1973-2006

1973:

In 1973 Bert Beverly Beach coauthored a book with Lukas Vischer, Secretary of the World Council of Churches. The title of the book was, So Much In Common, the subtitle, 'Between the World Council of Churches and the Seventh-day Adventist Church.' The book was published by the World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland, in 1973. In this book, Beach disclosed that the cooperation between the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the World Council of Churches started with Vatican II Council. "In view of the fact that informal conversations between the World Council of Churches and the Seventh-day Adventist Church have been taking place on a regular basis for over four years, it is not inappropriate to consider the significance of these contacts and take stock of what has been accomplished so far."(Bert B. Beach, So Much In Common, page 98)

"The first meeting was held in 1965, the participants being selected by the two organizers. Thus, the Conversations got underway on a completely informal basis and were held under the sole responsibility of the participants. Subsequent meetings have become somewhat more formal, in the sense that the employing bodies of the SDA participants have authorized and financed their presence and the executive committees of the three Adventist Divisions involved have given their blessing by facilitating the selection of the SDA representatives; the World Council of Churches has defrayed the expenses of its group. The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists has been kept informed regarding the meetings, though it has taken no direct, active part in the Consultations, except through its three European Divisional branch offices. The November 24-26, 1969, Consultation was the fifth in the series." (ibid., Bert B. Beach, So Much In Common, page 98)

"Samuele Bacchiocchi, who studied at Andrews University and was Bible teacher at the Adventist Junior College in Ethiopia, recently received a gold medal from Pope Paul VI for taking the degree of licentiate in church history with distinction (summa cum laude), at the Papal Gregorian University in Rome."  Adventecho [German SDA paper], June 15, 1973

"What we like about this going concern is that it has cut across denominational boundaries. At the recent election of officers at the annual general meeting, a new committee was elected. It consists of two Catholics, one Presbyterian, one Anglican, one Pentecostal, and four Australian-Chinese Adventists (the four who saw the need and went into action)." Australasian Record [Australian SDA paper], September 3, 1973

Comment:

"Now and ever we are to stand as a distinct and peculiar people, free from all worldly policy, unembarrassed by confederating with those who have not wisdom to discern the claims of God, so plainly set forth in His law." (Battle Creek Letters, page 52)

1974:

"Although it is true that there was a period in the life of the Seventh-day Adventist Church when the denomination took a distinctly anti-Roman Catholic viewpoint...that attitude on the church's part was nothing more than a manifestation of widespread anti-popery among conservative Protestant denominations in the early part of this century and the latter part of the last, and which has now been consigned to the historical trash heap so far as the Seventh-day Adventist Church is concerned." (Neal C. Wilson, past president of the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference, Court Transcript of United States vs the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vs the Pacific Press Publishing Association and the General Conference, Reply Brief for Defendants, p 4, Civil Case #74-2025 CBR, presided over by Judge Charles B. Renfrew, U.S. District Court, San Francisco, California, 1974-1975.)

1975:

"Not all those cooperating in the project are Seventh-day Adventists. Father Sean O'Donoghue, rector of the Kodiak Catholic church, offered the facilities of the St. Mary's Parish School for use by Maranatha.... The fellowship is genuine. Father O'Donoghue delivers one of the early morning worship talks and prays for the success of the Adventist center. He and the Sisters of the Sacred Heart eat with the workers and seem intently interested in a religion that would motivate people to perform as Maranatha is doing. Father O'Donoghue is invited to participate in the opening services of the new SDA Church)." GIeaner [official publication of the North Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Union Conference], August 18, 1975

"Robert Hunter, pastor of the Morganton, North Carolina (SDA), district, and a member of the local ministerial association, joined in PULPIT EXCHANGE DAY, exchanging pulpits with (Father) Thomas Burke of St. Charles Roman Catholic Church. The theme of the city-wide program was 'Blest Be the Tie.'" Southern Tidings [official publication of the Southern Union], April 1975

1977:

B. B. Beach has a private audience with Pope Paul VI in the Vatican and presents him with gold medallion  confirming friendship of the SDA Church with the Vatican. (R&H, Aug 11, 1977)

"Seeking the Objectives of Complete Unity

"After the general audience of Wednesday, the 18th inst., the Holy Father received the participants of the Conference of Secretaries of World Confessional Families. The group was accompanied by Bishop John Howe, General Secretary of the Anglican Consultative Council, and Mr. B. B. Beach, General Secretary of the Seventh-day Adventists. This was the first time that representatives of the Seventh-day Adventists met the Pope.

"To commemorate this significant moment, they offered an artistic gold medal to the Holy Father.

"The Holy Father directed the following discourse to them:

"Dear brethren in Christ:

"We rejoice to be able to receive such an important group today, and we welcome you to Peter's See.

"In you we greet the representatives of a considerable portion of the Christian people, and through you we send our wishes of grace and peace in the Lord to your Confessional Families.

"We are happy to express, in your presence, our common faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only Mediator with the Father, the Saviour of the world. Yes, brethren, together with the Apostle Peter, we proclaim that 'Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.' Acts 4:12.

"On her part, the Catholic Church is solemnly engaged, through Vatican Council II, in an ecumenism based on increased fidelity to Christ the Lord and on heart conversion. At the same time, she is conscious that 'nothing is more alien to ecumenism than that false irenicism that would harm the Catholic doctrine and obscure its genuine and precise meaning.

"Reinforced by the power of the word of God, let us therefore pursue, despite all difficulties, the objective of full unity in Christ and in the Church.

"And, with humbleness and love, let us direct our thoughts and our hopes to our Lord Jesus Christ. Glory be given to Him, as well at to the Father and to the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever." L'Osservatore Romano [Catholic paper, Portuguese edition], May 29, 1977

Adventist for the First Time With the Pope

"On Wednesday, May 18, Pope Paul VI received in special audience the representatives of the Conference of Secretaries of World Confessional Families. In the group there were, among others, Bishop John Howe, First Secretary of the Anglican Advisory Council, and Mr. B. B. Beach, First Secretary of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. This is the first time that a representative of this religious body has come to meet the Pope. On that occasion, to commemorate their visit, they presented the Pope with a gold medal....

"The Conference of Secretaries of World Confessional Families was organized twenty years ago, and its founder was the First Secretary of the Anglican Advisory Council, Bishop John Howe. The present Secretary of the Conference and at the same time the First Secretary of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Mr. Beach, made a statement at the Vatican Radio emphasizing the importance of this first meeting of Adventists with the Pope. Word for word, this is what he said: 'It was a great honor for me, as the Secretary of the Conference, to be present here in Rome, in audience with the Holy Father. On this occasion I presented to the Pope a book about the world-wide work of the Adventist church.'"  Glas Koncila [Catholic paper in Yugoslavia], June 5, 1977

1981:

"there is another universal and truly catholic organization, the Seventh-day Adventist Church." (Neal C. Wilson, General Conference President of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, in Adventist Review, March 5, 1981, p 3).

1986:

Judge William T. Hart issued the following ruling against Derrick Proctor and in favor of the SDA church.  He stated: "Church documents that prescribe the church's structure and governance confirm that all parts of the church are parts of a single entity.  Next to the Roman Catholic church, the Adventist church is the most centralized of all the major Christian denominations in this country." Derrick Proctor vs General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist, case #81 C 4938, Findings of Fact, Section B, Church Objectives and Structures, p 22

1990:

In the 1990 General Conference session in Indianapolis, B.B. Beach said: "I am pleased to introduce to the assembly this afternoon T. J. Murphy, ...representing the PONTIFICAL Council for Promoting Christian Unity. He is here to give greetings on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church." [Applause]. T.J. Murphy then proceeded to give his ecumenical welcome, and was even allowed to have a prayer for the assembly. (Adventist Review, July 13, 1990, page 8; see also Review, August 11, 1977, page 23).

A condensation of 'The Great Controversy' was handed out in Indianapolis. "Shirley Burton, a spokesperson for the denomination, told the Indianapolis Star Daily newspaper the tract was 'trash....The main body of the Church has moved away from an anti-Catholic position. The new position of co-operation with the Catholic Church was exemplified by the invitation from the Seventh-day Adventists to the Vatican to send an official observer to the conference." (Arkansas Catholic 7-29-90). The following are further comments found in The Indianapolis Star, July 14, 1990, "Though Adventist officials conceded the history of the denomination has an anti-Catholic bent, they said the modern church is trying to move from that stance. 'They (the dissidents) want us to be like we were 100 years ago.' said Herbert Ford, news director for the 6.2 million-member church. "But, the church has to move not away from the eternal principles of God, but things do have to change. 'These people are a thorn in the flesh, but the church tolerates them. United States in Prophecy [Great Controversy] which was sponsored by Adventist Layworkers Affiliate of Tennessee, calls Catholicism a pagan religion and refers to the pope as a beast. Adventists who want to cling to the church's historic anti-Catholic beliefs represent only about 1,000 in the North American division of 750,000 members, Ford said."

1991:

"But just think: if you were a Catholic, what time does Mass begin?  What?  6:00 a.m.  And Catholic means universal.  So you really are a Catholic--Adventist Catholic, a Roman Catholic..." Transcript of Taped Sermon by SDA pastor Gale Gabbert, November 9, 1991, p 1., LaGrange Seventh-day Adventist Church, Georgia, USA

"The Eucharist, turning the communion bread into the literal body of Christ, fits into the circle of the three angels' messages." (Review, May 2, 1991, Roy Adams)

1993:

"The Seventh-day Adventist Church follows a model of organizational order in the church which is modified from the orders of Roman Catholicism, but it retains the same notions of clerical order which separates the members of the Church into two classes--clergy and laity." (Douglas Devnich, president of the Canadian Union of Seventh-day Adventists, in the Messenger (Official Journal of the Canadian Union Conference), December, 1993, p 2)


"We praised the pope for sounding like an Adventist or protestant preacher, and suggested God was using this pope to bring the gospel to the Catholics." (Review, September 19, 1993, Miriam Widmer)


1995:

"Seventh-day Adventists believe that all sincere Christians, of whatever communion, constitute the people of God. . .," SDA leadership states. "They regret that their sense of world mission makes membership in the National Council and the World Council impracticable." (ibid., Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, Second Revised Edition, 1995, Art. "Ecumenism,")

"...the Pope and I descended from the same Father, that makes us brothers who should not go around making personal attacks on each other.... differences, no matter how legitimate, would not justify the alienation of a member of the family....After all, the Pope and I are brothers." Columbia Union Visitor, June 1, 1995, quoting Mitchell Tyner, the associate general counsel for the General Conference

At the 1995 General Conference Session in the Netherlands, the Vatican flag was carried through the meeting hall in a singular fashion amidst an unusually loud ovation. 

"Baptism will be the theme of the Roots and Branches Convocation, Thursday through Sunday at [Seventh-day Adventist] Union College [Nebraska], sponsored by Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska. Speakers include William Cardinal Keeler, archbishop of Baltimore and president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops; the Rev. Michael Kinnamon, dean of Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky; the Rev. Gayle Felton of Duke University Divinity School; and Brigalia Bam, general secretary of the South African Council of Churches. The event is the first in three-year series of annual convocations for laypersons and clergy, said Daniel Davis, executive secretary of the Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska. More than 200 people from across Nebraska and around the country are expected to attend Convocations in 1996 and 1997 will focus on communion and ministry. "Together with baptism, they represent the three key ecumenical issues facing efforts at church cooperation and unity worldwide," Davis said. The convocation is an opportunity for people "to come together and celebrate together, worship together, talk together, enjoy together," he said. "So far as we know this is the first time anywhere this kind of thing has been done. . .." Edward Cardinal Cassidy, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, was scheduled to attend but at the last minute was sent by the pope to Romania. Monsignor John Radano, a staff member of the Pontifical Council, will attend as his representative. A worship service at 7 p.m. at College View Seventh-day Adventist Church, 3015 S. 49th St., with [Cardinal] Keeler speaking on "Baptism and the Community" is open to the public. . .." (Lincoln Journal Star, Saturday, October 21, 1995). (emphasis supplied).

Comment:

What is the business of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to host a meeting between the fallen Roman Catholic and Evangelical church leaders to promote  'the three key ecumenical issues facing efforts at church cooperation and unity worldwide?' Are not Seventh-day Adventists supposed to call  people out of Babylon? (Revelation 18:4). Or has the Seventh-day Adventist Church in reality gave up her God-given mission in pursuit of acceptance by the fallen churches?

The Seventh-day Adventist Church merged its health care system in Colorado, USA, with the Roman Catholic Health system. The following are some excerpts from the press release announcing the event to the world:

TWO OF COLORADO'S LARGEST HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS FORM SINGLE ORGANIZATION:--Denver, Colorado, December 14, 1995. Two of Colorado's largest health care providers have finalized an agreement to form a single management company, which will create Colorado's largest provider of integrated health services... The announcement made at a news conference today held by PorterCare Adventist Health System and Sister of Charity Health Services Colorado...Purpose of the new management company is to: extend to the community each system's mission of service...The new organization will be a unique organization in the United States which financially combines two separate Christian health care systems in this manner...Factors that brought these systems together include...shared values of health care as mission derived from a common Christian heritage... The organization will be governed by a board of directors who represent both PorterCare Adventist Health System and Sister of Charity Health Services Colorado. Sisnara will serve as chief executive officer...Louisville, [CO] Times, December 16, 1995 (page 10)

Comment:

We will list some of the divine council regarding the above action.

"The Lord has repeatedly instructed me to say to His people that they are not to bind up with the world in business partnerships of any kind, and especially in so important a matter as the establishment of a sanitarium. Believers and unbelievers, serving two masters, cannot properly be linked together in the Lord's work. 'Can two walk together, except they be agreed?' God forbids His people to unite with unbelievers in the building up of His institutions."  (6BIO 42.1) 1905

"Let not God's people in any of our institutions sign a truce with the enemy of God and man. The duty of the church to the world is not to come down to their ideas and accept their opinions, their suggestions, but to heed the words of Christ through His servant Paul, 'Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?' This means in a special sense marriage with unbelievers, but it covers more ground than this: it means in our instrumentalities ordained of God, in our institutions for health, in our colleges, in our publishing houses...  Be afraid of uniting or binding up in bundles with them communicating the works connected with the Lord's cause to those who have no part with God, or sympathy with those who love the truth of God. "And I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."  {TM 271.2} Review & Herald, Feb 18, 1890

Disregard of such clear instructions by the Seventh-day Adventist Church proves that they have chosen the friendship of God's arch enemy over God.

1996:

'Father' Benedict O'Cinnsealeigh presented a talk on Sabbath morning, September 14, 1996, to the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kettering, Ohio.  His talked centered on and was titled " The Similarities of Adventism and Catholicism."

1999:

When the pope visited St. Louis in January of 1999, he held a Vespers Service where there was an ecumenical gathering.  Representatives of many faiths came together to meet the Pope and welcome him to America.  The Dayton Daily News of January 28, 1999, recorded this event. "The pope continued the theme of unity at his final ceremony Wednesday evening at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, where representatives of many faiths - Judaism, Hinduism, Seventh-day Adventists - joined him in prayer."  This description only touches the tip of the iceberg, friend.  The conference had a representative there, pastor B.T. Rice of the Northside Seventh-day Adventist church, who spoke and made a presentation to the Pope! Before he and other religious leaders spoke, a Catholic representative made the statement, "For many people outside the Catholic community with willingness and graciousness, our brothers and sisters of the ecumenical and inter-religious community, have accepted the invitation to come together this evening with your holiness."  A little later, pastor Rice spoke, "Pope, your Holiness [!].  Your historic visit to St. Louis Missouri has served as a catalyst in the creation of this program [ecumenical program?] and it transforms your presence into a lasting legacy for our region.  Today, we present to you, this proclamation, announcing the creation of Faith Beyond Walls, your commitment to improving inter-faith relations has fostered an environment wherein the spirit of collective faith positively action can thrive.  In addition, we also present you with this banner, the emblem of Faith Beyond Walls.  We hope and pray it will inspire inter-faith communities around the world.  To focus their efforts on improving health and the quality of life for all humanity.  Again, we welcome you to our region."  He then approached the pope and shook his hand.  This was covered on television with 2,800 members of the press covering the event and can be seen in the video Victory in St. Louis produced by the ministry Modern Manna.  Modern Manna had 40 volunteers in St. Louis at that time to hand out 100,000 Is Mary Dead or Alive books.  "And soon, after the Holy Spirit had been poured out and their mission completed, an apology would be offered by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists to the Pope of Rome, '...begging pardon for their [Modern Manna's] bigotry.'" 

"..Honesty demands an acknowledgment that in recent decades Roman Catholicism has changed in positive ways in most parts of the world.. There is mush spirituality in the Roman Catholic Church of which Protestants can be envious. Furthermore, the Catholic Church has formally accepted the principle of religious freedom. It is not fair to suggest that these and other positive developments are just window dressing and must, in fact, be watched with suspicion, or that they should be seen as clever tactics to lull other Christians into sleep while Catholics await a fortuitous moment when they can wipe out other Christians, Adventists first and foremost.

"In criticizing Catholic history, Adventist should try to be more balanced than in the past and should avoid offering a simple extension of the often biased and inaccurate picture that many past Protestants have offered of the medieval Church. Medieval Christianity also had positive and beautiful dimension." Reinder Brinsma, "Adventists and Catholics: Prophetic Preview or Prejudice?" Spectrum, Summer 1999. [Reinder Bruinsma is the secretary of the Trans-European Division. He received his B.D. Hons. and Ph.D. in theology from the University of London. An author in English and Dutch, he has published numerous articles and ten books. His most recent English book is It's Time to Stop Rehearsing What We Believe and Start Looking at What Difference It Makes (Idaho: Pacific Press, 1998)."-Spectrum, Summer 1999.]

2002:

"Members of the London Adventist Credit Union prayed on one the chapels in St. Peter's, the Vatican, during their ten-day tour of Italy...." Messenger, Feb 11, 2002, Journal of the SDA Church in the UK & Ireland

2005:

"Also spearheading reconciliation with Rome is the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, formerly one of the strongest critics of the papacy." James Ng'ang'a by Taken from article entitled: It is imperative that all the world's faiths unite under a global church, dated June 17, 2005, at www.vaticanfm.com

2006:

"We worship and love You, heavenly Father, for who you are. And Jesus, we worship and adore You for becoming our brother. And Holy Spirit we worship and love You, too, for making all this real to us." {Signs of the Times, May 2006, p. 60 }