August 2, 2020

 Dear Pioneer Health and Missions,

Through this letter, I hereby announce my resignation as Media Coordinator, Speaker, Chairperson and Technical Administrator.  My last day will be August 7, 2020.

The principle reason I am leaving PHM can be found in Psalms 127:1 which says:

Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. (Psalms 127:1)

A ministry will labour in vain unless the LORD builds the house. Below are a few principles that I believe show whether or not the LORD is building a house (ie. Ministry).

1 – The LORD is building houses that demonstrate love

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.  (2)  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.  (3)  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.  (4)  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,  (5)  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;  (6)  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; (1 Corinthians 13:1-6)

Having “all knowledge” without love is nothing. The LORD builds ministries that are not arrogant. Looking back the last two years, I see that PHM in many ways was seeking to “vaunt itself.” PHM desired to be big and large and grand. We purchased a building and put many mission markers on an online map. It made us look bigger than we were. The LORD does not approve of building houses this way.

2 – The LORD is building houses that don’t lie

 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Exodus 20:16 

I believe in many ways PHM has lied indirectly to the people. Facts have been stated in such a manner as to mislead. When certain individuals stopped working for PHM, we shared the news in a way that hid the truth of the situation. We intentionally suppressed the truth which I believe caused more harm than help. This was wrong.  The LORD does not approve of building houses that bear false witness.

3 – The LORD is building houses that are transparent

But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.  (Matthew 5:37)

PHM has not been transparent and from my perspective has failed in this area. In many ways PHM has been a poor communicator. This poor communication was not only between the ministry and supporters but between the ministry leaders and ministry workers inside PHM. There have been continual “under currents” in the ministry since I have been here that have not stopped. Instead of problems being openly addressed, many times they are left to fester and worsen.  For example if Brother Q has an issue with Brother X, instead of trying to work the problem out, it is not discussed. Brother Q then makes subtle comments to another brother which only increases the problem.  Brother Q should bring the issue out on the table for the purpose of resolving the issue. Instead the problem goes underground and becomes an “under current.”  These under currents are like a mold that destroys houses. “Under currents” are major reasons why I have decided to leave PHM.  The LORD builds houses with those who are transparent as the sunlight.

 4 – The LORD is building houses that speak pure words

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. (Ephesians 4:29)

There has been some jesting inside PHM that has not been repented of. Corrupt communication has unfortunately been a part of our internal communications. It has hurt me to see a brother use words to jab another brother in subtle and not so subtle ways. The LORD does not build houses with this type of communication.

5 – The LORD is building houses that have the spirit of sacrifice

Philippians 2:5-8  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:  (6)  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:  (7)  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  (8)  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

I have seen a spirit of control in PHM. There has been an appearance of modesty inside PHM but behind the scenes I have experienced hidden internal control and under currents. When under currents have been brought up to try and resolve them, nothing changed and the under currents only worsened. The LORD is not interested in building houses without the spirit of self-sacrifice.

One reason I have stayed in PHM for over two years, even after seeing certain problems inside PHM, is because I was hopeful that things would improve. I understand that God is working with all of us. He cares for everyone working at PHM. God loves the people in PHM so much that He gave His only begotten Son for them. PHM is a ministry. A ministries purpose is to minister. A fair amount of my time at PHM has been focused on ministering inside PHM. The internal needs of the ministry have been very demanding.

I wish those still working at PHM the best. PHM, in my opinion, is not healthy at this time. I am raising a “red flag.” There are many reasons why, out of the 16 people that I have had the opportunity of working with at PHM, only 5 people now remain.

I believe God is calling His people to a higher standard than what I have experienced inside PHM. My call is for God’s people to come up higher and expect better. Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God is our Saviour. The Lord will build the house with His principles.

Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. (Psalms 127:1)

Sincerely,
JH
PHM Board Chair

PHM board

Sub: Letter of Resignation

 I am writing this formally to notify you that I am resigning all positions from PHM, including my position as ministerial director. My last day will be August 7, 2020.

This decision has come with much prayer and was not taken lightly. There are many reasons for making this decision and I want to give the basics of some of my reasons.

PHM is not aligned theologically. I take issue with the flat world theory and have tried multiple times to engage in discussions on this topic but no unity has come about. This topic has been apart of destroying one of the missions and has done damage to another. There was an attempt by three of us to address this topic in a video and it was denied. PHM is also not aligned on the divine nature of Christ. For two years now, I have brought this topic up also only to receive condescending and sarcastic remarks from (Brother DB) specifically. I have asked him specific questions only to get vague political replies.

Character deficiencies unbecoming of ministers. Over the last several years, I have seen and experienced major character flaws that disqualify many of the PHM ministers from ministry. The latest and last straw for me was an incident concerning (Brother DB), prior director of PHM. He asked me via slack if I had a conversation with a certain individual and I responded that I had. I then asked him why and his response was “just curious”. I had nothing to hide from him about my conversation with this individual as neither he nor I spoke evil of (Brother DB) but instead of seeking details or any such thing, (Brother DB) sent a letter to everyone in PHM except myself and (Sister RA). The letter said he previously thought it was an ex-employee but decided there was someone within PHM (no name given but it would have to be one of the two of us not sent the letter) that had caused a letter to be sent to him from this certain individual scolding him for spreading rumors . (Brother DB) claimed he never made such claims nor thought that but that is not true as he was the one who started that rumor within PHM. This rumor, interestingly enough, was started at a point when (Brother DB) was upset with this individual. This letter that (Brother DB) recently sent to everyone but two of us was an attempt to undermine from beneath as (Brother DB) has had a history of doing in the past. These kinds of things are unacceptable but there has been no disciplinary actions taken. Which leads to another reason for my resignation.

 Unbiblical dealings with members of PHM. I do agree that there were character and theological clashes with (Brother DM) but the way he was dealt with was flat wrong!! I did not find out about the details of how this all went down until some time later but I never said anything about it when I did find out and for that I am very sorry. These issues should have been dealt with in a Biblical manner but instead, he was essentially blackmailed and forced to resign. (Brother BC) was another example of unbiblical dealings. He and (Brother JA) had a dispute, and was reported as a yelling match, in front of one of the missions, at which time (Brother JA) fired him for spreading the flat world theory after he had been warned prior. I agree that situation should not have happened the way it did and was a black eye to christianity and I agree the board needed to take back control of PHM yet the board refused to uphold the release of (Brother BC’s) employment.

I talked to everyone in PHM except one and asked if they thought (Brother BC) fit God’s definition of a minister and everyone except one said no. The one person who didn’t respond “no”, simply avoided the question three times because he knew what the answer was. (Brother BC) regularly had temper tantrums in meetings and his interactions with people via text and FaceBook etc were horrifying. The reasons, though, that I was given for keeping him on for the time was “numbers”. (Brother DM, AD, JA) had already quit and there was a fear that if one more left or was fired that there would be adverse effects to PHM’s numbers. Numbers should NEVER be the reason for hiring or firing someone!! Instead, I was told by (Brother DB) who was the acting director that the preferred method was to “smoke (Brother BC) out” by lowering his pay until he quit. There was only one on the board at that time that stood correctly for that issue.

 Politics. This kind of working environment has bread and festered politics within PHM. Politics are apart of bureaucracies, not ministries. When politics become involved then politics become the standard instead of the word of God.

 Lack of transparency. With all of the above going on, I can understand why PHM is as transparent as a bank vault, because people would be aghast at what goes on behind the closed doors. When you are not transparent, it is for the simple reason that you are hiding something. I and several others have pushed for full transparency to the supporters because it stops, or at least minimizes, the above problems and holds the ministry accountable to the people of God. PHM proclaims it wants to organize the body of Christ according to the blueprint but the organized body is transparent and accountable to all the members. A lack of transparency means a lack of true organization and I am called to serve the true organization. I must be able to answer the questions people have asked me about PHM instead of having to say “I can’t answer that right now”. People need to know what has been going on in PHM and PHM needs to be held accountable.

 Health reasons. This all leads to unnecessary stress which is contrary to the 8 laws of health. I was at the ground level of helping to start Pioneer Publications which later became Pioneer Health and Missions. My hope and prayer has been that PHM would be used of God to spread the message and organize the body but it cannot do that with the above problems. It has become painfully clear to me that PHM refuses to come into line with the ways God has set through all three witnesses so it is with sadness that I must resign. I am resigning from the ministry known as PHM but I want to make it clear that I am not resigning from God’s call on my life of pastoring. I will continue answering that call.

AW

I write this letter to formally notify you that I am resigning all positions from PHM. My last day will be August 7, 2020.

This was not an easy decision to make, but after much prayer it has become clear to me that it is the only way to go forward following the leading of the Lord. There are several reasons for my decision. I firmly believe that God has been calling us to finish the work by following all of His Biblical principles and teachings, but unfortunately over the past one year, PHM has failed to continue embracing all of God’s direction. Today, PHM is suffering from doctrinal, organizational, and most importantly, spiritual deficiencies. PHM does not understand true gospel order. PHM is interested in securing control and majority rather than building a spiritual house. PHM has failed to  understand the beauty of Christian cooperation. PHM has failed to understand the principles behind “one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are  brethren”.

Furthermore, PHM has failed to preserve doctrinal unity with some unbiblical teachings being cherished, resulting in loss of missions and confusion among the people of God. A primary example of this is found with the flat earth teaching. PHM has shut down all appeals for warnings to the flock against the flat earth theory and as a result three missions have been impacted, one  completely coming to its end. Presently, PHM has a leader that believes in the flat earth theory, who, while making the claim that he has never taught the flat earth, has been heard sharing typical flat earth ideas during fellowship lunches. Examples of this include ideas that the Hubble telescope as well as the theory of relativity are a hoax. These have been presented to people by that very same person. In addition, for almost a year now, some in PHM have failed to embrace the absolute divinity of Christ, lowering Christ from His rightful position and stripping him of some of the divine attributes He rightfully possesses in Himself as the only begotten Son of God. According to the pioneers of the Seventh-day Adventist church, to make Jesus’ divine nature inferior to that of the Father is worse than professing the doctrine of the trinity.

Lastly, PHM has failed the people of God and all of its donors by not following the Christian principle of transparency. It has been almost a year now since God brought this to PHM’s attention. There has been a desire by some in the ministry to fall in line with this principle and to follow the example of the Adventist pioneers. It was desired, among other things, for the financial statements of the ministry to be made available to the donors, but that never took place. People have had many questions but not enough answers. PHM has failed to be as transparent as God wants his institutions to be and I can no longer support such a course. My desire and prayer have always been that PHM would continue to be used by God to spread the three angels’ messages and organize the body of Christ upon the platform of truth, but unfortunately, it has become clear to me that PHM cannot continue to do that because of the above deficiencies. Over the past one year, PHM has refused to come in line with the ways God has revealed in His Word and with sadness I must resign in order to remain one with God and His ways. My prayer is that everyone in PHM will take these things to heart and understand that unless we are fully surrendered to God in all things, we labour in vain. “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it:” Psalm 127:1

VB
Board Secretary