This is one of the presentations that Conrad gave at the Caribou Camp meeting in Maine on August 16th. His four presentations there catapulted him into the international Adventist spotlight, with many church members supporting him and certain administrators getting upset over it.
The Broken Bride
The 2015 Vaccination Statement appears on www.adventist.org as an Official Statement, voted by the ADCOM. “The Seventh-day Adventist Church places strong emphasis on health and well-being. The Adventist health emphasis is based on biblical revelation, the inspired writing of E.G. White (co-founder of the Church), and on peer-reviewed scientific literature. As such, we encourage responsible immunization/vaccination, and have no religious or faith-based reason not to encourage our adherents to responsibly participate in protective and preventive immunization programs. We value the health and safety of the population, which includes the maintenance of “herd immunity.” We are not the conscience of the individual church member, and recognize individual choices. These are exercised by the individual. The choice not to be immunized is not and should not be seen as the dogma nor the doctrine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.” This statement was voted by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Administrative Committee in Silver Spring, Maryland, April 15, 2015.”
The October 2021 Reaffirmation Statement does not appear on www.adventist.org, but on the ANN website as a press release.[1] It was issued by the GC Administration, the BRI, Health Ministries and PARL department, LL University Health and the GC Office of General Counsel. P. 1 affirms that vaccinations are a matter of personal conscience, between the individual and the Holy Spirit.
“Since our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are Christ’s by creation and redemption, we should personally seek God’s will about COVID-19 vaccinations….It is a matter of personal choice. We firmly believe that in matters of personal conviction we must be guided by the Word of God, our conscience and informed judgment.”
Yet, inexplicably when it comes to vaccine mandates, conscience is no longer important, and the Statement suddenly affirms the mandates of men over the convictions of the Holy Spirit.
“The Seventh-day Adventist Church, in consultation with the Health Ministries and Public Affairs and Religious Liberty departments of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, is convinced that the vaccination programs that are generally being carried out are important for the safety and health of our members and the larger community. Therefore, claims of religious liberty are not used appropriately in objecting to government mandates or employer programs designed to protect the health and safety of their communities.”
Thus, the GC Administration unilaterally assumed the right to determine denominational beliefs on behalf of the worldwide SDA Church, and assumed the authority to override the convictions of the Holy Spirit upon every Adventist worldwide, causing immense pain and suffering to Adventists throughout the pandemic.
At the 2022 GC Session, Elder Wilson squashed any attempt to add a discussion of the GC’s response to the pandemic to the agenda by leading the delegates to believe (falsely) that as the pandemic did not involve an amendment to the GC Constitution, Bylaws, Church Manual or WPM, it could not be added to the Session agenda.
“So rather than for us to become embroiled in something which is not an agenda item for a General Conference, it is an administrative item, it has been dealt with…”
Elder Wilson simply did not want the voices and concerns of many innocent Adventists worldwide to be heard: Adventists who have suffered profound personal loss, career-ending loss, house-losing loss, custody-battle losing loss, educational career loss, broken dreams loss, irreparable financial loss and the irrevocable loss of years of life and energy and study and hard work invested in all of the above because of the GC’s illegitimate Reaffirmation Statement in which they arrogated unto themselves for the first time in Adventist history the right to override the Holy Spirit, denied liberty of conscience and overrode the conscience of every Adventist worldwide during the pandemic.
So the question before us today is this: is your body, how you treat your body, what you put into your body, how you respond to the personal convictions of the Holy Spirit, an “administrative item” that the ADCOM of the GC, or of any Conference, Union or Division where you happen to live, have authority over? Let’s go back to basics….
The Original Purpose of the GC
3rd May 1863 Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, we read the formal record of the incorporation of the GC of SDAs. “Constitution of General Conference was voted by the delegates: For the purpose of securing unity and efficiency in labor, and promoting the general interests of the cause of present truth, and of perfecting the organization of the Seventh-day Adventists, we the delegates from the several State Conferences hereby proceed to organize a General Conference, and adopt the following constitution for the governance thereof:
Article I: This Conference shall be called the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Article II: The officers of this Conference shall be a President, Secretary, Treasurer, and an Executive Committee of three, of whom the President shall be one. Article III: The duties of the President and Secretary shall be such respectively as usually pertain to these offices. Article IV: It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to receive and disburse means under the direction of the Executive Committee, and keep an account of the same, and make a report thereof to the regular meetings of the Conference. Article V. Section 1: It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to take the general supervision of all ministerial labor, and see that the same is properly distributed; and they shall take the special supervision of all missionary labor, and as a missionary board shall have the power to decide where such labor is needed, and who shall go as missionaries to perform the same. Article V. Section 2: Means for missionary operations may be received by donation from State Conferences, churches, or individuals; and the Committee are authorized to call for means when needed. Article V. Section 3: When any State Conference desires ministerial labor from a minister not resident within the bounds of such Conference, their request shall be made to the General Conference Executive Committee, and ministers send by said Committee shall be considered under the jurisdiction of the Conf. Committee of such State: Provided, 1. That if such minister consider the State Committee inefficient, or their action so far wrong as to render his labor ineffectual, he may appeal to the General Conference Executive Committee: Provided, 2. That if such State Committee consider such minister inefficient they may appeal to the General Conference Committee who shall decide on the matter of complaint, and take such action as they think proper. Article VI: Each State Conference shall be entitled to one delegate in the General Conference, and one additional delegate for every twenty delegates in the State Conference, such delegates to the General Conference to be chosen by the State Conferences or their Committees: Provided, that the delegates to such State Conferences be elected according to the following ratio, to wit: each church to the number of twenty members or under shall be entitled to one delegate, and one delegate for every additional fifteen members. Article VII: the officers shall hold their offices for the term of one year, and shall be elected at the regular meetings of the Conference. Article VIII. Section 1. The regular meetings of the Conference shall be held annually, and the time and place of holding the same shall be determined by the Executive Committee, by whom due notice thereof shall be given by the Review. Article VIII. Section 2. Special meetings may be called at the option of the Committee. Article IX: This constitution shall be altered or amended by a two-thirds vote of the delegates present at any regular meeting: Provided, that any proposed amendments shall be communicated to the Executive Committee, and notice thereof given by them in their call for the meeting of the Conference.
Over time, the Constitution evolved, but the only statement referencing individual liberty of conscience is in the GCWPM PARL Section, which defines Religious Liberty as the defense of individual conscience,
“The use of force and coercion is inimical to life, to dignity and to authentic religion…..Religious liberty ….deals…with a person’s relationship with God, the Creator. SDAs therefore view religious liberty as the primordial human right that undergirds all human rights…. PARL, one of the original core departments of the Church, was initially established to promote and maintain religious liberty, with particular emphasis upon the most intimate freedom, individual liberty of conscience…the dept….works for the religious liberties of individual church members.”
It was the intent of the delegates and EGW in 1863 for the GC to coordinate missionary work into unreached areas. It was never the intent of the delegates or EGW for the GC to have jurisdiction over how members treat their bodies, nor their relationships with their employers, nor over how the Holy Spirit convicts individual members. Since the GC’s formation in 1863, the GC Administration / Officers / ADCOM was never given the authority by any GC in Session to curtail, deny or restrict members’ liberty of conscience. To the contrary, the members voted that the GC Officers / Administration / ADCOM must defend liberty of conscience for individual members. So let us turn to how SDA denominational administrative boundaries operate….
Administrative Boundaries
When members coalesce, meet and agree to form a Conference, they vote for its incorporation under the laws of the State, e.g. MI. They vote an Executive Committee and Administrators, whose role is to manage the affairs of the Conference. Their administrative jurisdiction is limited to the following: oversight of the tithes, offerings, employees, buildings and other tangible assets and institutions owned by the Conference, and of the Conference WPM that governs these specific items. The Conference ADCOM or Executive Committee responds to routine administrative queries from employees / institutions under the control of the MI SDA, e.g. a pastor re. benefits questions, or a budgetary question from GLAA. The Conference Executive Committee has no jurisdiction or authority whatsoever over any aspect of any individual member’s life, where they live, what they wear / eat / drink / think, over their finances, choice of profession, their relationship with their employers, hobbies or use of free time.
Conference Executive Committees elect delegates to attend the local Union Session. The delegates have delegated authority from the sending Conferences to elect the Officers and Executive Committee for the Union. As the delegates have delegated authority from their respective Conferences, they cannot exceed the authority of their respective Conference Administrators or Executive Committees. The Union Administrators and Executive Committee have authority only the tithes, offerings, employees, buildings and other tangible assets and institutions owned by the Union, and the WPM that governs these specific items, and can respond to routine administrative queries from employees of the Union and its constituent Conferences or institutions relating to areas within their respective administrative oversight. Like Conferences however, Unions have no authority, jurisdiction or oversight whatsoever over any aspect of the life of any member in their territory.
Union Executive Committees elect delegates who are sent with delegated authority to GC Sessions to elect the Officers, the departmental heads, receive and approve reports, vote on amendments to the GC Constitution, Bylaws, Church Manual, WPM, and major issues impacting the worldwide Body of Believers. However, as the Unions have no authority over any aspect of the lives, livelihoods, bodies, consciences, finances, homes, marriages of the members who reside within their geographical territory, therefore the Unions’ delegates to the GC Sessions cannot delegate this authority to the GC itself.
The GC has authority over the institutions, tithes, offerings, employees, buildings and tangible assets owned or employed by the GC, and the governing rules of the GC, the GCWPM. The GC ADCOM has the delegated authority to respond to routine administrative queries, which would be from GC employees, the constituent Divisions of the GC, the Attached Fields, e.g. MENAU, CHUM, IF, and the attached institutions, i.e. LLU and AU. However, the GCWPM, the GC Executive Committee, ADCOM and Administrators have no authority whatsoever over any individual member anywhere in the world. Nowhere has this been given to them.
Clearly, what any member puts into their body is not an administrative issue for the GC Administrators. Elder Wilson is wrong in asserting with regards to the alleged right of the GC leaders to unilaterally strip individual members of their RL vis a vis employer mandates that “it is an administrative item, it has been dealt with.” The GC has no authority over any aspect of any SDA’s personal life or over any individual SDA’s relationship with their employer or government. The only responsibility we the people have delegated via our delegates to the GC Administration vis a vis liberty of conscience is to defend it at an individual level for every member.
The Claim to Administrative Authority
On 26th Jan 2022, recognizing that the Appeal sermon was tapping into a deep vein of anger and betrayal among Adventists worldwide at the GC leadership’s support for mandates over the conscience of members, and seeing the sermon being spontaneously translated into multiple languages worldwide, the GC saw fit to issue a global condemnation of me via an ANN statement entitled “Concerns Regarding COVID-19, Church Governance and Liberty of Conscience.”
Among other sins, the Appeal sermon would allegedly “undermine Church authority, create confusion, and lead to fragmentation,” and lead to “a lack of trust in God’s last-day Church. It will undermine the legitimacy and authority of the General Conference, each of its world divisions, the unions, the local conferences, and even the local church. The potential impact is an erosion of confidence that could result in people leaving the Church, organizing a movement of independent worship groups, or creating off-shoot movements that would view the Church in apostasy.” Authority – it all comes down to power and money.
In this ANN statement, the GC argued that the ADCOM has the authority to issue such statements because of the following clause in the ADCOM’s Terms of Reference: “Consider other routine administrative issues as they arise and give general counsel to world church entities as requested.”
“Consider other routine….”
“Routine” relates to questions of interpretation of the application of the GCWPM as it applies to specific situations relating to denominational employees or institutions.
The COVID pandemic, a once in a life-time event impacting every person worldwide, not just denominational employees or institutions, a scenario for which the GCWPM makes absolutely no provision, is now considered a “routine” event that falls within the delegated decision-making authority of the ADCOM. Illegitimate.
“….Administrative issues as they arise….”
Church members coalesce and form congregations that in turn form conferences. Pooled financial resources (T&O) and physical infrastructure are entrusted to the administrative oversight of the elected administrators, who have delegated authority over the T&O, denominational employees and institutions to be administered in such a way that meets the goals of the members of the conference. Thus “administration” refers only to accountable oversight over denominational employees, T&O, other donated financial resources and institutions, but the administrators have no authority over any member, their bodies, finances or private enterprises outside of direct denominational ownership / employment.
In the COVID pandemic, the Reaffirmation Statement assumes the right of denominational leaders to override the good-conscience decisions of members worldwide relating to their bodies and medical treatment. Never before has any GC ADCOM or sub-committee ever assumed, or been delegated, the right to make decisions that override the personal conscience decisions of members in private medical matters. As the GC ADCOM has no such authority, it cannot delegate such authority to any sub-committee like the group of departments that voted the Reaffirmation Statement. Illegitimate.
“….Give general counsel to World Church entities as requested.”
GC Administrators respond to specific queries from Division or Attached Field or other year-book entity administrators with specific guidance. Such guidance is not applicable to non-employed members or non-members alike, but the GC bears legal responsibility for any counsel given. The guidance is provided to the world church entities that have requested guidance, never via a press release on ANN.
GC administrators can issue a Statement that directly impacts every member and potential member worldwide. Even if the impact is profoundly negative on non-employee members, the GC administrators have no responsibility, liability or accountability for any harm caused by their Statement. The Statement was issued via ANN, not directly to any world church entity, showing that the intended audience went way beyond all the world church entities, and to every employer and government worldwide. Illegitimate.
Conclusions
The GC’s 2021 Reaffirmation Statement is an illegitimate usurpation of the Holy Spirit’s authority in the life of members, without any biblical, spiritual, institutional or organizational legitimacy. Unless it is rebuked and set aside, we will have entered the pandemic as Protestants and exited the pandemic akin to a papal system.
Why does this matter? Why do I speak thus? Because the WHO is seeking global authority to declare actual or potential pandemics, and the legal right to impose vaccine mandates upon every human on planet earth, overriding all national civil rights legislation in the process. Our globalist elites are openly discussing the next pandemic, Disease X. The Oct 2021 Reaffirmation Statement will be used as a precedent for any future GC President / ADCOM to strip Adventists worldwide of their liberty of conscience objections to WHO or employer mandates, once again with catastrophic impact.
The entire struggle in Adventism today comes down to a simple question. Does the GC President and / or the ADCOM have the spiritual or the biblical or the ecclesiastical right to override or determine the convictions of the Holy Spirit upon any individual Adventist, or all Adventists worldwide?
If yes, then we are no different to the Ayatollahs of Tehran or the Antichrist in Rome, where a single man claims the authority to speak for God and to determine what the Holy Spirit is or is not allowed to say to individuals. If no, then the October 2021 Reaffirmation Statement must be set aside and liberty of conscience restored to every Adventist worldwide, regardless of the individual health choices they have made.
The problem is not with our theology, or FBs, or structure per se. What is causing our problems is a handful of rogue administrators at the GC, led by the GC President, who have acted illegitimately beyond their delegated authority in assuming the right to strip liberty of conscience from Adventists worldwide and overriding the convictions of the Holy Spirit in your life and conscience. Thus I would appeal, in love, to our GC leadership:
1) At the 2024 Annual Council, rescind and apologize for the 2021 Reaffirmation Statement immediately, allowing the healing process to begin across the Adventist world.
2) Establish a Fund to compensate those Adventists who have lost their livelihoods as a result of such illegitimate Statements or who have suffered physical harm from the side-effects of the vaccines they were forced to take because of the 2021 Reaffirmation Statement.
3) Publicly affirm that because members and employees may be vaccinated or not as the Holy Spirit impresses them through their conscience, the GC will henceforth defend the good conscience decisions of all Adventists vis a vis any and all vaccination mandates.
4) Rehire wherever possible on previous terms and conditions those denominational employees who were fired for living in accordance with the convictions of the Holy Spirit.
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Conrad Vine
“The horseleech has two daughters—Give and Give!” (Proverbs 30:15)