[2] Ford shared the sermon time at the Good News Unlimited congregation, which meets on Saturdays in the Brisbane suburb of Milton,[3] and in periodic seminars on the eastern seaboard of Australia.

Desmond's parents were nominal Anglican Christians, with his father almost an atheist in practice, and his mother presenting "a religious façade".

[6][7] Ford was challenged by the strict lifestyle standards presented in Ellen G. White's Messages to Young People, and gave up the cinema and reading fiction.

[12] Ford lived in a caravan (trailer) with his mother, who insisted on accompanying him, while canvassing (selling Christian books).

While Burnside was a dynamic presenter, Ford's biographer Milton Hook describes him as a fundamentalist (see: historic Adventism), and draws an analogy with a rugged, gung-ho cowboy, like a John Wayne character.

In December he married Gwen Booth, with whom he had shared a budding friendship and romance since their meeting at Avondale, where she studied teaching.

[19] There a public debate with Burgin, a Church of Christ minister and a "formidable opponent" of Adventists, brought Ford respect.

[27][28] The debate revolves around the interpretation of several biblical texts: and statements made by Ellen White: According to Adventist historian George Knight, most early Adventists (until 1950) believed that Jesus Christ was born with a human nature that was not only physically frail and subject to temptation, but that he also had the fallen predisposition and inclination to sin.

In contrast to the "historic" view, Ford believed that Ellen White was clear that Christ took our infirmities and with the weaknesses of fallen man, the sinful nature in the sense of that he had a lessened capacity with respect to the fallen physical nature that he inherited from Adam, including physical weaknesses, frailties and mental, and moral degeneracy and deterioration.

[31][32] While Christ was tempted as all other human beings are, Ford noted that the lessened capacity of his human nature did not ever include giving in to temptation or having any evil desires or propensity or predisposition towards sin in his spiritual nature, a position with which Ellen White taught and mainstream Adventists agree.

[36] Ellen White and others such as George Storrs, and Uriah Smith were disposed to de-emphasise the corrupt nature inherited from Adam, instead stressing the importance of actual, personal sins committed by the individual.

[21] Tensions over Ford and the theology teaching at Avondale more generally, led to a meeting of Australian church leaders on 3–4 February 1976 to hear accusations by a group of "Concerned Brethren".

Ford's understanding of righteousness by faith was the main issue,[40] while the report mentions "the Sanctuary, the Age of the Earth and Inspiration.

"[41] In April a group of church leaders and theologians, including Ford met in Palmdale, California, to discuss the meaning of righteousness by faith.

[43][44] In response to criticisms of his theology, in 1977 the church moved him to the United States, where he taught religion at Pacific Union College for three years.

Late in 1979, he stopped lecturing and moved to Takoma Park, Maryland[23] to research and produce the 991-page manuscript, Daniel 8:14, the Day of Atonement, and the Investigative Judgment.

[47] [48] While Ford was in basic agreement with the position of the Adventist Church and the majority of Christendom on the atonement, which declares Christ's "sacrifice in behalf of man was full and complete"[49] and "On the cross the penalty for human sin was fully paid"[50] and with other Adventists as seeing Christ's work in the heavenly sanctuary as the application of the benefits of His already completed work on the cross, Ford directly challenged traditional Adventist views of how to interpret prophecy and how to view the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement by Christ in a way that appeared to completely undermine the denomination's historical reason for existence.

According to Time magazine, he "made the case that White's 'sanctuary' explication of 1844 no longer stood up, and that 'investigative judgment' undercut the belief in salvation by God's grace apart from good works.

Heppenstall was disappointed when he failed to dissuade Ford from his position at Glacier View, subsequently writing to him that he "was shocked at how far" he "had swung to the left Biblically and doctrinally".

[54] To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Glacier View, the Sydney Adventist Forum held a pretend courtroom trial to assess the accuracy of Ford's claim that the Consensus Document has been largely in agreement with him.

They concluded, "Ford was found to be substantially correct in claiming that the 114-member Sanctuary Review Committee (SRC) Consensus Document was in agreement with his twelve propositions—while Ministry was judged to have considerably over-stated its case."

It concluded, "In retrospect, it is clear that the SRC made—in five days—more progress in understanding this biblical doctrine than the church has typically made in any fifty years of its history.

"[55] In 1980, following Ford's dismissal from the Adventist ministry and professorship, a group of Pacific Union College students along with others at Andrews University founded a sympathetic unofficial journal, entitled Evangelica, in 1980.

[citation needed] After being dismissed from the ministry, Desmond Ford chose to remain a member of the Seventh-day Adventist church.

He founded an interdenominational Christian ministry named Good News Unlimited, which gave him a platform to continue preaching.