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From personal conversations with many Adventist leaders at all levels of church organization I can tell you that this “fronting” [pretending to agree with Adventist teaching] is rampant. It is so subtle and has become so inbred and modeled in the Adventist ministry that it has become the accepted “ethical structure” and thus it often goes unnoticed.
Yes, for many months I lived in the tension of conflicting “truths” and started down the road into the ethics of darkness. It is not my intent to condemn those who may be living with cognitive dissonance or who are projecting an image that is not fully congruent with their inner core of convictions. Rather, it is my prayer that if you find yourself facing these very subtle thoughts and practices that you give serious consideration to the reasons behind the conflicting “truths” and realize the danger of starting down the road of ethical darkness. Ask yourself if you are projecting the idea that you are in full harmony with all the teachings of Adventism when secretly you know there are imbedded errors. Do you renounce these errors or simply put them out of sight into the dark, secret basement of your soul?
I know the spiritual stress this creates. And thank God, I also know the joy and freedom experienced when my outward projections match my inner convictions. May God help us each to walk in the transparent light of Christ without cognitive dissonance using only the ethics of light.
Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (Jn. 8:12).…keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith (1 Tim. 1:19).
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house (Mt. 5:14-15). This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 Jn. 1:5-7).
—Dale Ratzlaff (1936-2024, former Seventh day Adventist, pastor, founder of Life Assurance Ministries)
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