Alice Silva and Amber Machado were 'married' in Glenn County, California on 7-19-2014. Amber was raised Seventh-day Adventist and baptized many years ago.
On June 4, 2016, Alice Machado was baptized into the Chico Seventh-day Adventist church in north central California where her 'husband' (Amber Machado) was already a baptized member.
Alice was baptized at the Chico Church by Ginger Hanks Harwood, a former associate professor at the La Sierra University theology department. Ginger Hanks Harwood is a pro-abortion advocate for Women's Issues, and Women's ordination.
The story was first published at Fulcrum7 on February 2, 2017. We don't enjoy publishing stories like this, we would much rather publish stories of victory over sin and repentance. But we believed that the Church had a right to know how open sin was being celebrated in this North American Church congregation.
The resulting exposure drew a response from the North American Division, which we published eleven days later.
Many letters & emails were sent to Ricardo Graham (Pacific Union president) and Jim Pedersen (Northern California Conference president), asking them to intervene in this situation. The concerns were twofold: A) Not telling the lesbian couple the truth about God's moral expectations would lead to their eternal death. B) Allowing an openly lesbian married couple to be 'members in good standing' in the Chico SDA Church, defines deviancy down, and deals a lethal blow to the Adventist Church's biblical commitment to God's expectations for marriage & morality. It deeply hurts the entire Seventh-day Adventist Church--we stand or fall together as an Organization.
Both Pedersen and Graham responded to the concerns with platitudes and impotent disregard for this grievous moral sin (1 Corinthians 5:1-8).
On November 10, we published an update where Pedersen did say that they were administering some unspecified discipline upon Dan Wysong, Pastor of the Chico SDA Church. In reality, nothing changed.
Ginger Harwood
The lesbian 'married' couple remain as members of the Chico Seventh-day Adventist Church. Dan Wysong remains the pastor of the Church. What about Ginger Hanks Harwood? She was just voted in as an 'elder' of the Chico SDA Church. The first reading was on June 16 of this year. The second reading was within the last three weeks. She will be an 'elder' until 2021.
Chico SDA Church Officers 2018-2021
Summary
The 'married' lesbian couple currently hold membership in the Chico SDA Church.
The Pastor of the Chico SDA Church (Dan Wysong) continues to be the pastor there.
The woman who baptized this lesbian couple has been made an elder at the Chico SDA Church.
This lesbian couple recently gave birth to a child (through Amber Machado). Apparently, they will be raising this child in a 'lesbian family, as members of the Chico SDA Church (Luke 17:2).
In spite of numerous requests for the leaders of the Pacific Union and the Northern California Conference to resolve this morally dangerous situation through redemptive church discipline, they have done nothing to change it. Brothers Graham and Pederson, the entire Church is watching this bad situation. Failure to renounce and resolve this issue will be required from your hands one day.
Ricardo Graham excused his inaction---in an email to a concerned party, "I do care about people, but I must respect the lines of authority [In the Church] as I understand them to exist." Uh...... Ricardo, respecting lines of authority in the Church is exactly what you are not doing when it comes to worldwide Church decisions regarding WO. Apparently, the litmus test of Graham's respect for authority is whether or not the issue fits the North American Division agenda.
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"Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD" (Jeremiah 23:1).
"Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn
yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations" (Ezekiel 14:6).