Hi Ivan, where do you live?
New York State (will be relocating soon)
How long have you been a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church?Since 1993
Do you have a family?
It's just myself and my brother; our parents have passed away.
I understand you used to be affiliated with an ASI Chapter?
Yes, for 7+ years I was a board member of the ASI Atlantic Chapter.
What is the Wisdom Pearl?
The Wisdom Pearl is a non-profit organization that is committed to preaching the The Everlasting Gospel to those who are sincerely seeking, through outreach Conferences and Missionary Work abroad. Our Conferences offer presentations on cutting edge subjects, which the Everlasting Gospel addresses! The Wisdom Pearl Team comprises of several individuals and families, including Millennials and the younger generation who are passionate about The Everlasting Gospel!
Why did you start it?
Over the years, my ministry partners and I have all been very outreach oriented. We've been engaged in outreach since 2013. Through our Bible Work in the US and overseas, several individuals have been baptized. During the recent pandemic we watched as so many people became divided. Christianity was so watered down over the years that churches conceded to shutting down. I felt impressed by God that we needed to not only continue our outreach, but tailor it more towards pointing “lukewarm" Christianity back to Biblical Principles, through exposing the mechanisms in society that disregard Bible Truths. Our goal is to discuss these topics through the lens of History, Science, and The Holy Bible so that Christians can be ignited to the “Present Truth” found in God's Word and make conscious choices in their lives that will lead them to honor God.
Frankly, when the Lord impressed me to organize these Conferences, I was very hesitant but felt pushed by the Lord that I needed to do this work, and my ministry partners prayerfully jumped in with me! In addition, a Catholic lady, who will be presenting about Ellen G White (who is very fascinated about her writings) at our upcoming Conference in Phoenix mentioned to me several times “At the right time many of us will leave Rome and join the Remnant” and in addition, she mentioned “There is going to be a mass exodus from Rome, and we don’t know where we will go?” In addition to God’s impressing upon me, observing His providences, and then this lady’s statements, these combined to encourage me and my friends to go forward in Faith, with or without all the needed resources upfront. And, every single time, The Lord Provided!
Who are you attempting to reach?
Our greatest focus is to reach the "lukewarm" Church, modern Christians who don't understand The Bible, or misunderstand God's Word, as well as those who have an understanding and want to be strengthened in their faith and invite others on the journey with them.
Coming from a people management background, I generally like to have a handle on what narrative the world is being fed and how it conditions the human mind, and be able to navigate through that. Post-Covid, I learnt that leadership (church or otherwise) has to navigate through what is called “V U C A “(feel free to google), which stands for “Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous” framework (or mindsets of people). The solution?
Very simple, “Christ’s Method Alone!”, to bring stability, peace, and hope while pointing people to the straight and narrow path.
“Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Savior mingled with people as one who desired their good. He showed sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He invited them, ‘Follow Me’.” – The Ministry of Healing p.143
Christ mingled with sinners, government officials, tax collectors, and more, desiring their good!
Matthew 9:11 “And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?”
Tell us about the Battle for the Frontal Lobe Conference. How many have there been?
Since April 2023, The Battle For Your Frontal Lobe is a faith based conference series that presents practices and areas of life and society that suppress and cause damage to our Frontal Lobes, which prevent us from seeing God's ways clearly.
The frontal lobe of our brains is where God communicates with each one. We must be aware that there is a battle for it, and understand how we can take it back, guard and protect it, amidst the society that we live in today!
Many Adventists tend to ignore other Christians in our outreach enterprises. Why do you think that is?
I think many don't want to or are unable to invest the time that it takes to understand another's position, such as “why” they think and believe as they do. They don’t take the time to identify where the deceptions lie and help lead people from there (with love and care) into all Truth. We want others to know the truth, but I think we often don't want to get into the details of the deceptions and expose Satan's methods that deter people from Truth. It’s important to maintain a relationship of trust as we teach them God's ways and help restore the pathway to the truth. Souls are a big responsibility and winning them to truth requires an investment of time that many are not prepared to make,
Why do you think certain Adventist fear conservative Christians? Are they our enemies?
We don't believe that Conservative Christians are our enemies, but souls whom Christ equally died to save. We have had several Catholics (including a priest and a monk), a Jewish rabbi and lay members who have attended and enjoyed our Conference. They’ve shared their appreciation for our Biblical foundation, and have identified areas where we can agree, which have stirred up many conversations leading to other areas where we can share the truth with them.
Through our conferences, I was able to befriend a Catholic monk, which led me to share “Steps to Christ”. In addition, we have had lengthy phone and in-person conversations about the influence of the New Age in Christianity and Catholic circles. He, along with his other monk friends from New Mexico, are planning to attend our Phoenix Conference at which Bible-based health (aka “Right arm of The Gospel”) messages will be presented.
I think many fear their zeal or disregard them for their lack thereof. Conservative Christians generally have strong views and zeal. Many are often misguided through the deceptions resulting from watered-down Biblical teachings that allow just about anything to be considered “truth”. We want to bring them to see and love Bible truths as God's Word. That combined with a love for The Savior, will prepare them to stand during the investigative judgment and the final scenes of earth's history.
I have met many conservative Christians who are not for church and state coming together! Just like I have spoken to many Catholics who believe they will be “kicked out” of the Catholic church soon for disrespecting Francis.
Speaking of “conservative Christians”, I want to mention about the relationship we have built with Charlie Kirk and his Faith Organization during the last 2.5+ years. It was purely God’s providence that connected me to him. When I first met him, he was very excited to meet me, a Seventh-Day Adventist Christian, and expressed interest to have me on his Podcast to talk about The Sabbath Commandment, which I hope will happen some time this year. In addition, his faith organization has expressed interest to have me talk about Yoga and its Hindu roots at their Pastor’s Convention this year.
As far as his participation at our upcoming Conference in Phoenix AZ, earlier this year, when I suggested that he come to our Conference, Charlie Kirk asked me if we could talk about “The Sabbath” onstage and I said “Absolutely!”. So, we have finalized a panel at our Phoenix, AZ Conference with myself, Charlie, and a handful of Adventists about The 7th Day Sabbath, The 4th Commandment, the health benefits of obedience to it, the history of The Sabbath, the change of Sabbath, Sunday Laws, and how in nature we see that some animals rest on the 7th Day.
HERE is a link to a promotional video from Kirk.
The devil is shooting at all Christians today. Is there a way to help each other in the struggle for righteousness, and share some of the special truths we hold?
I love the question... That's part of the underlying theme of The Battle For Your Frontal Lobe Conferences: presenting God's Truth and Righteousness. We hope to create a hunger for it through encouraging a love of the truths in God's Word, and bringing like-minded people together who want to honor God through an understanding of and obedience to His Word. By God’s grace we can apply that to our daily thoughts and actions to strengthen our frontal lobes.
What experiences have you had sharing the 3AM with other believers?
We've had several, and overall, we find that many are sincere! While we each have much to unlearn, from society and watered down gospel teaching, we've found that many Christians are sincere, and there are many in several different denominations and faiths that truly love God and are doing the best they can with what they know.
This is our special focus, and our Conferences are designed to present additional truths while encouraging the courage to stand, in accepting and obeying the truths that they learn, bringing them closer to God's Salvation.
Is there any danger of compromising with other believers, nominal or otherwise?
We don't believe in compromising. Our strategy is to agree where we can, and present Bible truths from there, to bind and knit their hearts to Jesus, with a desire to keep God's Laws and live out Bible truths!
The older I get, the more I see that there are genuine followers of Christ out there, who have a depth of commitment to Jesus that would humble us by comparison.
What can we learn from other believers?
There is much we can learn regarding faith, loyalty and devotion to God! Have you noticed that when Catholics learn the truth, they are some of the most devout Adventists and defenders of the Faith?
What can they learn from us?
Jesus said in John 10:16, "other sheep I have which are not of this fold; I myself must bring them out."
Our purpose with these Conferences is to cooperate with God’s leading in reaching, teaching, and guiding those "other sheep" into the flock that Christ describes when He says, "There will be one flock and one shepherd."
Many of these Christians sincerely Love God, and His Only Son, and desire to be led by the true Holy Spirit, and we can learn from their sincerity; our efforts are to create events to help each to also learn and grow in God's truth with the courage to shun darkness in all its deceptive forms.
We believe God has many around us who are Honest in Heart, who have the good soil in their hearts, who will accept truth when it's presented to them, and who will have a love for the truth that they might be saved (2 Thess. 2:10)
Tell us about the next Battle for the Frontal Lobe Conference.
Our aim is to hold two Conferences each year (in the spring and fall), and our next Conference will be held on March 27-29, 2025 in Phoenix, AZ at Dream City Church.
The March 2025 theme of "The Battle For Your Frontal Lobe" is: "Will You Be Made Whole?"
Full Speaker lineup and registration details are here https://thewisdompearl.org/event/will-you-be-made-whole/
Each Conference has addressed physical, mental and spiritual health from a different angle. This 3-day Conference is designed to address the "Wholeness" that can only be found in Christ as we consider freedom in Christ, healing in Christ, and victory in Christ, that we all might experience wholeness in Christ!
Any final thoughts?
This is a Conference for anyone and everyone! If you've not found success in witnessing to your closest friends and family, bring them to our Conference, experience it together.
If you're looking for a meaningful and impactful way to use your funds to support God's Work of drawing souls, consider “sponsoring a speaker” or supporting this effort financially. Perhaps you have airline miles that can be donated to help with speaker travel, or you have funds that can help towards the advertising costs, venue and equipment rentals, or organizing costs; maybe you'd like to sponsor an attendee or a group of attendees. Perhaps you would like to volunteer to help with registration, or as an usher… Most of all, we encourage you to buy your tickets and attend! Come, see for yourself what The Lord is doing at our conferences!
The founding Scripture of our organization, The Wisdom Pearl is Isaiah 33:6,
"And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure."
A specific quote that encourages and inspires us is found in Testimonies For The Church, vol. 5, p.721
"As year by year the work extends, the need of experienced and faithful workers becomes more urgent: and if the people of the Lord walk in His counsel, such workers will be developed. While we should rely firmly upon God for wisdom and power, He would have us cultivate our ability to the fullest extent. As the workers acquire mental and spiritual power, and become acquainted with the purposes and dealings of God, they will have more comprehensive views of the work for this time and will be better qualified both to devise and to execute plans for it's advancement. Thus they may keep pace with the opening providence of God."
We are also encouraged and inspired by this quote that reminds us that many will stand with us, for God’s truths!
“I saw that God had children who do not see and keep the Sabbath. They have not rejected the light upon it. And at the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully. This enraged the churches and nominal Adventists, as they could not refute the Sabbath truth. And at this time God's chosen all saw clearly that we had the truth, and they came out and endured the persecution with us” (EW 33.2).
Please pray for us, and pray for this conference.
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“Come apart and rest a while” (Mark 6:31).
Ivan Raj is the producer of YogaUnboxed.com. A series of educational videos designed for ex-Christians who have abandoned Christianity through Yoga, to re-consider true Christianity! The videos can be accessed on a rental basis at www.yogaunboxed.com
