One may wonder what could possibly be the connection between homosexuality, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The answer may well shock you, but as we show the underlying correlation it is well to remember the following inspired warning given over 130 years as to the dangerous trend that the church was then entering into.
“I am filled with sadness when I think of our condition as a people. The Lord has not closed heaven to us, but our own course of continual backsliding has separated us from God. Pride, covetousness, and love of the world have lived in the heart without fear of banishment or condemnation. Grievous and presumptuous sins have dwelt among us. And yet the general opinion is that the church is flourishing and that peace and spiritual prosperity are in all her borders.
The church has turned back from following Christ her Leader and is steadily retreating toward Egypt. Yet few are alarmed or astonished at their want of spiritual power. Doubt, and even disbelief of the testimonies of the Spirit of God, is leavening our churches everywhere. Satan would have it thus. Ministers who preach self instead of Christ would have it thus. The testimonies are unread and unappreciated. God has spoken to you. Light has been shining from His word and from the testimonies, and both have been slighted and disregarded. The result is apparent in the lack of purity and devotion and earnest faith among us. [written in 1882]” — Testimonies Vol. 5, p. 217
Why is it that the General Conference of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church has just recently held a four day summit on human sexuality in the far away location of South Africa, inviting over 400 church leaders from around the globe at considerable expense to tithe payers to talk about a subject which should be rather straight forward if we are the people of God who claim to follow the Bible and the Bible only as our rule of faith and practice? The Bible standards for marriage and sexual relations are very straight forward so why is the church leadership having to go to such expense to discuss a topic which is well understood by most members? Is it because of the pressures that contemporary society are placing on what the church believes in regard to marriage and proper sexual relationships? If we are the true people of God then why are the church leaders so concerned about what the world thinks in regard to these issues? Are we afraid to teach the Truth that homosexuality is a sin and that lawful marriage should only be between and man and a woman? I hope not.
The Key Connection: The Church and its IRS 501c3 Status
Perhaps there is something behind the scenes that the church leadership is very concerned about that is not being fully disclosed to the church membership. Is there a connection between this summit on human sexuality and the continuing discourse and controversy the church has been embroiled with regarding the full ordination of women to the ministry? The answer is yes and the key connection has to due with the fact that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is incorporated with the state as an IRS 501c3 corporation (please see our prior post on this connection here). When the church seeks favors from Caesar by becoming a creature of the state through incorporation then it becomes a slave to government dictates. This unsavory connection sets a stage for conflict between our professed Bible beliefs in regard to marital and sexual practices. Basically the church must adhere to the demands of the government or else suffer the consequences of losing their favored “tax exempt” status which in the end could amount to the liability of tens of millions of dollars of tithe revenues received over the past ten years or more. If these demands are not met the church faces the very real possibility of losing all of their assets (bank accounts, retirement funds, administrative buildings, hospitals, churches, schools, etc.) through forfeiture. Now this would tend to make our leaders rather nervous and set them about to do anything to avoid such a crisis. However, they are in a trap and they know it. Sources from within have made known and published these facts for years (see the original paper by Bert Halovak entitled “Money and Theology: IRS and Redefining the SDA Ministry“). For more documentation regarding the troubling conflict between church and state that incorporation and IRS 501c3 status presents, please see a list of resources at the following site.
You may wonder what would bring about such a crisis that would force the church leadership into the corner and have to make a choice between following the Bible with the potential to lose all of their earthly assets or cowering to the demands of the government in order to preserve their comfortable lifestyles? If one examines the current cultural climate in which we live the women’s movement and the gay movement are becoming more and more militant in the pursuit of their agendas which are directly in opposition to the most basic teaching of the Bible on marriage and sexual relations. As an end to achieve their means these powerful lobbies are routinely resorting to legal action. And to the increasing alarm of the Christian community, they are winning almost all of their cases hands down. For example of how serious a threat this is, just look at the case of two rich and influential homosexual men who are suing the Church of England for refusing to marry them. This is what causes grave concern to the leaders of the SDA church and the reason they are spending so much time, money, and effort to address these issues of women’s ordination and homosexuality with conference after conference and summit after summit. They are afraid of being sued because if the corporate SDA Church is taken to court in a discrimination case involving an employee or member who all of sudden comes out of the closet and announces they are gay and then end up losing their job the leaders know they will lose and lose big. Perhaps this is some sort of justice in all of this for the Bible says:
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” — Galatians 6:7
One wonders if our church leaders will rethink their decision to trademark the name “Seventh-day Adventist” and then use it as a weapon against independent ministries and groups who have used the good church’s name but have been taken to court and muzzled (for prior posts along this line please click here , here, and here). Interestingly, the only case the church lost was when they attempted to take the openly gay SDA group “Kinship International” to court for using the trademarked name and lost. Now this same group is protesting loudly about not being invited to the recent Cape Town Summit and after being snubbed have opened a new website to give their “stories”. It does not take much imagination to realize what threat this group and its members poses to the corporate SDA Church and its money bag if they decided to go to court again.
If ever there was a time for true revival and reformation in our beloved church it is now. Let us pray for our leaders who are in a terrible trap that they might stop and realize their only refuge of protection is, not from the world and its cunning lawyers, but from trusting God and believing and standing for His Word even through the whole world against us convene. As the old saying goes, the chickens are about to come home to roost.
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