The Dark Side of Church Leadership and the End of Conservative Adventism

By Arnie Suntag

It seems that Seventh-day Adventists throughout the world today are becoming more and more disillusioned with their leadership and disappointed in the direction in which the church is headed. There is good reason for this. Over the past few years, in particular, there has been a radical shift by leadership away from the principles that set the Seventh-day Adventist Church apart from others. Worldly principles and ideologies have gradually supplanted the foundational beliefs and practices that once defined us. But thankfully, these vestiges of our faith are still dearly embraced by enough of the laity to keep them alive. Nonetheless, the dismantling of a centuries-old legacy continues undaunted, and the reason for this is truly unsettling.

An article appearing in the September issue of Adventist World entitled "Religious Liberty Event Pays Tribute to 130 Years of Advocacy" inadvertently drives home the staggering reality of our leadership's foray into postmodernism and relativism that has led to its departure from a traditional Biblical worldview. It presents a glimpse of hypocrisy so profound that it even rattled my normally calm and composed demeanor. To be blunt, it is an insult to one's intelligence.

The Adventist World article recaps the events of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA) meeting of August 21-23. It underscores the comments made by Ted Wilson in his opening address, as well as those of the IRLA secretary-general, Ganoune Diop. Wilson was quoted as saying, "Adventist pioneers … saw in religious liberty an incontrovertible value without which our very humanity could be at risk of being diminished and impaired." Not to be outdone, Ganoune Diop defined religious freedom as "the right to profess, practice, and propagate one's beliefs without coercion, intimidation, or manipulation." He went on to say that religious freedom is "freedom from being forced to do something that is against one's deeply held convictions or against one's conscience." This rather noble, high-sounding rhetoric presents a stifling paradox to perhaps millions of Seventh-day Adventists around the globe whose rights were trampled upon by the reckless authoritarian practices instituted by these and others in church leadership during the Covid pandemic. Of course, these self-professed men of God, whom many in the church consider to be paragons of virtue, did not consider the pushback by millions of church members against the vaccine and the mandates as having anything to do with freedom of conscience or personal religious conviction. Not at all. It was a matter of inarguable scientific principles. Why? Because Anthony Fauci and others in the medical-industrial complex said so. This apparently made it alright and perhaps even altruistic to institute papal-like practices in order to be in lockstep with the crowd.

Even to this day, they flatter themselves by believing that they were doing God service, just as the militant arm of the papal power did during the inquisitions. Then it dawned on me. Their zeal to render to Caesar what is Caesar's without considering the second part of that same Bible verse was, and still is, motivated by the fact that they actually believe this drivel despite a plethora of credible scientific evidence to the contrary. Naturally, they will not bother to fact-check any of it because it is far easier to label individuals as dissenters, conspiracy theorists, or political hacks that must be marginalized because they do not agree with them rather than consider another viewpoint. So, in other words, the leadership's personal conviction becomes ours, whether we like it or not. These rogue administrators know absolutely nothing about virology or epidemiology or care to, but they believe the rabble, and their perspective becomes the law. It is clearly a reflection of what is happening politically on a broader scale in our country and a harbinger of the kind of totalitarian control that may ultimately reign if we allow this trend to disparage critical thinking and upend personal conviction to continue unimpeded.

In reference to a particular disagreement with E.J. Waggoner over a matter involving the law in Galatians, E.G. White made this profound statement that hits the nail on the head for the preceding:

"I have not changed my views in reference to the law in Galatians, but I hope that I shall never be left to entertain the spirit that was brought into the General Conference. I have not the least hesitancy in saying it was not the Spirit of God. If every idea we have entertained in doctrines is truth, will not the truth bear to be investigated? Will it totter and fall if criticized? If so, let it fall, the sooner the better. The spirit that would close the door to investigation of points of truth in a Christlike manner is not the Spirit from above." {9MR 216.4}

The rather stifling contradiction in Wilson and Diop's tribute to the church's stand on freedom of conscience was driven home for me when I was invited to speak at one of our churches in Colorado recently. Shortly after their board extended the invitation, I learned that I had been banned from speaking at churches throughout the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC). Why? Because I had challenged the Covid mandates and how they were handled by those in church leadership. From what I was told, this set off a dispute between the Colorado church, their pastor, and the RMC. It appears that the matter is not too dissimilar to that of the now-well-known controversy involving the Roanoke church and the Potomac conference over an appearance by Stephen Bohr. This new guest speaker-bashing is happening in other venues as well. While the reasons given for such rejections by the various conferences involved are not the same, the underlying principles certainly are. It is all about the leadership imposing their will upon the laity-the very same laity that gave them their position in the first place and supports their tenure through tithes and offerings. It is about a move to undercut decisions made by church boards duly elected by church membership.

Perhaps it would be somewhat understandable in a matter involving major theological differences or erroneous teachings such as those promulgated by Desmond Ford and his ilk. But that is not the case surrounding my repudiation by the RMC. During the more than twenty years I have been speaking at churches around the country and on television, I have never said anything contrary to the principles that founded our church. This is a fact. Rather, the reason for the rebuff by the RMC is based entirely upon my purported challenge to our leaders on Covid-related issues. Certain scientific facts I had shared in print and from the pulpit to drive home a Biblical point-facts that are now surfacing even in the mainstream media-did not agree with their particular brand of reality. The problem is that the Conference at large subscribes only to government-approved "facts." While this may represent their view on the matter, it is certainly not that of millions of other Seventh-day Adventists.

"The religion of Jesus is endangered. It is being mingled with worldliness. Worldly policy is taking the place of the true piety and wisdom that comes from above, and God will remove His prospering hand from the conference….. Shall the true doctrines and principles given us by God, which have made us what we are, be ignored? …. This is directly where the enemy, through blinded, unconsecrated men, is leading us." {21MR 448.3}

This unbiblical and authoritarian trend is now happening everywhere, as many know by now. And if you dare to disagree with the church leadership, even when moved by the scriptural authority given in Isaiah 58:1, you may very well be censured, discredited, and deplatformed-a practice notoriously employed by Big Tech and the media. It is also remarkably similar to the Catholic Church and the Jesuit Order. It admonishes sincere Seventh-day Adventists of the fact that one simply does not dare to disagree with leadership decisions, whether they are right or wrong, scientific or unscientific, Biblical or unBiblical. It is the prerogative of these officials to do what is right in their own eyes, unrestrained and undisturbed by those who they purportedly represent. It is a carbon copy of what is happening in America's political arena. It is just a matter of time until there is broad acceptance across our conferences of woke ideology, including the introduction of LGBTQ ideals, transgenderism, and other aberrant societal trends that will ultimately be grafted into church leadership. That is, unless our membership says no, enough is enough.

"My spirit was pained within me, for I had lost confidence in that which I had ever presented before the people as the voice of God to His children. It has not been the voice of God. There has been a lording power exercised over God's heritage in decisions which were not dictated by the Spirit of God. Unconsecrated men who were brought in connection with the work have exercised their own wisdom, and have woven into the work their own unconverted peculiarities. Their own principles have been counterworking the principles of truth and righteousness. We cannot therefore present before the people that the voice of the General Conference in its decisions must move and control them; for its propositions and decisions cannot be accepted. They are not in the right line of progress. God is dropped out of their counsels." {17MR 221.2}

It is no secret that church leaders and organizations accepted funds from various government programs during the pandemic, ultimately placing them in the position of being beholden to government interests. The groundwork for this tragic mistake was actually laid when the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists became a 501c3 decades ago. Therefore, any statements that challenge the common narrative, whether they come from the pulpit or the classroom, must be squelched in order to avoid conflict with government agencies, presently and in the future. This is a no-brainer. As a result, we will have few options for staving off the ongoing intrusion by worldly ideologies into the church, and the membership will suffer the consequences. It is the same dilemma faced by ancient Israel when their leaders decided to form partnerships with heathen cultures, ultimately leading to their destruction. The bottom line is that none of this is about theology anymore. Nor is it even about Christianity. It is simply about a new breed of political gerrymandering.

"The voice of the General Conference has been represented as an authority to be heeded as the voice of the Holy Spirit. But when the members of the General Conference Committee become entangled in business affairs and financial perplexities, the sacred, elevated character of their work is in a great degree lost…The temple of God becomes as a place of merchandise, and the ministers of God's house as common businessmen. Their work is brought down on a level with common things. Business cares and perplexities unfit them for the consideration of matters relating to the spiritual interests of the work, which require the keenest perception, the most careful thought, the most delicate tact, and the deepest spiritual insight." {14MR 278.3}

The stakes are indeed high with the power grab by church leadership that was bolstered by the pandemic. I have had a couple of well-known pastors tell me that their conference presidents personally admonished them not to say a word about Covid, the LGBTQ movement, and other social issues of the day from the pulpit, or they may face possible expulsion. Guest speakers who are known to have discussed such matters in the past will be cancelled by the conference, even if the church board disagrees with the move. These strong-arm tactics have no place in a church, especially a Protestant church, or even in a secular institution, for that matter. Since when do we, as Seventh-day Adventists, pay homage to the world's ideologies and so-called science anyway? What ever happened to the health message that has been one of the pillars separating our church from the others? Are our leaders so delusional as to believe that Ellen White would have condoned the use of experimental vaccines and drugs? Really? This severely flawed version of the health message, based on a myopic view of what she actually wrote, poses a peculiar paradox to any rational person. Yet, these leaders persist in foisting the world's fallacies on millions of faithful Seventh-day Adventists. Even the illegally issued ADCOM Reaffirmation Statement still stands unscathed despite enormous pushback by members worldwide. Freedom of conscience? Obviously, the words spoken by Ted Wilson and Ganoune Diop at the IRLA meeting in August were nothing more than political theater. And this is probably an understatement. We need to stop play-acting and demand total transparency from these men.

The reason I am not mincing words on this subject is that, after 20 years as an elder in our church, I am quite frankly disgusted by the level of collusion that has engulfed the sacred commission God has given us. I am even more concerned about the fact that most of our membership has rested on its laurels and allowed these things to happen right under their noses. It is very much akin to the way our political leaders are literally committing felonies in broad daylight while a beleaguered populace sits silently by, watching their heritage being flushed down the drain. Sadly, one thing I have learned over the years in our church is that most of our members will not question authority or mount even the most meager challenge, despite plainly obvious evidence that something is seriously wrong. Quite frankly, they would rather roll over and play dead. They have been indoctrinated, apparently, by decades of pew-warming and empty messages from the pulpit. Ironically, this process of apathy and capitulation is no different from that of the rest of the world. A good example of this is when James D. Standish compared Seventh-day Adventists who challenged Covid mandates to Islamic terrorists. Standish had served in a number of prominent positions in the General Conference. Yet, when his outrageous comments were published by the Adventist Review last year, few even raised an eyebrow. Ironically, the Review was founded by James and Ellen White, who even in their day saw the potential for the corruption of our theology through the publishing work-a tragic outcome that we are witnessing in many of today's publications endorsed by the General Conference.

There are many who will no doubt say that my comments are disrespectful to our church leadership. I am sure they would have said the same thing about Samuel reproving King Saul, Elijah's scathing rebuke to Ahab, and Jeremiah's pointed challenge to Zedekiah, just to mention a few. Bear in mind that these kings of Israel, much like the 'kings' we have placed in office today, rejected God's counsels. The very process of voting for leaders in order to emulate other organizations in our society is the same mistake the children of Israel made when they demanded a king despite stern admonishments from the prophet Samuel. Now we have presidents, vice presidents, and other high-level administrators just like the rest of the world, and this hierarchical structure has unfortunately led to the formation of an unrestrained behemoth that has been running roughshod over its membership, as was clearly evident during the pandemic. It continues on today.

People must realize that they can no longer rely upon church leadership to make decisions that are in concert with what we believe as true Seventh-day Adventists. It is a foregone conclusion that these leaders will yield to worldly demands once again when the next pandemic rolls around. It is time for the laity to take more of the responsibility for the work away from a leadership that is inclined to do what is politically correct rather than Biblically correct. E.G. White said it quite plainly:

"It is working upon wrong principles that has brought the cause of God into its present embarrassment. The people have lost confidence in those who have the management of the work. Yet we hear that the voice of the Conference is the voice of God. Every time I have heard this, I have thought it was almost blasphemy. The voice of the Conference ought to be the voice of God, but it is not, because some in connection with it are not men of faith and prayer, they are not men of elevated principle. There is not a seeking of God with the whole heart; there is not a realization of the terrible responsibility that rests upon those in this institution to mold and fashion minds after the divine similitude." {Manuscript 37, 1901, p. 8}

E.G. White did also say that "the work of God in this earth can never be finished until the men and women comprising our church membership rally to the work and unite their efforts with those of ministers and church officers" {9T 116.4}. But this presumes that those ministers and church officers are not making merchandise of our birthright and selling it to an apostate world. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" (Amos 3:3).

All of us need to take a stand for the truth, regardless of the sacrifices that may be involved. The real work of the Gospel is not without sacrifice. The prophetic clock is ticking down, and if we are playing politics and dabbling with worldly philosophies and ideals, we will surely be lost. It is about time that we follow what the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy tell us rather than kowtowing to leaders who have turned their backs on the truth, despite their grandiose soliloquies boasting the contrary. Church leaders may choose to bow a knee to Baal; that is surely their prerogative. However, it is up to us, the laity, to do what the Lord expects of us, and that begins with obeying God rather than men.

About the Author: Arnie Suntag is the founder and president of Walk of Faith, an organization that conducts seminars and educational series on health and disease prevention and provides outreach services to the community. About the author: Arnie Suntag is the founder and president of Walk of Faith, an organization that conducts seminars and educational series on health and disease prevention and provides outreach services to the community. For inquiries or comments, call (866) 359-2640 or email Arnie Suntag at arniesuntag@walkoffaithmedia.org

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