An appeal to our leadership
Dear Victor:

This is not 1888. It is 2010. Not even a cursory glance at First World Adventism would lead an honest observer to think that today we are preaching the law “until we are dry as the hills of Gilboa,” as Ellen White said in 1890. “Too much of the law” is most assuredly not a problem in the lion’s share of today’s church, at least in this part of the world. More than likely, were Ellen White with us today, she would say we have become “drippy as the swamps of Louisiana”!

As a pastor myself, I neither doubt nor diminish the harm that can be done by people dividing a congregation over such things as cheese at the potluck, etc. I simply deny that this is the predominant problem in the Adventism of the developed world, even if it has been so in your personal experience. Vastly more common is the accepted perception that what we eat, how we dress, where we go for entertainment, and how we govern our personal relationships makes no difference to our salvation–that those who call these issues to our attention are “legalists” trying ostensibly to “work their way to heaven.” Such departures from faithfulness are sadly undergirded by unscriptural understandings of the gospel which secure the believer’s place in heaven apart from character transformation and victory over sin.

This, at the bottom line, is the reason we have the evolution problem in the church, as well as the homosexuality problem and countless others. It is because long ago, in thousands of Adventist minds, correct theology and correct living were deemed “non-salvation” issues. If how we live does not affect our standing in God’s judgment, if correct doctrine has no bearing on whether or not we go to heaven, why not go with what feels good, seems right, or is presently popular among presumed “experts”? If in he end we’re found to be wrong in the choices we make, so this perverse reasoning goes, we’ll be neighbors in God’s kingdom anyhow.

Thus have the misguided among us crafted their spirituality, individually unique and devoid of accountability. This glass house of falsehood must be shattered once and for all in the minds of our people, and with it every false gospel which assures believers of salvation apart from how they believe and how they live.

And regarding the issues of the last days, while one might make a case that legalism will be at work in the passage of Sunday laws, we must be careful that we stick to the language of Inspiration in depicting the issues of the final crisis. The obsession with legalism so popular in many circles of the church too often forgets that according to God’s prophet, “Obedience or disobedience is the question to be decided by the whole world. Here the dividing line will be drawn. There will be but two classes” (DA 763). Too much confusion has gone into the minds of our people because of theological agendas driven by experience rather than the objective counsel of God. It is time, at long last, that we make that written counsel our supreme, exclusive authority in all things spiritual.

God bless!

Pastor Kevin Paulson

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An appeal to our leadership
Dear Victor:

I am concerned that you seem to have bought into some dangerous perceptions as to the spiritual dilemma of today’s church, and are perhaps learning the wrong lessons from the experience of the Jewish nation in Christ’s time.

It has long been popular, in modern and postmodern Adventism, to talk about how it was the “conservatives” who demanded Christ’s crucifixion, and to therefore assume that it is those seeking to conserve fundamental Adventism in the church today who are in fact the most egregious problem among us. The problem with such thinking, sadly, is that it confuses the issue with dangerously irrelevant comparisons.

In Jesus’ time, the problem with the Pharisees was not strict faithfulness to the written counsel of God, as is the issue in Adventism today. Rather, the problem was that human tradition had supplanted the Scriptures, with Jesus seeking to bring His people back to strict Biblical faithfulness. Jesus never condemned the Pharisees for being too strict with God’s law. Rather, He condemned them for neglecting that law for the traditions of men.

Those in this discussion, and in the church at large, who call for the removal of evolutionists and other betrayers of our faith from Adventist educational faculties, are not seeking to exalt human tradition over the written counsel of God. What they are seeking to do, by contrast, is to bring the church back–as did our Lord–to strict adherence to what God says, both in Scripture and in the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy.

What is more, we desperately need to get away from this mistaken idea that “legalism” and “pharisaism” are the big problems in the contemporary church–or indeed, as some promoters of this theory have insisted, that these have been the big spiritual problems in the church throughout history. There is no Biblical support, or support in the Spirit of Prophecy, for such a concept. The problem of pharisaic piety in the faith community has occurred but rarely in the history of the great controversy. Far, far more often has the problem of laxity, worldliness, and compromise been the dominant spiritual condition of God’s professed people. Read the Old Testament Scriptures, and this quickly becomes obvious.

And when we study the writings of Ellen White regarding what will afflict God’s church in the last days, the overwhelming number of statements speak of worldliness, lack of sanctification, carelessness, indifference, and departure from strict faithfulness as the conditions which will cause the shaking out of the great majority. We never read in the writings of Inspiration that the major problem in the end-time church will be too much preaching of the law or too much emphasis on faithfulness to correct Biblical doctrine.

Contemporary Adventism needs to get its Biblical priorities straight at last. And to stop reading so many scholars and theologians and spiritual counselors, and get back to immersing ourselves daily in the Bible and the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy.

God bless!

Pastor Kevin Paulson

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NAD President, Education Director Dialog with La Sierra Campus Community
To all participants in the present discussion:

If we’re going to address the issue of how the origins debate should be handled in the public schools, I think we should recognize from the outset that this is most different from the basic question raised by this Web site, which of course is the question of whether theories of origins contrary to Scripture, the Spirit of Prophecy writings, and fundamental Adventist beliefs should be promoted in a Seventh-day Adventist classroom or pulpit.

As a strong Biblical conservative, I am constrained both to support the Genesis creation account as well as the separation of church and state. Seventh-day Adventists have historically supported both on strict Bible grounds. As strongly as I oppose within the church the teaching of ideas and practices which contradict God’s written counsel, I oppose with equal strength the efforts of certain Christian to impose Christian teachings and personal values through civil law.

With this in mind, I believe the best approach to origins in a public school classroom is a modified version of a proposal advanced by the late Stephen Jay Gould of Harvard, very much a devout evolutionist. Gould argued that the teaching of creationism did in fact belong in the teaching of science in public schools, but that it should be covered specifically when addressing the history of scientific thought. I would take this further than Gould and say evolution belongs in that section also.

Technically, as I see this discussion, neither creation nor evolution constitutes strict science, as science requires both observation and experimentation, and no one was present when the natural world came into existence. Science can be summoned to support both theories, but at the bottom line, both concepts invariably lead away from science into the realm of philosophy and faith.

As with other issues of theology and morality which at times enter the public square, it has long been my conviction that the objective evidence supporting the Biblical worldview is sufficiently decisive that the spurs of civil coercion need not be used to promote it to the larger society. The Christian community has sufficient resources and a massive popular presence in our culture, and these should be utilized to set before the public the evidence supporting the claims of the Bible and the Christian faith. Most of all, Christians need to focus less on impacting society through politics and more on impacting their neighbors and society in general through the power of a godly Christian example. From my experience, even the most secular minds have trouble gainsaying the power of the latter.

Finally, I think Phil Brantley needs to define a bit more carefully what he means by “mainstream,” when he says creationism is not a “mainstream” view. Does he mean mainstream in terms of accepted scientific thought, or does he refer to popular opinion? If the latter is considered, it might help to note that every poll I have seen indicates a large percentage (often a majority) of the American public at least, holds to a view of origins closer to Genesis than to Darwin.

God bless!

Pastor Kevin Paulson

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NAD President, Education Director Dialog with La Sierra Campus Community
Perhaps it helps to remember that while Aaron was a facilitator, Moses was a watchman. The latter are the sort of leaders God seeks in a time of crisis such as this.

God bless!

Pastor Kevin Paulson

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Former LSU student letter reveals professor’s agenda
Dear “Professor Kent”:

You seem to forget, once again, that neither Christ, His love, His forgiveness, nor His cross would be necessary if Darwinian macro-evolution is the story of humanity’s origins.

And once again you give evidence of your embrace of the false dichotomy so popular in modern and postmodern Adventism between “Christ” and the “doctrines.” You insist that correct doctrine will save no one. And you are wrong. Over and over again, in Holy Scripture, truth is declared to be the means of salvation (Hosea 4:6; Matt. 4:4; John 8:31; II Thess. 2:13; I Tim. 4:16). Such truth must be internalized within the heart, to be sure, but it is still the means by which God saves men and women.

You cannot separate Jesus from a literal understanding of the early chapters of Genesis, since repeatedly He made clear in His teachings that He took these events literally. The same holds true for the other New Testament authors. You cannot have the Gospel and evolution too. You cannot embrace Jesus and relegate the Genesis Flood to mythic or mere literary status. It is impossible.

The longer this discussion proceeds, the clearer it will be that you and all others who think as you do are in the wrong church. It is tragic you insist on putting yourself through the needless pain and agony of living a lie.

God bless!

Pastor Kevin Paulson

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Former LSU student letter reveals professor’s agenda
Though I had briefly reviewed the letter from Jason and Janelle Shives some days ago, tonight was the first time I actually sat down to read the entire document. It is a masterful though tragic account of a most disturbing situation.

I have known Jason Shives for some time, and have admired him for his courage in standing for truth. He and I share a common experience in having both served as president of the Loma Linda University student body.

What is needed is a grassroots movement of godly students like Jason and Janelle, who will not sit and listen quietly to the perversion of truth in Adventist classrooms. Leaders with the courage to act are needed, most assuredly, but when a groundswell of concern from the young becomes evident, they can act with the awareness that the rising generaiton does not, after all, wish to see the church’s teachings trashed, as the liberals devoutly believe.

If the Bible means anything at all, revival and reformation involve drastic changes in the faith and practice of a community which for a time has departed from the written counsel of God. In the Bible story, this has generally meant the removal of unfaithful personnel from positions of influence and leadership. Most assuredly this must happen in contemporary Adventism. If it means closing departments or even institutions until we can staff them with faithful teachers, we must be prepared to do this.

Let us keep in particular our new General Conference President in our prayers, as the task of guiding the denominational ship of state rests to a large degree in his hands.

God bless!

Pastor Kevin Paulson

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An apology to PUC
Dear Karl:

I truly appreciate your clarity and your speaking from the heart as you have. PUC is my alma mater also. And the things you have described I have heard described by a number of credible eyewitnesses. This climate of doctrinal indifference and postmodern spirituality, in which any and all viewpoints are given equal value (except of course those actually challenging the undergirding mindset of these folks), is a scandal of unapralleled proportions.

You are so right about constituents and school administrators turning a blind eye. I can only hope this is now starting to change, with the agitation of those like the organizers of this Web site, and the tone set by our new General Conference President.

I truly believe, however, that the real root of this tragedy is not so much postmodernism as those popular theories of salvation in modern Adventism which have devalued the necessity of correct doctrine and practical holiness. Once salvation is seen to be secure apart from correct belief and a godly life, once we accept the lie that error and sin are the unavoidable companions of even the sanctified believer, it became inevitable that erroneous worldviews and sinful practices would become less and less offensive in the church.

We need a thorough revival and a thorough reformation, and a consequently thorough cleansing of the ranks. I have been studying lately the Bible stories of revival and reformation in the faith community. Believe me, the process was never a feel-good, everybody-come-together-unconditionally type of event. False worship was destroyed. Wrong practices were condemned and expelled from the camp. Apart from such real-life consequences, these cherished words become just another empty slogan.

Thanks again, Karl, for your candor.

God bless!

Pastor Kevin Paulson

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