Runaway Train II

Okay, we are now going to call on um Dr.Conor O'Dwyer toto speak. Dr. O'Dwyer, you've only got15 minutes.Thank you.Okay, thank you.Uh good evening, everybody.So, uham I speaking this microphone?Yes.So, it's a good to be with you heretonight. Umit's kind of funny you should say that,sister. I was uh Do any of you watch theDr.

Isaac Olatunji's um Sunday lawupdates?Yes, so I was at his church in um justnorth of Huntsville, Alabama a couple ofmonths ago.And he said to me on the Sabbathmorning, said, "Now, he said, "Now, thisis an African-American church." Youknow, I said, "Yes." He says, "There'sno limits on how long you can preach."I said, "Really?" I said, "They don'twant me to finish by noon."And he said, "No, no, you can preach foras long as you like."So, um the service started at 11:00and at about 12:20, we were still goingthrough praise and testimony, see?And there were the kids on the frontrow, they were falling asleep. And Dr.Isaac leaned over and he says, he said,"Our afternoon program is at 4:00."And so, somebody texted meand they were kind of upset and theysaid they're deliberately cutting downthe time you can talk.And I texted back and said, "No, Dr.Isaac Olatunji's given me a blankcheck." So, as it was, I stood up and Ispoke for about, I don't know, an hourand a half. And then finally, Dr. IsaacOlatunji was nodding me like, "Okay,here." So, I'm not going to do that heretonight, all right?It's been a blessed Sabbath day and Ijust want to say thank you for theprivilege of sharing these last few dayswith each and every one of you.Um it's been a privilege myself and myfamily. My parents were here, my uncle,my cousin from Ireland, and my sisterand my brother-in-law are here as well.Um you know, I was just reflecting withsomeone the other day on a morning walkwhy men um generally forget theirwedding anniversaries.Uh, the reason is you don't just acquirea wife, but you acquire a mother-in-lawand the trauma means you tend to forgetthese things.

So,umwe're going to talk tonight umwe're going to talk tonight. This is areligious liberty talk.Um, this isn't on the internet and I wasin South Africa about 6 weeks ago justreflecting on what happened at thegeneral conference sessionand I've been giving a lot more thoughtto it working with some attorneys on alegal analysis of what was said and whatwasn't said and where it leaves us as anAdventist church. And and I think thisis really important for us because truthis under attack. And there is a littlebook called Truth Triumphant. Maybe someof you know that book.Um, but truth is worth standing up forand because people outside the Adventistchurch recognize truth when they hearit.And truth has a ring to it and we mustbe champions of truth just as much aschampions of conscience.And so um I God laid this burden on myheart to prepare these two sermons.

Ididn't want to give them.Uh, I gave uh these two at a campmeeting in Washington a few weeks agoand they recorded the wrong audio input.So, nothing went online, which is kindof relief for me. But um I'm going togive one of them here tonight cuz ourtime has moved on. I won't give both ofthem here.Um, but this is the runaway train two.The runaway train one will appearsomewhere else in the next month, Iguess.Um, but over the course of this pandemicI've been asking myself and we've allhad to ask ourselves the question, whodo you trust?Yes, who do you trust?And so I came up with some criteria forwho do I trust? And the first criteriawas this, has this person or entity everlied to me in the past?If so, I'm not going to trust them now.The second criteria is, has this personor entity ever harmed me in the past?If yes, then I'm not going to trust themin this pandemic.The third criteria was this, um wouldthis person be fired for saying anythingother than what they're saying now?That's a good criteria. You can wipe outthe entire mainstream media with that uhcriteria.

And the fourth criteria isthis, what has this person risked orlost to tell me what they are telling menow?If they have sacrificed their career, ifthey sacrificed their professionalstatus, if they sacrificed their role insociety to say what they're about to sayto me, they may not be telling me theabsolute truth, but I'm at least willingto listen to what they say.As I reflect on those four criteria, Irealize there was only one person whomeets them all in a positive way, andthat's Jesus Christ.And we're his followers, and so in aworld where where nobody knows what isthe truth anymore, we deny the conceptof absolute truth, and truth isrelative, and you have your truth, and Ihave my truth, and we all have oursubjective lived experiences, thecritical theorists would say, um it isimportant to know that there is anabsolute truth, and that truth is foundin Jesus Christ.And so tonight, umGod laid the burden on my heart toprepare these two sermons,umand I joked in Washington, but this isnot it's not entirely a joke, um thesemay be career-ending sermons, but uh wewill see how it goes in the next fewweeks.Uh so I invite you to bow your headswith me, and we invite the presence ofGod's Holy Spirit.Heavenly Father, I thank you for theprivilege of standing and sharing beforemy brothers and sisters in Christ.Father, you've drawn us uh from aroundthe world into this room here tonight.And Father, I thank you that that we aredrawn from every nation, tribe,language, and people, we have one faith,and one hope, and one baptism, and oneFather, and one Lord and Savior, JesusChrist. I thank you that that eventhough we are drawn from across thisnation around the world, we have acommon destination, which is the NewJerusalem and the earth made new.And so tonight, Father, I pray that uhyour spirit, who's placed a burden on myheart, I pray that spirit, you willspeak through me and for me. Uh thatyou'll grow us in our understanding ofwhat has been happening, and that ourwalk with you um will be stronger, ourfaith will burn brighter, our witnesswill shine more brightly for you. And Ipray Lord that our understanding of whatis happening will be enhanced. Lord, wewant understanding of the times in whichwe live, because we do not want to bedeceived.

We do not want to be umovercome by that overwhelming delusionthat will come at the end of time.And so Father, help us to um have thegift of discernment, to know what is ofyou and what is not. What is true andwhat is falsehood. And so Father, blessthis time together now in Jesus' name Ipray. Amen.When we get to the end of this timetogether,um as I finish, we're going totransition straight into the anointingservice. Uh so we're going to need about10 elders to come down here to thefront.

There's a lot of people who wantto be anointed. Um so we will um we havea lady playing some music softly duringthe anointing service. Uh but if you'rean elder or a pastor, we need 10 of youto come down here at the end of theservice. We have oil here in the cups,and we're going to stand in a row, andpeople are going to come down um row byrow for their anointing, okay? If God somoves upon your heart.

So I called thisparticular talk the runaway train numbertwo. I'm not very creative with titles.I was going to call it um rogueadministrators, but I thought maybethat's too inflammatory. So I didn't. Soit's called the runaway train numbertwo, because runaway train number onehas yet to be delivered. Although it hasactually been prepared.

Um and so thingsare a bit upside down, you might say. SoI just want to set um some of thecontext here.And uh we're going to talk about this isthe structure where we're going.Um we're going to talk about If we goback a slide there, uh the PA leads ofthe instruction set in the context.We're then going to talk about the PAlead, and uh thenwe're going to There we are. We're goingto talk about the strange case of our PAlead director. That's our generalconference public affairs and religiousliberty director, we'll refer to that asPAL from henceforth onwards, and thenwe're going to talk about the pandemicend time significance before we come toour conclusions, all right?So, umuh for those of you who are lawyers,you're going to enjoy this. Um for thoseof you who read The Great Controversy,you're going to enjoy it.

The othersermon is full of legalese. And Iactually ran both these sermons by anumber of Adventist lawyers saying tothem, "Am I going to get sued for ussaying these things?" And they said,"You have to be very careful what yousay."And in America, we're protected by theFirst Amendment because you can sayalmost anything in the pulpit, but hereI'm not protected by the FirstAmendment. So, I actually have to bevery careful in what I say um becauseI'm conscious of the fact that I don'twant to face any litigation. So, we'regoing to come to our introduction then.And we're just going to set the contextuh for what we're going to be talkingabout here.And so, umall right.Just to set Just to set the contexthere, um this This part This um umstatement you see on the board is partof what we're going to call the October21 reaffirmation statement. So, in in uhthe middle of 2015, the Adventist ChurchAdcom issued a statement onvaccinations.

And if you go toadventist.org, you will see on thatwebsite, if you go to beliefs, you'llhave fundamental beliefs, officialstatements, and and guidelines. And it'sinteresting to note that nowhere in thechurch manual do officials officialstatements ever appear, and they justkind of appear out of nowhere. And umwhen we become Adventist, we don't agreeto abide by the official statements.We agree to abide by the the fundamentalbeliefs, but now there is a thisplethora of official statements keepkeep getting turned out that as we'renow discovering have a profound impacton us as members. And we have literallyno say in the production of those ofthose statements. So, in 2021, theOctober 21 reaffirmation statement cameout that was reaffirmingour generally positive stance towardsvaccinations from the 2015 statement.Now, the 2015 statement came out becausethere was a measles outbreak in SouthernCalifornia.

And the government of thegovernor of California needed astatement from all the churches that wehave no problem with vaccination. So, weduly issued a statement along with allthe other churches. And shortlythereafter, the state of Californiareduced the number of objections youcould have to childhood vaccination,including stripping out religiousobjections. So, you know, you help thegovernment in one one sense and then youknow before you know it, they'vestripped you of your religious libertyjust shortly thereafter. But, thisstatement here that this is a paragraphfrom the October 21 reaffirmationstatement.

The first page is basicallymood music and set to make you feel allwarm and fuzzy. But, this paragraph hereis where the rubber meets the road orthis is the teeth in the documents. AndI'm just going to read it out. It says,"The Seventh-day Adventist Church, inconsultation with the health ministriesand public affairs and religious libertydepartments of the General Conference ofSeventh-day Adventists, is convincedthat the vaccination programs that havegenerally been carried out, that's theCOVID vaccinations, are important forthe safety and health of our members andthe larger community.Therefore,and this is the key sentence, claims ofreligious liberty are not usedappropriately in objecting to governmentmandates or employer programsand designed to protect the health andsafety of their communities." Now, thatstatement was issued by the GeneralConference administrators, that's thepresident, secretary, and treasurer,together with Loma Linda,the public affairs and religious libertydepartment and health ministriesdepartment and our general legal counselat the GC. Loma Lindais part of our Adventist health care inthe states, which had 2019 $21 billionof income.That's with a B.Tithe in the NAD in 2019 was about $1billion.So, when you when when administratorsare looking at $1 billion in tithe and21-billion in healthcare income.I'm not suggesting this this influencespeople's decision-making, but I'd besurprised if it doesn't influence theirdecision-making.

If you were sitting ona 21-billion dollar revenue stream,you're going to do what it takes toprotect that revenue stream.So, anyway, so this statement was issuedand this clause here claims thatreligious liberty are not usedappropriately in objecting to governmentmandates or employer programs. This wason the internet and if there was anemployer around the world um who had anAdventist employee who didn't want toparticipate in the mandates, thisstatement was used to deny them theirreligious liberty waivers.And it happened in countries all overthe world. Happened in Africa, happenedin Asia, happened in in Canada inparticular, happened in the UnitedStates, and it happened in Australasia,and it happened here in Europe.And so this this statement hereclaims that religious liberty are notused appropriately in objecting togovernment mandates um effectivelystripped us of the ability to listen tothe Holy Spirit.In this statement,um the uh Elder Wilson and his innercircle essentially arrogates untothemselves the ability to determine whatthe Holy Spirit is and is not allowed toimpress upon the conscience every memberworldwide.In the process, they caused immensesuffering to Adventists on every cornerof our globe. They caused economiccatastrophe, loss of homes, loss ofjobs, loss of in university careers,termination of employment, loss ofprofessional um career and status, andof educational opportunity. They alsocaused widespread disillusionment and aprofound sense of abandonment on thepart of innocent Adventists worldwide,all while protecting our healthcareinstitutions and the 21-billion ofannual healthcare income that comes inacross North American Division, and alsogaining applause from our godless globalelites.Every Adventist was stripped in thisstatement by this paragraph here oftheir religious liberty, and our GeneralConference president assumes theauthority to override the convictions ofthe Holy Spirit on Adventists worldwide.Now, that may sound like a strong seriesof sentences, but it's the truth.It's the truth.So,we move on here to our next statement.And if I go back one there.In our General Conference Working PolicyManual, which we as members vote at ourGeneral Conference sessions, this is howit defines the purpose of our PublicAffairs and Religious LibertyDepartment.It says there, "The use of force andcoercion is inimical to life, todignity, and to authentic religion.Religious liberty deals with a person'srelationship with God, the creator.Seventh-day Adventists therefore viewreligious liberty as the primordialhuman right that undergirds all humanrights.

PA Public Affairs and ReligiousLiberty, one of the original coredepartments of the church, was initiallyestablished to promote and maintainreligious liberty with particularemphasis upon what? The most intimatefreedom, individual liberty ofconscience. The department allegedlyworks for the religious liberties ofindividual church members."That's the official statement.But in the reaffirmation statement, westripped our members of religiousliberty and the ability to act inharmony with our conscience.And we also recognized in the sameGeneral Conference Working PolicyManual, which is our constitution andbylaws all rolled into one, it statesthere on section B 0 5 sub paragraph 6,"That the definition The definition ofthe nomination beliefs is entrusted tothe General Conference in session. It isnot entrusted to remote groups ofecclesiastical administrators."When we have a session, that meansthere's lay representatives from everycorner of the world gathering togetherevery 5 years. And when we decide on anew belief as a world church, we don'tjust do it at the GC session, there's aprocess that takes about 10 years.And then the draft statement goes toevery division, and every division putpulls together a committee ofrepresentatives from all of its unionsand conferences, and they discuss it forabout 5 years, and the process comesback to the General Conference ExecutiveCommittee, and they shape it a bit more,then it goes out to the divisions again,all around the world.

And so, by thetime it comes through to the GeneralConference in session, normally thesenew fundamental beliefs have had about10 years of dialogue and prayer anddiscussion involving men and women fromthe northern and southern hemispheresrepresenting all backgrounds andhistories and cultures, so it'ssomething we can agree on together.And it's important that we as churchmembers insist that when beliefs aredetermined by our church, we are theones who are driving that process.It's not those whose jobs depend onbowing to the godless elites of ourworld. We as the members need anneed to be part and parcel of thatprocess. So, that's just some of thecontext here. So, let's come to thepaper leads.Andum before the pandemic, um I'm justgoing to talk about Judaism for a fewseconds. Um there are three majorbranches of modern Judaism.

There'sReform Judaism, Orthodox Judaism, andConservative Judaism. And theseorganizations and leaders across thethree branches of Judaism have actuallyreleased various statements in favor ofvaccinations in general. Now, the Unionof Reform Judaism is governed by a253-member board that is in the UnitedStates, a board of trustees, and theywork with other Union of Reform Judaismmembers and leaders around the world.And in 2015, the Union for ReformJudaism issued a statement that you nowsee on the screen, and it's known as theResolution on Mandatory Immunization,and it was adopted by the Commission onSocial Action of Reform Judaism. Andwhat it says is this, that the Union forReform Judaism {quote} supportsmandatory immunization laws with theonly acceptable exemptions being medicalexemptions and religious exemptions.Then this the part of the sentence inred says, "Which must be suspended ifcommunity immunity is deemed at risk bypublic health officials."End quote. Now, this is an interestingcase.

Uh some of you are familiar withDr. Peter McCullough?Yes.And he and I became kind of friendsduring this pandemic. We never knew eachotherum before, I don't know, 18 months ago,and then we've become we we talked backand forth. And I asked him about thisthis question of of herd immunity.And um over the course of thatdiscussion it became clear to me that umif if the goal of our public healthintervention is herd immunity, why arewe not recognizing natural immunity?So, if we're not recognizing naturalimmunity, it means that there's someother goal here, and it's not a publichealth goal.Cuz if we were interested in herdimmunity, then we don't need to imposecertain treatments on those who alreadyare immune to the disease.So, um this question of communityimmunity is an interesting question. So,this is what the Union for formedJudaism um defined its position as.

Andthen we come to the Papacy itself.Okay, so on the 17th of December, 2020,the Congregation for the Doctrine of theFaith um issued a statement. Now, theCongregation for the Doctrine of theFaith, this is like the BiblicalResearch Institute for the GeneralConference. This is the theologicalwatchdog within the Catholicism. AndPope um Benedict, before he was thePope, um he was Cardinal Ratzinger,Joseph Ratzinger, a man of Germandescent, and he was in charge of the theCongregation for the Doctrine of theFaith. And these this is the theologicalwatchdogs.

These determine what iskosher, and at least not in a Catholiccontext, but at least it accords withdogma. And so, um they issued what isknown as a note on morality of usingsome anti-COVID-19 vaccines, and you canlook at the document there. It's on theVatican website. These things are nothidden from from the public. Now, um atthe end of the document, um we find thisstatement here.It says,uh, the sovereign pontiff Francis andthe audience granted to the undersignedprefect of the con- congregation for thedoctrine of the faith on the 17thDecember 7th the 2020 examines thepresent note and ordered itspublication.

And so, the Pope orderedthe publication of this note from the,um, the congregation for the doctrine ofthe faith. Now, there's a there's asentence or there's a paragraph in thissent- this document that's veryinteresting. Uh, and that what it says,paragraph five, and this is alsoavailable on the internet, says this,"At the same time, practical reasonmakes evident that vaccination is not,as a rule, a moral obligation." That'sgood to know. "And that therefore, itmust be voluntary." That's also soundspretty good. "In any case, from theethical point of view, the morality ofvaccination depends not only on the dutyto protect one's own health, but also onthe duty to pursue the common good.""In the absence of other means to stopor even prevent the epidemic, the commongood may recommend vaccination,especially to protect the weakest andmost exposed." Now, um, I just want to,just as a detour in history here, themoment you hear governments talkingabout the common good, you need to bevery afraid.The common good has been used to justifyin the last century the slaughter ofover 110 million people by Marxistideology.

Whether it was Kim Il Sung,whether it was Joseph Stalin, whether itwas Pol Pot, whether it was other partsof the world where Marxist ideology hasbeen imposed for the common good, everytime you hear the phrase for the commongood, it means that you have no rights.And that you can be executed, deported,tortured, gassed, imprisoned, put towork in a hard labor camp, all for thecommon good. The common good is aself-justifying ethos that means thatwhoever is in power can do whatever theywant to you, and you have no individualrights.So, when you hear the Pope talking aboutthe common good, our our, you know, theour antenna needs to be going up here.So, in July 30th, 2021,the Courier of the Archdiocese of NewYork, which is one of the largestArchdiocese in the United States, issuedthis memorandum.And uh you can see the memorandum there,and you know, it's probably not clear toeverybody what exactly they're sayingthere, but they're talking aboutreligious exemptions from COVID-19vaccinations. And the key paragraph isnow what you see on your screen.It says there,"Pope Francis has made it clear that itis morally acceptable to take any of thevaccines." Now, the question forCatholics was, are there the are therethe um byproducts of abortion in thevaccines? That was a major issue in theCatholic world. People in the Catholicfaith uh Catholics are not in favor ofabortion, and so they were veryconcerned that the the the treatmentscontained um the results of abortion oneway or the other.

And the Pope hasissued this statement saying, "No, thereis no there is no no relationship withum aborted children here." And so PopeFrancis has made it clear, the quote ison the screen, that it is morallyacceptable to take any of the vaccines,and said, "We have the moralresponsibility to get vaccinatedvaccinated." So, now it's no longer justyour choice, now it's your moralresponsibility. Cardinal Dolan has saidthe same."There is no basis for a priest to issuea religious exemption to the vaccine.By doing so, he is acting incontradiction to the directives of thePope, and is participating in an actthat could have serious consequences toothers."And then further on in August of 18,2021,um the Pope Francis issued an appeal. Itwas on a video. Maybe some of you sawthat video. Um it was issued um by theVatican.

You can see it on YouTube ifyou do some hunting there.Um he urged people around the world toreceive the treatments, saying, "Thesemedical treatments are the essentialtool to ending the pandemic, but neededto be taken by everybody for it towork." And this is what he said in hisverbal appeal. He said, "Vaccination isa simple, but profound way of promotingthe what?""The common good and caring for eachother, especially the most vulnerable. Ipray to God that everyone may contributetheir own small grain of sand, their ownsmall gesture of love. Well, by thistime we already knew that taking thetreatment did not prevent you frompassing it on to somebody else.So, how you can possibly say that itcontributes to the common good when itdoesn't prevent transmission is beyondme. But, of course, critical thinkingwent out the window during thispandemic.Shortly after this uh papal statement,um the leaders of a of a wide variety ofof Sunday-keeping churches startedissuing statements that seemedremarkably similar to what the Pope wasstating.

So, here you have the Mormons.And um the Latter-day Saints, theyissued a statement in September '21,just a couple of weeks after this lastpapal statement. And uh you can readabout it at deseret.com, which tracksthe Mormon news. It says, "The leadersof the Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-day Saints do not issue religiousexemptions to members who want to beexcused from COVID-19 vaccine mandates,"church spokesman confirmed this week.And so, the the Latter-day Saints, orthe Mormons, they were actively denyingreligious exemptions to their ownmembers, those who were employed by theLatter-day Saints, and they were notsupporting religious exemptions on thepart of Latter-day Saints who wanted anexemption from their secular employer.Uh you then have the Greek and asanother example, you have the GreekOrthodox Archdiocese for America. Theyissued a statement again a couple ofweeks after the papal statement inSeptember '21. And this is what thatpapal that uh Greek Orthodox statementsays.

It says, "In addition, while somemay be exempt from the vaccination forclear medical reasons, there is noexemption in the Orthodox Church for herfaithful for any vaccination forreligious reasons, including thecoronavirus vaccine. For this reason,letters of exemption for the vaccinationagainst the coronavirus for religiouspurposes issued by byof the Archdiocese of America have novalidity.And furthermore, no clergy are to issuesuch religious exemption letters for anyreason.And if you were an Adventist pastor inthe last year, this all sounds veryfamiliar.That Adventist pastors were not to issuereligious waiver requests on behalf ofthe members. Some issued them by thethousands, and I thank God for them. Butas a general rule, most of our clergydid not help memberswith the the writing their religiousexemption requests.We then have the Salvation Army, anotherexample in Canada.In September 22nd, 2021, again, just 4weeks after the people statement,they issued a state of they issued theirtheir new position. And so, this is aquote from Rebel News.

This is alternatenews sites on the internet, but it isvery verified from the Salvation Armynews website. This is what it said. TheSalvation Army of Canada, a church andone of the largest social service secureservice social service organizations inthe country, internally released theirpolicy that requires all of theirofficers, employees, contractors, andvolunteers to be fully vaccinated forCOVID-19. Those who do not comply willbe laid off without pay on November 15thand be unable to serve their theircommunities through their positions withthe organization.Possibly more concerning is that despitethe organization being a Christianchurch, we've received reports fromstaff that the organization has beenrejecting vaccine exemptions based onreligious and or consent-relatedreasons. Well, the Salvation Army didcome out strongly in favor of themandates, and they were opposed toreligious exemption requests.So, if you actually look across theProtestant world, a VanderbiltUniversity did a study of this, and inlate '21, Vanderbilt University MedicalCenter did an assessment of all thevarious Christian denominations in theWest, and they asked themselves which ofthose denominations are in favor of themandates and are not in favor ofreligious exemption requests.

And it'squite a list. They start out with RomanCatholicism, Eastern Orthodox, OrientalOrthodox, Amish, Anglican, Baptist, theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints, otherwise known as Mormons, theCongregational Churches, Episcopalians,Jehovah's Witnesses. Actually, Jehovah'sWitnesses were originally denouncingvaccination back in the '20s and '30s,but they revised that doctrine in 1952.The Lutherans, the Mennonites, theMethodists, the African MethodistEpiscopals or the AMEs, the Quakers, thePentecostals, the Presbyterians, theUniverse the Unitarian Universalists,who kind of believe almost anything, andthe Seventh-day Adventists.We were in that list.Uh in October 1821, the Mennonite Churchof Canada announced that they would notpursue religious exemptions for thosewho did not want the vaccine becausethey said they saw nothing in theirfaith that could warrant us that type ofexemption.So, what about our own church? Remember,these dates are important. Our statementwas not issued in a vacuum.Our statement was issued in the contextof all these Protestant churches inSeptember and October, following thepapal lead because the papacy issuedtheir statements in August '21.You got the context in your mind here,yes?

Our statement didn't just appearout of nowhere. There is a context. Andso, it's in October '21 that ourreaffirmation statement comes out.And you've seen this this statement.There it is. Therefore, claims ofreligious liberty are not usedappropriately in objecting to governmentmandates with heard that languagebefore, haven't we? We've seen it in thepapal statement.

We've seen it from invarious Protestants or Sunday keepingdenominations. They've made the samestatements. You might say thatessentially, our position in thereaffirmation statement echoed the coreelements of the papal position. And whatwere those? Number one,that certain treatments are allegedlynecessary for supposed common good.Number two,religious exemptions based on theconvictions of the Holy Spirit in abeliever's conscience are not allowed.And number three,the Holy the Holy Spirit must remainsilent for the church leaders, whetherit be the Pope or the GC officers, theyhave spoken.We essentially copied the position ofthe papacy.Now, let us not forget,we're Protestants.The papacy is the Antichrist.When the when the papacy declares thatindividual rights of conscience must beoverthrown by coercion, it is Antichristthat speaks.When the papacy argues for certaincourses of action to pursue the commongood over your conscience, it isAntichrist that is speaking.When the papacy urges certain treatmentsas a moral responsibility, how doesAntichrist know what a moralresponsibility is?What agreement, as the Apostle Paulsaid, does Christ have with Belial orSatan?

2 Corinthians 6 and verse 15.And so, even though our GeneralConference president bears the ultimateresponsibility for this betrayal ofconscience, and I use those wordsknowing that it may get me into trouble,but it's the truth.It would not have happened without thedirect involvement of our GeneralConference Public Affairs and ReligiousLiberty director,and his name is Dr. Ganoune Diop. Someof you may know him.So, we're going to come to the strangecase of the GC PA director.So, who is this gentleman? Well,just to remind ourselves thatthe COVID pandemic affected every humanon planet Earth in a way not seen sinceWorld War II.Around our world, churches were closed,Bible studies were forbidden, pastorswere imprisoned,schools and universities were closed,gatherings for worship, fellowship, orany kind of public meeting wereforbidden, the numbers of mourners atfunerals were greatly restricted,hospital visitations were curtailed,public evangelism was forbidden, butthis was not a religious liberty issue.I remember in the middle of the pandemichad a colleague who was dying of cancerand she had literally hours left tolive. She was in the in the hospice andwe went to say our goodbyes to her andwe were all standing outside and she wasinside because we didn't want her to getCOVIDeven though she was literally hours fromdeath from cancer.

And just theabsurdity of the whole situation struckus that what she would have appreciatedwas someone to hold her hand and maybe awhisper a prayer and say her favoriteBible text to her.And so the absurdity of the situationbecame clear to us. In in the UnitedStates you could gather at a casino butnot at a church. You could buy alcohol,tobacco, marijuana or lottery ticketsbut not Bibles, vegetable seeds orspades. You could march shoulder toshoulder for BLM rally and shout chanceslogans but you could not stand side byside and sing hymns of praise andworship to Jesus Christ.Yet despite this disproportionate impacton religious liberty worldwideour leadership team at the generalconference insisted in the statementthis is what they said.The public affairs and religious libertydepartment of the GC that's Dr. GanouDiop regards COVID-19 as a public healthcrisis and views connection withvaccines accordingly.That means our general conference publicaffairs and religious liberty directorsaw literally no impact on religiousliberty during the pandemic.No impact on religious liberty and ifyou are mandated back then if you aremandated to take somethingthen there you have no possiblereligious or spiritual objection to it.This was the position taken by Dr.

Dr.Ganou Diop. You see it in the officialstatement here.So who is Dr. Ganou Diop? Well, he's agifted individual. You see him there.There are two pictures of him there.He's a very tall gentleman with a beard.He has studied at both Adventist andCatholic universities.

He was raised inWest Africa in a Muslim community. Hebecame an Adventist. He went from beinga servant of God to a friend of God asper John 15 and verse 15. And he's beeninvested much of his life in ecumenicalendeavors. And he serves on the board ofthe Global Christian Forum.

That'sglobalchristianforum.org.And also as the secretary of theconference of secretaries of ChristianWorld Communions. Now, that's quite atitle, but who what exactly are theseorganizations? Now, this is him here atthe general conference session just afew weeks ago. And this guy on the leftis a guy who wrote a book that'sessentially calling for reunificationwith Rome. We'll come to him in asecond.So, umSo, he's part of the conference ofsecretaries of Christian WorldCommunions.

This is an ecumenical forumthat goes back to 1957.And how does it see itself? If you go toits website, this is what it says."Communions of churches belonging to thesame tradition and held together by thiscommon heritage, common conscience ofliving in the same universal fellowship,and giving to this consciousness atleast some structured visibleexpression."Well, the last I checked, we're invitedto call people out of Babylon, not toemphasize our shared spiritual identity.But this is what this particularassociation wishes to do. And it'sessentially an ecumenical movement.There's a picture of their meeting inOctober back in When was this?This was a few years ago back in October2016.And there's Dr. to guarantee up on thefar right of the picture as you see it.He's the tall gentleman. And there yousee the man in the white dress in themiddle.

And there you have the otherrepresentatives of other world faiths.And so, the the conscience theconference of secretaries of ChristianWorld Communions appears to be anorganization that promotes thereunification of the world under papalauthority. And our GC pal director isintimately involved with its operations.We also find the Global Christian Forum.And you can check out their websitethere. None of what I'm saying tonightis hidden. If you look for it online,you're going to find that this is alltrue, however painful it may be. Now,the Global Christian Forum is aworldwide ecumenical movement made up ofboth Catholics and Protestants.

And ifyou go to their website and say, "Whatis their mission?" This is theirmission. They have a global purposestatement. It is to create an open spacewhere representatives from a broad rangeof Christian churches and interchurchorganizations which confess the triuneGod and Jesus Christ as perfect in hisdivinity and humanity can gathertogether to foster mutual respect, toexplore and address together commonchallengesin the spirit of John 17:21,that all of them may be one.So, that the world may believe that youhave sent me. It's a quote from Jesus'prayer. And because of our faith inreconcile in a reconciling God, a forumcould pursue the following.

So, this iswhat they're trying to do. To deepen ourcommitment to God's word and mission inthe world, to enhance our understandingof contemporary expressions of Christianmission, to pursue principles andpractices that enable us to deal freely,responsibly, and peaceably with ourChristian differences and distinctivequalities, to engage in theologicalreflection in areas of mutual concern,to strengthen the wholeness of thechurch by encouraging communication andcooperation, and to foster relationshipsthat may lead to common witness. And thelast I checked, we're not teaching ourpeople in seminary how to joinevangelism with with Catholic priests.Um you know, it's not something we'retraining our pastors in. Um that we havea common message to the world. Actually,we don't.

But this is the purpose of theWorld Christian Forum.And so, during the 2022 session, thatwas the General Conference session justa few weeks ago,umthere you have the guy on the right,there's Dr. Ganoune Diop Diop. A privateleader A private dinner was held duringthis week. It was not announced to thedelegates, but it was held in honor ofcertain ecumenical leaders from aroundthe world. At which event both ElderWilson and Dr.

Ganoune Diop werepresent. Now, Dr. Kaisley Essamuah,who's the gentleman on the left of thesepictures, he is the secretary of theGlobal Christian Forum was also present.Now, a couple of years ago the GlobalFaith Christian Forum published a bookand the book is called Let Mutual LoveContinue. And it represents a call forChristian unity and the healing of thebreach between Protestants and thepapacy.And there's the doctor therewith a copy of his book speaking withthe Pope. And so, what does this book,what's the purpose of the book?

Why isthis book being written? Well, weThere's the book there, Let Mutual LoveContinue. It came after a conference inBogota, Colombiaa number of years ago and this is whatthe book actually says.Says, "We give thanks to God that thewinds that blew in Bogota continues tocall churches in collaboration andpartnership for the sake of the gospelin response to our Lord's prayer thatall may be one."And in a world that so desperately needsreconciliation, indeed let mutual lovecontinue. To God be the glory. And itgoes on elsewhere in the book to saythis."The Global Christian Forum is thewidening of the space that we all hopedfor.

This is the author now, Dr. Kaisleywriting. I see it as a genuine andconcerted effort to bring about healing,reconciliation and mutual love in thebody of Christ. It is a move that brokeaway from the period of exclusion,superiority and inferiority complexesand name-calling."And so, the the Global Christian Forumappears to be working towards Christianreunification under the authority of thepapacy and our General Conference PublicAffairs and Religious Religious Libertydirector is intimately involved in theleadership. In fact, he's actually onthe board of this organization.Thus, given our Public Affairs andReligious Liberty director's intimateinvolvement with bodies working for thereunification of Christianity under thepapacy, it is no surprise that we seethe following three things take place in21-22.

Firstly,that the Wilson administration appearsto have closely followed the lead of thefirst beast of Revelation 13, that isAntichrist, in supporting certainmandated treatments for the allegedcommon good.Secondly, the Wilson administrationechoed and participated in the call fromAntichrist to trampleAnd thirdly, the Wilson administrationbowed to the economic mandates of thesecond beast of Revelation 13, actingagainst our own brothers and sisters inChrist.You might say, "Oh, the shame of it."The shame.Feckless, fearful leaders who are afraidto stand for the consciences of theirmembers.And we walked right into it.And then none of them lost their jobs,but Adventists around the world paid aterrible, terrible price.So, you may ask yourself, "Well, well,so what?Okay, it's happened."Well,if you I just want to think for a fewminutes, but what's the eschatologicalor the end-time significance of whatwe're talking about?Well, there is an eschatologicalsignificance, and it's this.That's um we know that Satan is going toappear as the second coming of Jesus. Dowe know that?Yes.So, in fact, 2 Thessalonians 2 it talksabout the parousia of the evil one.And then it talks about he will bedestroyed by the parousia or the comingof the Son of Man when he comes.Uh we know that Satan is going to umimpersonate the coming of Christ.And uh we know that the environment isgoing to be used as a rationale forswitching us from Sabbath to Sundayworship.We know that from the book GreatControversy. Here it is. "Satan himselfwill appear in the character of an angelof light. Through the agency ofspiritualism, miracles will be wrought.The sick will be healed, and manyundeniable wonders will be performed.And as the spirits will profess faith inthe Bible and manifest respect for theinstitutions of the church, their workwill be accepted as a manifestation ofdivine power.Through spiritualism, Satan appears as abenefactor of the race, healing thediseases of the people, and professingto present a new and more exalted systemof religious faith.

But at the sametime, he works as a destroyer.Satan works through the elements also togather his harvest of unprepared souls.He has studied the secrets of thelaboratories of nature, and he issuesall he uses all his power to control theelements as far as God allows.When he has when he was suffered toafflict Job, how quickly flocks andherds, servants, houses, children wereswept away, one trouble succeedinganother as in a moment.It is God that shields his creatures andhedges them in from the power of thedestroyer.But the Christian world have showncontempt for the law of Jehovah,and the Lord will do just what he'sdecreed that he would. He will withdrawhis blessings from the earth and removehis protecting care from those who arerebelling against his law and teachingand forcing others to do the same.Satan has control of all whom God doesnot especially guard.While appearing to the children of menas a great physician who can heal alltheir maladies, he that is Satan willbring diseases and disaster untilpopular cities are reduced to ruin anddesolation. Even now he is at work inaccidents and calamities by sea and byland, in great conflagrations, in fiercetornadoes and terrific hailstones, intempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves,and earthquakes. In every place and in athousand forums, Satan is exercising hispower. He sweeps away the the ripeningharvest, and famine and distress follow.He imparts to the air a deadly taint,and thousands perish by the by thepestilence.

These visitations are tobecome more and more frequent anddisastrous, destruction will be uponboth man and beast.And then comes to the punchline here.And then the great deceiver willpersuade men that those who serve Godare causing these evils.The class that have provoked thedispleasure of heaven will charge alltheir troubles upon those whoseobedience to God's commandments is aperpetual reproof to transgressors.It will be declared that men areoffending gods by the violation of theSunday Sabbath, that this sin hasbrought calamities which will not ceaseuntil Sunday observance shall bestrictly enforced, and that those whopresent the claims of the fourthcommandment, thus destroying reverencefor Sunday, are troubles of the peoplepreventing their restoration to divinefavor and to temporal prosperity. Do youunderstand what she's saying here?She's commenting on when the Bible talksabout the appearance of Satan, thatthere's overwhelming delusion that wouldSatan seeks to delude even the veryelect of God.And in his appearance, he's going toblame the calamities of planet Earth andnatural calamities, the environmentaldisasters, upon those who are angeringGod through honoring the fourth or theseventh day Sabbath. And this will beused as a rationale to say, "Everybodymust switch to Sunday worship and followthe mark of the beast of Revelation 12and 13." And those who are honoring theseventh day Sabbath, they are now thetroubles of planet Earth.So what we see essentially here, this iswritten over 100 years ago, is that wesee that one day climate lockdowns aregoing to be imposed on planet Earth. Andyou don't have to be a prophet to lookat our world today to know this isexactly what the powers of our world arecalling for.Greta Thunberg is calling for her schoolstrike, yes?The The Sabbathing movement in Europe,the green Sabbathing movement, peopleare saying, "You need to Sabbath for oneday of the week in order to give theworld a break from the relentless cycleof consumption." And the liberalProtestants nominations of North Americahave all bought into the environmentalmovement. I'm not saying we shouldn'tcare for the environment, what I amsaying is the liberal Protestants, thepapacy, the Biden administration, thesecular environmentalists in Europe andaround the world are all sayingessentially the same thing.

That is weneed an a weekly shutdownto preserve the environment.And it doesn't take a genius to see whatday that's going to be on. And if youwant to know what day it's going to beon, the Pope issued an encyclical calledLaudato Si in 2015 just before the Parisclimate change climate change treaty,and he called for Sunday sacredness fortwo reasons. One was to protect theglobal environment, and two was that wecould all celebrate the Eucharisttogether.So, this is what's coming.And those who honor the Sabbath aregoing to be viewed as the destroyers ofhumanity's common planetary home.If you think the pressure was bad in thelast 2 years,just wait for what's coming.You see, when the climate lockdowns willbe imposed, and I believe they will be,you find it here in the spirit ofprophecy, when the climate lockdowns areimposed, it will be imposed forecological reasons.But within about 30 seconds, it becomesa moral issue.Why?Because if the whole world is lockingdown for the for to preserve our commonplanetary home on the Sunday, andnobody's engaging in economic activity,you're not driving your car, and all therest of it, then those who are nothonoring those climate lockdowns aredestroying our common planetary home.You're guilty of genocide.You are working to destroy our commonplanetary home. It becomes a moral issuein the eyes of the world within about 30seconds once you've imposed yourecological lockdowns.So, during 2020 through 2022,the General Conference lead our GeneralConference leadership,I say this very deliberately, followedthe lead of Antichrist, that is thepapacy, in trampling on conscience anddenying the liberty of conscience toAdventists all in the name of an allegedgreater good.And mean, final delusion before Jesusappears, Satan will appear to humanity.We read about it in the scriptures as anangel of light. And the faithfulcommandment keepers of God will onceagain be pressured to violate theirconscience and give in to false worship.All again for the alleged greater goodto prevent environmental catastrophe toour common planetary home.So, 2020-2022was essentially a dry run for the finalcrisis of conscience that will hit ourworld before Jesus returns.Tragically,in our denomination response, our worldchurch leadership conditioned ourmembership to bow to the mandate to thesecond beast of Revelation 13, that isthe United States, and to follow thelead of the first beast of Revelation13, that is the papacy or Antichrist, indenying conscience and the convictingpower of the Holy Spirit, all in thename of the alleged common good.Now, I've spoken on this topic a numberof times.

I want to emphasize somethingright now.Whether you are vaccinated or not doesnot mean you are in or out of the Lamb'sBook of Life.We support liberty of conscience forevery person.And some people took the conscience thattook the treatments in good conscience.We say, "Praise the Lord that you made achoice according to your conscience." Weaffirm that choice, not because I mayhave any doubts about the treatment, butbecause you acted in good conscience. Weare still brothers and sisters in Christregardless of what we did in the last 2years.And we are to work together for unitywithin our local congregations, but wemust also speak up to make sure that ourconsciences are never denied to us againwith tragic consequences for Adventistsworldwide.So, now is the time as we come out ofthis pandemic to reflect on how weresponded as individuals during theselast 2 years.In some cases, maybe we need to repent.Some cases, we need to humbly renew ourcovenant with God that all of us,regardless of our medical choices, mayhave the faith, the courage, the mutuallove, and the conviction to stand sideby side as brothers in Christ for God'srevealed will and for his law in thefinal crisis of conscience when itbreaks upon humanity.Oh, that we might be men and women whocannot be bought or sold.Oh, that we might be men and women whoin their innermost souls are true andhonest. Oh, that we might be men andwomen who do not fear to call sin by itsright name. Oh, that we might be men andwomen whose conscience is as true toduty as the needle is to the pole. Oh,that we might be men and women who standfor the right though the heavens fall.And I say, "Oh, that we might haveleaders who have the samecharacteristics as well."So, what's to happen?As you come to a conclusion as well,I've thought about this quite a bit,given it a lot of prayer and thought,and these are my conclusions.The entire struggle in our Adventistworldwide church today comes down to onesimple question, and it's this.

It's onthe screen.Does the General Conference presidenthave the spiritual right, the biblicalright, or the ecclesiastical right tooverride or determine the convictions ofthe Holy Spirit upon any individualAdventist or all Adventist worldwide?Does he have that right?Absolutely not.If the answer is yes,then we are no different than theAyatollahs of Shiism of Shia the ShiaMuslim faith or the papacy.The word Ayatollah the Ayatollah the averse in the Quran is called an Ayat.Um, it means a word. And so, theAyatollah means that you speak the wordof Allah. And that's why when theAyatollah speaks, he speaks for Allahallegedly.Uh, so the Ayatollah speaks for God anddetermines God's will on earth. And thepapacy claims the right to determineGod's will on earth when the Pope speaksex cathedra and determines dogma. He'stelling you this is God's will and it'snon-negotiable.And if the answer to this question isthat the GC president does have theright to override members' consciencesand to override the convictions of theHoly Spirit, then we are no differentthan the Ayatollahs of Tehran or thepapacy of Rome.And we are in an autocratic system.But if the answer is no,then that 2021 October reaffirmationstatement needs to be set aside.And liberty of conscience needs to berestored to every Adventist worldwideregardless of the individual healthchoices they have made.The problem is not with our theology.The problem is not with our structure.The problem is not with our fundamentalbeliefs.

What is causing our problems isa handful of rogue administrators at theGeneral Conference led by our GeneralConference president who have actedillegitimately and blasphemously instripping liberty of conscience from themembership worldwide and assuming theright to override the convictions of theHoly Spirit in your life and to overrideyour conscience.And that's the kind of sentence that'sliable to get one fired, but it's thetruth.And we must pursue the truth.And as we look back on that pandemic, wemust be honest about how we did duringthe pandemic.And really, I think we came up with afailing grade.So, God has given us this pandemic as anopportunity to maybe count the cost ofwhat it's going to be like in thefuture.He's given us an opportunity to reflecton the extent to which the world has itsgrip over each of our lives.The extent to which we're vulnerablefinancially to the dictates of godlessgovernments.The extent to which our careers are moreimportant to us than fidelity to theword of God.We now have a chance to reflect on thisand to ask ourselves of the choiceswe're making today making us morevulnerable or less vulnerable to theinevitable pressure that's going to comeon those who are faithful to God in thefinal crisis of conscience before Jesuscomes again.So, were you faithful?You don't need to answer.We all knowthe struggle we went through in thepandemic.We all know that when push came toshove, you pretty much were on your own.We all know that no matter what choicesyou made, there were profound impacts onyour future and for your children.We all knew that whatever choices youmade, nobody was going to pick up thepieces.We all know that whatever choices youmade, you were entirely on your own infacing the consequences economic,health-wise, socially, or career-wise.We were on our own.And it's a foretaste for what is goingto happen in the future.The people are going to be divided.People are going to divide. Families aregoing to be divided. Marriages are goingto be divided. Churches are going to bedivided.But the question is, do you have adivided heart?Or is your heart entirely loyal to God?And if it is loyal to God, I'llencourage you to take some actions. Andas I reflect upon how do we respond tothis?

And the first thing is we have tolove one another as Christ has firstloved us.So, if there's a division in your familyabout the medical choices that weremade,love one another, because that's allyou've got until Jesus comes again.Love one another.Forgive one another.Forgive the harsh words that maybe werespoken. Pray for one another. And affirmthat whatever choices were made, we canstill be in the Lamb's Book of Life. AndGod still loves us regardless of thosechoices.I discussed I thought I thought a lotabout tithes and offerings. Andeverybody says, "What happens to tithesand offerings?"And I was I was studying with somebody.It was a teenager.And we were talking about some questionsabout how do you know God's plan inlife?

And so I went to Proverbs chapter3 verses 5 and 6. And II shared that passage, which is a veryfamous passage. And as I was readingthis passage, my eyes dropped to thenext passage in my Bible, which isverses 9 through 10. And I don't everremember highlighting this passage in myreading of the Bible, but this was thepassage that just jumped out at me. Andas I was writing this sermon thinking,"What do I say about tithes andofferings?" This text, the Holy Spiritbrought it to me.

And it says, "Honorthe the with your substance and with thefirst fruits of all your produce. Thenyour barns will be filled with plentyand your vats will be bursting with whatwith wine.And so the the message that God gave meas I was preparing this sermon is thisis not the time to divert our tithes andofferings. However much I may want to,it's not the time to do it.We are still stronger together than ifwe fall apart.There are still pastors and church umeducators and grade school teachers andevangelists and health ministry leaderswho are who are sustained from the titheand the good they do is much greaterwhen we stick together than if we fallapart. So if you're tempted to divertyour tithes and offerings, my appeal toyou tonight, and you know, you suffered,I've suffered, we've all suffered oneway or the other is do not divert yourtithes and offerings. As I was preparingthis sermon, uh the Holy Spirit justbrought this verse to me and this iswhat I'm sharing with you.

It's it's nota verse that may be popular with somepeople, but it's what the Holy Spiritlaid upon my heart. Therefore, I'mobliged to share it with you.Uh the other thing is membership.And people say, "Well, do I remain amember?"of the Adventist Church. And as I wasthinking about this, the Holy Spiritimpressed upon me that in Revelationchapter 10,God um calls out a people.In Revelation chapter 11, God restoresthe primacy of scripture.So there's a people and there's a bookbefore you come through to the final umevents of earth history.We are that people, are the people ofthe book. God has called us as anend-time movement with an end-timemessage for God for the world beforeJesus comes again. Now is not the timeto jump ship.Despite what I consider to be rogueleadership, and I'm sure that quote'sgoing to resonate in Silver Spring,Maryland,the Advent movement is still God'send-time movement with an end-timemessage with the clearest picture of Godand portrayal of truth.

So don't jumpship.Yes.We are to be the most solid ofAdventists there are, and we are to bethe most solid and and determined inaffirming that people can act accordingto their conscience. So, what are we todo?Do we just sit and take it?I meanas members, you often feel powerless.Like, what can we do to influence howour church makes these decisions?Because we were completelydisenfranchised during the pandemic.So, the good news isthat the General Conference, the worldchurch, has between General Conferencesessions, you have a spring meeting anda fall meeting. The spring meeting looksat the budget and the and the audit fromthe previous year. And the Octobermeeting happens every year. Um that'swhere they look at the budget for thenext year and they vote their prioritiesand they vote their plans and theirstrategic plans uh for the coming year.And the next Executive Committee of theGeneral Conference is in the first weekof October.That's 4 weeks away.And we have a representative form ofgovernance within our Adventist church.And we in the British Union arerepresented by one person.

That's theBritish Union president.Yeah, Angolan Union is represented bythe Angolan Union president.Um the Vietnamese Union is representedby the Vietnamese Union president. Andthese Union presidents gather from allaround the world to Silver Spring andthey discuss and debate for about 5 or 6days and they make decisions. And thatGeneral Conference Executive Committeeis just 4 weeks away.And our British Union president, his jobis to represent the interests of theconstituency.Not his own interests. He was elected bywe or you, the members here in Britain,to represent the concerns of theconstituency of this union, the BritishUnion.So, because that's um that session iscoming up, I want to challenge you to dosomething.You can all call through to the BritishUnion in Watford.And let's ask to let leave a message forour new Union president. He'll bedelighted to receive your message.But leave a message and simply ask thisthat when he gets to annual council thisOctober,ask him to vote or to make a motion toset aside the October 2021 reaffirmationstatement.And in so doing, we will reaffirm thatthe Adventist members that the HolySpirit cannot be overridden by theGeneral Conference leadership.Every one of us can do this.

We can senda letter in the mail, we can send anemail, we can leave a message, we can goand visit the union, and we can saypersonally, I respectfully ask you torepresent our interests. I'm asking youto set aside the October 21reaffirmation statement.I can stand at the pulpit like this andit can go out on the internet. What'sgoing to change the minds of leaders ofthe church in Britain or any other unionwhere you happen to be watching thisfrom is if you, the members, contactyour union president and say, "Pleaseset aside that statement." We're notcalling for anybody to be fired, notcalling for anybody to be disciplined.We're simply saying, "We, the members,want that statement set aside. We do notaccept that one man has the right tooverride our conscience."So, are you willing to do this?Yes.Please.Yes.Okay? Please do this.

Let um the unionpresident, who's a godly man, let himknow that we have genuine concerns, andwe do not want any statement out therethat overrides our conscience, becauseif it happens once,it's going to happen again.Yes.Administration is a ratchet effect. Oncethis has been established that it can bedone once, then they'll say, "Well, wedid it back then. There was a precedent.We'll do it again."And we don't want it to happen again.So, we can at least make good what wentwrong, and we can make good what wentwrong by respectfully requesting thatthe union president set aside thatstatement. And for those of you who arewatching online from anywhere in theworld, I appeal to you, contact yourunion president and respectfully requestthat the annual council October 22, thatthey vote to set aside the 2021 Octoberreaffirmation statement. And you can seethe details on the slide there.And pray for our leadersthat they will not slavishly follow thefirst and second beasts of Revelation 13in the future.That's a hard thing to say, but it's thetruth.

It's what happens.So, I invite you to pray for our worldchurch leaders.They may never meet you. You may nevermeet them.But, we want everybody to be in theLamb's Book of Life.We don't want anybody to be lostregardless of the decisions that theymade during the last 2 years. We are toencourage one another in the Christianwalk. We are to love one another. And ifmistakes have been made, we're not outsitting with out not out for blood.We're looking out for redemption.We want everybody to be in the Lamb'sBook of Life.

So, pray for our worldchurch leaders that God may guide themand give them the courage when almostimpossible decisions are forced uponthem.So, this is what I want to sharetonight.Truth matters.Truth matters.If we are not willing to stand for truthtoday, we're not going to stand fortruth tomorrow.Truth is not relative. It is notsituational. It is not subjective. It isabsolute and it is pure and it belongsand it resides within the person ofJesus Christ. And if we are to befollowers and disciples of Jesus Christ,then we must stand for truth even ifit's painful for ourselves.So, tonight brothers and sisters, you'veheard my call.

You've heard my appeal.As you leave this retreat tomorrow andyou go to your homes, I would humbly askyou to connect with your unionpresidents, whether you're in Britain oranywhere else in the world, andrespectfully ask them to set aside thatstatement. We are not just to be peopleof the book. We're not just to be thepeople of God, but we are to be men andwomen whose hearts are sensitive to thepromptings of the Holy Spirit and whoare willing and who will purpose in ourhearts to stand for the right though theheavens fall, no matter what this worldmay say to us in the future.So, I invite you to bow your heads withme.We're just going to have a short prayerof commitment then we'll move on to ouranointing service.Heavenly Father,I want to thank you that we're stillalive after this pandemic.Father, we ask tonight that you bringcomfort to those who are grieving theirlost loved ones.Father, where there is an empty table,an empty chair at the table,where maybe this Christmas there will bean empty chair and painful memories,we humbly ask Father that you bringcomfort to the bereavedand you bring them the promise ofeternal life.I pray Father that as a world church wecan heal from the disaster of the last 2years.I pray that we can reunify around theprinciple that the Holy Spirit issovereign in the life of every member.I ask heavenly Father that you willguide our leaders to make wisedecisions,decisions that may go against the grainfor our godless global elites, butdecisions that are true to scriptureregardless of the cost.I pray Father in our own livesthat no matter what decisions were thatwe took during this pandemic,we will still be faithful ambassadorsfor Jesuswho came full of grace and full oftruth.Well, may we not just be full of gracewith no truth. May we not just be fullof truth without grace,but I pray Father that grace and truthwill be mingled in our words that peoplewill be drawn to the savior.Father, knowledge puffs up,but love builds up.So, may we build one another in love.This is our prayer in Jesus name. Amen.