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An Adventist Pastor in Exile!
The Last Word On Ecumenism!
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In an article that you can witness on the Atoday "Adventist" discussion forum, one of many pastors who have been sent away from the church because he is ecumenical (Catholic) sings the blues as he tells of his supposed mistreatment upon leaving. These receive much sympathy from the equally ecumenical people who dominate all the "Adventist" discussion forums, but Independent ministry leaders and members who love Adventism and are sent away, never receive such sympathy from these, but are told that they are critical and mean-spirited. |
| The author discussed here is Jerry Gladson. Mr. Gladson presents to us "new" principles that were around well before my mother was born--even well before the turn of the 20th century. He brings up the same objective in many differing communistic and flowery ways, but they all add up to the same thing: The Adventist Church must give up her doctrines so that she no longer exposes his pope. She must then join with the rest of the churches and then consent to being told what to do from then on. |
| These are the advanced steps that they cleverly keep you in the dark about, but you need to know these things anyway. You need to know just what is going on. We therefore show the Last Word on Ecumenism so you can understand that not only is it unbiblical, but it is tyrannical, despotic and satanic. |
| The actual article can be found from the link above. Below this article by Mr. Gladson is our Last Word on the issue: |
JERRY GLADSON
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All I ever wanted to be was an ordained Seventh-day Adventist minister. I consider myself an Adventist in exile. Today I am an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, and I am the serving the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Garden Grove, California, as senior minister. In those statements are embodied 15 years of struggle that have led to the place where I am now. Today I live and work outside the Adventist community because I cannot endure the conditions that exist within the church. I am one of the persons who was eliminated in what I now call the Southern College "Holocaust." I use that term advisedly because of the large number of people affected and the number of careers permanently damaged by what can only be described as unfounded rumors, rumors that were manipulated by church administrators. The hidden agenda, we now see, was the "purification" of Southern College. |
| But long before the crisis at Southern College, I struggled inwardly with certain theological issues. I struggled with them as a pastor, a doctoral student and a teacher at Southern College. Some of these issues surfaced in the church and were actively debated publicly at the college. I once contemplated writing a doctoral dissertation on Daniel 8, but gave up the idea as unsafe for an Adventist scholar. I later ended up writing my dissertation on wisdom literature, an area about which Adventists say very little and, consequently, a safe one. Even though the administration at Southern College was unable to pinpoint any "error" in my teaching or in my life style, they felt that I should leave the college and began to pressure me to do so. I left voluntarily. |
| In 1987, I became dean of the Psychological Studies Institute in Atlanta, a job which was split between administration and teaching, and which I held for five years. It was hard for me to come to the place where, after a lifetime career in the Adventist organization, I would choose to seek other employment. But I felt I had to do that if I were to survive psychologically. I made the decision with the idea that it would give me time to reconsider things more objectively without economic pressure. |
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At the Psychological Studies Institute I taught religion, did administrative work, and used the time for objective reassessment. I had hoped to create a niche in the Adventist community where I could live, function and contribute. But I discovered, to my dismay, that the Atlanta Adventist community was even more conservative than the one at Collegedale. I suddenly found myself marginalized everywhere I went, tainted with the brush of heresy. Eventually I was unofficially banned from Adventist pulpits in Atlanta. I did find refuge in a couple of small country parishes that occasionally invited me to preach. |
| The theological problems with which I had struggled at Southern College and all through my ministry resurfaced. I seriously questioned how I could maintain my integrity and continue. It wasn’t that I disagreed with peripheral elements of Adventist theology; I found myself in disagreement over core issues-remnant theology, investigative judgment, the inconsistency of Ellen White’s writings, etc. |
| I remember walking through a shopping mall one day in Atlanta, feeling the rage because of what had happened. The religion faculty had gone through about 10 years of struggle at Southern College in which we never knew, from day to day, if we would be in the classroom on Monday morning. Every time contracts came up for renegotiation, all of our experience (tenure) was thrown out the window. We were literally as good as our answer to the last student question in class. One faculty member even banned all questions in his classroom, feeling that was the safest way to proceed. |
| Things came to a head when the Institute wanted me to continue to carry a credential as an ordained minister from an accepted denomination. My Adventist credentials were expiring, so I set out a kind of "fleece." I decided that I would ask the church to renew my credentials when they expired, and to allow me to remain at the Institute to teach religion while functioning as an ordained Seventh-day Adventist minister. It may come as a surprise to many that the Adventist denomination had no provision for this sort of thing. |
| Knowing that this was untried territory, I began the process. I started at the Union and was referred to the General Conference, and the General Conference handed me over to the North American Division. The Division wanted to handle this from within its chaplaincy office. Two years passed as we went through the various steps of this process, with proposals and counter-proposals. Finally the North American Division worked up a document to take to the 1990 General Conference Session, later to be approved by the Union. It looked like a green light. |
| Two things occurred at the 1990 General Conference that were to doom my appeal. First, the ordination of women was voted down 3-to-1. Second, the Southern Union president, Al McClure, became the North American Division president. McClure, in the opinion of many, manipulated the rumors at Southern College for a hidden agenda. I was told that McClure’s promotion probably doomed my request for continuation of my credentials. At any rate, I was turned down in the fall of 1990. |
| Refusing to take no as an answer, I appealed directly to the panel of union presidents. In December of 1990, I was told by the North American Division office that I would have to wait until the end of February, when this group would meet, for a final decision. So on the first of March, I took a deep breath, picked up the telephone, called the North American Division office, and asked to speak with Elder McClure. Instead I got his assistant, so I asked what had happened to the appeal. And here, almost word for word is his answer (I copied it down shortly afterward): "I’m afraid I have bad news. Your appeal has been turned down. You might as well quit trying. Action on your behalf is completely dead. You should look elsewhere!" |
| He went on to elaborate on the decision to exclude women from the ordained ministry. I had long been a public advocate of the ordination of women. After the denomination voted down women’s ordination at the General Conference Session in 1990, I decided to write a letter protesting this action. So here I was in this debate over my own over credentials, wondering, If I do receive them, if I have the card in my hand, can I use this card when I know it is the badge of a privileged group that excludes women who are equally competent, gifted and called? The assistant to the president told me that the letter I had written was a key factor in the decision on my credentials. He told me: No one speaks that way to a North American Division president. No one dares challenge that office in this way. At that moment I knew my letter had finished it all. |
| I sat there in thought for a moment. I remained motionless, almost stunned to think that after a 26-year career, my church of origin was slamming the ministerial door in my face. I could continue without standing. According to the Adventist minister’s manual that means one is rendered virtually impotent in terms of ministerial functions. I couldn’t celebrate communion, for example. I couldn’t perform a wedding. I felt like my whole life’s work was collapsing and I seemed to be in a dark room alone, utterly alone. |
| I let several days go by before I tried to do anything, and then I did the only thing I knew how in order to be true to my calling. I called the local conference of the United Church of Christ. I had gotten to know the president of that organization through some other contacts, and I said, "Roger [Knight], does your church have room for a refugee?" He said, "We certainly do!" And we started the process of transferring ordination. It took several months, as there were examinations and interviews. In November, 1991, I received full ordained standing with the United Church of Christ and became officially an Adventist in exile! That same month, in connection with the crisis rooted at Southern College, my wife of 26 years left me. She could not bear the thought of being associated with another religious organization. She was burned out by the experience at Southern College, and she left to live a secular life. |
| I’m often asked the question, "Is there life after Adventism?" Some people look at me and wonder. They are not quite sure how to relate to what I’ve done. However, I have found, since I’ve been in exile, wondrous freedom. I’m free to do research, interpret, and reach my own conclusions. They can be my own conclusions, for no one is sitting in judgment on them. I have felt myself identifying much more with the great stream of the Christian tradition. Working in this framework gives me unbelievable exhilaration. To use the Christian lectionary in the church year has been a thrill beyond description, something most Adventists have missed. Every day is now a delight. |
| As I look at Adventism, I realize that several changes need to be made if the church is to be a safe place for thinking individuals. First, I believe the denomination should decentralize, abandon its hierarchy, perhaps replacing it with some kind of congregational church government. This could be a modified congregationalism, but it must be something which returns the power to the people. |
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Second, the denomination must be willing to revise its theological commitment and boil its doctrines down to a bare minimum. I suggest that the church take another look at the simple New Testament declaration of faith that Jesus Christ is Lord. That’s how it was in New Testament times: Belief in Jesus Christ was the single criterion. |
| Third, perhaps most difficult of all, the denomination should officially adopt some form of theological diversity. Adventism should allow people the freedom to understand and interpret things. |
| What have I learned from all this? I read a book recently entitled Toxic Faith (Steven Arterburn and Jack Felton, Thomas Nelson, 1991), and have, like some of you, become familiar with Anne Wilson Schaef’s work (with Diane Fassel): The Addictive Organization (Harper and Row, 1988). Both these books look at the psychology of what happens when a system becomes dysfunctional and adversely affects people. Such literature has been very helpful to me because I realize that I have been a victim of toxic faith. I have difficulty, even after all this time, getting through the anger and the hurt that I still have. But on the positive side, I realize that although my experience was painful, I have grown a great deal and am a stronger person in my faith. I have a deeper spiritual experience and can say that life is wonderful. I had not been able to say that since at least 1981, but I can say it now. Life is wonderful, God is good, and God is present. |
| Never again will I bring to a church organization the commitment that I gave to the Adventist organization. I’ll put God and family before church. One must live a life of integrity, no matter what. |
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My hope is that Adventism will someday move beyond its preoccupation with itself, begin to focus upon what God is doing in a larger context, and enter into a new era of the exultation of our Lord. Adventists must enter into a partnership with other denominations who are proclaiming the same Lord and take their place among Christians of all ages who are celebrating Jesus Christ. That is my prayer for Adventism. |
OUR COMMENTS:
| Mr. Gladston makes this very crucial statement in his third proposition for making sure that the Church agrees with his ideas. He writes: |
| "Third, perhaps most difficult of all, the denomination should officially adopt some form of theological diversity. Adventism should allow people the freedom to understand and interpret things." |
| That is just the problem. Mr. Gladson wanted womens' ordination. He interpeted that the church should allow womens' ordination so that it can be different from the church throughout the entire history of this planet, but people disagreed with him. The result is that he is not happy. The Church THOUGHT DIFFERENTLY, and from that day to the present he has a problem and essentially presents the same type of whiny Christian experience as had been and is typical of people such as Ratzlaff and Pat Darnell. They are so happy in Christ, that they spend time writing books and on forums in order to give us much more information about Ellen White and the SDA Church than Christ. They move forward telling us about the Christian spirit that doesn't accuse and is not negative, and they then move in with often unfounded accusations and all kinds of negativism. |
| The first step to overthrowing Adventism is not to move in and claim that she is all wrong and to show a totally different theology, but to pretend to favor all beliefs and freedom of beliefs. Next is to express a desire to talk and debate. Then would come the constant push to overthrow the order of the church while pushing the lie that you favor all opinions. If people emerge who can defend the Adventist faith well, you must use every tactic to censor them, discredit them and ultimately dismiss them from talking. For every one pastor who comes with the same message as Mr. Gladson are many ordinary people who are always being censored and supressed by people who have his same ideas. Is it really focusing and concentrating upon Christ why those who have such ecumenical ideas always find themselves in high and controlling positions and administering on discussion forums? Why not listen to them and just celebrate 24 hours and day and 7 days a week, as they told us we must do, and see if you can acquire any political skill or position at all! ONCE YOU FOR A MINUTE LISTEN TO THE BEAUTIFUL AND ENTRAPPING WORDS, BOOM!! You soon find out that rules and practices would be set up to prevent those who disagree from sharing their views. |
| Even Atoday is a prime example of this! Most all the postings I see on these forums are attacks against Adventism with the same false front of refraining from accusing and negativism, and the same false desire that all should freely be able to voice their opinions. I and others was posting on these forums in support of Adventism, and we all ultimately and consistently found out what happens when one is victimized by another who claims to love diverse thinking. I have seen a number of individuals who desired to demonstrate the truth in the Adventist message suppressed on all of these forums, I myself being an example. Yet the Eternal Gospel SDA Church and the other independent ministries are being sued because they have the name "Adventist" in their name while they criticize the heirachy, yet all the discussion forums bearing the name "Adventist" not only criticize the hierarchy, but criticize even the very concept of Adventism down to every last fiber, and we cannot seem to alert the church about this! |
| Dr. Gladson now tells us that we must be ecumenical. That is what he is saying. How therefore can he claim that he is bringing in anything new? People who are ecumenical want all the churches to unite UNDER ROME. They frequently leave out those last two words as they work to accomplish their goals, for who would talk with them after that except others who came from the same place? But yet all ecumenical people know for sure that the main reason that separates the Adventist Church from all others is their DOCTRINE, and their special revelations or distinctives. ALL ECUMENICALS THEREFORE ALWAYS CALL FOR THE SUPRESSION OR TOTAL DISMISSAL OF ADVENTIST DOCTRINE. Mr. Gladson's statement was therefore in his second point: |
| "Second, the denomination must be willing to revise its theological commitment and boil its doctrines down to a bare minimum. I suggest that the church take another look at the simple New Testament declaration of faith that Jesus Christ is Lord. That’s how it was in New Testament times: Belief in Jesus Christ was the single criterion." |
| Do not be surprised if the entire understanding of the Revelation, which points to the Papacy as the Antichrist, is included with this! It is just another way of telling us that we dare not declare the Papacy to be the Antichrist. And how important is the message of the Revelation and the distinctive doctrines of Adventism? The bible tells us in the last chapter of the Revelation that if any man shall take away from the words of that book, God will take his name and part out of the book of life and the holy city. That is because the Revelation reveals issues that, if left neglected, will cost the lives of millions of people! That is why praising Christ till you are blue in the face, while keeping Sunday after uniting with the different denominations will cause you to experience the fiercest plagues. The scriptures then promises that those who worship the Beast will have no rest day nor night in the fires of hell. That is because, in the issues upcoming, if you worship the Beast, YOU ARE GOING TO BETRAY GOD'S PEOPLE AND CAUSE THEM TO BE JAILED, PERSECUTED AND EVEN KILLED. IT WILL BE ACCOUNTED TO YOU AS IF YOU DID THESE THINGS TO CHRIST HIMSELF! ALL THIS WILL BE DONE IN THE NAME OF CHRIST WITH PRAYER, PRAISING AND SHOUTS OF ADORATION TO HIM! |
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What is essentially being said is that crucial doctrines and revelations given directly by Christ Himself need to be supressed. People with these ideas among us step forward to tell us that we are suffocating the world with such a knowledge of these things, that they cannot even think about Christ, when the exact opposite is true. |
| "The work which the church has failed to do in a time of peace and prosperity she will have to do in a terrible crisis under most discouraging, forbidding circumstances. The warnings that world conformity has silenced or withheld must be given under the fiercest opposition from enemies of the faith. And at that time the superficial class, whose influence has steadily retarded the progress of the work, will renounce the faith and take their stand with its avowed enemies, toward whom their sympathies have long been tending. These apostates will manifest the most bitter enmity, doing all in their power to oppress and malign their former brethren and to excite indignation against them. This day is just before us. The members of the church will individually be tested and proved. They will be placed in circumstances where they will be forced to bear witness for the truth. Many will be called to speak before councils and in courts of justice, perhaps separately and alone. The experience which would have helped them in this emergency they have neglected to obtain, and their souls are burnded with remorse for wasted opportunities and neglected privileges." -- 5T 463. |
| And what will be discussed here and will be the big issue? At that time the Adventist Church must teach the world about Christ, when the churches are then united, Separation of Church and State has been eradicated, persecution has therefore been reinstituted and everyone in crisis is praising Christ? |
| The witness shows that we are very neglectful of teaching the world the special revelations committed to our church, and that strange people will emerge to make sure that the opposite takes place in an effort to prevent that message from moving forward. |
| The ideas of Mr. Gladson are EVERYWHERE, and the object is to so crowd out the truth that the time will come when people who believe in Adventism in idenfying the plots for world control will not even be safe or comfortable if they worshipped in a dumpster. Once they are allowed power and control, they will move to seek out those who believe the truth in every crevice and will demand that these surrender their beliefs to the point of pain of death. |
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If you think what I say is strange, just view all the posters on the forums who constantly post their irritation that the Adventist Church claims to be the true church. Christ is not sweet enough to keep them from being irritated about this, while Jehovah's Witnesses and other groups that claim to be the true church, do not bother true Adventists. They on the forums tell us that we are legalistic and do not focus on Christ, yet focusing on Christ isn't sufficient enough to calm them down when Adventist claim to be members of the true church! The next real odd thing to happen is that the Pope recently wrote a letter declaring that the Catholic Church is the true church. From that time to this we have witnessed a strange silence with no irritation coming from that letter |
| The evidence is clear of what is going on! |
END
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