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Meet MacGregor Ministries, Major Contributor to

Jeremiah Films' Video Against Seventh-day Adventism

by Bob Pickle

[To view the extensive critique of Jeremiah Films' video against Seventh-day Adventism, exposing the multitude of factual errors, inaccuracies, and attacks on Scripture contained in the video, click here.]

MacGregor Ministries was highly involved in the making of Jeremiah Films' video attacking Seventh-day Adventism. They were so involved that people with concerns who call Jeremiah Films are told that they must call Lorri MacGregor at MacGregor Ministries, since she did the research and wrote the script. Jeremiah Films repeatedly told me that they could not help me, and that I had to talk with Lorri MacGregor.

Indeed, the film credits at the end of the video say that Lorri MacGregor did write the script, and her name tops the list of six researchers, even though alphabetically it should be listed second. Additionally, she and her husband Keith are listed as co-producers. Again her name is listed first, even though alphabetically her husband's name would be listed first.

MacGregor Ministries supplies information about Jehovah's Witnesses. It is my understanding that both the MacGregors are former Jehovah's Witnesses.

Calling MacGregor Ministries to express concerns about the accuracy of the video is a disappointing experience. One would think that an allegedly Christian ministry would cheerfully want to check into some possible inaccuracy that would cast a bad light on those of another faith. But this is far from the case with MacGregor Ministries.

The morning of October 14, 1999, I made two phone calls to their Canadian Office and left messages on their answering machine. These two calls averaged 4.8 minutes apiece. Just two hours later, I called again and got a hold of an irate Lorri MacGregor. It was rather intimidating. She accused me of taking up her whole tape. 

Yet she was kind enough, amidst her irritation, to offer to send me the Documentation Package offered at the end of the video free of charge. For this I am grateful.

This Documentation Package was copyrighted in 1999 by MacGregor Ministries.

After returning in December from an evangelistic campaign in Hungary, I took a look at the Documentation Package. One of the questions I had raised was regarding the alleged threatened lawsuit over Sketches from the Life of Paul which was legally impossible at that day and age. Another question was regarding quotations from Solemn Appeal that seemed on the video to be attributed to Ellen White but which were never written by her. The Documentation Package failed to address these points. Additionally, it used a description of Almira Pierce's depression in 1852 to prove that Ellen White was in despair in 1844. (Those reading through my critique will readily see how horribly inadequate the Documentation Package really is.)

So I called MacGregor Ministries again on January 4. Lorri MacGregor was not irate this time. She was even helpful, offering me the names of a few people who might be able to help me get my questions answered. 

Her wish to no longer take phone calls troubled me a bit. Again, if a Christian ministry is going to put out information against another group, and some of that information is incorrect, a ministry which is really Christian would want to investigate and correct the matter. However, as she explained, she really did not know a lot about Adventism, at least enough to answer my questions. She had never been a Seventh-day Adventist, and was not an expert on Mrs. White's writings.

Later I got some alleged documentation for the threatened lawsuit myth from her. Attached to it was a form letter from MacGregor Ministries, dated January 17 and signed by both Keith and her, saying basically not to contact her again. At the bottom was a handwritten note that included the statement, "Regarding your statements on Solemn Appeal - the video is correct. Sorry for you - no retractions." No proof to back up this statement was offered.

I immediately phoned MacGregor Ministries again. It was January 28th. She was irate once more. She said she might respond if I sent her one page of email, but I could only send one page. If I remember right, she hung up on me.

Statements made to me in my three phone calls with her include: "Get a life!" "You're in denial!" "You're being picky!" "No one has had a problem with the information but you." "It's all fully documented." "The Adventist Church hasn't been able to find any problems with it."

The last statement is interesting in light of the fact that the White Estate has a document dated June 1999 on their web site outlining 39 problems or concerns about points raised in the video.

The Documentation Package did have an interesting tidbit in it. It contained a letter to an editor by an Adventist pastor named Dan Stapleton. This letter contained the following statement:

As for the accusations made by K. [Keith] MacGregor against the Seventh-day Adventist Church and Ellen White, I'm sorry to see again his misrepresentations, historical inaccuracies, and false assessments in print. It was 14 years ago that I first read such things published by the 'ministry' he represents and they are no more true now than they were then.

So according to their own Documentation Package, MacGregor Ministries has been slandering the Seventh-day Adventist Church for fourteen years.

I doubt I was the first to complain.

[To view the extensive critique of Jeremiah Films' video against Seventh-day Adventism, exposing the multitude of factual errors, inaccuracies, and attacks on Scripture contained in the video, click here.