I have some anxiety about what’s happening in the financial world right now. After decades of a defined benefit retirement plan, the Church switched the younger of us over to a defined contribution plan. So now most of my retirement is in that erratic stock market, and the rest in my unsalable house.

I’m just glad retirement is a few years away.

Lately, I’ve been receiving forwarded e-mails from concerned Adventists referencing these events. Here’s a typical one:

The ancient worldview held that there were many gods, some good, some bad, and many between.

Monotheism as introduced by the Israelite nation stood in contrast to this pantheon of gods. But monotheism had a problem. If there is only one god from whence comes evil?

I interviewed Roy Branson for the Association of Adventist Forums' printed Annual Report, handed out at last weekend's Forum Conference in Orlando, Florida. But the Annual Report did not have enough space to capture all of Roy Branson's thoughts on the history of Spectrum, so the complete interview is published here.

We learn atonement concepts from an early age. I pulled my sister’s hair, so I got no pocket money that week to atone for my sin. I missed my mother’s birthday, so I rushed out to spend that week’s pocket money on flowers to atone for my negligence.

After the Spectrum blog featured a new business that crams traditional Adventist culture and stereotypes into clever T-shirt slogans, we thought we'd track down the young Adventist entrepreneurs behind the idea and ask them how their brand-new business got started.

A church member pointed to the cross on the cover of a Bible I was carrying one day, and asked, “You know what that stands for?”

“The sacrifice of Jesus?” I said.

“No,” he said. “That’s what the Catholic Church wants you to think. It is initial of the pagan god Tammuz. The Catholic Church uses it to keep paganism alive, while people are deceived into thinking it’s Christianity.”

Bless his heart.

Surely Isaiah, Israel’s political and religious leader for sixty years, stands among the Lord’s giants who responded to his call to “Go!” But God never limited this call to Bible times.

The Chattanoogan reports:

For the ninth consecutive year, Southern Adventist University's enrollment numbers increased at fall registration. Southern opened its doors to 2,777 students for the 2008-2009 academic year 137 students more than Fall, 2007. This marks Southern's 13th successive year of continuous growth.

Jeff Joiner helped to start Union College's groundbreaking International Rescue and Relief program, teaching students emergency medical care, disaster management and a range of additional skills. He talks to Spectrum about how the program started and where its graduates are heading.

Question: How did the International Rescue and Relief program get started? What inspired it?

Those of us who write about others usually reveal much about ourselves. I believe that Milton Hook does this in Desmond Ford: Reformist Theologian, Gospel Revivalist (Riverside, Calif.: Adventist Today Foundation, 2008). Among other things, he tells us that he is not happy with the Wesleyan heritage that we Seventh-day Adventists share.