#BobbleHeadship

The Andrews University Seminary released a statement on headship saying in part:

"We, the faculty of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, affirm that Christ is the only Head of the Church (Eph 1:22; 5:23; Col 1:18). Therefore, while there exists legitimate leadership in the Church, no other human being may rightfully claim a headship role in the Church."

 We here at Caricatures of Adventists took this as an opportunity to launch our special, limited edition series of Male Headship Bobblehead dolls to honor the indefatigable proponents of Male Headship. Look for them in specially marked packages of Revival and Reformation at your local ABC that is probably going out of business. SO ACT NOW!

More #BobbleHeadship to come!

Rajmund Dabrowskiclaus

Vote. Vote NOW!

It's election time everyone, but this poll has nothing to do with politics. Well, maybe a little bit. Right now, there's a poll up on the side bar ---> providing you with the opportunity to select which Adventist personality will be next to undergo the pen treatment here on Caricatures of Adventists. Own a piece of this site by voting today!

Boonstra on the Boob Tube

Adventism has its own honest-to-goodness televangelist, Shawn Boonstra. A friend of mine living in the Los Angeles Metroplex says that Shawn Boonstra was on KCAL 9 TV last Sunday morning (competing with Joel Osteen on the Fox affiliate).

Boonstra gets Gangsta in LA

Boonstra, who took over It Is Written after Mark Finley had "other stuff to do" at the GC (Finley's a vice-president), has apparently getting some face time in Los Angeles. Sources close to the situation (i.e. Southern California Conference of SDA's) reveal that Shawn Boonstra is going to be the speaker for a massive campaign to turn Southern California Adventist green (it's a real color, I'm not even kidding!). The campaign called cLAim is a ramped up revelation seminar-type thing that sources say will cost $1 million. I wonder how much it costs to get Boonstra on KCAL 9.

My friend who spotted Boonstra on the Tube says that his message was part of a series entitled "In Tables of Stone", which unsurprisingly is about Adventism's favorite topic--besides the three R's: Revelation, Remnant and Revelry (meat, jewelry and dancing)--the 10 Commandments!

Boonstra reportedly told a story about some Russian guy who kidnapped a girl. Everyone was outraged that the guy would do such a thing. So that's how we know that postmodernism is wrong. There ARE absolute moral values because everyone just KNEW that it is wrong to kidnap a girl and make her your captive. Postmodernism says that everything is relative, and that one person's morals are just as good as someone else's. But we KNOW that it's not true because of the story of the Russian guy. And that's why we should follow the 10 Commandments!

I wonder how well a message like that is going to go down in LA. Shawn Boonstra is obviously not gangsta. He's not really fly for a white guy. He can't lean like a cholo.

I guess he does have the "in" of being a TV star...kind of. So that should get him a little respect in Hollywood at least. And come to think of it, there are probably lots of people in LA who can identify with a message about tablets and stone--those Californians... It'll be interesting to see how the Million Dollar Man does next year in the hood. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, enjoy these screenshots my Cal Pal got for me:

Just for Fun

New Banner!

I finally got around to changing the banner at the top of the blog. It took a while to get something that not only looked decent, but also grabs attention in the most appropriate way possible, while still retaining the fun-ness of the blog.

If you want to know why I had to remove the other banner, click here for a tale of intrigue including lawyers from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and more!

It was a sad day when I took down the old banner, and Old Banner, just because you're not at the top of the page doesn't mean I have stopped loving you! I will never forget you, Old Banner. You still have a place in my heart!

Have a look at the banners I had to choose from, and drop me a comment below letting me know which one I should have used (or just let me know that it doesn't really matter which banner I use because I will never be able to do justice to Adventism's first couple anyhow).

Jaime Jorge [work in progress]

Andy Hanson

Andy Hanson is a professor of Education at California State University, Chico, and graduated from Pacific Union College in 1963. Hanson is a blogger most famous for his regular reviews of Adventism's major periodicals including the Adventist Review, Adventist Today, and Spectrum Magazine. Hanson shares his perspectives at Adventist Perspective (that's the name of his blog) and claims sole responsibility for what is posted there. I think that is because he is the only one who posts there.

But that is not the only place he posts - Hanson also contributes to Re-inventing the Adventist Wheel and Spectrum Magazine. And for some reason or another, he's wearing Hawaiian shirts in nearly all photos of him. Most importantly, Andy Hanson shares an appreciation for the lighter side--he posts cartoons regularly that have religious, sometimes Adventist, themes. Hooray for humor!

*Look closely at the image - you'll see that it is a digital painting. What you won't see is that I made it with Microsoft Digital Image Pro (that's only because I can't afford professional grade digital drawing software right now...but some day!).

Sherman Haywood Cox, II

Sherman Haywood Cox, II. That's the longest name of any person featured on this site thus far! And the name could not apply to a more dynamic preacher / author/ blogger. Cox is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and shares all sorts of helpful homiletical stuff at his web site. It's called Sherman Haywood Cox Ministries (surprise!). He's also got lots of materials celebrating preaching in the black tradition at SoulPreaching.Com. Check it out!

Listen to his preaching, his philosophy on selecting texts to preach from, which version of the Bible to use, how to create a sermon and a whole lot more.

Sherman commented on the previous post (about some negative feedback on this blog):

Well I for one hope that one day I will see myself as worthy of being caricatured...LOL...one day we will say...'you know you made it when you been caricatured on the Caricature blog...' lol....God bless..."

To which we said, a caricature of Mr. Cox? Sure, man! (You made it)

Alternate version - Sherman's other site, the Sabbath Pulpit:

Dionne Parker [Adventist Women]

I received an email today that began, "Hello: I am one of the attorneys in the General Conference Office of General Counsel..."

Dionne A. Parker, Associate General Counsel for the Seventh-day Adventist® World Headquarters recently left a high-intensity job at a Washington D.C. law firm to serve the General Conference as human resources and intellectual property matters czar for the General Conference, ADRA, Pacific Press, Review and Herald, North American Division, and Adventist Risk Management.

Part of that job is sending emails to bloggers like me and David Hamstra informing them that they are not allowed to use the church's logo or name. They're copyrighted, trademarked, registered, and protected by tanks and helicopters.

In an interview with the Adventist Review (reg. required), Parker stated that she became serious about law at Columbia Union College, and went on to receive a law degree from George Washington University.

Dionne Parker's position as protector of the copyrighted corporate church name is evidence that the church has come a long way from the Adventist pioneers who opposed organization and finally agreed to take an official name only to assure that members of the Adventist community could be pacifists with legal protection by belonging to an official organization opposed to war on moral grounds. As I've said, we have come a long way.

Ella Simmons [Adventist Women]

Dr. Ella Louise Smith Simmons, former provost at La Sierra University, is the first woman ever to hold the title of vice president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Hers is the highest position ever attained by a woman in the Adventist Church. While many in the church hailed the day when administration at the highest levels became more inclusive, others have responded with ruffled feathers.

In talking with Adventist media, Simmons said, "I think that the church really is ready for women, at all levels, and in all roles, to fully accept God’s call on their lives, and to function in those roles, officially sanctioned by the Church."

Great Controversy dot Org (which describes itself as "a positive place on the web for the three angels’ message") called the statement "troubling" and "apparently defiant". The folks at Great Controversy evidently feared a church-wide rush to ordain women, a right exclusively granted to men at present. Women cannot become president of the General Conference because the president must be ordained, and women are not ordained.

Concerning women and equality, Great Controversy (dot) org states: "God still has His hand on His church. If this is a trial balloon for Women’s Ordination, then let it be shot down." So much for a positive place on the web...

Nevertheless, we join those who welcome the election of Dr. Ella Simmons as vice-president of the General Conference!

Robert Folkenberg

Robert S. Folkenberg was president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists from 1990 - 1999. Folkenberg was born in Puerto Rico and attended school in Cuba. He studied at Atlantic Union College, Andrews University, and Newbold College. Pretty International chap, which is a good trait in a General Conference president. A less good trait is getting mixed up in allegations of financial impropriety. Folkenberg resigned as president because of allegations, though his resignation had to do with not wanting to mar the reputation of the church by cooperating with an investigation. His resignation did not include an admission of guilt.

Folkenberg today is very involved in worldwide evangelism. He is director of Global Evangelism for the Carolina Conference of SDA.

This is a digital painting of Robert Folkenberg I've been working on for a while. I may decide to touch it up more later if time allows it.

Valdis Zilgalvis

Valdis Zilgalvis is the president of the Baltic Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Did you know there is a Baltic Conference? I didn't. Until now. And Valdis Zilgalvis is its president. That's all I know about Valdis Zilgalvis except that he is also a pastor.

This is a digital painting of Zilgalvis I've been working on for a while.

Missing the Boat [Editoon]

Recent editoon for Spectrum. A bit of role reversal in Adventism vis-a-vis the larger society. We may not be speaking prophetically, but at least we're not legalist anymore, right? Right?

Weimar and Amazing Facts Join Forces

Amazing Facts and Weimar College have made buzz online recently with the announcement that they will join together. Weimar, in Northern California, closed its doors after dealing with financial inviability. Amazing Facts stepped in and gave Weimar a Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac-like bailout. Pastor Doug Batchelor, head honcho at Amazing Facts, recently announced that Dr. Neil Nedley, a relatively well-known Adventist doctor would assume the role of president of the newly reincarnate Weimar College.

Commenting on Nedley's acceptance of the Weimar presidency, Batchelor said, "I can’t imagine a more thrilling development for the future of Weimar! His addition to this new partnership between Amazing Facts and Weimar is a match made in heaven."

Ángel Manuel Rodríguez

Adventist Gothic

Adventism's First Couple, Ellen and James White.
(see also Grant Wood's American Gothic)

Nancy Vyhmeister [Adventist Women]

You know the way to tell if someone is a prolific writer or not? Do an internet search of that person, and if the top 40 hits that come back are links to books, that person is a prolific writer. Nancy Vyhmeister is a talented woman and a prolific writer! Nancy W. Vyhmeister.

The people at Adventist Affirm don't necessarily like Nancy Vyhmeister all that well. That's because Nancy Vyhmeister advocates strongly for the acceptance of women in ministry and the ordination of Adventist Women. But at Adventist Affirm, they have a book full of counter-arguments. They think that women belong in the kitchen, I think.

The people at the Association of Adventist Women like Nancy Vyhmeister. They named her a woman of the year in 2007! She has lived all over the world and speaks several languages. Vyhmeister is one of the principal translators of the SDA Bible Commentary into Spanish.

I like her most because of her great name! Say (VEE-mice-ter). Vyhmeister, Vyhmeister, Vyhmeister. Now you try it.

Caricatures of Adventists EVERYWHERE!

Suddenly and very unexpectedly, Caricatures of Adventists has hit some major media outlets and has become a nation-wide phenomenon! Here are some of the sites that have recently featured this blog --

Adventist Church Website

National Public Radio WebsiteBill O'Reilly's WebsiteThe White House Website