Posted on Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 1:52 pm:

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That authority then must be sustained even though the Walter Reas of this world should prove to their satisfaction that every comma and every colon has been borrowed from elswhere. It is this angle which connects the Ford and Rea affairs

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It is entirely fanciful to imagine that the reaction of the then Presient of the General Conference, when he saw a section of Paxtonís book headed ìThe Ford-Brinsmead Mateship might have been similar to that of Henry II vis-ý-vis Becket ìWho will free me from this turbulent priest?î (Four knights were sufficient to precipitate Becket into sainthood; one hundred and fourteen were asembled to martyr Ford. A coup de grace could not, however, be administered solely on the evidence of a non-Adventist scholar. An overt act was required and this Ford obligingly provided in his P.U.C. lecture. Another historical analogy comes to mind. When Cromwell saw Scots army leave its excellent defensive position at Dunbar in 1651, he is said to have exclaimed, ìThe Lord hath delivered them into my hands.î When the noise of the hammer nailing Fordís thesis to the chapel door at Angwin was heard (on tape) in Takoma Park, the reaction may well have been similar.

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Ford must be given enough rope with which to hang himself, a facility of which he availed himself mightily. The ìropeî consisted of six monthsí leave of absence, secretarial help, access to certain denominational records and the assistance of a ìguidance committeeî. No condemned man was ever given the means to making a heartier breakfast.

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On page 586 Ford makes the comment, ìAny administrative body that attempts to behave as though now is the nineteenth century or the Middle Ages cannot hope to retain the confidence of an educated laity.î Well said, but what on earth makes him think that the administration of this church wants to retain that confidence, or even believes in the existence, of such a laity?

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He may spend months of research and hundreds of typewritten pages demonstrating that the concept of the investigative judgment beginning in 1844 is unscriptural, but at every turn he is confronted by a brick wall on which are inscribed the words, ìBut it is endorsed by the Spirit of prophecyî
To surmount that obstacle Ford has to attempt a difficult task. He has to knock out certain bricks while prevented the whole wall from tumbling down

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It is as if Ford, with his head on the block, is saying to his executioners , ìYou see Iím almost 100% orthodox and I can do you good service against the Rea-ite tribe. Please do not chop my head off.î But, logically from their point of view, his executioners answer, ìAlmost is not enough,î and down comes the axe.

What do we hear him utter with his dying breath? In a closing statement obviously modelled upon that of another lone reformer (but a more successful one) before the Diet of Worms (incidentally, in line with Fordís own implied joke about Edsonís ìvisionî having been in a cornfield, one might flippantly remark that, whereas luther had a ìDietî to adress, we have only a ìcanî to contemplate), he says, ìBelieving in the priesthood of all believersî (voices: ìdamnable heresy!î) ìas well as Sola Scripturaî (cries from several Adventist theologians: ìThat includes Ellen White!î), ìI will remember that ìThe doctrine that God has committed to the church, the right to control the conscience, and to define and punish heresy is one of the most deeply rooted of papal errorsî (GC 293), and that no ecclesiastical creedal statementî (voices of various administrators: ìWe have no creed; only a statement of fundamental beliefs adopted at Dallas.î) ìshall move me one whit if obviously contrary to the plain testimony of the word of God. We can do no other.î (Voices: ìAway with him. He is not fit to live!î).

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played what could have been a master stroke, by offering not to publicize his views. Mercifully it was a loquacious corpse and in the length of Fordís letter of August 26, there was opportunity to finish him off once and for all. What, in effect, the undertakers did was to tell the world (see Ministry, Oct. 1980, pp.12-14) that the corpse could not be trusted to lie low and keep quiet.

Once Fordís alleged untrustworthiness on that point was asserted, the administration was back in the driving seat, and, accompanied by ìbeautiful prayers,î ìthe presence of the Holy Spirit,î and even appreciation to Dr. Ford for making us think, (no mean feat!) the drama drew to its preordained conclusion and the most brilliant scholar in contemporary Adventism was told that there was no longer a place for him in the work.

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The time may come when Adventist scholars no longer have to write, as A.W. Spalding did to H. Camden Lacey in 1947, ìIn have the intellectual task of rearraging my concepts to harmonize with Sister Whiteís pronouncements.î If those things happen and Seventh-day Adventism ceases to be a nineteenth-century American sect and become a sixteenth-century evangelical protestant church, Fordís name may yet head the roster of martyrs whose blood was its seed.

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