The Northern Maine Campmeeting was held in Caribou Maine last weekend. Walter Veith and Conrad Vine were the main speakers. Conrad spoke four times:
Broken Bride 1 - Dancing With The Devil
Broken Bride 2 - Trampling on the Conscience
Broken Bride 3 - The Regime Church
Broken Bride 4 - The Divine Divorcee
Here is the video and text of the Regime Church Presentation. We will publish the second presentation Trampling on the Conscience at a later date.
Broken Bride III – The Regime Church
Introduction
So far we have looked at the original purpose of the GC, and at how regular administrative boundaries operate within our denominational structure. We have concluded that, contrary to Elder Wilson’s assertion at the 2022 GC Session regarding the GC ADCOM’s right to deny the possibility of religious liberty objections by regular SDA members to employer mandates that ““it is an administrative item, it has been dealt with,” neither the GC ADCOM / Exec Committee / GC in full Session, nor your local Conference or Union have any administrative oversight, authority or jurisdiction over any aspect of any member’s life, including how they follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit upon their conscience vis a vis how they care for their bodies.
Today we will look at some key GC / IRLA statements on RL, at the importance of truth in these discussions, the impact of the GC’s Reaffirmation Statement on regular SDA members, and how we morphed from being the Remnant Church to a Regime Church, and the implications for the final crisis between good and evil.
GC / IRLA Statements on Religious Liberty
· IRLA, Religious Liberty Library, “The Limits of Civil Authority” (1893),
“Man’s first and highest allegiance in all things is due to his Creator; therefore the domain of conscience is one which human government, whether of one or of many, has no right to invade. No man can surrender his conscience to the keeping of another, and maintain his loyalty to God; but as a responsible moral being, he must remain loyal to his Creator at whatever cost, even at the sacrifice of life itself.”
· IRLA, Religious Liberty Library, “Christ and the Sabbath” (W. W. Prescott, 1893), “It is a characteristic of Satan to compel, and every effort to compel in any the consciences of men is Satanic. Every effort to the compel the consciences of men in any way, whether it be the Sabbath or any other matter at issue, is Satanic. God wins by the power of love. God leaves every one free to choose; Satan tries to compel…Every effort to compel the conscience is Satanic, and the results will be Satanic.”
· IRLA Declaration of Principles, “We believe it is the right, and should be the privilege, of every man to worship according to the dictates of his own conscience.”
· IRLA 9th World Congress, 21st – 23rd August 2023. Diop defined RL as “the right to profess, practice and propagate one’s beliefs without coercion, intimidation or manipulation.” RL is “freedom from being forced to do something that is against one’s deeply held convictions or against one’s conscience.”
· Diop, Annual Council 2023, “Human conscience is sacred. It must not be violated by anyone. It is sacrilegious to constrain or pressure people to do something against the dictates of their conscience.”
“No man is to think that he is the owner of the minds and capabilities of his brethren. He is not to think the others must submit to his dictation. He is liable to err, liable to make mistakes, as every man is. He is not to try to control matters in accordance with his ideas” (EGW, This Day with God, p. 192.3). “It is not God's purpose that any human being should yield his mind and will to the control of another, becoming a passive instrument in his hands. No one is to merge his individuality in that of another. He is not to look to any human being as the source of healing. His dependence must be in God. In the dignity of his God-given manhood, he is to be controlled by God Himself, not by any human intelligence” (EGW, Counsels on Health, p. 345).
· Clearly, based on the evidence of 2020-2023, the GC upholds liberty of conscience only when there are no employer or government mandates, or when Federal funding is not on the line for our institutions.
· On 24th February, 1893, the GC in full Session voted an appeal to the Federal Government, which included the following statement. “As American citizens, we appeal on the ground of specifically declared constitutional rights to the free exercise of religion according to the dictates of the individual conscience, totally free and exempt from all government connection, interference, or control…But religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, and is nowhere cognizable but at the tribunal of the universal Judge….We maintain, therefore, that in matters of religion, no man’s right is abridged by the institution of civil society, and that religion is wholly exempt from its cognizance. We, therefore, as Christians, as Protestants, as American citizens, and as men, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions….solemnly publish and declare that we are and of right ought to be, free and independent of all connection, direction, dictation, interference, or control of the government of the United States, in matters of religion or religious observances or religious institutions of any kind or degree.”
GC vote in full Session, February 1893
GC ADCOM, October 2021 Reaffirmation Statement
“…we are and of right ought to be, free and independent of all connection, direction, dictation, interference, or control of the government of the United States, in matters of religion or religious observances or religious institutions of any kind or degree.”
“…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.”
· This duly voted statement of the GC in regular Session, does not allow for the ADCOM, or the GC Administrators, all of whom are subject to, and must uphold the decisions and statements of the GC in regular Session, to issue any statement such as the October 2021 Reaffirmation Statement. The ADCOM has exceeded its delegated authority, and the October 2021 Reaffirmation Statement is thus illegitimate.
The Truth Matters
· Truth matters, particularly in medicine. Why? Without truthfulness in the consulting room, it is much harder to come to the right diagnosis and treatment plan. When the pharmaceutical and medical sectors neither pursue nor practice truth, we end up with broken bodies and destroyed lives. Tragic cases such as the Thalidomide scandal or Pfizer’s $2.3 billion payout in 2009 for misbranding Bextra with the intent to defraud or mislead are the outcome.
· As SDAs, we have both a moral obligation and personal moral accountability before God to seek and pursue the truth in all areas of life. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began to sweep our world. Almost immediately, there were two positions in the public square.
The Official Narrative (CDC / NIH / Fauci / MSM / SDA General Conference)
The Counter-Narrative (Great Barrington Declaration / scientists & physicians worldwide)
The virus did not come from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV)
The virus originated from the WIV.
No Federally-funded gain-of-function research at the WIV.
Federal funding was used for illegal gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses at the WIV.
The virus had a random zoological origin at a wet-market in Wuhan.
The virus did not originate in a wet-market in Wuhan.
No effective therapeutic options for the treatment of COVID-19 other than the vaccines.
There were highly effective outpatient treatment protocols for COVID-19.
Those who took these vaccines would neither get COVID nor transmit the virus to another person.
The vaccines do not prevent someone contracting COVID-19, nor transmission to another person.
The COVID-19 vaccines were safe and effective.
The COVID-19 vaccines use dangerous and untested technology, and have had catastrophic side-effects worldwide, including surging cancer rates, turbo cancers, strokes, heart-attacks, sudden-death syndrome, increasing excess death rates among working age adults. One by one, they are being banned in country after country due to their catastrophic side-effects.
Any person deviating from this official narrative was spreading misinformation and their career was to be destroyed through professional, social and financial cancel culture.
Absolute truth still matters in a post-modern era of moral relativism and subjectivity. Truth has profound personal and social consequences if it is rejected.
· Almost everything listed in the official narrative was false, and was often known to be false at the time. Almost everything listed in the counter-narrative was true, and those who are now vindicated as the official narrative collapses under the weight of its own falsehoods were demonized by the MSM and by the GC through 2020-2022.
· The truth matters. The GC did not follow the science, they followed the lies. They did not seek the truth, they sought massive Federal pandemic funding. They did not bow before the convictions of the Holy Spirit upon members’ consciences, they bowed before the bullies of the MSM. They did not stand up for the consciences of the members, but demonized members via official GC media online and in print.
· The net result is a profound sense of betrayal, anger and disillusionment among Adventists worldwide with the GC leaders, and to a lesser extent, with the entire SDA hierarchy. Why? Nobody in the entire SDA hierarchy spoke up publicly for the consciences of the members, leading to the catastrophic impact on Adventists already discussed.
Impact of the GC’s October 2021 Reaffirmation Statement on Adventists
· How was this Statement used by employers / national authorities worldwide against Adventists? Adventists were forced out of their employment, including by denominational employers / lost their professional licenses, e.g. nurses / lost their homes and businesses due to financial hardships caused by vaccine exclusionary policies / lost custody battles in US courts / were denied unemployment benefits as their social security providers held that their unemployment could not be attributed to religious or conscience-based reasons because of the GC Statement / were denied, or thrown out of, university courses / saw the financial needs of our US hospital systems, completely dependent on ongoing Federal funding, etc. prioritized over the legitimate religious liberty concerns of individual members.
· Adventists saw the GC leaders presume the right to override the convictions of the Holy Spirit on the consciences of individual members. This is a papal-like authority entirely foreign to Protestant teachings.
· Because of the hugely detrimental impact of the 2021 Reaffirmation Statement, multitudes of Adventists worldwide no longer trust the GC, and have a legitimate sense of anger, betrayal and abandonment. It appears to members that the denominational hierarchy exists primarily for the financial benefit of the hierarchy and its functionaries through the preservation of Federal income streams to our US institutions, and the concerns and consciences of members are of no concern to our senior administrators.
· A simple case study shows the impact at the individual level. In Australia, a 27 years old teacher was employed by a local Conference as a high-school teacher, and was required to take the COVID-19 vaccine or lose his job. He had purchased a home before the pandemic, and had a mortgage to pay. His employer, the local SDA Conference, was mandating that all employees take the COVID-19 vaccines. However, he was strongly opposed on grounds of both religious liberty and on medical grounds. His physician submitted a bona-fide medical exemption request, which was denied by the education administrators self-appointed ‘taskforce’. After all avenues for receiving a waiver had been exhausted, and believing that he had no choice or he would lose both his career and his home, this young man succumbed to the pressure and received the Astra-Zeneca vaccine. Shortly thereafter, he had a massive stroke with an 18mm blood clot to his brain, which both the neurologist and cardiologist declared to be “idiopathic” which means “arising spontaneously or from an obscure or unknown cause” as he was a physically fit and active young man who adhered to the Adventist health message and lifestyle. As a result, almost 2 years later he remains at home, partially paralyzed, unable to work, without income, supported by his mother who left her job to provide 24/7 care for him. He is profoundly disillusioned with his local Conference and the Australian Union, all of which have turned their backs on him and his requests for assistance.
· In Spring 2023, the Australian government banned the Astra-Zeneca shots nationwide because of their linkage with brain bleeds and strokes, and after finally admitting in a UK court that their COVID-19 vaccine had serious and life-threatening side-effects, i.e. brain bleeds and blood clotting, Astra-Zeneca withdrew their COVID vaccine globally in May 2024. That which was “safe and effective” and mandated by Australian SDA church administrators with calamitous effect is now banned by the Australian government precisely because it is not “safe and effective.” So far, the Conference and the Union have refused any responsibility. The Church sails on, leaving broken bodies, destroyed lives and betrayed trust in its wake….and nobody seems to care.
· This is what happens when GC Administrators make illegitimate decisions, overstep their defined boundaries, trample on liberty of conscience. I believe every GC Administrator party to the Oct 2021 Reaffirmation Statement needs to make biblical restitution and then resign immediately.
What are the Implications?
· Since issuing the Reaffirmation Statement, the GC has refused any opportunity for discussion of this matter. I repeatedly raised the matter personally with the GC from Oct 2021-Jan 2022, to no avail. After my Appeal to the Adventist Nobility sermon, the GC issued a global condemnation of any who would question their authority. To prevent any discussion at the GC Session, the GC ADCOM stripped me of my delegate status. Elder Wilson then squashed the motion from Attorney Zirkle at the 2022 Session to add this matter to the agenda for the delegates to discuss. The L&H Alliance petition to the GC, with almost 25,000 signatures from SDA pastors, doctors and members worldwide was simply ignored. In a Q&A with members at Granite Bay SDA Church in Feb 2023, over 1,100 of the 1,400 present voted for the question, “Why did the GC issue the Reaffirmation Statement that hurt so many SDAs?” and the question was simply ignored by Elder Wilson. Essentially, the GC leaders are now hiding behind their lawyers, no discussion is possible, and thus the necessary process of forgiveness, reconciliation and healing cannot begin.
· The Advent Movement began self-identifying as the Remnant Church of Bible prophecy. God’s end-time faithful remnant during earth’s final crisis before Jesus returns, fundamentally at odds with our wider environment. The USA is the 2nd Beast of Revelation 13, one of the end-time foes of God’s people.
· Over the years, we have morphed from Remnant to Respectable Church, craving tax-exempt status, Federal contracts, subsidies and scholarships, fundamentally at ease with our wider environment. During the pandemic, when faced by huge social, economic, political and media pressure, we morphed again, to become a Regime Church, propagating the official lies, cancelling the truth-speakers in our midst, demonizing our members who would not bow to the lies, and chasing Federal funding for our institutions.
· In WW1, the SDA Church in Germany supported the regime over biblical truth and the concerns of the members, and the SDA Reform Movement was born. In the USSR, the SDA Church supported the Communist demand for young Adventists to enter the Red Army, and the True and Free SDA Movement began, lasting almost 70 years as faithful, underground Adventists until the USSR collapsed. In Vietnam today, the communist government expects schoolchildren to attend school on Sabbath mornings, and there is an official SDA Church and an underground SDA movement today.
· Time and again, throughout SDA history, our leaders have bowed to totalitarian demands, sacrificing the members to preserve institutions, and each time an underground movement of faithful Adventists was born.
· We are facing new totalitarian demands impacting all of humanity. The WHO is daily seeking global authority to declare an actual or potential pandemic, to override all civil and human rights, and to mandate vaccines globally. The climate-change industry is seeking global climate lockdowns, to be held on Sundays, to preserve our common planetary home.
· The Papacy, i.e. the Antichrist, actively supports both initiatives to cement globalized control of humanity, override the convictions of the Holy Spirit on the consciences of individuals, and usher in the final crisis of conscience and false-worship that will precede the 2nd Coming.
· The GC ADCOM is already on record as officially supporting global climate change initiatives over the good-conscience objections of members. As during the pandemic, in their desire to save our institutions and Federal funding, to be a Respectable Church, we can expect our leaders to turn us into a Regime Church rather than face the social, economic and institutional loss inherent with being the faithful Remnant Church of God.
· There are a number of options for Bible-faithful Adventists:
o Do nothing, and have our livelihoods, careers, jobs, homes, businesses and bodies sacrificed by our leaders once again to preserve their institutions, incomes and status.
o Establish a para-church movement, whereby the laity organize, their tithes are returned to a new lay-led non-profit, which then channels those T&O each year to Bible-faithful SDA Missions, Conferences and Unions. This option is easy to accomplish in the modern era, and allows faithful SDAs to direct their tithes to the 10-40 mission window while simultaneously cutting off funding to woke, post-biblical NAD Conferences, Unions and leaders who are pushing the LGBTQ agenda.
o Form an underground SDA movement, a loose coalition of faithful house-groups, with bi-vocational elders leading each group, which is where we will be anyway after the MOB is imposed.
· However, we are stronger as a SDA movement and more effective in reaching the unreached when we work together. Therefore, I am appealing to the GC leadership once again to do the right thing, to take responsibility for your profound mistakes during the pandemic, to start the process of reconciliation, trust-building and healing that we as a worldwide Body desperately need, and to do the following:
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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[UPDATE from Conrad Vine]
“Many are stating that I am pushing for the establishment of a parachurch entity that will receive / divert tithe. This is what AToday is arguing. What I actually stated was the opposite. Here is the text:
“There are a number of options for Bible-faithful Adventists:
Do nothing, and have our livelihoods, careers, jobs, homes, businesses and bodies sacrificed by our leaders once again to preserve their institutions, incomes and status.
Pray for our church leaders.
Establish a para-church movement, whereby the laity organize, their tithes are returned to a new lay-led non-profit, which then channels those T&O each year to Bible-faithful SDA Missions, Conferences and Unions. This option is easy to accomplish in the modern era, and allows faithful SDAs to direct their tithes to the 10-40 mission window while simultaneously cutting off funding to woke, post-biblical NAD Conferences, Unions and leaders who are pushing the LGBTQ agenda.
Form an underground SDA movement, a loose coalition of faithful house-groups, with bi-vocational elders leading each group, which is where we will be anyway after the MOB is imposed.”
In this section of the sermon, I am recognizing the reality of tithe diversion that is happening right now across the NAD. People are refusing to return their tithes to woke conferences. They have lost confidence in a system that increasingly is unable to uphold what we believe. Hence, Elder Wilson’s appeal in 2023 for those administrators who do not believe what we believe in the area of human sexuality and marriage to resign.
That tithe is being “lost” to the system because people are losing trust in our system to uphold and defend what we propose. I proposed in bullet point 3 above that a lay-led parachurch entity be established, which would receive tithe, and then allocate it to Bible-faithful SDA Conferences. NOT to divert the tithe to any other use. This means that the tithe that would otherwise be “lost” to the NAD system can be gathered back into the system.”