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.

Neither culture (whatever label it wears) nor extra-Biblical ideologies should drive our understanding of inspired prophecy or the moral agenda of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian.

Principle should always stand supreme in the political choices of the Christian. On this basis I would like to identify five (5) principles which, among others, should guide Seventh-day Adventists in America who have yet to participate in the pending midterm elections in our country:

This is Part 3 of a series of articles responding to some lectures at the North American Division ministerial meetings in Lexington, Kentucky, which offered criticism of the construct known as Last Generation Theology. This article considers the content of the lectures under review with regard to salvation and the atonement.

This is Part 2 of a series of articles responding to some lectures at the North American Division ministerial meetings in Lexington, Kentucky, which offered criticism of the construct known as Last Generation Theology. This article considers the content of the lectures under review with regard to the nature of sin and the human nature of Christ.

At a gathering this past summer of pastors, administrators, and laypersons in the North American Division, two prominent professors from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University offered major criticisms of the doctrinal construct that has come to be known as Last Generation Theology. What follows is the first installment of an assessment of these criticisms based on Scripture, the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy, and other sources.

“The restraining Spirit of God is even now being withdrawn from the world. Hurricanes, storms, tempests, fire and flood, disasters by sea and land, follow each other in quick succession. Science seeks to explain all these. The signs thickening around us, telling of the near approach of the Son of God, are attributed to any other than the true cause.”

Ellen G. White, Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 408.

Watching the desperate people of Jackson, Mississippi, during those weeks of suffering, I found myself pondering how much worse it will be when plumbing fixtures and water bottles will dispense blood, when no relief from sores, thirst, or heat will be available. Praise the God of all mercy that probation still lingers! Oh, let us seek Him while He may be found! Let us call on Him while He is near! (Isa. 55:6).

Watching the elaborate and varied rituals connected with the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, the multi-colored regiments and banners attending her coffin, the thousands lining the procession route, and of course the new King, his siblings, and their spouses following the prescribed ceremonial order, one cannot but ponder the ultimate pageantry of a much grander and glorious kingdom, in which each of us is privileged to strive for citizenship.

Reflections on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, third longest-reigning monarch in world history (1952-2022).

“Noah would have displeased God to have drowned one of the scoffers and mockers that harassed him, but God drowned the vast world. Lot would have had no right to inflict punishment on his sons-in-law, but God would do it in strict justice.”

Ellen G. White, Last-Day Events, p. 241.

Offshoot movements which depart from organized Adventism as a protest against problems in the church—real or imagined—carry a powerful allurement for the disenchanted among the striving faithful. Those joining or initiating such movements presume that purity of faith and practice beckons them on, that if only the faithful could start all over they could avoid and preclude the intrusion of all the problems that presently beset the organized church body.

A recent online article recycles a number of old attacks on Ellen White’s theological credibility. For the sake of those in whose minds these challenges might raise questions, it is important that credible answers be provided.

Is ranked authority necessary in a perfect world?