I listened to most of this video on the way home from the hospital, when my wife was recovering from surgery. It was sent to me by thirteen people who thought I should see it. Since Mark Howard quotes me in his video, I will respond to it.
Mark and I go back to Ohio, when faithful Seventh-day Adventists were trapped behind enemy lines, under the thumb of a hyper-progressive Conference regime determined to stamp out biblical conservatism and promote mystical progressive spirituality. We survived, Mark and Jim by moving away, and the rest of us by clinging to the Lord and His Word here in Ohio.
Together we stood up for truth and stood against institutional abuses. One of us is still standing against institutional abuses.
First off, the title of this video is a strawman. People aren’t saying that the Michigan Conference is in apostasy, but rather that they are abusing their authority. I believe they are.
Notice that Howard goes to great length to claim Conrad Vine is in apostasy while saying that the Conference isn’t.
The Disclaimer
Howard says “This is not an official response of the Michigan Conference.”
Mark is the Assoc. Dir. of Sabbath School & Personal Ministries at the Michigan Conference. He works there and is one of the officials of the Conference. He is also closely aligned with a couple pro-social-justice colleagues, a concern I shared with him three years ago.
The ‘T’ Word
In this video, Mark selectively quotes Ellen White on the issue of tithe, and then claims that Conrad is teaching contrary to Ellen White, thus he is teaching apostasy or false doctrine. Howard says:
“It [tithe] is holy to the Lord in Leviticus chapter 27, verse 30. That means it does not belong to us but God. Therefore, it's not up to us to say where it needs to be returned or used.”
9 Testimonies p. 249 tells us,
“The tithe is sacred, reserved by God for Himself. It is to be brought into His treasury to be used to sustain the gospel laborers in their work.”
It is clear from inspiration that tithe is to be used solely for gospel laborers who teach and preach the truth that God has given to this church. But everyone who pays tithe has a responsibility to inquire as to how the money is being used. Note the following:
“The churches must arouse. The members must awake out of sleep and begin to inquire, How is the money which we put into the treasury being used? The Lord desires that a close search be made?” (Kress Collection p. 120 (1900).
There are other pertinent statements which also need to be considered. Notice the following:
“It would be poor policy to support from the treasury of God those who really mar and injure His work, and who are constantly lowering the standard of Christianity” (3 Testimonies p. 553).
Some have been too quick to withhold their tithe when things have not gone as well as they expect. To them we have some good counsel regarding this matter in the following.
“Some have been dissatisfied and have said: "I will not longer pay my tithe; for I have no confidence in the way things are managed at the heart of the work." But will you rob God because you think the management of the work is not right? Make your complaint, plainly and openly, in the right spirit, to the proper ones. Send in your petitions for things to be adjusted and set in order; but do not withdraw from the work of God, and prove unfaithful, because others are not doing right” (9 Testimonies p. 249).
When a situation arose in Ellen White’s day where the regular treasury failed to carry out its duty, she actually commended those people who paid their tithes directly to a needy field which was not receiving funds from the regular treasury.
“I have myself appropriated my tithe to the most needy cases brought to my notice. I have been instructed to do this, and as the money is not withheld from the Lord's treasury, it is not a matter that should be commented upon, for it will necessitate my making known these matters, which I do not desire to do, because it is not best.
Some cases have been kept before me for years, and I have supplied their needs from the tithe, as God has instructed me to do. And if any person shall say to me, Sister White, will you appropriate my tithe where you know it is most needed, I shall say, Yes, I will; and I have done so. I commend those sisters who have placed their tithe where it is most needed to help to do a work that is being left undone” (2 Manuscript Release p. 99).
When Elder Watson, the president of the Colorado Conference, objected to having the tithe diverted from the usual conference treasury, she wrote him a letter telling him to keep his cool and not become stirred up about the matter. She made the point that “Circumstances alter cases.” In other words, God’s plan ’B’ comes into effect at times, and her advice to church leaders is not to become unduly agitated when that happens.
“Do not worry lest some means shall go direct to those who are trying to do missionary work in a quiet and effective way. All the means is not to be handled by one agency or organization” (Ibid. p. 421).
“The arrangement that all moneys must go through Battle Creek and under the control of the few men in that place is a wrong way of managing. There are altogether too many weighty responsibilities given to a few men, and some do not make God their counselor” (Testimonies to Ministers p. 321).
“God alone, by the quickening, vivifying influence of His Holy Spirit, can enable men to distinguish between the sacred and the common. God alone can make men understand that working on regular lines has led to irregular practices. God alone can make men's minds as they should be. The time has come when we should hear less in favor of the regular lines. If we can get away from the regular lines into something which, though irregular, is after God's order, it may cut away something of the irregular working which has led away from Bible principles” (Manuscript Release, Volume 20, p. 142-143).
The seriousness of the situation in Ellen White’s day which prompted her to divert tithe from the regular lines was actually quite mild compared to the present situation. They didn’t have the open abandonment of the Third Angel’s message in favor of social justice and alignment with the degraded culture of our time. They didn’t have church leaders advocating acceptance of sexual perversion and sodomy. They didn’t have educational leaders denying the literal six-day creation, or PARL leaders in cahoots with the United Nations and the corrupt WHO (which also supports LGBTQ). They didn’t have the irreverent worship styles and worldly music or rampant spiritualism as we have in spiritual formation and mysticism in our midst. These things were unimaginable in her day.
There is an assumption among SDAs that the local Conference is the “storehouse” of Scripture. This is an understanding that makes functional sense and contributes to missional efficiency. However, there is no scriptural basis for the local Conference to be the exclusive “storehouse” of Scripture. The local Conference is a storehouse, but it is not the storehouse.
Some administrators seem to believe that since “the church will go through” they can be as ungodly and autocratic as they can be and God still has their backs. You won’t find that in the Bible.
Tithe is a distraction from the main issue which is church administrator’s unwillingness to recognize a problem in the GC's presumptive right to suspend liberty of conscience in the pandemic.
“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.”
The ‘P’ Word
A parachurch is a Christian organization that operates independently of a specific denomination, but works alongside the church to support its mission. The term "para" comes from a Greek word that means "beside" or "alongside." Parachurch groups come alongside churches to provide ministries those churches cannot fulfill alone. Often these organizations are less cumbersome, and less inclined to compromise with bad influences. They don’t tend to collapse under the weight of self-preservation, like groups with heavy layers of bureaucracy.
Instead of stressing over an incorrect definition of parachurch, let’s remember its simple meaning. And let’s not forget the core question that precipitated this entire discussion. It is:
Does a small cadre of administrators (ADCOM) have the ethical right to make decisions of conscience for 22.5 million church members? Not for me they don’t. Not for you, either.
Does this same coterie of insiders (58 people) have your permission to make statements for you about climate change that sound like they were written by Al Gore himself? No way, Jose. Nope.
The main issue between Michigan and the Village Church is Michigan's unwillingness to recognize a problem in the GC's presumptive right to suspend liberty of conscience in the pandemic. If the GC would correct that error, most of this issue goes away.
The Quiet Part Out Loud
Howard said:
“It was carefully thought out, it was carefully discussed, and it was carefully processed. All of this led ultimately to the executive committee making the decision to place the pastor in question on administrative leave so that they could find another pastor who would actually carry out what the conference had asked.”
There it is. Kelly was removed because he was in the way of the Conference’s obsession to ‘get’ Vine.
It is clear from this video that MISDA had repeatedly sought Dr. Vine’s censure / discipline and removal from the pulpit. It should be noted that Micheff stated at the Village townhall that MISDA had never sought the removal of Dr. Vine from his positions at Village SDA, but MISDA had merely wanted to know where Village SDA stood in regard to Dr. Vine and his preaching.
Micheff was not truthful to the Village SDA Church membership when he denied that MISDA ever sought Dr. Vine’s removal. Ron Kelly was removed precisely because he would not implement the MISDA demands for Dr. Vine to be placed under discipline, as per Mark Howard.
The Accusation that Conrad Vine Refused to Come to a Meeting
At timestamp 38.31, Howard says Conrad Vine failed to come to a meeting.
Vine was informed of the meeting two days in advance. He took the day off from work to be able to participate in the meeting. On the morning of the meeting he was informed by Ron Kelly that he should wait to be called into the meeting to allow for preliminary discussions between the MISDA and Village SDA representatives. Vine sat at home, awaiting the invitation to enter the meeting, until 7pm, when he was informed that the meeting was over and his presence was not needed.
Vine did not fail to attend the meeting, as alleged by Elder Howard. He was never called in because the issue of Michigan withholding liability insurance for the new health clinic to force the Village Church to strip Vine of his church offices was so egregious it could not be resolved.
Now you know the rest of the story.
Conclusions
What started as a simple camp meeting presentation in far off Maine now carries a sense of destiny, as if God has brought us to this moment to expose the controlling pride of SDA elites embedded in our conferences. Our response to that insular coercion is equally important, friends. We must resist coercion and reach out to administrators and laity who are teachable on this issue.
Michigan administrators have convinced themselves that they are on the moral high ground, and that resonates with a number of Adventists, who subconsciously believe in the myth of denominational infallibility.
Mark is making a moral judgment when he says Conrad Vine is a false teacher. Now wait just a minute. Show us in the Bible where Conrad Vine’s sermons are in conflict with the Scriptures.
After the Michigan Conference banned Conrad Vine from speaking in Michigan churches, they approached his home church and requested that Vine be stripped of his church offices. VDS, anyone?
The only way a person can be stripped of his church offices is to hold a business meeting and vote to censure him.
The Village church declined to hold a business meeting because they knew it would only add to potential backlash against the Conference. In retrospect, they now believe they should have held a business meeting and let the conference deal with the fallout.
It is clear from this video that MISDA had repeatedly sought Dr. Vine’s censure / discipline and removal from the pulpit.
Ron Kelly was removed from his position because he was insisting on the due-process rights of not only Dr. Vine, but all local SDA church members, from arbitrary disciplinary action from a distant conference.
The video appears to be an attempt to shift the narrative from the GC’s presumed assumption of the right to unilaterally suspend the religious liberties of members in the pandemic to Conrad Vine’s alleged teaching of false doctrines.
There is no recognition in Howard’s video of the fundamental cause of the disputes in the SDA Church, the October 2021 Reaffirmation Statement. Zero.
“The doctrine that God has committed to the church the right to control the conscience, and to define and punish heresy, is one of the most deeply rooted of papal errors” (GC, p. 293).
There is an assumption among SDAs that the local Conference is the “storehouse” of Scripture. This is an understanding that makes functional sense and contributes to missional efficiency. However, there is no scriptural basis for the local Conference to be the exclusive “storehouse” of Scripture. The local Conference is a storehouse, but it is not the only storehouse.
Michigan has received tithe from external sources for years, some saying in the millions. Perhaps they should give that money back to the conferences from which it came.
Observation: When people who depend on tithe for their income wax eloquent about the necessity of others paying it—it tends to rings hollow.
Mark focuses heavily on defending the conference’s actions and condemning Vine’s teachings, but he does not adequately address how leadership should remain accountable and faithful. This imbalance creates the perception that he is more concerned with enforcing loyalty than addressing legitimate concerns.
In July 3, 2010, Ted Wilson said “Hold your leaders accountable.” Question. How do we do that? You might say by voting bad leaders out, but laymen are a small percentage of the voting block, and church employees—who have a majority of votes—usually vote to protect other church employees. The process is essentially a self-licking ice cream cone.
Howard portrays Vine’s stance as advocating arbitrary tithe redirection to punish the conference. However, the elder was merely raising legitimate concerns about systemic unfaithfulness or corruption, rather than promoting indiscriminate withholding of tithe. By reducing the elder’s argument to a simplistic narrative, Howard dismisses valid points about accountability and liberty of conscience.
What or who is the church? The church is the body of Christ, made up of people who individually choose to be governed by God. This is the larger long-range vision of the promises made to Abraham that in him all nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 22:18).
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“Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually” (1 Corinthians 12:27).