“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 2 Corinthians 2:17.
The presence of the Holy Spirit gives us freedom. This freedom includes the freedom found in Christ, the freedom from the power of sin, the freedom to worship God, the right to follow our conscience, and the power to speak openly and freely against threats to our civil and religious liberties. Unfortunately, this freedom is missing in Adventism, at least in 2021 and under the administrations of the General Conference (GC) and the North American Division (NAD). The work of religious liberty in Adventism has been hijacked by political agents who no longer have the lifeblood of liberty flowing through their veins.
Tragically, the religious liberty leaders at the GC and the NAD would not recognize a threat to religious liberty if it was staring them in the face. This reality has become more apparent today. As reported on Fulcrum7.com [1], The Southwestern Union, on behalf of the Arkansas-Louisiana Conference, Oklahoma Conference, Texas Conference, Texico Conference, Southwest Region Conference, Southwestern Adventist University, Southern Union and on behalf of Seventh-day Adventist members living in the Southwestern Union, has asked the GC attorneys and the NAD to help them with Joe Biden’s oppressive vaccine mandates. The vaccine mandate is officially called the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS).
In a letter dated November 11, 2021, the Southwestern Union sent a response to the NAD in which they “strongly” view Joe Biden’s oppressive vaccine mandate as a violation of freedom of conscience and personal choice. The Southwestern Union also says the Joe Biden vaccine mandate violates the separation of church and state because it asks the church to do the job of the United States government. Therefore, they are asking top church leaders at the GC and the NAD to “advocate” on their behalf and provide “counsel, advice and defense” in this situation.
The problem with this letter is that the top leaders of the GC and NAD have supported and promoted the government’s health mandates from the beginning. Let’s be very clear, government mandates are coercive measures designed to force the conscience and impose severe penalties for non-compliance. And, tragically, our religious liberty leaders have not only been neutral on these issues; no, worse yet, they have sided with and defended government intrusion into our personal civil and religious liberties by saying that oppressive health mandates are not a violation of our freedoms.
We now have a union of Seventh-day Adventist conferences that say otherwise and are requesting help from the GC and NAD to intervene on their behalf and petition the government for redress against Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate. In other words, they want the church, which claims to be a great advocate for religious freedom, to actually help them. If ever there was a time when Seventh-day Adventists should rally around the banner of religious liberty, it is now. This oppressive government intrusion by the Joe Biden administration will lead to the loss of jobs, the loss of freedom and persecution.
If religious liberty, which we pretend to believe in and pretend to live by, does not apply to this situation that we see happening today, then when on earth will it ever apply? And if this is not the time to call out the violators of civil and religious liberty, when will the time be? When will our religious liberty leaders actually do the real job they are paid to do – publicly defend our rights against governmental overreach? If the defenders of religious liberty are not needed at this very moment, then they are never going to be needed.
If church leaders can rally behind the Black Lives Matter movement, if the GC and NAD can defend the LGBT+ movement’s rights and ask political leaders to grant them federal law protection [2], if we can support the globalists and climate change movement, why can’t the church protect its own members who are in this desperate situation due to Joe Biden’s vaccination mandate? Will the church safeguard God’s heritage and provide solace to the faithful, or will it betray them and stifle religious and civil liberties?
“If God abhors one sin above another, of which His people are guilty, it is doing nothing in case of an emergency. Indifference and neutrality in a religious crisis is regarded by God as a grievous crime and equal to the very worst type of hostility against God.” (Ellen White, Co-Founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 280).
Will we continue to divide God’s people by embracing oppressive government mandates that clearly infringe on our civil and religious rights? Will we continue to support Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate, which has nothing to do with vaccine security or efficacy and everything to do with putting government restrictions on Seventh-day Adventists? Instead of being directed by God’s Holy Spirit, I’m worried the church is simply mirroring our society.
Dr. Fauci is not God. He is the face of America’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In his predictions, he’s been proven wrong at least 15 times, [3] and we still blindly follow Dr. Fauci’s orders. Our leaders at the GC and NAD obeyed Dr. Fauci’s order to close the church. We complied when Dr. Fauci ordered us to put on masks. We follow Dr. Fauci’s protocols whenever he issues them. Under the pretext of “health mandates” and “religious liberty,” the church has become the Democratic Party’s political mouthpiece. We have political agents doing the bidding of the CDC. On vaccine mandates, abortion, climate change, and the LGBT+ movement, we wholeheartedly support the liberal platform, both politically and theologically.
Rather than pleasing God, we have become men pleasers. We don’t want to offend anyone. How about offending God? Our PHDs and THDs have replaced God’s wisdom and knowledge. We’ve created a god out of human knowledge and science. There are men who claim to be smarter than God, as well as men who believe they are God.
The modern church doesn’t need God, His counsels, His advice, His instructions or His principles. Fallen, human, sinful men presume to know more than the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. They think they know more than the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. And we have basically shut God out of our institutions and organizations. And when we shut God out, He leaves and takes His wisdom and knowledge, and we are left alone with a spirit of darkness that is only getting darker and darker with the passing of time.
Our only solution is to embrace God’s protocols, not mans’. Our solution is to proclaim God’s mandates, not man’s. Our only safety is to get back to God’s way and embrace His Spirit, who alone will give us liberty.
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 2 Corinthians 2:17.
Freedom from sin, freedom from fear, freedom from deceit, freedom in Christ, freedom to worship, freedom from oppressive mandates and freedom to speak the truth of God, though the heavens fall. With God’s wisdom and power, we can accomplish great things for Him.
Sources
[3] https://principia-scientific.com/exposed-dr-faucis-15-deadly-covid-19-errors/
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They may regard virtue as better than vice; but God being removed from His position of sovereignty, they place their dependence upon human power, which, without God, is worthless. The unaided human will has no real power to resist and overcome evil. The defenses of the soul are broken down. Man has no barrier against sin. When once the restraints of God’s Word and His Spirit are rejected, we know not to what depths one may sink. – Ev 601.4
The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result? The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church, would be discarded. Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. – 1SM 204.2
A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced. The founders of this system would go into the cities, and do a wonderful work. The Sabbath of course, would be lightly regarded, as also the God who created it. Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the new movement. The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice, but God being removed, they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is worthless. Their foundation would be built on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure. – 1SM 204.2
https://youtu.be/9jiHoDiH5CQ
Shame on sda leaders
I will never support in any way the religious liberty dept. ever…..
Good thing many judges have struck down the mandate even for healthcare workers. And osha has dropped it all together. Yet the WH keeps the pressure up with the color of law and bold statements.
2 de Corintios 3: 17
I have one question…. WHY non of adventist leader had the currage to tell the pope that he is no good , how the ortodox priest did in GREECE ?
The GC or NAD will not do anything to speak out against these illegal mandates so we shouldn’t be shocked and surprised that they haven’t. I don’t need the GC. We have the law on our side, as it’s totally unconstitutional. I’ll always fight for my freedoms. I don’t care what the GC does or doesn’t do.
Aloha from the Island of Maui, SMK!
Leave them alone, they are joined to their Idols!
They have become a distraction from proclaiming the 4th Angel’s Message that “we” the Remnant Ecclesia of Living Stones, cut out of the Stone Mountain Kingdom of God (Daniel 2, particularly verses 34-35, and verses 44-45), have been preparing for – Lo! These 50 years!
These times give me great spiritual pain.
Even EGW had days on end of great anguish with some of the church brethren.— lasting for many days. But through prayer, she became more determined to “to work harder than ever “ for them to put forth unselfish effort for the saving of their fellow man”. Testimonies vol 8 pg 24
Bonjour,
L’esprit de prophétie dit à la page 54 de-(évènements des derniers jours) numéro 152,
Voilà plusieurs années que je ne considère plus la conférence générale,comme la voix de DIEU.Quelle tristesse pour les soit disant dirigeants,que Dieu à mis à la tête du troupeau,mais bientôt les livres seront ouvert.