On May 26th, Seminars around the U.S. were conducted by lay members of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church to reaffirm our foundational beliefs and our support for our General Conference.
One of these meetings was held in New Mexico for the second time at the Grants S..D.A. Church.
In all there were 30 people in attendance, which included members from 4 different churches. Several testimonies were given from new Adventists on how they experienced struggles with other faiths, and were very thankful to find the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
The program started out with a song and an opening statement on what W.C.A.S is and what are the intentions of this lay-driven group. Three speakers were chosen to present three different topics for the afternoon which were:
- Creation and Our Creator’s Authority
- Repairers of the Breach
- Press Together (by Rey Chavez)
All three speakers were members from different churches and gave great biblical references as well as many quotes from Spirit of Prophecy. All messages were shining a great light on the love and character of Jesus Christ and the experiences of those who follow Him.
All three sessions took up about two hours and had a Q&A period with the presenters and conductor of the event. Many questions arose as to the understanding of what is Sunday law, what affiliation does this event have with the world church or local conference, and how laws are understood.
The first presentation was about Creation and our Creator’s Authority. The presenter spoke about creation and how the Bible speaks in many ways of God as Creator. In Revelation 14 the very understanding of God as Creator points us back to keeping Sabbath and the Law of God. Adventists understand that the Sabbath Day is not only a rest day but a memorial of Creation. The presenter also went on to tell us a story about his sister who suffered from a mental disease and how this was not God' plan for mankind in His creation, but that soon at the resurrection he will get to see his loving sister made whole.
The second presentation about Repairers of the Breach spoke about a breach in the walls of our foundations as Christians and more importantly as Seventh-day Adventists. He laid out from the Spirit of Prophecy how Satan will use all his strength to breach the wall of God's people and keep the gap open to his influences. And Satan will use not just people from the outside, but those from within to spread lies and confuse those who are not yet founded on God’s Word.
The third presentation by Mr. Chavez took a story from Mark 10:35-45, where a rift happened amongst the Disciples because two of them wanted to be above the others in a leadership role. Rather, Jesus taught them that they needed to be a team and work together to save others. Quotes from S.O.P revealed that one way to be safe from deception was for God’s people to be united in the work that He gave them to do, and that only God can be head supervisor of His people (21MR 272.1). We must work together to share the truth as it is found in Scripture and the SOP. We must leave all personal opinions, culture and politics aside, because when we bring them in we are like the two disciples who caused problems amongst the Twelve in Mark 10.
All in all, it was a great afternoon and Sabbath. We are already preparing for the next WCAS and trust that all went well at the other events around the nation. We also ask continually for your prayers. We know that the enemy is trying his best to shut down this grassroots movement, which is reaffirming our foundational beliefs as Seventh-day Adventists. By God's grace, we will prevail!
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