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Pedido de Desculpas aos Negros Pode Ser Estratégia de Campanha para a Presidência da Associação Geral

Well this conference has a Hispanic Secretary, a Black fellow as the Educational Supt. (although this union also has a "Regional Conference)

This Union has a Hispanic President, and a Black VP, OK?

The Atlantic Union has a Black Pres. The Columbia Union Black Pres.

Two Associate Editors of the "Review" are Black.
Dr. Calvin Crock is a VP of the General Conference, and he’s Black (just don’t ask him if it’s OK for you to dance vertical with your spouse in the confines of your own home---he claims that THAT would lead to SEX!, LOL)

Previous Pres. and 1st REAL president of the NAD was Black.

The Chair of the Board at LLU, is Black (if I recall), There Pres. of Atlantic Union College is Black.

Out in the Pac. NW Union and the Pac. Union, although their probably known for their social "Liberalism," just don't know how to be “inclusive” like us rednecks do, down here in the South Central U.S.

"Stolen water is sweet,
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant. "
But he does not know that the dead are there,
that her guests are in the depths of Hell. Prov. 9:17,18

Question: Throughout the last seven years, information has begun to surface, through different dispositions taken, concerning Battistone and his associates' secret program called "The Sanctuary Project". In a few moments, I would like to ask you to explain exactly what The Sanctuary Project was but first of all would you please recap some facts as a way to preface information concerning The Sanctuary Project?

Answer: Yes.

1. I first met Joe Battistone at Andrews University in Bergen Springs, Michigan, where he taught me the teachings of Jesus.

    

    

2. I reconnected with J.J. Battistone in July of 1983 in Fletcher, North Carolina.

    

    

3. By September 1983, Battistone and I were building concepts as well as contacts for support concerning The Rebok Research Foundation.

    

    

4. Within a few months, Battistone convinced Al McClure, President of the Southern Union of Seventh-day Adventists, to conduct his proposal on the research project concerning SDA children and alcoholism through the Southern Union's committee.

    

    

5. I worked with Battistone in designing and directing the raising of all of the $320,000.00 used to build the Foundation before the end of 1983.

    

    

6. Battistone met with different private individuals and asked them to make an investment. (If they gave him a favorable response, he would have me meet with them.) I only met with about 40% of the people Battistone requested money from.

    

    

7. In December of 1983, P.J. Moore and family contracted to sell the Fletcher, North Carolina house to me.

    

    

8. In January of 1984, Elder Witt, a SDA pastor, pleaded with Battistone to stop being involved in activities the church specifically told Battistone not to be involved with. Everyday thereafter, until the collapse of The Foundation, Battistone would joke about Elder Witt's concern.

    

    

9. Vincent Romeo and Wayne Kenipe were invited by Battistone to the Fletcher, North Carolina SDA Church to be special guests for his farewell sermon. Battistone told them "watch how I can hold this group of people spellbound, just like I will hold the voters spellbound" . (Wayne Kenipe told me later that Vincent Romeo was not impressed.)

    

    

10. In January of 1984, Battistone, Wayne Kenipe and Vincent Romeo began full blown plans to make J.J. Battistone a North Carolina Senator. (At this point, Vincent Romeo was expressing concern about whether Battistone was more of an actor with a big ego and a lot of pride than he was a leader .)

     

     

11. Battistone agreed with Vincent Romeo to become a 50% partner in a 10 million dollar Real Estate project.

     

     

12. On February 14,1984, Elder Gordon, Elder Ingrain and Elder Davis met at the Fletcher Seventh-day Adventist Church with Battistone and myself to confront Battistone about rumors concerning Battistone's unauthorized (from the SDA Church) fund raising activities.

     

     

13. On February 14, 1984, Battistone created a drama where he acted as if he would leave the meeting while he told Elder Davis "you are not my brother in Christ".

     

     

14. Battistone betrayed Vincent Romeo and reneged on a Real Estate contract.

     

     

15. Battistone told Wayne Kenipe that Battistone must find a way to disassociate himself from the promises and projects Kenipe was helping him develop before the SDA people found out. Battistone stated that since Battistone had lied to SDA Carolina Conference officials about his activities, he was going to need to put his political and fund raising activities on hold.

     

     

16. At The Foundation's first Board of Directors meeting in Hendersonville, North Carolina, Battistone explained the full scope of the Rebok concept to guests.

     

     

17. Kenneth Emmerson, Ex-Treasurer of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists stood up in the meeting and proclaimed "I will not be associated with anything that is not being run as well as I am running Harris Pine Mills". (Shortly thereafter Harris Pine Mills went bankrupt.)

     

     

18. At that March 1984 Board of Directors meeting, Battistone met at lunch with the men who borrowed money to build The Foundation. He told them that he would build the Foundation outside of the SDA. church, without the help of retired, hot-headed, unenlightened SDA administrators. This is simply what he had told everyone from the beginning but he stated it at this dramatic moment so that we wouldn't feel like he was going to leave us holding his bag, while he just went off and started counseling or teaching and evading his responsibility by the clever use of lawyers and their influence.

     

     

19. That night Battistone met with those same SDA administrators and betrayed Wayne Kenipe and myself, by making a decision to leave all the responsibility of cleaning up his mess in my lap while he began a campaign with the help of Al McClure to get back in a SDA pulpit.

     

     

20. In April of 1984, at a meeting between Battistone, Moore, Jackson and myself, in a Asheville, North Carolina Holiday Inn room, Battistone walked away with the original and only copies of the Rebok Research Foundation's tapes (concerning Battistone's part in The Foundation's development and Battistone's exposure of McClure's blueprint of the Sanctuary Project).

Question: What do you feel were the intentions of those involved closely with the Rebok Research Foundation?

Answer: I was involved with Battistone because Battistone had promised that if I could help him build his dream, "The Rebok Research Foundation", he would help me put together a group of ethic professors who would sit as a consulting board to a dry laboratory. A dry laboratory where the next generation of computers called a "fifth generation expert system", based on artificial intelligence, would create data which could be used by major private medical centers for their research of intelligent viruses and life extension.

Battistone's intentions were to become a North Carolina State Senator. As a prelude to this, he hoped to make a lot of money from a Real Estate project with Vincent Romeo, as well as be the administrator for the Rebok Research Foundation. He also intended to use The Foundation as a platform to gain exposure and support in North Carolina by going around the communities and speaking to civil and private organizations.

Bill Moore's intentions were to make money and get out of dentistry.

Wayne Kenipe's intention was to assist Battistone in his Real Estate project.

Vincent Romeo's intentions as a past professor of ethics at Note Dame School of Law and past President and Chairman of the Board of Miles Laboratory (which had bought Worthington Foods), were to make money in a Real Estate project with Battistone as well as conduct Battistone's political aspirations.

Elbert Jackson's intentions were to become an expert in external affairs for The Foundation and himself, as well as to make money through different investment projects.

The investor's intentions were to loan money to private individuals with a hefty rate of return, after being told by Battistone that their funds were being used to create an organization blessed by the church to work side side with the church and to venture where no SDA administrator had ever ventured (as Battistone put it).

Question: What is "The Sanctuary Project"?

Answer: Ever since Al McClure had requested Battistone to go to Glacier View, Battistone said he felt like a betrayer to what little intellectual community did exist within the structure of Adventism. From that point forward, he vowed to get out of the ministry. Battistone told me that McClure said, on many occasions, that Glacier View had nothing to do with studying or reviewing the doctrines of righteousness by faith. It only had to do with showing SDA intellectuals and administrators that reform within the SDA Church would not be tolerated.

Battistone said that McClure pushed books like "Dress for Success", because the church was now more of a business which had to survive than it was anything else. He said that McClure felt that if the business arm of the church collapsed, the whole system would collapse and no one could put it back together again.

Battistone said that he and McClure had made a pact. McClure's goal was to become the President of the General Conference of SDAs. McClure was hoping that Elder Bradford, President of the North American Division of SDAs, would retire at the next General Conference Session. Battistone said that there was a movement, that McClure and his associates had created underground, to support McClure becoming the next General Conference Vice President and President of the North American Division of SDAs. (This was being told to me in 1983 and 1984.)

The way they hoped to complete this was by taking a White man out of the Southern States and constantly surrounding him with African Americans who would be his "yes men". This way he would not appear to be a threat to the non-white, who make up the majority of the SDA Church. Battistone stated that if McClure was given another position in the General Conference other than Bradford's position, he would not accept it but would wait until Bradford resigned. The reason for this is that McClure had more political power as President of the Southern Union than if he became a Field Secretary or Vice-President for the General Conference. Thus, when it was time to choose a new successor to Bradford, McClure could still be holding personal power as President of the Union and thus be seen as a stronger candidate.

Battistone stated that many felt like Elder Kenneth Mittleider would make a good President of the General Conference. Al McClure wanted to position himself as President of the North American Division so that when it came time to choose a new world leader, McClure would be seen as being at least as strong as Elder Mittleider, if not stronger.

Battistone said that McClure had had to learn to act comfortable on stage in the Southern Union because he was constantly surrounding himself with more Blacks than Whites. This was to help create the perception that Al McClure was the right White Tarzan to lead Africa and South America. Battistone also said that McClure planned to make contacts for future political favors with present or past SDA administrators from Latin America and South America. Battistone said that McClure was having a hard enough time acting like he enjoyed working with so many Blacks that he certainly wasn't going to surround himself with a bunch of Mexicans.

Battistone stated that Al McClure was just like most every other minister in the SDA Church. He didn't know Hebrew, he knew nothing of the ancient, sacred oral traditions as recorded in the Babylonian or Jerusalem Talmud, and he knew nothing about the Jewish liturgical year and its awesome significance as it relates to the SDA's interpretation of eschatological events. Battistone said McClure had basically had six or seven courses in religion, he had a decent profile, dressed well, and had become an above average SDA Church politician.

Question: Why did McClure want to become President of the General Conference of SDAs?

Answer: Battistone stated that after the Glacier View Conference, McClure began to realize that he was not in a position to lead out in intellectual matters.

Battistone had convinced Al McClure that he could put together a core group of men as brilliant as Elder Des Ford, who could help him conduct the SDA Church through major reforms. Battistone said that the SDA Church must become a mainline religion in order to survive. Once McClure was a world leader, he could begin relaxing on doctrines such as creation, the investigative judgment, Christ's work at the cross, plus loosen dress codes and worship codes. Battistone stated that McClure said that The Church's finances were more important than its doctrines. By relaxing on the above mentioned issues and by stressing emphasis on the SDA's educational system, family lifestyles, and medical ministries, the SDA Church would begin appealing to a higher class of people.

Battistone stated that few people were close enough to McClure to know these attitudes and that like adultery, as long as only a few new, there would be no need for an investigation. Battistone stated that because of the church's wealth, many political factions within the church would soon develop because of desire to have that much control and power.

Battistone said that from now on world church leaders would have to be chosen outside the General Conference session, otherwise the non-whites would dominate the elections thus, elevating non-whites to control the church.

Battistone's connection in all of this would be political. He stated that because the SDA Church's financial situation involving the worldwide SDA health systems, the church might soon need to make political as well as spiritual compromises to enjoy the support of US government and its regulatory agencies. Battistone stated that since the SDA Church is totally mortgaged and its support of the hospital systems, that a failure in the Adventist Health Systems would begin the financial demise of the SDA Church. Battistone and McClure had planned for Battistone to create the political clout needed to bail Adventist Health Systems out of Debt.

Next, Battistone stated that because the SDA Church is known for publishing major books on how the Protestant and Catholic churches will join hands to destroy the SDA Church, someone was needed in government to explain why our books encourage parents to teach their children to be willing to die instead of worship on the same day as other Protestants or Catholics.

Battistone's promise to me was that Al McClure was his best friend, and would personally protect Battistone no matter what. Battistone told me to have no fear in raising money for The Foundation; that Al McClure would personally guarantee the success of The Foundation because if The Sanctuary Project failed, Al McClure might possibly need a job. Battistone told me to consider that I had my own group of support which would financially back up any personal loss we (those borrowing money) might have in helping him with his project, "The Rebok Research Foundation". Battistone was specifically talking about Al McClure and a promise McClure made to Battistone to bail everything out if there was a problem. (The investors have watched as Al McClure has slowly attempted to bail Battistone out while laughing at the rest of us.) Battistone stated that there was no way in hell The Carolina Conference would stand behind him if The Foundation failed.

Example: Just before the collapse of The Foundation, Battistone, in a motel room in Hendersonville, North Carolina told Wayne Kenipe and myself that Al McClure had personally helped Battistone become an associate editor of "Potential Magazine", published by the ministerial department of The Southern Union of SDAs. Battistone stated that he was going to ask Al McClure to help him get a project writing something for the SDA Church like the Sabbath School Quarterly. This will give him more exposure for himself and The Foundation in the SDA circles. Battistone laughed and told Kenipe and myself that because he was basically a good person, no one would even believe he was involved in building The Sanctuary Project. Battistone stated that as long as Battistone would say and do all the right things in a SDA community, he could deny everything he had done because in a naive SDA community people do not believe non-Adventists.

Question: Do you believe Al McClure has ever been responsible through his office or friends in quieting any of the controversy surrounding Battistone being an author of an SDA Sabbath School Quarterly?

Answer: I'm not sure. I hope this can be looked into some day. Battistone said many times that since the SDA Church has such a strict system of vertical authority from the top down, that the so called spiritual leaders of Israel are scared to death to investigate certain claims for fear someone might find out secrets concerning their own dirty laundry.

Observation: In simple terms, what I understand you to say is that Battistone convinced you to help him create his design, if he would help you put together certain individuals who could help you with your dream. I understand that The Rebok Research Foundation was a part off something called "The Sanctuary Project". I understand you to say that Battistone convinced you that Al McClure and his associates were totally behind everything you were building, and that it was for the good of the World SDA Church. I understand that are many sources inside and outside the SDA Church who have verified this information. I simply hope that the leaders of the SDA Church will take their time in reviewing this information and not find themselves caught in a position of needing to make a decision concerning The Foundation, the only way to have a lawsuit dismissed is because of a technical problem. I think it is obvious that J.J. Battistone and Janis and Bill Moore have a moral and ethical obligation even though they may play the "catch me if you can game" very well.

Prepared March 21, 1990

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