August 24, 2012
Ted N. C. Wilson, President
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
12501 Old Columbia Pike
Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6600
Mr. Wilson,
An open letter from my desk was sent to you on November 19, 2010, detailing my dismay at Mr. Orville D. Parchment’s apology to one senior lady, Ms. S. Hatch of Anza, California. The subject matter of my objections concerned the faulty grounds stated for pursuing the protection of your church’s “good name” and corporate identity via the “strong arm of civil government.” I received no acknowledgement of receipt, answer, or rebuttal from you or any of your staff.
The nature of this open
letter, addressed to you, though applicable to your world constituency, is
intimately related to my initial letter.
Recently, I was inspired to write you a letter during my incarceration at
the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino, California for the conscientious
exercise of my faith – Creation 7th Day Adventism. The Spirit of grace did not move me to compose
it until now, and that, providentially prompted by your fine article published
in Adventist World, NAD Edition,
August 2012, bearing the title “Freedom of Conscience.” I highly appreciated your views which I intend
to develop further in this letter.
You wrote the following
on page 8:
Religious liberty and
freedom of conscience are gifts from God –gifts centered in free choice. These gifts are important for everyone in the
world, and they are integral to our sharing the good news of the ultimate gift
of Jesus Himself.
This paragraph is powerful in its scope and could not have been
said any better. Oh, that every
professed Christian in the world would internalize and live by these simple and
eternal concepts.
Continuing on page 8,
you state: “Seventh-day Adventists have
always embraced religious liberty as an integral part of their beliefs,
history, and mission. Religious liberty
is in the very DNA of our church.” In
declaring this, you bring the matter home and close to the heart of Creation 7th Day Adventists
who find themselves persecuted in America for their conscientious exercise of
“the faith of Jesus” and implicit trust in and obedience to God’s divine mandates.
The next paragraph says,
“Religious freedom is a fundamental freedom –a basic human right.” You have
emphasized this sentence with the following foot note:
See “The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights,” adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on
December 10, 1948. Even ostensibly
secular organizations have recognized and enshrined this right.
Logically, if “religious liberty is in the very DNA of the
church,” and “even ostensibly secular organizations have recognized and
enshrined this right,” one would think the Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders
and legal experts would be extremely sensitive to the principles involved
whenever the church employs the state to sustain her religious institutions and
identity.
Turning to page 9, you
write, “History has shown the disastrous effects on religious freedom when
church and state become united.” Of
course, this truth has been repeated time and time again within the ranks of
Seventh-day Adventism and inherited by Creation 7th Day Adventism.
In fact, the “image of the beast” prophesied in Revelation 13 is formed by this
unholy union of the world with the church.
Just as the beast (or papacy) was formed by the marriage of Pagan Rome
to the apostate Catholic Church, Seventh-day Adventists (and Creation 7th
Day Adventists alike) have expected apostate Protestantism to marry the United
States government to the degree that sabbath-keepers will have their liberty of
conscience restricted. Religious
persecution ultimately ensues as we have seen in our instant controversy over the
SDA trademark name.
Under the section
titled “A Fundamental Freedom,” you make your personal preference known. “My choice must always be for a state where
religious freedom is described as a fundamental freedom and has the status of a
protected human right.” I perceive that
you must endorse the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993 which was
an attempt by Congress to protect this fundamental human right in America. I recall the Seventh-day Adventist Church
being one of the leading sponsors of this land-mark legislation. But, was the RFRA to be applied only when the government was a party to a lawsuit? Would this law not apply equally to lawsuits
where a private-party plaintiff invokes federal law to restrict the liberty of
conscience of a private-party defendant?
We know from legal research that the appellate courts are split on this
question. The General Conference legal
team opted out when faced head on with that question in General Conference, et al v. McGill, et al while objecting to
McGill’s writ of certiorari at the U.
S. Supreme Court. It was an unfortunate
self-serving counter strategy wrought out by your legal team, endeavoring to
salvage a General Conference victory. You
and your constituency should be embarrassed and ashamed at this cowardly and
hypocritical legal maneuver.
I thoroughly agree with
your relevant application of principle in the next paragraph.
A secular state can
be supported by believers so long as it doesn’t oppose the values of their
faith. Christians are called to obey
authorities and to respect the state.
But when there is a conflict between the faith of Jesus and the claims
of the state, we have a higher mandate:
“We must obey God rather than men.”
(Acts 5:29, KJV).
This is the standard I have applied consistently respecting my
personal response to the civil sanctions imposed on me by your legal team via United
States federal magistrates. I cannot alter
my course of action in light of my conscientious convictions. I am bound by my conscience to obey “a higher
mandate” from the Almighty God of the living and the dead. Why do you have difficulty understanding my
motives? Why do you not support me in my
convictions? Why are you taking the
stand of an adversary to “Freedom of Conscience” in America?
These questions may be
skirted and answered with purely legalistic jargon or worldly ideals of
“corporate policy,” but I appeal to you—take a moment to consider my questions
with a soft Christian “heart of flesh,” applying Scripture and Scripture alone.
Then, take another step
that requires you to advocate for the immutable principles of Seventh-day
Adventism under the advisement of the Spirit of Prophecy. “Some will be honest when it costs nothing;
but when policy will pay best, honesty is forgotten. Honesty and policy will not work together in
the same mind. In time, either policy
will be expelled, and truth and honesty reign supreme, or, if policy is
cherished, honesty will be forgotten. They
are never in agreement; they have nothing in common. One is the prophet of Baal, the other is the
true prophet of God.” (Lift Him Up, p. 287)
On the last page of
your article (page 10), under “Tension Brings Opportunities,” I quote your
words, “If intolerant, ideological secularism attacks our religious faith, we
must stand up for our faith with conviction.
We should not be intimidated or give up.
But we must face the challenge with the Christian weapons of hope,
endurance, perseverance, kindness, and love.”
Mr. Wilson, I have followed your counsel precisely when faced with the
civil and “secular sanctions” decreed against me under color of trademark law,
resulting in my incarceration at your hands.
In the very next
paragraph we read these words of challenge:
Let’s be fully engaged
in our strong commitment and personal actions to live lives that promote
religious liberty and freedom of conscience.
Let’s speak and advocate our positions in a winsome manner with grace,
conviction, and passion. Let’s seek
wisdom from heaven to accomplish the great task of championing religious
freedom, enlisting support from government and civic leaders, as well as the
general public.
I offer my resounding “Amen” to your appeal to the Seventh-day
Adventist Church constituency. I further
appeal to your legal counselors who make important decisions in connection with
your perceived need to “protect [your] good name” and denominational identity
in this secular world. Had the church
not been “married to the world,” this appeal would not have been necessary. Had your church not chosen Caesar as her
protector, this open letter would not have been written. If you had “fulfill[ed] the law of God”
according to the Scriptures and the Spirit of Prophecy, Creation 7th Day Adventists would never have separated
from your communion. You would not now be
our “former brethren.”
The work which the
church has failed to do in a time of peace and prosperity, she will have to do
in a terrible crisis, under most discouraging, forbidding, circumstances. The
warnings that worldly conformity has silenced or withheld, must be given under
the fiercest opposition from enemies of the faith. And at that time the
superficial, conservative class, whose influence has steadily retarded the
progress of the work, will renounce the faith, and take their stand with its
avowed enemies, toward whom their sympathies have long been tending. These
apostates will then manifest the most bitter enmity, doing all in their power
to oppress and malign their former brethren, and to excite indignation against
them. This day is just before us. The members of the church will individually
be tested and proved. They will be placed in circumstances where they will be
forced to bear witness for the truth. Many will be called to speak before
councils and in courts of justice, perhaps separately and alone. (Testimonies,
vol. 5, p. 463)
Mr. Wilson, I have
recently completed a 40-day fast for you and your SDA constituents. I make my formal appeal to you and those
precious souls in covenant with you. Please allow Creation 7th Day Adventists in America and the world the
blessing of “freedom of conscience” which is by your own words, “a fundamental
freedom—a basic human right.”
In the work of “preparing a people to stand in the day of the
LORD,” I remain
Your faithful servant in the voluntary bonds of Jesus Christ,
 | ||
Walter "Chick" McGill, Pastor |
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For all who love and support "liberty of conscience," there is a Liberty Petition available to sign online. You may access the portal at http://libertypetition.com/. May God's best be yours as you stand for freedom in America.
