Is it the work of God or the work of man? How can you tell?
Some people claim there are three sides to every item, Your side, my side, and then the right side.
Then there are those who claim that I only get my information from one side. How do they know? How will they document that claim?
I have recently had close contact with a person who has been associated with Gospel Outreach, and he verifies all that I have said about Linda's adventures there. And still people claim that Linda must be my only source!
In recent months I have discussed this whole affair with a number of presidents and directors from various world divisions of the Seventh-day Adventist church. Many of them seem to be in a real dilemma.
Actually one leader summed it up like this several years back. The problem of the church is this: Many regard 3ABN as the image of the Church, and Danny Shelton is the head of this image. Although Church leaders realize that the accusations against Linda Shelton are false it seems necessary to sacrifice Linda on the altar of 3ABN's demands to avoid tarnishing the image of the Church. So the message was given to Linda from this corner: You need to be sacrificed to the unjustified demands to save the image. . .
This was the message from one particular individual who yielded great authority at that time. The same individual made it known he had pleaded Linda's case and requested the Board of Directors to re-consider, but that was all in vain. So as a last resort he pleaded with Linda to let herself be sacrificed. My source for this is not Linda, but mostly that leader himself whom I have known for many years.
Just recently I have had talks with several other presidents and leaders about this matter, some of them former presidents and leaders. They still face similar problems. On one hand they have the image of the church, and on the other hand they still face the old problems they have had with what some of them designate as the self-appointed pope of Adventism, Danny Shelton.
One president said to me that it is impossible for him to express his own conviction because the supporters of 3ABN cry out so loud and would accuse him of heresy and it would split the church. He gave this as the reason why he keeps quiet, and you can then understand why I cannot say who he is. As our conversation came to a conclusion I could even hear the smile in his voice as he admonished me to keep on doing what I think is the best.
Some claim I should be stripped of my credentials, but they - as usual - have no idea what they are saying. I came to 3ABN back in 2003 because my credentials had already expired due to my advanced age. Back then I was 70.
3ABN has been instrumental in winning many souls, according to some statistics, although one of the departmental secretaries informs me that the statistics are not telling the truth. I did not notice 3ABN mentioned among the reasons the Seventh-day Adventist Church is today the only growing church in North America. 3ABN likes to claim they are the most important, and they might cling to that claim till their last breath.
The truth is that winning souls is the work of God, regardless of the claims of man. God does use various vehicles, and 3ABN is far from the only one. With a reformation it might still be a powerful fool in His hands