The Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) East Kenya Union Conference has called out NTV after its expose titled The Holy Betrayal which alleged that there was a growing cult within the church.
In a statement, SDA leadership indicated that the expose was misleading and that the individuals interviewed did not qualify to be referred to as Adventists.
SDA called out the journalist behind the story aired on Sunday, April 7, asking him to desist from slandering the church, linking it to the Shakahola events and portraying it as a cult.
“We as the Seventh-day Adventist Church take great exception to the reporter’s assertions of the connection between the Shakahola massacre and the story that largely highlighted the troubles of one family and some people who do not qualify to be referred to as Adventists,” the church noted in a statement on Friday.
“We therefore reject these assertions as demeaning, misleading and in bad faith. The story’s slant portrayed the church as a cult and nothing can be further from the truth.”
According to NTV, an “offshoot” of the Seventh Day Adventist Church had emerged in Nyanza Kenya where the members did not believe in formal education, and hospitals and professionals were ditching their careers.
“The attention of our investigation’s unit has been drawn to extremism within the Seventh Day Adventist church. A little-known splinter group of the SDA has abandoned formal schooling and certain foods,” NTV noted.
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SDA Church Explains Why the Expose is Untrue
In the statement, however, the Seventh-day Adventist faith affirmed that it adheres to the beliefs and forms of worship based on the Bible and those who subscribe to the faith adhere to them.
“The Seventh Day Adventist Church, therefore, cannot be dragged into activities of any splinter groups or offshoots which do not adhere to the teachings and practices of the church.”
“The association of our signage to extremist activities is highly regretted because those particular churches had nothing to do with the story,” added the statement.
On whether the church believes in education, the church said that it is known to be proactive in the education and health sectors, explaining that it had established two universities in Kenya, The University of Eastern Africa Baraton, and the Adventist University of Africa.
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“The Seventh-day Adventist Church has 83 denominationally maintained primary Schools and 32 denominationally maintained secondary schools.”
“We also sponsor a total of 771 primary and secondary schools across the country. In addition, the Seventh-day Adventist church runs 2 special schools, 1 medical college, I technical college and 4 Teacher Training Colleges. In the health sector, the Adventist church runs 7 hospitals and 60 clinics and health centers across the country,” it added.
Message to NTV and NTV Journalist
The Church called on NTV and the journalist to examine its beliefs and refrain from portraying a false image to its audience.
“We request and invite this media house that has injured our reputation and the journalist to personally examine our fundamental beliefs and true development record in this nation and worldwide then judge the Church on what it teaches,” it explained.
