Des\’ 80th Birthday Book of messages (ii)

Bill & Marion McLeod…
Dear Des,
Happy 80th Birthday, and may you enjoy many more healthy, fulfilling years.
We thank you sincerely for the many years you have been telling us: \’it\’s not who you are, but WHOSE you are\’ that is important.
May God continue to bless you with good health and ongoing years of preaching the gospel and changing lives.
Regards,
Bill and Marion McLeod

Nelson Palmer…
Dr. Des Ford,
I have not been your student, parishioner, or fellow-labourer as so many of whom have been inspired and blessed by such close association. However, I have witnessed and been tremendously uplifted by your life over the last few years.
I wish to thank you for the blessing I have received from your Christ-uplifting sermons and writings and your fundamental, natural Christian life and outreach, without hate, without judgement, without criticism, without sarcasm, when it would have been so easy and so humanly “natural” to have succumbed to that very human condition.
You have been an example to me. You have helped me a lot, I thank you. May God continue to bless you in that example you have always set. May we meet soon in Heaven.
Nelson Palmer

The Serics…
Dear Dr Ford
When I was a teen you were a key speaker at Brisbane big camp and I was part of the crowd that followed you around to the different divisions, wherever you were speaking. I felt very fortunate as the adults were discouraged from going to the youth meetings and yet it was acceptable for youth to go the adult meetings. The topic was like an oasis in the desert of dry sermons.
Sometime after this I was in the chapel at Avondale College when they announced your dismissal. It was like a demonstration and a funeral at the same time. I remember that some students were quite verbal in their anger at the decision and the rest of us sat in mourning.
A few years later, I was in a Sabbath School class and the leader asked, “When was the judgement?” Automatically I responded “At the cross”. The leader instantly said, “Ooo, we have a heretic amongst us”. Sadly, my husband shared this fear of “new” ideas, so we lived under law and not under grace.
In 2006 the kids and I moved into our miracle house in Peachester and I was astounded when I was told you held meetings just up the road. Your seminars have been inspiring and a huge blessing, while at home part of the routine for family worship is to read a segment from one of your books.
God is so good.
Rachel, Teliesha, Shaye, Corin and Rhialle Seric,

Kendra Haloviak…
Dear Dr. Ford,
Last Wednesday evening I stood before a group of 50 medical students and led a discussion on Matthew’s gospel account. As you know, Matthew surrounds the Sermon on the Mount with a summary of Jesus’ ministry: “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people” (Matthew 4:23; 9:35). When I consider your life’s work of sharing the Christian faith, I think of someone who has modelled his life after Jesus’ ministry.
“Teaching in their synagogues” – Your venue has been churches, more than synagogues. But when I think of all those locations of teaching the Gospel, my head spins. I imagine all the classrooms, fellowship halls, church sanctuaries, retreat centers, living rooms, and the list goes on. Thank you for your commitment to teaching Scripture to any and all who long to better understand.
“Proclaiming the good news of the kingdom” – You have proclaimed the good news in times of affirmation and in times of controversy. Your voice is always strong in its proclamation. And the topic is always God’s good news in Jesus Christ. When I consider the thousands of people who have decided to join the kingdom as the Spirit touched their hearts while hearing you preach, I imagine heaven weeping with joy.
“Curing every disease and every sickness” – Are you wondering what I’m going to say here?! When you would make dinner for our family, it wasn’t the tastiest meal, but we sure were healthy after eating it! I know my family has teased you over the years, but it is with the deepest respect for your commitment to the best health practices. While I did not always follow your advice during my graduate school years, I always remembered your cautions about exercise and plenty of sleep. Your advice is a way of caring about people, and it is appreciated.
My journey to the classroom Wednesday evening began in my parents’ living room listening to them tell me stories from the Bible. The journey continued in that same space, as I listened to you share the stories of Jesus and your convictions about salvation through God’s grace alone. Thank you.
And happy birthday!
With love and prayers,
Kendra Haloviak

Ernest, Carey, Jonathan and Jillian LeVos…
Dear Des:
Many Happy Returns and the Lord continue to bless you richly with His grace.
My family and I appreciate the day we visited you at your home in Auburn and you had prayer for us.
Several years ago, we stopped at a gas-station in Kansas, USA, and a plaque in the gift shop read: “I like all the others but I like my Ford the best.” I appreciate your influence on my life.
Des, I appreciate the good advise I have listened to in many sermons presented by other speakers, but I treasure Good News I have read in your books, the sermons I have listened to on cassette and in person.
You have done much for me. I have always treasured the text from Romans 8:28 that you penned in the books you wrote that are now an important part of my library.
The text from Romans has lead me to meditate and reflect on the Providence and Sovereignty of God in the Scriptures, in the books of John Flavel, Thomas Watson and Thomas Boston, and not to leave out what I have read for the past twenty years from the books and sermons of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, my spiritual mentor.
They are dead men, but they had a living faith. These men have helped me appreciate the value of the Gospel. Besides, your conversations, (not to forget the many walks we had in Banff, Alberta, Canada), the sermons you preached and books you wrote have done the same for me: to treasure the Gospel and to look for opportunities to share the Good News. Your personal example has certainly rubbed off on me.
I treasure the friendship I have had with you, not to forget the walk in San Francisco in 1978, and the prayer you prayed for me in Monterey Bay California in 2005. God bless you and your family richly.
All the best,
Ernest, Carey, Jonathan and Jillian LeVos.

Allan & Ruth Juriansz… In 1914, Benjamin John Juriansz, a Dutch Reformed adherent, married Edith Ondatje, a Baptist. They begat six sons and four daughters. In 1932, Edith converted to the SDA Church, and raised all their children as SDAs. Benjamin remained Dutch Reformed. All the children and their spouses were steeped in the SDA Church and served it in lay or employee capacity. Four of the sons became ordained SDA ministers. In 1957, I the youngest, graduated from Avondale College, with a Bachelor of Education. I was an M L Andreason style SDA: \”When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as his own\” (EGW: Christ\’s Object Lessons). I continued in a constantly depressed spiritual state, seeing no progress in reproducing the character of Christ. I had no hope in my life, despite having accepted Jesus as my Saviour. Before leaving Avondale, I was fortunate to attend some of the devotional meetings of the Potomac Seminary Extension School held that summer. On a Sabbath afternoon walk to the Swing Bridge on the Avondale Campus, with Desmond Ford and Edward Heppenstall, I heard for the first time, the Gospel, from the lips of Desmond Ford. It was like the Walk to Emmaus. That day Desmond Ford became a landmark in my life. When Des was at PUC in California, and Ruth and I were in Toronto, Canada, we arranged for Des to take two week of prayer sessions, at the SDA High School and the Kingsway College in Toronto. We revelled in his preaching the Gospel of Grace. In 1979, my eldest brother Frank and I listened together to the tape of the talk Des gave at Angwin on the Investigative Judgement. That tape split the Juriansz family into two. Five of us and our spouses and our mother, found ourselves outside the SDA Church. Frank was instrumental in spearheading Canadian Good News and the Toronto Good News Fellowship. Des visited twice a year for meetings, until his retirement and return to Australia. Des baptised three of our children into Christ. Des\’ radio broadcast goes on in Canada, coast to coast. Des, the SDA Church has missed a great opportunity by rejecting you and the full assurance we have in the Atonement at Calvary. You have extolled the Pauline Gospel of Jesus Christ. You are our modern Martin Luther. We know many, still within the SDA Church, who embrace the Gospel and reject the Investigative Judgement. You have given thousands the assurance they lacked as SDAs, and the scope of your witness is enormous. God bless you and Gillian and spare you both to continue your witness for many years to come. We are grateful to you and love you very much.
Allan & Ruth Juriansz.

Ed Parker…
Des,
One great contribution that you made was to challenge the legalism that was so often manifest within the church and also the 1844 sanctuary setting that really was a piece of SDA fiction. Historical roots do not transmute it into something genuine.
What I admired about you is (was) that to my knowledge and observation during the many years of conflict you continued to act with Christian grace when some within the system forgot that as presidents and leaders they too needed to do the same. There should always be integrity with authenticity – the inside should have congruence with the outside. I am reminded of the adage that “it is an impossibility to bring people to the truth, if by the way they came to it they find themselves yet outside of it! “ Probably this explains some of the malaise evident today in the institutionalized church.
May the latter years of your life be such that the grace that you so brilliantly proclaimed sustains you through both the sunny and the cloudy days that life inevitably brings.
Very best wishes,
Ed Parker

Russell Woolley…
Dr Ford,
I will always be grateful for the discovery through your teaching that the whole Bible was about our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Especially did I enjoy your Life and teaching classes and still remember the thrill they brought as Christ just came alive to me. I used to watch the clock when it was getting close to the end of class and hope that it would never end. What I learned inspired me to read more and discover for myself more of the wonderful truths stored in God\’s word. Your teaching and your consistent life has greatly enriched my spiritual journey.
Russell Woolley

John & Jenny Shaw…
Dear Des,
We have known you for a long time. Jenny’s family first met you when you were “assisting” George Burnside at his tent mission and then, later, you took an afternoon meeting at Hamilton Church in Newcastle. Jenny remembers the dynamic D & R classes you took at Avondale and the challenges of your Public Speaking classes, when she was tongue tied giving her first talk in front of the class and asked your permission to start again!
We both so enjoyed the fellowship we shared when you stayed in our home in London and many times in Sydney.
But most of all we remember you for the clarity with which you preached the gospel of righteousness by faith. Your wonderful sermons on the Book of Romans presented at camp meetings and replayed many times on tape were a real turning point in our understanding of the gospel and brought us the wonderful assurance of our acceptance in Christ.
Thank you for your ministry and the inspiration it has brought us so many times.
We wish you a very happy birthday and many more to follow. Above all we wish you the perfect peace and rest that result from God’s finished work.
Our fond love
John and Jenny Shaw

Susan & David Rogers…
Heartiest congratulations on achieving the status of a venerable, and amazingly healthy, octogenarian. We honour you, for your many achievements in life, for being an inspiration to thousands of students, and also for the consistent and unwavering demonstration of a charitable and gracious attitude. Your ongoing kindness, tolerance and patience have provided a wonderful example to those who have known you. One of life\’s true gentlemen.
Sincerely,
Susan and David Rodgers (Christchurch)

Joel Seric…
Dear Dr Ford
Thank you for being instrumental in my journey to discover God. I was rather confused concerning my standing with God as the law was presented by my father and grace demonstrated by my mother. After finishing school I stayed in Brisbane with my Aunt and Uncle to finish a Tafe course. During this time various people tried to force their own identities upon me. I was like a boat on a rough sea without a true captain. God seemed elusive to me; I could not find him. I thought perhaps God was found in a Church or a fellowship group so I tried many different church groups only coming away more confused.
Praise God that He is merciful and caring, and His love is eternal. Hoping to get some restoration, I decided to move back home. You were speaking down the road from home so my mum suggested that we go. After your seminar I asked you the fundamental question that I needed to have answered- how do I have God in my heart and not just in my head? You replied that I needed to read my bible, pray and read other devotional books. The truth! It was so simple. I found God or more like I turned around and realised that he had been waiting patiently. From Christmas 2006 I have been gently restored by God and have the true authority of who I am- a son of God. I eagerly anticipate the seminars where I receive spiritual food and enlightenment of Gods character.
Thank you so much
Joel Seric,

Laimon Eglentals…
Growing up in a church environment, I learned and was taught much about the law of God, but without knowing about his grace and gift of salvation. It was through hearing you preach at a small church on the Sunshine Coast many years ago that I first heard the true gospel preached and knew that I didn\’t have to keep the law perfectly to be saved.
Later I came to ask other questions, and was challenged by the questions of what God had revealed to us in nature and could a Christian love God with all of his mind. Once again I was pointed to the answers by one who had asked similar questions and had sought out the answers.
The healthy lifestyle and fitness that you incorporate into your day are truly inspiring, and if I live as long I hope to be able to emulate.
God Bless you Des on your 80th Birthday, and thank you for your dedication to the good news over the decades.
Laimon Eglentals

Lynden & Julie Rogers…
It is given to all to struggle for right, but many weary in well doing. It then falls to the resolute to press the battle. Des, you are such a one and an inspiration, in both person and word, for younger toilers. With apologies to Churchill:
In war – resolution for the gospel
In victory – magnanimity through the gospel
In defeat – defiance of anti-gospel
In peace – gospel good will
All the very best on your 80th.
Lynden and Julie Rogers

Peter & Judy Roennfeldt…
Dear Des,
It would have been a pleasure and privilege to be present on this day, and Judy and I would have been but for my being in the States at this time. Your ministry first touch Judy (or her parents Vic & Joan Dunn, for she would have been almost too young to remember!) when you ministered in Coff’s Harbour. My first contact was as a student in The Life & Teachings of Jesus class in 1967 – and what a blessing.
Although our paths have not crossed many times since 1970 when I left College, the gospel that you taught, which your life and ministry reflected, and to which you have remained faithful; has continued to mould and shape life, ministry, service and my view of God and his world. It is still my goal to foster environments of fellowship that more faithfully reflect His heart and grace.
Des & Gill, we hope to call in again sometime to visit you in your Sunshine Coast home – but we could not miss this opportunity to again express our deepest appreciation for your friendship, faithfulness and witness.
Des, we pray that our God will continue to bless you with peace and joy, with the constant abiding assurance of His love and presence in your life. We pray that the gathering and fellowship of friends for your 80th birthday will remind you of the blessings of God and the riches of His friendship with you.
Kindest Christian greetings,
Peter & Judy Roennfeldt