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Absolutely correct. In addition, The sworn statement made by the Father of President Ted, some years ago to the effect that the SDA denomination is second only to the Roman Catholic church in an organizational structure in which the power resides at the top was a correct statement.

See: http://spectrummagazine.org/article/2017/08/26/remorseful-robber-love-your-enemies

Just in the interest of meaningful discourse, it would be good to include the dates of the EGW quotations as you did for one quotation. In some of the quotations it sounds like EGW was writing about specific people, specific events, and even specific pamphlets, so those statements may not be applicable to things that happened later. The quotation from 1893 was written 22 years before EGW died, 124 years prior to today. The SDA church was undeniably different at the time EGW was writing than the SDA denomination is today. For instance, today the SDA church is a legal corporation, which is a legal entity that has the rights of an individual where no individual actually exists -- a bit of legal fiction which seems quite normal to us. The SDA corporation, which did not exist when EGW wrote those statements, now has a trademark on the name "Seventh-day Adventist", and that name legally refers to a different entity (the corporation) than existed at the time EGW was writing.

I just can't get very involved in discussions where EGW is quoted for validation of a doctrinal position. I have come so far from that. No one outside the SDA denomination is going to be convinced of any truth because EGW endorsed it.

....as said, so appropriate for many parts of our lives.

"The Seventh-day Adventist Church is no longer a religious revival and reform movement in Christendom but an established, highly structured, tightly organised community" From https://wp.avondale.edu.au/news/event/lecture-dr-niels-erik-andreasen/ SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 3.30 PM-5.00 PM Free “173 YEARS OLD AND 20 MILLION (PLUS CHILDREN) STRONG” The Seventh-day Adventist Church is no longer a religious revival and reform movement in Christendom but an established, highly structured, tightly organised community. As such, it cannot escape the world’s social, religious, economic and cultural forces, especially in developed countries where it has existed the longest. It’s not suffering from liberalisation or secularisation but maturation. So says Dr Niels-Erik Andreasen, who has now retired after 22 years as President of Andrews University. Leading the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s flagship educational institution places him in an ideal position to reflect on the church and the major issues it faces. Those issues include questions about: How we keep united when the church is subject to the common principles of organisational behaviour How do and how might we read Scripture—the challenges of understanding questions about origins and interpreting Scripture are an outgrowth of our educational aspirations; and The relationship between knowledge and faith. Other challenges arise from the fact that the story in the developing world differs from that in the developed world, for cultural, economic, political and other reasons, and we fail to understand that. Presented by Sydney Adventist Forum with Avondale College of Higher Education. Freewill offering. BIOGRAPHY Born in Denmark in 1941 and educated there, Dr Niels-Erik Andreasen matriculated in mathematics and science before undertaking a Bachelor of Arts at Newbold College in England. His postgraduate study included a Bachelor of Divinity from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews and a PhD on the topic of the Hebrew Bible from Vanderbilt University. Dr Andreasen taught at Pacific Union College, Avondale College and Loma Linda University and served as President at Walla Walla University before accepting the presidency at Andrews. He has published three books as well as articles, essays and reviews. He is married to Demetra and they have one son and two grandchildren. + GOOGLE CALENDAR

Incredible story!! I love stories like that!

JoMo: Beautiful!

Wanderer, My prayers go out to you and your wife. Both my parents died of cancer; my sister, my daughter, and I are all cancer survivors. I pray that your wife will also be a survivor. But even if she doesn't survive in her temporary tent, if she is anything like you, you will see her again - in perfect health, beauty, vitality, and eternal life in the Kingdom. May God give you peace, comfort, and unconditional love; and give your wife freedom from pain and distress.

I don't intend to leave my denomination, either. But my denomination doesn't save me. My denomination gives me a group of (mostly) wonderful people who believe like I do - people with whom I love to worship and socialize - my closest friends and confidants; people who hold me accountable, celebrate my joys with, and who comfort me in my grief. But neither they nor the church saves me. The blood and grace of Jesus save me. Nonetheless, I thank God for the fellowship and support of my brothers and sisters in the SDA church. I also thank God for my clan of fellow believers who are not SDA's.