It’s no longer just Ellen White and our distinctive teachings under attack anymore.  It’s the Bible itself—the very foundation of Christian faith and practice—that is now being disputed by certain professed Adventists.

Today marks the thirtieth anniversary of the destruction of the Mount Carmel Center (sometimes called Ranch Apocalypse) in Waco, Texas, headquarters of the so-called Branch Davidians and their leader, one David Koresh. Five years ago, this website published the present article to mark the 25th anniversary of this tragedy. We are publishing it again, with some editorial revisions, to highlight the spiritual lessons of this horrific episode, with the goal of moving beyond and above the debate and demagoguery from several perspectives that has so often contorted memories of this sad event.

As the mission of the church is defined by the Word of God, it is not possible for an employee or member of the church to be “loyal to the overall mission of the church” while differing with one or more Bible-based tenets taught by the church.

My last article addressed a number of challenges to the classic Adventist sanctuary doctrine as voiced in a recent online interview   The events of Glacier View 1980 and the subsequent removal of Desmond Ford from the Seventh-day Adventist ministry on account of his denial of key features of classic Adventist sanctuary theology, continue to arouse interest and discussion in various segments of the contemporary church.  The present article will address other notable challenges to classic Adventist understandings of these issues, as raised by Ford and others.

Prior to his recent death, William G. Johnsson, retired editor of the Adventist Review, gave an interview in which he offered reflections of his own regarding the pivotal Glacier View conference of August 1980, which addressed challenges to the classic Adventist sanctuary doctrine by Dr. Desmond Ford. What follows is an assessment of these reflections by the present writer.

No Seventh-day Adventist Christian should fear, much less loathe, these terms.  We simply need to define and apply them in harmony with the teachings of God’s Word. 

Biblical morality, or the denial thereof, is often a simple case of the right thing being wrongly placed.

Whenever Bible doctrines and standards are devalued in deference to experience-driven, comfort-seeking spirituality, ignorance of the most basic Biblical principles can easily result. 

A recent article on a liberal Adventist website claims that believers in Jesus will not have their deeds weighed in God’s final judgment. The Bible emphatically disagrees.

Applying the Berean test (Acts 17:11) to what appears to be a major revival movement among Christian college students in the United States.

Recent intrusions into American and Canadian airspace by unidentified objects offer a faint glimpse into what the inspired pen foretells regarding sights in the heavens that will arrest the attention of the world.

Our hearts go out with deepest anguish to the victims of the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria, and to their suffering families and loved ones.  Whatever we can do to relieve their pain and assist them in their need, let us do.  But let us also keep our eyes on the multiplying signs that Jesus is getting ready to come, and by which He seeks to arouse inquiring and searching hearts of the ultimate, eternally-consequential choices that lie before them in these fleeting moments of lingering time.

“I was shown that it was when David was pure, and walking in the counsel of God, that God called him a man after His own heart.  When David departed from God, and stained his virtuous character by his crimes, he was no longer a man after God’s own heart.  God did not in the least degree justify him in his sins, but sent Nathan, His prophet, with dreadful denunciations to David because he had transgressed the commandment of the Lord.”

Ellen G. White, Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 1, p. 379

While mercy and kindness, rightly administered, most assuredly constitute an aspect of divine grace, the maintenance of doctrinal, liturgical, and moral integrity by the body of Christ also constitutes a manifestation of this grace. 

Assessing the rise, progress, and potential of what is arguably the greatest youth revival movement in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Kay Yvonne Buzzard Priebe, wife of Amazing Facts evangelist, revivalist, and Adventist theologian Dennis E. Priebe, passed to her rest on November 21, 2022. She and Dennis had been married 58 years. Her memorial service will be held at the Fairmont Seventh-day Adventist Church in Lodi, California, on January 21, 2023, at 3 p.m. Those desiring to watch the service online may do so at https://www.youtube.com/@fairmontsdachurch1595/streams

This is the sixth and final installment of our series responding to the lectures delivered at the North American Division ministerial meeting in June 2022 in Lexington, Kentucky, in which the cluster of teachings known as Last Generation Theology were conspicuously and publicly challenged.  This installment will focus on the misrepresentation of the teachings of M.L. Andreasen by one of the lecturers in question, and will offer some final thoughts on the controversy in general.

Another lyrical flourish to mark the season.

This is the fifth installment of our series responding to the lectures delivered at the North American Division ministerial meeting in June 2022 in Lexington, Kentucky, in which the cluster of teachings known as Last Generation Theology were conspicuously and publicly challenged.  This installment will focus on the lectures in question relative to the great controversy and the vindication of God’s character.

This is the fourth installment of our series responding to the lectures delivered at the North American Division ministerial meeting in June 2022 in Lexington, Kentucky, in which the cluster of teachings known as Last Generation Theology were challenged. This installment will focus on the lectures in question relative to the meaning of character perfection as defined in Scripture and the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy.