Dr. Lorraine Day’s Response to Seventh-day Adventist Vance Ferrell

Just this week I was informed of the “hit piece” you have written against me on your website. Apparently there are some people who look up to you so I find it incredulous that you have chosen to take the “low road” – in fact, the really “low road” - in your diatribe against me.

I am speaking of the article entitled “Lorraine Day Accepts Universalism” (below) that is posted on your website at sdadefend.com You have written two pages, but it takes a longer response on my part to correct your many errors.

Even your title is wrong. Apparently you do not know the difference between “Universalism” and “Universal Restoration.” If you did know the difference, you would have been much more accurate in your article. I do not believe in “Universalism.” Those who believe in Universalism believe that God is going to save everyone IN their sins. I make it very clear in my book “What Happens at the Judgment” that I do not believe that God is going to save everyone IN their sins.

I believe in “Universal Restoration” – the belief that God, not Satan, is in control of this world, and that God is great enough to win His children back and eventually to save everyone FROM their sins, after they have reaped what they have sown. That is vastly different from “Universalism.” You have failed to make that distinction either because you are ignorant of the difference, or you have purposely chosen to mislead people about my beliefs. Please tell me which it is.

I do not believe in “Cheap Grace.” I do not believe that anyone will be saved until he accepts Jesus Christ, and until he reaps what he has sown and is changed in every way by becoming a “new creation” in Christ, and until he has learned to exhibit the character of Christ.

I also do not believe that God created a being – Satan - who is smarter than God, a being who knows how to win God’s children away from God, yet God does not know how to win them back, which is apparently what you believe. That makes God the biggest “loser” of all. Satan has outsmarted Him, or so you believe. A “god” like that, one who breaks His own commandments by burning billions in a fiery hell, is really no bigger than a plastic statue that some poor souls stick on the dashboard of his car.

In addition, you start your critique of my beliefs by “painting” me with the brush of Mike Clute, alleging that he believes that God is a woman – and thereby implying that I believe the same thing.

I do not now believe, nor have I ever believed, that God is a woman. Why would you imply such a thing? Why would you stoop to that level?

Next you give a quote from someone who states I have “spent many hours on the phone with” them trying to convince them that the fires of hell are only symbolic cleansing, but you do not give the name of the individual, or else that person is so cowardly he refuses to give his name. But I know exactly who it is, because there is only one person in my entire life who I have spent time with on the phone talking about Universal Restoration.

I am far too busy to have the time to spend “many hours on the phone with” people, so that narrows it down to only one person who could have written that - the disgruntled husband of one of my former Academy roommates, a man who apparently hates the idea of a loving God.

This former roommate and I saw each other at an Academy reunion about 10 years ago, after not having seen each other for 50 years. She said she had heard about my beliefs and asked me to explain them to her. So she invited me to her hotel room and we spent the whole afternoon studying together. I asked if she would like further information and she said, “Yes,” so I mailed it to her. Subsequently, we talked on the phone at regular intervals so I could answer any of her questions on the subject. That is the only person I have ever talked to on the phone at any length about Universal Restoration, and I did it at her request.

It became clear over time that her husband was not only very controlling, but he was also very antagonistic towards Universal Restoration. However, if she, herself, wrote that statement, and not her husband, then she is being very disingenuous, indeed.

Your next attempt to discredit me is related to a quote I used from a book by Fred Wright, a man I have never met. But you make sure to point out that Fred Wright “was caught in adultery in the late 1970s or 1980s” – yet you give no proof at all. If you do not have absolute proof for that allegation, you are guilty of committing legally actionable libel against Mr. Wright.

I have no way of knowing if your accusation against Mr. Wright is true, but what does that have to do with me? Obviously, you want to “smear” me with Fred Wright’s alleged “adultery” to somehow taint my writings, just like you want to “smear” me with Mike Clute’s alleged belief that God is a woman!

Is there no way you can just stick to the facts of my writings rather than trying to besmirch my reputation with that of Fred Wright and Mike Clute? You are obviously trying to “paint” me with their alleged indiscretions. You want your readers to believe I am “guilty by association.” That is a very devious, dishonest, and totally unchristian way for you to behave. Why are you groveling around in this type of “National Enquirer” journalism?

In addition, Abraham committed adultery. Do you refuse to preach about him and his faith – faith that God extols - because of that? David committed adultery. Do you refuse to read or quote the Psalms because of that? Moses was a murderer. Do you refuse to read or quote any verse in the first five books of the Bible because of that?

I doubt it. Your feigned morality is capricious, indeed. Remember the “mote in thy brother’s eye, and the beam in your own,” of which Jesus spoke. Matt 7:2,3

And yet you try to impute to me the purported “sins” of others. That is very unfair and downright cowardly on your part. It is also the antithesis of Jesus Christ.

Further down on the first page you totally misquote me again by saying, “She then tries to convince the reader that it is really all right to sin.” That is a false, libelous statement that it is legally actionable. And even worse, it is a lie and you dishonor God by breaking His commandments. Again, your sleazy journalism is not becoming to you. I have never said that. I have always said there are serious consequences to sinning.

What I have said, that you seem to enjoy taking out of context, is that if sin is still attractive to people, then they are not ready to be with the Lord, and they can continue to sin all they want until they make a big enough mess of their life that they finally realize their absolute need for Christ to run their life for them. It is through bad decisions, and the pain and trouble that those bad decisions bring, that will finally lead us to Christ and His truth.

That is very different from the words you tried to put in my mouth.

Unfortunately, you have become just like the vengeful, angry, “God” you worship, as the Bible tells us will happen. “By beholding, we become changed.” (2 Cor 3:18) You worship a “Killer” God – one who destroys his enemies – and, as the Bible states, you have, indeed, become just like that “God.”

And just a word on the issue of “Free Will.” God says that He is “operating ALL in accord with the counsel of His OWN Will.” (Ephesians 1:11) NOT OUR Will! God is in control. We are not. If you believe that God can’t save a man unless that man “lets” God save him, then you believe that man’s will supersedes God’s will. In that case, you have dethroned God, and you have become your own god. That’s pitiful! And that’s blasphemy!

One more thing! When I went to your website to retrieve the misleading article you wrote against me, I saw that you have written a book about Alternative Cancer Remedies which contains a compilation of dozens of Alternative therapies that do NOT work. I know from experience, because I tried over forty of them myself when I had cancer. A number of them did work to varying degrees 70 or 80 years ago, but they don’t work anymore because the lifestyle of Americans, including the lifestyle of Seventh-day Adventists, has changed so dramatically over the last 7 or 8 decades. Obviously, you would not know these methods no longer work because you have never had the opportunity to try them when your life was on the line, as I have.

If you would like to educate yourself on those alternative methods and find out why they don’t work, I will be happy to send you a copy of my DVD entitled, “Sorting Through the Maze of Alternative Medicine: What Works, What Doesn’t and Why” at no charge to you, that is, if you are willing to watch it.

Just the fact that you promote these other alternative methods shows that you are the one who does not believe in God’s Health Plan, because you are still looking for “another way” for people to Get Well. There is only one way to get well and that is by following God’s natural Health Plan. Apparently you have not yet learned that.

God promises to “heal ALL our diseases” (Psalm 103:3) but only if we do it His way, and only His way, using only the things that He has created, and using them only in the form He has created them. That excludes ALL of those other alternative methods you are promoting in your book.

God promises to “keep us free from every disease IF we follow His laws, His Commandments, and His decrees.” (Deut 7:11-15) So why are so many people sick and dying in your church?

God’s laws include the Ten Health Laws that I used to get well – the Ten Health Laws that are on my DVDs. In my CD series, “Stress Success: Overcoming Stress in a Stressful World” I discuss God’s Ten Commandments and show they are much farther-reaching than any churches, including the SDA churches teach (including the “independent” ones). And God’s decrees I discuss in detail on my other DVDs and in my Workbook.

Those healing promises given by God were written in Deuteronomy and Psalms over 3,000 years ago, long before most of those alternative methods you write about were even around. So how did God fulfill His promises of healing 3,000 years ago? The same way He fulfills His healing promises today, by our using only the things that God has created, and using them only in the form God created them.

Those alternative cancer remedies you are promoting will only lead people in the wrong direction - away from God and His Natural Health Plan - so these poor unfortunate people will not be able to reverse their diseases and get well.

As your last “parting shot” in your article against me, you say, “We are told that it was through reading in the Spirit of Prophecy that she first learned about the natural remedies which removed her breast cancer. But now she has abandoned those precious counsels.”

You are dead wrong in every aspect of that assessment. First of all, I grew up as a Seventh-day Adventist, the daughter of a well known and highly respected, and very spiritual and kind Adventist pastor, evangelist, and conference president. I knew the Adventist version of the “health message” from the time I could walk and talk. But the Adventist version of the health message is not enough to get a person well from any serious disease such as cancer, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, or all the other diseases that church-going Seventh-day Adventists are dying from every day. If that SDA version worked, you wouldn’t see so many sick and dying members – and leaders - in the Adventist church, including in the “independent” Adventist churches.

Diseases – including cancers – do not “fall from the sky” nor do they “just happen.” We give them to ourselves slowly, one day at a time, over a long period of time, by the way we live, think, act, eat, and handle stress.

And ALL diseases begin in the “heart.” They are “spiritual” problems long before any physical symptoms appear in the body. They are “spiritual” problems because we want to live, think, act, eat, and handle stress our way, rather than God’s way.

At the end of your critical article you accuse me of “abandoning those precious counsels” of Ellen White. But you are the one who has abandoned Ellen White’s writings and the Bible because you are promoting “cancer remedies” that are not compatible with God’s Word, and that are against Ellen White’s writings. You also have no interest in pursuing the truth of the Bible. Therefore, you are the one who does not believe Ellen White’s writings because she says the following:

“Let no one come to the conclusion that there is no more truth to be revealed. The diligent, prayerful seeker for truth will find precious rays of light yet to shine forth from the word of God.” Counsels on Sabbath School Work, p. 34

“There is no excuse for anyone in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without error. The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make an error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation.” Review and Herald, Dec 20, 1892

“We cannot hold that a position once taken, an idea once advocated, is not, under any circumstances, to be relinquished. There is but One who is infallible - - - He is the way, the truth, and the life. . .If the pillars of our faith will not stand the test of investigation, it is time we knew it.” Testimonies to Ministers, pp 105 and 107.

“The Bible and the Bible alone, is our creed, the sole bond of union; all who bow to this holy Word will be in harmony. . . Man is fallible, but God’s Word is infallible.

“We have many lessons to learn, and many, many to unlearn. God and heaven alone are infallible. Those who think that they will never have to give up a cherished view, never have occasion to change an opinion, will be disappointed.

“In regard to infallibility, I NEVER claimed it. God ALONE is infallible. Selected Messages, Book On, pp 415 and 37.

You are the one, not I, who has rejected these writings of Ellen White because 1) you are smug in your belief that you have nothing more to learn from the Bible, and 2) you are promoting methods of “cancer remedies” that are antithetical to, and incompatible with, Ellen White’s writings and the Bible.

One of the most health-destroying, detrimental characteristics that you can have is the belief that you are better than other people, a belief that every member of every organized church “cherishes.” They all think, “I have the whole truth. There is nothing more I need to learn. And I made the right choice. I’m saved – and all you other poor blokes out there are going to burn in hell, because you didn’t make the right choice – as I did!” This is a deadly attitude that pervades all the organized churches, including – and especially - the Seventh-day Adventist churches (both structure churches and independent), whether or not anyone wants to admit it. I went to Adventist schools from the first grade up through college, so I know very well how Adventists look at “outsiders.”

Just remember, Jesus Christ was murdered by the arrogant leaders of the organized church of His time, those who believed they “had all the truth” and needed nothing more – the haughty Pharisees - who also thought they were better than everyone else. It was these same leaders of the organized church, the Pharisees, who were the tithe-paying, Sabbath-keeping, health-reforming, Adventists of their time (they were looking for the First Advent of Christ), who called for the Death of Jesus Christ.

It will be the same group – the tithe-paying, Sabbath-keeping, health-reforming Adventists - in the end times that are right upon us, that will be the leaders – the front liners - in calling for the persecution and Death of the true followers of Christ, the true followers who believe that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34), those who believe what the Bible says, that “God is the Saviour of ALL mankind” (1 Timothy 4:10) because God loves everyone the same.

Adventists and other Christians like to distort this text by saying, “Well, God would like to save all mankind, but He can’t because some don’t want to be saved.” But that is a major distortion of the truth of the Bible.

God tells us plainly:

“The Father has given ALL into the hands of the Son.” John 3:35

And here are Jesus’ own words in response to that text: