Health Message—Tactics of Grooming and Abuse
As I read Colleen Tinker’s commentary on the Sabbath School lesson in the November 17 issue of the weekly Proclamation! magazine I was struck by the tactics that we used as Adventist in our efforts to proselytize others. So I looked up the quarterly online and read the lesson for myself, and what I read horrified me. As I read, I had flashbacks of when, as a young boy, I was groomed by a pedophile, and how he won my trust by kindness and what I thought at the time was genuine caring. I remember how the end result of the pedophile’s advances left me hurting and even more vulnerable to further abuse.
I see now how the health message is the right arm of the Adventist gospel, and how it is used to groom the unsuspecting.
I see now how the health message is the right arm of the Adventist gospel, and how it is used to groom the unsuspecting. Trust is won by showing people that they “care”, by providing cooking classes and medical care. Kindness and spending time is a big thing. The taxi driver that abused me would take me to the beach and just spend time until I was truly his victim. That’s how it was when we were Adventists. We’d do all these wonderful things for people with the goal the whole time of making Adventists out of them. We would teach them all about a false Jesus that would leave them hurting and vulnerable. This realization is too much. The tactics used by the Adventist organization are just as bad, if not worse, as those that the taxi driver used against me when I was young and vulnerable. All I can do now is to ask my Savior to forgive me for the part I played in these abusive tactics.
—Darrel Carson, via email (name included at writer’s request)
Resigned Last Week
I’ve just reviewed [Russell Kelly’s] “Evidence Against Seventh-day Adventism” in the Proclamation! online magazine and found it fascinating. I plan to dive into it further.
After 24 years of church membership, with many of those years spent working for the General Conference in different capacities, I resigned my membership last week. As former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern said in a different context, I no longer had “enough in the tank” to continue.
…I no longer had “enough in the tank” to continue.
My future Christian work will be to develop a fuller understanding of grace and to help others move away from legalism. Kelly’s essay will be helpful, I’m sure.
May our God bless you today — and every day!
—VIA EMAIL
That Was It For Me!
I am recently a former Adventist. I grew up in the Adventist church with my family. I never believed in Ellen White, and I didn’t understand how much of an influence she was in the churche’s doctrines.
I was starting to question things because my sister left Adventism. The biggest thing for me was the Sabbath. I was confused about it.
My husband didn’t grow up in adventism, but he ended up getting baptized in the Seventh-day Adventist church back in 2013. He actually started saying things to me about the Sabbath about a year ago. Of course, I argued with him, and I would get very defensive. The seeds were already planted in my mind. I was starting to question things. We rarely went to church.
I didn’t want her to go to an Adventist church. I started praying and asking God to reveal the truth to me.
What really helped me was a friend I reconnected with a few months ago. She recently accepted Jesus in her heart. She never believed in God before. She asked me which church she should go to. I felt conflicted, and I didn’t want to lead her astray. I didn’t want her to go to an Adventist church. I started praying and asking God to reveal the truth to me. That’s when my sister told me about the FAF YouTube channel and the Former Adventist Podcast. She told me to check it out.
My sister would say things to me over the years about Ellen White. To me, that wasn’t an issue because I didn’t understand. I respected my sister’s decision, but I remember being worried about her salvation—which is ridiculous now that I know the truth.
I started watching some of the videos on the YouTube FAF channel. That’s when I realized everything. All the end time prophecy and teachings came from Ellen White.
That was it for me. I never believed she was a prophetess. My concern was the Sabbath. I always had a fear about whether or not I was saved. I was scared to die. Once I learned the truth, though, that fear slipped away. Everything fell into place, and I knew I could no longer call myself an Adventist. My eyes are truly open.
I have been listening to the podcasts, and they have helped me tremendously. I wanted to thank you for all that you do. Thank you so much!
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Thank you so much for writing! This is such good news! Praise God!
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