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[scratsmom]

I never met Vandeman, but I did meet Marshall Grossboll ( not like his brother John at all) and Joe Crews. The Lord took these men to their rest WAY TOO EARLY for the sake of the church. They had standards and purpose and could not be shaken from their committment.

Ron Spear was visiting our home the day Joe Crews died on the operating tabel and he literally cried like a baby. He just could not believe that such a centerpiece of historic SDA beliefs could be gone so quickly and without warning. He stated that it was a great blow to the SDA standard bearers and by and large he was correct.

Gailon Arthur Joy

Umm-mm, Mr Joy, do you think God is up there saying "Bummer, I really blew it that time--I should've waited awhile. Look at all the bad stuff that has happened as a result--I sure didn't see that coming!" ?  What happened to "God's purposes know no haste and no delay"?

We could talk about whether "God took them" or whether they were casualties of the sinful world we live in, where God gives us choice and also allows choices we make to run their course, in which case maybe their work was cut short, but to use those two phrases (God took them, and way too early) in the same sentence is a little strange to me. Unless you believe that God makes mistakes...

My cents worth...
scratsmom

[Kitty]

Funny, how we all have differing perspectives on life.  I  have told folk repeatedly how good God was to preserve the life of Joe Crews as long as He did.

I have a special son who greatly admired Elder Crews.  He was baptized very young after attending a series of his meetings.  Crews was his hero and he hitched his wagon to a star and aspired to be an evangelist too.

Someone told Elder Crews how much my son thought of him.  So one day out of the blue, my son was startled at the age of 13 to get a phone call from his beloved hero.  Crews told him that when he was older he could come and work with him doing evangelism.

What a blessing that he did not pass away until my son was established in the faith  and studying theology in college.

[Emma]

Our initial reactions to what we see as tragedies, will often be along the lines of "Why did God let this happen?"

Perhaps later comes the realisation that we have to trust that He knows the future, and knows what will be best for both the individual and the church.   I keep reminding myself that after all his loss, Job got no explanation of what had happened, just the reassurance that God was still there.  Can we expect more than that?

[Gailon Arthur Joy]

I never met Vandeman, but I did meet Marshall Grossboll ( not like his brother John at all) and Joe Crews. The Lord took these men to their rest WAY TOO EARLY for the sake of the church. They had standards and purpose and could not be shaken from their commitment.

Ron Spear was visiting our home the day Joe Crews died on the operating table and he literally cried like a baby. He just could not believe that such a centerpiece of historic SDA beliefs could be gone so quickly and without warning. He stated that it was a great blow to the SDA standard bearers and by and large he was correct.

Gailon Arthur Joy

I also cried when I heard Joe Crews died!  He pastored at the church of my childhood.  I went to school with his children, Larry, Dennis and Ronnie.  Ronnie developed a tumor and died.  The following Sabbath he preached a sermon to comfort us.  He preached about the joy of heaven when we would all be reunited.  All of his family was on the front pew, just as always.  He died way too soon.  Joe Crews and Bob May put together the 1st Amazing Facts Bible Studies.  They told it like it was!

I still miss him and his family.

The church and its standard bearers REALLY miss Elder crews. Without him Laodicea is a live and well!!.

Gailon Arthur Joy

[ex3abnemployee]

The church and its standard bearers REALLY miss Elder crews. Without him Laodicea is a live and well!!.

Gailon Arthur Joy

I also felt that God took my mother way too early, along with her cousin who died 6 months prior. The church they attended, and that I attended as I was growing up, changed dramatically after they both passed away. I have since come to believe that it is quite possible that God removed them both because He knew thay would not want to see what was going to happen to the church they both loved. My mom gave her life for our Christian school and it has suffered greatly as well.

Perhaps God removes people sometimes so they don't have to witness the "removal of the candlestick."

Just a thought.

[Bob Pickle]

And then there is:

"A neglect to appreciate and improve the provisions of divine grace has deprived the church of many a blessing. How often would the Lord have prolonged the work of some faithful minister, had his labors been appreciated! But if the church permits the enemy of souls to pervert the understanding, so that they misrepresent and misinterpret the words and acts of the servant of Christ; if they allow themselves to stand in his way and hinder his usefulness, the Lord sometimes removes from them the blessing which He gave.

"Satan is constantly working through his agents to dishearten and destroy those whom God has chosen to accomplish a great and good work. They may be ready to sacrifice even life itself for the advancement of the cause of Christ, yet the great deceiver will suggest to their brethren doubts concerning them which, if entertained, would undermine confidence in their integrity of character, and thus cripple their usefulness. Too often he succeeds in bringing upon them, through their own brethren, such sorrow of heart that God graciously interposes to give His persecuted servants rest. After the hands are folded upon the pulseless breast, when the voice of warning and encouragement is silent, then the obdurate may be aroused to see and prize the blessings they have cast from them. Their death may accomplish that which their life has failed to do" (AA 417, 418).

[Gailon Arthur Joy]

Wow, great insight!!!

Gailon Arthur Joy

[Johann]

The church and its standard bearers REALLY miss Elder crews. Without him Laodicea is a live and well!!.

Gailon Arthur Joy

I also felt that God took my mother way too early, along with her cousin who died 6 months prior. The church they attended, and that I attended as I was growing up, changed dramatically after they both passed away. I have since come to believe that it is quite possible that God removed them both because He knew thay would not want to see what was going to happen to the church they both loved. My mom gave her life for our Christian school and it has suffered greatly as well.

Perhaps God removes people sometimes so they don't have to witness the "removal of the candlestick."

Just a thought.

We need to heed such warnings.

[guide4him]

I have a couple of friends(sister-in-laws) who had known George Vandeman and visited together many times. They both regard him with the highest regard and honor. They miss him terribly.

I personally didn't know George Vandeman. I only remember watching him on television many years ago before 3ABN and HOPE channels were in existence. He seemed like a very soft spoken gentle personable man. And he had his own style of preaching that many people related to and were gently brought to love Jesus as their savior.

[Johann]

I have a couple of friends(sister-in-laws) who had known George Vandeman and visited together many times. They both regard him with the highest regard and honor. They miss him terribly.

I personally didn't know George Vandeman. I only remember watching him on television many years ago before 3ABN and HOPE channels were in existence. He seemed like a very soft spoken gentle personable man. And he had his own style of preaching that many people related to and were gently brought to love Jesus as their savior.

Neither did I meet George Vandeman personally but I heard him preach a number of times, including a reaping campaign in  Washington DC around 1957 or 1958. He spoke to the heart of many people and I was greatly impressed with his personality.

[Daryl Fawcett]

Well, I did meet him personally at an It Is Written Seminar and he seemed like a nice and gentle person.

[guide4him]

Just wanted to add a little tidbit.

I also never heard George Vandeman repeatedly discuss how many years he had been in the ministry (never heard any other preacher for that matter) nor how well his ministry is doing and discussing the name of his program repeatedly ad nauseum. Neither did he discard his wife of many years for a younger filley.


(Just my twist of the truth and rumormongering)

[Mary Sue Smith]

Just wanted to add a little tidbit.

I also never heard George Vandeman repeatedly discuss how many years he had been in the ministry (never heard any other preacher for that matter) nor how well his ministry is doing and discussing the name of his program repeatedly ad nauseum. Neither did he discard his wife of many years for a younger filley.


(Just my twist of the truth and rumormongering)

did you think DS was a twin to GVanderman? Of course not. He is his own person and his own personality. This is first grade stuff "guide4him" come on---did you expect DS to be a clone?

For the record for those who are lurking and who may not know, Danny Shelton did NOT "discard" his wife. SHE LEFT HIM FOR ANOTHER MAN.  Just to make sure the truth is understood here.  This is no "twist of the truth" either--it is the REAL TRUTH.

[guide4him]

Johann,
Like I said before. No one will believe what you say because they will twist and turn the truth to make it a lie.

[christined]

I am anxiously waiting to see the proof of the "REAL TRUTH".