Village Church Religious Liberty Conference - Sabbath

On Sabbath morning we had a quick breakfast at the hotel and headed to Berrien Springs. We arrived in time for the last five minutes of Ron Kelly’s early sermon. I will report on that later.

There was a very good panel discussion with Scott Ritsema and Chris DiCicco about project 2025 (P25) and Agenda 2030.

Project 2025

Scott said project 2025 was an attempt to fix some problems in the country, and reduce the bloated bureaucracy of the US government. Trump didn’t create P25 and has disavowed it. Regarding the infamous page 589, he (Scott) said we don’t get to Revelation 13 overnight, we don’t have a National Sunday law in P25. We have old blue laws in states, calling for communal day of rest. Not a Sunday law. There is a suggestion in P25 to pay employeees 1.5 times for Sunday work. If you zoom out, 85 percent of the country does what they want on Sunday. They don’t observe any day of rest. Page 589 could induce some employers to close, perhaps. Don’t let it set your hair on fire, it is not legislation. Could it get a toe in the door for Sunday observance?, it could. A better way is to take America back through God’s ways. By sharing the biblical sabbath, not by passing laws or using coercion. Coercion is not God’s method. God’s way is to persuade, and to reason together. Page 589 is progressive (labor union) policy suggested by concerned Americans. Calling Sunday the Sabbath is not good. Could be a Sunday law toe in the door. It’s not legislation and has minimal chance of becoming legislation. The sabbath is an institute of creation. Sunday is an institutions of legislation. God’s methods do not work with coercion.

Agenda 2030

Chris. Agenda 2030 has some decent things in it, but the whole thing is a conduit for climate control over the world’s population. The climate change agenda is a religious movement. It is implemented from the top down. “The real enemy is humanity” is a direct quote from these globalist leaders.

We are at the showdown between Elijah and Baal on this issue. The Pope is heavily involved in promotion of it. (So is Gaoune Diop, who, on January 29, 2019, organize a symposium at the United Nations (UN) Secretariat in New York City, New York.  The theme of this meeting was to persuade church organizations to help the UN in achieving its 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. He really did this.)

Closing thoughts:

Scott. Over the last century, bright minds have collaborated to control us. Don’t become yoked to a political party. It ruins your religious liberty perspective. We are looking for a better country. Politics make us myopic. The church should maintain objectivity, so we don’t get what we saw in the last three years (Covid mandates etc).

Chris. We could have been born at anytime in history. We are here now. Spend time with God. My sheep know my voice. Don’t be goats. Be sheep. Our only safeguard is Scripture. How do you know if you want to go to heaven? Only by studying the scriptures. We need Christ’s character reproduced in us. We are the sanctuary that God is cleansing.

Fun fact, the moderator John changed angels’ pronouns to “it.” He wasn’t sure if they were a he or a she (in all examples of holy writ, they are referred to as a he). It was a very good panel discussion.


Gerhard Erbes

In the afternoon, Gerhard Erbes had a tremendous presentation on WWII, the buildup of the Nazi Party and the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s response to the Nazi machine.

We think the problem in Germany started in 1933. The real origin of it goes back 100 years. Darwin started in 1800’s. One of his platforms was the preservation of favored races. Francis Galton coined eugenics. the goal was improving the improving quality of the aryan race.

1912 first eugenics conference.. Eugenics society sprang up in london in 1920’s. Sweden in 1921. Only healthy seed must be sown, poster. The goal was to prevent the reproduction of inferior stock (races). Reduce number of inferior stocks.

Politics combined with science. Book from Darwin to Hitler. The Nazi party was founded in 1920.

Article 4. No Jew can be a National comrade (Germany)

Article 24. The common good before individual good. (Sound familiar?).

Hitler wrote Mein Kamf in 1925. Graph of elections - red bar is Nazi party. Fascinating.

1933 - fire Jews, cancel rental agreements, lawyers lose license. Naturalizations between 1918-1933 revoked. Non Aryn artists excluded from entertainment, 319 laws were made regarding Jews.

Adventist journals said there is a new reformation and fresh wind in the country.

1933 vote to affirm Adolph and Nazi. Adventist journals recommended to vote in favor of Nazi party. The SDA church in Germany was stuck with their statement. They never recovered from it.

1934- 176 laws against Jews. Church acquiesced to the term colored threat. Europe must protect themselves from the colored threat.

1935 - 529 laws against Jews. About 1000 laws total now..

1938 - isolate Jews. They were excluded from school or businesses. 283 more laws.

Adventist Wilhelm Jokur asked GC for help. Nobody helped. He disappeared. Nobody knows what happened to him. Sign on SDA church doors, Jews forbidden. Verboten. Nobody spoke up. Nobody wanted to talk about it. SDA Church was in denial.

In 2005 the SDA church in Austria apologized. 60 years too late.

What do the historians say? The preservation of the organization appears to have taken top priority. Common good over individual conscience.

Lessons for 2020’s

  • Culture science narrative

  • Coercion - common good.

  • Compromise or conscience?

The audience was spellbound after this presentation. Gerhard did not tell people what to think, he just recounted the facts of history and let the audience draw their own conclusions.

Eva Tompkins

Eva is an attorney and financial expert in New York. She had a compelling presentation on the efforts to create a digital dollar in America and what that means for our ability to buy and sell.

Money is an illusion. The less we love or depend on money going into the time of the end, the better off we will be.

The era of fiat money began in 1971 under Richard Nixon. Prior to that gold was the standard at $35 an ounce. Fiat = not backed by gold or some standard.

When the fed prints more money, they create more debt.

Black Rock CEO says next market change is tokenization of assets. There is a tokenization race going on, to digitize assets. It seems to be leading towards the implementation of total control over your finances and assets.

I will discuss Ron Kelly’s two sermons in the next installment. Stay sharp, love God and walk in Truth.

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“I will declare your righteousness and your deeds, but they will not profit you…But he who takes refuge in Me shall possess the land  and shall inherit my holy mountain” (Isaiah 57:12, 13).