Over the last 10 months, liberal Conferences have been misusing a portion of the Church Manual to prevent ministers they don’t like from speaking in conference churches. It is—in our opinion—spiritual abuse, creating spiritual refugees in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Today, the General Conference Executive Committee voted to strike one of those statements from the Church Manual.
This means that it will be brought up at the 2025 GC Session for approval.
The next move is bring some balance into page 126 in the Church Manual where it talks about Conferences having power to create guidelines that speakers must abide by:
The local elders or church board may also invite speakers, in consultation with the pastor, and in harmony with the conference guidelines (Church Manual, p. 126).
I am told that this portion of page 126 will also be rewritten in a way that brings balance. Unless we are dictators in the church (and most of us aren’t) that’s what we all want—balance and fairness.
We recognize the occasional need to keep anti-trinitarian speakers at bay in our churches, and prevent LGBTQ+ activitists from using our pulpits to deceive people. However, the majority of conferences in America lean liberal and are way more inclined to misuse this Church Manual clause against conservatives, not against LGBTQ+. Most of them are pushing conservative congregations into smaller and smaller corners of the conferences. Page 126 as it currently reads needs to be modified to prevent spiritual abuse from these conferences.
Page 47 — Changes to B90 policy regarding dissolution of Unions. Now they can be dissolved in Spring Meeting and Fall meetings. It used to just be fall. This serves as a warning to wayward unions that they could have only six months to get their house in order, or they will be dissolved. There was a lot of discussion, and an effort to refer it back to the committee. That vote failed to pass. Eventually it was voted on and passed by an 80% margin. Praise God.
On page 61 there was an odd reference to equity and fairness, which promoted non-discrimination on the basis of gender, marital status etc. Non-discrimination with regard to gender means that you could not discriminate against a man claiming to be a woman, or a woman claiming to be a man. This was a profoundly problematic suggestion in the corrupt world we currently live in. Where it came from, I am unsure—probably GC legal who often advise changes that are legal but not lawful. Good news. It was struck from the agenda.
We are grateful for the positive changes happening at this meeting, and for faithful SDA members who work on the front lines and behind the scenes to advance the Lord’s cause.
German LGBTQ+
But what about the German LGBTQ+ problem?? We are told that faithful German members—and there are many of them—are putting increasing pressure on the liberal union leaders to stop their unbiblical support for LGBTQ+ (sin). Good for them!
Pressure is also being placed by the GC on the Inter European Division to deal with this problem. Put simply, you have dynamic pressure from underneath and dynamic pressure from above. The liberal union administrators in Germany (and there are at least two of them) are caught in a stress vector in the middle. That is not a good place to be (for them).
And similar things need to happen at LaSierra and the Pacific Union and the Columbia Union (and others).
Pray for our leaders. Pray for the Executive Committee, pray for our church, and make your mind to glorify God wherever you are today.
****
