Thinking of joining the SDA Church? Do you know what you're getting into?

The SDA Money Machine

It was embarrassing, to say the least. Thousands of brochures were handed out at the recent 2005 General Conference Session exposing Seventh-day Adventist greed and corruption.

The brochures introduced us to Laura Chichalof. This uninsured, married, mother of 3, a survivor of polio has been confined to a wheelchair for many years. When she went to SDA Florida Hospital in urgent need of gall bladder surgery, she says she was told to "come up with $10,000 in cash, or go elsewhere."

Then there is Rodney Vega, the 5-year-old son of an SDA pastor. In the spring of 2004 Rodney was dying of a brain tumor when he was taken by his father, Pastor Vega, to Florida Hospital, where he was refused care simply because he had no insurance.

Why? Didn't Florida Hospital have enough money to treat Vega? On the contrary, in 2003 Florida Hospital heaped up staggering profits of $81,657,052! It was the 9th most profitable "non-profit" hospital in the USA. And that 81 million dollars was after the "generous" salaries doled out to senior hospital executives. For every $3100 in actual costs, Florida Hospital charges a person without insurance approximately $10,000! And they call this "Christian" healthcare? SDA healthcare supposedly adheres to the same Christ that told people:

He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. (Luke 3:11)

How much does Rodney Vega's father earn as an SDA pastor? Last year he raked in a whopping $22,000! By comparison, Robert Carmen, the COO of Adventist Health Systems West, makes that much in less than 72 hours!

Here is how the money rolled in for senior Adventist Health executives in 2003:

• Alan Rice - $1,984,395.
• Douglas Rebok - $1,765,977.
• Larry Dodds - $2,100,827.
• Donald Ammon - $2,370,096.
• Robert Carmen - $2,913,314

After the Vega family joined a class-action lawsuit, and after the Vega family was called before Congress to testify, hospital officials suddenly became interested in the case. Hospital officials allegedly contacted the family with offers of free care and an ocean cruise. And finally, at the recent General Conference Session, Pastor Orville Parchment offered a belated apology to the family.

The lesson learned here is that in order to force the church to admit they made a mistake, and in order to force them to act like they should have in the first place, one must file a class-action lawsuit and appear before Congress! Is that really what it takes? Shouldn't the church do the right thing because it is right instead of because they are forced to do so by the government or public pressure?

(The source of all the above facts, figures, and news stories is WhereTheMoneyGoes.com.)

Sex, Crimes, and the SDA Church

It seems that every week I get a report from someone detailing the sordid story of criminal activity, sexual assualt, and unethical conduct by SDA church employees. While no one is perfect, and we all make mistakes, the SDA church is ultimately responsible for the conduct of its employees, and instead of covering up the crimes, they need to step up to the plate and take action to make sure they never happen again. Sadly, it seems the only way to influence church leaders to "do the right thing" is to publicly shame them into doing it.

On March 12, 2005, we reported how a teacher at the SDA school in Keene was arrested for indecency with a child. What we did not report in that article was that the same teacher had been transferred from an SDA school in Mexico after being accused of the same sort of lurid activity!

Now, on May 19, 2005, Good Times Weekly reports that five former students at the SDA Monterey Bay Academy "are suing the Central California Conference (CCC) of the Seventh-day Adventists, based in Clovis, alleging that former Monterey Bay Academy teachers Lowell Nelson and/or Ron Wittlake sexually abused them between 1982 and 1986." If you are an adult, you can read the gruesome details here.

David Dennis, the former chief auditor of the SDA Church was fired in 1994 under questionable circumstances. He has extensive documentation of corruption at the highest levels of the SDA Church

I could go on and on. I have a whole file full of news reports of SDA pastors, teachers, and church members involved in genocide, murder, rape, child molestation, abuse of mental patients, and adultery. Sure, there are many good people in the SDA Church. Sure, all people in all churches commit crimes of one type or another. But what is alarming to me and others is that the SDA Church hierarchy appears more intent on keeping up its public image as the remnant who are being perfected to "stand without an intercessor" rather than pursuing and eradicating criminal and immoral activity from within their ranks.

Why are teachers who are suspected sex abusers quietly moved from school to school? Why was the chief auditor fired after complaining about unethical activities at the highest levels? Why are hospital administrators raking in enourmous salaries at "non-profit" hospitals while poor patients cannot get life-saving surgery? Again, the crimes are horrible enough, but when you have a church structure that denies the crimes or tries to sweep them "under the rug", it makes a bad situation worse.

That's why I ask you, are you sure you want to join this church?

Brother Anderson, Editor

Prior Articles:

Jan. 2005 - Weavers of Deception, Masters of Intimidation

Nov. 2004 - Walter Rea - Is he really an enemy of the SDA Church?

Oct. 2004 - Modern Prophets Another prophet has arisen recently, sounding dire warnings...