## Resume of Apostasy **Daniel K. Nicola** was a Seventh-day Adventist minister and conference leader who affixed his signature to the **Articles of Incorporation of the General Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists** on **April 15, 1904**, in Washington, D.C. — alongside Arthur G. Daniells, James R. Scott, Harvey Edson Rogers, and Amos P. Needham. ### Career Timeline | Year | Position / Action | |------|------------------| | 1838 | Born New York | | 1850s–1860s | Entered Adventist ministry | | 1860s–1890s | Pastoral and conference service across various districts | | 1890s–1903 | GC-level conference and administrative responsibilities | | **April 15, 1904** | **Signed Articles of Incorporation** — General Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists, Washington D.C. | | 1904–1908 | Continued in denominational service under the corporation he helped create | | **1908** | **Died** — four years after signing | ### The 1904 Signing On April 15, 1904, Nicola was one of five men who incorporated the Adventist movement as a **legal entity of the District of Columbia** — creating the "new organization" Ellen White had warned against: > *"We cannot now enter into any new organization; for this would mean apostasy from the truth."* > — Ellen G. White, 2 Selected Messages, p. 390 > *"A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced… Our religion would be changed."* > — Ellen G. White, 1 Selected Messages, p. 204 Nicola signed despite these warnings being a matter of denominational record. He was not a bystander — he was a **named legal incorporator** of the organization EGW identified with apostasy. ### What the Signing Meant The legal act of April 15, 1904 accomplished several things at once: 1. Created a **federal corporate entity** that permanently merged the Adventist administrative structure with civil government 2. Established a **Board of Directors** model replacing the Spirit-led eldership of the pioneer churches 3. Gave the corporation **property-holding rights** over all Adventist institutions — schools, publishing houses, and hospitals 4. Opened the path to **IRS 501(c)(3) status** and government oversight of religious activity Every dollar subsequently spent on SDA schools, publishing, and missions passed through the legal house Nicola helped build. ### Nicola's Place in the Record Of the five 1904 signatories, Nicola represents the **ministerial class** — the pastor-administrators who gave ecclesiastical cover to what was legally a corporate restructuring. He was not a mere bureaucrat; he was an ordained minister who signed his name to the document that changed the legal identity of the church he served. **His signature is in the 1905 Yearbook. The Yearbook is in this library. The record speaks.** --- *Sources: 1905 SDA Yearbook pp. 135–149 | Selected Messages Book 1, p. 204 | Selected Messages Book 2, p. 390 | Pioneer biography files*