My name is Aubrey Duncan, and I am a member in good and regular standing of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist church. I do believe, based on the Bible and the testimony of history, that this movement is God’s remnant church of Bible prophecy. I was introduced to it amid a 12+year addiction to crack cocaine. The love of the people I encountered and the doctrinal truths I learned from the movement restored my sanity and changed my life. One thing that enhanced my embrace of the Advent Movement was someone gifting me a copy of a precious, eye-opening book entitled The Great Controversy. I am motivated to share it with as many as I can.
My mental and spiritual faculties were fortified as I consumed the contents of that volume. It’s been more than twenty years now since I joined the Movement, and I have not, and don’t intend to, put it down. Growing up in South America with a British educational background, I was very familiar with much of the European historical events the book brought to view. Coupling this with the prophetic revelations and historical evidence of the movement, I am totally convinced of the veracity and authenticity of the Seventh-day Advent church and its place in salvation history.
It never ceases to amaze me that a group of people have been blessed with such a treasure in the body of knowledge given them by the author of the Great Controversy and her voluminous other writings. As a people, the Seventh-day Adventist church has the best intelligence, second to none, on the movements of the nations in the moments in which we live.
The author of the Great Controversy, Ellen G. White, whom the Smithsonian Institution recognizes as one of the ten most read Bible commentators in America, shares this thought: “Let all be careful not to make an outcry against the only people who are fulfilling the description given of the remnant people, who keep the commandments of God and have faith in Jesus…. God has a distinct people, a church on earth, second to none, but superior to all in their facilities to teach the truth, to vindicate the law of God” (Last Day Events, pg. 43.3).
But I am pained for my church.
Over the years, I have noticed that my beloved Seventh-day Adventist church has become more divisive, intensely politically and socially attuned rather than fulfilling the mission to which it has been called. The spirit of debate and contention, characteristic of the culture at large, has become normal in God’s Remnant church. The tenor of the culture has infiltrated and infected the movement. Consequently, our sense of identity and mission seems to have been largely forgotten. That identity, to those who may have forgotten, is to share the love of Jesus and the power He provides to overcome sin in a world that is in darkness.
God’s messenger enlightens us: “It is the darkness of misapprehension of God that is enshrouding the world. Men are losing their knowledge of His character. It has been misunderstood and misinterpreted. At this time a message from God is to be proclaimed, a message illuminating in its influence and saving in its power. His character is to be made known. Into the darkness of the world is to be shed the light of His glory, the light of His goodness, mercy, and truth” (Christ Object Lessons, pg. 415.3).
At the risk of collectively being accused by our enemies of uplifting Ellen White above the Bible (which is patently false), let me remind us of her forcibly precise counsel in this regard: “In a special sense Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers. To them has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world. On them is shining wonderful light from the word of God. They have been given a work of the most solemn import—the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages. There is no other work of so great importance. They are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention (9 Testimonies, pg. 19.1).
However, the current public, divisive debate that prompted me to write this letter suggests that we are doing everything else except heeding the inspired counsel. The ongoing contentious bickering before the onlooking world is at fever pitch. It was aggravated by the recent remarks of a prominent influential pastor and teacher addressing the church’s handling of the Covid 19 disaster, church organization and tithing. The contention in the public square is nothing short of pathetic and heart-wrenching. The arguments on both sides seem to be motivated more by political positions (in and outside of the church organization), the need for more clicks, more views, more subscribers and more likes, rather than by the Word of God.
First, instead of debating church issues in the public sphere, we should be following the plain, distinct admonition given by our Lord and Savior: “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established” (Matthew 18:15-16).
The daunting question to this writer’s mind is, ‘have any of the contestants in this despicable spectacle followed the counsel of the Jesus in whom they claim to believe?
Secondly, regardless of which side is right or wrong, hanging out the church’s dirty laundry in public pleases only the enemy of our souls. He has caught God’s people in the perfect snare. The current situation is tantamount to deception of the darkest order. Additionally, it gratifies those who seek to denounce and defame what the Seventh-day Adventist church stands for by attacking its sound doctrinal positions. The current public dilemma adds fuel to that fire. Fortunately for our opposers, they can now take a timeout as we are doing their work for them.
It was situations such as this current debacle that Jesus foresaw when He answered His disciples’ question relative to the signs of the end of the world: “Take heed that no man deceives you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:4-5). Certainly, everyone in this debate claims to know Christ, speak in His name and affirms that He is the Christ. But this furious, sometimes vitriolic, public debate has only brought confusion among God’s people. Confusion is always the fruit of deception; and that picture is on full display. It constitutes an unwitting denial of who Jesus truly is. The enemy of our souls cares not who is wrong or right, so long as his enemies shoot their arrows at each other. Remember he deceived one third of perfect heavenly angels. Think not that we cannot be deceived. In fact, this is exactly what is transpiring. The gravity of the ongoing contention is worsened by the fact that everyone seems to be blinded to its non-salvific nature and cares only for advancing their own ideas and agendas.
Jesus is our Perfect Example. We must be like Him and be willing to give up our right to be right; regardless of how passionately we feel about our rightfulness. The Savior gave up His right not to die; but died anyway so that we can live. He has warned us that though we are in this world, we are not of this world. May we seek to copy the Divine pattern.
I would like to ask my dear brothers and sisters, how does divisiveness, contentious bickering and political posturing help to save a soul? How does it help us to fulfill our mission to take the last message of mercy to a doomed and dying world, steadfastly locked on an irreversible course to a destructive destiny? How does the current state of affairs help us to prepare people for what is coming upon this world as an overwhelming surprise? We are counseled: “Angels are now restraining the winds of strife, until the world shall be warned of its coming doom; but a storm is gathering, ready to burst upon the earth, and when God shall bid His angels loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture. A moment of respite has been graciously given us of God. Every power lent us of heaven is to be used in doing the work assigned us by the Lord for those who are perishing in ignorance. God’s people should make mighty intercession to Him for help now. And they must put their whole energies into the effort to proclaim the truth during the respite that has been granted” (Evangelism 704).
I humbly appeal to my leaders, listeners, readers, talking heads and other influencers…STOP. You must change course.
Contrary to exposing our differences and weaknesses to the world, we must be focused on putting away sins from our lives and striving to help others to do likewise. We are a sin putting-away movement. People need to be warned that Jesus is about to come and that He is their only hope from the morass of this doomed and dying world and the destructive demise that it is about to experience.
The hour is late, and the world is in darkness. The man of sin, who is laser focused on establishing his Sunday in the place of the Creator’s Sabbath, must be exposed and people released from His prison. But what are we doing? God’s call upon you, my Seventh-day Adventist friends: “Arise, shine; for thy light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising” (Isaiah 60:1-3). We can’t adequately answer that call and perform that duty in the present condition.
It is my sincere prayer that our leaders humble themselves and take the initiative to invite all contending parties to come together privately, pray, discuss our differences and seek the power of God’s Holy Spirit to guide them into the proper resolution on the matters that is tearing us apart. This is His church; He says that it is by lifting Him up and preaching the precious truths that He has bequeathed to His remnant people that will separate the wheat from the chaff. If we do that, as sure as the sun shall rise tomorrow, He will do the cleaning up. May we not seek to deprive Him of His prerogatives and put Him on the unemployment line. Creator God has given the work of harvesting to no human instrument.
However, He assures us, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
The spirit of strife and contention that now pervades God’s remnant church, as is evidenced by the current controversy, is not from God. Instead, it is as the enemy intended, hampering God’s people from accomplishing their divine mission in these closing scenes of earth’s history.
“It is the mission of the church, imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit, to work for the transformation of human lives from sin to righteous. Such a task is not accomplished by the laws of the state, but by the exemplification of the character of Jesus Christ in His word and in the lives of His followers. That regeneration, called salvation, is the only instrument that can change lives, left and right, and enhance society. It is what the world needs most. The apostle Paul tells us that by beholding Jesus we become changed. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18, John 14:6, Acts 4:12).
Again, we are reminded: “Those who wait for the Bridegroom’s coming are to say to the people, “Behold your God.” The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of His character of love. The children of God are to manifest His glory. In their own life and character they are to reveal what the grace of God has done for them. The light of the Sun of Righteousness is to shine forth in good works—in words of truth and deeds of holiness” (Christ Object Lessons, pg. 415.5). That’s what the world needs most of all.
Ultimately, the world is being divided into two classes: Not Liberal or Conservative. Not Right or Left. Not Black or White. Not Pro-life or Pro-choice. Not Women’s Ordination or Male Leadership. Not Critical Race Theory or Equal Opportunity. Not Democrat or Republican. There is salvation in none of these cultural and political hot button issues that has overwhelmed the Remnant church and is compromising its mission. The two sides in the final contest are these: Jesus with those who keep His commandments, including His Seventh-day Sabbath commandment. On the other side is the rest of the world. Jesus appeals to us: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32).
Not unlike the Pharisees, Sadducees and the apostate church leadership of Jesus’ time, so will all political positions and all other religious persuasions coalesce into a satanic cauldron of opposition against God’s people. It will produce a brew of unmitigated hatred against His remnant church. Are we so blinded by our cultural prejudices, political biases and need for self-exaltation that we fail to see the brew boiling before our eyes, and therefore choose to fight each other? Our brothers and sisters are not our enemies, the man of sin is (Ephesians 6:12).
Nevertheless, we are assured of victory if we do the work, in His strength. Nothing can stop us if we are obedient to Him. Enough of panel discussions and arm-chair theological pontificating. Contentious debates must end. It’s time to do the work. It’s time to shine for Jesus. It’s time to warn the world. It’s time for unity. To Corporate SDA pastors, leaders, administrators, independent ministries, self-supporting entities, I humbly say, “it’s time to come together. Remember, there are only two sides”.
- God’s church: Enfeebled and defective as it may appear, the church is the one object upon which God bestows in a special sense His supreme regard. It is the theater of His grace, in which He delights to reveal His power to transform hearts” (The Acts of the Apostles, Pg.12). Let us show the right movie.
- The enemy: Those opposing His church.
Consider carefully: on which side are you?
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