Changing Sides
It's ironic, and yet, not surprising that the Seventh Day Adventist Church's foremost advocate for Religious Liberty in the United States, James D. Standish* of NARLA (North American Religious Liberty Association) after sternly censoring Pastor Hal Mayer of Keep The Faith Ministry for publishing Sunday Law By Stealth in March, 2008 (http://endrtimes.blogspot.com/2008/03/sunday-law-by-stealth.html) indicating that a secret session was held in Washington D.C. preparing for Restrictive Sunday Legislation; Would then be promoted to Executive Director of The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom?
Standish, 43, previously served as director of legislative affairs for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, representing his church on Capitol Hill and visiting several continents. The magnitude and severity of violations of the universal right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion worldwide cannot be understated," he said. Standish has testified on religious freedom issues before the House of Representatives and has written widely on religious liberty matters.1
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When Pastor Hal Mayer of Keep The Faith Ministry (KTF) produced his monthly message for March 2008: "Sunday Law By Stealth", James D. Standish promptly responded with a rejection of the allegations that the KTF message claimed. Here's a version of the statement:
(A Letter Addressed to Pastors and Co-workers)
Dear Colleagues:
Whenever we receive information relating to Sunday laws, we examine the information diligently and extensively. In addition to reacting to information sent to us, we proactively monitor legislative developments on Capitol Hill and attend many meetings with a wide variety of entities at which prospective legislation is discussed. Further, we undertake extensive research. For example, our team performed an extensive review of Sunday laws in every U.S. state and the District of Columbia, culminating in a 421-page report detailing every existing state Sunday law.
When we receive information about Sunday laws from individual sources, our team of dedicated Seventh-day Adventist professionals follow four steps to evaluate it:
- If the information contains claims that can be independently verified, we perform the detailed research necessary to determine whether the claims are factual.
- We contact the source of the information directly to invite him or her to speak and/or meet with us in order to gain perspective on the information.
- If the source will not speak and/or meet with us, we contact people who are in contact with the source—for example, his or her church pastor—to ascertain why the individual refuses to communicate directly with our Church’s religious liberty team and whether there are any indications as to the credibility of the source.
- We review our first-hand observation of the process on Capitol Hill, we speak with personal contacts, and we access a variety of printed sources to ascertain whether there are associated movements.
In short, we take information on Sunday laws very seriously and we follow a rigorous path to evaluate it.
Currently, there are two Sunday law rumors circulating in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. We have run both of these through our four-step process and, after this serious review, find both to be unreliable at this point.
The first rumor claims that there was a secret meeting in Washington, DC last November to plan for the passage of a Sunday law. We checked every specific claim that accompanied this rumor and every one of them proved false. The meeting did not occur at the site claimed, and the high-profile individuals who allegedly attended the meeting are documented to be in other locations at the time. After we made our investigation public, the rumor morphed. The new rumor contained no claims that could be independently verified. Our invitation to the source of the rumor to meet with us has not been accepted. There has been no Sunday law bill introduced in the subsequent four months and our research has turned up no evidence that would tend to corroborate the rumor. Rather, the closer we have looked at the situation surrounding the rumor, the more it appears to be false.
The person who is the source of the current claim also circulated another Sunday law claim approximately seven years ago. Once again, we vigorously researched the elements that could be verified and found each one to be inaccurate. In the seven years since that claim, no Sunday law has been introduced in Congress.
The second rumor currently circulating is that the Pope will urge the passage of a Sunday law when he is in Washington, DC in the near future. The source of this rumor is the same as above. We have once again followed our four-step process and to date have found nothing to corroborate the claim.
The Seventh-day Adventist religious liberty team is dedicated to advancing the cause of religious liberty and the gospel, including the Three Angels Messages. We take Sunday laws very seriously, diligently research any information we receive, and proactively search for information on Sunday laws. When we receive credible information on religious liberty matters, whether it is on Sunday laws or other religious liberty matters, we use every avenue available to us to share it promptly with our church family as a whole.
Yours in Christ,
James Standish Public Affairs & Religious Liberty General Conference of the
The above statement was previously posted on this blog on March 26, 2008 @ http://endrtimes.blogspot.com/2008/03/narla-responds-to-sunday-law-rumor.html.
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It seemed strange to me, that a Seventh Day Adventist who was familiar with the Bible Prophecies of Revelation and Daniel, and the Testimonies of Ellen G. White in books as The Great Controversy, would contradict a fellow SDA; And, succinctly dismiss the details of secret proceeding being conducted in Washington facilities that can affect the Lord's Commandment Keeping Remnant in the U.S. Why would anyone summarily reject a fellow believer's findings if he was an advocate for that denomination? Who did he represent in that situation? Are there any conflicts of interests here? I believe in the old adage: "familiarity breeds contempt". I also believe that it can also breed compromise. By working closely with Congress for the past few years could James D. Standish, Esq., has become too familiar with the Legislative Branch of the U.S., and begun to see things in a different light? These are the questions that provoked me to wonder if James D. Standish's promotion (invitation) to join the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has anything to do with his acquaintance with Congress. How does a SDA defending Religious Liberty before the U.S. government abruptly change sides, and head a Religious Liberty (freedom) Commission for the same body to which he previously directed his appeals?
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What this brings to mind is how a professing SDA can claim to represent a body of believers when they are ignorant of our fundamental doctrines, and the prophecies that suggest that our nation will lead the world in following after the first Beast of Revelation. It's mind boggling that our people can not remember what the pillars of our beliefs are, and allow themselves to be lead by the blind. In turn, some have set off on a journey to Egypt, on their way back to Babylon.
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May the Lord give us more discernment to detect when deceptions come our way.
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Arsenio.
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As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angel's message, but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position and join the ranks of the opposition.--GC 608 (1911). {LDE 180.6}
The forms of the dead will appear, through the cunning device of Satan, and many will link up with the one who loveth and maketh a lie. I warn our people that right among us some will turn away from the faith and give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, and by them the truth will be evil spoken of. A marvelous work shall take place. Ministers, lawyers, doctors, who have permitted these falsehoods to overmaster their spirit of discernment, will be themselves deceivers, united with the deceived. A spiritual drunkenness will take possession of them.--UL 317 (1905). {LDE 171.2}
In the movements now in progress in the United States to secure for the institutions and usages of the church the support of the state, Protestants are following in the steps of papists. Nay, more, they are opening the door for the papacy to regain in Protestant America the supremacy which she has lost in the Old World.--GC 573 (1911). {LDE 132.3}
Reference:
* James D Standish has (Doctorate in Law) a J.D. from Georgetown (Jesuit) University.
1http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082903072_2.html
2http://www.ramonaadventist.org/SundayLawNews.dsp&PATH=&SITEID=SundayLawNews.dsp&TEMPLATEID
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