Echoing the spirit and foundational principle of the Ecumenical World Council of Churches, the SDA General Conference President, Jan Paulsen, makes an abominable statement quoted below, which will be the prophesied theme of the coming antiChrist. This is the same principle or rather lack of principle touted for unity in the SDA Church. Anything and everything for the sake of unity!
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Fiji: "Reconciliation is a Sacred Ministry," Says Adventist World
Leader
Suva, Fiji .... [Ray Dabrowski/Source Adventist News Network]
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During his two-day visit to the South Pacific country of Fiji, Pastor
Jan Paulsen, president of the Seventh-day Adventist world church, urged
the necessity of reconciliation, an issue high on the nation's public
agenda. "The reconciliation process is a sacred ministry," he said. It
is a process "that involves understanding and compromise, and forgoes
everything for the good of society. That's the only way forward."
Last year, Fiji was thrown into a violent confrontation between members
of the country's two main ethnic groups, indigenous Fijians and
Indians, in the wake of a coup staged by George Speight.
Speight, a former member of the Adventist church, received support for
his political stance from some Adventist Church members as well as
other Fijian Christian nationalists. They aimed to reestablish Fiji
along lines that would guarantee indigenous political dominance. The
Seventh-day Adventist Church in Fiji spoke out against the methods used
by Speight and his supporters, which included hostage-taking. Church
leaders in Fiji confirmed that some coup participants, though brought
up as church members, were not practicing, "regular, good-standing
members" of the church.
Addressing a gathering of more than 3,000 believers in Suva, the
country's capital, Paulsen touched on the issue of reconciliation and
the use of peaceful means in resolving issues in the society.
"Christians must not use methods of violent people," he said. "You
cannot wait for the return of the Lord and be violent. Violence does
not belong in the Adventist family."
"The Lord wants you to be peacemakers in Fijian society today," Paulsen
told church members, many of whom had traveled five or more hours to
meet the Adventist Church president.
Arriving in Suva on February 26, Paulsen received a traditional
"whale-tooth welcome." A similar, solemn ceremony took place on the
island of Vanualevu in the presence of the paramount chief of the
Macuata region, Ratu Epeli Katonivualiku, a Seventh-day Adventist.
"We are honored to have our church leader come and visit us," said a
tribal elder in an emotional welcome speech. "For us, this is a
historic moment. Never before has a world leader of our church come to
visit our island."
More than 800 believers from the island, the second largest of the Fiji
republic, gathered in the town of Labasa and listened in the pouring
rain as Paulsen spoke. "Let the people around you know Seventh-day
Adventists as honorable, upright, and peace-loving," he said.
The more than 20,000 Adventists of Fiji are celebrating 110 years since
the first Adventist missionary came to Fiji. Today, the church operates
several schools throughout the country, including Fulton College, which
offers programs in theology, education, business, and information
technology. A library, which will hold 15,000 volumes, is currently
under construction at the college.
"Our country is fortunate to have churches such as yours operating
educational institutions," said Fiji President Ratu Josefa Iloilo. "You
offer the quality we need." The church should pray and continue to help
the reconciliation process succeed, Iloilo said during Paulsen's
courtesy visit to Government House.
On the way from Papua New Guinea to Fiji, the Adventist Church
president met with the Adventist faith community in Melbourne,
Australia. On Sabbath, February 24, people crowded into the 2,500-seat
Dallas Brooks Hall, which was too small to hold everyone who came for
the meeting.
Prior to his departure from Suva, Paulsen is expected to meet with the
Prime Minister of Fiji, Laisena Qarase. On Wednesday, February 28,
Paulsen will continue to French Polynesia, the last leg of his
five-country visit to the South Pacific.