What a great day to end the 2010 General Conference Session in Atlanta Georgia! We figured there would be more people attending today than the previous Sabbath, so we left the house early and arrived around 8:45am and got our usual parking space on level 2 in the red deck ($10/day). We always sat in section L23, which we did again, up only 10 rows from the floor where all the delegates were seated. It is kind of funny to look at the small people on the stage far away, and then notice that most of the people around you are looking the opposite direction – towards the large screen at the other end of the dome – ha!

A few rows behind us, there was a group of around 30 Japanese. I asked one of them something in Japanese, and they responded, and then i told them i was from the Osaka Center church, and they clapped for me – haha. After the sermon, one of them came by and handed all of us in our group nicely printed envelopes with 2 bookmarks enclosed.

The Sabbath school lesson was done by a lady and John Fowler and Clifford Goldstein. They had a lively discussion on the book of Romans, keeping interest high. Brother Fowler did display a tendency to talk big emptiness, which is a national liability of his home country. Then Ted Wilson gave the main sermon, an entire hour regarding what the Seventh-day Adventist church is and should do. Before that tho, there was a letter read from the president of America – Barack Obama, stating his good wishes on us.

It was an amazing sermon, titled “Go Forward”, one which i’ve been desiring to listen to from a top church official for over 30 years.
The audio is here: Ted Wilson’s Sabbath July 3 sermon, and the written pdf text is here: sermon text to read

He said “we are a peculiar people”. The word “peculiar” was mentioned twice in the sermon, putting a thrill thru my bones. For much too long we’ve wanted as a people to be just like the world as much as possible, and avoiding any hint of “peculiarity”. So right near the start of the sermon, there is this direct “back to the basics” drive which made my heart sing. He strongly uplifted creation and the SOP, quoted from Steps to Christ, presented Justification and Sanctification in clear terms, said we must be humble, and need revival and latter rain. He said we must have a literal interpretation of the Bible, should be Christ-centered, and that we must support Spirit of Prophecy until the “end of time”.

He came out against a liberal interpretation of the Bible, going to mega-churches, the emerging church, and wrong worship styles. He even clearly stated at the beginning of his sermon that he wished us not to clap, but could say “amen” at appropriate times. He even clearly said that the higher-critical method of Bible interpretation is not good.

The very only one thing that made me pause at all about his sermon, is that in talking about prophecy charts, he said “historical Adventism will not be moved”. This sounds to me like he is set in interpreting the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation in the old, dried, “all in the past” style we have set in concrete, but maybe that is not his intent, and then again, maybe he has not studied it out in detail to know that many of the things we teach are in the past (like the 7 Trumpets) are actually in the future.

My sister and neice came, and we enjoyed all eating out in the park afterwards. Some in our group complained of the heat, but it felt good to me 🙂 I lost connection with the person with the car keys, and as i wanted to get my 1858 Great Controversy books out of the car, i quickly parted company with my relatives which probably made them think i was running away from them….. I need to think more of others than my own desires sometimes. Anyway, the car was locked, so i couldn’t get my stuff until around 4pm. Then i took some of the books to the exhibition hall, where i talked with Brother Henderson of The Great Controversy Project. He had talked in the dome in the morning describing his project until someone came up and asked him to cut it off – ha! Lots of passion, but not sure of results. Anyway, he looked at my book and said he was not interested in putting out a stripped-down version of the book. I assured him it is the ENTIRE original book, and he asked if it was printed in 1844, then mentioned something about the book he is promoting as coming out in 1910. No doubt he was a bit stressed out, but i got the feeling that he is very passionate about spreading the Great Controversy book, but not too well versed in the history of the making of the Great Controversy book. He said some Divison people in various parts of the world have asked him for smaller versions to print, so i handed him one of these 1858gc books, and asked him to at least consider it if there is a need for a smaller book with the whole great controversy story in it. He accepted it, and we prayed together. At his booth i met John Brereton, who used to be the publishing director for the SE Asia Union Mission. We have run into each other at more places (Singapore, Thailand, Sabah Malaysia, etc) than i have run into anyone else in the world i think 🙂 He is now the publishing director or something in the South-Pacific Asian Division, and said sales of books in Papua New-Guinea were up 60% last year, and up 19% in Australia too – wow! Praise God. We had a nice prayer together too.

I went to the prayer room, then went to see the new painting by Nathan Greene that was unveiled at the morning church service. It is nicely done, i understand taking 8 months to plan and paint. It is of the 2nd Coming, and while being politically correct, something about it leaves me flat. I don’t know why…..

The evening meeting saw us surrounded by rows and rows of over 80% black members. That was one thing nice to see about the Session overall – the great expansion of the message to Central and South America and Africa and India. But the “Parade of Nations” itself was a bit strange. There was a short video from each Divison highlighting the scenery from their area, mostly with a heavy backbeat. It was my first time to hear the “Hallelujah Chorus” with a backbeat – ouch! Then the representatives would walk across the stage holding their flags, and then they walked around a darkened dome and then sat down in their seats on the opposite side. It was a bit disappointing, as i had imagined a huge mass of waving flags at least at the end, but such was not to be. The Vatican’s flag did NOT appear, raising several questions in my mind. But the worst thing of the whole show, was that this was on the Sabbath, yet there was no sense of worship at all, with many jumping up and shouting and whistling and clapping when their respective countries were called. This really must be changed to either a different day, or else the whole idea of parading flags should be re-examined.

The human traffic jam (69,989 official attendees at the morning meeting) going out was equalled only by the automobile jam. We got back to the house a little after 11:30pm, extremely tired, but also very happy and excited to think of what God has wrought for his people, both in the way of spreading the gospel over the whole world, and also of the election of a God-fearing leader.

I didn’t think today would be quite so exciting, as yesterday i had two big things AND two EGW Estate people showed very strong support for this 1858 Great Controversy book, but God, as usual, has different expectations than i do, and i found myself with probably the most amazing experience of this whole GC Session.

In the morning i had gone to the Hartland Publications’ table in the Marketplace, surprised to see them knowing how strained relations have been between them and the General Conference. It seemed to be a highlight tho of what i’ve felt during this whole Session — that is, a feeling of openness and less bitterness between those of opposing views. Maybe it is just my feeling, but i hope and pray that it is the real power of the Holy Spirit to meld hearts together 🙂 Anyway, the man there was very interested in actually BUYING some of these 1858gc books. I was taken by surprise, perhaps because he is the very first one to talk about purchasing these books since i’ve come. I asked him to read the Forward and other stuff that i wrote carefully, to make sure he agrees with it before purchasing. He then said i should call him next week, and it seemed to be in the vein of perhaps working together somehow, so i’m looking forward to doing that on Tuesday.

The publishing director for Hartland Publications is interested in buying quantities of these books, and i hope to talk more with him on Friday. In the evening i was even able to personally hand a book to our new president – Brother Ted Wilson. I hope he reads it and follows it.

Today i met the president of the SDA church in Armenia while in the bathroom. I had stayed at his house when i was in Azerbaijan. The other “chance” encounter was with the man in charge of Jeeva Jyothi in India. Just a 1/2 year ago i spent a couple of nites at his place, wondering if the wild elephants would come and rampage and tear the place down. His wife was even with him, saying it was the first time she’d ever come to America. No doubt it looks cleaner to her in many ways, and there are no wild elephants to worry about, but maybe the lack of people induces loneliness or the absence of neighbors calling out to her might make her feel left out….

Someone called Bill while i was there and told him to go to the NEST booth and see their animations of the Bible. I thot they were pretty good, and faithful, but i do understand the concern that children will think they are “just cartoons”, and put them in the same category as other cartoons. Using illustrations is fine tho according to what God said thru Ellen White, so i just cannot believe that there could be anything wrong with putting pictures together to make a “moving” picture.

There were several good talks with people regarding the 1858gc book, and i passed out maybe 20 – 25 copies again today. The “goose bump” moment which i’ve had every day here, happened today when i talked with someone from Oklahoma Academy, and he seemed to understand immediately some of the deeper reasons for the need for this book. Thank you Lord for leading me to these people, and help me not to pass by anybody just because they “look” like they wouldn’t be interested.

The man at the E.G. White center was talking to others about the Great Controversy book. There is a little exhibit in a glass case with some letters supposedly from Ellen White showing how she corrected the manuscripts, how others tracked down references for quotes, and how she was so pleased with the new 1911 edition. hmmmm. Of course to most people passing thru, this is all “yes yes”, but to someone studying what is going on, it looks like an attempt to put down fires or prevent future fires. He did say that this 1858 Great Controversy started to be known by the name “Spiritual Gifts Volume 1” in 1860, as that is when “Volume II” came out.

With my 1858 Great Controversy books in hand, i went around the exhibition hall at the General Conference Session in Atlanta at the Georgia World Congress Center to see how to spread them. There are “Marketplace” tables along one wall which cost 30$ each/day. The main table space (booths) cost 800$ for the entire duration of the session. Anyway, i could not buy a booth last year, and the marketplace tables are all taken too, so i just went around trying to find people who looked like they might be interested, and gave them out. Most all of them took the books, and many of them seemed very glad to have them. Of course most of them have read “Spiritual Gifts Volume I”, but almost none of them had studied the differences, so i was able to inform them. A few people turned them down, like the dentist who checked my teeth and said i need to clean them and have 2 fillings re-filled, but there were 3 or 4 who seemed deeply touched with what i’m trying to do by travelling around getting this book translated, and i even teared up when a Review and Herald man said that he was glad i was doing this work, as a large organization sometimes cannot move so nimbly in small countries etc. One other man said he used to be a literature evangelist, and in talking to me, got more inspiration to think again about working full-time for God 🙂

A man told my Korean friend in the afternoon that he could display his books at his table, so the friend invited me to join him, but something happened and it didn’t work out. That’s OK.

I approached Doug Batchelor, and told him i appreciated his secretary’s humble answer to my email several years ago about his using too much joking in his sermons. He said nicely that he had dictated that email, and somehow it got sent out under his secretary’s name, and he appreciated it. What another nice shock at his humblesness 🙂 John Lomacang seemed quite happy with my giving him this book too. Oh yes, the man at the Biblical Research Institute (didn’t find out his name) talked very nicely, and told me that if he wasn’t Adventist, he would be Catholic. Goose bumps went up and down my arms, as i have told this to a few people in my life, and it seemed like no one could understand me, but here was a man who was telling me the same thing i have thot – either keep the Bible first, and or else put man (RCC) first. The other Protestant denominations don’t have a leg to stand on.

Some of the music at the Session is good, and some is quite bad, but i haven’t heard outright “rock” music yet. The food at the restaurants in the GWCC has been all vegetarianized, but i have gotten 2 meals now at the red and white tent outside for 3$. Rice and beans with collard greens and corn bread is good without any lard in it 🙂

Here are some pics from Sabbath, 26, 2010.