Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: It is with great sadness that we report the passing of our precious father and husband. Shortly after midnight on Saturday, December 20, Samuele Bacchiocchi breathed his last breath. During his last breaths, he was surrounded by his three children and wife of 47 years (today would have been his 47th wedding anniversary), and we read together 2 Timothy 4:6-8: "For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." This quote sums up the life of a man who sacrificed practically all of his time and energy to help others understand the Bible more fully, even up to end as he gave his last seminar in England the Sabbath before being taken to the emergency room.

We are very grateful that we could all be together at this time and believe that it is fitting that God chose the Sabbath day, the day that he loved most and spent his life preaching and writing about, to be the day that he entered into his final earthly rest. We take comfort in the fact that the next time he will open his eyes he will see his Lord and Savior, and that we will be reunited with him in heaven. His incredible journey here on earth has come to an end, but may we continue his legacy until Jesus returns!

The funeral services will be held this coming Sabbath, December 27, at 4:00 pm at the Pioneer Memorial Church on the campus of Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan.

We would like to thank each and every one of you again for the incredible outpouring of love and prayers that have provided us with supernatural peace and comfort during this difficult time. We are privileged to be a part of this extraordinary community of faith.

If any of you would like to send a message to the Bacchiocchi Family, we encourage you to send it to any of the following addresses of his children: Loretta Bacchiocchi, at loretta_bacchiocchi@fhchs.edu, Gianlucca Bacchiocchi at bacchiocchi@gmail.com, or Daniel Bacchiocchi at dbacch@sbcglobal.net.

May God richly bless you all,
The Bacchiocchi Family

Here on the Spectrum Blog we're taking it a little easy through the holidays and counting our blessings. As the site inches toward the big one million pageviews mark we're going to be counting several year end top ten lists. The first is the top ten most read articles this year on the whole Spectrum site.

10 Adventist Ideas Whose Time Has Come

9 Revisiting Ellen White on Masturbation

8 Southern California Conference to Spend 1 Million to Televangelize LA

7 Describing Desmond Ford's Faith

6 Atonement at the Cross

5 Adventist Political Hopeful Speaks to Neo-Nazi Group

4 This Evangelism Corrupts Adventism

3 Ellen White: Paragon of Adventism

2 Why Adventists Should Consider Supporting Gay Marriage

And the number one post on Spectrum. . .

1 Before He Speaks: Pastors' Wives Parody with 69,647 pageviews.

Which post, on this list or not, was your favorite this year?

Reviewing the Adventist Review
November 20, 2008
Vol. 185, No. 32

GENERAL COMMENTS
This edition of the Review is worth reading cover to cover. I have some comments, of course, but the magazine is edited well, informative, and more often than not, inspirational.

One Bouquet has been earned along with four Honorable Mentions.

BOUQUET
The cover article, THINK GLOBAL—ACT ADVENTIST is truly a “vision of what the contemporary church could be. Won K. Yoon speaks eloquently of a global outlook that is open, inclusive, and creative. He closes with the following words.

“We Adventists must either develop a global attitude or experience increasing difficulties in our attempt to convey our message to our contemporaries. The church has established a solid global hardware, so to speak. But it now needs to develop a global software—namely, its people. The new wine of present truth needs a new wineskin.”

HONORABLE MENTIONS
INBOX—Letters from Readers
I didn’t know that there are nearly 325,000 members and more than 451 organized churches and congregations in Haiti. They, along with their countrymen STRUGGLE WITH DEVASTATION FROM FOUR MAJOR HURRICANES. Adventist volunteers along with ADRA are working to help victims in the worst hit areas. (There is no better Christmas gift than an ADRA gift card!)
REJECTING THE CURE by Connie J. Beehler
THE SILENCE IN BETWEEN by Dixil L. Rodriguez

COMMENTS
I have two concerns. One is factual; the other is theological.

FACTUAL: There are reasons why the title, Clear Word, does not include “Bible”. It could, if it were a legitimate paraphrase, but it isn’t! It is a “bible” rendered consistent with the interpretations supplied by Ellen White without regard for the plain words of the Biblical authors. The Review and Herald Publishing Association knows this, as evidenced by the title, but it is advertised in the Review as a “popular paraphrase”. The advertised audio CD is doubly misleading in that the “Clear Word” in italics is followed by the plain text “New Testament”. The type is small but the intent to mislead is again present.

THEOLOGICAL: This issue contains a pullout titled, The New Believers Plan. It is an attempt to get free subscriptions of the Review into the hands of new converts. That is an admirable endeavor. However, in this attempt to “sell” the Review, Bill Knott advertises Cliff Goldstein as an author that will “continue to offer new believers plenty of evidence why biblical faith is the only viable alternative in a sea of relativism”. It is difficult for me to agree with Knott’s assessment in light of Goldstein’s editorial writing. His reactionary essays are provocative rather than enlightening.

Knott goes on to assert that Angel Rodriguez will give new converts the “tools for talking with their neighbors and friends”. I don’t know the “tools” to which he is referring, but only occasionally does Rodriguez provide answers that do not confuse the issue under discussion.