A Trojan Among Us

Hello everyone! I’ve been back at the school for almost a week now, busy getting settled in and ready for the school year. I don’t remember if I told you that this year I am the campus chaplain and so am part of the administrative committee. This week my duties have been more janitorial in nature however, cleaning staff housing, fixing broken tools, and cutting back the indefatigable jungle that always goes on a blitzgreen during our rainy-season vacation. Even though several of our graduates stayed on to take care of the place, it’s way too much work for three or four people with the over 30 acres of rice, yucca, corn, and banana to take care of, not to mention having to cook, carry water, and hand-wash clothes. The mowing was lower on the priority list for obvious reasons, so the other day I went to empty the compost bucket and couldn’t even get to the compost pile because of the tangle of foliage. The trail to the spring was in slightly better condition.
I have had time for some more administrative-like duties, however. I met some parents and prospective students over the last week. I’m still not sure what our enrollment will be this year, but I think it should be comparable to last year. I know the primary school enrollment is already up to 22.
Sabbath afternoon we walked to Yata and visited several families, including most of the members who were baptized last year. Without the weekly services at the school chapel, most of them just didn’t meet together to worship during the vacation. From what the boys told us, some of them have been struggling. I took advantage of the opportunity to encourage them from the Word and call them to revival and reformation. We had a blessed time together. Please pray for the members of Yata, that they will find a deeper and more committed experience in the Lord and receive the Holy Spirit. Change comes so hard without it.
Well, that’s the quick update. Now for some material I started writing a LONG time ago, but I think you will still find interesting, and I hope, edifying.

A Trojan Among Us 3/09-10/10/10
“The experience of the past will be repeated. In the future, Satan's superstitions will assume new forms. Errors will be presented in a pleasing and flattering manner. False theories, clothed with garments of light, will be presented to God's people. Thus Satan will try to deceive, if possible, the very elect. Most seducing influences will be exerted; minds will be hypnotized.” {8T 293.4}

Espionage. Trickery. Deceit. Treachery. Sabotage. Turning turncoat. They’ve been on the list of most effective and most dishonorable ways to wreak havoc on enemy forces since man first began to war. Disguise yourself as a friend, infiltrate the defenses, and then cause an implosion. The scripture is clear that our great adversary in the greatest controversy ever waged will use such methods on God’s remnant people. He’s had a good long time to perfect his tactics since he invented war. He will send his agents with ever increasing frequency to masquerade as believers, and under the guise of spiritual leaders and instructors, undermine the very pillars of biblical faith and godliness while professing both. Some will even go so far as to deny that Jesus is the Christ! (1 John 2:18-19). Yet these wicked men will be so astute and misuse and subvert the scripture with such skill that God’s people will be divided and nearly destroyed (Acts 20:29-30). These charlatans are not like Jose Luís de Jesus Miranda, David Koresh, or Michael Travesser. Many of us seem to think that we will easily identify any antichrist attack, and assume that we will be among the few undeceived, even though the Bible declares that the final deceptions will be so subtle as to “deceive the very elect” if it were possible (Matt 24:24).
I grew up hearing the above biblical warnings, but they always seemed like some distant events that I would probably never experience personally. But not any more. I can now say that I have witnessed a very calculated and insidious antichrist attack from within the very school where I have been working for the last year and a half.
Toward the beginning of 2009, Juan Carlos Martinez Estrada came from Monterey, Mexico to work as a volunteer for Gospel Ministries International. He worked at UETIRG for the first two months of the school year. He had already been gone for as long by the time I arrived in August of 2009, yet the aftermath of his short stay has yet to be fully calculated.
An architecture graduate, Juan Carlos later studied theology at Montemorelos Adventist University for one year while living and working in the nearby city of Monterey, Mexico. Not long afterward, he contacted Gospel Ministries International with an interest in working at the school in Guayaramerín, but project leaders noticed his background in architecture and asked him to help with the construction projects in Santa Cruz instead. He agreed, and leaving his wife in Mexico, traveled to Santa Cruz, Bolivia. A few months later, however, with the school year imminent, the positions of boys’ dean and Social Studies teacher at UETIRG were still vacant, and Juan Carlos jumped at the opportunity. He came with recommendations as a good speaker with an interest in Bible work and evangelism (although the director of the RedAdvenir station had some misgivings.) He was friendly, jovial, helpful, confident, polished, and always willing to lead out in religious activities. He was also a keen observer, and quickly acquired a feel for the program as well as for individual personalities and interpersonal dynamics on campus. Within two weeks, he had won the confidence and respect of most of the staff and students, especially the boys. When he would preach, his dynamic speaking style held everyone spellbound. Even those students who didn’t have the biblical knowledge or the capacity to really follow his presentations listened as if mesmerized. He is well versed in the scriptures and the Spirit of Prophecy and quoted from them copiously, often from memory and in such quick succession that the mind was left without time to connect and analyze the passages. One simply remained impressed with his great knowledge and confident in his abilities and intentions. i It was not until some time had gone by that his true character and purpose began to come to light. “By their fruits you shall know them” (Matt 7:20).
When several of the boys began to talk about and demonstrate belief in salvation by works, the staff began to probe for where these ideas might be coming from. They soon discovered that, to all indications, the source was Juan Carlos. It made sense, as he often had ample time alone with the boys in the evenings. Looking back on it, several of the staff noted that, as a general rule, Juan Carlos didn’t much concern himself with the younger students, or engage in discussion with staff members who were settled in their faith, but targeted a select few, primarily the junior and senior boys. In fact, he asked permission to take a specific group of boys to Guayaramerin every Sabbath to do evangelism. The boys he wanted were the most knowledgeable and the most willing to help lead out in religious activities. Keila objected because she needed some student leaders to help with the outreach projects in Yata. Juan Carlos insisted on having certain individuals, however, and refused to be persuaded otherwise. In the end, they reached a compromise, and he took the three boys that he had most adamantly requested and began to visit the church members and give Bible studies in Guayaramerin.
There were other reasons that the rest of the staff began to feel uncomfortable with Juan Carlos. But it was one of those things that seemed more like “just a feeling” and they couldn’t quite pin down the concrete reasons for it. Ruan and Keila remember one of Juan Carlos’ week-of-prayer sermons in particular that seemed to be all about angels and their various roles. One of his key points was that angels are servants of God. He then quickly quoted from Philippians chapter two, cutting the passage short at the phrase that says Christ “took upon himself the form of a servant,” thus intimating, though he never said it outright, that Christ had at one point taken the form of an angel. (The logic itself is faulty, in addition to being unbiblical and out of context: not all servants of God are angles, and neither are all angels servants of God for that matter!) Juan Carlos did not develop the point or state it outright, however, and he mixed it in with such a plethora of red herrings about seraphim and cherubim that no one identified his preposterous and sneaky insinuation let alone its real purpose — until recently when some more things came to light. But I’ll get to that later in part II.
All was not well in the churches in town either. The pastor, at first happy for the extra evangelistic help, soon became disgruntled with Juan Carlos’ because he was causing divisions and seemed to be gaining undue influence over certain members. One of these was a young man by the name of Mequias, a sincere seeker who longed for something more than the superficial religion and hypocrisy that he saw rampant in the churches. He was attracted to Juan Carlos’ apparent depth, and to his call for reform and salvation through perfection, and soon he was an ardent follower, all too willing to vocalize what he was learning. The pastor finally took a stand and let Juan Carlos know that his services were no longer needed at the Guayaramerin churches.
At the school, Juan Carlos continued to disciple his favorite students. A key element in his approach was an appeal to pride. The boys began to feel that they were a special, privileged group with important new truths, and a mission to fulfill. Juan Carlos began to tell them that they were wasting their time in a study of subjects such as science and mathematics, and that all they needed was to seclude themselves in the jungle and study the Bible in preparation for preaching the gospel to Bolivia. This idea soon reflected in the boys’ attitude toward the school.
Nor where the boys the only ones Juan Carlos had talked to about the subject. Breaking his pattern of avoiding sharing with the staff, he approached Keila multiple times to convince her that the educational model implemented by the school needed drastic revision. Eventually he went so far as to tell her that the only real solution was to start the school over from scratch. On various occasions he alluded to dreams and other revelations as evidence. Keila, however, wisely refused to listen to his arguments in the absence of the other staff.
“If you have something new to share, why not present it to everyone at the staff meeting?” she would suggest whenever he brought up the subject.
“They won’t accept it” was his standard reply.
“How do you know? We have all been praying together that God will show us His methods of education. If you have some truth to present on the subject they will be happy to hear it.”
He refused, and related a dream he claimed to have had as evidence. In the dream, Tara had vocally opposed his views. He also cited biblical examples of when God’s people refused to hear truth.
“Maybe so, but that didn’t stop them from presenting it!” Keila noted.
At last, he reluctantly agreed to share his ideas with all of the staff.
In the meeting, Juan Carlos presented an interesting picture for his proposed educational reform. Among other things, he declared that the boys and girls should be educated differently. The boys would have special instruction in the scripture and in prophecy while the girls, he maintained, should have a more limited biblical instruction and concentrate more on learning domestic skills. Clint Wlasenko strongly contested that point. Tara, on the other hand, remained uncharacteristically silent, contrary to the dream that Juan Carlos had related to Keila.
Throughout the meeting, the staff also took the opportunity to uplift righteousness by faith, the only real theological difference that had been clearly identified up to that time. At one point in the meeting, Juan Carlos cited only part of Revelation 14:12, the part that says God’s people will keep the commandments, so Ruan pointed out that the text also says that they will have the “faith of Jesus.” Juan Carlos ignored this comment and repeated that God’s people will keep the commandments. Ruan again read the verse in its entirety, and Juan Carlos again repeated only the first half. It soon became apparent that the meeting was going nowhere.
Everything came to a crisis when Juan Carlos took twelve of the boys away from the Sabbath afternoon meeting and left campus to have their own worship out in the jungle. The directors were off-campus at the time, and when they returned that evening, they found everyone astir. While upset faculty recounted what had happened, several of the boys who had gone into the jungle arrived and zealously announced that they were going to quit school and go preach the gospel to all of Bolivia.
The directors called a general meeting with the upper classmen, Juan Carlos, and all the staff. As Ruan described it, at the meeting Juan Carlos said very little, but folded his arms, smiled smugly, and listened while the boys defended him. When asked what was going on and what were his designs in all of this, he just shrugged and with a slight smirk pointed to the boys. “It’s not me, it’s them!” he said, as if the boys had come to all their conclusions on their own. They, for their part, continued to staunchly defend him, claiming that the school was not teaching the pure truth because it offered other classes and subjects apart from the Bible. The staff tried to reason with the boys, but they only became angry, and the meeting quickly deteriorated. The administrative committee gave Juan Carlos an ultimatum: either fix the problems he had caused, or leave.
Juan Carlos chose to leave, claiming that he had been shown that it was God’s will. Unfortunately, the staff did not know where he planned to go, and did not send out any advisements to the church conference at that time. ii As it turned out, he traveled to Santa Cruz and La Paz where he repeated his tactics. After gaining devout followings, he began to make more drastic shifts in his teachings, generating controversy over doctrines such as tithe, the law, the Sabbath, the nature of God, the sanctuary message, and the judgment. Multiple congregations have split, and many members have rejected the truth and willfully left the church. Others have been disfellowshipped. Church leaders made various attempts to persuade Juan Carlos of his error and call him to repentance, but he was unwilling, and rather seemed to delight in his power to divide. At last he was asked to no longer speak within the Adventist churches here in Bolivia and he left the country to return to Mexico. He has retained contact with his followers here in Bolivia, however, and by this means has continued to cause strife and divisions. He also wrote a book and recorded a series of sermons on DVD to further indoctrinate his follower and to provide them with material to share with others in the church.
Meanwhile, back here at the school, the influence of Juan Carlos lived on. Several of the boys continued to hold the idea that they could be good enough to earn salvation through their own works, and Ruan dedicated an entire Sabbath school class to salvation by faith to try to counteract it. Of the three boys who Juan Carlos took with him to town every Sabbath, Saúl was the most heavily influenced. Samuel is outgoing and intelligent, with a curious mind and very keen powers of observation. He makes it his business to know everybody else’s, and he seems perfectly harmless. He would make an excellent spy. Juan Carlos probably thought so too. At any rate, unbeknownst to the staff, he emailed Saúl regularly throughout the remainder of the 2009 school year, trying to further indoctrinate him, and perpetuating the idea that Samuel had a special mission to perform. (Although that mission had now changed. Instead of leaving the school, he should stay and do his best to influence others.)
I still remember several conversations I had with Saúl that year, and they make a lot more sense to me now after hearing the background, and after the ordeal we had last September, which I will recount next time in part II.

i Ellen White describes a very polished and impressive man who similarly used his gift of persuasion to confuse and deceive others: “The long night interviews which Dr. Kellogg holds are one of his most effective means of gaining his point. His constant stream of talk confuses the minds of those he is seeking to influence. He mis-states and misquotes words, and places those who argue with him in so false a light that their powers of discernment are benumbed. He takes their words, and gives them an impress which makes them seem to mean exactly the opposite of what they said.” {BCL 109.1}
ii Both the Bolivian conference and we here at the school have since sent out warning letters to church administrators on the union and division level.

Back in Bolivia

As of this writing I am back in Bolivia after an absence of two and a half long but very enjoyable months of travel in which I was privileged to see many of you, although briefly. I want to thank each one of you for your interest and support in my work here, whether it has been through donations, words of encouragement, your faithful prayers, or a combination of all of the above. May the Lord richly bless you all!
So much has happened since the last time I wrote. Some amazing things are happening. Not only here in the mission field, but everywhere I go I see God’s hand like I’ve never seen it before. There is a movement afoot, a spiritual awakening, and I want to be right in the middle of it! Over the last two months I have been to Colombia, Honduras, Belize, Mexico, the Generation Youth for Christ convention in Baltimore, and to various churches throughout the northwest and California, and nearly everywhere I go I see young people excited about serving others and sharing the Word of God.
In Bagota, Colombia, I met a group of young people who are working to penetrate the national television networks with programs on health and the Bible. In Honduras I met the Zwiker brothers from Switzerland. After attending the European Bible School, they felt impressed with the need for many other similar centers to equip young people as missionaries through practical instruction combine with active service for others. Together with José Suazo, they founded VIDA International, a Missionary training college that uses an English language school and agriculture program to impact the local communities. Damaris, one of our graduates from the high school here in Bolivia, continued her education at VIDA. When she came back to teach classes for us last year, she told us stories of doing medical-evangelism in a hostile community. Although she and the team she worked with faced fierce opposition, God worked on the heart of the local radio station director to give them an hour of prime time to share their program on health and advertise for their seminars on Bible prophecy. Not long afterward, some violent young men, stirred up by some of the disgruntled local clergy of other denominations threatened the missionary team with death if they did not leave. They arrived armed at one of the homes where the team was treating a sick man, but Damaris and the others were able to escape unharmed, passing by the gangsters as though unseen.
In Belize, a new and similar school will soon be opening. This December Jeff Sutton went there to search for land for the site, and the last I heard was that someone donated 80 acres complete with an airplane hangar and runway! In Baltimore a week or two later, I met some youth-group leaders from Belize and we were able to put them in contact with the new project. GYC Baltimore was another incredible experience. God’s Spirit was there! I had the privilege of joining a group for organized prayer, and I was surprised by the bond of fellowship I experienced with total strangers as we united in earnest prayer, seeking God through repentance and humble confession, and asking for the blessings of His Holy Spirit to transform and empower our lives.
Right in my hometown of Oroville, a Bible-worker and colporteur training school called the Oak is in the Acorn is involving local youth in active ministry. I was so encouraged to hear the stories of some of these young men, how God is using them to bring hope to people who are desperately looking for answers in these uncertain and difficult times. And all of this is just a quick overview. I have over thirteen pages of unfinished stories that I want to share with you, along with probably at least that much that I haven’t even begun to write yet. God is clearly working. Or maybe I should say, God’s people are finally letting Him work through them.
At the same time, of course, Satan is furious and clearly active to conquer human hearts, to bring in division, quarrels, confusion, deception, and compromise, and to preempt the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit with a false revival and interest in an experiential spirituality that is full of power, but void of true Christian love, that love which enables obedience to God’s holy law through a living connection with Christ (John 14:15, 15:9-15).
So, the new school year begins in a couple of short weeks, and the staff is arriving early to prepare and plan and seek the Lord together. We have a group coming from Weimar Academy to help build the church in Yata. They were only able to raise a little under half of the $20,000 needed to finish the project, but we should at least have a roof to meet under! A big thank-you to all of you who have contributed to that project.
Well, I have a flight to catch to finish the last leg of my trip back up to the school. I’ll try to get another update out before another three months go by. And by the way, if you have any exciting things to share that God is doing in your life, make sure to tell somebody! I for one would love to hear about it. May God bless and keep you.