Governor Flavio Dino (third from left) visits the Adventist Church’s Soccer School.
Two months ago we reported that Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), the disaster relief agency of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, was opening new soccer camps in Brazil. [1] Now it turns out that on Thursday, September 2, 2021, Governor Flavio Dino from the state of Maranhão, located in Northeast Brazil, visited the Seventh-day Adventist “Goal of Hope” Soccer School to express that “the action of the Adventist Church Development and Relief Agency (ADRA-MA) is supported by the State Government, through the Sports Incentive Law.” [2]
Governor Flavio Dino wasted no time extolling the virtues of this new “partnership” with ADRA while “reaffirming” this “model of government participation.” The governor said:
“Today, we celebrate another union with support for a sports project led by the Adventist Church, which will reach 100 children. The role of the Government is to support so that it is successful. We are reaffirming a model of Government with the participation of everyone, so that rights reach everyone, in this case, the children of São Luís.” [2]
Seventh-day Adventists also reciprocated the love, as ADRA project director Marcos Roberto also “congratulated the government partnership” and said:
“ADRA-MA’s project director, Marcos Roberto, congratulated the Government’s partnership. ‘We had the joy and honor of partnering with the Government, to provide support and for this project to become a reality. This support comes to provide a structure so that we can provide these families with sport, training, education and opportunities. We, as a humanitarian agency, have this commitment.’ ” [2]
It appears that the government has found a new partner to help speed up competitive soccer camps in Northeast Brazil. The news is already official. ADRA has teamed up with the government in a new alliance. Governor Flavio Dino not only visited the Adventist Church Soccer School, but the Secretary of State for Institutional Relations and the Secretary for Recreational Sports were also present. [2] And according to the governor, this cooperation with ADRA to organize soccer camps, train children and host competitive games (there is no point organizing unless they are going to compete) is all in accordance with Brazil’s “Sports Incentive Law.” [2]
All of this may be in accordance with the law of Brazil, but what about God’s law? For decades Adventist academies, colleges and universities have supported competitive sports programs on their campus. When Battle Creek College became involved in sports, which included “kicking footballs” and “educating” students in “objectionable games which ought to make every Christian blush with mortification” (Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 225), Ellen White pled with the Church:
“For Christ’s sake call a halt at the Battle Creek College, and consider the after-workings upon the heart and the character and principles of these amusements copied after the fashion of other schools. You have been steadily progressing in the ways of the Gentiles, and not after the example of Jesus Christ. Satan is on the schoolground; he is present in every exercise in the schoolroom. The students that have had their minds deeply excited in their games, are not in the best condition to receive the instruction, the counsel, the reproof, most essential for them in this life and for the future immortal life.” (Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 225).
“They act as if the school were a place where they were to perfect themselves in sports, as if this were an important branch of their education, and they come armed and equipped for this kind of training. This is all wrong, from beginning to end. It is not in any way appropriate for this time; it is not qualifying the youth to go forth as missionaries, to endure hardship and privation, and to use their powers for the glory of God” (Manuscript Releases, Vol. 2, p. 218).
I am well aware that such counsel falls on deaf ears. There are some things that almost never change. There simply seems to be no urgency to resist temptation or heed the prophet’s warnings:
“Other athletic games, though not so brutalizing, are scarcely less objectionable, because of the excess to which they are carried. They stimulate the love of pleasure and excitement, thus fostering a distaste for useful labor, a disposition to shun practical duties and responsibilities … Thus the door is opened to dissipation and lawlessness, with their terrible results” (Counsels on Health, pp. 189, 190).
Yes, children need physical exercise. It is not only detrimental to the body to neglect exercise, but also injurious to the mind and disposition of the individual. But competitive sports are not the answer. Competitive games are not the only type of physical exercise. We do not have to violate one principle to defend another.
It would be just as damaging to play a game where the ultimate goal is to excel and win through brute force and aggression. After all, what is the main purpose of playing any type of game? Is it to win or to have fun? And when the focus is on winning, the sport stops being a game and becomes more of a battle.
The greatest competitive sport known to mankind is war. Here they fight to the death. So whose spirit is predominant in many of these competitive games, Christ’s or Satan’s? Remember, it is Lucifer who is in competition with God to overthrow His Kingdom and His law, and the devil’s rivalry continues here on earth even today.
The spirit of competition is the spirit of the world. It is everywhere. It’s in warfare, video games, competitive sports, marriages, homes, schools, the boardroom and the workplace. Competition has even made its way into the church. We see it in pastoral awards for the number of baptisms. We see it in the colporteur awards for the number of book sales. We see it in church schools through grades and graduations. Win, winner, being #1, the champion, the conqueror and the hero – these are all sophisticated ways of covering up our spirit of competition.
As society continues to abandon every moral standard of God’s word, terrible temptations will be imposed on our Christian youth. We have to help them to be in the world but not to be part of it. We have to help them live gracefully and righteously while surrounded by moral impurity. Our duty is to help young people assume the character of Jesus and become missionaries and ambassadors for Christ so that they can work with enthusiasm and power to help hasten the coming of the Lord.
Sources
[1] http://adventmessenger.org/we-have-lost-the-vision-adra-opens-new-soccer-camps-in-brazil/
[2] https://www.ma.gov.br/agenciadenoticias/?p=318052
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They will have blood on their hands when they have to answer to the Lord! Evidently, none of these people have read the Spirit of Prophesy. My husband and I have stopped giving any money or support to ADRA because of their worldly actions. They have gone the way of the world to please themselves. Very sad!
I know of someone who was placed very high in the ranks of the administration of ADRA, but quit because of the corruption observed. We too have stopped our monetary support of the GC and any of its affiliates. I wish many others would wake up and pray and reflect on this also.