A much needed letter from David Asscherick

[olger]

"Letter from David Asscherick to Elders Paulsen, Schneider, and Graham:

April 30, 2009

Pastors Jan Paulsen, Don C. Schneider, Ricardo Graham

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

12501 Old Columbia Pike

Silver Spring, MD 20904

Dear Pastors Paulsen, Schneider, and Graham,

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ. Like each of you, I am an ordained pastor of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church. I write these words with my heart on full display--from pastor to pastor. This letter concerns the teaching of evolution at La Sierra University. While I am not a formally trained scientist, I am, however, familiar with many of the apologetic, philosophical, and theological issues surrounding the theories of naturalistic evolution. I have made this an area of special study in my life and ministry. So, I feel both comfortable and qualified to speak to the issue, especially in its ecclesiastical ramifications.

It is a matter of incontestable fact that naturalistic evolution is being taught at La Sierra University. This is not in and of itself a bad thing. Evolution should be taught at our denominational universities. But it should be taught as a competing and inimical worldview to the biblical worldview. We need our young people to know what it is they are up against, yes, but when naturalistic evolution is taught as fact or as the preferred and normative worldview, then we can be sure that the enemy has breached our lines.

There is no point in equivocating. I have seen the class materials with my own eyes. Frankly, I think every Seventh-day Adventist deserves to see them. Our people need to know what is happening. Many of them have heard various rumblings, but being the conscientious, confiding, and hopeful people they are, they have generally assumed the very best. We are making capital of their trust.

In 2003 I preached a two-week evangelistic meeting on the Loma Linda University campus. The event was student-led and university-sponsored. Many students from La Sierra University attended those meetings, and I personally visited with many of them. They told me what was being taught in some of their science classes. I shall never forget the looks and questions of unadorned incredulity that I witnessed among those students. I have talked to many more since. “What should I do?” “Should I say something?” “Should I just attend a non-SDA school?” “Do our leaders know about this?” “How come these people are allowed to teach at a Seventh-day Adventist University?” These young people, and many others like them, are justifiably nonplussed. Frankly, I share their confusion!

What deeply concerns me is that the faith of many students, who look up to their Adventist professors as more than just academic instructors, but also as spiritual leaders, is being undermined. Jesus’ words in Luke 17:1, 2 about causing “one of these little ones to stumble” carry inestimable weight, and they should be reason enough to propel us to responsible action. Brethren, what are we doing and allowing? Will not God hold us accountable in our respective spheres for what happens on our watch?

I am aware, of course, that the church’s governmental structure gives institutions like La Sierra University a necessary degree of administrative freedom. This is a good and wise arrangement. But this freedom, surely, is not synonymous with virtually unaccountable autonomy. La Sierra University is, after all, a denominational university. If the board has not yet adequately addressed this matter, then doesn’t that evince a kind of complicity, if not outright mismanagement and denominational disloyalty? I genuinely ask, at what point is La Sierra University’s board accountable and answerable to you men and the levels of church government that you represent? When, if ever, can someone step in and save our children and the institutions they attend?

Governing and administrative structures are not the church. The people are the church. The governing and administrative structures are the scaffolding of the church. Scaffolds are for building and strengthening a thing; they are not the thing itself. But what if some are using the scaffolding to tear down the very church they were commissioned and created to build up? What then? I genuinely want to know. Where does the buck stop?

Perhaps you feel that your hands are tied by policy and protocol. But surely they cannot be tied completely. What should I, as a church pastor, do if someone is teaching doctrine that undermines the church’s biblical positions in one of my Sabbath School classes? Wouldn’t it be expected of me, the pastor--shepherd--of the flock, to address it? To ask this question is to answer it. Of course, I would work though the Sabbath School council and the church board, but you can be sure that I would deal with the problem. My conference president, to say nothing of my Lord, would surely hold me in contempt if I told him lamely that my hands were tied, no?

Furthermore, the greater the errancy, the greater the urgency. As even a cursory analysis plainly reveals, few doctrines are at greater philosophical odds with Seventh-day Adventism than naturalistic evolution, the arguments of well-meaning theistic evolutionists notwithstanding. Our Magna Carta is Revelation 14:6-12. If naturalistic evolution is true, Creation is cremated, the Sabbath is sabotaged, and our very name is neutered. What becomes of Scripture? And of our unique eschatology? We are not talking about bongo drums, wedding bands, and Christmas trees here.

If our hands are tied, then surely we must let an unfaltering love for God, for His Word, and for His young people dash these fetters into so many deserved pieces! We must do something. You must do something.

Who knows but that you have come to your positions for such a time as this. My ministry places me in somewhat of a unique situation in the world church. In partnership with the Central California Conference, I run ARISE, a mission training school that has seen hundreds of young people over the last seven years. I also have the privilege of preaching regularly on 3ABN and the Hope Channel. Too, I travel all over the world holding evangelistic meetings and preaching at camp meetings, youth conferences, weeks of prayer, etc. I genuinely feel that I have my finger on the pulse of the “average lay person” in the Seventh-day Adventist church the world over. Especially the young people ages 15 to 30. I can say with unblinking confidence that God is working in His church! Praise Him!

I just arrived home from the Youth Mission Congress in Frankfurt, Germany. Over 1600 young people attended the meetings. Night after night I preached the Adventist message--I preached Christ! The theme chosen for the congress was Follow the Bible, and what an indescribable joy it was to see, at the end of my last sermon, hundreds and hundreds of young people streaming forward. All of them had personal decision cards in their hands. A beautiful, five-foot-tall wooden Bible had been constructed for just this moment. On the side of the Bible was a slot designed to receive the decision cards the young people clutched in their surrendered hands. One by one, each placed his or her card in the Bible. The symbolism was rich and thrillingly profound. It was impossible to not be moved at a fundamental level as each eager young person placed their decision, and thus their life in that wooden Bible. My translator openly wept at the sight. “We will follow the Bible,” they were each saying. All over the world, God’s people--and in particular, it seems, His young people--are saying We will follow the Word--the Living Word, Jesus, and the Written Word, the Bible.

God has entrusted us with these young people. They are His. He has given us His wise counsel to raise up institutions of learning to educate, equip, and empower them. To build them up.

But what do we do when one of our institutions turns from this inestimably important responsibility, a responsibility that is fraught with eternal significance and involves the souls of those Jesus died to save? This is what I want to know.

And so do many, many others.

I thank each of you for your time, and, in advance, for your thoughtful responses.

Sincerely,

David Asscherick

Director, ARISE"

Stan if you don't think this should be on here, feel free to delete it.

I, one of many, think that it is high time that these spiritually unethical colleges were brought to accountability. One of my former employees went to a West Coast adventist college in 1991, and there his faith was challenged in ways that almost destroyed it. By God's grace he is a faithful member today, and I well remember talking with him several times in the early 90's to encourage him beyond what was a twisted educational dichotemy.

oG

[phkrause]

Thanks for this post Olger. Its interesting and troubling at the same time. Not sure how I feel about this as of yet.

pk

[Lutz13]

This letter is really disturbing.

[jasd]

QR frame:

Quote:

Quote: David Asscherick

But it should be taught as a competing and inimical worldview to the biblical worldview. We need our young people to know what it is they are up against, yes, but when naturalistic evolution is taught as fact or as the preferred and normative worldview,

[...]

“We will follow the Bible,”

If it were, indeed, fact that ‘evolutionary concept’ was being “taught as fact” at La Sierra, I believe the .Org errs in indoctrinating its students with such questionable “facts”. It is probably to the student's advantage that he or she is made to understand that the "preferred and normative worldview" is indeed that; that is, "preferred..." - but not necessarily factual.

Having noted that, I'd further submit that it may behoove the University to provide the SDA student with at least a conversational capability re the "preferred and normative worldview" - whilst said student is enrolled in the .Org’s educational system.

The rate at which the young are exiting the .Org speaks to a need that is left unmet or unfilled – I suggest that that need might be identified as – the necessity to ‘round-out’ a much too narrow curricula or approach to “worldview” per se. Much of the young of the .Org venture into the 'world' without the ‘ready’ answers by which to represent their inculcated or otherwise, doctrinaire views – and, encountering the more worldly-wise - begin to doubt what they have been taught...

That being said, I failed to encounter the “facts” of the matter in the above letter – and am left questioning just how substantial is

David Asscherick’s pique.

[guibox]

We discussed this over at Revival Sermons. You might find some interesting responses.

http://www.revivalsermons.org/forums/index.php?topic=3048.0

[oldsailor29]

our faith needs to be tested. there are many beliefs which will have to be discarded for lack of support as we travel along the narrow way. if we can hold on to our faith with no support, we will know what faith alone means. does anyone know what i am talking about here?

[phkrause]

I know exactly what you are talking about, and creation is one of those things that your faith has to kick in. At least for me it is. I don't what to put that on anyone else. Each has to be sure for themselves what they believe.

pk

[olger]

Doug Batchelor appears to be joining David in his call for Doctrinal reform. I doubt if our Conf pres has the courage to address it. I hope Mark Finley does. Ted Wilson might as well.

oG

[Beryl]

I wonder what "Doctrinal reform" Doug Batchelor has in mind? I recently listened to part of a CD of one of his sermons, and he was advocating a return to Arianism (a 2-person godhead) which was around in EGW's day, and dealt with in one of her visions.

Yes, we are reaching the end of time, where this type of thing was foretold. WE MUST STICK WITH THE TRUTH AT ALL COSTS -- even if it means closing a University.

Beryl

[John317]

I wonder what "Doctrinal reform" Doug Batchelor has in mind? I recently listened to part of a CD of one of his sermons, and he was advocating a return to Arianism (a 2-person godhead) which was around in EGW's day, and dealt with in one of her visions.

Is this really true, that Doug Batchelor wants to return to Arianism? Could you post evidence of this or a link?

I am currently studying this very issue at the White Estate and with some former SDAs who are Arian or semi-Arian in Australia.

I firmly believe that the Bible teaches that the eternal Godhead is made up of the FAther, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Ellen White definitely supports it in Ev. 615-617. She calls it "the heavenly trio," words that an Arian would never use.

I'm amazed that Doug Batchelor would favor Arianism.

[John317]

Yes, we are reaching the end of time, where this type of thing was foretold. WE MUST STICK WITH THE TRUTH AT ALL COSTS -- even if it means closing a University.

Beryl

I agree completely. Better to keep the truth and close every institution than lose the truth and open a million institutions.

I see the battle for truth coming out into the open, and I believe the battle will get more intense and come out in the open even more than it is now.

There are several organizations of former SDAs who are saying that God wants all SDAs to leave the SDA church or they will receive the 7 last plagues. They are campaigning hard to bring this message to SDAs. My daughter just told me about people with that message visiting SDAs in Hawaii. It is to be found in many places on the Internet, too, and former SDAs in Australia are teaching the same thing.

[oldsailor29]

I'm amazed that Doug Batchelor would favor Arianism.

So am I. If it ain't one heresy, it's another. I like my heresies better than theirs.

[olger]

The topic of this thread is still "evolution being taught" at La Sierra club.

I am glad that responsible men are calling for doctrinal integrity in our teaching institutions.

oG

[oldsailor29]

The topic of this thread is still "evolution being taught" at La Sierra club.

I am glad that responsible men are calling for doctrinal integrity in our teaching institutions.

oG

well, when it comes to theology, teachers have the authority over preachers.

[olger]

Dat right?

I would take HMS Richards over Des Ford anyday of the week (including thursdays).

oG

[Gail]

I often wonder how any of us common folk can survive in this turmoil? Aren't we supposed to "press together"?

[TreeOfLife]

I wonder what "Doctrinal reform" Doug Batchelor has in mind? I recently listened to part of a CD of one of his sermons, and he was advocating a return to Arianism (a 2-person godhead) which was around in EGW's day, and dealt with in one of her visions.

Yes, we are reaching the end of time, where this type of thing was foretold. WE MUST STICK WITH THE TRUTH AT ALL COSTS -- even if it means closing a University.

Beryl

Arianism, What is it?

All too often, the words we are using needs to be better understood…

Not too long ago I was handed a little booklet by one among our dear Seventh-day Adventist brethren that made the word ‘Arianism’ come alive to me in a way it never had before. It title is: “The Formulation of the Doctrine of the Trinity - by Lynnford Beachy”

I am handing this valuable booklet on to anyone of you this way:

1. Pdf document (32MB)

2. Word document (270 KB)

Shalom,

Tree of Life©

[oldsailor29]

Dat right?

I would take HMS Richards over Des Ford anyday of the week (including thursdays).

oG

Good point

[Neville Peter]

No I can't say I know what you're talking about can you please explain? As we travile along the narrow way? that sounds like the broad way to me.

[Jeannieb43]

This whole thing sounds to me like being afraid of anything new or untried. I realize that the Darwinian theory of evolution is not Biblical. But I do know that at the college level, students should become familiar with other viewpoints on many topics.

I also realize that at the college level, students must begin to think for themselves and make their own choices -- even if it results in their choosing differently from the way they've been reared at home. We must realize the God-given right of free will. God "let the tares grow with the wheat until the harvest." And so should we.

Another point this Asscherick letter brings up, IMHO, is that the SDA organization may not be around much longer. It's being attacked from various angles (including financial hardship, now with many members channeling their tithe to private ministries). So we probably won't have the conference president around much longer to call on to help us make decisions for our lives. The organization is too topheavy to survive much longer, financially or doctrinally.

In other words, we won't have anybody else to lean on to justify our beliefs. We'll have to decide for ourselves, with the Holy Bible as our foundation. It really matters not to me whether or not there's an SDA Gen Conf at the time the Lord returns. All that matters is that I will be familiar with the teaching of Scripture, so I can give an answer for my faith if called upon to do so. And I know that -- unless I actively resist -- God will save me in the heavenly kingdom. I'm looking forward to that day!

[TreeOfLife]

What Does the Image of God Teach Me Re the Godhead?

I wonder what "Doctrinal reform" Doug Batchelor has in mind? I recently listened to part of a CD of one of his sermons, and he was advocating a return to Arianism (a 2-person godhead) which was around in EGW's day, and dealt with in one of her visions.

Yes, we are reaching the end of time, where this type of thing was foretold. WE MUST STICK WITH THE TRUTH AT ALL COSTS -- even if it means closing a University.

Beryl

[John317]

I am handing this valuable booklet on to anyone of you this way:

1. Pdf document (32MB)

2. Word document (270 KB)

Here's the doctrine of the Trinity that Seventh-day Adventists believe and teach:

It is FB # 2, 3, 4, 5.

http://www.sdanet.org/atissue/books/27/index.htm

This is a good summary of the Trinity-Arian differences in the church:

http://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/2009/February/the-trinity.html

See the statements in Ev. 615-617 on the Godhead.

[TreeOfLife]

Current SDA Heresies

Originally Posted By: TreeOfLife

I am handing this valuable booklet on to anyone of you this way:

1. Pdf document (32MB)

2. Word document (270 KB)

Here's the doctrine of the Trinity that Seventh-day Adventists believe and teach:

It is FB # 2, 3, 4, 5.

http://www.sdanet.org/atissue/books/27/index.htm

This is a good summary of the Trinity-Arian differences in the church:

http://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/2009/February/the-trinity.html

See the statements in Ev. 615-617 on the Godhead.

[BobRyan]

Many thanks to David Asscherick for standing up against apostasy in the past and here in this case being willing to ask for "full disclosure" of the junk-science methods and bad-religion doctrines uncovered (in what SHOULD have just been actual science) at La Sierra.

David asks "But what if some are using the scaffolding to tear down the very church they were commissioned and created to build up? What then? I genuinely want to know. Where does the buck stop?"

Indeed - and "what if" that someone is simply following the direction set by Fritz?

"Letter from David Asscherick to Elders Paulsen, Schneider, and Graham:

April 30, 2009

Pastors Jan Paulsen, Don C. Schneider, Ricardo Graham

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

12501 Old Columbia Pike

Silver Spring, MD 20904

Dear Pastors Paulsen, Schneider, and Graham,

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ. Like each of you, I am an ordained pastor of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church. I write these words with my heart on full display--from pastor to pastor. This letter concerns the teaching of evolution at La Sierra University. While I am not a formally trained scientist, I am, however, familiar with many of the apologetic, philosophical, and theological issues surrounding the theories of naturalistic evolution. I have made this an area of special study in my life and ministry. So, I feel both comfortable and qualified to speak to the issue, especially in its ecclesiastical ramifications.

It is a matter of incontestable fact that naturalistic evolution is being taught at La Sierra University. This is not in and of itself a bad thing. Evolution should be taught at our denominational universities. But it should be taught as a competing and inimical worldview to the biblical worldview. We need our young people to know what it is they are up against, yes, but when naturalistic evolution is taught as fact or as the preferred and normative worldview, then we can be sure that the enemy has breached our lines.

There is no point in equivocating. I have seen the class materials with my own eyes. Frankly, I think every Seventh-day Adventist deserves to see them. Our people need to know what is happening. Many of them have heard various rumblings, but being the conscientious, confiding, and hopeful people they are, they have generally assumed the very best. We are making capital of their trust.

In 2003 I preached a two-week evangelistic meeting on the Loma Linda University campus. The event was student-led and university-sponsored. Many students from La Sierra University attended those meetings, and I personally visited with many of them. They told me what was being taught in some of their science classes. I shall never forget the looks and questions of unadorned incredulity that I witnessed among those students. I have talked to many more since. “What should I do?” “Should I say something?” “Should I just attend a non-SDA school?” “Do our leaders know about this?” “How come these people are allowed to teach at a Seventh-day Adventist University?” These young people, and many others like them, are justifiably nonplussed. Frankly, I share their confusion!

What deeply concerns me is that the faith of many students, who look up to their Adventist professors as more than just academic instructors, but also as spiritual leaders, is being undermined. Jesus’ words in Luke 17:1, 2 about causing “one of these little ones to stumble” carry inestimable weight, and they should be reason enough to propel us to responsible action. Brethren, what are we doing and allowing? Will not God hold us accountable in our respective spheres for what happens on our watch?

I am aware, of course, that the church’s governmental structure gives institutions like La Sierra University a necessary degree of administrative freedom. This is a good and wise arrangement. But this freedom, surely, is not synonymous with virtually unaccountable autonomy. La Sierra University is, after all, a denominational university. If the board has not yet adequately addressed this matter, then doesn’t that evince a kind of complicity, if not outright mismanagement and denominational disloyalty? I genuinely ask, at what point is La Sierra University’s board accountable and answerable to you men and the levels of church government that you represent? When, if ever, can someone step in and save our children and the institutions they attend?

Governing and administrative structures are not the church. The people are the church. The governing and administrative structures are the scaffolding of the church. Scaffolds are for building and strengthening a thing; they are not the thing itself. But what if some are using the scaffolding to tear down the very church they were commissioned and created to build up? What then? I genuinely want to know. Where does the buck stop?

Perhaps you feel that your hands are tied by policy and protocol. But surely they cannot be tied completely. What should I, as a church pastor, do if someone is teaching doctrine that undermines the church’s biblical positions in one of my Sabbath School classes? Wouldn’t it be expected of me, the pastor--shepherd--of the flock, to address it? To ask this question is to answer it. Of course, I would work though the Sabbath School council and the church board, but you can be sure that I would deal with the problem. My conference president, to say nothing of my Lord, would surely hold me in contempt if I told him lamely that my hands were tied, no?

Furthermore, the greater the errancy, the greater the urgency. As even a cursory analysis plainly reveals, few doctrines are at greater philosophical odds with Seventh-day Adventism than naturalistic evolution, the arguments of well-meaning theistic evolutionists notwithstanding. Our Magna Carta is Revelation 14:6-12. If naturalistic evolution is true, Creation is cremated, the Sabbath is sabotaged, and our very name is neutered. What becomes of Scripture? And of our unique eschatology? We are not talking about bongo drums, wedding bands, and Christmas trees here.

If our hands are tied, then surely we must let an unfaltering love for God, for His Word, and for His young people dash these fetters into so many deserved pieces! We must do something. You must do something.

Who knows but that you have come to your positions for such a time as this. My ministry places me in somewhat of a unique situation in the world church. In partnership with the Central California Conference, I run ARISE, a mission training school that has seen hundreds of young people over the last seven years. I also have the privilege of preaching regularly on 3ABN and the Hope Channel. Too, I travel all over the world holding evangelistic meetings and preaching at camp meetings, youth conferences, weeks of prayer, etc. I genuinely feel that I have my finger on the pulse of the “average lay person” in the Seventh-day Adventist church the world over. Especially the young people ages 15 to 30. I can say with unblinking confidence that God is working in His church! Praise Him!

I just arrived home from the Youth Mission Congress in Frankfurt, Germany. Over 1600 young people attended the meetings. Night after night I preached the Adventist message--I preached Christ! The theme chosen for the congress was Follow the Bible, and what an indescribable joy it was to see, at the end of my last sermon, hundreds and hundreds of young people streaming forward. All of them had personal decision cards in their hands. A beautiful, five-foot-tall wooden Bible had been constructed for just this moment. On the side of the Bible was a slot designed to receive the decision cards the young people clutched in their surrendered hands. One by one, each placed his or her card in the Bible. The symbolism was rich and thrillingly profound. It was impossible to not be moved at a fundamental level as each eager young person placed their decision, and thus their life in that wooden Bible. My translator openly wept at the sight. “We will follow the Bible,” they were each saying. All over the world, God’s people--and in particular, it seems, His young people--are saying We will follow the Word--the Living Word, Jesus, and the Written Word, the Bible.

God has entrusted us with these young people. They are His. He has given us His wise counsel to raise up institutions of learning to educate, equip, and empower them. To build them up.

But what do we do when one of our institutions turns from this inestimably important responsibility, a responsibility that is fraught with eternal significance and involves the souls of those Jesus died to save? This is what I want to know.

And so do many, many others.

I thank each of you for your time, and, in advance, for your thoughtful responses.

Sincerely,

David Asscherick

Director, ARISE"

Stan if you don't think this should be on here, feel free to delete it.

I, one of many, think that it is high time that these spiritually unethical colleges were brought to accountability. One of my former employees went to a West Coast adventist college in 1991, and there his faith was challenged in ways that almost destroyed it. By God's grace he is a faithful member today, and I well remember talking with him several times in the early 90's to encourage him beyond what was a twisted educational dichotemy.

oG

I related thread - to this over there in the "origins" forum.

http://clubadventist.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/246247/Re_Evolution_reconsdered.html#Post246247

[BobRyan]

Question - how long is the attack on the Sabbath going to be delayed by La Sierra now that they have bought the farm on the myths and fictions of eovlutionism?