[Brandon:] Greetings everyone. My name is Brandon Coy, and today I am interviewing my brother in
Christ. He works with the Review and Herald, and he’s going to inform us on some current events, on
what’s taking place.
[Interviewee:] At this time I would ask if we could have a word of prayer.
Father in heaven, be with us I pray. Lord have mercy on us and Your people. I pray, Father, for the
leadership of our church who are making decisions that have eternal consequences. I also pray, Lord,
for the workers, and the people in the church upon whom have been given great light. So be with us,
Lord, now as we speak and may our words be uplifting and encouraging, and yet may they be truthful, and
yet may they be a cry even as you told us to do in Isaiah 58. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
I want to talk today about some of the things that are going on with the publishing work. Something
very important is happening with our two publishing houses here in North America. But before I do, I
want to read a quote. This is taken from the book Seventh Volume of the Testimonies. The chapter is in
Section Four, The Publishing Work, and it says: Never let it be forgotten that these institutions
are to co-operate with the ministry of the delegates of heaven. They are among the agencies represented
by the flying angel “in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that
dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud
voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.” Revelation 14:6, 7.
From them is to go forth the terrible denunciation: “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city,
because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” Verse 8.
It says: They are represented by the third angel that followed, “saying with a loud voice, If any man
worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall
drink of the wine of the wrath of God.” Verses 9, 10.
And in a large degree through our publishing houses is to be accomplished the work of that other angel
who comes down from heaven with great power and who lightens the earth with his glory.
Solemn is the responsibility that rests upon our houses of publication. Those who conduct these
institutions, those who edit the periodicals and prepare the books,
standing as they do in the light of God’s purpose, and called to give warning to the world, are held by
God accountable for the souls of their fellow men.
And so I wanted to share these things because I see what’s happening with the publishing work and it’s
very frightening. Now I’m not denouncing anyone, I’m not saying anybody is a bad person or that they are
evil or done anything. I don’t believe that at all. I do believe that the men are trying to do the very
best they can, but what is happening with the... The Review and Herald is going to stop printing books.
Now they’re going to continue with the publishing association but they’re not going to be printing any
more books, The Great Controversy, The Desire of Ages, any of these things. The printing house is
going to close. But they’re going to remain a publishing association in an office at the G.C. But
that’s not only the worst part. Now we’re going to have a printing house, but it’s going to be the
Pacific Press, and the Pacific Press is going to be doing all the publishing and it’s going to be
absorbed by the North American Division.
And, you know, these things are of course subject to vote, but it’s a done deal. June 17, 2014. You know,
both get to vote. And so both institutions are being absorbed by the church at different levels. The
Review and Herald—financially they’ve been in a decline for many years and the leadership, no matter
how strong they’ve tried they’ve not been able to save it. And slowly—but slowly it’s been dying a
death. And now, it’s just going to close up. And I don’t know how the denomination—yes, we have other
publishing houses in other countries, but here in North America we’re not going to be able to—I mean
unless we go to a third party to have them publish our books. We’re going to have the Pacific Press,
but if anything happens to the Pacific Press—if there is a fire at the Pacific Press, there will be
nothing that can be done for publishing unless God raises up other publishing institutions. You know,
the Pacific Press, the challenge with them is that they financially have gone, starting last October,
to closing all of the ABC’s that they have control over, because they were in a financial decline. And
yes, Barnes & Noble and all these other big houses that sold books—they’ve been closing like the Tower
Records closed down because people are buying things off-line and because people can get things—you know,
things have changed. But our work is not the work of the world. Our work is ministerial. You know, and
the thing’s that maybe God can’t bless it because we haven’t been doing it the way He said.
[Brandon:] Now let’s ask a question before you go further. [Interviewee:] Sure.
[Brandon:] What does this mean for colporteurs?
[Interviewee:] Well, for one, we don’t know. If you want to get books from the Review and Herald, I
don’t know how we’re going to get books from the Review and Herald because the Review and Herald then
will have to get them from Pacific Press, and I don’t know how that’s going to work out. If you’re a
colporteur for the Review and Herald—or with the Review and Herald—you don’t actually work for them,
you’re just a literature evangelist with them. You know, you run things yourself. You don’t... Some may
work for the conference, but I do not—work for the publishing house. But I don’t know how we’re going
to get books. That’s the question. How are we going to finish the work of the fourth angel? How are we
even going to do it if we don’t have a publishing house?
[Brandon:] Is the colporteur work a very important work for the last day events or for the last work to
be done before the National Sunday Law? Is it something that’s very important?
[Interviewee:] You know what’s interesting—I read something recently, and it was saying how that so
long as probation continues, there’ll be work for the literature evangelist. And so—while there’s
probation—but she says that there will not be any work at some point for the pastors, but there will
be work for the literature evangelists and it’s my understanding that there’ll be work for the medical
missionary. But ministerial ways, in lines, there’s not going to be work. And so if there’s not a place
you can get the books, you know, I guess God’s going to have to raise up another way. I don’t see another
way around it because the Word of God can’t fail. She says in a large degree through our publishing
houses will be accomplished that work, the work of that other angel which comes down—who comes down
from heaven with great power and lightens the earth with his glory. That’s Revelation chapter 18. The
fourth angel that joins the third angel, much like the midnight cry joined the second angel.
[Brandon:] Now I remember reading a quotation where she actually says that those who will be actually
coming into the message would first trace their first convictions from our literature work.
[Interviewee:] From my understanding, the literature work is so important because if you don’t put the
seed inside the home you can’t gather a harvest of souls. So if you don’t have people out there who are
literally knocking on doors, who are out there giving the seed, the word of truth, preparing the
people for what’s about to come, I don’t know how many souls are going to be lost because God’s people
aren’t able to do the work. That’s really the frightening thing. That’s the reason why I was
willing to do the interview. Because it is—these are eternal issues. They’re not about finances and
money. You know, all the money in the world is not worth one soul. I don’t care how rich you are. Money
is only of value in winning souls. After that, you know, at the Sunday Law, money’s going to fail for
us. We’re not going to be able to spend it anyway. So we need to spend it now. That’s my understanding,
and I get excited about it only because, you know, my heart is invested in the work of God.
[Brandon:] Amen. So tell us more about the Review. What’s some of the situation that’s leading up to
its—its—I guess the proper word that they’re using is absorption into the—
[Interviewee:] What’s happening is—what’s happening at the Review—and these are things that you can find
on-line if you look under Review and Herald—it’s—actually I could look at—they had a
press release. One press release said that the publishing houses are going to be restructuring.
That was in May of this year, May 12, 2014. And so they said they set a final vote. So the Review and
Herald is restructuring, but this restructuring includes them divesting themselves of their printing
operation. And so that means they’re not going to be printing. If you’re not printing, you may be
publishing but you are not—no longer responsible for how the books are done. Now that either means that
we have to do all the publishing at one house, at the Pacific Press, which again, if you put all your
eggs in one basket and something happens to that basket...
[Brandon:] So it’s almost like the name will still exist but as far as it being a printing house it’s
basically shutting down. Because you’re saying the printing press is basically divesting itself of
printing presses. If you’re a printing house, you’re basically divesting yourself from the equipment to
run a press.
[Interviewee:] Well, it’s this. If you—if you get rid of your—I mean—if you’re a carpenter, you’re
still a carpenter, but if you sell all your tools, you’re currently not doing carpentry. And somebody
can come ask you to do some carpentry, and unless they let you use their tools, you know, you’re a
carpenter in name only. You’re not a carpenter as far as it goes in a practical sense. And so we might
be a publisher, we might have a publishing house, or you know, a publishing name, and we may actually
print things, but somebody else will have to do the work.
[Brandon:] Where’s the Review moving from. Now it’s going to divest itself of printing presses. What
about the actual building? Are they actually going to move somewhere?
[Interviewee:] They’re going to close down the building where they are in Hagerstown, Maryland.
They’re going to move into an office in Silver Spring, Maryland at the General Conference. They’re
going to have a few employees, and that hasn’t been determined, because these things are still in flux.
So we don’t know. There are things that still can change. If they decide not to go along with this
plan, it would be financial collapse because we can’t financially maintain it. Things have changed,
and the church is not supporting it in such a way that it could keep going and not make money. And so
it’s a financial decision. And I’m not saying that there making... I don’t—I don’t propose to know how
to tell these men how to run the business, I’m just saying it’s an alarming thing.
[Brandon:] Tell us about the employees. Is there many employees that are—are they going to—you said
maybe a few employees? How’s that going to work?
[Interviewee:] From my understanding, I read one place where it says there’s going to be about a
hundred employees that are going to be losing their jobs. And maybe it was, you know, I heard some other
information that it was only about forty employees. Either way the majority of employees are going to
lose their jobs. Some are going to get moved over to Idaho to work for Pacific Press, others are going to
go to Silver Spring, Maryland where the G.C. headquarters is, but most of them are going to have
to find work somewhere else.
[Brandon:] Okay.
So, tell us more information that you found, that you have to share.
[Interviewee:] The Review and Herald is the oldest Adventist institution. It existed before the
denomination ever incorprated or was chartered in 1863. And it was started by the Pacific Press, by
James White, and so it literally...
It was Adventism. The publishing from the very beginning, even during the Millerite time period,
the work of giving the gospel was in the publishing. We understand the things that happened with the
pioneers because of the things they published, because none of them are here. The word was printed,
and the word was circulated, and it went to the ends of the earth. And now, it seems that the word is...
Somehow things have changed. So, anyway, they’re going to be saving money, but at what cost? You
know, really, they’re going to be saving money, but how many souls are going to have to pay the cost for
that. But how many have been paying the cost now? I don’t know, you know, all the ins and outs of their
business.
[Brandon:] Now was the Review and Herald—was it—is it—the General Conference Corporation—is it a entity
of the General Conference Corporation, or is it like an independent organization?
[Interviewee:] Independent organization is a word we should, it’s a very difficult word whenever you talk
about the church independent organizations, but the Review and Herald was its own entity. The publishing
houses—it’s a part of the church’s work, but it was its own entity from my understanding unless
something has changed but it is now being absorbed into the function. It doesn’t have its own autonomy
anymore. You know, you can have different parts but they’re connected, but the Review and Herald had
autonomy. Even though it had responsibility to the church, from my understanding it had autonomy. It
wasn’t—it was a part of the church but it wasn’t necessarily ran by the church, which is very
different. Now it’s going to be literally overseen.
So, there’s other things that can be shared, but that information, the thing I shared about the
Pacific Press closing its bookstores... You know, business-wise, we’re not doing well. And that is a
sad thing. You know, and so I’m praying that God would do something for us. We need a revival in the
publishing work. We need a revival in the church. We need not programs, but we need God to do some
changes in our hearts so that we would do what He says because the end of all things is at hand.
[Brandon:] Would you feel comfortable sharing the couple more documentations that you have there?
[Interviewee:] These are just things that I got like I said—it’s—these are the documentations. I
mentioned much of the things, but the Pacific Press—this is just talking about it was established
in California in 1874 by James White and it currently is in Nampa, Idaho. And so the Pacific
Press, it publishes thirty-five to forty new English book titles and five to ten Spanish titles.
It’s—really, it’s going to be the work horse. But again, the fear is—is what if something happens to
it. Then, will there be a publishing house that actually prints books? You know, and like I said,
there was a fire. In 1902 there was a fire with the Review. It burned to the ground because of their
mismanagement. Ellen White said that there was an angel with a sword with fire above Battle Creek, and
the angel burned down several institutions including the sanitarium in February and the Review in
December of the same year. And then four years later, the Pacific Press burned down. First there
was an earthquake—the earthquake of San Francisco—it was just south of San Francisco at the time. And
then they had a fire in the building that they raised up just a little bit later. And they
recognized it was because of their mismanagement, of not following God’s directions, that God did not
bless them. And when they made a firm decision to change, then they were able to be blessed, and God
has kept them going since the 1800’s.
[Brandon:] You know when I think of the publishing work, James White, when he first started the
publishing work, what convinced his heart? I remember reading about a vision or a night dream
that he saw the publishing work.
[Interviewee:] Well, the thing that... Ellen White had a dream. Ellen White had—actually, she had a
vision. God told her that James needed to publish. And that he needed to publish to give the truth that
had come in after 1844, dealing with the Sabbath, the law of God, the sanctuary, all these different
things. But then also, it’s called the Review because—it was the Review and Herald, the Adventist
Review and Sabbath Herald, because the Review was to go over their previous experience in giving the
message from William Miller all the way down to the 1840 to ‘44 time period when God tremendously
blessed the work, and to—so all the Adventists that had been a part of the work previously who fell
away, who didn’t go in with them into the Most Holy, they might be encouraged to come back and to join
with God, so to go over their course to show that God had led them, and that He was leading them
still. So that’s why it was called the Adventist Review—so the review of the Advent Movement, and the
Sabbath Herald, it was to give the three angels’ message, the truth. So it was—it was declaring the
past, and the present, and the future all in one particular magazine.
[Brandon:] So, with the establishment of the work in the publishing houses and specifically the
development of the Review and Herald was at the very beginning of the work. [Interviewee:] Yes.
[Brandon:] So at the time now that we see it kind of closing here, do you personally feel that this could
be some type of harbinger of some sort, or maybe a warning to God’s people that we’re facing some
trying times of some sort?
[Interviewee:] Listen, if the Adventist Review, or rather if the Review and Herald can close, what
institution is left? What institution is not vulnerable? Loma Linda? Our whole health care
system? Our churches? Everything is so linked together. There is no autonomy, no separation that
if one part gets pulled and falls, all of it can fall.
So if they can close the Review because of financial things, what’s to say that next Sabbath there won’t
be a church? Because if you can close—if it’s like closing a business, you know there used to be a
Tower Records. And so they closed a few Tower Records. If you can close one you may have to close
all of them, and now try to find a Tower Records. And that’s a worldly thing, but I’m just saying.
It’s—if—if we’re not careful, you know... Listen, it started off as a movement. We got some structure.
You know, if the structure doesn’t do what God wants it to do He can keep moving. He doesn’t need
structure. He needs people to move. And He will give them structure just like He did with the Jews of
old. What happened to the Jews seems to be happening to us. That’s the scary part. That means that if the
Messiah comes to us, we may be just as unready as were the people who heard the first evangelist come,
at the shepherds who were called into the evangelism field to go into Jerusalem and tell them that the
Messiah was born and nobody was willing to hear the message. Are we willing to hear the message? Are we
watching the signs of the times? It’s really scary.
It’s very scary. So you know, that’s pretty much all that I have, but I really want to
warn God’s people
because it’s not about me. I am nobody. It’s about Christ and His work. And if we’re not doing His
work, what need does He have of us?
We’re not like the Jews, we just can’t be born into this truth. We are Adventists, we’re Protestants.
And if we’re not protesting like God wants us to protest, He can call any other denominational
people—any other—not denominational, but any other people from any other place in the world and give
them this truth and send them out. Our heritage is spiritual. Our heritage is not physical. We’re not
Adventists by birth. It’s by experience. You know, we need to be born again, or we’re not His. And I,
you know, I’m not saying that I’ve arrived. I’m just saying that we really need to do some heart
searching to see where we are. Is the Lord visiting us in judgments in closing our institutions because
of our disobedience? That’s my question. My question for me, and my question for my church.
[Brandon:] Amen. And this interview with my brother in Christ here, and as we were talking together in
private, this video came out of a burden that both of us have to see God’s people to really—to wake up
to the worldliness that is creeping within our nation and in our world and more specifically that’s
been creeping into our church that we love, and it’s our prayer and it’s our desire that people would—to
wake up out of the worldly lethargy that society and we have grown in and to realize that we need to have
a revival amongst our ranks. Thank you, Brother for your time.
[Interviewee:] Well, there’s one thing I want to say before we go. Revelation chapter 3.
The message to the Laodiceans. Jesus represents Himself as a colporteur because He’s going from
house to house as a colporteur and as a medical missionary, and He says “Behold I stand at the door
and knock.” But whose house is knocking on? He wasn’t first knocking on the house of the world. He
was knocking at the house of the church, and He’s asking the church “Will you open the door and let Me
in?” But if the door is so barred with so many things that are piled up, so many programs that
accomplish nothing, and so that you are not leaving your house to go with Him and knock on doors, you’re
not leaving your house, your just thinking you’re inside, and you’re satisfied, you’re rich and
increased in with goods and have need of nothing,
then Christ will find somebody in the highways and byways. Jesus is knocking at our door. And He will
pass us by if we don’t let Him in. But if we overcome and open the door, He promises to come in.
And that’s the angel that will give us the glory that we need. The—not the outward glory, but the
inward change of life.
[Brandon:] Let’s pray together. Father in heaven, we pray that You would be with Your people at these
dark times. Lord, there’s been an attack on Protestantism. We see that the pope of Rome has
called for Protestants to disband, to do away with the Protestant Reformation, and to come back to
Mother Rome. During this dark time, Lord we see that our publishing houses are closing at the very time,
the very hour that we need them most to be able to spread those pamphlets and those papers like the
leaves of autumn, we are being attacked. Lord, I pray that You would cause this video to help wake
people up. Wake people up to realize that we are in the very last hours before Jesus comes, that we need
to stand up and be counted, and cry aloud and spare not, to tell the world and show them the promise of
the Redeemer and to talk to preach the everlasting gospel. And we pray, Lord, that You would lay this
burden upon viewers and that, Lord, You would cause a great awakening. We thank You for Your goodness,
and we ask You for Your Spirit to be poured out and we thank You in Christ’s name. Amen.