Reason #5. Which is more effective love or fear? At first: fear. But only love can accomplish lasting results. I see our Church focusing on the last days as a fear tactic. It’s like our own Hell Fire and Brimstone message. Going back to September 11, a lot of people returned to church because they were scared, right? But did they stay? Sure, some did but the majority didn’t. Liz Harrison, co-anchor of Action News at 11 in Fresno, California, wrote an article titled “9/11 attacks led Americans to church like never before” that was published on September 7, 2011. In the article she mentions a study done by the Barna Group that tracked spirituality in the US.

“A new study tracking spirituality in this country reveals the terror attacks of 9/11 did little to boost attendance at churches and synagogues over the long haul.”

Why, because fear brings them in en mass but can’t keep them. If you’re motivated by fear to do something, just forget about it. It’s not genuine. And it won’t last.

Harrison ended her article by saying, “Both the Barna study and the pastors agree . . . catastrophic events will get our attention . . . but long term changes take place in the heart.”

The Bible says in 1 John 4:18 that perfect love casts out fear. Jesus is perfect love. We should be like Jesus. There’s no room for fear then. When we understand, love, and trust Jesus, we won’t be afraid of what will come at the end of time—and that’s when we’ll be ready to read about it.