Church

God’s True People and the Professed People of God, Part II

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Ellen White tells us how we can discern a true church from a professed church: “ ‘And now also,’ said the prophet, ‘the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.’ [Matthew 3:10.] Not by its name, but by its fruit, is the value of a tree determined. If the fruit is worthless, the name cannot save the tree from destruction. John declared to the Jews that their standing before God was to be decided by their character and life. Profession was worthless. If their life and character were not in harmony with God’s law, they were not His people.” The Desire of Ages, 107.

To confess to be a part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church but not do what God requires depicts a certain tree. A bad tree or a fruitless tree is, in God’s eyes, worth nothing. “For if God spared not the natural branches, [take heed] lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in [his] goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” Romans 11:21, 22.

The Adventists had to learn this lesson, but a couple of generations have been passed over, and they have forgotten. We need to remember the divine fire of destruction in the sanitarium and publishing houses of Battle Creek. (The Battle Creek Sanitarium, the largest and best-known Adventist institution in the world, burned to the ground February 18, 1902. This was followed by the destruction of the Review and Herald Publishing Association, also by fire, on December 30, 1902.) Ellen White says that that was a judgment of God. Do we know why this punishment came?

“It was His [God’s] design that instead of rebuilding the one large sanitarium, our people should make plants in several places. These smaller sanitariums should have been established where land could be secured for agricultural purposes.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 227. The publishing house printed literature with error in it. (See Manuscript Releases, vol. 6, 277–279.)

Should God think and deal differently today than in those days? Can He make a plainer sign for His people that He really means what He says? Is there dreadful warning for Seventh-day Adventists? “Of those who boast of their light, and yet fail to walk in it, Christ says, ‘But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven [in point of privilege], shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.’ [Matthew 11:22, 23.]” Review and Herald, August 1, 1893. Can we draw some special dealing with Seventh-day Adventists out of this quotation? Yes, and that is that God has no more mercy in tolerating sin with Adventists than He had with the Jews or any other churches.

There is another dealing. There is an extra punishment. The punishment will be even harder for the Seventh-day Adventist ministers than for the ministers of other denominations. That is a special dealing with the people who will be held responsible for the truth they know.

Spirit of Prophecy

One of the proofs on which we can discern the true church is the test of the testimony of the Spirit of Prophecy. Ellen White says that Satan will destroy faith in the Spirit of Prophecy. “The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God. ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish’ (Proverbs 29:18). Satan will work ingeniously, in different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the confidence of God’s remnant people in the true testimony.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 48.

You may be familiar with some of the methods through which Satan works to make of none effect the testimonies of the Spirit of God. Perhaps you have been told that Ellen White plagiarized other writers or that her counsel had a meaning only for her time.

In Germany, we saw terrible literature where the union with the ecumenical movement was proved and sustained by apparent quotations from Ellen White. Things were taken out of context and twisted. Parts of sentences were left out, which would have made clear the real meaning of the quote. Ellipses were inserted instead. I insert ellipses at times because the quote is too long, but not to change the meaning of it.

“There will be a hatred kindled against the testimonies which is satanic. The workings of Satan will be to unsettle the faith of the churches in them, for this reason: Satan cannot have so clear a track to bring in his deceptions and bind up souls in his delusions if the warnings and reproofs and counsels of the Spirit of God are heeded.” Ibid.

“Be not deceived; many will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. We have now before us the alpha of this danger. The omega will be of a most startling nature.” Ibid., 197.

True People of God

We see what is questioned from our original beliefs—the Spirit of Prophecy, the Three Angels’ Messages, and the sanctuary message, to name just a few. Does God no longer have a people on earth who can bear the name of the true people of God?

“The Lord Jesus will always have a chosen people to serve Him. When the Jewish people rejected Christ, the Prince of life, He took from them the kingdom of God and gave it unto the Gentiles. God will continue to work on this principle with every branch of His work. When a church proves unfaithful to the word of the Lord, whatever their position may be, however high and sacred their calling, the Lord can no longer work with them. Others are then chosen to bear important responsibilities. But if these in turn do not purify their lives from every wrong action; if they do not establish pure and holy principles in all their borders, then the Lord will grievously afflict and humble them, and, unless they repent, will remove them from their place and make them a reproach.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 14, 102. Are you touched by this quotation? Are you seeing yourself in it?

We think we are historic Seventh-day Adventists, but do we ask ourselves whether or not we are truly faithful? Are we really obeying God? Does every one of us recognize the need to personally proclaim the Three Angels’ Messages? Can we be recognized as God’s church or as a member of God’s church as we go forward in our sanctification?

God Takes the Reins

“Let me tell you that the Lord will work in this last work in a manner very much out of the common order of things, and in a way that will be contrary to any human planning. There will be those among us who will always want to control the work of God, to dictate even what movements shall be made when the work goes forward under the direction of the angel who joins the third angel in the message to be given to the world. God will use ways and means by which it will be seen that He is taking the reins in His own hands. The workers will be surprised by the simple means that He will use to bring about and perfect His work of righteousness. Those who are accounted good workers will need to draw nigh to God, they will need the divine touch. They will need to drink more deeply and continuously at the fountain of living water, in order that they may discern God’s work at every point.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 300.

There have been situations where the leaders of the church have told people that they are not allowed to preach the Three Angels’ Messages. They have been told that the church has decided on a different way for home missionary work, and they have been threatened with disfel-lowshipping if they persist. Because some in leadership do not believe the time for preaching the Three Angels’ Messages has come—first preach the love of Christ—many pastors have lost their credentials and many brethren have been disfellowshipped for their missionary endeavors. These leaders want to dictate what should be done and when it is done, but they do not recognize that the work of God may already have been taken out of their hands. The work of the Three Angels’ Messages is still continuing. It is going further faster.

From the little missionary societies that are developing in Germany, innumerable people have spread out with the Three Angels’ Messages. In the last 30 years, this has not happened through the great conference church in Germany, but the work is growing; no one can stop it.

“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Revelation 12:17; 19:10.

“God has a church. It is not the great cathedral, neither is it the national establishment, neither is it the various denominations; it is the people who love God and keep His commandments. ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Matthew 18:20). Where Christ is even among the humble few, this is Christ’s church, for the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone constitute a church.” The Upward Look, 315.

It is important for us who believe in the Three Angels’ Messages to spread these messages with power. We should strive to be among the 144,000 and have the process of sanctification always before our eyes. It is not sufficient for your brethren that you are just separated from those who persist in sin. It is not enough to believe in the Three Angels’ Messages; we need to proclaim them faithfully all the time. Use the opportunities of distributing leaflets. Never mind where you are; you can pull out a leaflet containing the Three Angels’ Messages, and give it to someone. That may be a test of faithfulness for us. If we are not ready to use our time for this message, our profession is worthless.

Ezekiel 9

The parable in Ezekiel 9 is an example of the sealing in the end time. “Mark this point with care: Those who receive the pure mark of truth, wrought in them by the power of the Holy Ghost, represented by a mark by the man in linen, are those ‘that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done’ in the church. [Ezekiel 9:4.] Their love for purity and the honor and glory of God is such, and they have so clear a view of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, that they are represented as being in agony, even sighing and crying.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 267.

In the same context, Ellen White writes: “The true people of God, who have the spirit of the work of the Lord and the salvation of souls at heart, will ever view sin in its real, sinful character. They will always be on the side of faithful and plain dealing with sins which easily beset the people of God. Especially in the closing work for the church, in the sealing time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand who are to stand without fault before the throne of God, will they feel most deeply the wrongs of God’s professed people.” Ibid., 266. This true people of God will always have a faithful and plain dealing against sin.

What is a plain dealing of the church structure towards joining the ecumenical movement? What should our plain dealing be? What did the people in Ezekiel 9 do?

“Who are standing in the counsel of God at this time? Is it those who virtually excuse wrongs among the professed people of God and who murmur in their hearts, if not openly, against those who would reprove sin? Is it those who take their stand against them and sympathize with those who commit wrong? No, indeed!” Ibid., 267. We cannot harmonize with those who commit public sins. This is a plain statement.

Separation

In the history of the Reformation, there are many stories of the faithful being separated. In many parts of The Great Controversy we can read this—the Waldensees, the Albigenses, the Protestant churches, even the Adventists—always the faithful have separated. Because it is impossible for the minority to disfellowship the majority, there needs to be a separation.

“The angel with the writer’s ink horn is to place a mark upon the foreheads of all who are separated from sin and sinners, and the destroying angel follows this angel (Letter 12, 1886).” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 4, 1161. What is the consequence of this plain dealing with sin? To separate from the sinners and the sin. It is plainly stated here. I want to belong to the true church of God and be recognized with its mark written on me.

“These truths, as presented in Revelation 14 in connection with ‘the everlasting gospel,’ will distinguish the church of Christ at the time of His appearing. For as the result of the threefold message it is announced: ‘Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.’ [Revelation 14:12.] And this message is the last to be given before the coming of the Lord.” The Great Controversy, 453, 454. Here is the mark of the true church. As a result of this proclamation, they are sanctified and are keeping the commandments of God.

The sealing is going very quickly. Ellen White says, “My dear brethren and sisters, let the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ be in your minds continually and let them crowd out worldly thoughts and cares. When you lie down and when you rise up, let them be your meditation. Live and act wholly in reference to the coming of the Son of man. The sealing time is very short, and will soon be over. Now is the time, while the four angels are holding the four winds, to make our calling and election sure.” Early Writings, 58.

Always remember that the time of probation closes earlier for Seventh-day Adventists. This quotation makes it clear: “The time of God’s destructive judgments is the time of mercy for those who have no opportunity to learn what is truth. Tenderly will the Lord look upon them. His heart of mercy is touched; his hand is still stretched out to save, while the door is closed to those who would not enter. Large numbers will be admitted who in these last days hear the truth for the first time. The Lord calls upon every believer to consecrate himself wholly to his service. All are to work for him, according to their several ability.” Review and Herald, July 5, 1906.

May the Lord grant that we may belong with those who are following the cry to come out from sin and from those who persist in sin, that we may make our election and decision sure and secure, that we will be unwavering. If we are not certain, we must study the Word of God and the Spirit of Prophecy more. The light of God will shine on the whole path; we just need to follow the light. God will bless our efforts.

Dr. Bernd Korinth is a physician living in Berlin, Germany. He is very active in spreading the Three Angels’ Messages throughout Europe. He and his family have a printing press in their home and have had tracts translated in most of the different European languages. He is a promoter of home churches and is very interested in working with other historic Seventh-day Adventist groups worldwide. He may be contacted by e-mail at: hkorinth@mefag.de.

I Saw a Great Tumult, Part II

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How can you tell the difference between the remnant, God’s true church, and those who profess to be God’s people, the nominal church? To differentiate is very confusing! If it is so confusing and there is a war being waged, with both sides claiming that they are the remnant church, how do you tell the difference between those who truly are the remnant and those who are just professing? Ellen White wrote numerous statements on the subject of the remnant—who they are and who they are not. The following statements come from the Spirit of Prophecy; some are summarized in my own words.

The Remnant Actually . . .

The remnant actually keep the Commandments of God, and they follow the testimony of Jesus.

“Although the law of God will be almost universally made void in the world, there will be a remnant of the righteous that will be obedient to God’s requirements. The wrath of the dragon will be directed against the loyal servants of Heaven. Says the prophet, ‘The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.’ [Revelation 12:17.] We can see from this scripture that it is not the true church of God that makes war with those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. It is the people who make void the law, who place themselves on the side of the dragon, and persecute those who vindicate God’s precepts.” The Signs of the Times, April 22, 1889.

“A striking contrast is seen between those who practise [sic] the truth and those who have joined the ranks of the apostate. Meek and lowly will those be who follow the Lamb of God. Boastful, denunciatory, and lawless in word and deed will those be who war against the commandments of God. They are thus because they have the spirit and attributes of the dragon, who was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus.” Review and Herald, May 3, 1898.

Purify Souls

The true remnant purify their souls by obeying the truth.

“The remnant that purify their souls by obeying the truth gather strength from the trying process, exhibiting the beauty of holiness amid the surrounding apostasy.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 380.

No Iniquity

I was once in a meeting with a number of historic Seventh-day Adventist ministers. The discussion came up about who really is the remnant church, and there was a difference of opinion among the ministers. Some said, “This is the remnant church.” And some said, “No, that is not the remnant church.”

One of the ministers read a text, which he knew would be like an exploding bomb. He knew that if everybody was honest, it would drown the opposition. The text he read was in Zephaniah 3 where the remnant of God are described in the last days, and it says, “The remnant do not do any iniquity and in their mouth there is no lie, no deceit, and they do not have a tongue that will tell a lie or deceive anyone.” Verse 13.

When my friend read this verse, he looked straight at a couple of the ministers, and he asked, “Does the church that you believe to be the remnant church meet these qualifications?”

These ministers had to say, “No.”

The real remnant church will meet the qualifications in Zephaniah 3:13. The nominal church will not be able to meet those qualifications.

“In this our day, some whose tongues are deceitful have been presenting as truth many things that they themselves have originated,—as if the law of truth were in their heart and coming from their lips. But the Lord will surely punish every deceitful, lying tongue that has caused his people to err and to turn from the righteousness of Christ.” Review and Herald, October 11, 1906.

Valley of Achor

The remnant church is represented by a woman. (See Revelation 12.) Concerning this remnant, the prophets say that they are going to have to go through the valley of Achor. The valley of Achor, which means, “the valley of trouble” or “the valley of grief,” was where Achan was stoned. (Joshua 7:24–26.)

This woman of Revelation 12 has to go through the valley of Achor—the valley of trouble or grief, where the Achans get stoned. It is not going to be a pleasant experience. (See Prophets and Kings, 298–300.)

Source of Enmity

Speaking about the remnant people, Ellen White says, “There must be open and avowed enmity between the church and the serpent, between her seed and his seed.” The Signs of the Times, August 26, 1889.

From where does the enmity come? Well, from where did the enmity come in heaven? One side wanted to adjust the Law of God. From where did the enmity come in David’s time? One side did not want to listen to the Spirit of Prophecy. That is where the enmity comes from at the end. The people do not want to abide by the Law of God; they do not want to listen to the Spirit of Prophecy; they want to do their own thing. They arouse enmity. The remnant do not arouse enmity.

An Apostate Church

A church that is lessening the distance between itself and the papacy is an apostate church; it is not the remnant church.

“An apostate church will unite with the powers of earth and hell to place upon the forehead or in the hand, the mark of the beast, and prevail upon the children of God to worship the beast and his image. They will seek to compel them to renounce their allegiance to God’s law, and yield homage to the papacy.” Review and Herald, November 8, 1892.

No Worldly Policy

This is an amazing statement: “God has a remnant people in the world—a people who are not following worldly policy.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 5, 53. The remnant church does not follow worldly policy. Any church that is following worldly policy is not the remnant.

Gifts Shut Out

The nominal church, Ellen White says, shuts out the gifts that God has placed in the church. They shut out the gift of the Holy Spirit, especially the Spirit of Prophecy. “Don’t yield your sacred peculiarities which distinguish you from the world, from the nominal church and backslidden Adventists. . . . The nominal churches are in darkness and corrupt. They have shut out the gifts God has placed in the church.” Ibid., 290. The nominal church shuts out the gifts; they will not listen to the Spirit of Prophecy.

Prevailing Ungodliness

In the courts of the temple—the church (see Ephesians 2:19–22)—Ellen White says, “Under the cloak of Christianity and sanctification, far-spreading and manifest ungodliness will prevail to a terrible degree and will continue until Christ comes to be glorified in all them that believe. In the very courts of the temple [this is in the nominal church] scenes will be enacted that few realize.” Ibid., vol. 11, 85, 86.

Obedient to All God’s Word

The remnant is actually obedient to all of God’s Word and commands. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4. The remnant live by the Word of God. They actually do it.

“Although the law of God will be almost universally made void in the world, there will be a remnant of the righteous that will be obedient to God’s requirements.” The Signs of the Times, April 22, 1889.

On the Dragon’s Side

Some people have challenged this statement, even when it is read right out of the Spirit of Prophecy! They will not accept it.

“There will be a remnant of the righteous that will be obedient to God’s requirements. The wrath of the dragon will be directed against the loyal servants of Heaven. Says the prophet, ‘The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.’ [Revelation 12:17.] We can see from this scripture that it is not the true church of God that makes war with those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. It is the people who make void the law, who place themselves on the side of the dragon, and persecute those who vindicate God’s precepts.” Ibid. [Emphasis supplied.]

Do you know that when you sue somebody you are waging legal war against him or her? Before life on this world is over, you are going to understand what the Judas kiss feels like. The Judas kiss comes from the one who claims to be your friend.

When I attended the lawsuit against Raphael Perez (General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists vs. Raphael Perez, United States District Court, Southern District of Florida, 2000), a person came up to greet me as I was leaving the federal court building one day. He acted very friendly as he proceeded to tell me about all of my family that he knows. As I looked into his face, I silently prayed, “Lord, help me. Help me not to say anything that I should not say.” He acted as though he was my friend, but he was on the opposing side that was working to put Raphael Perez in jail. I recognized the Judas kiss, and it chilled me.

The Judas kiss does not come from the remnant church. Judas was not a part of the remnant church; he was a part of the nominal church. The nominal church will give the Judas kiss to the true church at the end.

Peace and Safety

Remember, the majority was on Absalom’s side. By the providence of God, even though the servants of David, under the generalship of Joab, were vastly outnumbered, the time came when this great rebellion of the majority of God’s professed people was brought to an end. The rebellion among God’s professed people today is going to be brought to an end too.

When the rebellion was brought to an end, Joab needed somebody to take the message to King David, who was waiting at the city for news. There was a man with Joab, a runner by the name of Ahimaaz, who desperately wanted to tell the king the news, but Joab told him, “No, you can bear tidings another day. You are not to bear tidings today.” (11 Samuel 18:19, 20.)

Instead, Joab called Cushi and asked him to carry the tidings. However, Ahimaaz begged Joab, “Oh, please let me go and bear a message too.”

Finally, probably a little aggravated, Joab said, “Well, just go!”

Ahimaaz was a faster runner than Cushi was, and he got to the king first. David, of course, was in terrible consternation of mind, wondering what had happened. After all, his whole life was at stake. When Ahimaaz arrived, David asked for his message, and he reported, “Everything is fine.” He gave a peace and safety message! (Verses 21–28.)

Many people today, even in Adventism, are like Ahimaaz. If you ask them what is happening, they will tell you that everything is fine—the third angel’s message is going forward, and soon we are going to be in heaven; everything is going wonderfully.

David was not content with this message, so he pressed Ahimaaz, until Ahimaaz exclaimed, “I saw a great tumult. I did not know what it was.” (Verse 29.)

Developing Tumult

The final great tumult will come when, in the war between the remnant and the nominal church—both claiming to be the true remnant church—the leadership of the nominal church will finally receive a fatal and final defeat, and the rebellion will collapse and be crushed. There certainly is a great tumult developing!

How long will it be before this war is over, the great tumult occurs, and the rebellion is put down? Ellen White wrote: “God’s people will be proved and tested, that He may discern ‘between him that serveth God, and him that serveth Him not.’ [Malachi 3:18.]” Manuscript Releases, vol. 11, 86.

Right now, it is like it was in heaven with the angels. It is also, right now, like it was with David and Absalom. Before the great tumult, there was a time when you could not tell for sure on which side each person was. But the Lord says, “I am going to prove and test My people, and when I get done, everybody in the universe, not just on the earth, will be able to tell which person is serving Me and which person is not.”

You will be able to tell, one of these days, the difference between those of the remnant church and those who are the remnant church only by profession. This is what the great tumult will demonstrate.

Heavenly Credentials

Ellen White made several comments about this, including one in which she says that iniquity will reach a height never before attained. (Review and Herald, July 24, 1913.) Do you see that happening? She states that the Lord will give the Israelites who are captive in Babylon the opportunity to come out and be part of the remnant. (Ibid., January 23, 1908.) She also says that the remnant will receive the latter rain, give the loud cry, and be sealed. (Early Writings [1882], 85, 86; Spiritual Gifts, vol. 1, 193, 194, 197.)

Do you see why it could be of fatal consequence for you if you do not understand the difference between the remnant and the nominal church? You could be part of those who claim to be the remnant, but if you do not actually have the characteristics of the remnant, you will not receive the latter rain. You will not be giving the loud cry. You will not be one of those who are sealed.

The remnant will have the heavenly credentials. Mrs. White says that it is through this remnant that God will carry out His eternal purpose. (Prophets and Kings, 108.) She also says that at the end of time, when the remnant are sentenced to be slain, God will intervene on their behalf. (Review and Herald, September 17, 1901.) He is not going to intervene on behalf of the nominal church. To find out what is going to happen to them, read Ezekiel 9.

Great Tumult

Ahimaaz said, “I saw a great tumult, but I did not know what it was.”

What is this great tumult? A number of things are causing the tumult today. One of them is fanaticism. Ellen White wrote: “Every phase of fanaticism and erroneous theories, claiming to be the truth, will be brought in among the remnant people of God. These will fill minds with erroneous sentiments which have no part in the truth for this time. Any man who supposes that in the strength of his own devised resolutions, in his intellectual might united with science or supposed knowledge, he can start a work which will conquer the world, will find himself lying among the ruins of his own speculations, and will plainly understand why he is there. . . .” Selected Messages, Book 2, 14.

The time is coming when every single Seventh-day Adventist who is espoused to fanaticism is going to reap the consequences of that fanaticism and know why. Fanaticism is very, very dangerous. Many, many millions of people have lost their souls over fanaticism. I am not talking about heresy. I am not talking about Babylon. I am talking about fanaticism.

Ahimaaz was not an Achan. He was on the right side. He believed in the Spirit of Prophecy. He was a Sabbath keeper. He was a commandment keeper. But neither Joab nor David could depend on him as a messenger in God’s work because he did not know the issues. He did not understand what was really happening. He represents literally thousands of people in Adventism today.

He was not stoned to death, as was Achan. He was not punished at all. He was simply told by David to stand aside. (11 Samuel 18:30.) The story of Ahimaaz is not as sad as the story of Achan, but it is still very sad. Why? Because Ahimaaz was very talented. He was actually more talented as a runner than the man that God sent with the message. But he could not be used as a messenger in God’s work because he did not understand what the issues were.

Live It Over Again

In the Spirit of Prophecy, Ellen White tells about the experience of God’s people after they are taken to heaven and are gathered around the great white throne. She describes many of God’s people as weeping in heaven. This was very intriguing to me. People say, “You are not going to cry in heaven.” Do not deceive yourself. After God wipes the tears from people’s eyes at the close of the millennium, there will not be cry-ing, but during the millennium, there will be plenty of crying. Ellen White describes God’s people be-fore the great white throne crying, weeping. Why are they weeping? She explains: “They see what they might have done had they not debased their God-given powers.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 135. These people are not Achans. They are not stoned to death, and they are not in hellfire. They are saved, and yet they are weeping in heaven. They are weeping because when they understand the real issues with which they had dealt in this world, they wish that time could be turned back so they could come back to this world and live their lives over again. I expect that there will be many millions of people in heaven like Ahimaaz, but do you really want to be one of them?

True and Faithful

Remember, in heaven, both sides claimed to be the true and the faithful. In the time of David and Absalom, both sides claimed to be the true and the faithful. At the end, both sides will claim to be the true and the faithful. I hope you will study the different points given in this article from the Spirit of Prophecy so you can differentiate which side really is true and faithful and which side is not.

You need to ask yourself, Am I part of the remnant truly or am I part of the remnant by profession only? You cannot take a neutral position. A war is going on right now between the true remnant and those who are in name only. It has been going on for several years, and it is going to get worse. Unfortunately, there is a large number of people like Ahimaaz—“I saw a great tumult. I do not know what it was.”

Jesus said, “He that is not with me is against me.” [Matthew 12:30.] Even if you are on the right side, if you do not know what is going on, then the Lord cannot use you as one of His good and faithful soldiers in the battle.

Eyes of Understanding

In the final end, there will only be two sides. Both sides will claim to be the true people of God. Both sides will claim to keep the fourth commandment. Both sides will claim to have the Spirit of Prophecy. On which side are you going to be?

If the Holy Spirit is going to use you as a messenger, as one of the true and faithful soldiers in these last days, the Holy Spirit must then enable you to see the difference between the remnant in truth and the remnant by profession only.

God, through His messenger to the remnant church, provides a great deal of detail about what happened in heaven at the fall of Lucifer so that we may understand what was really involved. We have just studied the great controversy in miniature, as it developed and played out in the lives of David and Absalom. We know that this story was written to help us understand what is going to happen at the end of time. God has told us that the issues at the end, the strategy of the devil at the end, will be the same as at the beginning. We are all in danger of being deceived, unless the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of our understanding.

There are so many people like Ahimaaz who think all is well. They see that a great tumult is going on, but they do not know what it is. Pray that the Lord will open your eyes so you will understand what is really happening today, not just in the world, but in the church as well.

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Sinful Independence, Part I

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God’s love is infinite—so great that I cannot understand it, but it is wonderful to meditate upon it. Have you meditated recently about why God made this world? Ellen White penned an interesting statement about why God created this world: “Infinite love—how great it is! God made the world to enlarge heaven. He desires a larger family of created intelligences (MS 78, 1901).” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 1, 1081. How interesting! God made this world because He wanted to enlarge His family of created intelligences.

From that statement, we know that in heaven there is a family. We, if we are God’s children, are destined to become a part of that family. In this great family of heaven, each one has individual responsibility; each one has freedom, but no one in heaven misuses that freedom to act independently, because all are held together by cords of humility towards self and love towards one another.

Jesus says, “Come unto me, all [ye] that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Then He says, “ I am gentle”—the Greek word praos means gentle, lowly, or humble. Matthew 11:28, 29. This is the way Jesus is. He is not proud.

God Not Independent

There is perfect harmony in heaven, with each one maintaining his own identity, uniqueness, and function, but with no one acting independently. Are you aware of the fact that even God does not act independently? Following are a few examples.

We could not create the world. Only God could do that; He created the world. But when He created Adam, God left it up to Adam to give names to all the animals. He wanted Adam to cooperate with Him in His work of creation.

Not only that, but God created the minimum number of people to populate the earth. Then He told them to be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth they were to populate. God would not have had to do that. God could have created several million perfect people, but He did not do it.

Choices

I suppose all of us who are parents can look back and think of many failures we have made, but, in spite of that, God has never taken this responsibility away from the human family.

As it was on the earth when Adam and Eve were created, so it was in heaven with the angels. God did not create a hierarchy or a dictatorship. He created a family. In Revelation 12:7, we are told that there was war in heaven. There never could have been a war in heaven if it had been a dictatorship or a hierarchy with an absolute totalitarian government, such as some that we have in this world. It never could have happened. The reason war happened was because the angels had total freedom.

When war broke out in heaven, as we read in Revelation 12:7, God could simply have banished Satan from heaven on the spot, and he would have had to go. But God did not do that. What did He do? God allowed the angels, as far as possible, to decide the issue. Every angel in heaven had to choose on which side he was going to be, and then he had to be willing to fight.

We do not know how angels fight. All we know is that war occurred in heaven, and Michael and His angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought with his angels. In other words, there was no neutral ground, and there is still no neutral ground. Jesus said, in Matthew 12:30, “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad.” There is no neutral ground in this world; you are on one side or the other. The angels had to choose; every angel had to choose. And we are on one side or on the other side. We are going to have to get on one side or the other; every angel had to get on one side or the other. God allowed the angels to make up their minds and to decide the issue for themselves.

Family Council

Even after this war, when Satan was cast out of heaven, he was allowed to return to heaven to represent the earth at the councils in heaven. You can read about that in chapters one and two of Job. In those chapters, God presented Job’s fidelity and challenged Satan’s claim to represent the earth. Satan did not represent all the inhabitants of the earth, for God said, “Have you considered my servant Job? He is a perfect man [Job 2:3]; you are not representing him.”

Evidently the angels allowed the devil to remain in heaven; that is, he was allowed to come to heaven whenever they had a meeting with the representatives of the different worlds. He came as a representative of this world. But that time of tolerance ended at the time of the cross.

Representation Changed

We read from The Desire of Ages, 761, that when Jesus was crucified, “Satan saw that his disguise was torn away. His administration was laid open before the unfallen angels and before the heavenly universe. He had revealed himself as a murderer. By shedding the blood of the Son of God, he had uprooted himself from the sympathies of the heavenly beings. Henceforth his work was restricted. Whatever attitude he might assume, he could no longer await the angels as they came from the heavenly courts, and before them accuse Christ’s brethren of being clothed with the garments of blackness and the defilement of sin. The last link of sympathy between Satan and the heavenly world was broken.” So after Jesus was crucified on the cross, the devil was not allowed to return to the heavenly courts and stand outside and await the angels as they went to and fro.

How did that happen? The angels decided that Satan could no longer visit heaven as the representative of this earth, because, after the cross, only Jesus was allowed to be the representative of this planet. Are you happy about that?

After the angels decided that only Jesus was to represent this planet and that the devil was not allowed as a representative of this planet to come to any meeting, how were they going to keep him out? Have you ever thought about that? We do not know all the particulars, but Ellen White wrote, “All the angels that are commissioned to visit the earth hold a golden card, which they present to the angels at the gates of the city [the Holy City] as they pass in and out.” Early Writings, 39. Evidently the angels have been issued identification cards! They each have golden cards, and when they leave and are commissioned to go to this earth, upon their return, they have to present their card before they are allowed entrance back into heaven.

The devil has many, many angels, and they all can appear as angels of light, but they do not have the right card. They do not have the gold identification card.

Judgment

Today, there is a judgment going on in heaven. We have seen that God does not act independently. The angels of heaven do not act independently. Does God need a judgment? No, He does not need a judgment. He has known who will be saved and who will be lost from the foundation of the world. (See Ephesians 1:4; Isaiah 46:10.)

But even though God knows this, and He can make a correct judgment in just saying that it is all over, the angels do not know it, nor do the inhabitants of the unfallen worlds know. They do not have all the knowledge God has, so they have to keep records, and they have to review them. God could do it in a moment, but the angels need more time, and God is willing to spend the extra time and effort, so all the angels and all the inhabitants of the unfallen worlds can see that the right decision is made.

Heaven is built on the principle of cooperation and unity. That has always been the way it is. If you want to study into this, it is one of the fundamental reasons that, in the inspired writings of Ellen White, competitive sports are condemned, because they are based on a wrong fundamental principle. They do not play football in heaven. Are you aware of that? They do not play baseball either. They do not play those kinds of things, because those games are based on a different principle than the one on which they operate in heaven. Heaven is built on the principle of cooperation and unity. It has always been this way, and it will always be this way in the future through all ceaseless ages of eternity.

Independence

You know, from reading the story in Revelation 12, that there came a time when one of the angels decided that he was going to be independent. This is described in Isaiah 14, also in Ezekiel 28, and it is described briefly in Revelation 1. Lucifer began an independent organization, and this was sinful.

I want you to understand why it was sinful. It was sinful independence because it worked apart from God and His plans and organization. Independent ministry and self-supporting work were never part of God’s original plan. Are you aware of the fact that if Seventh-day Adventists had always followed the writings of the messenger that God sent to the remnant church, there never would have been such a thing as self-supporting work?

There was one who came along in the perfect environment and perfect government of heaven and acted, independently, in competition and opposition to the regular, established government and ministry, which had been in operation for ages. When that spirit of independence came to earth, this world entered into the darkness and misery of sin.

Temptation of Independence

Do you understand that the first great temptation to Adam and Eve was the temptation to be independent?

Genesis 3:4 says, “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.” Because, the serpent continued, in verse 5, “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Can God do anything He wants? Yes, God can do anything He wants; He is above law. The angels are not above law; Adam and Eve were not above law; you and I are not above law. The first temptation was one of independence, claiming that Eve would be able to do whatever she pleased. She could be just like God.

The temptation was that Eve would be wise enough, if she ate of this fruit, to act independently, knowing good and evil herself without having to depend on God for guidance. There are still millions of people today who believe that lie. As a result of Eve’s choice, this earth became a part of the independent government of Satan, which made things rather confusing on this planet. Nearly the whole earth became loyal to Satan’s independent government.

Who is Really Independent

Those who remained loyal to God became, themselves, independent of the rebellion that existed on the earth. On the earth, the great mass of the population was independent from God and was, instead, loyal to Satan’s independent government or ministry. So those that were loyal to God were independent of Satan’s rebellion, but, because they were so few in number, they looked like the offshoot. Do you follow? The people that were loyal to God were few in number. Noah, for example, apparently was all alone. The rest of the world was independent of God and was following the philosophy of Satan and his leading and guiding.

Who was really independent? Who was really sinfully independent? Was Noah sinfully independent? The whole world was sinfully independent. They were following the leading of the devil. Noah was the only one who was not independent—just the opposite of the way it looked; he was dependent on God. But because such a few people were loyal to God, it looked like they were the ones that were independent. The others looked like they were all united; they were the establishment.

It has been that way over and over again—that the appearance was the exact opposite of the reality. God is in the business in this sinful world of training people and getting them ready for heaven. How is God going to get us ready for heaven?

Spirit of Submission

How do the heavenly beings operate up there? They love each other, and they have humble cooperation with each other. There is no competition or independence up there. God’s plan has always been for humble cooperation. That is why Jesus selected the disciples whom He selected. He had to select disciples who were teachable, who were humble. God is trying to teach each one of us the character traits of humility and submission. Those character traits do not seem to be easy for us to learn! Have you noticed? It does not seem easy for human beings to learn the character traits of humility and submission, but we all have to learn them, or we cannot be saved, because this is the character of heaven.

Every experience of life is to instill within us these precious traits of character, so we can fit into the society that Satan forfeited because of pride and independence. You see, pride is the opposite of humility, and independence is the opposite of submission. The Bible has a lot to say about submission, but we do not like to read it.

Have you read Romans 13 lately? It says that we are to submit to the civil government. When we decide that we are not going to obey the laws of the land, that we are not going to pay taxes, that we are not going to get liability insurance on our cars, or whatever else the government requires, this is a violation of Romans 13. Are you aware of that?

There are Seventh-day Adventists who seem to be proud that they are independent of the civil government, but that is not what the Bible teaches. People say, Oh, but the government is wicked. Let me tell you, our government is no more wicked than the government of Nero, and that is to whom Paul was referring when He wrote Romans 13. He told the very people living in probably the most wicked city in the whole world that they were to obey the civil government.

We are to submit. Why? Oh, friend, if we do not learn the lesson of submission, we can never be saved. We can never be saved with a proud, independent spirit—never.

Ephesians 6 talks about being submissive to employers. The kind of employers about whom Paul speaks is not the same kind about which we think. They actually had lords and servants in those days. Two-thirds of the Roman Empire was in slavery and not free; about one-third was free. Yet in Ephesians 6:5, he talks about being submissive to these people.

People say, Oh, you mean I have to be submissive to them? Well, yes; if we are going to develop the spirit of heaven, we have to learn the lesson of submission. How are we going to learn the lesson of submission if we do not ever submit to anybody? Someone says, Yes, but I am a Christian; I am free; I am a sovereign; I am not going to submit to anybody. Friend, that is not the spirit of heaven.

Husbands like to remind us that the Bible says that the wife is to submit to the husband. (Ephesians 5:22.) But the previous verse talks about both husbands and wives submitting to each other. It talks about all of us submitting to each other. In both 1 Peter and Hebrews, it talks about submitting and being in submission to the leaders in the church.

In 1 Peter 5:5, we are told even that the younger are to be in submission to those that are older. Why is that? For the simple reason that the older people have more experience, and, therefore, younger people should submit to their judgment. Now the older people will make mistakes in judgment; sometimes they did in Bible times, but they will make mistakes fewer times than people who do not have that experience. So, the Bible says to submit to those who are older, and then it says that all are to be in submission to each other.

None of us can go to heaven if we have a proud, independent spirit. We will never be admitted. We have to learn the lessons of submission given in the Bible—submission to the leaders in the church, submission to leaders in the family, submission to civil government, submission to employers.

No Further

Revelation 14 talks about the 144,000. The last part of verse 4 tells us that the 144,000 are people who have learned the lesson of submission. It says, “These are they which follow the Lamb whither-soever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, [being] the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.” Notice that these are followers; they follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They are in submission to His authority, period. And they will follow Him—they do not just submit until they go so far and then say that they are not going any further.

Have you ever met somebody like that? Perhaps you have studied the Bible with someone, and they accept everything until you get to some doctrine that cuts so hard across their practice that they say, “I have accepted everything so far, but I cannot go that far.” I have seen it happen with tithing, with the Sabbath, with the state of the dead, with jewelry, and all different kinds of things. Some people will go to a certain point, and then it cuts so hard across their belief, their thinking, or their practices, that they say, No, I cannot go any further.

Followers

The 144,000 are people that go wherever the Lord leads. They do not say that they are just going so far; they follow wherever He goes. Do you want to be a person like that? If you do, then you have to learn the lesson of submission.

However, if you look at the first part of Revelation 14:4, you will see that the 144,000 appear to be independent, just as it was in the days of Noah. “These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins.”

Women in Bible prophecy represent churches. The 144,000 are those who have not been defiled by women. They have not been defiled with Babylon, who is the great harlot defiling the whole world, as you can read in Revelation 14, 17, and 18. They have not been defiled with false religion. They have not been defiled with false religious philosophy that is prevalent throughout the world, because they are independent from manmade tradition. They will be thought to be a crazy and fanatical offshoot that is independent from the entire rest of the world. But the reason they are independent of the rest of the world is because the world is on the wrong side. They are loyal and faithful to God, and they are in the minority.

The Bible says that these people are followers. In this world, very often the reality is exactly the opposite from appearance. From the beginning of sin, those who have remained submissive and dependent upon God by following the Lamb wherever He goes have found themselves out of step and independent from the world—like Noah. When the rest of the world remained independent of God, can you imagine what people said? They said, “That man Noah is so aloof from counsel; he is so independent.” But actually Noah and his cohorts were the only ones in the world that were not independent. They were dependent on God. They were loyal and faithful to Him.

Loyalty

In the Book of Numbers, the experience of the organized church in the days of Moses is recorded. When the unfaithful spies returned from surveying the Promised Land, they got together and said, “Let us select another leader, and go back to Egypt.” (See Numbers 14:2–4.) It was probably the first great nominating committee in the organized church! They decided to select another leader instead of the one that God had chosen for them. Caleb and Joshua remonstrated with them and tried to talk some sense into them, because they were making the wrong decision (verses 9 and 10), and the situation became very heated.

Caleb and Joshua, in this instance,—now think this through—became independent from the organized church. That sounds awful; but is that what happened? Caleb and Joshua became independent of the organized church, and the people in the organized church said, “This Caleb and Joshua are not accepting the leader that we are choosing, and they are not accepting the decisions that we are making, so we are going to disfellowship them.” Do you know how they were going to disfellowship them? They said, “We are going to stone you.” That is the ultimate in disfellowshipping! That is permanent.

Here is the question: Who was right? Was it those who remained loyal to the church and the church organization? Or was it those who appeared to be independent and were, therefore, to be disfellowshipped? It is easy to give the answer when looking back at the Bible account, but it is not so easy when you are in an identical situation yourself. This situation was not solved at that time, even though the Lord Himself intervened so that Caleb and Joshua were not stoned.

This feeling in the church (this is the church—they are called the church in the wilderness by Stephen in Acts 7:38, and they were organized) continued. Feelings are some of the most difficult things with which any teacher or pastor must deal. Feelings become very deep-rooted in individuals, and quite often the only way they can be changed is by divine intervention. Sometimes God has to send some terrible experiences for people to get their feelings changed.

As I have studied these things, I have prayed, “Lord help me to become submissive, so I do not have to go through judgments to get my feelings changed.” Have you ever prayed a prayer like that?

Representative Government

Several chapters later, in Numbers 16:1, 2, Moses himself, and also Aaron, are accused of being independent. At that time, the children of Israel had a representative form of government. A representative church government is one where a number of churches each select delegates, and the delegates come together in what we call a conference and make decisions for the sisterhood of churches. Actually, that is all a conference is ever supposed to be.

If you have ever been to a constituency meeting, you know that a vote is taken at the end of the meeting. The constituency meeting is the only group that has the authority to act for the sisterhood of churches. A resolution is made at the end of every constituency meeting authorizing the conference committee to act on behalf of the constituents until the next constituency meeting. This is one reason a constituency meeting should be held at least every 12 months.

Of the children of Israel, 250 leaders, or representatives of the people, came together in a conference. These leaders, it says in the Hebrew Bible, were men of renown. Have you ever heard it said that when the leadership of the church gets together, it is as the voice of God? This is what the children of Israel thought too. These leaders accused Moses and Aaron of being independent from the church and taking too much upon themselves without the approval of the church. They said, “God has chosen this church, and, surely, when the entire church through its appointed representatives decides on something, it is as the voice of God to the people.”

To be continued . . .

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Sinful Independence, Part II

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In Part I of this article, we saw in Numbers 16:1 and 2 that Moses, as well as Aaron, was accused of being independent. The children of Israel had at that time a representative form of government where selected delegates from all the tribes came together to make decisions and vote on actions to take.

This is what happens within the organized church’s conferences today. Representatives from the churches within a conference attend a constituency meeting. The constituency meeting is the only group that has the authority to act for the sisterhood of churches. At the end of every constituency meeting a resolution is made authorizing the conference committee to act on behalf of the constituents until the next constituency meeting.

When the representatives of the children of Israel came together in their constituency meeting, they accused Moses and Aaron of being independent from the church and taking too much upon themselves without the approval of the church. They said, “God has chosen this church, and surely, when the entire church through its appointed representatives decides on something, it is as the voice of God to the people.” And they questioned, “How can it be that Moses and Aaron do not submit to the authority of the church and the leaders of the church? How can Moses and Aaron justify their independent ways?”

Actually, Moses and Aaron were not independent. They were the only ones that were really dependent on God. Appearances were deceptive, for the whole church body had become independent of God. The ones who were accused of being independent were the only ones who remained loyal and true to the God of heaven. The whole church was united against Moses. It says, in Numbers 16:19, that they all came together against Moses at the door of the tabernacle.

Majority Rule?

Obviously, God would accept the decision since the whole church, through their representatives, decided it—right? There are some people today still like that. They think that if the whole church decides something, the decision must be right; obviously, God is speaking, and they believe they must be in harmony with the decision. So, God accepted the decision of the representatives of the children of Israel, and they had new leadership, right? Is that what happened? That is not at all what happened. God did not choose other leaders, and God did not submit to the pressure of the whole church. He said no and that since these people were in rebellion, they would die.

No Assumed Kingly Power

Have you ever considered the fact, friend, that there is no committee, no conference, no general conference, no human authority or power on earth that has the authority to change one principle of truth? Not one! The antichrist power—that is the beast power—thinks that they can change something God has said and done. But God said no! God would not change it for the devil; He would not change it for Cain; He would not change it for Korah; He would not change it for Judas; and He is not going to change it for us.

God is seeking for the cooperation of His fellow workers on earth, but He has not abdicated the throne. Nor will He allow any church, any conference, any general conference, or anybody or anything to develop an assumed kingly power over His heritage, which is His purchased possession.

When we follow through the Old Testament, we see this principle demonstrated over and over again. We could look at Elijah. We could look at David and Saul. We could look at Jeremiah, Hosea, and Amos. But instead, let us go to the New Testament.

The ministry of John the Baptist is spoken of in Matthew 3. About this, Ellen White wrote: “John had not recognized the authority of the Sanhedrin by seeking their sanction for his work, and he had reproved rulers and people, Pharisees and Sadducees alike.” The Desire of Ages, 132, 133.

The Sanhedrin was the highest earthly authority in the church. Why had he not sought their sanction for his work, if he wanted to be successful? The Sanhedrin had tried to assume prerogatives and authority that belonged to God alone, thus making them independent of God. By refusing to submit to them, John the Baptist did not join in their independence. “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to [our] father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” Matthew 3:7–9.

They thought that because they were descendents of Abraham, they were a part of the true church, no matter what. John said, “Do not even think that.” In verse 10, he continued: “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” John told them that the fact that they were the literal descendents of Abraham and that they had the right name, calling themselves Jews, did not insure that they were going to stay to the end.

The tree is not saved because it has the right name. It is only saved if it has the right fruit. When the man that has an orchard goes out to inspect the fruit, he does not look at the name of the tree to decide which to save; he looks at which ones bear fruit to decide which ones to save.

What does this mean to you and to me? It means simply that every church, every conference, every ministry, every institution, every family, and every individual that becomes independent from God will be cut down.

God Has a Church

God does have a church. He has always had a church. Ellen White said that God had a church in the days of Adam and Eve, and He has had a church ever since. (See The Upward Look, 228.) God still has a church. “God has a church. It is not the great cathedral, neither is it the national establishment, neither is it the various denominations; it is the people who love God and keep His commandments. ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Matthew 18:20). Where Christ is even among the humble few, this is Christ’s church, for the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone constitute a church.” The Upward Look, 315.

The church is the people that are not independent. They are not independent from God. They love Him, and they keep His commandments. Love and obedience, humility and dependence, not pride and independence—that is the criteria. “ ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Matthew 18:20). Where Christ is even among the humble few, this is Christ’s church, for the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone constitute a church.”

God’s church—His people—are those who are dependent upon Him, not those who are independent of Him. It is those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. This church will go through as the body of Christ. We have to understand that the movement is not at all the same as systems or buildings or institutions.

There was a time when the institutions in Battle Creek, the headquarters of the church, became independent from God. And do you know what God did? He burned them down. (See Testimonies, vol. 8, 97, 218.) The church survived.

A Purified Movement

The church will ultimately triumph. The greatest desire of our lives should be to triumph with it. God is not going to start some new movement, but the movement is going to be purified. The question is, Where are you going to land when the movement is purified? Are you going to be part of the purified movement, or are you going to be on the outside, separated from the movement because you are independent?

The movement is in the process of being purified right now. “If the fruit is worthless, the name cannot save the tree from destruction.” The Desire of Ages, 107. This is true of the Seventh-day Adventist name just as much as it was for the Jews. John declared to the Jews that their standing before God was to be decided by their lives. Profession was worthless. If their lives and characters were not in harmony with God’s Law, they were not His people.

Speak Plainly

When John warned the church that God could work without them, in their eyes he committed the unpardonable sin, and they tried to silence him. They did not accept him, because to them the church was the structure, the buildings, and the human leadership in Jerusalem. The system, in their eyes, was as secure as the throne in heaven. Do people still think like that? Some people do. But, actually, the fact is that, “from the beginning, faithful souls have constituted the church on earth.” The Acts of the Apostles, ­11. Are you one of those faithful souls?

Never has God made His work dependent on physical structure—anciently or today. Study the life of David, Jeremiah, Daniel, John the Baptist, and especially Jesus. “In this fearful time, just before Christ is to come the second time, God’s faithful preachers will have to bear a still more pointed testimony than was borne by John the Baptist. A responsible, important work is before them; and those who speak smooth things, God will not acknowledge as His shepherds. A fearful woe is upon them.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 321.

How are we going to speak more plainly than John the Baptist if we do not even now speak as plainly as he spoke? We have to learn the lesson that John the Baptist was teaching, and he taught that the axe is laid at the foot of the tree. He said, “Do not even think that you are a member of the church just because you are a child of Abraham, because God can raise up from these stones (that is, the Gentiles) children from Abraham.” (Matthew 3:9.)

Humble, Loving Obedience

God will raise up anyone that is willing to become humble, obedient, and loving. Humble, loving obedience is all that is required; it is not complicated. At the end, it is as it has been before. The people who are really humble and obedient are going to look like the offshoots, and the people who are sinfully independent from God and His government are going to look like they are the establishment, that they are the people God is leading.

You must get this subject straight in your mind. You must be one of those who lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, one who does not just look to see what somebody else is doing.

As I have studied these things, in my heart I cried out and said, “Lord, I do not want to be found independent from You and Your government in the end.” How about you? It may look like you are independent to the rest of the world. That is the way it has been with God’s children for thousands of years. The important thing is not whether you are loyal to something human, to some human organization that may be totally independent from God. The important thing is that you are submissive and dependent on God’s Word and are living by every word in His Book. When you do that, the Bible says, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7.

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Watchmen Unto the House of Israel, Part I

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A parable is told in a book written by a prominent Seventh-day Adventist Church historian. He states that the church is like unto a fat woman returning from a shopping spree. My mind’s eye grapples with a woman as a beast, sweating profusely, with arms full of precious packages, standing before a door. Our parabolic friend faces a crisis. She is unable to open the door to enter her house to put down her bundles. If she reaches for the door handle, she will drop and ruin some of her packages, but if she continues to cling to her packages, she will never pass through the doorway. Her predicament is a “Catch-22” in that no matter what choice she makes she loses something. The only question is, which option represents the greater loss?

There she stands, sweating, frustrated, and venturing towards constructive thought from time to time, but not too much thought, lest it cause pain or force her into action. She is torn between two alternative desires—one to enter and rest, and the other to keep hold of all her packages. Torn by conflicting motivations she is unable to act on either. The result is more sweat and indecision as she stands within an arm’s reach of her goal. Now let us look at the interpretation of this parable.

Simple Symbolism

Like many of the parables in Matthew 13, this one demands an explanation. Fortunately, the symbolism is really quite simple. The woman may be likened unto the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which, in its maturity, has grown rich and increased with goods and has need of nothing. The many packages may be likened unto the church’s structures and institutions of which the Adventists have a super abundant supply in at least four different wrappings—educational, ecclesiastical, medical, and publishing. The door may be likened unto the way of the kingdom of heaven, with the door handle being the mechanism of entrance into the kingdom. In other words, the handle symbolizes the Adventist evangelistic mission to the world.

The parable dynamics are also quite self-evident. The aim of the woman is to enter the kingdom of heaven through the doorway. She stands on the brink of ultimate victory, but here is the catch: she has been trapped by her own success. Through scrimping, saving, and sacrificing, she has accumulated a large number of institutions and structures. In fact, she has so many that her chief advisors spend a large and critical bulk of their time attending board meetings and trying to solve the increasingly insurmountable problems of these institutions in a rapidly shifting complex social society and system.

These problems, however, do not tempt the woman to lay down the packages because, as time has passed, she has increasingly gained her identity through the size, number, variety, and quality of her packages. She has become addicted to packages and package holding. The threats facing her packages have actually had the opposite effect on our lady friend. She chooses to grasp the threatened packages all the more tightly. Ever more of her energies and attentions are spent tending the growing number of packages. Thus she sweats; thus her inability and even unwillingness to let them go and reach for the door handle. The end result is that the packages inhibit her entrance.

The Paradox

There is a crucial paradox in all of this. After all, the sole function of the church structures and institutions is to facilitate the fulfillment of mission. Yet, in our lady friend’s case, they have just the opposite effect. There is something definitely wrong when the church falls into the role of furthering the mission of semi-ultimatum institutions rather than those institutions furthering the mission of the church. As Robert S. Folkenberg, then president of the Carolina Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Charlotte, North Carolina, pointed out in the June 1989 Ministry magazine, “There is nothing wrong with institutions and structures within themselves, but these entities need to be examined from time to time to make sure they are serving their intended purpose efficiently. After all,” he states, “with the passage of time there is a kind of dysfunctional gravity that tends to pull organizations down from their original purpose.” (“Church Structure—Servant or Master?” Review and Herald Publishing Association, Hagerstown, Maryland, 4–9.)

In other words, the preservation of the structure and/or institution gradually overtakes mission as the predominate concern. Significant! Israel was called to be a light in a world of darkness. The prophet Isaiah describes thus, in Isaiah 60:2, “For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.”

The apostle Paul talks about the condition of the Israelites and the life they lived among the Gentiles: “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them,” talking about the Gentiles, “because of the blindness of their heart.” Ephesians 4:17, 18.

We see here that the Gentiles are enshrouded in darkness, and, without Jesus, they have no hope. In God’s providence, Israel was to be the light to the Gentiles. This is why the prophet Isaiah says of them, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” Isaiah 60:1–3.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church needs to arise and shine unto the world. You will agree with me, I am sure, that this world presently is covered in darkness. We are called to reflect the glory of Jesus, which is His character, to this world covered in darkness. The people of the world will come to the church because of the glory of Jesus that they see displayed in its members. They will not necessarily come because of the beautiful church buildings. As a matter of fact, some of their places of worship are better buildings than those in which we worship. They will not necessarily leave their beautiful buildings to come to ours. They will not necessarily come because of our padded pews or our air-conditioned churches. They will come because they see the love of Jesus and His righteousness in the lives of its professors. When they look at us, they see the love of Jesus radiant in us, and this draws them to us.

Purpose of the Watchmen

So, the prophet declares that God is saying to His last day church, “Arise, shine. Arise like a watchman and warn the world.”

Isaiah also says in his book, “Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise ye princes [and] anoint thy shield. For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth. And he saw a chariot [with] a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, [and] a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed.” Isaiah 21:5–7.

What is the job of a watchman? In ancient times, sentinels were often stationed on the walls of cities where, from points of vantage, they could overlook important posts to be guarded and give warning of approaching enemies. The safety of all within the cities depended upon their faithfulness. At designated intervals they were required to call to one another to make sure that all were awake and that no harm had fallen upon any. The cry of warning was borne from one to another, each repeating the call until it echoed around the city.

Required Duties

According to Isaiah, the watchman has several required duties: (1) The watchman is to watch! (2) The watchman is to declare whatever he sees. If he sees a lion coming, he is to call out, “A lion is coming.” If he sees a bear coming, he is to sound the alarm, “A bear is coming.” If he sees a bear coming, he is not to call it a chicken. The problem is that the watchman sometimes is not saying what he really is seeing. He is declaring a different thing, but God is dependent upon the watchman to say what he sees. It is very critical. (3) The watchman is to listen carefully. The watchman must know the time of night, for the people are waiting for direction and guidance.

Ellen White tells us that, “God has appointed the church as a watchman, to have a jealous care over the youth and children, and as a sentinel to see the approach of the enemy and give warning of danger.” Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 165. All of us are watchmen. “But,” she continues, “the church does not realize the situation.” Ibid. This is the reason why many of us who begin to speak as watchmen in the church are thrust out. The church is not prepared to have the truth spoken.

Mrs. White goes on to say, “She [the church] is sleeping on guard.” Ibid. When a watchman is sleeping while on guard there is trouble. There is no safety. “In this time of peril, fathers and mothers must arouse and work as for life, or many of the youth will be forever lost.” Ibid. She is warning that many of our young people will be forever lost if we do not each faithfully stay on our watch.

Warn the Wicked

Another duty of the watchman is to “warn the wicked from his way”: “ When I say unto the wicked, O wicked [man], thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked [man] shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.” Ezeikel 33:8, 9. I would submit to you that wicked people are not only in the world. When we talk about wicked people, quite often our minds first think of those in the world. We say the world is filled with wicked people, but there are a number of wicked people in the church. We, as watchmen, have a job to warn them all.

“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life; the same wicked [man] shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. You have done your job. You have delivered thy soul.” Ezekiel 3:17–19.

The Greatest Work

We quite often want to keep silent, because we do not want to offend our brethren! But consider the following counsel from the Lord’s servant: “Whatever the danger, Christ’s followers must avow their principles. They should scorn concealment. They cannot remain uncommitted until assured of safety in confessing the truth. They are set as watchmen, to warn men of their peril. The truth received from Christ must be imparted to all, freely and openly.” The Desire of Ages, 355. What is our job? Our job as Seventh-day Adventists is to warn men of the peril that is coming.

“What is a watchman for, unless it be to watch for evil and give the warning?” Testimonies, vol. 1, 314. “In a special sense Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers.” Ibid., vol. 9, 19. We are set in the world as watchmen, and we are not to apologize for our job, because “To them has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world.” Ibid. In other words, if we do not give the warning, people are going to perish. “On them is shining wonderful light from the word of God.” Ibid. There is no other church, no other religion, no other denomination that has the message that we as a people have. We have been favored by God, but, alas, we have become ashamed of our position.

“They have been given a work of the most solemn import—the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages. There is no other work of so great importance. They are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention.” Ibid. Now, I know that your job is important; your family is important; but, believe me, if you are not involved in leading people to know the Lord, you are not doing the most important work of a watchman.

Mission

Mission is what the Seventh-day Adventist Church is all about. It was raised up for that purpose. Mission is the only reason for the denomination’s existence, yet Adventists are in danger in places—especially North America, Western Europe, and Australia—where the work is dying instead of growing. We are in danger of becoming just another nice, comfortable denomination or social club—go to church, hear a sermon, close the church at 12:00 noon, and go home or to the park, the beach, or the golf course. This is not the mission for which this church was raised up. We are called to warn people that impending doom is coming!

Some churches have become what I call man’s tenet churches. In such churches, there is no evangelism, no telling someone about Jesus; it seems they selfishly want to just keep what they have to themselves. As a matter of fact, some churches do not want anyone else to come into their church for fear that they will come in and upset the status quo. They are in the wrong place! Now is not the time for settling down. This world is not our home.

Tarrying Time Problem

What is the problem? Jesus has not come. Because there is a tarrying time, because the Bridegroom is delayed, the virgins have fallen asleep. Beyond this, some Seventh-day Adventists have begun to wonder if Jesus will ever come. Continuing time has sprung the fruits of secularism, disorientation, and institutionalism in the church. The church has become an entity—everything except a soul-winning entity.

The extension of time has mothered every problem currently faced by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and yet time goes on and Jesus has not come. He is waiting for us to perform our duty as watchmen.

Keep Not Silent

A watchman is not to hold his peace. God declares: “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, [which] shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence.” Isaiah 62:6. Yet, sometimes, as we speak the truth and what God puts upon our hearts, there are those who begin to verbalize their dissatisfaction, and the watchmen become quiet. Then Satan rejoices when the watchmen resign and look for another job.

Jesus advised that if everyone speaks well of us, we need to be cautious. “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” Luke 6:26. Do not work to be loved by everyone in the church. Make sure that your name is written down in the books of heaven.

One Voice

Seventh-day Adventists have been given special messages that have not been entrusted to any other denomination, such as the messages of the three angels, the sanctuary, health reform, dress reform, and the non-immortality of the soul. In the face of ridicule, hostility, and isolation, we must not be afraid or ashamed to proclaim these sobering, life-saving truths.

One of the problems that keeps us from sharing these messages, however, is that we are not united in what we believe. How can we be, when some of the church’s ministers are trained in the schools of Babylon? Today, the ministers are trained everywhere except where they are supposed to be trained. If a minister of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is trained in a Catholic institution, he cannot give us Adventism. We must not purposely allow ministers to attend non-Adventist institutions to be trained. God’s people have need of one voice. If the ministers are trained in the schools of Babylon, can they be faithful watchmen?

In order for God’s watchmen to perform effectively and warn the world, they must see eye-to-eye. We read, in Isaiah 52:8, “Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together they shall sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.” As watchmen, we must not be speaking different things. We must not have different points of view on baptism or on health reform or on the sanctuary. We must speak with one voice.

The people in the church need to be guided correctly. It has nothing to do with my opinion or your opinion. It has to do with God’s Word, and preparing a people for the coming of the Lord. So we must see eye-to-eye. We must see things the same.

Why is it important that we see things eye-to-eye? Because the world is covered in darkness and is crying out to us, asking, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?” Isaiah 21:11. What answers are we giving to the world? The people of the world are asking the watchman, What of the night of sadness, the night of sorrow, of loneliness, the night of evil and wickedness, the night of violence and crime, the night of injustice and oppression? The night is a very lonely time. Many people die in the night; many are fearful of the night, and they ask, “Watchman, what of the night?”

World Wants to Know

The world wants to know. The heads of state want to know. They need answers to the significant changes taking place in the world. Mrs. White tells us: “Rulers and statesmen, men who occupy positions of trust and authority, thinking men and women of all classes, have their attention fixed upon the events taking place about us. They are watching the strained, restless relations that exist among the nations. They observe the intensity that is taking possession of every earthly element, and they recognize that something great and decisive is about to take place—that the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis.” My Life Today, 229.

Yes, people want to know. They need answers to the tsunami that destroyed a quarter of a million people. They need answers to the election of Pope Benedict and the role he will play in world events. They need answers to the position of the United States in world affairs. They need answers to the epidemic and pandemic nature of AIDS and other such deadly diseases. They need answers to the mergers that are taking place all over the world, to the decline in morality, the unrest among nations, and the destruction of our planet and environment.

Our Answer

“Watchman, what of the night?” How will it end? What is our answer to the world? Jesus Christ, in Luke 21:25–27, said, “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”

“Satan works through the elements also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows. . . .

“While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, he will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at work. In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence. These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous.” The Great Controversy, 589, 590.

This is all the work of Satan. The end is near, and people looking on are asking, “Watchman, what of the night?” Satan is doing his work! “Destruction will be upon both man and beast. ‘The earth mourneth and fadeth away,’ ‘the haughty people . . . do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.’ Isaiah 24:4, 5.”

“Satan is working in the atmosphere; he is poisoning the atmosphere, and here we are dependent upon God for our lives—our present and eternal life. And being in the position that we are, we need to be wide awake, wholly devoted, wholly converted, wholly consecrated to God. But we seem to sit as though we were paralyzed. God of heaven, wake us up!” Selected Messages, Book 2, 52.

“Famines will increase; pestilences will sweep away thousands. Dangers are all around us from the powers without and satanic workings within, but the restraining power of God is now exercised.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 19, 382, 383.

Soon the full force of Satan’s power will be let loose. With all of the inquiries from the people of the world, what is our response to be? “The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye: return, come.” Isaiah 21:12.

But we learn from Isaiah 56:10, 11 that, “His watchmen [are] blind: they are all ignorant, they [are] all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, [they are] greedy dogs [which] can never have enough, and they [are] shepherds [that] cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.”

We have become settled in this world and are unconcerned about the people who need help. The world is dying for the light of God’s truth while God’s people, His watchmen, are focusing on matters of minor importance.

To be continued . . .

Pastor Ivan Plummer ministers through the Emmanuel Seventh Day Church Ministries in Bronx, New York. He may be contacted by telephone at: 718-882-3900.

Watchmen Unto the House of Israel, Part II

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Like Cain, God’s church today is saying, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Genesis 4:9. Abel, Adam’s son, was dead, but it was of no concern to Cain, his brother, for he had killed him. As Abel was dead, the world is dead in trespasses and sins, but even though their voices are crying out to us, just as God said, regarding Abel, “The voice of thy brother’s blood cries unto me from the ground” (verse 10), are we concerned?

The church, God’s watchman in this world, is helping to kill those who need guidance. The unconverted, the Gentiles, are saying, “Watchman, what of the night?” Isaiah 21:11. By their poor example of righteousness and holiness, the church is killing the world. The apostle Paul, speaking to the Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 14:8, said: “For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for the battle?” Peter states, in 1 Peter 2:9–12, “But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past [were] not a people, but [are] now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech [you] as strangers and pilgrims . . . .” We do not belong here; we are strangers and pilgrims, yet we are operating as though this world is our home. Too many of us are behaving as though we live here and are not going anywhere. This world is not our home! Peter says, “Dearly beloved, I beseech [you] as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation” or your lifestyle “honest among the Gentiles.”

It is said that businessmen are not happy anymore to do business with Seventh-day Adventists, because we are not filled with fear. We bargain down their prices to the minimum or below the minimum. We should be a people of righteous statute. When people hear about Adventists, they should be honored to be in our presence; they should be honored to deal with us, because we are of a royal stock. We are children of the heavenly King. But, alas, this is not so. Satan has made his inroad on us, and we have lost our identity. We have become comfortable. We are like other Gentiles. We curse like them; we eat like them, and we sin like them. When people look at us, they see no difference. When they speak to us and need guidance, we cannot give guidance, because we ourselves need guidance.

“Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by [your] goods works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.” Verse 12. I am saying that people do not necessarily come to church because of what we say to them, but because of what they see in us.

Observers

I can never forget about what Ellen White wrote regarding Nicodemus and Jesus. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. (See John 19:39.) “For a time Nicodemus did not publicly acknowledge Christ, but he watched His life, and pondered His teachings. In the Sanhedrin council he repeatedly thwarted the schemes of the priests to destroy Him.” The Desire of Ages, 176. Although Nicodemus was convinced that night that Jesus was the Saviour of the world, he did not show it right away. Mrs. White says, “Nicodemus hid the truth in his heart, and for three years there was little apparent fruit.” Ibid. Why was that? It was because he was a Pharisee, a learned man. He was watching Jesus.

After his interview with Him, Nicodemus was observing Jesus to see if what He said corresponded with how He lived. And after three years of observation, Nicodemus was satisfied that what Jesus said corresponded with His life. She states that, “After the Lord’s ascension, when the disciples were scattered by persecution, Nicodemus came boldly to the front. He employed his wealth in sustaining the infant church that the Jews had expected to be blotted out at the death of Christ. In the time of peril he who had been so cautious and questioning was firm as a rock, encouraging the faith of the disciples, and fur-nishing means to carry forward the work of the gospel. He was scorned and persecuted by those who had paid him reverence in other days. He became poor in this world’s goods; yet he faltered not in the faith which had its beginning
in that night conference with Jesus.” Ibid., 177. Praise God that Nicode-mus’ name is written in the Lamb’s book of life.

There are many intelligent people whom we have come across, there are many people to whom we have witnessed, and they are convinced in their hearts. Sometimes they may not tell us, but they are convinced about what we say—that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, that the sanctuary is true, that health reform is right. But they are privately watching us. They will not tell us, but they watch when we start the Sabbath. In our homes, they watch what we eat.

God has called us to be a peculiar people, holy in lifestyle, showing His glory and praise to the Gentile world. We are not to be giving the world an uncertain sound. To give an uncertain sound means to give confusion, when people not knowing which way to go are depending on us for guidance in the dark hour of earth’s history. The people are depending on the watchmen, God’s true church that keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus.

Uncertainty and Confusion

Today, however, among God’s people there is great uncertainty and confusion over many things. As a result, the world is perishing in darkness for want of guidance. Consider some areas of uncertainty and confusion in the Adventist church today.

There is confusion on the fact that Jesus is coming back for a church without spot or wrinkle. Many who are struggling with sin question that if Jesus is our example, then why did He not sin? Jesus led a sinless life, and He is our example, that we should follow in His steps.

Another significant problem in the church is the issue of worldly music in the church. People are confused as to what type of music we are to play in the house of God. Why are we confused? God does not want reggae music in His house. God does not want rap in His house either. God is not asking for rock and roll or the blues. There will be no such music in heaven.

What about health reform?

What about the Holy Spirit? There are those who are teaching that the Holy Spirit is not a person. Confusion! What does the Bible have to say about the Holy Spirit? That He is the third person of the Godhead. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Mat-thew 28:19. (See also Romans 8:16; 1 Corinthians 2:11–14; Acts 5:3, 4.)

What about the Spirit of Prophecy? Many Adventist ministers do not believe in the Spirit of Prophecy at all. They say that it is your personal opinion, that it is devotional; use it if you want. And because they do not believe, the church does not believe.

What about the sanctuary? Many Adventist ministers do not believe in the doctrine of the sanctuary. These are the people who are preaching in the pulpits Sabbath after Sabbath! “Watchman, what of the night?”

What about dress reform? I am so disturbed when I attend church and see my sisters dressed a certain way—as if to say we have no guidance. I do not believe our sisters should dress in a way that exposes them. A godly woman dresses godly. We have guidance on that.

What about Seventh-day Adventists worshipping on Sunday? Oh, yes. I have been in churches where you can worship on Saturday, if that is your choice, or you can worship on Sunday, if that is your choice. Confusion! “Watchman, what of the night?” Which day is the Sabbath? Whichever—it is up to you! Is that what we teach as a people? Is that what we believe as a people?

Purpose Driven

Everybody seems tired of worship, so the celebration style of worship is coming into the churches. Many do not know why, but allow me to give you an idea about why this celebration style of worship is in our churches. In my office, I have a copy of the book, The Purpose Driven Life. (Rick Warren, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2002.) Have you heard about it? Rick Warren is senior pastor of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, a wealthy suburb of greater Los Angeles. The church has an enormous membership. In the past seven years alone its congregation has taken in 9,100 new members! Today, I hear Adventists saying that we need mega churches. We need churches that seat 5,000 or 10,000 people. This is not, however, what the Spirit of Prophecy counsels.

We are not here to entertain people. The church must move away from being an entertainment center.

Warren or White?

Warren is remarkably gifted in the use of words and phrases, and his latest book, The Purpose Driven Life, has sold over 23 million copies.

The leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination have decided that this book is the book that all of its members should study with extreme care. So, if we are to read Rick Warren’s book, what about the Spirit of Prophecy books that we are throwing away?

I was visiting at my brother’s home in Florida some time ago, and as he was showing me around his new home, we went into his library where he showed me a couple of the older Spirit of Prophecy editions. He told me that while he was attending a seminar at an Adventist school, these books were being thrown away in the garbage, so he said, “Give them to me.”

While the Spirit of Prophecy books that were given to guide us are being thrown away, a Sunday worshipper’s books are being advocated. Do not take me wrong. I am not saying that some Sunday worshippers cannot write good things. What I mean is that we must understand what this book says.

40 Day Guide

In it, Mr. Warren states that the current objective is to get each local church—talking about our denominational leaders—to carefully go through the book in study groups, very slowly, over a period of 40 days during lent. This is what the denominational leaders are saying to the local church leaders, so all of the churches can buy Rick Warren’s book and go through it in 40 days during lent, culminating in a grand Easter celebration. Does that sound like anything Catholic to you? We keep getting closer to the world, to its forms, ceremonies, celebration, and teachings.

“Those who will be heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ to the immortal inheritance, will be peculiar. Yes, so peculiar that God places a mark upon them as His, wholly His. Think ye that God will receive, honor, and acknowledge a people so mixed up with the world that they differ from them only in name?” Testimonies, vol. 1, 287.

Let me define what lent is, if you do not know. Lent is a period of six and one-half weeks from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. During lent, for 40 days, excluding Sunday, fasting is recommended for all Catholics. Lent readies the faithful for celebrating the Pascal mystery after a period of closer attention to the Word of God and more ardent prayer. (Catholic Encyclopedia, www.catholicity.com.)

The Purpose Driven Life is more than a book. On page 9 of his book, Rick Warren states that it is a guide to a 40-day spiritual journey that will enable you to discover the answer to life’s most important question, What on earth am I here for? He asserts that, by the end of this journey, you will know that purpose for your life.

Your Purpose

Why are you here on earth? What is God’s plan for your life? According to Warren’s book, it does not include obedience to the Ten Commandments. In Chapter 35, “God’s Power in Your Weakness,” he says that the reader need not concern himself about his weaknesses and imperfections, that it is true that we can learn to live with many of our weaknesses and drawbacks, but we do not have to stay with them all. There are flaws and mannerisms we all probably should rise above and overcome. Warren uses Romans 7 in a way that will lead to false conclusions. Paul modeled vulnerability in all his lectures. He openly shared his failures: “When I want to do good, I do not, and when I try not to do good, I do it anyway.” (Romans 7:19.)

In Chapter 36, “Made for a Mission,” Warren carefully instructs the reader that he should totally ignore all preparations for Christ’s Second Coming and, of course, the final judgment. When the disciples wanted to talk about prophecy, he writes, Jesus quickly switched the conversation to evangelism. That is what Warren says. Jesus wanted them to concentrate on their mission in the world. Sounds good, does it not? But deceptive. Warren is intimating that Jesus was saying, in a sense, that the details of His return are none of your business. What is your business is the mission He has given you; focus on that.

From another Saddleback brochure, we learn that 40 days of The Purpose Driven Life was publicly endorsed and used in a large number of denominations, including: Assembly of God, Baptist, Church of God, Evangelical Free, International Pentecostal Holiness, Seventh-day Adventist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Nazarene, and I could go on.

Church Growth

Now, this is the crux of the issue: In church growth seminars, pastors, including Seventh-day Adventist pastors, are being taught how to bring in more people off the streets and get them to join the church in droves. How is this done? Church growth seminars teach that doctrine should not be emphasized. That is why in the churches today you do not hear such things. Several years ago, for a couple of weeks, there was a Sabbath School quarterly that talked about the mark of the beast. I was in a church the Sabbath that lesson was studied, and the assistant pastor was teaching the class. He was saying that the mark of the beast could be anything! He said the mark of the beast could be your name; you could be the mark of the beast!

I said to him, “My brother, let me say this to you. We have no reason to apologize for what we believe. We know what the mark of the beast is; the Bible makes it abundantly clear, and we have no reason to apologize.” But we are confused, and it is because of where our ministers are being taught, where they are going and coming back with one voice to re-educate God’s people: Do not focus on standards! And as I see today in the church, wear anything you want to wear; eat anything you want to eat; listen to any kind of music; it does not make a difference as long as you are in the church. As long as you are called Seventh-day Adventist, that is fine.

Religious Marketing

Warren says that music, sociability, and excitement are key factors in bringing in and holding multitudes, not religious beliefs. Do not teach the doctrines, because when you teach the doctrines, it will run away the people. People want a convenient religion. Give the people what they want.

The Willow Creek (Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, Illinois) philosophy is that baptism and revival are really religious marketing, and when I studied into this, I discovered that this church and this minister employ a consulting firm called CMS. This firm markets the church for them.

Place for Holy Spirit

So what about the Holy Spirit? Jesus did not tell us to employ consulting firms. Jesus said, “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.” John 16:7, 13. Are the consulting firms the Holy Spirit? CMS, the consulting firm that the Willow Creek Community Church employs, has an impressive list of clientele, including: the Quakers, Isuzu Motors, the City of West Covina, Saddleback Valley Community Church, Presbyterians, etc. A full-service custom marketing and communications agency headquartered in Covina, California, CMS’ consulting services are varied, but their focus is to give the people what they want. That is the strategy they use.

Music

To better understand, consider music. You should be made aware of the fact that Rick Warren calls his church the flock that likes to rock. He is referring to the music at Saddleback. According to Warren, every possible type of music is good. Now, remember that this is a man who is teaching Seventh-day Adventist ministers. Do you understand why different types of music are coming into this church? Do you understand the praise and worship? In one church I attended, I saw a lady on the stage starting to do some bodily things. Do you know what I mean?

According to Warren, every possible type of music is good, as long as it has Christian words. There is no such thing as Christian music; there are only Christian lyrics. It is the words that make a song sacred, not the tune. That is what he says. You must match your music to the kind of people that your church wishes to reach. The music you use positions your church in your community; it defines who you are. It will determine the kind of people you attract, the kind of people you keep, and the kind of people you lose. That is what Warren says. Now you can better understand why your local church is changing on Sabbath morning.

Warren says that God loves all kinds of music because He invented it all. But that is not true. Rick Warren says that we should use drums, clashing cymbals, loud trumpets, tambourines, and stringed instruments. Is that what we have in the Adventist churches today? How sad!

I want you to understand that the hour is late. The time in which we live is a momentous and stupendous one. Earl Nightingale, founder of the achievement-learning company Nightingale-Conant, once stated that we are living in a changing world. Great, solemn, and eternal events are taking place that point to one magnificent occasion.

Because the world knows us as a people of prophecy, the question comes to us again, “Watchman, what of the night?” The night of this current world is not very encouraging.

An Awakening

From the Sunday Observer (Jamaica), April 24, 2005, it was reported that Pope Benedict XVI said that he is determined to unite Christians of whatever stripe, and that his final attack will be to reconstitute the full and visible unity of all Christ’s followers.

Not many people understand why Benedict XVI chose the name Benedict. He took the name Benedict XVI because the Order of St. Benedict had sworn with a solemn oath to destroy the Sabbath-keeping, Bible-teaching churches and schools in Europe.

One Sabbath I visited with a pastor who had met, several years ago in Columbia, a former priest who used to work at the Vatican. This former priest had just become a Seventh-day Adventist, and he told that the Seventh-day Adventists had a bitter enemy in the Vatican—Joseph Ratzinger.

Today, Joseph Ratzinger is the pope, and he is resolved that Adventist Sabbath keepers will either cooperate or be annihilated. I believe Adventists are up for an awakening. We need to determine what we are about. Are we watchmen on the walls of Zion? Will we stand for Jesus no matter what? We have a decision to make today. If you have been fooling around with your Christianity, today is your opportunity. You can recommit yourself and get right with God.

Yes, as watchmen, we must be able to say, “The morning cometh”—the morning of hope, the morning of peace, the morning of deliverance. “Watchman, what of the night?”

Pastor Ivan Plummer ministers through the Emmanuel Seventh Day Church Ministries in Bronx, New York. He may be contacted by telephone at: 718-882-3900.

Prophecies on God’s Church in the End Time, Part I

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As we read the Three Angels’ Messages, we see that they are for all people, for every nation in the world. What is important for Germany is important for America also, and for all the other countries of the world. Therefore, I want to present the issues we are facing in Germany today, and you need to decide if you have the same problems in your part of the world too.

The end time is marked with a terrible situation, as has never before been. God has given specific guidance for His people during this time through the Spirit of Prophecy. We need to look very closely at it, and study the statements God gave for the time of Ellen White, herself, and the statements that apply specifically for us in our time. In this study, we must be very careful to use all of her statements in the place and time she made them. She made statements that had not such a significant meaning as for our time. In our time, these statements have a much deeper meaning and importance. She wrote, “Every jot and tittle is essential and must appear at an opportune time.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 57.

Jesus had much to tell His disciples, and He said, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” John 16:12. So it is with the Advent people. Ellen White had many things to tell us, and we need to find out what she had for us personally, in a special sense, as a people of the end time. We need to understand the visions she had, such as the one when she saw the Adventist people traveling on a small path to the heavenly Jerusalem, as recorded in Early Writings, 14–16:

“While I was praying at the family altar, the Holy Ghost fell upon me, and I seemed to be rising higher and higher, far above the dark world. I turned to look for the Advent people in the world, but could not find them, when a voice said to me, ‘Look again, and look a little higher.’ At this I raised my eyes, and saw a straight and narrow path, cast up high above the world. On this path the Advent people were traveling to the city, which was at the farther end of the path. They had a bright light set up behind them at the beginning of the path, which an angel told me was the midnight cry. This light shone all along the path and gave light for their feet so that they might not stumble. If they kept their eyes fixed on Jesus, who was just before them, leading them to the city, they were safe. But soon some grew weary, and said the city was a great way off, and they expected to have entered it before. Then Jesus would encourage them by raising His glorious right arm, and from His arm came a light which waved over the Advent band, and they shouted, ‘Alleluia!’ Others rashly denied the light behind them and said that it was not God that had led them out so far. The light behind them went out, leaving their feet in perfect darkness, and they stumbled and lost sight of the mark and of Jesus, and fell off the path down into the dark and wicked world below. Soon we heard the voice of God like many waters, which gave us the day and hour of Jesus’ coming. The living saints, 144,000 in number, knew and understood the voice, while the wicked thought it was thunder and an earthquake. When God spoke the time, He poured upon us the Holy Ghost, and our faces began to light up and shine with the glory of God, as Moses’ did when he came down from Mount Sinai.

“The 144,000 were all sealed and perfectly united. On their foreheads was written, God, New Jerusalem, and a glorious star containing Jesus’ new name. At our happy, holy state the wicked were enraged, and would rush violently up to lay hands on us to thrust us into prison, when we would stretch forth the hand in the name of the Lord, and they would fall helpless to the ground. Then it was that the synagogue of Satan knew that God had loved us who could wash one another’s feet and salute the brethren with a holy kiss, and they worshiped at our feet.

“Soon our eyes were drawn to the east, for a small black cloud had appeared, about half as large as a man’s hand, which we all knew was the sign of the Son of man. We all in solemn silence gazed on the cloud as it drew nearer and became lighter, glorious, and still more glorious, till it was a great white cloud. The bottom appeared like fire; a rainbow was over the cloud, while around it were ten thousand angels, singing a most lovely song; and upon it sat the Son of man. His hair was white and curly and lay on His shoulders; and upon His head were many crowns. His feet had the appearance of fire; in His right hand was a sharp sickle; in His left, a silver trumpet. His eyes were as a flame of fire, which searched His children through and through.”

While Mrs. White did not look upon the Adventists of her time in this vision, she identifies that the Adventists were living right before the coming of Christ. It is true that Ellen White believed she would be among the 144,000, but God had a different plan.

Midnight Cry

A hundred years have passed since this vision when God put words in her mouth to show us what we, in the future, should expect before Christ can come back to receive us. This quotation shows plainly that the people in the end time, just before the coming of Christ, will walk with Him in the light of the Midnight Cry. Do you know what the Midnight Cry is? Do you know that the parallel is the ten virgins? The five foolish virgins expected the Lord to come, just as did the five wise virgins. The difference between the groups is that one group had not enough oil in their lamps. Their lamps went out, and they knew that they could not go to the bridegroom without light.

What is this light? This is the message that God’s people need to give to the world, and this lamp needs to burn until Christ comes. There were people in those days that did not just fall asleep physically, but this group was asleep spiritually. This is a very deadly sleep.

The Midnight Cry is a call to move toward the Lord. Did the Adventists of the first generation need to come out? From where did they come out? From what did they need to come out?

We are also called to come out, but we really do not know what it means to come out. We think it means that we just have to separate from some apostate church. That is an important and necessary step, but that is not all of it. In the future, we will see and experience what it means to come out.

Maybe some of us will say, as Mrs. White wrote, “It could not have been God who led us this far.” What will happen to them? They will fall from the path to the evil and dark world below them.

144,000

The 144,000 are spoken of in this vision. A large group will go away from the 144,000. Do we see this happening today?

The 144,000 will meet the Lord. They will all have been sealed and perfectly united. That does not only mean united in some organization. I am doubtful that it at all refers to an organizational structure. This union refers to a spiritual union.

This little company of 144,000 is described in Early Writings, 88, 89: “I asked the angel if there were none left. He bade me look in an opposite direction, and I saw a little company traveling a narrow pathway. All seemed to be firmly united, bound together by the truth, in bundles, or companies. Said the angel, ‘The third angel is binding, or sealing, them in bundles for the heavenly garner.’ This little company looked careworn, as if they had passed through severe trials and conflicts. And it appeared as if the sun had just risen from behind a cloud and shone upon their countenances, causing them to look triumphant, as if their victories were nearly won.”

Loud Cry

Ellen White wrote that the Loud Cry from the first Adventist generation will be repeated, just as the fall of Babylon will be repeated, in a special sense. “The message of the fall of Babylon, as given by the second angel, is repeated, with the additional mention of the corruptions which have been entering the churches since 1844.” Ibid., 277. Ellen White speaks of the total fall of Babylon. In her time, the Catholic Church had been a fallen church already, and the majority of the Protestant churches had been falling. The call came to the faithful children of God, “Come out of her.” This call to the faithful church of God will be repeated in a special sense, even though this call has been given since 1844.

“The glory of God rested upon the patient, waiting saints, and they fearlessly gave the last solemn warning, proclaiming the fall of Babylon and calling upon God’s people to come out of her that they might escape her fearful doom.

“The light that was shed upon the waiting ones penetrated everywhere, and those in the churches who had any light, who had not heard and rejected the three messages, obeyed the call and left the fallen churches. Many had come to years of accountability since these messages had been given, and the light shone upon them, and they were privileged to choose life or death. Some chose life and took their stand with those who were looking for their Lord and keeping all His commandments. The third message was to do its work; all were to be tested upon it, and the precious ones were to be called out from the religious bodies. A compelling power moved the honest, while the manifestation of the power of God brought a fear and restraint upon their unbelieving relatives and friends so that they dared not, neither had they the power to, hinder those who felt the work of the Spirit of God upon them.” Ibid., 277, 278.

Come Out

It had been shown to Mrs. White that when the churches in her day were founded, they were pure, but later on they collected many defilements. To those churches the call of God goes, “Come out of them, my people.”

“Babylon is said to be ‘the mother of harlots.’ By her daughters must be symbolized churches that cling to her doctrines and traditions, and follow her example of sacrificing the truth and the approval of God, in order to form an unlawful alliance with the world. The message of Revelation 14, announcing the fall of Babylon must apply to religious bodies that were once pure and have become corrupt. Since this message follows the warning of the judgment, it must be given in the last days; therefore it cannot refer to the Roman Church alone, for that church has been in a fallen condition for many centuries. Furthermore, in the eighteenth chapter of the Revelation the people of God are called upon to come out of Babylon. According to this scripture, many of God’s people must still be in Babylon. And in what religious bodies are the greater part of the followers of Christ now to be found? Without doubt, in the various churches professing the Protestant faith. At the time of their rise these churches took a noble stand for God and the truth, and His blessing was with them. Even the unbelieving world was constrained to acknowledge the beneficent results that followed an acceptance of the principles of the gospel.” The Great Controversy, 382, 383. [Emphasis in original.]

This call, “Come out of her, My people,” is the same call which the angel from Revelation 18 brings to the world in calling the faithful from the apostate churches to unite them with Himself. This angel is not some heavenly being. Ellen White said that this angel should be you—you and me. We shall give the call, “Come out of her, My people.” (See The Great Controversy, 611; Testimonies, vol. 5, 383.)

Complete Fall

What makes this fall of Babylon complete? “Revelation 18 points to the time when, as the result of rejecting the threefold warning of Revelation 14:6–12, the church will have fully reached the condition foretold by the second angel, and the people of God still in Babylon will be called upon to separate from her communion.” The Great Controversy, 390.

What church has accepted the Three Angels’ Messages? Yes, the Seventh-day Adventist Church. No other church has accepted these messages. Then, if just this one church has accepted all of these messages, what church can be spoken of as rejecting these messages?

Mrs. White further states that the result of rejecting the Three Angels’ Messages means that a spirit of lies will control those churches. This spirit of lies is described in 11 Thessalonians 2:12. “When those that ‘believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness’ (11 Thessalonians 2:12), shall be left to receive strong delusion and to believe a lie, then the light of truth will shine upon all whose hearts are open to receive it, and all the children of the Lord that remain in Babylon will heed the call: ‘Come out of her, My people’ (Revelation 18:4).” Ibid.

Are there lies among the Seventh-day Adventists which may be a mark of this satanic spirit of lies? God warned His people through Ellen White very severely. God warned His people before the lies of Satan came, and here we have some quotations that contain those warnings. God warns His people of their unification with the world. God warns beforehand of the lie that we have a great influence on the people of the world if we link up with them. When God says that we are in danger of becoming a synagogue of Satan, He is warning us of devilish controversy—a controversy with the world, a controversy with the other churches.

In his lies, Satan suggests that, “If you link yourselves with the world, you will have more advantages. Maybe you could hinder the persecution somehow.” Whoever is following those lies is directly following Satan. We cannot say we have not been warned.

Church with Great Light

In Testimonies, vol. 8, 249, Ellen White speaks of the Seventh-day Adventists. She describes this church that has received great light, but she also tells about the defiled condition in which they are. She describes it as a church that did not heed the call of God.

“ ‘Because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before Mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.’ ‘God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie,’ ‘because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved,’ ‘but had pleasure in unrighteousness.’ Isaiah 66:3, 4; 11 Thessalonians 2:11, 10, 12.”

God called, “Come out of her, My people,” but they connected themselves with the churches from which they were supposed to come out. They did what was evil before His eyes. Therefore, God shall send them strong delusions that they shall believe a lie. Again it is talking about Seventh-day Adventists.

“The second angel’s message of Revelation 14 was first preached in the summer of 1844, and it then had a more direct application to the churches of the United States, where the warning of the judgment had been most widely proclaimed and most generally rejected, and where the declension in the churches had been most rapid. But the message of the second angel did not reach its complete fulfillment in 1844. The churches then experienced a moral fall, in consequence of their refusal of the light of the advent message; but that fall was not complete. As they have continued to reject the special truths for this time they have fallen lower and lower. Not yet, however, can it be said that ‘Babylon is fallen, . . . because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.’ [Revelation 14:8.] She has not yet made all nations do this. The spirit of world conforming and indifference to the testing truths for our time exists and has been gaining ground in churches of the Protestant faith in all the countries of Christendom; and these churches are included in the solemn and terrible denunciation of the second angel. But the work of apostasy has not yet reached its culmination.

“The Bible declares that before the coming of the Lord, Satan will work ‘with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness;’ and they that ‘received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved,’ will be left to receive ‘strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.’ 11 Thessalonians 2:9–11. Not until this condition shall be reached, and the union of the church with the world shall be fully accomplished throughout Christendom, will the fall of Babylon be complete. The change is a progressive one, and the perfect fulfillment of Revelation 14:8 is yet future.” The Great Controversy, 389, 390. [Emphasis in original.]

Before the coming of Christ, a condition will be reached as described with the union of the church with the world, all over the world, throughout Christendom. Not until this union of the church with the world, throughout all of Christendom, will the fall of Babylon be complete. And only when the fall of Babylon is complete will the second Loud Cry come—this special loud cry which is given in all churches, including the last church which God has on earth.

No Unity with World

“The world must not be introduced into the church, and married to the church, forming a bond of unity. Through this means the church will become indeed corrupt.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 265.

The ecumenical bonds have different names in the different parts of the world. In Germany, it is called the Workshop of Christian Churches. Regardless what the name may be, they all are the same bond with Satan. Through these bonds, the church will indeed be defiled, corrupted, as stated in Revelation 18.

Small Company

This little group which has been described, this small end-time church, is found and sealed through the third angel. They are going on a narrow path and are bound in groups through the truth—the truth which is believed and lived, as shown in the third angel’s message.

In Matthew 7:13, 14, Jesus said, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

How many will find the strait gate? The last generation which will meet Jesus—144,000. Is it a large number? Can you calculate how many would be from your area? In Berlin, we once calculated that there might be 10 or 12 people who would possibly be part of this number. We know what that means. We have to make such an effort to be among that number. It will cost all our energy; even though we will not be among the 144,000 because of our strength, it will cost all of our effort to get eternal life.

Parallel Development

How does God view the Advent movement? “The Lord has bestowed great blessings upon His church. Justice demands that she return these talents with usury. As the treasures of truth committed to her keeping have increased, her obligations have increased. But instead of improving upon these gifts and going forward unto perfection, she has fallen away from that which she had attained in her earlier experience. The change in her spiritual state has come gradually and almost imperceptibly. As she began to seek the praise and friendship of the world, her faith diminished, her zeal grew languid, her fervent devotion gave place to dead formality. Every advance step toward the world was a step away from God. As pride and worldly ambition have been cherished, the spirit of Christ has departed, and emulation, dissension, and strife have come in to distract and weaken the church.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 240, 241.

There is a parallel development of the modern angel and ancient Israel just before the coming of Christ. Ellen White wrote: “We want to understand the time in which we live. We do not half understand it. We do not half take it in. My heart trembles in me when I think of what a foe we have to meet, and how poorly we are prepared to meet him. The trials of the children of Israel, and their attitude just before the first coming of Christ, have been presented before me again and again to illustrate the position of the people of God in their experience before the second coming of Christ—how the enemy sought every occasion to take control of the minds of the Jews, and today he is seeking to blind the minds of God’s servants, that they may not be able to discern the precious truth.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 406.

“The alliances made by the Israelites with their heathen neighbors resulted in the loss of their identity as God’s peculiar people. They became leavened by the evil practises [sic] of those with whom they formed forbidden alliances. Affiliation with worldlings caused them to lose their first love, and their zeal for God’s service. The advantages they sold themselves to gain, brought only disappointment, and caused the loss of many souls.

“The experience of Israel will be the experience of all who go to the world for strength, turning away from the living God. Those who forsake the mighty One, the source of all strength, and affiliate with worldlings, placing on them their dependence, become weak in moral power, as are those in whom they trust.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 4, 1155, 1156. Those who are trying to come together with the other churches for a worldly advantage are exactly the fulfillment of this prophecy, of this danger.

“Satan’s snares are laid for us as verily as they were laid for the children of Israel just prior to their entrance into the land of Canaan. We are repeating the history of that people.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 160.

To be continued . . .

Dr. Korinth is a physician living in Berlin, Germany. He is very active in speading the Three Angels’ Messages throughout Europe. He and his family have a printing press in their home and have had tracts translated in most of the different European languages. He is a promoter of home churches and is very interested in working with other historic Seventh-day Adventist groups worldwide. He may be contacted by e-mail at: hkorinth@mefag.de.

Prophecies on God’s Church in the End Time, Part II

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The following quotation is one that many Adventists do not want to apply to themselves. They look only to the other churches, applying the warning to them: “I saw that as the Jews crucified Jesus, so the nominal churches had crucified these [Three Angels’] messages, and therefore they have no knowledge of the way into the most holy, and they cannot be benefited by the intercession of Jesus there. Like the Jews, who offered their useless sacrifices, they offer up their useless prayers to the apartment which Jesus has left; and Satan, pleased with the deception, assumes a religious character, and leads the minds of these professed Christians to himself, working with his power, his signs and lying wonders, to fasten them in his snare.” Early Writings, 261.

Does that apply to Adventists today? Can we crucify Christ today? When Ellen White compares the crucifixion of Christ with the crucifixion of the Three Angels’ Messages, she describes an undermining of the Word by those who were aiming to destroy the fundamental beliefs of Adventism. God gave His people warning messages. It is Satan’s aim to destroy the sanctuary message and the Three Angels’ Messages.

An Effective Tool

Organization is good. It is a tool for the church, but the organization itself is not the church. Ellen White wrote of this and of Satan’s aim concerning the Adventist organization: “As our numbers increased, it was evident that without some form of organization there would be great confusion, and the work would not be carried forward successfully. To provide for the support of the ministry, for carrying the work in new fields, for protecting both the churches and the ministry from unworthy members, for holding church property, for the publication of the truth through the press, and for many other objects, organization was indispensable. . . .

“We sought the Lord with earnest prayer that we might understand His will, and light was given by His Spirit that there must be order and thorough discipline in the church—that organization was essential. System and order are manifest in all the works of God throughout the universe. Order is the law of heaven, and it should be the law of God’s people on the earth.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 26.

“Oh, how Satan would rejoice to get in among this people and disorganize the work at a time when thorough organization is essential and will be the greatest power to keep out spurious uprisings and to refute claims not endorsed by the word of God!” Ibid., 228.

“Organizations, institutions, unless kept by the power of God, will work under Satan’s dictation to bring men under the control of men; and fraud and guile will bear the semblance of zeal for truth, and for the advancement of the kingdom of God.” Ibid., 494. Satan’s methods are practiced even among Seventh-day Adventists who claim to have the advantage of truth.

This danger was already visible in Ellen White’s time! Many Seventh-day Adventists do not recognize that Satan already works through the organization of the Seventh-day Adventists, but he has a very effective tool in his hand. He can bring men under the control of other men.

Fallen Preachers

Ellen White warns us of fallen leaders and preachers, for through their influence whole churches have been and will be defiled. “If those who hold positions of trust in connection with our institutions, or in connection with the church, make self first, if their hands are defiled in any way, and they do not reflect in character the image of the divine One, they are bodies of darkness.” Review and Herald, February 27, 1894.

“We are in a day when iniquity abounds. There are those who have but little moral sense; self-pollution has been practiced, and the moral powers are benumbed. Such have no just sense of holiness or purity. They are corrupt, and will corrupt others. Miserable wrecks of humanity are everywhere. Some put on a religious garb; but the soul is defiled, and they corrupt other minds. They call evil good, and good evil. They are Satan’s most efficient agents, and individuals of this stamp will connect with our institutions and with God’s instrumentalities, masking their evil ways under a pretension of godliness.” Pamphlet 167, Counsels to Physicians and Medical Students, 38, 39.

She is describing those men who will be the reason for evil deeds, and when people follow these men, they will be separated from God. We are warned of those who defile institutions; we should never put our trust in men, but only in Christ and in His Word. All who trust in preachers who bring them nice and sweet words to calm them down are cursed. “The people are too willing to believe their teachers without careful thought and prayerful investigation of God’s word. They love to have their consciences quieted,—love to be rocked to sleep in the cradle of carnal security. In their blind selfishness, they deceive themselves in those things wherein they are willing to be deceived.” The Signs of the Times, March 6, 1884.

“Men who have perverted truth, misapplied Scripture, and who have become blinded by resisting the word which is truth, form the great apostate power of the last day. It belongs to the same order as the power which the Lord Jesus revealed to John as drunken with the blood of saints. It is to pursue the same line of action, determined to rule or ruin. The crisis is right upon us, and many will be deceived. Men who have all their life had opportunity to learn of Christ, but who have tenaciously clung to their own habits and practices, unwilling to change their own course of action and walk in the light, will act like blind men. They will accept everything that will coincide with their own ideas.” The Bible Echo, January 25, 1897.

End Time Apostasy

Ellen White predicts a dramatic apostasy in the end time. “Be not deceived; many will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. We have now before us the alpha of this danger. The omega will be of a most startling nature.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 197. Can you already see part of those startling things happening around you?

“I [Ellen White] knew that the omega would follow in a little while; and I trembled for our people.” Ibid., 203.

Do you know what the Alpha crisis has been among the Adventist people? You can read about it in Book 1 of Selected Messages. This crisis and what God told us these situations are teaching are helpful to us in the end time crisis.

“The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result? The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church, would be discarded. Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced.” Ibid., 204.

“We are living in the last days of this earth’s history, and we may be surprised at nothing in the line of apostasies and denials of the truth. Unbelief has now come to be a fine art, which men work at to the destruction of their souls. There is constant danger of there being shams in pulpit pr eachers, whose lives contradict the words they speak; but the voice of warning and of admonition will be heard as long as time shall last; and those who are guilty of transactions that should never be entered into, when reproved or counseled through the Lord’s appointed agencies, will resist the message and refuse to be corrected. They will go on as did Pharaoh, and Nebuchadnezzar, until the Lord takes away their reason, and their hearts become unimpressible. The Lord’s Word will come to them; but if they choose not to hear it, the Lord will make them responsible for their own ruin.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 4, 1170.

Is this being fulfilled today? We still have a time of mercy, although the time of mercy for Seventh-day Adventists is ending earlier than for the rest of the world, which has not yet had the opportunity to hear the truth. “Oh, that the people might know the time of their visitation! There are many who have not yet heard the testing truth for this time. There are many with whom the Spirit of God is striving. The time of God’s destructive judgments is the time of mercy for those who have had no opportunity to learn what is truth. Tenderly will the Lord look upon them. His heart of mercy is touched; His hand is still stretched out to save, while the door is closed to those who would not enter.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 97.

Ellen White stated that in her time she already had the impression that some pastors had gone too far, as they could not repent. “I inquire of those in responsible positions in Battle Creek, What are you doing? You have turned your back, and not your face, to the Lord. There needs to be a cleansing of the heart, the feelings, the sympathies, the words, in reference to the most momentous subjects—the Lord God, eternity, truth. What is the message to be given at this time? It is the third angel’s message. But that light which is to fill the whole earth with its glory has been despised by some who claim to believe the present truth. Be careful how you treat it. Take off the shoes from off your feet; for you are on holy ground. Beware how you indulge the attributes of Satan, and pour contempt upon the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. I know not but some have even now gone too far to return and to repent.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 89, 90.

When I look around among the German people and talk with our pastors, I only can agree with that impression. They cannot any longer see the truth. They are equally as blind as were the Pharisees who could not believe that God would cast off His people. But they forgot one thing—all prophesying of God is connected to conditions; promises are connected to conditions. They did not fulfill the conditions, but they liked to take the promises. Are we the same?

Fatal Choice

“Unsanctified ministers are arraying themselves against God. They are praising Christ and the god of this world in the same breath. While professedly they receive Christ, they embrace Barabbas, and by their actions say, ‘Not this Man, but Barabbas.’ ” Ibid., 409. Well, sure, all of those churches around us are this way, but keep on reading. “Many will stand in our pulpits with the torch of false prophecy in their hands, kindled from the hellish torch of Satan. If doubts and unbelief are cherished, the faithful ministers will be removed from the people who think they know so much. ‘If thou hadst known,’ said Christ, ‘even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.’ [Luke 19:42.]” Ibid., 409, 410.

Where will the faithful pastors and ministers be? Together with the professed people of God when they are in apostasy? The faithful ministers will be removed from the so-called Adventist people. We need to learn to distinguish between the real people of God and the so-called people of God.

What do we experience as the faithful ministers or preachers are removed from the so-called Adventist people? Are they separated from the true people of God? No, they are separated from the so-called or professed people of God. We must learn and know the difference. If we do not learn this differentiation, we will confuse and mix all the quotations of the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy that talk about the people of God. There is only one true people of God.

Ring-leaders

“Those who have been regarded as worthy and righteous prove to be ring-leaders in apostasy and examples in indifference and in the abuse of God’s mercies.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 212. About whom is this talking? It is talking about the ministers of God who once were His faithful ministers, bestowed with His presence and His guidance, but they departed from Christ and led others into error. Therefore, they are brought under divine displeasure.

Some Adventists do not discern this apostasy, and they are warned through the following quotations: “Men of finite judgment cannot see that in patterning after these men who have so often opened to them the treasures of God’s word, they will surely endanger their souls. Jesus is the only true pattern. Everyone must now search the Bible for himself upon his knees before God, with the humble, teachable heart of a child, if he would know what the Lord requires of him. However high any minister may have stood in the favor of God, if he neglects to follow out the light given him of God, if he refuses to be taught as a little child, he will go into darkness and satanic delusions and will lead others in the same path.” Ibid., 214.

Apostasy Prepares Way

Paul, in 11 Thessalonians 2:3, described the apostasy of the church. He said, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.”

So apostasy in the church will prepare the way for the image of the beast. (See The Great Controversy, 443.) What is the image of the beast? “The ‘image to the beast’ represents that form of apostate Protestantism which will be developed when the Protestant churches shall seek the aid of the civil power for the enforcement of their dogmas.” The Great Controversy, 445.

Unfortunately, that is happening now in Germany. Protestantism and the ecumenical movement are requiring Sunday laws from the state. It will happen in the United States: “When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the state to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result.” Ibid.

Read again the testimony in Revelation 13:15, 4: “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who [is] like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” This image is being formed, and the ecumenical unification is a step in this direction. Only unified churches of the world can force the state to support their dogmas. If the Seventh-day Adventist Church unites with those churches, is it still opposing the dogmas?

The leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Germany probably voted to keep Sunday as a national holiday. There has been no threat of religious persecution; it is just to keep no work on Sunday. In Germany, all the shops are closed and there is no work on Sunday.

This is not really going against the Sabbath, but can we, as Adventists, vote for keeping a work-free Sunday? God says, “Six days thou shalt work.” (Exodus 20:9.) To take a second holiday in the week is apostasy. That is a step towards forming a unity with the beast.

Therefore, Ellen White could state: “The spirit of worldly conformity is invading the churches throughout Christendom. Robert Atkins, in a sermon preached in London, draws a dark picture of the spiritual declension that prevails in England: ‘The truly righteous are diminished from the earth, and no man layeth it to heart. The professors of religion of the present day, in every church, are lovers of the world, conformers to the world, lovers of creature comfort, and aspirers after respectability. They are called to suffer with Christ, but they shrink from even reproach. . . . Apostasy, apostasy, apostasy, is engraven on the very front of every church; and did they know it, and did they feel it, there might be hope; but, alas! they cry, “We are rich, and increased in goods, and stand in need of nothing.” ’—Second Advent Library, tract No. 39.” The Great Controversy, 388. Surely she had in view her own people!

“Every church,” she wrote. “Well,” you say, “Ellen White did not write this. This comes from another historian.” When Ellen White quotes a historian of church history and includes his statements in her works, does she not stand behind such statements? Otherwise, she would have to criticize the statements! But she put it into The Great Controversy. It is very plain that in the last apostasy the Seventh-day Adventist Church is included.

Look Forward

When Christ returns, those united with Him are only those who are staying with His orders and His commandments, who heed His prohibitions, who truly heed the call of the Midnight Cry, “Come out of her, my people.” Revelation 18:4. We need to go forward. We are not allowed to look back. We have a great work to do. The whole world needs to be warned—more than just the United States, more than Europe—the whole world. We should allow nothing to hinder us in this work.

The history of most Adventist pastors who stand faithful to Jesus has been always the same. Satan tries to forbid those pastors, through the organization, to spread the message. He has used the organization to hinder it.

Should faithful ministers disregard such commands, even though the danger of losing their jobs exists? Should they disregard the commands, in spite of the danger that they will not receive any money from the conference? They might fear problems of sustaining their families; should they allow those things to hinder them from preaching the truth? When they want to be saved and show all of us the way to find redemption, they should not allow anything to hold them back.

The apostle said, “We need to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29), when the official organization wanted to hinder them. Today, again, there is an organization that wants to stop the faithful pastors. As a result, where are the faithful ministers to be found? Separated from the professed people who think, We are rich and we are in need of nothing. We do not need the Three Angels’ Messages in this clear form. We need a sermon about the love of Christ.

“The Lord knoweth them that are His. The sanctified minister must have no guile in his mouth. He must be open as the day, free from every taint of evil. A sanctified ministry and press will be a power in flashing the light of truth on this untoward generation. Light, brethren, more light we need. Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm in the holy mountain. Gather the host of the Lord, with sanctified hearts, to hear what the Lord will say unto His people; for He has increased light for all who will hear. Let them be armed and equipped, and come up to the battle—to the help of the Lord against the mighty. God Himself will work for Israel. Every lying tongue will be silenced. Angels’ hands will overthrow the deceptive schemes that are being formed. The bulwarks of Satan will never triumph. Victory will attend the third angel’s message. As the Captain of the Lord’s host tore down the walls of Jericho, so will the Lord’s commandment-keeping people triumph, and all opposing elements be defeated. Let no soul complain of the servants of God who have come to them with a heaven-sent message.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 410.

Without a doubt, we need to preach the love of Christ, but the preaching of love is the Three Angels’ Messages in a whole sense.

The Narrow Path

God loves mankind; He wants to save them. But the saving path is narrow. He is not irritated or confused because there are just a few people with you on the path. Do not become insecure that you may be on the wrong path or that you may have come a bit too far out from the mother church. What do we read about those who thus fear? “Some grew weary, and said the city was a great way off, and they expected to have entered it before. Then Jesus would encourage them by raising His glorious right arm, and from His arm came a light which waved over the Advent band, and they shouted, ‘Alleluia!’ Others rashly denied the light behind them and said that it was not God that had led them out so far. The light behind them went out, leaving their feet in perfect darkness, and they stumbled and lost sight of the mark and of Jesus, and fell off the path down into the dark and wicked world below.” Early Writings, 14, 15. They are lost for eternity.

As it is for the pastors, when they turn the wrong way, the same will happen to those who follow them. We cannot allow ourselves to go this wrong way. We cannot allow ourselves not to give the loud cry. We cannot allow ourselves to go together with those who fall off the path of Christ.

Can two walk one way if they are not in unity? Impossible. What is said of the people of the 144,000? Are they in unity? Fully, completely, in all things. May the Lord’s people come and be led to this unity, through His Spirit, through His light. May the Lord give His mercy, that we belong to those who have learned this lesson and who are fitting to the words of Matthew 25:34: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Dr. Korinth is a physician living in Berlin, Germany. He is very active in spreading the Three Angels’ Messages throughout Europe. He and his family have a printing press in their home and have had tracts translated in most of the different European languages. He is a promoter of home churches and is very interested in working with other historic Seventh-day Adventist groups worldwide. He may be contacted by e-mail at: hkorinth@mefag.de.

Principles of Church Organization

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“He [Jesus] who was the foundation of the ritual and economy of Israel would be looked upon as its enemy and destroyer.” The Desire of Ages, 111. The reason for this was that those who were in charge of the system viewed themselves as being the church and they realized that if Jesus were to be accepted, many of them would lose their positions.

There is a similar problem in the professed church of God today. While there are some inspired counsels we are willing to accept, there are many others that we reject. Ellen White wrote many counsels to the church that if they were advocated, would be considered by present church leaders to be dangerous and possibly even capable of destroying the church as it stands today. However, we may never receive God’s blessing until we feed upon every word of Inspiration.

Principles of church organization affect every aspect of the church, from the youngest member on up to the General Conference. In the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, there is a great deal of information dealing with church organization that is written not only to those in leadership positions but to laymen as well.

Throughout history, whenever doctrine becomes corrupted, organization also becomes corrupt. In fact, in Revelation, God is as concerned about false organization as He is about false doctrine. In the writings of Ellen White there is a great deal written about doctrine, but there are also hundreds of pages written about church organization which we are afraid to touch because if we even read the quotation, we will be accused of criticism. It is time, however, that we have the courage of John the Baptist and, with the spirit of love, humbly look at the things God has given to us, praying that He will help us to implement these things so He can pour out His spirit and finish the work He is seeking to do.

We are told in 1 Corinthians 1:2 how the New Testament church was organized. “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.” The church at Corinth, identified by Paul, is not addressed as the church which is registered. It could be, but that is not the point. Nothing is said regarding organization or where they meet. The church here in Corinth represents those people who are sanctified and called to be the saints of God. Now the church was to be organized, but the organization was not the church. The people were the church. These people worked in harmony, because this is possible when God is in the hearts of the members. They would meet and work together, send out missionaries, take up offerings, and do all those things which are necessary for God’s work to progress. But the church itself was the people. This is what the church has always been.

“But you have come to the Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven” (Hebrews 12:22, 23). In a special sense, the church, the true church of God, is composed of those people who are registered in the Book of Life in heaven.

Now this presents a very interesting situation. Who decides who is going to be a church member? Is it the pope who has the keys? If it is not the pope, is it the church board? Can they decide? What about the church body? Can we decide who is saved and who is not, whose name is written in heaven and whose is not?

Well, don’t we have anything to do? Oh, yes, we have something to do. We are called to recognize those whom God has registered in the books in heaven; and those whom He has registered there, we are to register here. He does not, however, follow our suit; we are to follow His, and there is a difference.

Let us suppose that God takes someone’s name off of the books in heaven and they are disfellowshipped. Are they still church members? No. But suppose their names remain in the books on earth. This is an interesting dilemma. The church is purified when the books on earth match the books in heaven. You see, God has given mankind no authority to decide who can be a member and who cannot be a member, but simply to recognize those whom He has accepted or rejected.

God has local congregations here on earth and we have organizations here to help organize the work, but the headquarters of your local church is in heaven, where only the sanctified are registered, not in some office in your state or some office in Washington, D.C. Some people find this rather disconcerting, believing such a policy could lead to all kinds of trouble.

Just suppose that a coup took place in some local church or conference through politicking and some people who were not inspired by the Lord or filled with the Holy Spirit took over through manipulation and because of their prejudices, certain people were unjustly disfellowshiped. Would those who were disfellowshiped cease to be church members? Certainly not. Suppose, on the other hand, people were allowed to come into the church who were never converted. Because their names were in the books on earth, would they, therefore, be automatically registered in the Book of Life? Not in any way, shape, or form. God has never left His church to be manipulated and tampered with by the political whims of mankind. There is coming a time when He is going to turn and overturn the professed church that is called by His name. God’s true church remains the same as it has always been—those people who are registered in the books of heaven.

“God has a church. It is not the great cathedral, neither is it the national establishment, neither is it the various denominations; it is the people who love God and keep His commandments. ‘Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Matthew 18:20). Where Christ is even among the humble few, this is Christ’s church.” The Upward Look, 315.

When Paul was ordained, he was ordained to baptize and establish churches—the two together. According to Inspiration, the same ordination that gives people the right to baptize gives them the right to establish churches. More and more, however, there are increasing restrictions controlling the starting of new churches.

In 1903, Kansas had one hundred churches. The state has grown by almost a million people in the last fifty years, and during that period of time, we have gone from one hundred churches down to fifty-four.

Not only has God alone reserved the right to start and to recognize a church, but if you and I decide to go out and start a church apart from His will, no matter what conference committee may approve it, it will never be a church. “For the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone constitute a church.” Ibid. If God’s presence is not the center of His church, it is not recognized by Him as His church, whether or not it is recognized by a conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

In New Testament times, the church comprised those who were called and sanctified. Wherever Paul went and converted a few people, he organized them into a church, right there and then, without seeking any other permission. It was not up to the church in Jerusalem to give permission or to decide if they were a church, but to recognize the fact that they were. Now, of course, if a church apostatized or if a local member apostatized, it was also up to the church in Jerusalem to decide that, since these people are no longer keeping the commandments of God, they are no longer recognized by us as being one of God’s churches.

For us individually to receive the Holy Spirit, we must study the Bible, pray, overcome sin and witness. For the church body to receive the Holy spirit, they must, as a body, also have these four things present. Not only is it necessary for us as individuals to be winning others to Christ, but God’s design for his church is that every church should start new churches.

One of the things that must take place before God can pour out His blessing upon the church is not only a revival of primitive doctrine, but a revival of primitive organization. The New Testament churches had the freedom to go out and start new churches; but they were not just started and left to flounder by themselves, they were left with local organization. “And when they had preached the gospel to the city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.’ So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed” (Acts 14:21–23).

Authority in the early church was to be earned because of a godly life and knowledge of the Scriptures and the use of the ability that God had given; but never was it to come just by virtue of office. Today our church is almost being destroyed in some parts of this world because some have assumed the office of minister and decided that because they have that office they are the king of the local church. God never intended that office to be that of a king, but one of service.

“From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church” (Acts 20:17). What elders were these that He called? These were the elders who had been appointed. Notice, it is elders plural, not the elder. “Therefore take heed to yourselves [this is the instruction he is giving to these elders] and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears” (Acts 20:28–31).

So, Paul called the elders to guard the church from wolves. In a correlating passage to this in Testimonies, vol. 5, 77, Ellen White, writing of her own experience, says that she could scarcely keep from weeping when she saw the people who were taking charge of the church who were trained by Satan. Paul had the same concern, and the elders were called to protect the church from these wolves.

Now the question is, suppose that a wolf came from Jerusalem. Were the elders to protect the church from that wolf? “Oh, no,” someone says, “not a local elder!” Look here at one of the most interesting passages in the New Testament in regard to this. “Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I [Paul] withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy” (Galatians 2:11–13). Paul stood up and rebuked Peter, but Paul was not happy about this because he was not the one who should have had to do the rebuking.

God had established a local leadership to protect the church, but, surely not from Peter. He was from Jerusalem! He was one of the pillars; he knew Jesus personally. No, not from Peter. They were only Gentiles who had been newly converted to the faith. You do not expect them, these Gentile Galatians who had just come into the Christian church a few years ago, to stand up and rebuke Peter. Peter was from the Jerusalem church. He had been a Jew all his life, one of the pillars in the church, a follower of Jesus—not Peter! I mean, Paul was an apostle. He could do that. But Paul was most unhappy that he had to do that. “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified” (Galatians 3:1)?

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). Someone might say, “That scripture is dealing with circumcision and all those things.” Circumcision was involved, and eating with Gentiles was involved, but that was not the issue! The issue in Galatia was that Peter had caused them to transgress and they were to stand in their freedom, even if it was Peter from Jerusalem who should come down and preach false theology.

“But strange fire has been offered in the use of harsh words, in self-importance, in self-exaltation, in self-righteousness, in arbitrary authority, in domineering, in oppression, in restricting the liberty of God’s people, binding them about by your plans and rules, which God has not framed, neither have they come into His mind. All these things are strange fire, unacknowledged by God, and are a continual misrepresentation of His character.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 357, 358.

The Lord established the church upon the Rock, Jesus Christ, and He alone is to be the head of the church. (See Ephesians 1:22, 23.) The issue in the days of Martin Luther was who was in charge of the church—the Lord or the pope. That was the issue in Wesley’s day and it was also the issue in 1888. It is amazing how little Ellen White deals with doctrine in relationship to 1888. The problem with Jones and Waggoner was that they did not go through the “proper channels.” They were not approved by the “proper people.”

The following statements are from a letter that Ellen White wrote to Elder Butler. “God designs that men shall use their minds and consciences for themselves. He never designed that one man should become the shadow of another, and utter only another’s sentiments. But this error has been coming in among us, that a very few are to be mind, conscience, and judgment for all God’s workers. The foundation of Christianity is ‘Christ our Righteousness.’ ” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, 112. Do you want to know what Christ our Righteousness means? She tells us what it means. “Men are individually responsible to God and must act as God acts upon them, not as another human mind acts upon their mind.” Ibid. God is to decide what is right, not some human committee. God makes the rules, not some human rule book. The Bible is our creed. We always used to say: “We do not have a creed book; the Bible is our creed.”

“For if this method of indirect influence is kept up, souls can not be impressed and directed by the great I AM. They will, on the other hand, have their experience blended with another, and will be kept under a moral restraint, which allows no freedom of action or of choice. …

“If we would be wise, and use diligently, prayerfully, and thankfully the means whereby light and blessings are to come to His people, then no voice nor power upon earth would have authority over us to say, ‘This shall not be.’ ” Ibid., 112, 113.

In the book Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, Ellen White wrote a great deal of material to the leadership and ministry in general after 1888. Much of this book is dealing with this very principle of church authority. Among other similar statements, she said, “The high-handed power that has been developed, as though position has made men gods, makes me afraid, and ought to cause fear. It is a curse wherever and by whomsoever it is exercised.” Ibid., 361. “The spirit of domination is extending to the presidents of the conferences. If a man is sanguine of his own powers and seeks to exercise dominion over his brethren, feeling that he is invested with authority to make his will the ruling power, the best and only safe course is to remove him.” Ibid., 362.

In the chapter “Under Which Banner?” she says, “Humanity is hailed as God.” Ibid., 365. She is talking to us, dear friends. She says, “God will not vindicate any device whereby man shall in the slightest degree rule or oppress his fellowmen.” Ibid., 366. A curse is pronounced upon all who do this. (See Jeremiah 17:5.)

“State conferences may depend upon the General Conference for light and knowledge and wisdom; but is it safe for them to do this? Battle Creek is not to be the center of God’s work. God alone can fill this place. When our people in the different places have their special convocations, teach them, for Christ’s sake and for their own soul’s sake, not to make flesh their arm. There is no power in men to read the hearts of their fellowmen. The Lord is the only One upon whom we can with safety depend, and He is accessible in every place and to every church in the Union. To place men where God should be placed does not honor or glorify God. Is the president of the General Conference to be the god of the people?” Ibid., 375. Following the counsel and teaching of these ideas does not make a person very popular, but we are told to do it.

Instead of teaching the truth that God has commissioned to be taught, Ellen White says we have taught otherwise. “For many years an education has been given to the people which places God second, and man first. The people have been taught that everything must be brought before the council of a few men in Battle Creek.” Ibid., 325. I want you to notice that this is a serious matter because it is breaking the first commandment. God says, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). “Let me entreat our state conferences and our churches to cease putting their dependence upon men and making flesh their arm.” Ibid., 380. Today we have gone far beyond where they were in 1888.

“In reference to our conference, it is repeated o’er and o’er and o’er again, that it is the voice of God, and therefore everything must be referred to the Conference and have the conference voice in regard to permission or restriction or what shall be and what shall not be done in the various fields. …

“We have heard enough, abundance, about that ‘everything must go around in the regular way.’…

“He [God] wants every living soul that has a knowledge of the truth to come to their senses.” Spalding and Magan Collection, 163.

“The Lord wants His Spirit to come in. He wants the Holy Ghost king.” Ibid., 166.

Today we have come to the point, in many places, that if you ever invite someone to come and speak in the pulpit, you have to get the permission of the local conference.

God is looking for every one of us, from the General Conference president down, to be broken on the Rock. When Jesus is the King, unity, peace and love pervade. This does not do away with organization. It is the only thing that creates a working organization. We still have offices, but when God’s plan is followed, no one is striving for office because everyone is striving to serve one another. (See Matthew 20:25–28.)

The message of Christ our Righteousness has to become practical. We need to exercise less and less control over one another and do more and more praying for one another. Let us not decide that God has given any one of us authority to tell everyone else how they are to serve God. God is calling for much more freedom in His church than what we have been willing to allow. There is a place for order, a place for leadership, but dear friend, God is calling for us to be broken on the Rock, to be filled with the humility and the love of Jesus. Then we will find that once again Jesus will be King.

 

Pastor Marshall Grosboll, with his wife Lillian, founded Steps to Life. In July 1991, Pastor Marshall and his family met with tragedy as they were returning home from a camp meeting in Washington state, when the airplane he was piloting went down, killing all on board.

If the Foundations be Destroyed, Part I

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In Amos 4:12, we are told to “prepare to meet thy God.” Are we prepared to meet Jesus? Are we ready for probation to close? In this article, the foundation will be laid for Part II, in which the subject of the image to the beast will be presented. We will discover how near is the close of human probation. There is coming a time when our sins will either be blotted out of the book of life or will remain there as a witness that we are guilty against the government of heaven. That very subject should be uppermost in our minds as we prepare to meet Jesus.

Psalm 11:3 asks, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” If the foundations are being destroyed in a country or in a church, what should the righteous do? There is only one thing to do! We must stick to the original foundation. We must not get off that foundation. We must not leave it!

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3:10, 11, says: “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” There is no other foundation; there is only One. There are not many foundations upon which we can build; there is only One. If the foundations are being destroyed, Jeremiah 6:16 counsels, “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where [is] the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”

A Different Foundation

Since the beginning of earth’s history, the devil has constantly been trying to lay a different foundation. Think back to the Garden of Eden. The devil tried to lay a different foundation than that which had been laid through God. Knowing that God had told Adam and Eve that if they ate of this one special tree they would die, the devil laid another foundation. He said, “You shall not surely die.” Genesis 3:4. The devil has been constantly, from generation to generation, trying to lay a different foundation than that which has been laid in God’s Word.

Luke 19:41, speaking of Jesus, says, “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, ‘If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things [which belong] unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.’ ” The Jews did not understand the time of their visitation. Have you asked yourself why they did not know?

The Rejected Foundation

A foundation was laid in Daniel 9:24–27, and God gave a probationary time to the Jewish nation. “God first sent His prophets to ancient Israel, but their message was not heeded, and as a last resort He sent His Son . . . .” Manuscript Releases, vol. 3, 94. God had been sending prophet after prophet to keep His people on the foundation. As a last resort, at the end of the 490-year period of Daniel 9, Jesus came to His people Himself to show them the foundation platform that they should be on, because they had left it. Jesus told them that they did not know the time of their visitation. Should this be a warning to us also? Should we be asking ourselves whether or not we know that the time of our visitation is near?

Why did the Jews not know the time of their visitation? They had started laying a different foundation. All of those lambs that they were killing pointed to Jesus, the Lamb of God, but they had started laying a different foundation that became a very lucrative business for them. Did the Jews understand salvation? No, they did not understand the principles of salvation through Christ.

Misapplied Prophecy

In The Desire of Ages, Ellen White says that the Jews misapplied prophecy. They were taking the prophecies of Jesus’ Second Coming and applying them to His first coming. (See, for example, pages 30, 387, and 458.) They were taking prophecies of His glorious coming and the conquering of all enemies and applying them to His first coming. The devil laid a different foundation there, did he not? So, when Jesus came and walked among them, they said that He could not be the Messiah, because what they had studied did not fit the description of what they could see with their eyes.

Ought we be careful as to how we study prophecy? Do you suppose we could fall into the same trap as the Jews did? You better believe it! We better be careful that we do not become like the Jews and become so dogmatic in our understanding of prophecy that we think our understanding is the way it has to happen. We could walk into the same trap as did the Jews of old.

When Jesus came, He told them that they did not know the time of their visitation. Their probationary period was about to close, and they did not even realize it. The temple upon which they had put so much emphasis was about to be destroyed, and they did not even know it. They laid a different foundation.

So, if the foundation be destroyed, what are the righteous supposed to do? They are to stick with the foundation that has already been laid. Do not move off that foundation. Ask for the old paths. “The trials of the children of Israel, and their attitude just before the first coming of Christ, have been presented before me [Ellen White] again and again to illustrate the position of the people of God in their experience before the second coming of Christ . . . .” Selected Messages, Book 1, 406.

History Repeated

Do you suppose the devil would like to lay a different foundation for Seventh-day Adventists today, so that we would repeat what happened to the Jews in the time of Christ? His tactics worked then. Things that work in this world we continue to repeat, do we not? It is the same thing with the devil today. His foundation caused a whole nation to go down in ruin, and the devil would like to see that happen again today.

How the enemy sought every occasion to take control of the minds of the Jews! He was successful in taking control of the minds of the Jews through false prophets, false doctrines, and false prophecies; he laid a different foundation. He controlled their minds by misapplying Scripture.

Today, the devil is seeking to blind the minds of God’s servants that they might not be able to discern the precious truth. God is telling us, through His prophet, that the devil is going to try to lay a different foundation for you and me. We will now see that the devil is indeed trying to lay a different foundation, but we should not be pointing fingers at anyone or any church. We need to point to ourselves to make sure that we are on the firm and true foundation.

General Departure

In the May 2, 2002, Adventist Review, an article was published that sanctioned Sunday worship. It reads, at the end of the article, “There’s no question that the seventh day is holy time. But when you’re hungering for something more, there’s nothing wrong with worshiping on Sunday too.” Kay Kuzma, “Challenges and Changes,” 14. Do you suppose the devil would like to lay a different foundation here?

The author continued, “Just don’t give up one for the other. Plus, it’s a great way to witness to others about the Bible truth you’ve found.” Is that not a keen way of witnessing, going and worshiping on Sunday? Is that how we are supposed to witness? Absolutely not! Do you suppose the devil is trying to lay a different foundation here?

An article was published in The Signs of the Times, June 1999, about who the antichrist is. Is the devil trying to get Seventh-day Adventists off the foundation of who the antichrist is? In this article, the writer is following the line and the thinking of evangelical Christians today that the antichrist is going to arise in the future during the seven-year tribulation.

The Signs of the Times has, for years, been the witnessing missionary magazine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I was pretty excited when I found this article, because when I looked at the front cover of the issue in which it appeared, I said to myself, “They are going to expose who the antichrist is in this witnessing magazine!” But as I started reading, my mind became confused, because the article did not agree with the Bible and with what I had been reading and studying.

In one part, the author says that the antichrist teaching is only a New Testament teaching. When I read that, I said, “Wait a minute! What have I read in Daniel 7?” As I continued reading through the article, I had the feeling that something was wrong.

Something is desperately wrong with what is being taught in this magazine. The devil is trying to lay a different foundation from what has already been laid in the Word of God and in the Spirit of Prophecy.

As time progresses, we are going to see a general departure from the truth, from the foundation that has already been laid in the Bible and in the Spirit of Prophecy. To what is all of this leading? It is leading to the image of the beast. As Christians today have misapplied Scripture in applying the antichrist to the future, they are going to accept the mark of the beast, and they are not going to know it, just as the Jews were unaware that they were about to be destroyed and have probation close on them. This teaching is going to do the same to Seventh-day Adventists as it will do to all other Christians. This is what the devil is trying to lead people to do.

Only a Part

Let us go back in history and study this image to the beast, so we may understand just how close we are. The following statement was written by Ellen White: “It was apostasy . . .”; what is apostasy? It is a rejection of the truth. It is what Paul calls a falling away; when you turn your back on the truth. When you turn your back on the truth, you accept something false in its place. You fall off the foundation. “It was apostasy that led the early church to seek the aid of the civil government, and this prepared the way for the development of the papacy—the beast. Said Paul: ‘There’ shall ‘come a falling away, . . . and that man of sin be revealed.’ 11 Thessalonians 2:3. So apostasy in the church will prepare the way for the image to the beast.” The Great Controversy, 443, 444.

So, “apostasy in the church will prepare the way for the image to the beast.” As the church departs from the truth and turns its back on it, it accepts false teachings. This is what prepares the way for the image to the beast. I want you to remember that even at that early time, Paul saw “creeping into the church, errors that would prepare the way for the development of the papacy.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 51. At that time, idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith. Is a part good enough?

I have been studying with some people who were once a part of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, but they fell away and became Pentecostal. At the time they became Seventh-day Adventists, the pastor with whom they were studying led them to receive a part of the gospel message. After they were baptized, the church put them into a teaching position. Then, further truth, which had not been presented to them before, was sprung on them. As a result, they became so discouraged that they left the church and became Pentecostals. You see, it is not enough for us to teach a part of the Seventh-day Adventist message. We must teach it all or not teach it at all. We must not be ashamed of the truths that we know.

A brother recently came into the Seventh-day Adventist Church through a prophecy seminar that was held in Vancouver, Washington. He was so excited! He began to read Ellen White’s books and started sharing with the other members of the church what he was reading in her writings, but the brethren in the church he was attending told him, “Do not talk about those things here.”

He questioned this, asking, “Is this not the prophet of your church?”

They replied, “Well, yes, but we do not talk about it, and we do not read from her writings from the pulpit.”

When the new brother asked, “Why not?” the answer was given, “She was a prophet for her time; she is not a prophet for now.” He soon left that church and began attending a Sunday-keeping church. It is not enough to have and believe just a part of the message. We cannot be ashamed of anything that we believe.

It does not matter whether or not the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses say that they have prophets; their prophets are counterfeits. We have a prophet, and she is a true prophet. We are not to be ashamed that she is a true prophet. Now, that is easy for us as Seventh-day Adventists talking about Ellen White to say among ourselves, but state that in an evangelistic series and see what happens. If we start telling others about Ellen White, the point will come that she is the best thing that the church could ever have. Do not ever be ashamed of her writings; they are essential.

Concessions

“Idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith, while they rejected other essential truths. They professed to accept Jesus as the Son of God and to believe in His death and resurrection, but they had no conviction of sin and felt no need of repentance or of a change of heart. With some concessions on their part they proposed that Christians should make concessions, that all might unite on the platform of belief in Christ.” The Great Controversy, 42.

So the idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith while they rejected other parts. They amalgamated together, and those things that the pagans would not accept, the Christians left off. As the Christians left the foundation of truth, they accepted fables and false doctrines. It was proposed that Christians should make concessions. In other words, they were to capitulate on what they believed; they were to compromise that all might unite on a platform or foundation of belief in Jesus. Sounds good, does it not? But Jesus has some specific teachings. Doctrines are important.

However, the pagans said, “Let us join together and unite on a platform of belief in Jesus.” As good as that may sound, it is not enough. We must accept the teachings of Jesus, and that is what the Jews did not do. Their probationary period was fast closing in around them, and they did not know it.

As we continue in this study, we will come to see how close we are to the image to the beast and the close of human probation.

To be continued . . .

Pastor Mike Bauler serves as pastor of the Historic Message Church in Portland, Oregon. He may be contacted by e-mail at: mbauler@earthlink.net.