John Lomacang recently gave a sermon titled Make Adventism Great Again. While the title is praiseworthy, the latter part of his sermon drifted into politics, highlighting his own political preferences. Some of the high points of his message are:
59:32 – He states, without offering evidence, that some in our church are leaning towards evangelicalism, and buying into their agenda. Exactly what that agenda is, he doesn’t say, but it is presumed to be bad.
59:56 – He says conservatism is not biblical, and we should not get the two mixed up. In this he appears to be taking a shot at those who oppose unbiblical liberalism in the church. He quotes selectively from 5T:
“The work which the church has failed to do in a time of peace and prosperity she will have to do in a terrible crisis under most discouraging, forbidding circumstances. The warnings that worldly conformity has silenced or withheld must be given under the fiercest opposition from enemies of the faith. And at that time the superficial, conservative class, whose influence has steadily retarded the progress of the work, will renounce the faith”--5T 463 (1885).
I believe Lomacang uses this particular passage in 5T because of the word conservatism, which provides a springboard to his political concerns which follow.
He fails to point out that Ellen White is not referring to theological conservatism, but rather those who put “worldly conformity” first and God’s cause second. We agree with him that superficial believers will renounce the faith, the Bible is clear on that, calling it the ‘Falling away’ in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. The term ‘falling away’ comes from the Greek word apostasia which refers to defection from the one true God—‘repenting’ from good unto evil. Christ declared, “As it was in the days of Lot, … even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:28-30). This is home central for apostate Protestantism and apostate Adventism, which are ideologically aligned and will become more so in these last days.
1:00:30 – He states that these ‘apostates’ will encourage people to walk away from the Adventist Church. Who exactly is doing this? Is this a veiled broadside against Conrad Vine and Ron Kelly, ala Mark Howard’s video attack on Conrad Vine for “doctrinal error?” We don’t know, because he fails to provide any evidence.
Here, he calls for a greater consecrated life, with which we agree.
1:03:13 – He says Christian Nationalism is doing what we fail to do, as if they are accomplishing some work that we should be doing. He goes on to describe Christian Nationalism as coalition of Catholicism and evangelicalism, without defining what Christian Nationalism actually is. Let me say this, in some circles, if you oppose killing babies in the womb, you are branded a Christian Nationalist, if you publicly oppose drag-queen story hour, you are called a Christian Nationalist. The term deserves to be defined, instead of vague implications that non-Adventist Christians are bad people just waiting to march Adventists to reconstructed gas chambers. This blanket shibboleth is popular at a visceral level among many Adventists, often fed by a denominational pride that says “I sit a queen, and shall see no sorrow” (Revelation 18:7). “Everyone else is bad..”
I will try to properly define Christian Nationalism in a subsequent article, at the same time decrying those who wrap the Bible in an American flag — I agree, that’s nonsense. Back to Lomacang.
1:08:27 – Satan is actively arranging matters so that the Lord's people may not have mercy or justice. This gets interesting. He says America is getting ripped apart by attempts to shrink the government down and make it more economically feasible. He laments that a non-appointed political appointee suspended USAID funding. He meant to say non-elected politically appointee (Elon Musk).
Incidentally, smaller government should be preferable for a people who anticipate that the Lamb-like beast will speak like a dragon, which will require a very strong neo-totalitarian central government. Some people just like big governments, I guess. I’m not one of ‘em.
1:09:15 – ADRA was significantly impacted by this loss of funding, and that’s a bad thing, according to Lomacang. He says ADRA is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), and that is the term they use.
Some History
Neal Wilson proudly announced at the 1985 GC Session in New Orleans that the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists was granted NGO status with the United Nations. As if that was a good thing. It was a real bad thing, and the evidence for it is becoming increasingly apparent. Fifteen years later, the Undersecretary General of the United Nations, Joseph Smith, addressed the delegates at the 2000 GC Session in Toronto. We were inextricably aligned with this corrupt and incompetent organization.
Number one, it aligned the Seventh-day Adventist Church with geopolitical players, reducing our spoken witness for the Adventist Message to waiting on tables and making ADRA into a shadow government organization (SGO), overly dependent on government funding and often aligning themselves with leftist causes in order to keep the money flowing.
ADRA has supported the climate change agenda, Muslim immigration, mass illegal immigration into the United States, DEI, gender equality, left-wing political advocacy, LGBTQ+ support (by the past president of ADRA), UN Sustainable Development goals, and abortifacient drugs (according to this report).
1:09:37 – he repeats that ADRA is an NGO. No, it is more of a SGO (shadow government organization), for reasons given earlier.
1:09:54 – Perhaps the most egregious claim by Lomacang is this. He claims that ADRA was defunded because they were helping the poor, the disenfranchised, and the immigrant. This is utter nonsense. They were defunded because they were being used by a subversive United States administration to help circumvent a sovereign nation’s immigration law.
Sadly, ADRA funded people who were involved in illegal immigration on their journey northward towards America. Unfortunately, this is not rendering to Caesar what is Caesar's no matter how many mental gymnastics one uses to justify it (Wilson’s video). This is merely a clever twisting of the Scripture for political purposes, under the guise of helping people.
Yes, ADRA was exposed and had their funding cut for these activities. No American tax-payer should have their hard-earned money go towards blatantly unethical and yes, an illegal invasion of a sovereign nation.
Furthermore, when it comes to church and state mingling, what in the world is the Seventh-day Adventist Church doing by intertwining itself with the 2nd beast of Revelation? This is true whether it involves federal funding for our accredited schools, academies, universities, hospitals, pharmaceutical sales, or any other institution feeding at the hog trough of government subsidies.
Here’s my advice. Do not accept money from the federal government to operate any Adventist institution. Ever.
All this does is make us beholden to and dependent on the government. This is setting up millions of Adventists to ultimately receive the Mark of the Beast, by being intertwined with the government. Talk about mixing church and state. By not depending solely on God for His providential leadings and funding, how easily we become shaped by government mandates. Defend it if you will, John. But no rational Seventh-day Adventist Christian would ever recommend such a relationship between the General Conference and the federal government. Certainly James and Ellen White would not recommend it.
I suggest ADRA use this opportunity for a sustained period of introspection, and look for a way to wait on tables (Acts 6:2) that doesn't include feeding at a government hog trough. In spite of their claims of helping people, they are ideologically aligned with the United Nations and international leftism. That’s bad.
1:10:37 – John Lomacang says Doge director Elon Musk called USAID “an incredibly politically partisan mess that has been supporting radically left causes throughout the world.” He did. And he is correct. USAID has become a slush fund to funnel billions to all kinds of unbiblical causes. Such as:
$446,700 to promote the expansion of atheism in Nepal through the State Department.
$1 million to boost French-speaking LGBTQ groups in West and Central Africa through the State Department.
$1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia's workplaces
$70,000 for the production of a DEI musical in Ireland
$47,000 on a transgender opera in Colombia
$32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru
In 2023, ADRA received approximately 64% of its total revenue, or $62,617,898, from USAID. Small wonder that they are appealing for members to step up their donating to them.
It’s not just ADRA. Other organizations were helping bring illegal immigrants to America as well. ADRA is the one that concerns us, since it is part of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and Ted Wilson, Geoffrey Mbwana, and Peter Landless are board Members of ADRA, along with a large number of SDA Division and Union officers.
According to page 7 of ADRA’s 2020 990n information, serving on the board of ADRA can be lucrative. Here is the 2023 version. I expect that the 2025 990n will be smaller due to USAID cutting their funding off.
1:11:08 – This financial shortfall prompted Ted Wilson to produce a video expressing his support of ADRA and defending their activities. He also asked Adventists to give more money to ADRA.
1:12:12 – John Lomacang says he does a lot of reading on these issues, so people in the congregation don’t have to. I’m just the opposite, I want people to be well read and well-informed, so they can make informed decisions as the Lord leads them.
1:12:37 – Project 2025 is going to change America. “In six month’s time, we won’t recognize America.” We will see if this prediction is accurate. Some of us barely recognized America in the last three years, as the Department of Justice engaged in fierce attacks against political rivals, and as boys were legally shoehorned into girl’s bathrooms, and as abortion became the holy sacrament of the ruling party. I don’t remember Lomacang remonstrating about that.
Lomacang ends by calling people to stand against current political initiatives like Mordecai, Esther and the Three Hebrew boys. We agree that these biblical examples ought to inspire us to oppose anti-biblical agendas. Abortion, DEI, CRT, LGBTQ+ are just a few of those agendas that we must resist — and reach out to people trapped in them, with the Everlasting Gospel. Elon Musk and the President of the United States need this good news as well. May the Lord give our Movement a renewed sense of purpose, and increased opportunities to share Christ. On that we agree.
If you are thinking of commenting on John Lomacang’s video sermon, don’t bother. He isn’t allowing comments. We do.
Discuss!
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“But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one” (2 Thessalonians 3:3).