In Part One we examined day one of the final meeting of the One Project in San Diego.
Part Two
Day two of T1P gathering was a continuation of the ideology we saw in the first day. The talks were again not recorded by T1P organization.
There were a number of testimonies given by attendees. Many testimonies were given in favor of women’s ordination. One testimony notably compared the Church to Soviet Russia, saying that “in the same way Russia was held hostage by the Soviet government, we are being held hostage by the Church.” This destructive sentiment towards the Church has been observed recently in similar fashion in which the GC president has been compared to Stalin and the Nazi party. Unfortunately, we are seeing two distinct camps within the Adventist church.
Inspiration has warned us that this time would come:
Divisions will come in the church. Two parties will be developed. The wheat and tares grow up together for the harvest (Selected Messages, (Vol. 2, p. 114)).
Several speakers presented. Tim Gillespie, pastor of the Crosswalk Church near Loma Linda, and one of the key thought leaders of T1P, gave further clarity to the direction of T1P with a presentation entitled “Designing a New Adventism.” He spoke at length about the new Star Wars movie. While he was speaking, he was drinking coffee and mocked Adventists who don't drink coffee and who are vegetarians. Here he interjected that his church has a large coffee bar. Sadly, these brethren such as Gillespie ignore the following counsel of what Inspiration identifies as sin:
Will our people see and feel the sin of indulging perverted appetite? Will they discard tea, coffee, flesh meats, and all stimulating food, and devote the means expended for those hurtful indulgences to spreading the truth? (Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 430).
Notice the attitude of Gillespie in the following statement:
“We’ve been accused of being emergent, Jesuits, spiritists, spiritualists, pantheists, panentheists, non-Adventist, angry, sarcastic, of being disloyal, of being subversive, of not caring about doctrine, of being witches and warlocks, (just so you know) of trying to change things, of trying to change the trajectory of the church, of being hypnotists, of being vegetarians, and even of being vegans! Can you believe it!?!? Some of those are not true. And thank goodness that people of sane mind, and of sound reasoning have figured out pretty clearly that most of these things aren't real. BUT... some of them are true. Let us be honest. We've tried to design a new conversation in Adventism. We have tried to move the focus from ecclesiology or the church, to Christology or Jesus, and to let our missiology flow from the Great Commission of Christ, rather than the lesser commission of the denomination, which by the way, fits in quite nicely with the greater commission, but cannot supersede it. If we are guilty of something, it's not fighting what we hate, but seeking to save what we love. And there is a great deal to love within Adventism, and the Adventist experience.”
“So I titled my time ‘Designing a new Adventism.’ And that has caused a lot of consternation in the people around me. They say “No, no it's too aggressive.” They say it's too definitive. It's too much use of words like Adventism 2.0. Write something that reminds people of how much I love or our Adventist heritage. But I use this language to be provocative. What would a new Adventism look like? What would it retain of its heritage and what would it let go? Because your present truth demands not only additions but subtraction, sometimes as well."
Gillespie then promoted a Global Resource Collective (GRC) which is a group of churches that are signing up to be part of an expanding network of T1P (see list at the end). Undoubtedly these churches of the GRC are the “fruit” of T1P and have designs on spreading this new Adventism. An Adventism that promotes “addition” by acceptance of LGBTQ+ lifestyle, meat-eating, coffee drinking and a subtraction from present truth such as lack of affirmation of the Spirit of Prophecy and denial of the Scriptural teachings on homosexuality (see Wikipedia’s definition of Progressive Adventism).
After Gillespie’s presentation, Alex Bryan, the senior pastor of Walla Walla University Church made an appeal for revival and reformation pertaining to doctrine. He stated:
“This afternoon I don’t wish you just to muse but to do — to consider the active work of reformation. I don’t have in mind reform of church governance, nor church financial reform or structural reform and not evangelistic reform, educational reform or liturgical renewal. Though all these may be needed, THE REFORM THAT I WOULD LIKE TO OFFER IS DEEPER. IT IS MORE FOUNDATIONAL. I WANT TO PROPOSE THE POSSIBILITY OF DOCTRINAL REFORM!”
While Bryan claimed to be pro-doctrine and in favor of the Fundamental Beliefs, he said that it is time to surpass the teachings of the past and present, and that Adventism has fallen into creedalism and needs a new, living theological spirit.
This sounds strikingly similar to statements of another emergent author, Diana Butler Bass, who defines God in terms of praying to God our mother—the nourishing spirit of mother earth—as the future of Christianity. She is endorsed by a large number of emergent church leaders, including Leonard Sweet, Brian MClaren, and Shane Claiborne. For Bass her “religionless Christianity” is the elimination of doctrine, of authority structures and inhibiting moral codes, and most of all, the elimination of a propositional, inerrant Bible.” She hails a movement borne along on the breath of an undefined “Spirit” into an age of pure inner experience. Such views empty the Everlasting Gospel of all biblical meaning.
Bryan then referred to Jesus’ parable of the old and new wine skins. He said that the new wine skins could be “the new structure of the church and new ways of thinking about leadership.”
Toward the end he (Alex Bryan) said, “So what do the new wine skins of deep doctrinal reformation look like?” We ask the same thing to you as the reader. Bryan apparently desires to lead Adventism away from doctrines that he finds to be objectionable. (For more information on Alex Bryan’s history and for the entire recording of T1P San Diego go to operationiceberg.com.)
Recordings of the San Diego meetings:
Dropbox Links of the audio were provided to us by the authors. Here they are for those of you who wish to download them:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dhqbk4rsunhbcs4/ABSLTG1P2018.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/n9904tq6g4aryq3/zippass.txt?dl=0
The final presentation was given by Japhet De Oliveira, co-founder of T1P and Senior Pastor of the Boulder, Colorado Adventist church. He gave the history on how T1P began with the founders meeting in a hotel room. The most significant portion of his talk was when he began to repeat the mantra-like phrase “silent in Jesus.” He talked about a summit meeting in February 2019 where they are going to “learn what it means to be silent in Jesus.
If you think talking about Jesus All started a rumble then this is really going to cause a rumble. When you are silent in Jesus He leads… I am asking you now to be fully invested in listening in Jesus and see what happens when you are silent in Jesus.
What does it mean to be silent in Jesus? Where is T1P headed? Notice these references to silent retreats:
Silent retreats have played an important role in Christian spiritual formation and transformation for two millennia. We see this prizing of silence in Jesus’ proclivity for regular times of wilderness retreat, and in the Desert Fathers and Mothers who followed him into the deserts of Egypt and Syria a couple of centuries later. Many of us have followed this call to embrace silence and discover the disruptive way in which it forces us out of normal waking consciousness. It is not uncommon for this level of disruptiveness to reach such intolerable levels among first-time retreatants that some feel forced to escape the distress by leaving the retreat. Those who stay differ from them, not by an absence of the disruption, but by their consent to the invitation of Spirit to step into the liminal space that silence evokes (David G. Benner--transformational consciousness).
[1] Richard Rohr, The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See (New York: Crossroad Publishing, 2009), 53).
Knights of Columbus – Catholic 1.6 million members “Silent in Jesus.”
EUCHARISTIC ADORATION The first or second Monday of each month, 9/11, 10/2, 11/6 and 12/4, Our Lady of the Lake will be holding Eucharistic Adoration/Exposition and Benediction (Holy Hour) at 7:00 PM in the Pastoral Center Chapel.
What is Eucharistic Adoration/Holy Hour? It is adoring and honoring the Eucharistic Presence of Christ. It involves the contemplation of the Mystery of Christ truly present before us.
During Eucharistic Adoration, we watch and wait and remain silent in Jesus’ Presence and open ourselves to His Graces which flows from the Eucharist. In its fullest essence, Eucharistic Adoration is God and Man reaching out for each other at the same time! Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Jesus and be ready to make reparation for the great evils of the world. Let your adoration never cease.” Jesus is waiting for you in the Blessed Sacrament. Please join us on in the Pastoral Center Chapel at 7:00 PM to reach out to Christ while he reaches out to you (page 3).
These two references of “silence in Jesus” should be revealing and heart breaking to all faithful Seventh-day Adventists. The first reference is from a book Learning to See as the Mystics See. The second reference is from the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic organization in which silence in ‘Jesus’ is connected to the Eucharist, which is a key element of Catholic Mass.
Notice the Ave Maria Gracia Plena "Hail Mary full of Grace." This was the October 28, 2015 Boulder Colorado "Vision" Church Bulletin, Japhet de Olivera's church.
It is patently obvious where the leaders of T1P are taking this movement. The summit in February 2019 is apparently an attempt to bring in mysticism and spiritualistic Catholic worship practices to lead Adventism down the broad road of ecumenism. It can be heard in the new, living theological spirit that is being called for by Alex Bryan and is echoed by Terry Swenson calling us to get out of the boat to meet Jesus outside of the boat of Adventism. Why would any honest and sincere Seventh-day Adventist seek to find Jesus outside of the truth of Scripture?
Clearly, T1P has an agenda to radically transform the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Already a number of churches around the world have signed up to be part of the GRC. It is important that you be warned of the danger of this movement and you need to know the names of these churches and their pastors:
List of Churches currently signed up with the Global Resource Collective.
Anacortes Adventist Fellowship, Anacortes, Washington, USA | Samuel Millen
Aspen Park Seventh-day Adventist Church, Aspen Park, Colorado, USA | Tony Parrish
Athens Georgia Seventh-day Adventist Church, Athens, Georgia, USA | Michaela Lawrence Jeffery
Boulder Adventist Church, Boulder, Colorado, USA | Japhet De Oliveira
Bowdon Country Seventh-day Adventist Church, Bowdon, North Dakota, USA | Kris de Bruin
Cariboo Central Seventh-day Adventist Church, Williams Lake, British Columbia, | Joel Duntin
Church of the Advent Hope, New York, New York, USA | Todd Stout
Crosswalk Church, Redlands, California, USA | Tim Gillespie
Elizabeth Seventh-day Adventist Church, Elisabeth, South Australia | Matthew Hunter
Fort Collins Seventh-day Adventist Church, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA | Daniel Birai
Gardena Genesis Community Church, Gardena, California, USA | Iki Taimi
Gurnee Adventist Church, Gurnee, Illinois, USA | Jose L Medina Jr
Igreja Adventista de Pirai do Sul, Pirai do Sul, Parana, Brazil | Vinicius Moletta
Kaleo Seventh-day Adventist Church, Monrovia, California, USA | Manny Arteaga
Kellyville Adventist Church, Sydney, Australia | Martin Vukmanic
Kettering Seventh-day Adventist Church, Dayton, Ohio, USA
LifeSource Adventist Fellowship, Denver, Colorado, USA | Dany Hernandez
Littleton Adventist Church, Littleton, Colorado, USA | Paul Vunileva
Miracle City Church, Baltimore, Maryland, USA | David Franklin
Napa Community Seventh-day Adventist Church, Napa, CA, USA | Nate Furness
New Haven Seventh-day Adventist Church, Overland Park, Kansas, USA | Kyle Smith
New Hope Adventist Church, Fulton, Maryland, USA | Mike Speegle
Old Westbury Seventh-day Adventist Church, Old Westbury, New York, USA | Roger Lang
The Grove, Brahma Lodge, South Australia | Matthew Hunter
The Journey, Broomfield, Colorado, USA | Mark B. Matthews
Ventura Seventh-day Adventist Church, Ventura, California, USA | James Ayars
Volunteer Park Seventh-day Adventist Church, Seattle, Washington, USA | Andreas Beccai
Walla Walla University Church, College Place, Washington, USA | Alex Bryan
I conclude by strongly urging you to stay away from these churches. I plead with the leaders and pastors of these churches to return to the biblical foundation that Adventism is built upon. I plead with the members of these churches to stand up for biblical truth or to get out if necessary. I plead with all faithful Seventh-day Adventist church members around the world to warn their friends in these churches before it is too late. I say this in the compassion of Christ, our Lord.
Jesus is coming quickly. The Jesus that is coming is the Jesus of Scripture — the same Jesus who ascended into Heaven. He is not a mystical Jesus. He is not a paper Jesus. He is the Saviour of this world and He is also our Great High Priest who has been in the Most Holy Place of the Heavenly Sanctuary since October 22, 1844 seeking to perfect a generation of saints who will be ready at His appearing.
May God’s people rise up around the world and warn the Seventh-day Adventist church of the imminent dangers of the ideologies presented by T1P. May we stay on the ship of Adventism as it passes through the final crisis of earth's history and may we be ready to meet Jesus when He comes. May we truly be able to say, “Lo, this is our God! We have waited for Him and He will save us!”
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