Posted on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - 7:19 pm:

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"I spent several hours searching for an answer in the two scholarly volumes Storia dei Valdesi--(History of the Waldenses), authored by Amedeo Molnar and Augusto Hugon. These two books were published in 1974 by the Claudiana, which is the official Italian Waldensian publishing house. They are regarded as the most comprehensive history of the Waldenses. To my regret I found no allusion whatsoever to Sabbathkeeping among the Waldenses."

Dr. Bacchiocchi is not the first Adventist to search in vain for evidence of the Waldenses keeping the Sabbath. The only thing researchers have found thus far are some documents which refer to the Waldenses by their nickname, "insabbati." Unfortunately for Mrs. White, the term has nothing to do with the Sabbath. It refers to the sandals the Waldenses were known to wear. The Latin word for sandals is sabbatum. Thus, the Waldenses were insabbati--"sandal wearers."

A Waldensian minister in Italy was contacted and asked if the Waldenses ever kept the Sabbath. Here is his response:

"The Waldensians did not keep the Sabbath and were not guardians of the "Sabbath Truth" as you call it. ... We can therefore say very clearly that the Waldensians were not Seventh-day Sabbath keepers and they were not persecuted for keeping Saturday as the Sabbath!" (click here to read the entire letter)

Apparently Mrs. White wanted to have a line of unbroken Sabbath-keeping, from the time of the Apostles, to the Waldenses in the mountains of Europe, all the way through to the time of the Seventh-day Adventists. Unfortunately, such a continuum does not exist. Sunday-keeping began much earlier than Mrs. White realized, and the Waldenses never kept the Sabbath at all.

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What About the Waldensians?

The following is an email response by a Waldensian Minister to the question about Waldensian Sabbath-keeping. The Waldensians are reportedly the ones who kept the "Sabbath Truth" and were persecuted for it from the 16th through the 19th centuries. We have concealed the name to protect identity.

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My name is T. , Waldensian Minister in Italy, in charge - by our Board, to answer to your letter.

If you are interested in the Waldensian Churches in Italy (North, Center, and South Italy) and in Uruguay and Argentina, in past and present you can try to find and study the following books:

1) Giorgio Tourn, You are my witnesses - The Waldensians across 800 years , Claudiana Editor 1989 - Distributed in North America by P.O. Box 37844 - CINCINNATI, OH 45222 (USA).
2) Prescot Stephens, The Waldensians Story - A study in Faith, intolerance and survival, The Book Guild Ltd - Lewes, Sussex, 1998.

The Waldensian Churches are Reformed Presbyterian Churches: they were called in Latin: Mater Reformationis (=Mother of the Reformation) as they were before an old Middle Ages movement, but NOT a Church . They adopted the Huguenot Confession of faith, so called "De la Rochelle" of 1559 (but really of the Paris Synod, their first Huguenot General Assembly), but in 1655 the Waldensian Churches had its own Confession of Faith, hurriedly drafted in Italian immediately after the massacre of the Waldenses called "Piedmonts Easters". This was simply a shortened version in Italian of the Huguenot Confession of faith of 1559: it confirmed that in theology the Waldenses were in the mainstream of Presbyterian Calvinism . It is still the basis to this day of Waldensian beliefs, which the Candidates have to undersign in front of the General Assembly before becoming Ministers in our churches.

The Waldensians did not keep the Sabbath and were not guardians of the "Sabbath Truth" as you call it. The Waldensians never followed the Seventh-day Adventist but they follow more: Romans 14,5-8 then other truths.

We can therefore say very clearly that the Waldensians were not Seventh-day Sabbath keepers and they were not persecuted for keeping Saturday as the Sabbath! They were persecuted, from 1535 (when they joined the Reformation) to 1848 (when they received religious freedom), because of their Reformed-Calvinistic (Protestant) faith in Christ.

With my best regards, yours,

T . - Waldensian Minister in Italy

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Posted on Thursday, July 19, 2007 - 4:33 pm:

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An oversight concerning not-for-profit Adventist Health System Sunbelt.
Description: Profits. Published: March 9, 2007
I have been so caught up in reporting the disgraceful conduct of this so called faith based system with regards to Rodney Vega, that I realized that I don't believe I have ever reported the profits for this entire system for 2005.
Well, according to the annual report, profits for year end 12/31/05 were $251,400,000!

Just over a quarter of a billion dollars.

Profits in the three previous years came in as follows.

2002--$170.6 MILLION.

2003--$203.1 MILLION.

2004--$236.2 MILLION.

Add them together, and you will see that in just four years, this not-for-profit hospital has made $861.3 MILLION in PROFITS!

You could see how they might have felt that caring for Rodney Vega the son of a Seventh-day Adventists Pastor, might have been too expensive.

They will tell you that "Today, our mission of extending the healing ministry of Christ depends not only on our commitment to Christian ideals but on our efforts to provide nothing less than extraordinary compassionate care."

Tell that to Rodney Vega's mother.

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Description: An update on the promise of Pastor Orville Parchment. Published: May 12, 2006
58 days ago I wrote this. "Speaking of the 7th Day Adventists-where are you Pastor Orville Parchment?
Published: March 3, 2006

What now in retrospect looks like a publicity stunt, it has been 246 days since Pastor Orville Parchment, the 2nd highest ranking member of the 7th Day Adventist Church in North America knelt and prayed for young Rodney Vega, who's mother alleged had been turned away for treatment by a not-for-profit 7th Day Adventist hospital simply because he was uninsured.

What makes this story particularly appalling is the fact that Rodney's father is a pastor in this church.

After kneeling he promised Rodney's mother to investigate her claims.

It has now been 194 days since Pastor Orville Parchment told the Washington Post that he had not had the time to "dig deeply" into the charges."

As I said originally, now 304 days ago, the fact that the not-for-profit 7th Day Adventist Hospitals have almost $2 BILLION in the bank-is a powerful reason for Pastor Orville not to dig deeply.

Making money in the name of our Lord is very profitable and should not be questioned or dug deeply into!

And oh by the way-in my mind not a man of God-but a phony!

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$22,000.
Description: More on Rodney Vega. Published: July 13, 2005
That's the total income last year for the family of young Rodney Vega.
Or the equivalent of what Robert Carmen, the Sec-Exec VP-COO of not for profit 7th Day Adventist Health Systems-West makes less than every 72 hours!

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Meet the not-for-profit 7th Day Adventist Florida Hospital team
Description: Salaries of the not-for-profit 7th Day Adventist Florida Hospital team Published: June 3, 2005

Sandra K. Johnson
Vice President, Business Development
Total compensation.
2000--$221,488
2003--$369,740

Gary Skilton
Vice President/Senior Treasury Officer
Total compensation
2000--$305,716
2003--$404,690
Brent Snyder
Senior Vice President/SFO, Senior Vice President/Information Services
Total compensation
2000--$333,963
2003--$462,342
Robert Henderschedt
Senior Vice President/Administration
Total compensation
2000--$429,550
2003--$585,800
Terry Shaw
Senior Vice President/CFO
Total compensation
2000--$436,627
2003--$586,183
Donald L. Jernigan
Executive Vice President
Total compensation
2000--$586,870
2003--$879,901
Thomas L. Werner
President/Ceo
Total compensation
2000-$715,088
2003--$1,077,598
Rodney Vega
The child of a 7th Day Adventist Pastor, dying of a brain tumor, who was turned away by Florida Hospital because he was uninsured.

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