Alleged False Claims

[Gregory Matthews]

North American Division Responds to False Claim, Inaccurate Statements on Lay-Operated Website

The leadership of the North American Division values all its members and appreciates the various views they hold on the issues that face our church. We desire to serve all our members and recognize that from time to time there may be differences of opinion, but these should not serve to keep us from our united commitment to the biblical beliefs and global mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. We will always follow His call for each of us to become engaged in His mission to reach everyone with the Hope and Wholeness that can only be found in a committed relationship with Him. We are troubled by a recent series of false accusations made in articles published by the lay-operated website Fulcrum 7. One such inaccuracy claims that the NAD plans “to ordain 1,000 female pastors.” This is a claim that does not represent the intent of the North American Division. The division has stated in the past — and continues to move forward with — its plan to hire 1,000 women for pastoral ministry positions, which is completely in line with General Conference Policy, allowing women to be hired as church pastors. Fulcrum 7 has also called on Adventist church members to withhold tithe from their local church or conference. Efforts such as these only hinder the evangelistic outreach of the church. The local church is the foundation of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination; reduced tithes hamper mission efforts in the local congregation and community. Finally, claims have been made that question the dedication of the North American Division in upholding the core beliefs of the church. We remain strongly committed to the 28 Fundamental Beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its biblical mission to spread the three angels’ messages to the whole world. Any attempt by Fulcrum 7 and others to inform our members of anything different is misleading and dishonest. — The Leadership of the North American Division of the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church CLICK HERE to read this statement on the NAD website.

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Unfortunately, the NAD leadership has fallen in my opinion. It was interesting to watch some of the actions at some of their meetings and I have become less than impressed.

I do not recall Fulcrum7 advocating the withholding of tithe monies but rather by some individuals advocated diversion to conferences that are more supportive of the world church. Fulcrum7 seems to be largely a community of interested persons website and not top heavy with advocating positions, not that the moderators don't publish their opinions.

As far as hindering the evangelistic outreach, consider how the Florida conference blocked an appearance by Doug Batchelor from a Florida church. Then look at where he went - the Michigan conference. This is cited as one conference to send tithe monies to. And then one could remember that the NAD wants to withhold money sent to the world church. Talk about the kettle calling the pot black!

So, I will look forward to seeing the Fulcrum7 response!

[Gregory Matthews]

I posted it because it was news. I agree that the NAD action gives vaulable publicity to F7.

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So, the fallout begins:

http://adventmessenger.org/women-ordination-advocates-attack-fulcrum-7-part-1/

[Gregory Matthews]

It is not often that I will post material from Fulcrum 7,  a website that is often quite critical of the SDA Church, and in my opinion often unfairly so.

However, as I have posted the article by the NAD, which was critical of Fulcrum 7, I believe that in fairness to Fulcrum 7, I should post their response to the NAD criticism.  You may access their response below:

http://www.fulcrum7.com/blog/2019/1/2/fulcrum7-responds-to-the-nads-attack

My posting of the above, should not be construed as either agreement or of disagreement with it.

However, the following quote from the Fulcrum 7 article is exactly as I predicted would happen.

Quote

That newsletter produced a surge of interest in Fulcrum7, resulting in a large number of new subscriptions to the site, and a wave of support from laymen and denominational employees alike, for which we are grateful.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Gregory Matthews said:

It is not often that I will post material from Fulcrum 7,  a website that is often quite critical of the SDA Church, and in my opinion often unfairly so.

This was a most unfortunate comment. Fulcrum7 has not in my opinion been quite critical of the SDA church, unless you define the liberals of the NAD and the NAD as the church. Fortunately, they are not. The NAD is part of the church and not even the majority of the church. In the NADs, TEDs, and SPDs drive to push the feminist agenda they have also been, IMHO, very guilty of rascist(1) and/or colonialist(2) behavior. These divisions feels they know so much better than all the rest of the world how the church should be run that the WORLD CHURCH vote at the GC convention was wrong and the NAD further attempts to shift the blame on the loss of the vote to make it appear that it is the president's agenda that is the cause of all their troubles. The NAD has all the appearance of believing the NAD should be in charge of the whole world church.

If you watch the reader comments of Fulcrum7 readers versus the readers of Spectrum, you may find that the Spectrum readers are far more critical of the church with many more snarky comments of how things are being run. One of the reasons I do not spend much time on that website.

1 hour ago, Gregory Matthews said:

However, the following quote from the Fulcrum 7 article is exactly as I predicted would happen.

Quote

That newsletter produced a surge of interest in Fulcrum7, resulting in a large number of new subscriptions to the site, and a wave of support from laymen and denominational employees alike, for which we are grateful.

Sometimes people make such bonehead moves and the NAD comments regarding Fulcrum7, you have to wonder if there was not some Divine intervention to help the members more clearly see what is going on in the church. The increased readership at Fulcrum7 will help accomplish that. So, I hope everyone carefully reads the Fulcrum7's response to the NAD memo.

Unfortunately, I see a remarkable similarity of the NAD leaders with the story of Korah's rebellion, especially as the years since 1844 so often get compared to the 40 years in the wilderness. These kind of events have a cleansing kind of action on the inhabitants.

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Definitions:
(1) Racism is the belief in the superiority of one race over another, which often results in discrimination and prejudice towards people based on their race or ethnicity.
(2) Colonialism is a practice of domination, which involves the subjugation of one people to another.

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On 1/1/2019 at 6:22 PM, Gregory Matthews said:

I agree that the NAD action gives vaulable publicity to F7.

Indeed! And it was appreciated!

[olger]

It was appreciated ?.

By the way, nice facelift on your site, Stan.

G