The El Salvador Union Mission paused the “I Will Go” National Youth Congress so that Seventh-day Adventist youth could watch the 2022 FIFA World Cup

The El Salvador Union Mission of Seventh-day Adventists hosted the National Congress for Youth and University from December 16–18, 2022. This was an event for Seventh-day Adventist young adults and university students. The theme of this youth congress was “I Will Go: Salvation and Service,” and it was held at the Salvadorian Adventist Training School (ECAS). Seventh-day Adventist youth from all over the region gathered for inspiring meetings, workshops, prayer, and worship.

Seventh-day Adventist Pastor Samuel Guerra is the Director of the Public Ministry Campus for all of El Salvador. He was one of the main speakers on Sabbath. He introduced the other directors for the Public Ministry Campus (PCM), a church ministry that seeks to encourage university students to remain faithful to the Seventh-day Adventist faith. He advised them to be like the three Hebrew boys in Babylon and to remain committed to God. He read from the Spirit of Prophecy about how important it is to trust in God’s promise, presence, and protection. [1]

Douglas Tejada is the Public Campus Ministry Director for the West El Salvador Conference. He was one of the event’s featured speakers and spoke about remaining faithful. He spoke about the important need to support our Seventh-day Adventist youth. He stated that the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s mission on a global, divisional, union, and local conference level is to try to serve the young people. He said their goal is to minister to their spiritual needs. [1]

Pastor Marvin Guzmán (left) is the East El Salvador Conference’s Director of the Public Campus Ministry as well as the Youth Ministry Director. He was also a featured Sabbath speaker, speaking words of encouragement to the youth and praying for their consecration. He prayed to God to perform miracles for the young people gathered. He asked God to keep the youth faithful and prayed to bless them. He also prayed that we could all exalt Jesus in every moment of our lives. [1]

As youth are encouraged to dedicate their lives to mission, the PCM logo (Public Campus Ministry) can be seen. This part of the National Youth Congress took place on Saturday, December 17, 2022.

On Sabbath, Adventurers, Pathfinders, and university-level young adults congregated in the auditorium to hear calls to dedication and consecration.

You can see the youth and church pastors gathering in groups to pray. This Sabbath service was held in the auditorium of the Salvadorian Adventist Training School (ECAS).

This was the scene on Sabbath. However, everything would change on Sunday morning as the FIFA World Cup Final game was scheduled to take place during the “I Will Go” National Youth Congress.

Here is the official logo for the “I Will Go” National World Congress for the Seventh-day Adventist youth. [2] You will see that it was sponsored by the El Salvador Union Mission of Seventh-day Adventists. The “I Will Go” phrase was printed on hats and shirts worn by the youth.

https://www.facebook.com/adventistas7SV/posts/694205019041368

So far, everything seemed to be running smoothly until Sunday morning, when the World Cup Final was set to begin. The soccer game was scheduled to take place on Sunday morning while the “I Will Go” National Youth Congress was beginning its third day. These two events were slated to run at the same time. This created a conflict. What should the El Salvador Union do? Should they keep praying, singing, and worshipping Jehovah? Do they continue with the dedication of our young people to missions? Should they organize evangelism efforts to reach out to those in the community who are unaware of our message? No. Here is what they did. They stopped the entire National Youth Congress event, set up a projector, and held a viewing party of the 2022 World Cup Final in the same auditorium where only the day before they were worshipping the Creator.

This time, they weren’t signing or praying to God. They weren’t praying for the Holy Spirit to prepare them for the closing work. No, they were cheering and screaming to the gods of soccer. Seventh-day Adventist youth, wearing their “I Will Go” hats and shirts and their Pathfinders scarfs and pins, were jumping, screaming, celebrating, praising, and cheering for their favorite team.

How quickly did this worldly sporting event completely neutralize the consecration, prayers, and worship to God. The World Cup Final triumphed over the spiritual youth congress. Tragically, these were the same activities that took place among God’s people in the days preceding the Great Flood. Notice what inspiration says:

“Christ declares that there will exist similar unbelief concerning his second coming. As the people of Noah’s day ‘knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so,’ in the words of our Savior, ‘shall also the coming of the Son of man be.’ [Matthew 24:39.] When the professed people of God are uniting with the world, living as they live, and joining with them in forbidden pleasure; when the luxury of the world becomes the luxury of the church; when the marriage bells are chiming, and all are looking forward to many years of worldly prosperity,—then, suddenly as the lightning flashes from the heavens, will come the end of their bright visions and delusive hopes” (Great Controversy, p. 338).

When we, as a church, allow sporting events to take precedence over spiritual matters, we are teaching children to become idolaters. The World Cup and its associated games do not reflect the spirit of Christ. That is what God tells us:

“These parties of pleasure and gatherings for exciting sport, made up of those who profess to be Christians, are a profanation of religion and the name of God.” (Special Testimony to Battle Creek Church, pp 27, 28).

In the same building where the gospel was being preached, where the youth were being consecrated to the gospel, and where prayers for God’s spirit were made, Satan was preparing to completely neutralize all these efforts:

“While men were playing the game of cricket, and others were watching the game, Satan was playing the game of life for their souls.” (Australasian Union Conference Record, July 26, 1899).

What does it say when the Union stops the National Youth Congress for what is supposed to be a spiritual event so that the secular soccer match can be played? What does this say about our priorities and values? Who on earth puts the Holy Spirit’s work and calling on hold so that our church members can scream and cheer for their earthly idols? Why is it that whenever there is a conflict between the sacred and the secular in Adventism, God always loses?

The simple answer is that our people have lost their vision. We don’t understand the sanctity of our mission. What has happened in El Salvador and other places is that we have leaders sending the wrong message to both the world and the church, especially in an age when soccer has become a modern-day idol for many fans who worship the soccer gods: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Maradona, Pelé, and many others.

Where were the leaders and the Union administrators? They were nowhere to be found. But they allowed this display, fit for a worldly sports bar, to take place on church property while a national youth congress was taking place.

We need to place an advertisement for new leadership. We need godly leaders who will never pause the working of the Holy Spirit so that another spirit can take control of our youth. That other spirit is the spirit of competition, the spirit of dominance, the spirit of strife, the spirit of vainglory, and the spirit of winning, which is contrary to the spirit of Christ.

Philippians 2:3 says, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves.”

The kind of leaders that God will use in these last days are not those who sell out their faith by bringing the world into the church. God will never use leaders who, instead of preparing the youth for heaven, are preparing them to be part of the world. The terrible example that the Union gave is that God’s calling can wait. God’s mission is not primary. The things of this world can take precedence over the things of God. And you can host these sporting events inside our sacred institutions. That was the message being broadcast to the youth.

The bigger questions are: Why were the youth allowed to participate in this? Why are they being subjected to these events? The answer is depressing. They are acting in this manner because the leadership is also doing the same thing. That is the example that has been set for our youth. How can we warn our children not to visit these venues and participate in these events while the leadership exposes them to this behavior? What we see happening in El Salvador is not an isolated incident. It’s happening everywhere. It’s happening in churches and schools all across the world.

Our young people are being swept away by society’s corrupt, worldly culture, and those in responsible positions are letting it happen. Some church leaders are actually guiding our youth down this destructive path. Unless we repent and ask God to give us the moral fortitude to actually take real steps to stop this assault against our people, the floodgate of apostasy will continue to sweep away all the spirituality and sacredness of the movement. We will not receive the seal of the living God if we encourage this behavior, make excuses for it, or remain neutral during a time of spiritual crisis:

“The greatest want of the world is the want of men—men who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall” (Education, p. 57).

Sources

[1] https://www.facebook.com/adventista.acs/videos/455985836704659/

[2] https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=904914423843384