A Wild Boar in the Vineyard

Extracted Verses and Quotes from the Sermon

Biblical Verses

Acts 15

“They held a church Council and everybody came together in Jerusalem — the elders, the apostles, the Believers — and they discussed the matter and came to a conclusion.”

Genesis 2

“When God created Adam before Eve existed, the second commandment could not exist… Therefore, the primary responsibility for Adam and for all of us today is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind.”

Martin Luther’s statement at the Diet of Worms (1521)

“Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason, I do not accept the authority of popes and councils because they have contradicted each other. My conscience is captive to the word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything; for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. So help me God. Amen.”

Fundamental Belief 22 (Health and Christian Lifestyle)

“For the Spirit to recreate in us the character of Our Lord, we involve ourselves only in those things that will produce Christlike purity, health, and joy in our lives. Because our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, we are to care for them intelligently with adequate exercise and rest, adopt the most healthful diet possible, and abstain from unclean foods identified in Scripture. Since alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and the irresponsible use of drugs and narcotics are harmful, we are to abstain from them as well.”

Spirit of Prophecy, Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 3, p. 492

“No man’s judgment should be surrendered to the judgment of any one man, but when the judgment of the General Conference — by which she means not the AdCom but the full session with members from around the world — the judgment of the general conscience which is the highest authority that God has upon the Earth is exercised, private independence and private judgment must not be maintained but must be surrendered.”

Memorable Quotes

“I want to start out by saying that we live in a world where you may feel like you are forgotten or marginalized or looked down on because of decisions that you make but you’re not. There is a worldwide movement of Adventists who are still clinging to their conscience.”

“The conscience became, in Martin Luther’s thinking and from then on in Protestant thinking, the meeting place between God and man — that’s where God connects with you more than anywhere else, through your conscience and sanctified reason.”

“Roger Williams argued that conscience is a gift from God, God’s voice within man, and that conscience is Holy Ground. To violate conscience is to violate God’s work and our inherent dignity as beings created in the image of God.”

“We as Adventists follow Roger Williams’s pathway and support the separation of church and state. Church and state unions are to be voided at all costs because they inevitably lead to persecution.”

“The kingdom of God is not built on coercion. It is built on love, and so it results in free will guided by conscience.”

“As Adventists, we do not have radical individualism where you do whatever your conscience says without question. We have a process where new light is filtered through the church until a decision is made by the body of believers.”

“The administrative committee of the General Conference has only six defined areas of responsibility, none of which include making theological statements that affect every Adventist worldwide.”

“When a small group of people who do not know you claim the authority to override your conscience and deny your conscience, that is the very issue Martin Luther faced, and I protest and reject that assumed right.”

“Whether you are pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine, vaccinated or not, we can still be in the Lamb’s Book of Life. What I am speaking about is religious liberty and respecting the consciences of our members.”

“We are called to proclaim the Three Angels messages — God’s last call of mercy to a dying world. If people do not have liberty of conscience, they cannot respond freely to that call.”

“Don’t give up on hope. This world is full of sin, sorrow, and suffering, but it is going to come to an end. Jesus is coming again.”

“Let us work together, press together, worship together, evangelize together, reach out to our community together, and be a blessing in partnership with our conference.”

“Our spiritual birthright includes the Primacy of conscience. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. My conscience is captive to the word of God — not to any AdCom or any ad hoc committee. Revoke the statements and set my conscience free.”

Other Quotations

Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 3, p. 492

“No man’s judgment should be surrendered to the judgment of any one man but when the judgment of the General Conference by which she means not the AdCom but the full session with members from around the world come together … private independence and private judgment must not be maintained but must be surrendered.”