Open Letter to Greater New York Conference
Gerson Santos, Executive Secretary |
May 29, 2013
Dear Gerson Santos: |
| At the request of ______ and ______ I made several attempts to contact Ted Wilson and yesterday, Orville Parchment, Assistant to Ted Wilson called me to discuss the situation with these two ladies and their request to attend Ted Wilson’s NY13 – Revelation of Hope evangelism series at Manhattan Church starting in June 7th. |
| Basically, he informed me that Ted Wilson is just the speaker of a major NAD sponsored ‘Mission to the Cities’ evangelism effort, however he added that the position of the General Conference is that the NY13 Revelation of Hope seminar which will be presented by Ted Wilson is open to the public and anyone can attend. |
| Since NY13 is an NAD event, I intend to contact Dan Jackson and Alex Bryant and ask if they concur with GC policy that “anyone can attend” – since the NAD is a division of the General Conference, their response should be in harmony with what Orville Parchment said. This presents an interesting question about who is really in charge of the Revelation of Hope Seminars - the General Conference or the local pastor? In other words, if the Pastor calls the police because these two ladies attend a Ted Wilson presentation, is that what the General Conference and NAD wants to happen. |
| It might now be a good time to consider what the Lord wants, and is there an answer revealed in the inspired writings of Scripture and God’s prophet for these last days. |
| I believe that Ellen White had the gift of prophecy, and I ask you to consider the words she was inspired to write in 1899 and published in the Review and Herald. She wrote “There is a time coming when . . . and this prophetic statement can be applied to this current situation to help guide you to make a decision that is in harmony with God’s will. She wrote . . . |
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"There is a time coming when those who have joined the church, but have not joined Christ, will be manifest. Their corrupt principles can not blend with Christ. The heart must be made new before it can receive the truth that sanctifies the receiver. But to sit in judgment on those who, we think, are wrong -- to condemn them and cast them out -- is not for mortals to do. God has not given this work to any human being. "Let both grow together until the harvest," Christ says. He has bought men with a price, even his precious blood; and he would not lose one soul. His experience with Judas is recorded to show his long patience with perverse human nature. He came not to "destroy men's lives, but to save them." He will decide who are worthy to dwell in perfect unity with the saints in the family of heaven."
Review & Herald, February 7, 1899 par. 10 |
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| Orville Parchment is in harmony with this statement when he says anyone can attend, you attended the NY13 Organizational meeting on May 16th where Mark Finley said “anyone can attend” – if you did not hear him, I did hear him say “anyone can attend the Revelation of Hope Series.” |
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| The General Conference has developed a system of justice and church discipline which they have incorporated into the church manual. The 59th General Conference Session has approved the following paragraph to appear in the Church Manual, in this text they acknowledge the right of a member to seek fairness . . . |
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While it is the right of the church to administer discipline, this does not set aside the rights of members to seek fairness. If a member believes that they have been treated unfairly by the local church, or not had the right to be heard fairly, and the church is unwilling to reconsider the case or if the officers refuse to consider their applications for reinstatement, the former members have a right to appeal in writing to the church for a hearing. The church should not neglect or refuse to grant such hearings. If it does, or the former members still feel unfairly treated by the church after the appeal, they have the right to a final appeal for a hearing to the executive committee of the conference.
Church Manual, page 67 |
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| The two ladies can not apply this text to theit situation because they have not been disciplined by the church in accordance with proper procedure; they have been Seventh-day Adventists for over 30 years and are still members of the church. I even remind you that _____ sends three children to Adventist schools. Although they can not ask you to apply the above text, I can point out that the principle established in this text can help to guide you to an understanding of what “fairness” is that a member has a right to seek. |
| The prophecy, says that “There is a time coming when . . . their corrupt principles can not blend with Christ.” What has been corrupted here is church discipline as a vehicle to restore the member who has erred back into fellowship with the brethren. This new form of church discipline which I call ‘Discipline by Cop’ is a corrupted version of the church discipline described in the church manual. It is corrupted because there is no path whereby the member can be restored and there is no process to protect a member from false accusations and there is no ‘fairness’ in ‘Discipline by Cop’ - we can see this now, eight months after the police told them they would be arrested if they stepped foot into Manhattan Church. It is corrupted because there is not need to involve the police to settle a grievance. |
| _____ and _____ asked you for permission to attend the Mark Finley Health Quest 2013 series from May 20th to May 24th and you declined their request. If it was their intention to disrupt the meetings they would not need to ask permission, they would have just gone there. They hope that by respecting your decision they would gain a testimony that they do not present the threat that the Pastor and the church board says they do. There is another side to this story which you have yet to hear because you did not properly investigate this matter. |
| These two ladies asked you for permission to attend the Mark Finley series because you are the person who authorized police involvement in a grievance situation. What you did is contrary to the Church Manual, page 63 which says . . . |
| Section: Settlement of Grievances of the Church Against Members
“At times Church organizations or institutions may have grievances against members. In such circumstances, Church administrators must in Christian forbearance, keep in mind the biblical counsel for settling disputes among Christians and apply that counsel to the settlement of grievances of the Church against its members. The Church should, in preference to litigating matters in a secular court, make every reasonable effort in cooperation with the member to provide a process by which orderly settlement of the problem can be accomplished.
The Church recognizes the need of exercising great care to protect the highest spiritual interests of its members, to ensure fair treatment, and to safeguard the name of the Church. It cannot afford to deal lightly with such sins or permit personal considerations to affect its actions, and at the same time it must strive to reclaim and restore those who err. . . Testimonies Vol. 7, page 263”
Church Manual, page 61 |
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| In September, you were asked why you authorized police involvement to resolve a grievance and eight months later you still have not answered. So you have left us to speculate why you neglected to do what the Church Manual says you MUST do. However, the fact remains, that you have sanctioned a form of discipline that is not found in the church manual, this ‘discipline by cop’ is based on corrupted principles just as Ellen White prophesized. Unfortunately, the church manual has not yet caught up to the fulfillment of this 'time that now has come' and we have this conundrum to deal with. |
| We are asking you to realize that when the Pastor called the police on Sept. 8th they took no action against these two ladies, the police realized this was an internal church dispute and not an emergency situation. It was your letter that was read to the police on Sept. 22nd that brought them to take action. You violated proper procedure when you authorized the police without even speaking with the ladies. |
| Therefore, _____ and _____ are appealing to you again to correct the injustice that you did to them and grant them permission to attend Ted Wilson’s Revelation of Hope Evangelism series at Manhattan Church. |
| I personally made this request to you was on May 20th and you said you would support the church board decision, but is was not the church board decision that prompted the police to take action against _____ and _____, it was your letter and in the week since we spoke we have received clarification from Ted Wilson’s office and the Holy Spirit has allowed me to introduce a paragraph from the pen of inspiration that says, “God has not given you this work” – I ask you to have faith that God is able to protect the NY13 Evangelism from all forms of disruption and he can bless the souls like _____ and _____ who He has drawn to these meetings and impressed them that there is a blessing for them if they attend. |
I hope that you will respond to his request.
In God We Trust
Mario |
| The names of the two Seventh-day Adventist ladies have been removed at their request |
| Return to xxx page |
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