Pastor Stephen Bohr of Secrets Unsealed was scheduled to present a two day Seminar (The Final Test) at the Downers Grove, IL Seventh-day Adventist Church on June 28, 29. An ordained minister, Pastor Bohr is a respected Bible teacher in good standing who teaches & preaches around the world.
The Illinois SDA Conference intervened on June 13 and was able to force the Downers Grove SDA Church to cancel the Secrets Unsealed event.
Fulcrum7 spoke with Secrets Unsealed, and representatives from the Downers Grove SDA Church. We called the Illinois Ministerial director (Peter Braman) numerous times and left two messages with him. To date he has not responded to our inquiry.
Why was this event cancelled?
The long answer is that Stephen Bohr supports biblical male leadership in the Church. This makes him opposed to the ordination of women and the agenda that drives it. He also believes (as did Ellen White) that God will have a people in the end time that are so submitted to Jesus Christ and His Law that they will receive a special divine seal of mutual belonging. The Illinois Conference resents his position on these topics.
The short answer is that the Illinois Conference is marginalizing this gifted speaker and bullying a local congregation because their agenda is more important to them than people.
Questions
Is it right for a Conference President and Ministerial Director to tell a local Church who they can invite to speak? The Church Manual indicates that a speaker ought to have valid credentials. Stephen Bohr does.
Is it right for Conference administrators to try to ban an ordained pastor and speaker who is in good standing in the Church?
Is it right for a Conference to marginalize/bully tithe-paying members of a local church?
Is it right for a Conference to adopt an agenda of 7.6% of the General Conference in order to violate the will of the whole Church? (There are 13 Divisions in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, each counting for 7.6% of the total.)
Some sectors of our church are currently making a big deal out of abuse, as a social justice initiative. This action by the Illinois Conference is spiritually abusing people.
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“But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:48-50).