HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2010 / APRIL MAY JUNE / NEWS & COMMENTARY / TED WILSON

April May June 2010
VOLUME 11, ISSUE 2

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D E P A R T M E N T S

NEWS & Commentary

The newly elected president of Adventism's General Conference, Ted N.C. Wilson, addresses the church on Saturday, July 3, 2010. Photo by Josef Kissinger/Adventist News Network.

 

New Adventist president shares his vision

The 29th Seventh-day Adventist General Conference session met in Atlanta, Georgia, from June 23 to July 3, 2010. Business accomplished during the session included election of officers, some revisions in the church manual, the decision to do a comprehensive study of the theology of women's ordination, and the adoption of several resolutions.

The resolutions addressed these subjects: freedom of speech and defamation of religion; ending violence against women and girls; the Bible's worldview (creation during a literal seven-day week and a universal flood); the nurture and protection of children; global poverty (joining "the global community in supporting the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals for reducing poverty" and partnering with "civil society, governments and others…to participate in God's work of establishing enduring justice in a broken world"); the Holy Bible (affirming it's presentation of "Christ as the most sublime revelation of God's love" and encouraging members to hear the word daily), and the Spirit of Prophecy as manifested in the ministry and writings of Ellen G. White (EGW).

The Spirit of Prophecy resolution affirmed EGW as having the gift of prophecy, calling on members to study her messages, on institutions to follow her counsels for them, on pastors to use her in planning sermons, and on administrators to make her writings widely available and affordable.

 

President Wilson's sermon

Ted N. C. Wilson, son of past General Conference president N. C. Wilson, was elected the new president of the worldwide Adventist organization. Daniel R. Jackson, formerly president of the Canadian Union of Seventh-day Adventists, was elected the new president of the North American Division.

In his sermon on the last Sabbath (Saturday) of General Conference, July 3, President Wilson addressed the world church. In his hour-long sermon, Wilson outlined his desires for the church, striking a noticeably historic tone. He affirmed Sabbath keeping as the mark of the remnant: "The observance of the Sabbath is not only a sign of His creatorship in the beginning but will be THE sign of God's people in the last days in contrast to those with the mark of the beast representing an attempt to keep holy a day which God has not set apart as holy."

 

Ellen G. White promoted

Wilson further affirmed Ellen White as "the spirit of prophecy" marking Adventists as the "remnant people" described in Revelation 12:17 and 19:10. "Just as the Bible is not outdated or irrelevant, neither is the testimony of God's end-time messenger," he said. Moreover, he said God gave her "inspired insight" and instructed, "Let us read the Spirit of Prophecy, follow the Spirit of Prophecy and share the Spirit of Prophecy."

He reminded the aproximately 70,000 people in the Georgia Dome that God raised up Adventism "with a mission of salvation to the world that must continually go forward in the humility of Jesus." The success of this mission depends on individuals asking for revival so the Holy Spirit can pour out the latter rain. "Let us not make God wait any longer to begin the latter rain so that Jesus can come," he admonished, and quoted EGW: "When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own."

Wilson warned against accepting worship and outreach methods "because they are new or trendy." He said not to reach out "to movements or megachurch centers outside the Seventh-day Adventist Church" and said to "stay away from non-biblical spiritual disciplines or methods of spiritual formation that are rooted in mysticism." He asserted that members are to "look within the Seventh-day Adventist Church" to pastors, evangelists, scholar, and other leaders who "can provide evangelistic methods and programs that are based on solid Biblical principles and ‘The Great Controversy Theme'." Everything, he stated, must be tested by the Bible and the counsel of Ellen G. White.

Quoting liberally from EGW throughout the sermon, Wilson urged members to accept her writings as God's gift not only for the past but even more for the future. They provide "clear, inspired counsel to aid our application of Bible truth," he said; "it is a reliable theological expositor of the Scriptures. The Spirit of Prophecy is to be read, believed, applied and promoted."

Wilson defined grace as "the promise of God's pardon and the provision of God's power—justification and sanctification," and he defined the everlasting gospel as "the righteousness of Christ".

 

Editor's comments

Wilson's definition of the gospel as "the righteousness of Christ" reveals Adventism's foundation. Instead of defining the gospel as Paul did in 1 Cor. 15:1-4, stating Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day according to Scripture, Adventism sees the gospel as Jesus living a sinless life, thus demonstrating how we also may live, and dying to make it possible for humans to be justified for their past sins and enabled to progressively experience sanctification.

In the Bible, the power of the gospel is the blood of Jesus shed on the cross which completely atoned for human sin. In Adventism, the "power" in the gospel is Jesus' sinless life which demonstrates humanity's potential for a similar "victory".

Instead of the biblical revelation of "grace" as God's kindness in sending His Son as a sacrifice of atonement, Wilson's definition exposes Adventist belief that God's grace is not summed up by the cross but by His making it possible for mankind to achieve the same obedience Jesus demonstrated with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Wilson's sermon suggests that Adventism may make a swing back toward its historic roots, thus presenting its true nature to the world instead of attempting to camouflage its unique beliefs behind evangelical-sounding language. †

 

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Quoting liberally from Ellen G. White throughout the sermon, Wilson urged members to accept her writings as God's gift not only for the past but even more for the future. They provide "clear, inspired counsel to aid our application of Bible truth," he said; "it is a reliable theological expositor of the Scriptures. The Spirit of Prophecy is to be read, believed, applied and promoted."