(RNS) — Long before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was on the scene — much less overseeing health and human services for the United States — Seventh-day Adventists were trying to make Americans healthy again, promoting a plant-based diet and exercise as keys to physical and spiritual wellness.
“Let the diet reform be progressive,” wrote Ellen G. White, a 19th-century Adventist leader, in “Testimonies for the Church.” ” … Tell them that the time will soon come when there will be no safety in using eggs, milk, cream, or butter, because disease in animals is increasing in proportion to the increase of wickedness among men. … God will give His people ability and tact to prepare wholesome food without these things.”
Now a group of Adventists hopes to take advantage of the rise of Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement to show how the Bible can solve America’s health problems. “We believe we have a voice,” said Brian Beavers, an Adventist teacher and pastor. “And we can contribute to making America healthy.”
The “Will You Be Made Whole?” conference begins Thursday (March 27) in Phoenix at Dream City Church, the same congregation that hosts MAGA superstar Charlie Kirk’s monthly Freedom Night rallies. The conference will feature Kirk, Adventist pastors and MAHA leaders, along with a group of anti-vaxxers, COVID-19 skeptics and proponents of alternative medicine.
The health and faith event is the fifth in a 3-year-old series called “The Battle for Your Frontal Lobe,” organized by the Wisdom Pearl, a nonprofit ministry run by Ivan Raj, an immigrant from India, and his business partner, Heidi Liv Tompkins, founder of the gluten-free and plant-based food purveyor Heidi’s Health Kitchen.
Beavers, a spokesman for the Wisdom Pearl, said the ministry no longer has official ties to the Adventists. Besides organizing faith-based health conferences, the group does charitable work in India.
In an interview with Fulcrum7, a conservative Adventist website, Raj said the conference’s name reflects a spiritual battle for the mind and soul. The conferences were also inspired by a climactic battle in the Book of Revelation, which predicts a spiritual battle in the end times.
Dream City Church in Phoenix. (Photo by Chris English/Wikimedia/Creative Commons)
“It’s a battle between the mark of the beast and the seal of the living God,” Beavers said. “And we believe that it’s important that people be spiritually ready for that.”
Previous Wisdom Pearl conferences have nevertheless been low-key affairs. With the alliance with MAGA figures, this week’s meeting promises to be more elaborate, taking after the barnstorming ReAwaken America tour that followed President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.
Beavers said attendees at the Phoenix conference will learn how the Bible can answer their questions about not just health but all of life. “We want to get those health secrets out,” said Beavers.
Beavers said he expects hundreds of attendees at Dream City, which hosts a monthly “Freedom Night” with Kirk, who is CEO of Turning Point USA, a onetime youth outreach that has expanded into politics to become a pillar of Trump’s presidential campaigns. Kirk is expected to speak on a panel about the Sabbath — a topic dear to Adventists, who observe a Saturday day of rest and worship.
In a recent video, Kirk said he too observes a Sabbath from Friday night to Saturday night, which, Beavers said, “fits in beautifully with our message on health.”
Charlie Kirk, right, takes the stage during a Turning Point USA Faith “Freedom Night in America” event at Dream City Church in Phoenix in May 2023. (Video screen grab)
So is the MAGA idea that the federal government overstepped by mandating vaccines and other measures some see as a matter of conscience. “That’s what the battle for the frontal lobe is all about,” Beavers said. “In Revelation you see government entities at the end of time, compelling people’s consciences against their will, and so that is a major concern of ours.”
Tickets range from $100 to $749, with the higher-end tickets offering a chance to lunch with Kirk or Ben Carson, an Adventist doctor and former Trump housing secretary. In deference to Seventh-day Adventist beliefs, vegetarian Sabbath meals are available for order. A food truck will offer vegan hot dogs.
Paul Djupe, a political scientist at Denison University, said it makes sense for Wisdom Pearl’s organizers to try to make inroads with the MAGA and MAHA movements, given the overlap between those concerned about vaccines, COVID-19 lockdowns and Christian nationalism. But he’s skeptical that the Adventists can duplicate the success of ReAwaken America, which Djupe said often drew on charismatic and Pentecostal leaders and crowds and their energetic form of religion to fuel the movement. Adventists, he said lack that kind of emotional energy.
Christina Ward, author of “Holy Food,” which looks at how groups such as the Adventists have shaped American’s eating habits, said Wisdom Pearl organizers “seem to be taking a page from Sean Fuecht,” a controversial Christian singer who organized anti-COVID-19 lockdown protests to build a strong following. “That’s good marketing,” she said.
Some say linking Adventists and RFK Jr., a fan of beef tallow who despises Fruit Loops and is critical of vaccines, is an odd fit for Adventists, but Ron Kelly, the popular former pastor of the Village Seventh-day Adventist Church in Berrien Springs, Michigan, who is helping promote the conference, hailed RFK’s appointment to HHS as an opportunity for Adventists.
“This man has a goal,” Kelly said in a video promoting the conference. “He’s very passionate about his goal, and that is to get this country out of its bad habits and onto solid ground for healthy, vibrant living.”
Pastor Ron Kelly. (Video screen grab)
Alexander Carpenter, executive editor of Spectrum, an independent media outlet that covers Seventh-day Adventists, said the rank and file are susceptible to the message of pastors like Kelly, who opposed vaccine mandates and lockdowns on religious liberty grounds. He eventually clashed with denominational leaders and was fired from his church in December 2024 but retained the sympathies of many Adventists.
Gerry Wagoner, founder of Fulcrum7, said he shares Kelly’s concerns, particularly his criticism of Adventist leaders for agreeing to the COVID-era lockdowns at their churches. “The concern with a lot of the members was that the hierarchy of the church just rolled over and genuflected towards the government and said, ‘We’ll do whatever you want’ instead of thinking it through,” he said.
Still, Adventists are unlikely to flock to the Wisdom Pearl conference in large numbers, said Carpenter. They are skeptical of the “God and country” rhetoric advocated by Kirk and are suspicious of ecumenical events — the speakers in Phoenix come from a mix of faith traditions. Holding an event a church that worships on Sunday is also problematic, said Carpenter.
Wagoner, who does plan to attend, described Raj as the “dynamo” behind Wisdom Pearl and said the conference will bring together some of the brightest minds in alternative medicine, which is the point, not the politics.
“America is the most overfed and undernourished nation on the face of the earth,” he said. “This is an opportunity just to share some of these great insights that we have.”