On Sabbath, October the 9th, the General Conference President, Elder Ted Wilson, delivered a stirring sermon defending the basics of the Adventist faith and directing his “fellow leaders” to do the same in their sermons.
He warned against certain errors and heresies that are creeping into the church, emphasizing these fourteen things:
The tendency to not accept the Bible as authoritative.
Attempts to diminish the Spirit of Prophecy—the prophetic writings of Ellen White.
Misconceptions of justification and sanctification, especially downplaying the need for sanctification.
Denial of the urgency of the times.
Humanism in preference to Heavenly Inspiration.
Disregard for the sanctuary service and the gospel message.
Ecumenism versus the shaking and sifting of the church—Wilson warns church leaders to stay away from ecumenism and preach the Adventist distinctives.
Congregationalism (emphasizing the local church) vs. God’s worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Remnant Church.
Attacks against the Godhead, which is composed of three co-eternal persons.
Opposition to God’s law and His Ten Commandments.
Accepting Evolution over a recent creation in six literal days.
Aberrant Lifestyle Behavior vs. Biblical sexuality.
Rejection of Temperance vs. God’s Comprehensive Health ministry and health reform.
Disastrous influence of eastern religion and eastern mysticism.
Sadly, Elder Wilson’s sound message was nearly drowned out by the visual image of his being flanked on the dais by masked clergy, while preaching to a near-empty auditorium sprinkled with a smattering of masked and socially distanced worshipers. The symbolism couldn’t be any clearer: “We submit to the new atheistic, globalist world order.”
Which leads me to suggest a 15th heresy that just now is troubling the church far more seriously than the 14 Elder Wilson mentioned: state worship. Call it Utopianism, Leftism, liberal fascism, or whatever you will, state worship is the seductive belief that human society is perfectible, that utopia can be achieved here on earth, if only all freedom is surrendered to the state, if only the state is given the means to control and direct all human activity.
One of the worst aspects of utopianism/state worship is the belief that, because utopia is achievable if only enough force is brought to bear, the end of a perfect society justifies any means whatsoever—any lie, any propaganda, any falsehood, any murder, any atrocity. We’ve seen how this plays out in the great totalitarian utopian projects of the 20th Century, Stalin’s Russia, Mao’s China, Hitler’s Germany.
State worship is in stark contrast to the Bible’s teaching that mankind is fallen and hence that human society is not perfectible this side of the eschaton. Although perfection is not achievable, a good society is achievable, but only through strictly fair and ethical processes—not through “the end justifies the means” lawlessness. And, certainly, freedom itself, and maximizing societal freedom while minimizing state compulsion is a value of the good society.
We are surrounded by Adventist state worshipers. This heresy should be added to Elder Wilson’s laundry list, because just now it is all the rage, and we will need to be very careful that it does not become a corporate sin of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.