Feature Article
Dear maranathamedia subscriber
From the Adventist.org website we read.
In a carefully balanced pair of actions, Seventh-day Adventist leaders in North America voted October 31 to fully participate in the world church's recently launched study of the theology of ordination while also reaffirming the division's unique policy of allowing ordained or commissioned ministers to serve as presidents of local conferences and missions.
The latter action, voted by nearly a 3 to 1 margin, broadens the opportunities for non-ordained leaders to be elected to the top position in any of the 58 conferences that make up the 1.1-million member church region.
The pair of votes came three weeks after the North American Division's request for a variance in the world church's model constitution to allow for broader leadership opportunities was turned down by the church's Executive Committee at its Annual Council. The model document states that conference leadership can only be held by an ordained pastor; the NAD policy, while valid within its territory, places the region at variance with the constitutional template.
Let us take the example of a family situation. The head of the home places before the family a strong case to go in a certain direction, if the wife in that home turns around and tells the head of the home, I am sorry and I love you but as painful is this will feel, I have decided to take a different path. As the children observe their mother?s reaction to authority, they learn that when authority speaks, we are at liberty to reject that authority if it does not suit us.
The Bible lays down clear guidelines when a person under authority has good reason to question the direction of an authority over them. See The Divine Pattern www.divine-pattern.com for the process involved. The Bible does not support in any way the rejection of authority simply by voting an opposite measure, this is pure rebellion.
In this vote taken by the North American division, the church has moved into very dangerous waters. The North American Division, one of the leading Divisions of the world field, has sent the message to all the other divisions that ?If you feel the General Conference is going in the wrong direction or is too slow, then simply go it alone and do your own thing.? The harvest that this action will yield in the near future will be bitter and devastating.
The vote of the North American Division is fitting for the movement it seeks to represent; a feminist movement that says to authority, ?we will not have this man to reign over us.? ?We will eat our own bread, only let us keep the name Seventh-day Adventist. ?
With this precedent, we can no longer be sure that any vote by the General Conference is binding in any way. The authority of the General Conference has been severely curtailed by these actions. How can the North American Division sing ?Have thine own way Lord? when they show the world church, ?we will do what we want, when we want and how we want. ?
The North American Division now represents the typical fruit of the feminist movement, defiance, self-will and accountability to no one.
Our Father in Heaven, please help our brethren in the North American Division realise the terrible mistake that has been made here. May the members of the North American division write to their conference and union leaders appealing to and pleading with them to reconsider the direction they have taken. I pray these things in the precious name of Jesus
Please write to your church leaders if you feel convicted that the NAD has taken a wrong course in dealing with this issue. This issue goes far deeper than simply a question of whether female commissioning/Ordaining is right, it is a question of how members of the world church should respond to the authority of the General Conference. Let us pray for our leaders that God will help them to appeal that we do all things decently and in order.
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