Part XIII :: The Return Triumphant & The Cat is Out of the Bag
Despite being away for a year and a half, Freddy was still sick and was spending his time in and out of the hospital. Nobody knew why this was the case, and the doctors were also perplexed. Upon our return, we learned that Freddy was going to the hospital, but with current COVID restrictions, his wife would not be able to join him unless he took a simple nasal test.
Freddy was in a tight situation. As he sweated wondering what the “right” course of action, in this case, was, his conscience told him that he had to decline. His mind flashed back to Albert’s insistence that nobody takes a COVID test due to the so-called fact that even the tests implanted nanobots into one’s skull that could be used to end your life. Freddy argued for his wife to be able to visit despite his refusing the test, but the nurses would not budge.
After suffering loneliness for a week, Freddy finally gave in and took the test. He stated that he did not inhale so the nano-bots would not be able to come in. He was also adamant that Pastor Albert never knew about the test. Albert, if you are reading this, now you know!
Immediately upon our return to the United States, we got the vaccine. While the vaccine was popular on the western side of the state where we lived once more, it was looked at with distrust on the eastern side. Therefore, we popped into a grocery store pharmacy while in Spokane and were all inoculated with the “death prick.” I can’t say that I was not a bit apprehensive. After all the conspiracy surrounding the vaccine, it was hard to not let your mind get carried away. As we let the vaccine ride through our veins, we realized that everything was going to be okay.
Yet, not everything was okay. The vaccine’s dark powers grasped at me and choked me with a fever and intense chills. Back at the in-law’s house, we had no intention of saying a word about getting the vaccine, yet it was obvious that something had made me sick. Throughout the night it felt like knives were stabbing me and I could not put pressure on any area of my body for too long. Eventually, Darla could not keep quiet. “You got the vaccine, didn’t you?” She asked. Not being one to lie, my wife admitted it. I was not there for the conversation, but I heard the muffled words from down the hall.
Something about shedding… My head was pounding. I heard her arguing about how I was not shedding.
My wife came to the bedroom a few minutes later. She was visibly upset. We talked about it. She relayed to me how Albert had told the congregation in the church about the vaccine causing shedding. How we “should have not brought it into their home.” I felt like a leper. I didn’t want to even go around them. In a religion where you are taught to never eat unclean meat (unless you are Ellen White), being unclean makes you feel dirty. That’s how I felt. I was tired of Albert’s conspiracy running their lives. I was tired of being in the middle of it.
During this time we made our last visit to Countryside Sabbath Fellowship. Darla told us that we were invited to potluck. I did not really want to go, but I was obviously still deluded. After church at Deer Park, we went to Countryside. A guest pastor was preaching and the doors to the sanctuary were closed when we arrived. I peeked in and a stern face looked back out at me. Knowing how holy the sanctuary was, I didn’t want to go through it while a pastor was preaching. The sermon was playing on a television set in the dining room, and we figured it would be fine to sit in there and watch the remainder of it.
During the sermon, the speaker was talking about another pastor. This person was someone he seemed to know closely. The topic was about how the pastor went on vacation to Hawaii. The subject in question was the Sabbath. The pastor had spent this holy day snorkeling and *gasp* eating out. Worse yet, he posted these pictures on Facebook for the world to see. Rather than going to church on that day, the pastor opted to enjoy time with his family. That was too much for this speaker to bear. “He should resign,” he cried out. “Such a person has no business being an elder of the church, nonetheless a pastor.”
Oh, how pharisaical this sounded. How out of tune with reality.
After a song and prayer, the crowd made its way into the dining area. We stood up and started to greet people. Strangely, I discovered that many seemed cold toward us. Some completely ignored us. I didn’t give it too much thought, as I had mixed feelings about being there. Albert didn’t even look at us. Maybe they are just having a bad day, I thought. I scarfed up my portion of the potluck and talked to one of the few people who still seemed friendly and outgoing toward us.
We would soon be heading towards Michigan via car to go to AFM’s missionary training program. I was excited and apprehensive at the same time. We would be in Berrien Springs for about 5 months. Before going to Michigan we decided to go back to get some of our things that were being stored at the in-law’s house and take them back to Queets.
We only spent a couple days at their house. I had planted myself on the couch and watched some kind of television show with my in-laws. Stephen came into the house and handed me a letter. He said, “this is from the board. I’m not on the board so I don’t know what it says.”
I opened the letter. I scanned it, getting the gist of what it was about. I put it away, not wanting to bring attention to it. A few minutes later I took it to the back bedroom and read it with my wife.
It said:
“This letter is written to you on behalf of, and with the approval of, the
Countryside Sabbath Fellowship church board. It has come to our attention that you are the author of a book advertised on certain internet websites entitled Disrupting Adventism. The book designates the author as “anonymous,” however, after a careful investigation, our church board has confirmed that you are indeed the author of the book. After having read the disturbing contents, our [church] board has decided to write you this letter.
Needless to say, we were shocked, saddened, and extremely concerned that someone who we had invited into our homes, our church, and our pulpit, would seek to attack, smear, and falsely accuse thousands of God-fearing, faithful Seventh-Day Adventist laity and ministers as being “offshoots” for simply choosing to worship God in a church, not under the control of the SDA conference. The basic false premise of this book is to promote “salvation by church affiliation,” or more specifically by “SDA conference denominational affiliation,” and to attack, label, and smear, the reputation of all those who are not SDA conference church members, or who are not attending a corporate 501-C3 church that is a part of the conference.
This is “Catholic Theology” at its finest, “salvation by affiliation” and not at all supported by the Bible or Spirit of Prophecy. In trying to promote this unbiblical theory, you have conveniently ignored the plain testimony of Ellen White where she states the exact opposite! She states in language too clear to be misconstrued exactly what the church is, and what the church is not (See Manuscript Releases Vol. 17, Pg. 81, Letter 108, 1886: & The Upward Look Pg. 315). Following your analogy and misleading statements made in this book, even Jesus Christ and his twelve apostles would have been accused of and considered as “offshoots” by having their own self-supporting church and ministry and for not attending the corporate conference structure of the day! For this they were persecuted relentlessly. Ellen White supported her son, Edison, who had his own self-supporting ministry along with other self-supporting ministers and
workers.
She even solicited support from the tithes for independent church schools and ministers such as Sutherland and Megan. (See Spalding and Megan Pgs. 420-422 and Pg. 498). The apostle Paul was also persecuted and accused of being a heretic because he started his own self-supporting ministry, which was not a part of the structured church, and which preached the gospel of Christ. He did not attend or support the organized church of the day, which was in full apostasy. Your claim that the SDA conference today is “not in apostasy” shows either a profound ignorance of the facts or a willingness to be deceptive. We are not sure which applies here. Whatever the case may be, the fact that you would put such a statement in print raises questions as to why.
We could spend many hours exposing every false and deceptive statement
made in this book; however, it would almost take another book to respond to each and every one, they being that numerous.
What is even more troubling to the board is your willingness to defend the Jesuit order and attack Pastors Bill Hughes, Andrew Henriques, or anyone else that dares to expose the evil deeds of the Jesuits as simply “conspiracy theories” with no real evidence given for coming to such a conclusion. These baseless and groundless accusations are entirely false. We know Pastor Bill Hughes personally and have included a small sample of testimonials his ministry received regarding The Secret Terrorists and The Enemy Unmasked.
1). A high-ranking Catholic Priest who read The Secret Terrorists stated: “This book would be laughable if it weren’t so accurate, but the author left out a lot.” End Quote.
2). A Military Intelligence officer declared: “The book is all true.” End Quote.
There are also many other testimonies, including one from a former Jesuit who also testified to the truthfulness of these books.
We find it interesting that you chose to ignore the fact that Ellen White in the original Great Controversy wrote two full pages exposing the work of the Jesuit order (pgs. 234-235). Are we to assume that she is also a conspiracy theorist in your eyes? Is there something we should know? This certainly raises many questions in our minds as to your motives in writing this book.
This book which contains numerous falsehoods is not something I would want to have on my resume in the day of judgement when I stand before God.
If it were mine, 1). I would immediately remove this book and blogs from the
internet, and 2). I would send out letters of sincere apology to all the individuals that have been falsely accused and have had their characters smeared in this book, including members of your wife’s own family. It is obvious to us that this book references them as well.
Our Countryside Sabbath Fellowship board has decided to NOT have you come fellowship again at our church until these steps are taken first, and then any questions we may have for you are answered to our complete satisfaction.”
***
There was a part of me that was relieved that it was over. Yet, there was another part of me that feared the repercussions that could take place from these “holy men.” I was now an outcast. My mind immediately went back to our last visit. No wonder so many of the members didn’t give us the time of day. I later found out that they read the book “months ago” but were waiting until I was there to give me the letter.
In my book, I did not reference the church or the members by name. I didn’t even publish my own name, but wrote it as “anonymous.” Yet, somehow, someone found it and read it. I was baffled. I also thought how interesting it would be to read such a book and realize that it was about you. Countryside knew, and Albert was furious. The congregation knew about the book. I later was told that they thought I was a Jesuit. Of course! I had a feeling that day may come. More us versus them thinking. Sadly, the church attracts such thoughts as a trap door spider attracts prey. I had been trapped in that religion for too long. Yet, there was a lot more to unravel. Although I was finished at Countryside, there was a lot for me to continue to learn.
I wondered why Darla invited us to the church if she knew about the book. She had seen the book while we were in Ukraine. She knew how the church felt about it. Stephen had a copy that was underlined and went off to anyone who would listen about how my views were completely wrong. It had become a family drama that wsomehow been left out of. Sadly, it was not even discussed with me. Like most things over the years, I was left out, without a voice. I had always kept quiet about things, and if something needed to be said, I was not given a chance to speak. That is how it had always been. I wondered why Darla asked us to go to Countryside. Was this more of her “pretending everything was okay when it wasn’t?” I was told that they never actually read the book, but saw enough to know that it “wasn’t good.”
My wife was quite upset over the whole thing. She wondered how a church that claimed to love God so much could just throw people out without speaking to them. Perhaps my heart was already growing hard because I didn’t see much of an issue. I had been honest with how I felt and put it into print. I felt that I got what I deserved, even if she and our daughter didn’t deserve it. I was also happy to be finished with it. I would never have to set foot in that church. Yet, at that point, that way of thinking had changed me. After close to five years of being in and out of that strange cult, there was no way that it can’t affect you in some way. In many ways, that had become a part of my life. I invested hundreds of hours in that religion. That was religion to me at this point. I just didn’t fully realize it. Soon I would.
To my astonishing horror, I would also soon discover just how similar that way of thinking is to the much of the mainstream Seventh-day Adventist church.
I had wondered why there were so many independent ministries in the church.
So many of these ministries seemed to have great success. During my time as a
Seventh-day Adventist, and especially when involved in the Countryside Cult, I saw that there were many people with their own ministries.
I asked myself: What is wrong with just being a part of the church? Bill Hughes had “Truth Triumphant.” Albert had “Truth and Nature Ministries. “ Jeremiah Davis had “Messengers of Light.” There was also Doug Bachelor’s “Amazing Facts.” Saved to Serve and Prophecy Now were others that I received material from. Later I would find out about a local and very vocal church member who had a ministry called “Light in These Last Days.”
Some state, and I am also of the view, that these ministries are a business that profits from the church. Ministries also shield the church from liability if they preach something that goes against the mainstream church. I had been told that one reason for the abundance of various outside ministries is because the SDA church is incredibly bureaucratic. In order to get something done, it has to pass through various boards and committees.
Overall, the church seems pretty friendly toward the ministries that arise.
However, that friendliness also is damaging. Many of these ministries spout hate. I was told how Bill Hughes’ Truth Triumphant was labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
While many deny it, these ministries make quite a bit of money. They are a
business. Bill Hughe’s “Truth Triumphant” allows him to travel the world, live in a well-appointed home, bring in an income, and have a life that few can dream of. The added prestige that goes along with such a ministry is priceless. All it takes is some kind of message that creates engagement. Independent ministries are basically church influencers. They already have a potential audience within the SDA church and the subject matter (Ellen White). They then sell their version of Salvation, write their own books, post YouTube videos, send out DVDs, create podcasts, and use fear about the end of the world. It fits the Seventh-day Adventist narrative and especially appeals to the older and more traditional crowd. It’s easy to find material about how the world is going to hell, or how a certain trend is evil. Fear sells, and it seems to be sanctioned.
Becoming a pastor is seen as the ideal career path for young men in the SDA church. Becoming a pastor is pushed hard throughout the young Adventist’s life. It’s the dream of many parents to have children who are pastors. An alternative route to becoming a pastor is to have a ministry. Unlike a pastor, an independent ministry can bring in an almost unlimited income. Perhaps that’s why the standard of living that many “independent ministers” have is far higher than for the average SDA pastor.
Anyone who can sell the keys to Heaven is going to have a large body of
followers. Albert , Bill Hughes, and many others all have become good at selling
the idea that their cults can lead one to Salvation. The other churches that think they have Jesus are being deceived. They are slated for destruction by an unloving God. Remember: “we don’t talk about God’s love. They do that. We have present truth.”
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