Last week I was faced with some challenging attitudes and was all fired up to write a post about it but God had other plans. A lovely lady messaged me and our conversation led to me taking a step back and while I waited and prayed this message came to me instead. I will be writing the other post too but not right now. Thank you again K, you know who you are.
Where do we go from here? To have an idea of where we need to go, we need to see where we have been and where we are. In the New Testament we see within Gods people there were two sects, the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then we see a third sect form who follow John the Baptist then a fourth who follow Jesus Christ. The differences between the sects were doctrinal. The Christians were also split into sects which are mentioned in the writings of Paul.
Throughout history we see the division of all Christianity into denominations and the different sects within those denominations. All who are separated by their understanding of Bible doctrine, or in some cases the complete rejection of Biblical doctrine and cleaving to their own doctrines. I am a Seventh Day Adventist, a denomination of Christianity. There are different sects within the SDA church too based on doctrinal differences.
There are many, many things happening within the church that are causing an increasingly widening divide between the laity and corporate leadership. This is only being made worse with the GC, conferences like the Michigan conference and Unions even Pastors here in the UK wielding their “authority” over us ignoring all due process, the church manual and worst of all Biblical principles and guidelines from the Bible itself.
Many errors are being allowed, sins and unbiblical practices apparently do not fall under the authority of the GC etc yet a Pastor who mentions anything that could affect their income is fair game. Unfortunately, instead of humbly dealing with these errors leadership are doubling down, digging their heals in and pridefully ploughing through with their errors. It’s painful to see.
There have been Pastors, laity and ministries crying out to corporate leadership to repent and reform. To turn away from their errors and to right the wrongs. These people and ministries have been met with nothing less than hostility. At first, they were completely ignored, then they were “disciplined” and now the worldly tactic of attempting to cancel those who dare questing their authority has been employed with some even dealing with character assassination by conference leaders.
Our church has descended into a top-down authoritarian organisation via secret meetings while the laity slept. Now we have the problem of trying to wake up the laity who fall into three camps: Those who are deeply troubled by the errors and want the leadership to repent and reform, those who uphold leadership above the Bible and can’t see anything wrong and finally those who sit on the fence who see the errors and are troubled by them but don’t want to do or say anything. Let’s say the hot, the cold and the lukewarm.
It seems the great controversy itself is playing out within the church. The movements calling for repentance, reformation, the dissolution of the unholy union with worldly organisations and a return to the grass roots organisation of the church are not going to budge unless sufficient biblical evidence is provided showing they’re wrong. Then we have the leadership and their supporters who are showing no signs of repenting or reforming or giving up their kingly powers, in fact, they’re behaving in increasingly authoritarian ways. Will we give up yet, no. There are people sitting on the fence that are still open to choosing a side as it were. We can’t stop yet, we need to cry out in the hope that those in apostasy, in error will repent. We can’t give up on them.
So, where do we go from here? In 2024 Dr Conrad Vine preached a controversial sermon, Remnant, Respectable or Regime Church, where he clearly stated that if the GC were to throw church members under the bus again by supporting government or worldly mandates quashing people liberty of conscience then it wouldn’t be wrong for a parachurch to be established within the church. If you don’t want to watch the whole sermon you can see what he said here; What Conrad Vine Actually Said. Parachurches already in operation are 3ABN, It Is Written, Amazing Facts etc they are ministries that are self-supporting, not under the thumb of the GC and align with the SDA doctrines and mission. They pay tithes to conferences of their choosing. Parachurches are not new or rebellious they just function outside of the corporate framework.
As it becomes clearer that the leadership are not going to change their position or relationship with the UN I believe we need to make some changes to not only protect ourselves but to help faithful churches and conferences to flourish enabling them to do the work we’re called to do. We need a place that we can show to those on the fence where they can feel safe, protected, valued and heard. I’m not sure what the parachurch would look like. It could be a register of faithful churches and conferences that individual members can use to choose where to transfer their membership to and to begin paying their tithes to. The individuals could still be worshipping at a local church paying their offerings to the local church or join/begin a home church to worship.
It could be a ministry made up of active Pastors, elders etc that functions like a local church but with a global membership that pay their tithes to and following votes the tithes are forwarded to chosen faithful conferences directly. There could be online services for those that are not local and online business/board meetings.
I don’t honestly know how any of this looks. It’s messy but the shaking was never going to be clean or clinical. It’s a battle we’re all fighting within ourselves, within our church and as human beings in general. All I know is that God has been placing messages in my path about home churches, para churches, biblical tithing etc and it all points to a separation within the church not from the church. The question now is when it will happen not if it will happen. Personally, I’m going to be making some changes. I’m currently looking for a church with a Pastor that will protect and uphold my religious liberty at a church and a conference that have not bowed the knee to the UN that will accept online membership.
I have spent time praying about this. I am a very loyal person and struggle with feelings of “letting people down” even when they’re letting me down. God is leading me and He will lead you too. Take time to pray. God may want you to stay where you are, He may want you to change things, but the most important thing is that you’re following the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Whether you are led to stay put or to change please don’t judge others who do differently. God is using us and needs us where He needs us not where we think we should be. Joining a parachurch or staying within the corporate framework aren’t signs of loyalty, our loyalty belongs solely to Jesus and our faithfulness to His word and guidance is paramount.
In the meantime we can sign the Faithful Adventist petition to voice our opposition to the unholy union with the UN here: https://faithfuladventist.org/petition/
If you are interested in leading your local church to reject the ADCOM statements and the UN connection please email: sdapearl@yahoo.com
