Is Elder Wilson Sending a Message to His Successor?
by Loren Seibold | 16 July 2025 |
Implicit in the two back-to-back interviews Elder Ted Wilson sat for after being replaced at the 2025 General Conference (GC) session was that he wasn’t about to go silent, to retreat to his garage and build birdhouses for the grandchildren. Many wondered: how will his influential—and very conservative—voice be used in the church now?
One answer may be that as “Pastor Ted Wilson,” he will continue to push his beliefs out to the church through his Facebook page.
Today, July 16, at about 7:30 a.m.—just over a week since Erton Köhler replaced him in the president’s role–Wilson posted the familiar anti-jewelry passage, 1 Peter 3:3,4, along with this quote from Ellen White’s Evangelism, p. 269:
“Self-denial in dress is a part of our Christian duty. To dress plainly, and abstain from display of jewelry and ornaments of every kind is in keeping with our faith.”
The wedding ring
One of the first things people noticed about new GC president Erton Köhler was his gold wedding band. Such a thing hasn’t, to my knowledge, been seen on the hand of any GC president in our history.
Ellen White spoke in opposition to jewelry of any kind—even wedding rings. In Testimonies to Ministers (180), she wrote,
“Some have had a burden in regard to the wearing of a marriage ring, feeling that the wives of our ministers should conform to this custom. All this is unnecessary. Let the ministers’ wives have the golden link which binds their souls to Jesus Christ, a pure and holy character, the true love and meekness and godliness that are the fruit borne upon the Christian tree, and their influence will be secure anywhere.… Not one penny should be spent for a circlet of gold to testify that we are married.”
But she added this:
“In countries where the custom is imperative, we have no burden to condemn those who have their marriage ring; let them wear it if they can do so conscientiously.…”
It appears that the wedding ring to indicate marriage is the custom in Latin America, where the new GC president comes from. But he is now in America: should he continue to wear it here? Ellen White wrote,
“The fact that a disregard of the custom occasions remark is no good reason for adopting it.… Americans can make their position understood by plainly stating that the custom is not regarded as obligatory in our country.”
Perhaps Elder Wilson doesn’t realize that in the century that has passed since this was written, the wedding ring has also become obligatory here.
Adapting to change
Elder Wilson remains a strong and influential voice in the church, as indicated by the number of people—reportedly about a third—of the GC nominating committee who wanted him to continue. There will always be something in our rule-heavy church that a man with influence can pick at, and it isn’t impossible that Elder Wilson can stir up conservative church members in opposition to the new leadership team by continuing to stress the conservative issues he has become known for.
When I was a young pastor, boxes of brochures were sent out for us to use for Harvest Ingathering, on the back of which was a stock picture of a happy family. If you squinted just right, you could make out the possibility of a wedding band on the hand of the mother in the family. My eagle-eyed conference president spotted it immediately. He made such a fuss that whichever of our publishing houses was printing it asked people to throw away the old ones, and they shipped new, corrected copies to the churches. The cost to the denomination was, back then, many tens of thousands of dollars.
There are still those who conscientiously hold to the sinfulness of wedding rings, and it saddens me that so many haven’t moved on. We Adventists are still majoring in minors, still insisting upon tithing the mint and the rue—and remaining overly discreet about larger matters such as corruption and abuse.
I don’t know how our new president will lead the church. But I do know he needn’t be scolded for his wedding ring.
Loren Seibold is the executive editor of Adventist Today.
