APPEAL TO ALL PASTORS

In view of the situation when the union administration, pastors Kazakov, Protesevitch, and Kissly  received the statement of 33 church ministers  and, without any examination of this issue, which is their duty, accused them of splitting the church and rebelling.  We would like to clarify the current situation.

We want to underline:

We never and nowhere called, call and will call to the split the church and to secede from the existing church structures!

But at the same time we cannot allow certain church administrators to violate the standards of Working Policy, church manual, counsels of Ellen G. White, the Bible, and to roughly defy the rights of local churches, using as a cover the name of the worldwide church.

According to the counsel of Ellen G. White we can see that:

"Any human being who spreads himself out to large proportions, and who seeks to have the control of his fellows, proves himself to be a dangerous man to be and trusted with religious responsibilities".

"In the church man-power is gaining the ascendancy; those who have been chosen to occupy positions of trust think it their prerogative to rule.

Men whom the Lord calls to important positions in His work are to cultivate a humble dependence upon Him. They are not to seek to embrace too much authority; for God has not called them to a work or ruling, but to plan and counsel with their fellow laborers".

Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 9 p. 270

On May 15 - 16, 2002, the ESD leadership approved some illegal resolutions in the legal WSC congress and tried to put them into practice afterwards.  These actions can lead to the splitting of the church if not resolved soon.  At present we can say that there are three identical church organizations existing on the same territory and at the same time.  This is so because in the congress the only legal organization was not abolished, and at present it is the only legal organization in Western Siberia. At the same time the WSC powers were given to the new missions.

These missions have no right to run any kind of activity or even declare their existence according to the Russian Federation laws and the regulations of church organizations by the General Conference.

They do not have the right to existence because this decision was not supported by necessary amount of delegates who were representatives of the local churches.

The worldwide church's resolutions expressed in the General Conference Working Policy follow a certain order for any issue resolution. This statement orders that any changes of church structure should be supported by 2/3 of the delegates' votes presented in the congress.

(note ESD Working Policy p 154).

Besides there were many other mistakes made such as the change of the congress date according to the division initiative ten days before it started, non-delegates' participation in the work of the nominating committee, the impossibility of delegates to give their opinion or ask questions.  All of these errors are grounds which make the two missions illegal.

Thus, the two missions were formed according to the will of several people who used as a cover the name of the worldwide church but did not follow the congress resolution.

Dear brethren, taking into account the fact that this action was done by the most influential people in ESD and the rumors that they spread, slanderous accusations are being made.

They try to present us in a false light in order to discredit our good names as members and pastors of the church before the General Conference.  So we urge you in the name of God to be careful in taking either of these positions.

We suppose that on behalf of the worldwide church the brethren will come trying to convince you that we are splitting the church and destroying its foundation.

We urge you once again, be wise and if you cannot take a stand according to your conscience and Christian duty as being God's church shepherds because of lack of information, you would better follow the Bible advice:  "…searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so". Acts 17:11

We also realize that the devil is not sleeping and he will use all his tricky methods to destroy everything what contradicts his plans. Therefore, we suppose that the brethren of high rank using the cover of God's name will come and try to convince you to follow this or that way that support their position.  They will try to discredit our name without any true proofs, having only false and groundless accusations.

Brethren, we urge you, support us in our desire to summon a special congress and in the presence of witnesses to solve this problem, who is right and who is wrong. Let us remember the words of Christ: "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God". John 3:20-21

"Those who will not act when the Lord calls upon them, but who wait for more certain evidence and more favorable opportunities, will walk in darkness, for the light will be withdrawn. The evidence given one day if rejected may never be repeated".

Testimonies to the Church Vol. 3 p. 258

We have no fear for our words and our only desire is to solve this problem openly and honestly.