As the 2025 General Conference session is about to open, with the choice of leaders and the adjustment of policies facing the Seventh-day Adventist Church once again, it is time to reaffirm our faith in the written counsel of God as our exclusive guide and sole authority (Isa. 8:20; Acts 17:11).

At the present moment in time, with both the world and the church caught in the gale of history, nothing else matters in the decision-making and strategizing incumbent upon those called to direct the denominational ship of state. Firm hands, stout hearts, and an unwavering confidence in the written Word have always been indispensable, but never so dramatically as now.

The Siren Call of Error

At the present time, the following warning by the modern prophet has never been so relevant:

The days are fast approaching when there will be great perplexity and confusion. Satan, clothed in angel robes, will deceive, if possible, the very elect. There will be gods many and lords many. Every wind of doctrine will be blowing [##1|Ellen G. White, Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 80.##].

Recently a prominent media figure in the Seventh-day Adventist Church bade farewell to the great Advent movement, his principal objections being to such tenets as the investigative judgment, the doctrinal and moral authority of the Spirit of Prophecy writings, and the claim that our classic theology left him with no assurance of salvation. (Too many seem not to realize that testimonies of this sort too often bespeak, not a quest for Biblical faithfulness, but the time-transcendent folly of seeking to serve two masters at once.)

More recently a book assembled by a cluster of theologically liberal Adventists (with at least two ex-Adventists thrown in the mix), engaged yet again in the decades-long, foolhardy effort to sideline the prophetic authority of Ellen White, but was thankfully withdrawn by its publishers, very likely at the urging of denominational leadership. We praise the Lord for those watchmen who continue to sound the trumpet of warning in such matters. But again we face recurrent evidence that the prophetic voice is resented by those who would rather their spiritual journey be guided by the vagaries of so-called “scholarship” and experiential self-exploration. Tragically, Jehoiakim’s hearth still burns among God’s professed people (Jer. 36:19-25).

Just this week I perused yet another online article urging the church to make room in its fellowship for those whose sexual practices run counter to the Word of God. “They are already here,” the article’s author insists—as if that proves the church should make peace with such behavior in its midst. Sin has lurked in the faith community ever since Cain’s counterfeit sacrifice. The ferocity of the dragon’s rage against the bride of Christ will continue to explode, inside as well as outside the church (Rev. 12:17). The call to compromise the church’s stance in the face of such aberrations will certainly grow louder. And the resistance of God’s striving faithful to such deviances must grow louder still.

Attacks likewise continue to be lobbed at the doctrinal construct that has lately become known as Last Generation Theology, which is really little more than the remnant church theology under a different name. Fundamental Belief No. 13, “The Remnant and Its Mission” [2], epitomizing God’s end-time call for a divinely-empowered commandment-keeping people, represents the heart of this theology. And the Bible is clear that if commandment-keeping isn’t perfect, it doesn’t exist. The apostle James writes, “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10).

Assaults from the direction of ambiguity and carelessness aren’t the only challenges faced just now by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Certain vocal forces would have the denomination distract itself from the agenda charted by God’s written counsel through culture-driven, uninspired diversions, like the anti-vaccine movement and the efforts of evangelical Christians to employ civil government to force the conscience in matters of spiritual allegiance, relational intimacy, and reproductive choice. Such passions are driven, not by Scripture or the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy, but by contemporary, misbegotten culture wars, with their knee-jerk suspicion of civil authority, contempt for various international bodies, and other features of what they are pleased to call “the establishment.”

None of these distractions merit the energy and time-commitment of God’s people in this critical hour of sacred history.

Conclusion: The Unerring Lodestar

As delegates and other attendees gather in St. Louis, it is imperative that the unerring lodestar of inspired counsel be the sole informer of the decisions rendered. The variant forces buffeting the people of God just now must be resisted by principled, uncompromising strength. The global witness of the great Advent movement dare not be moderated or temporized for the sake of superficial unity, nor can it digress from its divine purpose in pursuit of causes defined by cultural grievance or secular political ideologies.

Let earnest prayer attend the proceedings about to commence. And may the Lord demonstrate yet again His eternal control over the destiny of His end-time covenant community, otherwise called the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

REFERENCES

1. Ellen G. White, Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 80.

2. https://adventist.org/beliefs#belief-13