Leaderboard

China is in deep political and economic trouble. There are people diving into crowds almost every other day. Large bomb explosions and acts of sabotage weekly. People are loosing their life savings to fraudulent schemes. The current administration cannot survive. I don't know if they will appoint a new leader, or perhaps communism will fall like the Soviet Union. Something will happen. The pressure is great. What if ? The CCP were to fall, and a new government came in that allowed Christianity? Open baptisms and organized church growth. There is a deep spiritual hunger in China. Over a billion people. It might be possible to see Christianity take over that whole region. I think it would shock many people.

I don't think people in NAD are prepared for what is coming. The Global South are focused on hyper growth. My friends in NAD do not understand that. Story time. I started coming to the Philippines in 2001. At that time there was division president who did an Evangelistic meeting in a Catholic town called Malinao. There were zero baptisms. Lots of money spent but zero results. The priests and nuns mobilized to block anyone who wanted to be baptized. 15 years ago, I did a smaller meeting, and we decided to be in a smaller village, next to the town, to avoid the wrath of the big church. Friday eve we had 50 people signed up. But the next day only about 13 were baptized. Again because of the pressure. Last week, a group from Texas came and held a meeting in the town. 84 people were baptized. That is a very large number, and in that Catholic town. Our church, is almost filled to capacity. Most of the Adventist churches here are very full. The Spirit is moving people. It is my prediction, based on the trends here, that Asia will grow at a rate never seen before. For years, we have talked about a "Revolving door". I THINK IT IS HERE.

In the following article, Loren comments on the huge sums of money spent on the GC Session so that the delegates could waste time debating trivial changes to the Church Manual. See: https://atoday.org/im-mad-as-hell-and-im-not-going-to-take-it-anymore/ NOTE: I have never been a delegate to one of these. But, I have attended two, or was it three. I have forgotten. At the last one that I attended, in Texas, I checked out and went home early as did not want to waste my time listening to the inane arguments going on.

It is a waste of time to finance 2800 delegates to vote om trivial changes to the Chruch mMAnual. Those changes could have been made at a much lower leel.

Dr. Timothy Standish of the Geoscience Research Institute is reported to have made the following critical comment: “Those of you who are familiar with the way in which the church was restructured into its current form in the 1901 and 1903 General Conferences will recall that it was a response to the direct message from God that was given to us by sister Ellen G. White. There is a trend that has been apparent in changes over the years that have gone against that intent, which was to move power from the General Conference down to the local level. We are in rebellion against that message from God himself. This particular change reflects that rebellion. It moves the power from those on the ground who need funding for doing the mission. It moves it to the General Conference in another city, in another land, on a different continent. I stand I hope with all of you who respect the messenger of the Lord and the message that she gave all those years ago that applies to the General Conference today.” See: https://atoday.org/random-observations-from-way-way-upstairs-on-day-7/

In 2017, a group of Adventist clergy members and scholars met to a conference in London, England to discuss how the SDA Church could have greater unity. The story of that meeting has been recently published, and that 46-book< "The 2017 Unity Conference: is currently being sold on Amazon for $5.00. You may find it on amazon at the following website. https://www.amazon.com/2017-Unity-Conference-Reporting-Adventist/dp/1974178870/ref=sr_1_1?crid=14XKPG6ZHNT2S&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.EHsZLEkGjP43apFLJfSeYlUfrN-6aLZ8ICnLuBb6exX8NLlBVM_JjZxnNBn16xRg.Xo8psEVXQ1EPEgoLscccq7-QkMXl0iBP3q0-Mw45tHc&dib_tag=se&keywords=The+2017+Unity+Conference&qid=1751940161&sprefix=%2Caps%2C284&sr=8-1 The 2017 Unity Conference Presentations may be accessed at: https://www.andrews.edu/library/car/cardigital/Periodicals/Spectrum/2017_Vol_45/2017_02-03.pdf

I have not yet read the entire book. A common theme of the book is that: "Ellen White's instruction [was] that church authority should be local and distributed." [See page 28.] This was in contrast to the idea that it should be centralized, such as at the General Conference level.

The following article reports on the details of the election of the new GC President. https://spectrummagazine.org/news/from-south-america-to-silver-spring-how-erton-kohler-was-elected-to-lead/

The best of Adventist leaders will be imperfect. That is why we need term limits on many administrative positions, perhaps all of them. Ted Wilson has served this denomination for many years. But, it was time for a change, as it would have been time for a change for any other person who had been President for the same amount of time. If normal practice is followed, as I understand it, Ted Wilson will be given an office at the GC "HQ, and available to consult with any who wish to consult with him. I consider this to be unnecessary. Any who wish to consult with him may do so at him home, if he wishes. Each new GC President needs to have the freedom to work in concert with chosen advisors and without unasked for advice from previous office personnel.