The North American Division Year-end Meeting began Thursday afternoon with a message of inclusion from Division President Daniel R. Jackson. The “Collaboration 2.0” meeting spans six days - October 27 through November 1, 2016.
Refreshing. Thank you, Dan Jackson.
To @joshua2419
Are you saying that The Priesthood of All Believers teaching in the New Testament is “politically correct”?
The NAD leaders are certainly not in rebellion against the Bible-based doctrines of the church. They are simply, and legitimately, questioning the interpretation of General Conference working policy, on the part of the headship theologians thereof.
Take note Pastor Ted Wilson, we’re coming after you. The split is on and NAD has now included “the world” as our territory to proclaim “Christ-centered (not sex-centered), Seventh-day Adventist message of hope (not continued women subjugation) and wholeness (not splintered north against south).” Unless you and your EXCOMM “repent,” as Daniel 5:27 states, “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.” Soon you all will be irrelevant.
Abraham Lincoln is forever immortalized in the Emancipation Proclamation, initiating the 13th Amendment.
Martin Luther, 400 years later stands as the leader of the Reformation, changing forever the history of the Christian church.
His namesake, Martin Luther King (was it prescience?) who will forever be remembered as the leader of the Civil Rights Movement, giving equality to all races.
They all were reviled for making drastic changes by those who valued tradition as something that should not be changed. This is the sentiment expressed by the larger number of the world church, yet there is nothing sacrosanct simply based on what has always been done. Had this been so important to the Adventist believers who founded this church, it would not be a world church today close to 20M members.
It is the very ones who are unafraid to step up and challenge the old ways simply because “it’s always been that way.” Leaders should LEAD or step aside as get out of the way. Progress waits for no man.
@elmer_cupino @George Tichy
~Telling delegates that their views on women’s ordination “are between God and you,” he stated emphatically, “if you have heard we are in a state of rebellion, that is simply not true.” ~ Spectrum
There is no law of God that says, “And thou, ‘History’, shalt repeat thyself.”
On the contrary, the ‘Plan of Salvation’, just like the ‘Plan of Creation’, was intended to succeed, not fail. So, also, is ‘God’s church’ – however They define it – intended, by Them, to ultimately succeed, not fail.
Yet, in SDA history there have been periods of rebellion against God that are usually not mentioned in our evangelistic efforts (if they were, there would most likely be more ‘converts’, not fewer, with more ‘staying power’), perhaps because those periods are not yet fully outgrown. Ellen once compared the rebellion of older and supposedly ‘wiser’ SDA leaders against the Bible teachings of 2 younger – NOT older – men to ‘Korah’s Rebellion’.
For this morning’s Sabbath service with my wife, by ‘Skype’ (I’m working away from home, again.) I read to her from Sermon 21 of The Third Angel’s Message series given to the assembled GC of SDAs in 1893 through the fascinating, God-blessed and Ellen-approved mind of Alonzo Trevier Jones . . . BEFORE any taint of rebellion on his own part. Notice how closely the ‘historic’ ideas and words of Jones support the current, ‘modern’ position of Daniel Jackson, who is apparently being accused – again, by too many SDAs – of leading a ‘rebellion’ against the ‘GC’ regarding ‘WO’.
Jones @ 1893 GC session, regarding the ‘Sunday Law’ movement of his day:
"Further than this: the professed Protestant churches of the United States have taken that same course now, and have also exalted Sunday, the day that they place in this government, as the Catholic church did in the Roman empire, and for the same purpose. {March 3, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 468.14}
"Further than this, these professed Protestant churches know that there is no commandment given for that thing. They say that. They say that it began with the primitive church. I do not care how far back they claim to get it in the primitive church. If it be a church institution, a church ordinance, that the church commands men to perform, it is the same thing. It is the same evil thing. Because any church that would attempt to do it, becomes in the nature of the attempt, an apostate church. Trace it to the days of the apostles if you want to, yet the church that did it is, in the nature of things, an apostate church, attempting to save itself and others without the power of God. Therefore whatever church did it, it is in the nature of things a fallen church, because it is not the church’s office in the world to command men. The church’s office in the world is to obey God and not to command men. {March 3, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 468.15}
Any church, therefore, that presumes to command men is, at the very motion of it, an apostate church. The church that obeys God is the church of God. God commands; His is the power. His is the authority. He used the church, that through it He may reflect His power and His glory unto men. But the church has no right to command anybody. It obeys God alone, too. {March 3, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 469.1}
Now I will put that in another way or state it a little more plainly. It is not the church’s place to command anybody, and it is not the church’s place to obey anybody, but God only." {March 3, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 469.2}
Now,
let’s simply replace the issue of a Biblically-false, but ‘traditional’, ‘Lord’s Day’, which Jones was dealing with in his day . . .
with the real possibility of a falsely-derived, but ‘traditional’, ‘Biblical’ argument for opposing Women’s Ordination in our day. . .
Then we find that Jones’ statements are still just as fresh and forceful today, as was that ‘Latter Rain’ experience from which he was speaking yesterday, aren’t they ? . . . except this time we SDAs are in the ‘line of fire’, ourselves – not the ‘Papacy’, not the ‘false Protestants’ – and therefore we had better ‘walk’ very ‘softly’, and avoid carrying even tiny ‘sticks’ . . . which we may have to beat ourselves with, perhaps sooner than later.
So,
. . . if it takes the removal of a few older ‘scab’ SDAs, like myself, to free the fresher, younger generation to avoid my mistakes (and make their own ?)
. . . if it means that Daniel Jackson is to be characterized as the leader of a ‘rebellion’ against SDA church ‘authority’
. . . if it means that God is finally going to realize the success They planned for Their church
. . . then wouldn’t it still be the wisest thing – in the hope of NOT continuing to repeat ‘History’ – to at least stand back with ‘caution’ and ‘moderation’ (as Nicodemus once counselled the Sanhedrin in regard to their management of that ‘rebel’ Jesus, DA 167-168) and give this so-called NAD/WO ‘rebellion’ room to succeed, or to fail,
as God sees fit ?
“Who are you” (we) “to judge another’s servant ?
To his own master he stands or falls.
Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.” ~ Paul Romans 14:4
THEN MAY GOD BLESS THE YOUNG DELEGATES AND DAN ‘NAD’ JACKSON, and . . .
and all of us who are heartily sick of watching the
merry-go-round of ‘History’.
Hope of being delivered from yet another ‘historic’ failure
may be nearer than we know !
‘Rebellion’ – IF it exists in the NAD – against ‘Korah’s Rebellion’ – IF it still exists in the GC – is, after all, right straight on the narrow way back to God, isn’t it ?
‘Double negatives’ and all that . . . .
I, too, am an old Adventist. And seeing this in print is shocking to me as I really do not feel old. But having said this, I grew up in this church among the prejudices against the young people and their service to the church. We were brought up with the “do’s and don’ts” of the church or “Ellen White says this–”. This turned many people away from our church. As I grew older and wiser and studied more I found we cannot rely on what man has said but must take to heart God’s counsel in the Bible. I feel that everyone has a place in our church. Whether you are male or female, gay or lesbian or trans-gender, we all are God’s children. If a woman has a calling by God, she should be doing what God wants her to do. Who are we to hold back one person from their calling. We have much to answer for if we go against God’s wishes for his people.
“When asked why they left the Adventist Church, the largest group (28% who responded) cited no particular reason–they simply “drifted away.” The second largest group cited lack of compassion for those who are hurting (25%).”
These stats loosely mirror those found in the recent PRRI study of the religiously unaffiliated. In that research, the largest majority of respondents (59%) said that they simply “stopped believing” in the teachings of their former churches. The third largest group (29%) cited the church’s treatment of LGBT persons as a factor in their leaving. http://www.prri.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/PRRI-RNS-Unaffiliated-Report.pdf
But they are then planning on ordaining those women, which IS in conflict with General Conference working policy.
The Church leaders may not be irrelevant as claimed. The church growth in the US is stagnant because we are focusing on politically correct doctrine and never the word of God. The notion is that NAD has cash and influence, therefore, it wants to dictate the show but be reminded that any action should be bible based.