The TRUTH book Volume 1 (PDF) - For My People Ministry

Chapter one - G. Edward Reid, Tithe, and the Storehouse 31Other misappropriationsIncluded below are statements from three books regarding financial failureswithin Seventh-day Adventist institutions. Each author attempts to providesolutions to the financial problems.1. Fatal Accounts, by David DennisDavid Dennis worked for the Church for nearly 35 years, 19 of which he wasthe director of internal auditing at the General Conference. He was fired fromthat position for being a “whistleblower” regarding the financial corruption asdetailed below. He did what he could to correct the evil because it was the rightthing to do. He also followed God’s counsel so that he would not share in theresponsibility for the tithe’s misuse.• “. . . we had to deal with embezzlement, misappropriation, andincompetent management at the highest levels of Church leadership.”• In the Davenport bankruptcy scandal around 1979, the Church sufferedthe loss of millions of dollars.• At a 1988 Spring Meeting, General Conference president, Neal Wilson,urged the removal of salary caps for Adventist Health executives. Unionpresidents received perks for their involvement in the health system, suchas free cruises and other significant gifts.• During Robert Folkenberg’s presidency, “. . . a $150,000 ‘interest free’home loan had been extended to the newly elected vice president forNorth America, Alfred McClure, Folkenberg’s long-time close personalfriend. Further investigation revealed that money receipted to the‘worthy-student fund’ had been used to provide salaries for bothFolkenberg and McClure’s wives, though they were doing no work tojustify the pay.” This scheme originated with Ronald Wisbey, thenColumbia Union president. McClure also “sold his personal residence inGeorgia for greater than market value to the health system, whose boardhe chaired.”• On the topic of litigation: “. . . millions of dollars, tithe and non-tithe,spent so the Church would not have to defend itself in court.” “. . . suchapproval [millions for litigation] comes from a very tight circle ofadministrators . . . typically made by only two or three officers, in counselwith highly compensated GC-employed attorneys. They then engageprestigious law firms who, with carte blanche, charge unimaginably largesums. How can this kind of behavior be justified in a Church that forbidsits own members from taking one another to court?” The following quotecomes from Thomas E. Wetmore, a Church-employed attorney:“[Inviting Mr. Dennis to] dialog with anyone in Church leadership is verymuch like [asking] Osama bin Ladin to address the UN on topics ofworld peace, US government reform and global evangelical objectivesand strategies for Christianity. . . . Whatever [Mr. Dennis] has to say onANY topic will be viewed with the same degree of suspicion andskepticism as Osama bin Ladin. . . .I am not overstating the matter in theslightest. . . .Do you really expect anyone, except the lunatic fringe, totake [his] ideas seriously?”