GC result: Yes: 977 No: 1381

Read the book Last Day Events on “The Shaking.” This one quote particularly struck me about the division in the church:
“Divisions will come in the church. Two parties will be developed. The wheat and tares grow up together for the harvest.—Selected Messages 2:114 (1896). – {LDE 172.3}
I believe we are almost there, looking at the vote. If this year doesn’t tell us anything else, we really need to see that we MUST get to work with more zeal now than ever! Think about what has happened just recently…..Protestants stretching their hands across the gulf, the Pope’s global activity, the Supreme Court decision, the WO vote today, the stock market today….and the Pope getting ready to address our Congress. Wow! We are here! Let’s spread the gospel and go home! Amen?

The chairman allowed Ps Paulsen to have his way thereby denying others from speaking during the very poorly allocated (and ill advised) time slot for delegates to speak, yet the same chairman was overly restrictive and dogmatic with others. It did seem rather obvious to me that the chairman was very biased and was in sympathy with the yes contingent.
What should be done over the next year before the 2016 Annual Council meeting is that the GC parliamentary rules and policies for meetings should be given to all churches around the globe so that all members are familiar with this and may even practice the same and thus to a certain extent avoid the need for a last minute crash course at such big meetings as this and avoid one being abruptly told “this is not a point of order.” How I wish they would study the bible this way, in terms of strictly following all the rules of the Methods of Bible Study document equally with such vigilance and say to those proposing to elect and ordain women as elders, together with those who have already gone ahead in defiance and elected and ordained pastors that “this is not a point of order” so to speak.
In other words, why isn’t the same level of overly strict “parliamentary procedure and rule following,” as exercised by the chairperson during the WO discussion and voting, meted out with the same level of intensity and vigilance to those Union Conferences that have approved WO when it was not the purview of Union Conferences to do so. They should have been bluntly told, just as the chairman spoke to delegates, that these renegade Union Conferences were “out of line” and swift proper corrective disciplinary action taken against their insubordination. I suppose they did a “paulsen” on those Union Conferences in allowing them to have their own way whilst reproving and throwing the book at good people such as Dr. Walter Veith and Ps. David Gates.
In the case of Ps. David Gates, he faced the full might of law in terms of the parliamentary mumbo jumbo rule book being harshly thrown at him; yet leaders and pastors in Union Conferences who have acted in insubordination, even misleading members into false teachings such as WO and voting to accept such unbiblical practices are allowed to prosper and flourish and are allowed carte blanche to do as they please.
The David Gates incident provides ample evidence supporting my suggestion that double standards are being applied in terms of the rule book being thrown at some and not even a slap on the wrist for others. How so?

Ps. Paulsen was at least honest in speaking on behalf of all proponents of WO in his expressing that WO was a matter of cultural preference.
There is no strong biblical arguments for WO. The fact that so many voted yes shows that Adventists are not united in our faith and belief and are in fact deeply divided. To trivialise WO as a small distraction is only acknowledging being in a state of denial.
The Adventist liberal left has moved extremely left – and by default the ‘middle’ has undeniably moved further left also. The issue of WO provides proof that this in that so-called traditional Adventists crossed floors by joining hands with liberal extremists on this issue by supporting culture over sound biblical belief. Worse still is that they tried to use the bible to make there case. How sad. Then there was a female delegate at the PUC Session wearing earrings? Is this the norm in the cultural camps of Adventism? Talking unity is one thing: walking unity is another. [Amos 3:3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?]
The fact that alternative hermeneutics were used and even that some would suggest that a second alternative interpretation is possible within the context of the Methods of Bible Study document shows clearly how leading Adventist theologians have drifted away from the plain teachings of the word of God. Can our theologians then be fully trusted? No! We should test all things with the scriptures, whether they be of God – or not. WO has awakened the Church to the stark reality that we are divided as a people like Judah and Israel. The call for repentance is so appropriate for our lukewarm condition for which Christ only provides remedy: His righteousness, faith and love – and the eye salve to discern between truth and error is so much needed. Let’s face it and admit that from the outcome of the WO vote it is quite clear that the Church is in a lukewarm condition. The compromise with cultural dictates and worldliness; together with the buying power of academic and economic wealth, has heavily contributed to this condition.