An Appeal to the Adventist Nobility

[Music]Mightyforess Is OurGodnever helphe theis for still our ancientF sing to work[Music]us hisra and power aregreat and on with[Music]Earth a Mighty foress Is Our God of workneverfailing a Mighty foress Is Our God[Music][Applause]a Mighty foress Is OurGodnevering a mightyforess[Music]ourfail[Music]Mighty Our God ourohGod this world[Music]withtoous we will not fear for God we[Music]toTri[Music]to letgoodallife the body they maykill God's TRstill hiskingom is for[Music][Applause][Music]I'm sure you'd like to join with me inthanking the Sunco singers uh for thatbeautiful Reformation hymn and um I'dalso like to thank uh our worshipleaders today who chose those hymns uhthe last one we sang Great Is ThyFaithfulness um is a personal favoriteof mine in fact it's such a favoriteit's in my will to be read or sung at myfuneral so um it's a beautiful song butwhat I like about the song great is thyfaithfulness is the context for thathymn thy mercies are new every morningis found in Lamentations chapter 3 whenum Jerusalem was being destroyed by theBabylonians the people were being takeninto Exile Lamentations as the prophetlamenting that his nation is fallingapart and in the very midst of that uhchapter of Lamentations that whole bookhe says this the steadfast love of theLord never ceases his mercies never cometo an end they are new every morninggreat is thy faithfulness and uh so thatsong great is thy faithfulness is a songuh that comes from a p passage of theBible where the the uh the writer islamenting the fact that his Nation seemsto be falling apart before his eyes andyet he affirms God's faithfulness in themidst of crisis and so thank you so muchfor that choice of him for Great Is ThyFaithfulness I'd like to give you all awarm welcome this morning and um forthose of you watching online uh in thestates in Canada the uh South PacificEurope Etc we give you a warm welcome uhwe pray that the internet holds strongduring our time here today uh I'veentitled our uh sermon this morning anappeal to the Adventist nobility uhthose of you who are familiar with youruh heritage Reformation history knowthat Luther also wrote a book called anappeal to the German nobility that wascirculated across Europe um but uh soI've entitled this message an appeal tothe Adventist nobility so this a sermonnot just delivered uh for us here as avillage Adventistcongregation um but uh for that lady whowrote in the physical therapist who losther job because her employer found astatement on the Adventist website thissermon is for you and and for all of ourmembers worldwide who've lost their jobsbecause of the general conference'sposition on vaccinations this sermon isfor you and for our church leaders Irespectfully say this in love thissermon is for you as well now I've beenaround I've got a few gray hairs as youcan see and um I've been around theworld many many times and I know most ofthe church leaders personally and byname and I would say this they are someof the most hardworking people peopleI've ever met in my life if I want toreach the general conference legalcouncil brother duke mean I will sendhim an email at about 5:30 in themorning because I know that's when hechecks in and he's going to respondbetween 5:30 and 6 I'll get a responsefrom the general conference legalcouncil he works extremely long hoursI've watched and observed Elder Wilsonat close for many years and I can saythis he is a man of God humility it maybe his the way he he lives his life umhe drinks from D Wells of Salvation on adaily basis it's very clear when you sitin a committee and observe how he dealswith matters that this is a man throughWhom The Living Waters Flow and so I I Igive this sermon today to church leadersum who are I consider my personalfriends with whom I've worked for manyyears and with whom I with whom I hopeto serve for many more years uh untilJesus comes again but uh as a ministerof the Gospel it is also myresponsibility to speak truthand so today I want to share the truthin love not because I'm superior orbetter but because I'm in undated withpeople connecting with me and saying I'mabout to lose my job what can I do and Ifeel abandoned and I feel betrayed and Iget told everywhere I look that this isnot a religious liberty issue and so issomething wrong with me and so I'mspeaking today on behalf of thecountless Adventists worldwide who arestruggling with a sense of alienationbecause we are repeatedly told that theworld Church's position on vaccinationsis X and that position precludesreligious Rel religiouswaivers and so um it's not a difficulttopic to talk about but I'm going togive it my best shot and um I spent sometime praying and thinking about thissermon it's not a standard sermon assuch um but I do believe that in an eraof Deceit we must stand up and speak thetruth and then the consequence ERS willplay themselvesout so I say this in love to my friendsin the Adventist World Church leadershipthose who've been instrumental in makingthese decisions and putting thesestatements together um and I'm speakingnot just on my behalf but on behalf ofmultitudes of Adventists in America andCanada who I know are watching right nowin South Africa in Australia in Germanyin Sweden in New Zealand Etc there arepeople around the world watching thissermon uh because they know that asHamlet said something is rotten in theheart ofDenmark so for ourintroduction I just want to read you aletter that came in justrecently let make sure preaching thesedays is so complicated you got have somany things gadgets at your fingertipsmake sure I got my uh my clicker here soit's an appeal to the Adventist nobilityuh so what we're going to talk aboutwell uh the introduction we're going tohave uh four parts we're going to havean institutional perspective we're goingto look at a theological perspective aBiblical perspective then we're going tolook at a financial perspective on thesestatements on imization that are causingso much damage to Adventists and thenwe're going to draw our conclusions heretogether so um by a way ofintroduction I have a a letter here thatcame in uh it came in uh to an Adventistin Canada maybe you're watching thisvery sermon here today this is from anemployer in Canada to a fellow sister inChrist quote this is from the employerto the lady says according to thestatement reaffirming the 7th Adventistchurch's response to covid-19 issued bythe general conference Administrationand other bodies of the church the 7ththe Adventist Church encourages membersto consider responsible immunization infact this statement says and then theletter quotes it says the 7th AdventistChurch in consultation with the healthministries and public affairs andreligious Liberty Departments of theGeneral Conference of 7 the Adventistsis convinced that the vaccinationprograms that are generally beingcarried out that is the covidvaccinations are important for thesafety and health of our members and thelarger Community therefore claims ofreligious liberty are not usedappropriately in objecting to governmentmandates or employer programs designedto protect the health and safety oftheir communities end quote that's ageneral conference statement they'requoting from and this is the conclusionthat the employer gives to this lady inCanada I have reviewed your request andsupporting information as an Adventistyou have not articulated a sincerelyheld religious belief that would preventyou from complying with the University'smandatory vaccination program on thisbasis your request is denied and you areexpected to comply with the mandatoryvaccinationprogram uh so this person is expected tobe vaccinated in order to keep uh herEmployments with the university uh weheard this morning and I've heard manycases of students uh in Nations not justAmerica Canada is a great examplestudents being denied access to collegeuh people being forced out of their jobsbecause employers are quoting from theAdventist Church's website and usingwhat the Adventist Church has stated hisposition on vaccinations and mandatesagainst its ownmembers sowe are experiencing now profounddivision worldwide as a globe we're alsoexperiencing division in the AdventistChurch why based on the officialdenominational position that vaccinemandates are not a religious isreligious liberty issue but they're anemployment issue in minds of some thatAdventists have no theological orreligious or faith-based reason not toparticipate in immunization programswhether they are mandated or not that'sthe official positionso how did we get here and how do werespond well let's just take a look atthe offending documents first of allwe're going to look first at theinstitutional perspective on thestatements so this is the firststatement and it's important to alwaysyou know go back to the source documentsuh you can print it out for yourselvesit's adventist.org look in the officialstatements type in immunization and thisis what will come up now this was votedby the Adcom that is the administrativeCommittee of the general conference onApril 15 2015 this was long before covidwas on anybody's mind this statement wasvoted when the definition of vaccine wasa substance introduced to the body toinduce immunity against a given diseaseand before the definition was changed toa substance introduced to the body togive immunity to the manufacturer but toonly stimulate your body's response todiseases in general which is a verywatered down definition all right so theAdcom statement reads this and it'simportant we know what the text says andyou can follow me on the screen it saysthe sth Day Adventist Church placesstrong emphasis on health and well-beingthe Adventist Health emphasis is basedon biblical Revelation The Inspiredwriting of Ellen G white a co-founder ofour church and on peer-reviewedscientific literature as such weencourage responsible immunizationvaccination and have no religious orfaith-based reason not to encourage ouradherence to responsibly participate inprevent in protective and preventiveimmunization programs we value thehealth and safety of the populationwhich includes the maintenance of herimmunity we are not the conscience ofthe individual church member andrecognize individual choices these areexercised by the individual the choiceto be not to be immunized is not andshould not be seen as the Dogma nor thedoctrine of the sth Day Adventist Churchso that's the foundation document andjust just in passing it was voted in2015 just before the 2015 GeneralConference session it was voted by theadministrative committee that we'll callthat Adcom as we go forward uh for thoseof you who don't have spend much time inadministration uh and Adcom is aninternal operating committee that dealswith administrative trivia normallywithin an organization it's not theexecutive committee and it's not theboard um but this was voted by theadministrative Committee of the generalconference just prior to the 2015General Conference session now based onthat um after Liberty and health issuedtheir statement and their um theirappeal which had over 20,000 peoplesigning it asking the World Church totake back their position on vaccinationthe general conference issued asubsequent statement which we're goingto call the reaffirmation statement thisis it here and it's too long and wordyto put up on the screen but it's we'regoing to call it the reaffirmationstatement it was voted it was it wasreleased sorry in October 25th 2021 sojust a couple of months ago and it wasvoted by the general uh conferenceAdministration the general conferencehealth ministries Department the publicaffairs and religious liberty departmentthe general office General Conferenceoffice of legal council and LindaUniversity Health so first of all wehave the 2015 Adcom statement and thenafter Liberty and health issued their umappeal which had over 20,000 Adventistswriting in and signing it including wellover a thousand pastors uh then thisstatement was issued the reaffirmationstatement that went into a lot moredetail Than This original statement thiswas issued in October2021 uhshortly um before that this is kind of atangential issue the NAD decided thatthey wanted to issue their own statementon vaccinationwhich essentially rewords reissues the2015 statement and this NAD statementwas issued in March 2021 so in myopinion as I look through these threestatements uh here we have here we havethe 2015 Adcom statement the October 21reaffirmation statement and the NAD Zonestatement the NAD Zone statementessentially is a reiteration of the 2015statement and so we can basically putthat to one side and as we already knowfrom the debates on women's ordinationum Union divisions do not have their ownconstituency they cannot maketheological decisions for themselves andso the division really has no right tobe making any theological statements uhso we're left with the 2015 Adcomstatements and the 2021 reaffirmationstatement are you all with me so far onthis yes okayso uh we thenuh we have the NAD statement from March2021 now how do we how do we understandthese statements well um this is apicture of a very famous British Memberof Parliament Tony Ben I disagreed withhim on pretty much everything he eversaid um he he he was a a foul of M fanof Mount say tongue um he was a a friendto the Soviet Union um if there if thereif there was ever a terrorist in town hewas their best friend um he's dead nowum but he was a man who stood up forwhat he believed and even though Idisagreed with everything he said youcould at least rely upon him to speakhis mind honestly he died I know 20 someyears ago of dementia um so in myopinion he had very early onset dementiaabout the age of 16 but never mind nowTony Ben uh he had five questions andthese are five excellent questions thatwe need to be askingtoday those are the five questions whenhe came across a somebody in Authorityor somebody in power he would ask thesefive questions firstly what power do youhave or what Authority do you have twowhere did you get this powerfrom three in whose interests do youexercise that power andauthority number four to whom are youaccountable and number five how do weget rid ofyou those are good questions yes if youwork your way through the first fourquestions and you get the answers youmade up your mind whether you want toexercise the fifth question or not butthose are five good questions to preventtotalitarianism developing in a societyto ask these questions and to expect anhonest answer now today we're just goingto ask the first question which is whatpower or what Authority do you actuallyhave and we're going to be askingourselves the question what Authority dothese bodies have to actually issuethesestatements because if they don't havethe authority to to issue the statementsthese statements need to be revokedwould you agree with me all right solet's turn first to the Adcom of theGeneralConference now the Adcom is theadministrative Committee of the GeneralConference it's the internaladministrative Committee of the GeneralConference the Adcom does not have anyinherent Authority but its Authority isdelegated to it by the lay members ofthe World Church when we vote on thegeneral conference working policy manualupdates at every General Conferencesession that is the Adcom has nointrinsic inherent Authority we delegateauthority to the Adcom to make decisionson our behalf because we can't all beinvolved in the administrative trivia ofthe running of the General Conference sohow does this work um so um just just tothe structure of the church we are thevillage Adventist Church congregation weelect delegates in a business session sowe all have a vote and those delegatesgo every constituency session toMichigan conference for theirconstituency session and every Churchsends its delegates and those delegatesthat's us regular L folks we elect theofficers of the Michigan conference fora four or five year period you followingme with this okay and we also elect alake an executive committee of theMichigan conference that has a majoritylay representation so the majority ofpeople on the executive committee of theMichigan conference are not Churchemployees with vested interests they'relay folks like you and I and theMichigan conference executive committeevotes with a majority lay representationon delegates to the on on who's going tobe going to the union executivecommittee that's the Lake Union just upthe road and the and then the lake theunion they send delegates to the generalconference session and that's voted bythe union executive committee which hasa majority of lay representation on itso at every stage of the process we havea major majority of layrepresentation and when the generalconference session meets every Unionsends a certain number of delegates youhave the officers of the Union presidentsecretary treasurer our EX officio onthe general conference delegate delegatelist but then you have a certain numberof delegates depending on yourmembership size okay and those delegatesare mostly lay members like yourselvesand myself now um in between GeneralConference sessions how does the churchmake decisions the Church makesdecisions through what is known as theexecutive committee and the executivecommittee represents the constituencythat is the worldwide members and theexecutive committee normally meetsunless there's an emergency twice a yearit meets in April that is known asspring meetings and that's where they'rereviewing the audit report for theprevious year and there also but the bigmeeting is known as annual Council whichmeets in October of every year it'snormally in Silver Spring Maryland atthe GC building and the annual Councilvotes on the prior priorities and thefunding allocations for the followingFinancial year that begins in Januaryand the uh the executive committee iscomprised of the officers of the GC thedepartmental heads of the GC such ashealth ministries department and familyMinistries department and youth ministryDepartment uh but the majority of themembers of the executive committee arethe representative of the Union Officersfrom around theworld now it's not a lay drivencommittee the executive committee but weas lay people through our voting for theMichigan conference and through ourRepresentatives on the Michiganconference we have a profound say infact we determine who our Union Officersare when you combine the the conferencesof our Lake Union so those UnionOfficers represent you and I at thegeneral conference executive committeeso you have the executive committee thatmeets twice a year and then you have thegeneral conference session that meetsonce every five years and then becausethere's a lot of daily administrativedecisions that need to be taken uh thereis another committee yet known as theAdcom and the Adcom deals with theday-to-day operations of the GeneralConference like we need to put a newdoor security system in we don't needthe World Church to vote on that um wewe need to change the pum rate forpeople going to a certain country wedon't need the Well church to vote onthat and so forth and so forth so thethe the general conference um meets infull session every Quinn quenum everyfive years and then the the executivecommittee meets in spring meeting andual Council every year and that's wherethe major decisions get taken in thechurch so for instance two years agojust for covid the executive committeevoted an updated statement on abortiondo you remember that okay that's atheological issue that affects everysinglemember that decision was not given tothe Adcom because the Adcom deals withinternal administrative matters they didnot vote the abortion statement at Adcomthey voted it at executive committeeand that's that represents the fullconstituency in between GC sessions soas with the abortion statement that cameout a couple of years ago the executivecommittee is where decisions orstatements or decisions are brought umif we don't have time to wait for thenext GC full session that affect everymember worldwide and that's generallytheological matters and spiritualmatters this Adcom uh for this Adcom isreserved the internal administrativetrivia of the Adventist headquartersso uh just in summary the Adcom hasauthority to act um as defined by thegeneral conference working policy thisis the general conference working policyit's a beautiful book and um I've got afew dog ears in here um this is the kindof book that you read if you have to umbut um It's actually an essential bookbecause Jesus says in all things do untoothers as you'd have them do unto youMatthew 7:12 this explains internallywithin the the church structures howthis takes place okay and this is whatthe GC has and each of the 13 divisionshas one of these and every one of the200 plus divisions has one of these andevery one of the conferences missionmission sections Fields conferencesinstitutions has one of these so theremust be almost a thousand of thesedifferent documents scattered around theworld um and but even so this is the oneif you want to read somethinginteresting this is the one that's goingto um at least help you with insomnia sothat's the General Conference workingpolicy now the point about this is isthat theAdcom only acts in areas where it hasdelegated authority and it does not havethe right to make theological statementsthat affect every Adventist worldwidethat's the fundamental Point here justto give you an idea what does thisdocument here say that the Adcom can donow you know uh take a deep breath we'regoing to dive into some reallyinteresting administrative trivia herethis is what the Adcom has delegatedauthority to cover to review anyallegations against a GC officer and ifnecessary Place such officer onadministrative leave until the matterhas been investigated by the fulllyexecutive committee to call the fullexecutive committee when needed toappoint new president to determineimmigration sponsorships for new GCworkers to the US to authorize underassociate treasurers as check signers torecommend amendments to the churchmanual to the executive committee toauthorize exceptional Financial auditsby gcas to authorize institutions toestablish their own investment policiesto modify liquidity requirements for subentities to approve modifications tohomebased deposits for internationalservice employees to establish tokenbased country deposits for ISC servingat the GC or GC institutions are youstill with me yes to approve the sharingof cost for external Auditors to serveas the publisher for Sabbath Schoolguides although the editors of theSabbath School study guides areappointed by the executive committee toapprove an outgoing officer of the GC toperform limited responsibilities on onan ad hoc basis during the transition tonew officers after a GC session toarbitrate in disputes between thenomination publishing houses to appointto appoint the SP of Prophecy committeeand the sabath school Publications boardto appoint survey commissions atdivision expense to evaluate the needand viability proposed unions torecommend 20 session delegates fromamong the GC employees to the fullexecutive committee to recommend changesto the international Board of Educationworking policies to the executivecommittee to review proposed variationsfrom official host Vision remunerationplans and to approve legal action fortrademark protection purposes wouldn'tyou love to serve on thatcommittee actuallybe very grateful there are people who doserve on that committee because as thechurch grows we may say in America thisall sounds bureaucratic and and andformalized and so forth but we live in asociety where we have systems that takecare of our basic needs if you're livingin a part of the world where there isbasically chaos or Anarchy the churchrepresents a Haven of stability andtransparency and and and um that triesits best to eliminate the racial and thethe tribal and the ethnic hatreds thatexist in many parts of the world so eventhough this may appear a why do we haveto have all of this stuff we say thatfrom a western context but if you'recoming from a context of civil war orethnic cleansing the general conferenceworking policy in the fields and themission the division policies representsa Haven of stability and dignity andtransparency in decision-making so it'snot to be just it actually serves a veryusefulpurpose but the key point is when youlook through the general conferenceworkingpolicy the Adcom has delegated authorityand power from the worldwide membershipvia our representative government'smodel to act in administrative matterspertaining to the uh internal operationsof the GC and of GC employees we canagree on that but the key point is thisthe Adcom does not have the authorityanywhere given to it to determinetheological or spiritual matters for allmembers worldwide from 2015 till Jesuscomes again it's simply does not havethatAuthority it's a fundamental point nowwe all assume that they did that they dohave the authority because they made thestatement but I'm here to say to youtoday after many years of workingAdministration the Adcom does not havethat delegated authority therefore thestatement isinvalid if the statement if thoseissuing the statement did not have theauthority to issue the statement whichis the foundation of the entire Church'sposition on vaccinations this statementneeds to berevoked theological matters up toincluding the voting of new fundamentalbeliefs because they affect every7eventh Adventist worldwide are theremits of the General Conference in fullsession with a majority of layRepresentatives casting their votes infact the general conference workingpolicy actually says and I'm quotingfrom section b506 there the definitionof denominational beliefs is entrustedto the general conference in session sotheological matters are entrusted to theWorld Church when we have a majority oflay people making the decision the Adcomthere's not a single lay person on thatAdcom every person who voted for thatstatement I believe was a churchemployee paid for from tithe or othersources of income and therefore they arenot they are they in a they have aconflict of interest when they votethose statements will come to why theyhave a conflict of interestshortly now the second statement that wehave is this reaffirmation statement nowthis statementsays let's take take a look here ohlet's come back to the Adcom the Adcomsays uh we encourage responsibleimmunization of vaccination and have noreligious or faith-based reason this isa theological statement as I've saidrepeatedly the Adcom does not have thethe right to make such statement this isknown as an ultra verz act Ultra verzUltra means Beyond verz um is from theLatin the Latin word for man is a v v ryou get the word word virile from thator virility man is virile if he's manlyand so um an ultra VZ act means thatwhen the Adcom voted this statement in2015 they were acting beyond theirdelegated powers to make such astatement so then we come to thereaffirmation statement itself and thereaffirmation statement is even moreintriguing and the reaffirmationstatement actually hardened up ourposition and it's the reaffirmationstatements that's being used more thanthe original vaccination statement todeny Adventists their religiousexemption requests why is that becausethe reaffirmation statement saystherefore claims of religious libertyare not used appropriately in objectingto government mandates or employerprograms designed to protect the healthand safety of theircommunitiesnow again you know I've gone throughthis and you can highlight variousthings in here but the the interestingthing is who issued thisstatement it's issued by a combinationof General Conference Administration soit's not the Adcom it's just theadministrators the biblical ResearchInstitute the general conference Healthministri Department public affairs andreligious liberty department generaloffice of legal council and L Melindauniversity healthnow um risk of repeating myself I justwant to say this clear nowhere ever inAdventist history have the members viathe session G General Conference in fullsession or the Adcom or the executivecommittee ever authorized this group ofpeople to make such astatement you know it's like us cobblingtogether I'm going to gather like threepeople here we're going to issue astatement on behalf of the World Churchthis is a theological statement thatdenies religious effectively deniesreligious exemption waivers toAdventists worldwide and it's puttogether by a group of people who werenever tasked or delegated the authorityto make such a statementnowhere this came out in response to theliberty liberty and health appeal Iunderstand that but with all due respectto those who are watching online and Isay this in love we the members havenever delegated to this group of peopleever the authority to make a theologicalstatement likethat you don't have thatAuthority this last week at the OSHASupreme Court the Supreme Court held theoosha did not have the authority givento it to make the mandates and I'm heretoday to say the same thing that we themembers have never in Adventist historygiven this group of people this uh thisthis um this constellation ofdepartments the right to maketheological statements that denyreligious liberty requests to membersworldwideso regardless of how fine the wording isthis reaffirmation statement isinherently illegitimate void and likethe Adcom statement needs to be revokedimmediately furthermore our system ofRepresentative governments requiresmajority lay representation at the fieldlevel the conference level the unionlevel the division level and GC sessiondecision-making forums and as far as Ican figureout everybody who voted for this andeverybody who voted for this were paidup Church employees as we're going tosee shortly they were operating under aprofound Financial conflict ofinterest there was no lay representationin making of decisions where Churchemployees will not lose their jobs butAdventists worldwide will lose theirjobs there's something wrong with thisthere is something profoundly wrong witha system that Publishers on theAdventist review statement to call forthe ex appropriate exclusion fromemployment and social engagement whilesimultaneously demanding that thosemembers return their tithes to theinstitution that has says you can beexcluded from employment something isrotten in the heart ofDenmark so even if the Adcom statementand the reaffirmation statement wererevoked today employers worldwide havebeen using these statements to denyreligious exemption requests byAdventists who are losing their jobs whoare losing their ability to study theirchosen courses at University every daythat these statements remain out on thewebsite regular church members who areentirely innocent are paying a terribleprice as the Adcom statement exceededadcoms delegates Authority and thereaffirmation statement was issued by anadhoc group that has never beendelegated any authority to make such astatement I believe the GC is on a boundto withdraw both statements immediatelyto apologize to and to make restitutionto every Adventist who has lost theirjob as a results of employeers usingthese illegitimate statements to delytheir religious exemption requestsam which brings us to the theologicalperspective and we're going to delveinto the scriptures here the Adcomstatement includes this statement we'vealready briefly covered it as such weencourage responsible immunization ofvaccination and have no religious orfaith-based reason not to encourage ouradherence to responsibly participate inprotective and preventative immunizationprograms now what this statementeffectively does spiritually is itdenies you and I the ability to affirmthe convictions of the Holy Spirit Vis Avaccines in our lives it denies theright of the Holy Spirit to speak to youon the matter and as such it representsum a de facto denial of the of the HolySpirit having any right to speak to youon the matter of vaccinations this isthe the theological impact of thisparticular statement now theproclamation of the Everlasting gospelin Revelation 14 assu assumes thatdespite diametric disagreement with thedominant Narrative of our fallen Worlddespite social isolation the the thedemands and the dogmas of mainstreammedia economic exclusion employment manmandates and ultimately the deathpenalty Earth's inhabitants Remain thefreedom of conscience sufficient torespond to the call to fear God and giveglory to him for the hour of hisjudgment has come we rely on freedom ofconscience to the very end in theproclamation of the Three Angelsmessages we should not be denyingconscience before that final crisisarrives but what is your consciencebecause you may have a seared consciencenow ask conscience i' would say asummary is a god-given inner faculty bywhich the holy spirit gives an awarenessof the morality of given actionsthoughts and decisions Romans chapter2:1 15 describes it thus it says Paulsays which show the work of the lawwritten in their hearts their consciencealso bearing witness and their thoughtsthe meanwhile accusing or else excusingone another In this passage here theApostle Paul is discussing how does Godjudge the Gentiles who've yet to hearthe gospel who do not have the law ofMoses Etc and he says okay in the finaljudgment God will judge the Gentileswho've never heard the gospel becauseGod knows what the what he spoke how hespoke to them through their conscienceand he knows the conflicting theaccusing or the excusing thoughts oftheir minds how they responded to thepromptings of the Holy Spirit throughtheir conscience that's how God willjudge those who have never heard thegospel goel he judges them according tothe light that they had through theirconscience through our conscience theHoly Spirit Bears witness to what wealready know to be God's will Romans 9and verse one says this I say the truthin Christ I lie not my conscience alsobearing me witness in the Holy Ghostthat is through our conscience the HolySpirit reveals God's will to us as anindividual and as a Community of Faithbut it's also possible to have a searedconscience so 1 Timothy 4 1-2 says thisnow the Spirit speaketh expressly thatin the latter time some shall departfrom the faith giving heed to seducingspirits and doctrines of devils speakinglies in hypocrisy having theirconscience seared with a hot iron and soour conscience may be seared we may losethe ability to hear the Holy Spiritthrough our conscience uh through a repea repeated refusal to listen to the HolySpirit and through willful Indulgence ofsin that's in Romans 1:24 and thus ourconscien has become an unreliablemoral guide so if you are saying todaythat I don't want to take the vaccinefor consci conscientious reasons inorder to have credibility you need to belistening to the spirit and other areasof your life and not living in willfulsin somebody asked me about this theother day it's hard to say I don't Ican't in good conscience take thevaccine because I believe it may harm meif you're drinking Coca-Cola and eatingTwinkies all day long okay if if you areliving with your body is the Temple ofthe Holy Spirit you need to take thatseriously and allow into your body onlythat which you honestly andconscientiously believe is good for yourphysical and spiritual and mental healthyou cannot say I can't take the vaccinein in good conscience if for instanceyou're filling your mind withpornography or violence okay the dietthat goes into your mind affects you aswell and so if we are to claim areligious exemption to something likethe vaccine we need to be livingtransparently authentically Christianlives where we are sensitive to andobedient to the promptings of the spiritin all areas of Our Lives okay thiscalls for a whole body response as theChristian not just I'll live my own lifebut I'm not going to take the vaccinesI'm going to claim a religious exemptionwe have to be consistent and honest inhow we respond to the Holy Spirit Romans14:23 says this and he that douth isdamned if he eat because he eateth notof faith for whatsoever is not of faithis sin that is to go against God's willas revealed by the convicting andconverting power of the spirit in yourconscience is a sin so a conscience isto be informed and nurtured by yourstudy of the word of God and uh whichlike the Holy Spirit leads us to theIncarnate Word of God that is Jesushimself now our fundamental beliefs ifwe just take a look at those for aminute they are voted by the generalconference in full session with majoritylay representation and in the hierarchyof documents in our church um thefundamental beliefs override both ofthesestatements all right the fundamentalbeliefs override these statementsfundamental belief22 says this for the spirit to recreatein us the character of Our Lord weinvolve ourselves only in those thingswhich will produce Christlike Purityhealth and joy in our lives it alsomeans that because our bodies are thetemples of the Holy Spirit we are tocare for them intelligently along withadequate exercise and rest we are toadopt the most healthful diet possibleand stain from the unclean Foodsidentified in the scriptures sincealcoholic beverages tobacco and theirresponsible use of drugs and narcoticsare harmful to our bodies we are toabstain from them as well now thisfundamental belief affirms that ourbodies are the Temple of the Holy Spiritas per 1 Corinthians 6:19 it affirmsthat we are to cooperate with the HolySpirit in producing Christlike Purityandhealth yeah wrong slide there we are tocooperate with the Holy Spirit inproducing Christ Ty Purity and healththis is not just emotional spiritualhealth this is physical health thecontext is very clear we're talkingabout physical health here and wecooperate with the Holy Spirit in as theHoly Spirit leads us to a state ofphysical health when I am physicallyhealthy my mind is better able toperceive Heavenly truth that is there arelationship between mind body and soulif you are suffering from let's say youhave a medical problem and it leads todepression you are less likely toperceive Heavenly truth truth then ifyou are cured of that medical problemyour depression lifts and your mind isrestored to its full functionalcapabilities okay so this statement isnot just talking about mental orspiritual health it's talking aboutphysical health that's very very clearfrom the context of the whole statementnow um in the book published by thegeneral conference the the 28fundamental beliefs there's a comment bydamti on this and it says trueChristians beholding Christ willcontinually glorify God with theirbodies realizing they are his prizedpossessionbought with his Precious Blood sotherefore according to 1 Corinthians10:31 whatsoever you eat or drink do allto the glory of God we bring glory toGod through the choices of what we allowinto our bodies and also into our mindsand also what we allow to pass ourtongues one way or the other so thespirit speaks to us through ourconscience and we thus cooperate withand are led by the spirit in producing aChristlike Purity and physical emotionaland spiritual health therefore as as perthe word of God these passages we'vequoted and fundamental belief 22 whatyou allow into your body is a matter ofconscience that is the holy spirit doesguide us in these matters and thereforeautomatically because it's a matter ofconscience must be considered areligious liberty matter by our parleaders public affairs and religiousliberty now the reaffirmation statementhere says this I mean some we agree withsays since our bodies are the Temple ofthe Holy Spirit and we are Christ's bycreation and Redemption we shouldpersonally seek God's will aboutcovid-19vaccinations which implies that you'reasking the Holy Spirit to lead you doesit not absolutely why would youpersonally seek God's will if thedecision's already been made by thegeneral conference Adcom it is a matterof personal choice we firmly believethat in matters of personal convictionconviction by The Who Holy Spirit wemust be guided by the word of God ourconscience that's where the holy spiritmoves Upon Our Minds and throughinformed judgment so this statementwould say well we actually agree withthis yet later on the statement goes onto conclude that claims of religiousliberty are not used appropriately inobjecting to mandates or emply employerprograms how do they come to thatconclusion that this is a matter ofconscience that you pray to yourheavenly father you ask the holy spiritto guide you but then you cannot use umreligious liberty to refuse a certainvaccination there's a completedisconnect within this statement okay itdoesn't add up the we agree with thePreamble but we disagree with theconclusion it's inexplicable if taking avaccine is a matter of conscience asthis statement affirms notwithstandingthe fact that it's an illegitimatestatement even if we accept what thestatement says it does say that takingthe vaccination is a matter ofconscience as a matter of conscience itis automatically a religious libertyissue now we have heard from ourreligious liberty establishment for twoyears repeatedly like a mantra this isnot a religious libertyissue but even the general conference'sown reaffirmation statement affirms thisis uh where you ask for the holy spiritto guide you through your consciencetherefore it must be a religious libertyissue and we have effectively beenabandoned by a religious libertyhierarchy in our country who simplydon't want to deal with the social pushback of standing up for Adventists whohave religious objectionsthe general conference working policyhere I'm not going to read that Iprinted out the parsection somequotes and the general this is voted bythe members these are pretty profoundstatements it says the use of force andcoercion is it is inimical to life todignity and to authentic religionamen now listen to what religiousliberty deals with religious libertydeals with a person's relationship withGod the Creator so if God speaks to youthrough your conscience it is bydefinition a religious liberty matterAdventists therefore view religiousliberty is the primordial human rightthat undergirds all human rights why dowe understand that because when Godcreated Adam before Eve came along theonly the first commandment applied lovethe Lord your God with all your heartsoul and mind and um it's only with thecreation of Eve with with humancompanionship that you should love yourneighbor as yourself so the firstcommandment is the greatest and thatrelationship with God between Adam andGod In the Garden of Eden existed beforeall other Human Relationships that's whyyour fundamental human right number oneis your relationship with your heavenlyfather the document goes on to say Paulthat is public affairs and religiousliberty was one of the original coreDepartments of the church was initiallyestablished to promote and maintainreligious liberty with particularemphasis upon the most intimate Freedomindividual liberty of what consciencethe department works allegedly for thereligious liberty that is the conscienceconvi conscience driven convictions ofindividual church members no it doesn'tfor the last two years we've beenrepeatedly told that the religious bythe religious liberty leaders that thevaccine mandates are not a matter ofreligious liberty but even the church'sown documents the reaffirmationstatement we affirm that vaccination isa matter of conscience and in thegeneral conference working policy whichyou see on the board there the RelLiberty departments their job is toprotect yourconscience therefore it is a religiousliberty effect matter you can't say it'snot a religious liberty matter like amantra and expect every all all justaccept that we're thinking people outhere we can read the documents and ifyou're not willing to stand up for thereligious convictions of your membersstep aside and let people stand up whowill but don't abandon your membersnow Jesustaught in Luke 9 Luke 119-13 that we mayask our heavenly father for the gift ofthe HolySpirit but he did not teach us that wecan schedule the convicting power of thespirit for a more convenient time inSalvationhistory Jesus taught Nicodemus in John3:8 just as the wind blows where andwhere it chooses so the spirit moveswith Divine sovereignty upon the heartsminds and consciences of FallenHumanity I'm grateful for the moving ofthe holyspirit because time and again the holyspirit says Conrad you've messed upthere and you need to apologize and youneed to repent and if the Holy Spiritwere not speaking to me I wouldn't knowwhen I need to repent and I want to bein heaven so do you I want to be in theLamb's Book of Life so I'm grateful forthe gift of the Holy Spirit to be aconvictor of sin and a pointer out to myneed for the righteousness of JesusChrist now the fact that secularemployers and our GC leadership are P toview mandates as an employment issue isutterly irrelevant we are accountable tofor go to God not for how we respond tothese statements that are made bycommittees that were never authorized tomake such statements we are accountablebefore God for how we respond to themoving of the spirit Upon Our Hearts andminds and therefore this is absolutely areligious liberty issue Adventists havebeen warned of times like this wouldarrive the book Acts of the Apostlessays this God desires his people toprepare for the sooncoming crisisprepared or unprepared they must allmeet it and those only who have broughttheir lives into Conformity to theDivine standard will stand firm at thetime of test and trial when secularrulers Unite with Ministers of religionto dictate in matters of conscience thenit will be seen who really fear andserve God let that sink in I don't thinkwhen sister Wright wrote this chaptershe was thinking of this event here butthe the the the um the boot does fit thefeet when secular rulers OSHA Unite withMinisters of religion people who makethese kind of statements to dictate inmatters of conscience then it will beseen who really fear and serve God whenthe darkness is deepest the lights of aGodlike character will shine thebrightest when every other trust failsthen it will be seen who have an abidingtrust in Jehovah and while the theenemies of Truth are on every sidewatching the Lord's servants for evilGod will watch over every one of themfor good he will be to them as theshadow of a great rock in a wearyland you know it is time for us to standup for truth and not to be ashamed ofTruth and uh as Pastor Kelly said lastnight we are not anti or provx at thisevent we are pro you acting according toyour conscience and we affirm in thischurch your right to act according toyour conscience without condemnationif you take the vaccination in goodconscience I'm happy for you if youchoose not to take it in good consciencewe'll likewise support that decisionbecause it's a decision between you andGod and so we are not to unite withsecular rulers to dictate in matters ofconscience Fallen Humanity can choosehow we respond to the conviction of thespirit but we cannot choose how when orwhere we come under the conviction ofthe spirit the Holy Spirit cannot becontrolled scheduled or denied accessby public affairs and religious libertyleaders cannot be controlled by thereaffirmation committee and the presenceand the conviction of the Holy Spiritcan certainly not be scheduled by theAdcom of the General Conference okay tothink in this way is essentially an actof blasphemy for we will be we will bedetermining when and how God haspermission to appear in our lives wewould then be playing God so thereforewe do not accept any church leaderstarting with myself who says you cannotbe convicted by the holy spirit in acertainway so then we come to the financialcomponent and this is our last componentand it's 104 and I'm I'm just like wheredid our time go thismorning the financial perspective youknow there's uh you follow the money youcome to theanswer kuono who benefits from all thiswell um I did some digging with someadministrators from Adventist Healthcarethey'll remain nameless but they are menof conscience we looked at the 1099forms those are the publicly availabletax forms from the IRS and these are thedata for the latest Year from2019 and the bottom line is this in 2019we received um 6.2 billion from Medicareand 3.2 billion from Medicaid andbecause we had that Foundation fundingin our Hospital Systems we receivedanother 11.2 billion from privatepayments payment patient payments and soforth meaning that in 2019 we receivedjust over almost $ 21 billion into ourAdventist Healthcare System 21 billiondollar let me just remind you our totaltithe in the NAD is about 1billion and yet we receive about 20billion in funding that's entirelydependent upon Medicaid Medicare fundingand Medicaid Medicare with the federalgovernment are really pushing hard themandates right now as we know theirright to impose mandates was upheld asSupreme Court now significant portionsof this Healthcare income are thendonated via grants to our Adventist inuh institutions so Columbia Unionconference in 2019 received about225,000 from local hospitals the GCreceived 55,000 Pine Forge Academy50,000 spenceville Academy 36,000spenceville Adventist Church 201,000Washington adven University 34,000 LalIndia Church 187,000 these figures areall publicly available in the taxdocuments that you can find if you lookfor themonline now Beyond this our currentstructure in the United States and thisis important for Adventists around theworld who are watching this our currentstructure in the US involves legallyIncorporated nonprofits like Michiganconference receiving tax deductibledonations due to our 501c3 status withthe IRS we receive federal Medicaid andMedicare funding to June of almost 10billion and that was 2019 Medicaid andMedicare funding Skyrocket in 2020 withthe pandemic with all the the governmentpayments because of covid so it'sprobably significantly higher than that21 billion now uh federally regulatedand guaranteed bank and retirementaccounts federal student loans for ourcolleges not even looking at ourcolleges here today secularaccreditation for our colleges afull-time professional clergy benefitingfrom IRS parage allowance while servingas agents of the state when signingwedding certificates it's rather amazingto me how given our eschatology and therole of America in crushing conscienceat the End of Time how much we're in bedfinancially with the second beast ofRevelation now the general conferenceworking policy says this good advice itsays Jesus never used confrontationalmeth methods such as economic orphysical pressure church members shouldand institutions must remain free andindependent from organizations whichmight violate a members conscience theunion of church and state or you knowHealthcare and OSHA or HHS is a sureformula for discrimination andintolerance and offers a fertile soilfor the spread of persecution and we sayAmen this is what our public affairs andreligi Department section says in ourworking policy manual and we see thishappening in front of our very eyes dowe not absolutely we see this happeningin front of our very eyes and so this iswhere we must ask the much broaderquestion this goes Way Beyond covidvaccination mandates and it is this asAmerica drifts before our eyesfrom the land of the free the home ofthe brave into the prophesiedtotalitarian second beast of Revelation13 for how long can we honestly Feast onfederalfunds because when you Feast on federalfunds you dance to the federaltune the HH the Health and HumanServices mandate was upheld by thescotus this week that means that all ourun our Healthcare System that receivesMedicaid and Medicare now has to thismandate for the certain vaccine nowthankfully they're giving out religiousexemption waivers but in some of ourhospitals that's because so many staffjust said we're leaving if you don'tgive us thewaivers wasn't because we were activelypromoting freedom of conscience in ourinstitutions so as America drifts andbecomes this totalitarian Beast ofRevelation how long can we remain anhonest prophetic voice to our societywhile we are financially dependent onthe on the funding from that secondbeast I'm asking a hard question am Inot sooner or later we have to ask thatquestion because our dependence onfederal funding to keep our tithe goingin the NAD is driving documents likethis that is hurting Adventists aroundthe rest of theworld Adventists in Canada Adventists inAustralia Adventists in in the in acrossEurope Etc are losing their jobs becauseof these statements that are coming fromadministrators who who For Whom theprimary driver of Tri tithe theirconference is Medicaid Medicare fundingso we are allowing the second beast ofRevelation to drive our policymaking ina way that tramples on the conscience ofour membersworldwide something is not right in theheart ofDenmark something is notright so many Adventist jobs and so muchtithe in our division is dependent onthe ongoing flow of federal funding ifwe refuse Federal funding almost everyAdventist College clinic or Hospital inthe in the US would either closed or besold off immediatelyand our tithe base would shrinkdramatically when you take Florida andsou Southeast California Conference outof our tithe base which is mostly drivenby healthc care tithes the NAD titheshrinksdramatically to argue that Federalfunding 11 billion1 billion do a yeargenerating another 11 billion of privatepayments to argue that Federal fundingin the US is not influencing our refusalto recognize the spirit-led convictionsand religious exemption requests ofAdventists to the vaccination mandatesis profoundly naive he who pays thepiper calls the tune to put it simplyour dependence on federal funding in theus for jobs and tithe means we cannotafford to recognize the claims ofconscience for of our members in thesematters when the financial needs of theinstitutional church for funding fromthe second beast of Revelation 13 causthe institutional Church to effectivelydeny the consciences of individualmembers we are crossing a redline let me repeat that when thefinancial needs of the institutionalchurch for funding from the second beastof Revelation caus the institutionalChurch to deny the consciences ofindividual members we are crossing a redline we are in Uncharted Territory weare crossing a red line and now thegeneral conference working policyactually talks about this it says thechurch has historically taught that itsmembers and institutions dare notviolate their individual or corporateconsciences well you wouldn't know thatwould you by supporting organizationspolicies or activities incompatible withthe principles set forth in scripture sothat's what the work in policy says thetragedy is that when we issue statementslike this we're effectively denying theconscience that is upheld within ourworking policy manual this was voted bythe members this was not voted by themembers we need to uphold what we votedas members not some illegitimatestatements made by people who who areliving essentially off the federalfundingtithe so when we align ourselvesinstitutionally with the employmentmandates which are very similar toembryonic buy or sell mandates thesecond beast over the consciences of ourmembers we are perilously close tolosing our reson Detra as God's end timemovement so what do we say in conclusionour time isup and um we'vespoken quite bluntly about a few thingshere this morning I want to reiterateagain that I say these things in lovebut for every member who's lost your jobout there this sermon has been for youand for every member who's been feelpressured to take a vaccine and hasmaybe suffered side effects and nobodyreally cares this sermon has been foryou if every member who's now strugglingabout whether to take a vaccine or notand uh your employer has denied youaccess to a religious waiver because ofthese statements have been issued by theWorld Church this sermon is for youyou're not on your own there's aworldwide movement of Adventists withyou and praying with you and for you soI would conclude by saying this anappeal to our Adventist nobility numberone I'd respectfully and lovingly urgeyou to resend the 2015 Adcom statementand the 2020 reaffirmation statementimmediately or 2021 reaffirmationstatement immediately as they areinstitutionally ultrair they are beyondyour authority to act and they aretheologic icallyBlasphemous secondly I want to encourageyou to establish a fund to compensateAdventists who have suffered loss due tothe distribution of these illegitimatestatements thirdly I want to affirm thebiblical right of everybody watchingtoday to be vaccinated or not accordingto their conscience this is a religiousliberty issue bydefinitionfourthly a a challenge to our churchleaders and institutions do notnegatively treat employees who chooseagainst the dominant Narrative of thesecond beast of Revelation13 and finally this is an appeal to allof us the gospel goes to the end of theworld and it appeals to people to fearGod and give glory to him for the hourof his judgment is come Jesus haspromised that he's coming again and hewants people who are ready forhim and that can only take place if weare champions of conscience today wecannot say to people um follow thepromptings of the Holy Spirit and joinGod's Ed time Remnant movement but whenyou join you have to switch off theconscience about what goes into yourbody because we've already determinedthe the spirit can't speak to in thosematters if we celebrate conscience andwe appeal to people to follow Jesus theymust follow the lamb wherever he leadsnot only where we determine he can leadlet us reclaim our responsibility asleaders and as members to be championsof freedom of conscience for if werefuse to stand for freedom ofconscience today how can we honestly andlegitimately and with credibility appealto conscience in the proclamation of theThree Angels messages which is what Godis calling us to do as an end timemovement so stand for freedom ofconscience honor people's freedom ofconscience do not denigrate them for theconscientious decisions that they makeand for our church leaders we love youwe respect you and we speak in lovetoday and say please hear this not justfrom myself but from thousands ofmembers worldwide uh with this appeal tothe Adventist nobility once again standfor conscience and unite our worldwideChurch may God bless you as you make adecision I invite you to buy your headswith me and we will close withprayer heavenlyfather as we come to the end of ourworship service heretoday we thank you for that fundamentalhuman right to resp respond to the voiceof your conscience speaking to each ofourhearts father may not may we not have aseared conscience but may we act inhonesty to the promptings of your spirittoday and tomorrow and through thiscomingweek father as your spirit prompts usmay we live in love with our neighborand in of humble obedience before you Ipray father that people will see in us amanifestation of the glory and thecharacter of you radiating through ourlives and heard in every word that wesay and all the the actions we takefather we pray for our church leadersfor whom this has maybe not been mostPleasant sermon to listen to but fatherI thank you for them for their years offaithful service for their shepherdingof the flock for their willingness to golong distances and deal with intractableproblems I pray father as this covidpandemic appears to lose Steam and fadeaway I pray that our church leaders willhave the courage to do what is right andto do what is necessary to unify ourchurch again oh Father may your spiritwork upon all of our hearts and all thatwe say and do in the coming week May ItBe Be characterized by the selfless andthe self-sacrificing love of Jesusfather as we uh dismiss from thismeeting now from this place of worshipfor those of us are here we thank youfor the food that has been prepared inthe fellowship hall we thank you forthose who have prepared it and we askthat with the strength that it gives uswe will continue to bring honor andGlory to you thank you Father forhearing this prayer in jesus' name weask amen[Music]