Bern, Switzerland [Cd EUDNews]. During their recent visit in Switzerland, we had the opportunity to interview Nancy and Ted Wilson at the EUD Headquarters in Bern.
Corrado Cozzi: It's been three years since Atlanta, you must have travelled the world far and wide. What are the signs that the church is experiencing as Revival and Reformation?
Ted Wilson: “Yes, our travel schedule is very full but very rewarding since we are able to meet and worship with thousands of our church members around the world and remind them that they are an integral part of God's worldwide Seventh-day Adventist family regardless of how isolated they may feel. We praise God that the Holy Spirit has brought a tremendous impact in the lives of church members and local churches through revival and reformation. This is not some “plan” of the church but is a recurring theme in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. We are to humble ourselves and in prayer and Bible study seek the Lord’s guidance so we can be tremendous witnesses for Him now and in the future. Jesus is coming soon and He wants to prepare His people for the latter rain of the Holy Spirit. We need to earnestly join God’s people in the 777 prayer initiative praying for the latter rain at 7:00 in morning and 7:00 at night or whenever you can pray. We need to be participating in “Revived by His Word” as we read one chapter a day together around the world-----of course, people can read as many chapters a day as they wish, but we are receiving tremendous responses from people around the world because they have begun systematically reading the Bible every day. What a great privilege to be part of the Advent movement awaiting Christ's soon return. The General Conference has asked my wife, Nancy, to travel with me and she travels to many places. She is a strong spiritual blessing to me and to others and is a dedicated believer in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. She shares her experience with many at various meetings as we travel. Somehow the Lord sustains our health during the heavy travel schedule and we appreciate so much the many prayers of God's people on our behalf. As a matter of interest in terms of traveling, in the last 18 months, I have probably visited close to 50 countries and some of them more than once. Please pray that we will continue to be a humble blessing to people as we travel and encourage our members to live and proclaim the three angels' messages with the power of the Holy Spirit power as we point people to Christ, His salvation, His righteousness, His ministry for us in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary and His soon coming. Please pray that God’s worldwide family of Seventh-day Adventists will continue to seek His face every day and humble themselves in revival and reformation as they fulfill God’s heavenly mandate that they be His remnant people humbly sharing the Advent message with everyone using every means possible.”
Corrado Cozzi: You have been a guest at the Swiss Congress. What has particularly impressed you about the Swiss brethren? What are the most notable differences among the church members around the world?
Ted Wilson: “It was a wonderful privilege to attend the Swiss Union Assembly on May 4, 2013, in Biel and fellowship with our consecrated members on that special Sabbath convocation. It was also a great privilege to spend time with the young adults at a youth meeting in the evening. I was very impressed with the wonderful attendance of over 2,000 church members and guests as the Swiss Union looked back on how God had led His people in Switzerland and Europe and how He will guide us into the last days of earth’s history as we proclaim His prophetic messages to a world that is in great need of hope from the Lord! The conference was a wonderful blessing of fellowship, music, Bible study and emphasis on the mission of God's remnant church. Churches, young people, children and departments were well represented at this special meeting. I was impressed with the sincerity and loyalty of so many of our church members in Switzerland relative to belonging to the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist family and the need to proactively share God’s prophetic messages with the world. There are so many faithful Seventh-day Adventist members in Switzerland and I praise God for each one of them. We had a question and answer period where we shared that the tremendous financial and material blessings of those living in the Swiss Union do not prevent our people from realizing the full blessing of revival and reformation. Nancy and I also had the great privilege of spending some time in the Austrian Union and enjoyed a wonderful Sabbath conference in Vienna on May 11 with about 2,300 brothers and sisters as we focused on God’s leading in the past and His guidance in the future. It was a tremendous convocation. Secularism and materialism prevalent in Switzerland, Austria, in most of Europe and many parts of the world today should be met with intense Bible study, prayer and a total reliance on the Lord for the outreach and mission that God calls each of us to accomplish through His power. What a privilege the membership of the Swiss Union has to use their unique position in the world to proclaim the marvelous grace of Christ and His soon return as they share the incredible three angels' messages of Revelation 14 that God has entrusted to them.”
Corrado Cozzi: if you were to give bold advice to the members of most Western countries, what counsel would you give?
Ted Wilson: “One of the greatest challenges that Seventh-day Adventists face especially in the developed world is that they will forget how God has led them in the past and will fail to rely totally upon God. There is a tendency to forget that this is a prophetic movement born of heaven. As II Chronicles 7:14 indicates, we need to humble ourselves before the Lord, pray earnestly, seek God's face and His Word, and turn from our own selfish ways looking only to God for guidance. We need to abstain from human philosophy, tradition, ecumenical movements and higher critical methods of Bible study and look only to the simple faith that God asks of us, trusting completely in the Word of God and the Spirit of Prophecy. We are to trust God implicitly and realize that He has called the Seventh-day Adventist Church as His remnant church as a unique movement with a unique message to share with the world. One of the greatest challenges facing the church is the role of the Scriptures and the temptation to de-emphasize the authority and power of the simple Word of God as it reads. We need to stay very close to the Scriptures. It will be our foundation for what lies ahead as the prophecies unfold and the end of time approaches. We are to rely wholly on Jesus for our every need and move ahead under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in simplicity of faith.”
Corrado Cozzi: We live in a time of economic crisis, but in fact this is part of a series of crises that have been present for so long: family, values, society... however people are now focused on the economic problems: many of our members are losing their jobs, therefore also the church is affected economically. Surely you've been confronted with this dilemma elsewhere as this does not only happen in Europe. How is the world church facing this crisis?
Ted Wilson: “God’s church experiences many of the challenges that society faces around the world. The challenges of political strife, in some places the problems of the lack of religious liberty, the decay of social standards based on Biblical understanding, the disintegration of the family and personal relationships according to God’s standard, the encroachment of ecumenical activity on the church’s understanding of its unique role of proclaiming the three angels’ messages, economic disarray and difficulties, attacks against Biblical creation, a confrontation between Biblical truth and human philosophy and many other challenges. However, God is doing marvelous things to encourage our families, our young people, and our church members to find hope in God’s Word and His promises for us at the end of time. We have a blessed hope in the soon coming of Jesus Christ. He has promised to be with us to the end of time and He has sent the Holy Spirit who is doing a wonderful work in preparing God’s people for the last final loud cry. The books of Daniel and Revelation are being studied and proclaimed in a greater measure. We have many departments that are helping our church members become even more involved in the great proclamation of the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14 and the fourth angel of Revelation 18. God is doing something extraordinary as we reach out to millions of people in the large cities of the world through “Mission to the Cities.” God is preparing the hearts of His people for something unusual that will happen when the latter rain of the Holy Spirit falls in great power. The economic challenges that have affected many church members are real and we need to encourage and support those who find themselves in difficulty by prayer and personal effort. In terms of the current overall financial capacity of the world church, we have been incredibly blessed by God and the faithfulness of His people worldwide. Although there are areas in the world where finances are very tight, God has wonderfully blessed His worldwide church with increased tithe and offerings and His work is moving ahead with great heavenly blessing. Let us use our personnel, financial and logistical resources given by God to proclaim the full Advent message in every way possible to the last person on earth. This is possible through the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ wants to come soon……let’s allow Him to work through each of us as a powerful witness to those around us and proclaim that our God is a loving God who has provided a plan of salvation and that is coming to redeem us very soon! What a privilege to belong to the Seventh-day Adventist Church which is much larger than just another denomination or church………it is the Advent movement!”
Corrado Cozzi: to what extent could the "tension" between conservatives and liberals be seen as an opportunity for growth?
Ted Wilson: “The most important thing for all church members everywhere regardless of their setting or context is to pray that each of us will continue to be faithful to God's Word and the counsel of the Spirit of Prophecy as we implement activities for the culmination of God's work through His power. Humility and prayer are so important for the worldwide membership of the Seventh-day Adventist Church as we realize that we are living in the end times, at the tips of the toes of the prophetic statue of Daniel 2. The next event will be the coming of that stone cut without human hands that represents Christ’s second coming. God is calling for us to be united in Christ as He prayed for that unity in John 17. The Spirit of Prophecy tells us that as God’s people, we are to “press together, press together, press together.” The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth. I believe that and also trust that God’s people will be united in their mission to proclaim the three angels’ messages. Let us pray that we will be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in all that we do. Pray that we will receive wisdom from heaven in all that we do. Pray for all of us to be revived and reformed through Bible study, prayer and sharing this precious message. Pray for the outpouring of the latter rain of the Holy Spirit. God will lead a united people home to the promised land as we humble ourselves before Him and each other.”
Corrado Cozzi: Question for Nancy: What does it mean to you to be involved in the work alongside your husband?
Nancy Wilson: “Just as the Lord has called Ted, I believe that He has called us to work together. I am not only his emotional support but also his support in prayer. I love people, and I believe that much of ministry is connecting with people, listening to them, praying for and with them, and as I travel with Ted, these are all part of what we do. Along with Ted, I see the problems the church is dealing with, and that gives me specific things to pray about. I realize that ministry is our work, but many times we are the ones who are inspired and encouraged by what we see as we visit our members around the world.”
Corrado Cozzi: Question for Nancy: often you travel together, and you too, are confronted with the realities of the church. What advice would you give to the leaders’ wives who have to deal with the challenges of a world church like ours (in reference to diversity of cultures, different approaches to common problems of the church, and different roles)?
Nancy Wilson: “This is God’s church, and He is the Leader. It will be triumphant, in spite of us! The power of prayer is more and more evident to me. As wives, I believe the greatest support we can be to our husbands is to maintain an intimate relationship with the Lord ourselves. Only then, can we have peace as we look at the problems around us. One of my favourite texts is, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.” Isa. 26:3. God is so creative that He has made us all uniquely different. We should expect differences in the church, but that doesn’t mean that Biblical truth and principles have to differ. It is that truth and those principles that should guide us in every aspect of our lives, regardless of our culture. When we see Biblical truth and principles being compromised, that is a call to fervent prayer. I have prayer partners with whom I share special concerns. God asks us to be constant in prayer, and then have peace, knowing that He has heard and will answer our prayers in the right way and in His time. There is unity in Christ alone, and that unity crosses all cultural barriers. We see that beautifully illustrated in the New Testament after Pentecost.
Corrado Cozzi: In conclusion, a wish to the churches of EUD from Ted and Nancy Wilson:
Nancy and Ted Wilson: “You are living in the territory of the great Protestant Reformation……in The Great Controversy it is indicated that God never intended for the reformation to end with Martin Luther but that we are to continue this renewal until the end of time. I would urge each local church and church member to remain faithful to God's Word as it reads, to the counsels of the Spirit of Prophecy which point us back to the Bible and to the incredible evangelistic mission God has entrusted into your hands for the continent of Europe. As you lean completely on the Lord for your every need, He will open up new ways for you to witness and share the three angels' messages of Revelation 14 with the people of each country you represent. Maintain your focus completely on Christ and His Word and don't allow anything to distract you from your mission to proclaim His love, forgiveness and soon coming. Let your witness of the Lord be practical as you point people to Christ and His ministry to each of them----physically, mentally, socially and spiritually. Participate strongly in “Mission to the Cities” and “Comprehensive Health Ministry” as we make Christianity practical in helping people see that Jesus came to give them abundant life. Have complete faith in God's plans for you and His Advent movement. Live the Biblical life as a Seventh-day Adventist through faith in Christ's righteousness as you point people to God as our Creator, Redeemer, High Priest, coming King and our best Friend!”
Corrado Cozzi: Thank you for the kind conversation Nancy and Ted Wilson!
pictures: 1. Nancy and Ted Wilson with part of the EUD staff; 2. Corrado Cozzi, EUD Communication Director;