Thursday, March 25, 2010

Regarding Some Teaching at Forest Lake Church, Derek Morris and Spiritual Formation

Fundamental Beliefs Attacked from Within

A little over a year ago I began having a dialogue with the author(s) of another "Christian" blog called Doctrine Discussion. At first I was under the impression that the author viewed the Seventh-day Adventist church as a cult because this blog was seemingly focused on attacking the fundamental beliefs of Adventism.

Our discussion went on for about in a month, during which time I found out that not only was this person familiar with Adventist doctrines but he was actually a teacher in the church, holding Bible studies at Forest Lake Church.

When I found that the author of the Doctrine Discussion blog, who was attacking the very foundations of the Adventist faith, was teaching others at Forest Lake Church, I made the difficult decision to contact Dr. Derek Morris and inform him of what was going on. I thought that he would want to know about the falsehoods being taught at his church and would take immediate action to bring these gentlemen back into line with the Gospel of Christ or at least stop them from spreading their errors to his members.

What I want to focus on is what I know: there is at least one person (possibly three) leading Wednesday night/Saturday morning Bible studies at Forest Lake Church who is openly opposed to foundational Adventist doctrine.

These are just a few quotes from the author of the Doctrine Discussion blog, called erp and Erin, who is conducting Bible studies at Forest Lake Church:

"i still fascilitate a wed. night and sat. morning bible study at the Forest Lake SDA Church in Apopka, FL."

"I will briefly say, Adam, Shawn, and I and our families are what the world calls adventist. We chose to call it brother and servant. I was even in sda ministry as I think I mentioned before."

"i have been called here so here i serve until the Lord leads elsewhere."

"yeah i know derek. we were in a bible study together for the better part of last year."

"The ten commandments were the first covenant plain as day it says it right here no mistake."

"Now if the law has not ended for you then you do not believe that Jesus did what He said He did. This is not rocket science."

"If your position is that Christ did not take away the law with commands then you are still the old man, do not desire peace, and are working against the purpose of Christ."

"If we don't believe this then we are simply denying the power of the cross and the work Christ accomplished there. The cross has become of no use or effect for us"

"I believe that sabbath rest is achieved in resting from my own efforts to save myself or conform to the written law." - Shawn

"I have been studying into this more lately and have come to the understanding that spliting off into denominations is sin and is not at all what Jesus intended for us to do." - Shawn

"no record is found in scripture of a group claiming remnancy. for this reason i am confident that God's elect and His Self chosen remnant, "He has reserved them unto Himself", are not and will never be a self proclaiming organization or denomination."

"in the Kingdom of God the phrase and title Seventh Day Adventist means nothing, the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love. any other focus takes away from the real spiritual journey of believing. to all my brothers and sisters that claim the name SDA, i send my love and pray for your mercy. the high places still remain, and we can not rest until they are all torn down."

Make no mistake that the mission of this person, or persons, teaching at Forest Lake Church is to destroy the pillars of faith on which the Remnant stands, and to bring down the very Remnant itself. Do not think for one second that the "high places," of which these teachers proclaim that they "can not rest until they are all torn down," are anything other than the Seventh-day Adventist church.

The Doctrine Discussion blog was promptly deleted by the author after our dialogues concluded. However, the author currently has another blog called Come Experience Freedom.

Please know that I hold no ill-will toward these men who are teaching error...I continue to hope they will leave these false teachings and return to the truth of Christ. My only purpose in posting this information is to, hopefully, stop these men from spreading their falsehoods within the doors of the very church they hope to tear down.

Originally, this article contained information about Dr. Derek Morris and his involvement with Spiritual Formation, a practice devised by Ignatius Loyola who also founded the Jesuits. I am not a conspiracy theorist and I firmly believe we should keep our eyes on Jesus Christ and not on the various and sundry forms of evil and corruption in the world. We become like what we behold, so let us continue beholding our Lord.

If you want to learn about Spiritual Formation, I suggest the following sermons by Pastor Rick Howard:

Spirit of Prophecy or Spiritual Exercises

Spiritual Formation, Ellen G. White, and Daniel 11:30-36

If you want more information specifically regarding Derek Morris' involvement in Spiritual Formation, I suggest the following article:

Catholic Studies at Southern College - Spiritual Formation

If you would like the complete document of my discussions with the three men who claimed to be Seventh-day Adventists in name only and who are/were spreading their doctrines within the church, specifically Forest Lake Church, message me.

13 comments:

  1. Yes, Todd, agreed that they are spreading false information of what Jesus is all about. We must pray for these peole as they are being guided wrongly. I amazed that such a widely known church would let such false doctrine speech enter into it(?) Rob

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  2. Todd, I believe there are many agents of Satan working within the SDA today, some of them are school teachers and also through magazine publications. They purposely raise questions about fundamental, long standing doctrines, and especially EGW to create doubt.

    Yes, we must pray for them BUT, one must ask, how many are being led down the wrong path in the meantime. Perhaps, the best solution is to remove them quickly, as should be done in the case of the La Sierra biology dept teachers who teach evolution as fact and ridicule creation.

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  3. Rob I am amazed too. The strong shift toward "progressive" Adventism (backslidden) is astounding and gives me the impression that the shaking that Ellen White spoke of is near...when only those who truly love and obey Christ will remain in the Remnant.

    I agree that prayer is our most powerful weapon and also realize that for the sake of our youth and the babes in Christ who are being led away from the Truth, the false teachers within our gates should be thrust out without delay. I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments of David Asscherick's letter to the church officials urging action in this dire situation.

    I praise God for the bastions of our faith who continue to remain faithful despite an onslaught of attacks from the wolves within our church. These men, such as Doug Batchelor, Steve Wohlberg, David Asscherick, Randy Skeete and more, are doing God's work out there on the front line while taking repeated injuries from behind...by those supposedly within the fold.

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  4. Satan is constantly at work to destroy the Pillars of our Faith...And I believe that as you said, the Jesuits have already entered the denomination, that's why we need to be very careful..

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  5. i've been watching hope tv and following the program hope sabbath school. surprise..why.. satan is now working hard to deceive many people,lets us pray one another for this kind of wrong information.

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  6. Todd, we have not communicated in a while. I am troubled by the quotes you have posted. They surely have not been verified and even appear to be cut from the context of each paragraph. And then there are all those comments from "anonymous." This all has the appearance of evil, and I am talking about the attack on the Dr. Morris's character and reputation. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 cautions us to "Abstain from every form of evil." Even the posts from Waymarks reveal a falling short of the above command from our Lord. Waymarks is a publication that certainly has not fully verified it's sources and has also attacked Church leadership over the years. Granted, there is a concern and a justifiable concern that we hold our leaders accountable. But hasn't the devil masterfully succeeded much more when we Seventh-day Adventists are found accusing and attacking each other? The Holy Spirit can never be poured out upon us to finish Jesus' work as long as we are attacking leadership and each other. Now, the fiasco at La Sierra is one thing--an attack on core Bible beliefs. However, the accusations over spiritual formation and Dr. Morris' involvement are not even in that category--and as Gamaliel said to the Council who wanted to condemn Peter and John (Acts 5:33-39) "...If it is of God, you cannot overthrow it--lest you even be found to fight against God."

    My humble and personal opinion is that many "sincere" Adventists are actually fighting against God in condemning our leadership. I ask, who sent them? God says of many self proclaimed prophets, "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied" (Jeremiah 23:21).

    Ellen White has provided much council in regards to order. It truly is a humbling thing to be able to hold our selves accountable. Yet many will focus on what they perceive to be the sins and mistakes of others, especially those in leadership. Jesus knew this well for He was the focus of attack after attack on His methods and His character.

    And just because a "Jesuit" wrote on spiritual formation does not make spiritual formation wrong. It is scriptural to devote yourself to God, in the morning, in the evening, three times a day, on your bed in your night sweats or tears as David wrote, moment by moment.

    There is nothing unscriptural about spiritual formation. It is about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ where you read the word and pray. And probably need a good friend in Christ who will hold you accountable.

    So let me be that friend to you again, my hoping that you do not take offense at my questioning of and asking you to reconsider your post, and those like it. How is your relationship with Jesus Christ?

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  7. And let me add one more thing. I know Derek Morris personally and have sat in on his lectures in several areas. I know Him to be a born again Christian and a humble man. I would advise you not to judge him just because you did not receive an email response. Email is one of the poorest ways to communicate in a debate setting, as words can be easily twisted and cut and pasted at random to cast someone in a bad light. I also know He has brought many souls to Christ through the Three Angels Message of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. As for the writer of Waymarks, who is his audience? Adventists! Who from the outside has he brought to Christ??? Those who find their ministry to conveniently be the correctors of Church leadership are called prophets by our God. Just like in Jeremiah's day when many were found opposing God's appointed messenger, the same principle applies today, even to self-appointed lay leaders who have not been elected to their positions by any local church.

    Remember that God is a God of order. Let God handle these problems as we pray for wisdom and understanding on how we are to hold ourselves, each other, and our leadership accountable. Thank God we know "There will be no new movement." But "Enfeeble and defective as it may appear, the church is the one object upon which God bestows in a special sense His supreme regard."


    And the following quotes from Ellen White are food for thought:

    "God’s servants are to work together, blending in kindly, courteous order, "in honor preferring one another." Romans 12:10. There is to be no unkind criticism, no pulling to pieces of another’s work; and there are to be no separate parties. Every man to whom the Lord has entrusted a message has his specific work. Each one has an individuality of his own, which he is not to sink in that of any other man. Yet each [BEGIN P.276] is to work in harmony with his brethren. In their service God’s workers are to be essentially one. No one is to set himself up as a criterion, speaking disrespectfully of his fellow workers or treating them as inferior. Under God each is to do his appointed work, respected, loved, and encouraged by the other laborers. Together they are to carry the work forward to completion. {AA 275.2}


    "God Will Set Everything in Order
    There is no need to doubt, to be fearful that the work will not succeed. God is at the head of the work, and He will set everything in order. If matters need adjusting at the head of the work God will attend to that, and work to right every wrong. Let us have faith that God is going to carry the noble ship which bears the people of God safely into port."--2SM 390

    Let none entertain the thought, however, that we can dispense with organization. It has cost us much study and many prayers for wisdom that we know God has answered, to erect this structure. It has been built up by His direction, through much sacrifice and conflict. Let none of our brethren be so deceived as to attempt to tear it down, for you will thus bring in a condition of things that you do not dream of. In the name of the Lord I declare to you that it is to stand, strengthened, established, and settled. Letter 32, 1892, pp. 1, 10-12. (To the Brethren of the General Conference, December 19, 1892.)

    I learn that it is proposed by some of our brethren to do away with the organization of some, at least, of the branches of our work. No doubt what has led them to propose this step is that in some of our organizations the machinery has been made so complicated as really to hinder the work. This, however, is not an argument against organization, but against the perversion of it. {1MR 157.2}

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  8. One more thing. These independent ministries such as Waymarks. Who holds them accountable? They are not accountable to the local church or the church at large. They run a grave danger of running where God has not sent them without the accountability from the local church or conference or union level or General Conference in session. God will hold all accountable for their works, especially those that have criticized what God has founded.

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  9. Also, please know that it was never my intention to attack the Adventist church in any way. I've never doubted that this church would stand until the end. I was trying to call the attention of someone in the church to these people that may still be teaching against Adventist doctrine, so that they could stop them from facilitating Bible studies at Forest Lake Church.

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  10. and how do you suppose that publishing this will help the church? this is embarrassing for us. especially when non adventists read it. imagine the impression and the bad press that we will get for this. if something truly is wrong then take it up with the pastor and the church board. if he really does teach false teachings, there are waaay too many members in every adventist church who will notice and do something about it (and not tell the world about it) this is so not classy

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    1. Embarassment doesn't concern me. No one has done anything about it. That is my concern. There are many things going on in the Adventist church that are blatantly against God's counsel yet nothing is being done about them. This is all leading up to the shaking. Wheat and tares grow up together. Our church is not perfect.

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  11. They are an SDA church. Some beliefs are outside Christian orthodoxy.

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  12. Adventists really do need to WAKE UP and stop being so incredibly naive!

    Do you REALLY believe that this Derek Morris just didnt realize that he shouldnt be setting up the entire Church patterned after the Jesuits and that he just suddenly woke up and is sorry for it Yeah he is sorry he got caught!

    Look, Mark Finley wrote a book, along with Christopher Blake of Insight Magazine called "Managing Life's Stress" in which he blatantly put in exercises to "relax, relax, relax" "do you feel your arm getting heavy" etc, then telling everyone at the end of it to get the Supplementary Materials by STEVE HALPERN and EMMETT MILLER. Halpern is one of the biggest New Age Musicians there are, and puts people into an Alpha brain wave trance, adding New Age Subliminal messages... Emmett Miller is a well known New Age Hypnotist. In this book Mark Finley tells everyone, oh dont worry, we arent trying to get anyone to do self-hypnosis, well you know what? That was exactly what he was doing!

    These men are purposely trying to introduce Jesuit/Witchcraft/New Age teachings and practices into the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

    Its just that now that too many people realize whats going on, they are now trying to act all innocent about it. You can bet they will still be trying to introduce these things, only more subtly. And its like, Oh wow, did I just set up the entire SDA Church into Jesuit Spiritual Formation to pattern the Jesuits? Oops! My bad! Sorry! and yet its STILL THERE. They can do all the FAKE APOLOGIES they want to, but its STILL THERE, and they intended it this way.

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