STATEMENT ON  ELDER

STATEMENT ON  ELDER GROTHEER'S DEATH AND PRECEDING DECLINE
 

Announcement:

Elder Wm. H. Grotheer died on Sabbath, Saturday May 2, 2009.  He has left a rich legacy of theological writings and sermons which will be a blessing to many until the end of time.

(Note: The work of Adventist Laymen's Foundation of Mississippi-Arkansas is now carried on by Adventist Laymen's Foundation of Iowa)

Throughout 2007 Elder Grotheer was not prepared to authorize the disclosure of specific information about the state of his health.  He frequently stated his intention to send out a letter to the readers of Watchman, What of the Night? explaining his increasing disability on his own terms.  This did not happen before he was hospitalized after a fall in the last week of December, 2007.  After that there was such a rapid deterioration in his condition that he was never able to carry out his intention.

During 2007, some of us observed a progressive decline in the giant intellect of this preacher and teacher of Present Truth, as demonstrated over decades.  The observations were made by those of us who were living close to him, and by others of us who talked with him on the telephone.  Those who could observe him in person were also aware of physical changes in the way he walked and maintained his balance.

In due course a physician diagnosed Elder Grotheer to be in an advanced stage of progressive decline in cognitive function due to damage or disease in the brain beyond what might be expected from normal aging.  Although the diagnosis did not specify the underlying disease beyond stating that he was in an advanced stage of dementia, general knowledge and experience suggest that it was either Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s; and quite likely Parkinson’s, because of the associated shuffling gait and frequent falls to which he was subject during 2007.

Elder Grotheer is sadly missed as a champion of Truth, pure and unadulterated.  He has left behind a legacy of biblical exegesis which when carefully studied by the unbiased mind must bring conviction of that Truth, the knowledge of which in the Words of the Lord Jesus Christ makes us free.

While there may yet be some areas of the biblical expositions covered by Elder Grotheer's writings and sermons which can be explored in greater depth, his is essentially a finished work, anchored in the Bible, and a sound foundation for continuing study.

We hope that visitors to adventistlaymen.com will carefully study and/or review the many articles and listen to the sermons on the great issues of Present Truth that are on this website, dating from the critical year of 1980 until the end of 2006.

And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.  The night is far spent, the day is at hand . . . Romans 13:11, 12a

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