Revelation Today 2013: Ron Halverson Speaker

When I attempt some  constructive criticism of Seventh-day Adventist televangelists usually these men are within a decade or so of my age, so I don't feel my critique is disrespectful to an elder. But this year, I am cringing because Revelation Today, the  annual Seventh-day Adventist seminar for proselytizing,  is being performed by Pastor Ron Halvorsen. (I wince.) 

Pastor Ron was the pastor of the Keene Seventh-day Adventists Church in Texas when I grew up. We often drove from Dallas to the little Adventist town to see relatives and attend the yearly camp meetings.  

Keene was a scary place back then because it was so wild compared to Dallas. So it needed Pastor Halvorsen. I remember the scandal of the Keene SDA teenagers sitting up in the balcony gambling during his fiery sermons. I heard that once he stopped in mid sentence at the pulpit, stomped up there and confronted the kids! I kept up with whom his son was dating, because I planned on marrying a pastor (I was called to be a pastor's wife, I thought) and figured he was a prospect, a tall, tall prospect. (Ron, Jr is like six foot ten or something.) 

Then years later when my family moved to Keene so that we could all attend the Adventist college there, that same son, Pastor Ron Halvorsen, Jr., was my pastor.  I think the world of all the Halvorsens and wouldn't want in any way to insult them. So I am praying I can write this in a way that is not seen as disrespectful,  mean-spirited or personally critical. But it will, I am afraid. It's part of the pain of constructive criticism. It never seems constructive. 

Well… on to it and I pray I can write this as sweetly as I mean it. 

This year's Daniel and Revela-thon is being held in Charlotte, North Carolina and is basically the same old, same old. A few weeks of building up to tell us that: we soul-sleep after death, we are being judged investigatively  we need to worship on Sabbath and the mark of the beast is popery. And Adventists are all going to be persecuted for keeping the Sabbath by Catholics and Apostate Protestantism. 

[My family really tries to make it seem like the Adventist church is past its Ellen White last-day prophecies. But it's not.  These seminars prove it year after year.]

I know many Adventists sincerely believe their doctrines. They were weaned on them and are utterly convicted of them and are loyal to the deepest parts of their souls to this message. And they will go to their deaths believing the SDA message is solidly Biblical. But the message is founded upon false information. It is largely based from the mind of a young, uneducated woman who was in a accident and suffered "visions" as a result of a tragic head wound.

The SDA prophetess Ellen G. White twisted history and the Bible to fit what she thought she was being "shown" in visions by her accompanying angel. 

And Revelation Today is recycling these same old inaccuracies.

It is hard for me to understand how grown-ups can  blindly pass on historical fiction year after year. I am so embarrassed for them. It makes them look like cultists. I just don't get it. These men all seemed so much smarter and more holy than me! They were who I looked up to as a kid. And they, I pray, are just either completely blind to the inaccuracies of what they preach or they are, gulp…not brave enough to face the truth. But that turns my world upside down. They were my heroes! They are supposed to be teaching me these things. 

But for the sake of those who might really want to know the truth about the SDA yearly mantra of Daniel and Revelation prophecies, I will force myself to comment.

I hope that refuting a few of Elder Halvorsen's claims will be enough to prove the entire SDA theology suspect and unreliable. And to make certain this post isn't too long, I will be linking you to some answers rather than reposting them here.  

We'll deal with the Mark of the Beast, one of the last of this year's topics. 

To watch the video I am discussing, click here:

Revelation Today: The MARK of the BEAST

• At minute 38 in the video, Pastor Halvorsen begins to identify the remnant of Revelation 12:17 as those who keep the commandments. (Spoiler alert: It will be the SDA church. Adventists teach that they alone are the remnant church.) 

This is wrong because Adventists really only teach one of the ten commandments: the fourth. I have never heard another Revelation Seminar dedicated to preaching that adultery, stealing, coveting or idolatry is a sin. They focus on one commandment. And notice the text says that the remnant are those who keep--not teach--the commandments. How many Adventists would admit they keep all ten commandments? The remnant keep them, not preach them. 

Also, the official SDA church's position on abortion is pro-choice and some of their  hospitals do abortions on demand. Therefore, they are exactly like all other churches they claim only keep nine of the ten. Because of the "thou shalt not murder" commandment (that would include abortion), Adventists cannot consider themselves a ten commandment preaching church.

At minute 45, Pastor Halvorsen refers to the Donation of Constantine which is a document known to be a hoax for centuries. Even if it were an authentic document, the mythical exchange wasn't even what the pastor presented it as. The Donation of Constantine didn't give Pope Sylvester rule over the empire, it was an honorific.  When Constantine died, he gave the empire over to his four sons. 

• As always, much is made about the pope being called the "vicar of Christ." Which is simply used to show that the pope represents Christ. 

Here's a video that gives a short explanation of how Catholics see the church which might help Pastor Halvorsen understand why some of his accusations are false:

What we need to realize is what the word Christian means. In Antioch where followers of Christ were first called Christians, it was to mock them as being little Christs. Little Christs would be as much as a title of authority of Christ as vicar! We are in one sense all vicars (representatives) of Christ on earth.

• Then Revelation 13: 3 prophecy that the "world wandered after the beast" was introduced (the papacy.) Can you show me when the entire world was following the papacy? Never. Christendom was only in the west. And please read history. The Vatican was always in a power struggle with the Catholic kings. They never had any real ubiquitous power. 

Then the SDA interpretation of Rev. 12:14, "times, time and half a time" as the beginning and end of papal rule. This 1260 day prophecy timeline of papal power supposedly began in 538. Yet, Pastor Halvorsen just "proved" the papacy was given power in 318 AD with the Donation of Constantine? So, which is it? Why would the fall of Rome two centuries later be when the papacy gained its power? And then the fatal "wound" was when Emperor Napoleon took the pope into captivity (1798). 

Yet why not choose the wounding of the papacy as the 14th century captivity of the popes in France? Why not choose the sack of Rome by Catholic Charles V in the 16th century or when the papal states were taken away in the 19th century? These were much bigger wounds to the Vatican than Napoleon's. The Vatican has been under siege many times and lost and won back its power. The use of Napoleon as the point where the papacy was "wounded to death" and the 1929 Concordat with  Mussolini as the definitive moment the wound was healed is simply picking out dates to make things fit SDA eschatology.  The pope lost power and land many times and it made concordats with many nations before WWII. These dates are forced and contrived.

• Then Pastor Halvorsen perpetuated the myth that the Catholic Church killed 50 million people as heretics. (I don't blame the pastor, his sermon topics were already predetermined.)

All serious scholarship debunk that number. Actually, statistically it is the Protestants who are the better persecutors. 

• The pastor attacked (as it has become almost obligatory)  the sacrament of confession to a priest.

Here's a bit of a rebuttal on that. Then came the idea that the pope believes himself to be God on earth and the attempt with some misunderstood quotes pulled from billions of words written by the popes. The pope claims to have the chair of Peter. The pope isn't God nor teaches that he is.

Were there a few popes (out of the 266 that have faithfully served God) that abused their power and acted as if they thought they were God? Maybe even written that way? Yes. But look to official titles, official theology. Pulling a few quotes from the ocean of written material by the popes and cardinals and priests to force a point that perhaps one isolated pope or priest or bishop thought the way the SDA's prophecy needed them to think…. is simply bad history.

That would be like a Catholic pulling a quote from Doug Batchelor reporting that the televangelists admits publicly that the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists went against scripture and promoted women's ordination. Or quoting Cliff Goldstein about evolution and then assigning his position to all Adventists. Bad form.

•  As far as the pope's title "Vicar of the Son of God": 

The Latin, "Vicarius Fili Dei" is not and never has been an official title of the pope, nor is there any evidence that it was imprinted on a tiara. (All photographic evidence have proven to be hoaxed.) Yet, even if it had been an unofficial title, is that truly evidence that the pope is the antichrist? What is so amazing is that Pastor Halvorsen doesn't tell you that Ellen G. White's name adds up to 666 also! ELLen GoVLD VVhIte 50+50+5+50+500+5+5+1=666).

Vicarius Christi is one of the popes titles and it adds up to 214. So the SDA church has some real credibility problems here. Keep in mind that the antichrist isn't mentioned in Revelation. The number of the beast isn't directly related to the antichrist, that is a conflation of the two. In his letters, St. John warns that the antichrist denies that Jesus is the Christ. (I John 2: 22) and that Jesus if from God (I John 4:3) and that He came in the flesh (2 John 1:7). No pope I know of denied these things.

St. John also clearly says that the antichrist comes out of the true church. So if the antichrist comes from the Catholic church it would identify the Catholic Church as the true one. If the SDA church would like to think of itself as the true remnant church, then they would predict the antichrist comes out of it. (Perhaps being a former Adventist.)

• One of the persistent claims by the Adventists is the idea that some pope or church decree changed the seventh-day Sabbath to the first day of the week. Completely false. The Catholic Church did not change the Sabbath to Sunday. 

Link: The official documentation. I would extend a challenge to my SDA friends about the supposed change of the Sabbath. And, here's a link the early church writings about the Sabbath and Sunday.

It is hard to watch people I love perpetuate distortions and mislead Christians. And do not be naive, Adventists target ignorant Catholics. They are not out there bringing the gospel message, they are trying to bring all  Christians into their church by convincing them that other churches haven't really been obedient to Christ and scripture. Every other church is Babylon. 

They alone are not apostate from truth. They twist history and scripture to convince other Christians that they are the true and only remnant. 

What is heartbreaking is that by their zealousness to confuse and mislead other Christians they break the commandment, "thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbors."

I hurt for the Halvorsens because I love them. I don't write that flippantly. Ron, Jr. has helped me out in ways he will never know. He is a good man.

Yet…. (despairing sigh) Pastor Halvorsen is  leading the children of God into error. This is a very, very serious situation, for God says it is better that a millstone be place upon the neck of one who leads the little ones astray. He is bearing false witness against his Catholic and Protestant neighbors.

Adventists Face Abuse of Minors

http://www.atoday.org/article/1361/news/august-headlines/abuse-is-a-challenge-for-the-adventist-church-new-campaign-is-launched-to-counter-it


Though Adventists claim sexual and physical abuse is not at "crisis" level in their church... (many former SDAs and current SDAs would vehemently disagree)... at least the church is now beginning to openly deal with it...

Abuse is a Challenge for the Adventist Church; New Campaign is Launched to Counter It

Submitted: Aug 22, 2012
By AT News Team

Although the number of cases has not reached the crisis level that it has in some denominations, the Seventh-day Adventist Church does face an incidence of abuse suffered by its children and teens sufficient to result in the launch of a new, world-wide campaign. In a scan of public records over the past 30 days, Adventist Today found at least four serious cases of sexual abuse, physical harm and even murder by ministers, teachers and lay leaders. This is not a scientific sample and it is not intended to imply that this is a typical period, yet it is disturbing.

A 23-year-old Fifth Grade teacher in an Adventist elementary school in St. George’s, Grenada, was arrested during the last week of July and charged with murder. According to the Jamaica Observer, the remains of a 19-year-old young woman were found in a refuse container along with a weapon and personal belongings. An autopsy showed that the woman died from strangulation and bleeding. To date, there is no report of how the young teacher pled in court.

Last week a 46-year-old man in Berrien County, Michigan, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he pled guilty to sex crimes against a nine-year-old girl which occurred at the Niles Westside Seventh-day Adventist Church. He was also convicted of failing to register for prior convictions of criminal sexual misconduct. The prosecuting attorney was quoted by the South Bend Tribune, “He’s done this before. He said that he couldn’t control himself with children.” There was no comment about why he was allowed to have contact with children at the church.

On July 29 The Times of India reported that a female teacher at the Adventist school in Virudhunagar allegedly hit a seven-year-old girl with a wooden ruler causing injuries that made it difficult for the girl to walk home. “Police sources said they had filed a complaint under section 323” of India’s criminal law and “section 23 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2000.” An unnamed police official is quoted as stating that the teacher had “accepted that she caned the girl.”

On August 20 the tabloid London Daily Mail and the South Africa Press Association (SAPA) wire service both reported that Elder Steyn Venter, pastor of the Adventist church in Bloemfontein, South Africa, had been fired for “improper advice” in marriage counseling. The newspapers reported that he had encouraged young couples to engage in public nudity and kept photographs in which at least one couple appeared naked. Elder B. M. P. Ngwenya, president of the KwaZulu-Natal and Free State Conference, told the Die Volksblad newspaper that the pastor had been fired.

Among those who might have access to statistics on cases of this kind, no one was willing to give Adventist Today any hint if this is a typical month or not. What is widely reported is that the Adventist Risk Management (ARM) insurance company owned by the General Conference used the occasion of the recent North American Division Teacher’s Convention in Nashville to launch the Seven Campaign, a “grassroots” effort “stop child abuse.” In February ARM had launched a Child Protection Plan and it has presented recommendations that led to the adoption of strong prevention measures in the NAD Working Policy over the last decade or two.

“We want to not only make it clear that we stand against child abuse, but we want to get our members talking and actually engaged in spotting and preventing misconduct,” an ARM spokesman told the Adventist News Network (ANN), the official news service of the GC. He stressed the involvement of local church members as a major goal of the campaign in his comments to ANN.

Yet, to some observers the initiative stumbled out of the starting blocks when convention planners pulled the plug on an Adventist group that is involved in anti-bullying efforts. Someone to Talk To is an independent organization pulled together by Carol Grady, the wife of an Adventist minister, who has written a book entitled My Son, Beloved Strangerabout her gay son and the problems he faced growing up in the Adventist denomination’s schools and youth ministries. Her group had applied to be one of 160 organizations that had exhibits at the convention. Because her web site does not take the official position of the denomination regarding gays and lesbians, she was told she could not participate.

An article about refusing Grady as an exhibitor appeared in The Huffington Post and a response was released by the denomination, stressing that the NAD Office of Education provide eight contact hours of in-service education on bullying during the convention, including a preview of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, “a whole-school program that has been proven to prevent or reduce bullying.”

The Church “recognizes that every human being is valuable in the sight of God, and we seek to minister to all men and women in the spirit of Jesus,” the statement quoted from the denomination’s position paper on homosexuality. “We hold that all people, no matter their sexual orientation, are children of God. We do not condone singling out any group for scorn and derision, let alone abuse.”

“Being a gay, lesbian or bisexual teenager in the United States is risky business,” pointed out Elder Ryan Bell, senior pastor of the Hollywood Seventh-day Adventist Church. “According to the 2009 National School Climate Survey nearly 85 percent of LGBT teens report being harassed in school and nearly two-thirds report feeling unsafe in school because of their sexual orientation.” Adventists and other Christians have found it difficult to balance a belief that homosexual behavior is sinful and a belief that all people should be respected and treated without discrimination.

At the same time, it is clear that there are problems of abuse and violence that do not appear to be related to tensions over sexual orientation. “Sexuality and spirituality are both powerful things,” one veteran pastor told Adventist Today. “All human beings are sinners. It is only by God’s grace that things do not go wrong more often than they do. This is why those of us who are preachers must constantly hammer on the duty of compassion and the core doctrine of grace. If we let off the emphasis, more people get hurt.”

Pacific Union Votes Against GC.....

http://www.atoday.org/article/1354/news/august-headlines/pacific-union-conference-votes-to-authorize-the-ordination-of-women-to-gospel-ministry

Pacific Union Conference Votes to Authorize the Ordination of Women to Gospel Ministry

Submitted: Aug 19, 2012

By AT News Team

Updated August 20, 2012

For the third time this year a union conference constituency session has voted to authorize ordination to the gospel ministry in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The vote was 79 percent in favor despite a personal appeal from Elder Ted Wilson, president of the General Conference, to reject the concept and two short speeches by Doug Batchelor, the noted television evangelist and senior pastor of the Sacramento Central Church.

Perhaps the most unexpected development of the day was a speech by Elder Ernie Castillo, a vice president of the North American Division and former executive secretary of the Pacific Union. He pointed out that the actions of these union conferences are in direct response to steps taken last fall by the GC Officers to force the NAD to back off on a policy that would have permitted commissioned ministers, including women, to serve as conference presidents. What is known as Working Policy E 60.

“This is not rebellion,” Castillo said directly to Wilson in front of the entire body. “This is a reaction. People who for 40 years have been repressed and discriminated against will eventually react. That is sociology 101.”

[Teresa Beem's Note: It is extremely difficult to understand Mr. Castillo remark that woman have been "repressed and discriminated" against for forty years. Women have never been ordained in the SDA church neither does it constitute repression nor discrimination for women to be denied ordination. Gender roles represent a beautiful, natural distinction in roles, not discrimination. The illusionary war on women is seeping into even the most remote of places....]

Wilson and Lowell Cooper, one of the GC vice presidents, made the same appeal that they presented to the Columbia Union Conference constituency session in July, although the language was somewhat softened with no reference to unspecified “grave consequences.” The delegates were asked to wait until the GC completes a study of the denomination’s theology of ordination launched last year. “It will be something more than ever before,” Wilson promised.

“It will be a very open and fair process. It is not window-dressing but an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to unite us.”

[The Holy Spirit is going to unite the church in the process of dividing it?]

He indicated that it would be balanced and gender-inclusive with lay members as well as clergy. He stated that the list of members of the committee that will integrate the studies at the world level will be announced soon.

Many delegates throughout the day specifically rejected this appeal largely because the GC has conducted three previous studies of the topic. Each time almost all of the Bible scholars involved have come to the conclusion that there is nothing in the Bible or Adventist heritage to prohibit extending ordination to women, yet the final recommendation is always negative because of “unity.”

“The majority of Adventists are opposed to this,” asserted Batchelor who has circulated video of sermons and printed materials for some time stating that women’s ordination is unbiblical. “There are Bible distinctions between the roles of men and women,” he said, advancing a position similar to that taught by the Southern Baptist Convention. He referred to a statement by Ellen White in the book Acts of the Apostles (page 95) to support his belief that she taught against women serving as ordained ministers despite the fact that she carried those credentials herself.

[Well, I am finding out I agree with Doug Batchelor! Leaving the SDA church, many SDAs think you go stark raving mad and become liberal and lawless. But actually, quite the opposite is true. Most former SDAs become more conservative and more solidly based in scripture--which makes you more traditional....]

“It feels like there has not been fairness” in presenting the case against women’s ordination, Batchelor said. “This has been presented as an issue of equality,” stated Elder Steven Bohr, pastor of the Fresno Central Church, “but it is not really about equality. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are equal, but have different functions.” He cited an editorial (not written by Ellen White) in the Signs of the Times (January 24, 1895) which he said states that women should not serve as local elders.

The recommendation of the union conference executive committee to authorize ordination without gender discrimination was presented by Elder Larry Caviness, president of the Southern California Conference, and Elder Randy Roberts, senior pastor of the largest Adventist congregation in the world, the Loma Linda University Church. Roberts said that the recommendation is rooted in one of the fundamental doctrines of the denomination, number 14 among the 28 fundamental teachings, which states that “differences between high and low, rich and poor, male and female, must not be divisive among us. We are all equal in Christ” and cites Galatians 3:27-29.

Roberts pointed out that there are at least five policies on this topic that are clearly stated in the Church Manual and the General Conference Working Policy which are disregarded in many parts of the world and these variances have not caused significant disunity. He named these policies: (1) that deaconesses are to be ordained, (2) that women may serve as local elders, (3) that women serving as local elders are to be ordained, (4) that women may be employed as pastors, and (5) that women employed as pastors may conduct baptisms, weddings and the same sacred duties that men conduct.

Roberts called upon his training and experience in family counseling to make the observation that “there are few ways to more quickly fracture a family than to require uniformity.” He stated that the church in North America has no agenda to force the church in other parts of the world to implement the five policies cited above. “Where they feel it is inappropriate in their cultural context to implement these policies” they should be free to do so, and in Europe and North America “where it is necessary in our cultural context, we should be free to move ahead with the ordination of women to the ministry.”

[Randy, Randy, Randy... your experience in Catholic South America needs to be recalled to mind. The very people you seek to convert, where the SDA population is actually rising, as opposed to N. America where it is shrinking and dying--is where you are going to find the greatest theological pushback of women's ordination. Your targeted Catholic populous will NOT understand nor accept this and--if known by your proselytes--will cause them to rethink converting. Now AS a Catholic I am very hopeful this step will prevent new SDA members.... but advising you as a Christian who truly desires that you remain within the Body.... I mean, really, I LOVE you guys and are praying for you to step back INTO the gospel, not liberalize.... However, St. Paul says that division are needed so that those who are truly of God can be known.]

Others who spoke in favor of the recommendation included Elder Ben Maxson, pastor of the Paradise (California) Church and a former department director at the GC; Elder John Brunt, senior pastor of the Azure Hills Church in Grand Terrace (California) and a respected New Testament scholar and former dean of the School of Religion at Walla Walla University; Elder Charles White, pastor of the Camelback Church in Phoenix and a great-grandson of James and Ellen White; and Dr. Randal Wisbey, president of La Sierra University. His father, Ron Wisbey, a retired minister and former union conference president in the Columbia Union, made one of the most moving statements.

“I have waited for over 30 years to be able to attend a meeting like this and speak to an actual motion to end gender discrimination in ordination,” the elder Wisbey said. “We allowed women pastors to baptize and the church did not split. We gave them the same level of pay as men and the church did not split.” Wisbey stated that he was told at each step that it would split the denomination. “Getting out in front has always been the road to change.”

Earlier in the afternoon it appeared that the proposal might not be approved. The bylaws committee had recommended a small change in the wording of one article which reads, “All the policies, purposes and procedures of this Union shall be in harmony with the working policies and procedures of the North American Division and the General Conference …” The proposed amendment would have inserted “in general” at the beginning of this article and replaced “shall” with “will” in order to provide some small latitude for policy variances.

This amendment failed by about four votes because changes in the bylaws require a two-thirds majority. A solid majority of 280 to 149 voted in favor, but that was only 65 percent of the delegates voting. The union conference officers were prepared for this and went ahead with the rest of the agenda. There was an appeal from delegates as to whether it was legal to do so and the parliamentarians ruled that the recommendation about ordination did not require that the bylaws amendment be adopted.

Wilson spent considerable time in this presentation responding to points made in articles by Gary Patterson and J. David Newman that Adventist Today has published recently. He did not name Patterson, Newman or Adventist Today, but clearly had these items in mind in his indirect references. In fact, he expressed appreciation for the “homework done on this topic,” but expressed the view that their conclusions were wrong and “more homework needs to be done.”

Adventist Today has been told that the North Pacific Union Conference has decided not to move ahead with an action similar to those taken in the Pacific Union, Columbia Union and North German Union. Adventist Today has also discovered that the rumor published by Spectrum, the journal of the largest organization of Adventist academics, that Wilson had a teleconference with union conference officers to discuss sanctions against these unions is not true. It remains to be seen what the next developments will be n this topic.

Adventist Today would like to hear from members of local conference executive committees that may discuss presenting female candidates for ordination. Adventist Today would also be interested in hearing about conferences that may vote resolutions against the practice, advocating continued gender discrimination.

[In general, all denominations are polarizing between the liberals and conservatives. This is not just an SDA problem. While today we see the fragmenting and shattering of Christ's Body all over the spectrum of those who call themselves Christians, I foresee in the future--maybe as early as in the next fifty years-- of healing and unity. It HAS to happen, not only because it was commanded, but to survive, Christians will have to unify. My fear is that because of Ellen White's prophecy of a world-wide false unity among Christians, they will be left out of the true union of God's people. 

We keep praying for you Adventists! This is all in the Master's plan.... to mold and shape and concentrate His people into a single fold that they may be one....]