With great regret that I am constrained to share the following info with the Advent Talk forum.
This past weekend in Minnesota, Wintley Phipps held two concerts to support his organization the U.S. Dream Academy.
I do not know who SDA minister is,but I got to tell you this does not sound like regret of any kind. More that every move is watched closely to see if there is an infraction somewhere.
-He is a member of Three Angels Broadcasting Network Board of Directors
-He is an ordained Seventh-day Adventist minister of the Southeastern Conference of Seventh-day Adventists where he pastors the Palm Bay Seventh-day Adventist Church.
-He took a commercial flight to his destination on the Sabbath
Well, my goodness. I live in MN and could not have told you that.
-His concerts were at 7:00 pm Saturday and Sunday evenings.
-Admission to the concerts were by paid ticket only; sold in advance, and on the day of the concerts.
-Tickets were sold on the Sabbath by the local sponsor (a bank) and by the local center for the arts box office. Tickets also were for sale at the door, prior to the concert Saturday evening. Price: $12 adults, $6 students.
If these are sponsors my guess would be that the SDA church did not have much say over the selling time frame
-A couple of phone calls indicate that members in the Minnesota Conference are concerned that this blatant breaking of the Sabbath, by a minister of their own denomination, will hurt their efforts to proclaim the three angels' message of which the sanctity of God's law is supreme.
This is the kind of stuff that makes "my mercury" rise.
The MN conference has had many more damaging episodes to be concerned about and have done nothing nor were there calls to confirm the "deep concern over converts"
To say there is this overriding concern stretches credibility to the max.
Not because it was my family, but the nature of what happened to us was KNOWN AND REPORTED to the MN conference a full year before their hands were forced to be concerned about the sanctity of God's Law. The lesser sin of sexual immorality was not only visited upon my family, but other MN members have had the dubious honor with the same results we ezperienced
-It is understood that this is not a one-time event as Elder Phipps regularly engages in this type of conduct.
-It is further unknown what effect this will have upon the work of 3ABN as Elder Phipps is perhaps one of the most public figures in all of Seventh-day Adventism.
You know I have a real problem with 3ABN. I have NO RESPECT for DS,none, nada,zero, but this is almost laughable in the detailed chronicling of sins of someone else. My brothers and I had a name for this and used to play a game with it. Not nice but as kids we knew more than our share of those engaged in this. We called it I SPY SIN and it Ain't MINE. Mocking some of the more diligent in tracking sins of my family.
There is enough on the plate of those that run and control 3ABN, enough for DS to explain another marriage and other various dubious sounding actions. All stuff like this does is make them look good by comparison.
Besides who has time to track this much of a detailed account of others.
MN is a lot more liberal in sexual sins apparently than in the rules of the Sabbath.
I have said for over 6 years now I could get more attention and pious support by announcing that "we have decided it is in the health laws that we can now eat pork and have wine with our dinner than if I again announced the pastor of the largest, very liberal church in MN was having a inappropriate sexual relationship with my DIL Then hush, we don't want to cause gossip.
edited to add sentence