The GC has been disturbingly quiet about all these issues. They created all that circus at the AC/18, got the vote and power they wanted, and were ready to go full speed ahead to catch any possible witch out there. The Kompliance Komrades Kommandos were in place to shoot. Then, with so many reactions from so many Unions it appears that they slowed down their eagerness to “execute” their malicious plan.
Now, it seems that this WCAS’ plan came handy to the GC guys. Just imagine the convenience… But I am glad that, starting with the UCC, the Conferences started to deliver a clear message, “Don’t come to our territory with your threats.”
Now I am curious, which Conference will be the next to deliver a clear message like that?
If the GC would just move to Africa as you suggested, they could focus on the many churches supporting the world church in those divisions. Ignore the few in the NAD who support MH. No need for compliance committees. Save a lot of tithe for evangelism.
Regardless of their agenda, I am against all “side shows” like AMAZING FACTS and other splinter groups.
WHY??
Because as our congregations become increasingly geriatric, with many members on fixed pension incomes, our local church budgets are compromised when these affiliate groups SIPHON OFF much needed funds for the operation of our local churches.
I think you are missing WHY they were shut down. They contacted all the UCC ministers asking that they call a special church board meeting to have their church sign a document of ‘harmony’ that said the members would be loyal to the GC regardless of any policies or votes of the conference, union or division. The pastors were instructed to mail the signed document to a post office box in Washington State. Nobody knows who is funding this group—doing all the printing and mailings, and why they feel a need to have every church member sign a loyalty oath to the GC. GOD doesn’t force our conscience —what makes this group believe they should contact all church members and tell them how to vote? This is what the Catholic Church did that then moved into the Inquisition to compel compliance. And WHY is the GC supporting this group in their newsletters, etc???
Praise God for the few who have the guts to do the right thing! This group should not be permitted to operate in ANY conference.
But this is a good thing, isn’t it? These “affiliate groups,” many members believe, can accomplish what the Conference is indifferent toward. Loyalty to the Profesional Office Holders is the lowest I have ever seen or read in history of our church. Most members don’t know the names of the officers of their local Conference, let alone Union officers, I dare say. Why? Because church management is to be personally involved, through dialog and fellowship, with members. Professional officer holders don’t mix business with pleasure.
George –
Yes! It was Laurel Damsteegt who was at that awful presentation.
And she was highly praised for her presentation.
[was afraid I would butcher her name]
If you recall Doug’s presentation of ALL the reasons why women are lower
class persons, the cameras panned the audience with LOTS of women in it
and they sat there with smiles on their faces.
He even joked about – Seminaries — semin-aries- that women pastors were going to.
People like him, who have been highly ELEVATED by ADMINISTRATION are listened
to by the person in the pew and take what they say as “TRUTH” and become closed
minded ever after. They have done a lot of damage and have kept the church from
being able to allow new Paradigms of real Truth to be allowed in the church. AWFUL!!
Same with that Sexual Conference in South Africa – where a segment of the church
was told they were NOT WANTED, DO NOT APPLY.
ONLY certain persons were Allowed to present and so turned the church against sons
and daughters of Members, and against any body else who might see Fellowship with
God in the SDA church. AWFUL!!
That brochure sent out by the NAD about ministering to children of members who are GL.
There are those who were miffed because it was a non-SDA product that was made into
an SDA product of the NAD.
We have ALL this and yet the GC comes out with its “Product Advertisement Gimmic”.
Weird!
Did you read the story of the pastor of the Chico SDA church who allowed the baptism
of a partner of a member to be baptized by one of the Elders of the 750 member church?
Got a lot of flack by the Conference [was told not to do it]. So now a pastor of a Sunday
church. Was JUST TOO MUCH FOR HIM. Is on AdventistToday site. AWFUL!!
A Very Sad Story!!!
True, coercion is never productive when it comes to religious matters. Why WCAS exist? Simply they believe that the UCC has failed to support GC voted policies, they are in rebellion against the church and thus God. They are convicted that God would have them do something about it. This is a condition that the leadership of UCC has created themselves. In blindness the UCC uses the same methods of coercion, forbidding WCAS from functioning on church property. When will the madness stop? Where are our responsible leaders, that know the difference between right and wrong policies?
Submit appeals to Local Conference Compliance Committee? Can’t local congregations and pastors deal with their own people in the spirit of unity, speaking the truth in love?
I remember very clearly years ago when Robert Brinsmead visited our mission school campus. He and company dined at our school cafeteria the first time and were subsequently banned. Fast forward to 1987 when Des Ford was invited to hold a week of spiritual revival by an AMICUS (Adventist Ministry to College and University Students) chapter in southern Philippines near our Adventist Hospital. I believe Dr Ford was able to dine with the students in the hospital cafeteria once. And you can guess what happened afterwards.
Of course I do not support WASC’s compliance demands. Neither do I support UCC forcing compliance of the WASC with their demands of silence and banishment from the pulpit. When will we stop excommunicating each other, not over morals, but theology? Our leaders should retake Leadership 101 along the Negotiations 101.
I have a real problem with pledges. The unscrupulous have no problem signing pledes, while the scrupulous would have great difficulty. This group was trying to bypass the management of the conference, so it is not surprising that the conference would ban them.
The movement’s goal is, indeed, to encourage churches and members to SIGN A PLEDGE OF LOYALTY TO THE GC. The effort, which I would characterize as divisive, now extends far beyond the Upper Columbia Conference. The Events link lists five participating churches thus far, only one of which is from the UCC. I think the UCC took the right action. I think they would need to do the same if special interest groups used a similar approach to push pledges supporting creationism, anti-homosexuality, anti-abortion, vegetarianism, last generation theology, and the like. We don’t need these disruptions in our churches and institutions.
John F. Kennedy’s speech at Mills College in Oakland, California on October 30, 1959 remains one of the best arguments against loyalty oaths. https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKSEN/0905/JFKSEN-0905-006. The members of WCAS, of course, have never read his speech. These are ignorant people. They do not realize that loyalty oaths are problematic, counter-productive, and injurious to human sensibilities. The members of WCAS are not sufficiently aware of the painful history regarding loyalty oaths, including the Hitler Oath that was sworn to by 90 percent of Protestant pastors in Germany.
The members of WCAS need to settle down and straighten out their priorities. If they want to be taken seriously, they need to attempt to make reasoned biblical arguments rather than engage in political stunts. I think Upper Columbia Conference has acted wisely in publishing its Statement.
At least Brinsmead was able to walk on your campus! In 1964 my roommate and I, intrigued by whispering among AUC theology students, surreptitiously made our way to a nearby town for a clandestine lecture. Amazed by how many attendees we recognized, we quickly found seats in the back row. A Robert Brinsmead (1933-) was introduced, and a freshman theology student, M. Finley, spotted my roommate and asked him to provide opening prayer. Mortified, my roommate realized our cover was blown, but regained sufficient composure to offer an acceptable orison. And the lecture was quite enlightening. Memories!
Let’s be very clear about what the WCAS loyalty oath means. Opposition to women’s ordination is undergirded by male headship theory, of which the anti-Trinitarian heresy of Eternal Functional Subordinationism (neo-subordinationism) is the principal component. If the immanent Trinity is hierarchically ordered and the Son is eternally subordinate to the Father, even in the functional sense, then the Son does not possess attributes of divinity, namely omnipotence and sovereignty, that the Father possesses, and is therefore, not divine. The GC under the leadership of Ted Wilson has become a neo-subordinationist entity. Specifically, GC leaders Ted Wilson, Clinton Wahlen, and Mark Finley are neo-subordinationists. No Seventh-day Adventist opponent of women’s ordination has ever publicly and unequivocally denounced this anti-Trinitarian heresy. Therefore, in the surrounding context that informs the meaning of the WCAS loyalty oath, to express loyalty to the GC is to express that the Son is not divine! May God forgive them who sign the WCAS loyalty oath, for they know not what they do.
Especially …
“No thought was given to the question of how this section would be enforced – who would investigate the veracity of these affidavits – who would determine whether students who did not belong to any subversive organization might have some proscribed belief – what constituted the belief of an organization…”
“Nor was there any discussion of what danger to the nation was being avoided by this requirement…”
“The loyalty oath has no place in a program designed to encourage education. It is at variance with the declared purpose of the Act in which it appears; it acts as a barrier to prospective students; and it is distasteful, humiliating and unworkable to those who must administer it.”
The current GC team needs to be Repealed & Replaced asap, before more damage is done.
The situation was already way too bad. And now the attack from this WCAS group? With the OK from the GC? Unacceptable!!!
All fair and good. So, the current GC administration is voted out; and who is voted in?
“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” Gen. 6:5-7
Harmony and union existing among men of varied dispositions is the strongest witness that can be borne that God has sent His Son into the world to save sinners. It is our privilege to bear this witness. But, in order to do this, we must place ourselves under Christ’s command. Our characters must be molded in harmony with His character, our wills must be surrendered to His will. Then we shall work together without a thought of collision.
