Church

Satan’s Third Brigade

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The devil has three brigades. The first brigade is the persecutors. Whenever God’s work is becoming prominent anywhere, at anytime, and the people are learning what the truth is and turning away from error, Satan’s first brigade comes on with persecution.

If that does not work, he brings in his second brigade, which is the dividers. They come in among the people of God and try to divide them one from another, and thus destroy them.

Satan’s third brigade is even more subtle. We read about it in Selected Messages, Book 2, 19.

“If Satan sees that the Lord is blessing His people and preparing them to discern his delusions, he will work with his master power to bring in fanaticism on the one hand and cold formalism on the other, that he may gather in a harvest of souls. Now is our time to watch unceasingly.” [All emphasis supplied.]

When does the devil bring in fanaticism? Whenever God is blessing His people. And certainly He is blessing the historic Adventist movement today. If you could go with me, in a time machine, back to the fall of the year 1977 when I moved to Loma Linda, California, and first became aware of the problems that were ravishing the church, you would not believe how lonely I felt. I was like a fence post in the middle of a field, standing all by myself, so far as I knew. Soon, however, I discovered that there were others who were standing for the truth and they too were being put through the fire.

Yes, the devil has tried his first brigade on us. Many have been persecuted, pushed out of their churches and put through kangaroo court proceedings of various kinds. But the devil’s first brigade has not succeeded in destroying us. The devil tried to scare us, but he found that historic Adventists do not scare easily. And so tremendous things have been tried: false accusations, false articles, false books (books that are full of false accusations of one kind or another), but it did not work.

Meanwhile our work was growing more and more and more. Books, magazines, television programs, radio programs, campmeetings and revival meetings all over the world. And so the devil had to fall back on his second brigade, the dividers. And these he has sent with full force, and all too often we have allowed divisions to come among us.

When people ask me about these divisions, I remind them of the Reformation. Those strong-minded men who became reformers had a difficult time getting along all the time, also. There are painful moments in our experience as we read that there were in their experience.

For example, when Martin Luther went to Zurich, Switzerland, to discuss the Lord’s Supper with Zwingli. Poor, dear Brother Martin, went up to the desk, which was a large table between them, and took a piece of chalk and wrote, “This is My body.” Then he backed off and he said, “It does not say ‘Represents it!’ It says, ‘This IS My body.’”

Poor Brother Martin, have you never read where Jesus said, “I am the vine”? He did not say, I represent the vine. Have you never read where Jesus said, “I am the way”? He did not say, I represent the way and so on down the line. That was the way Jesus talked. But there is the problem, you see. It takes a very strong-minded man to lead a ministry, to take all of the opposition, to take all of the guff, and that kind of man is not easily persuaded on any point.

Bring in the Third Brigade!

So we must bear in mind that although division has hurt us, and we must learn to get along if we all plan to be in heaven together, there is something that is even more serious than division. That is the devil’s third brigade. And I must tell you that the third brigade could stop us. The fanatics could kill this movement, because they almost killed the Reformation. Let me show you.

“In every age Satan has sought to impair the efforts of God’s servants by introducing into the church a spirit of fanaticism.” Acts of the Apostles, 348.

In The Great Controversy, in the chapter entitled “The Progress of Reform in Germany,” Sister White tells a particular story about Martin Luther that well illustrates the question we are considering.

At this time, Luther had made his stand before the Emperor and the Diet, and the Elector had put him in the castle at Wartburg, high in the mountains, to keep him safe from the death decree that had been issued against his life. He was there for about a year, and during that year two things were happening. The progress of the cause was going forward because various men had stepped in to fill Luther’s position. At the same time, Satan was looking on and realized that his first brigade, the persecution by the Emperor and the Pope, had not been successful. There had been much division and it had been very painful, but it was not stopping the work and so he said, “It is time to call my third brigade. Let us send in the fanatics.” And the fanatics gathered on all sides. They even invaded Wittenburg. People with strange ideas about this and strange ideas about that, apparently all very deeply convinced that they had the truth. But, friend, sincerity does not help if you do not have the truth.

Luther, hearing the news at Wartburg, decided that persecution or no persecution, death threat or no death threat, he was going to return. And so he went back to Wittenburg. We are told that after much effort he was able to stem the tide of fanaticism.

“But Satan was not idle. He now attempted what he has attempted in every other reformatory movement to deceive and destroy the people by palming off on them a counterfeit in place of the true work.…From the professed friends of the Reformation had arisen its worst enemies. [Worse than the Emperor; and even worse than the Pope.] They brought the Reformation to the verge of ruin.” The Great Controversy, 186, 187.

This is my authority for telling you that if this historic movement is ever stopped, it will not be stopped by persecution, it will not be stopped by division, but it could be stopped by the fanatics who are hitting us unmercifully on every side. Ellen White goes on to say that it was nothing but the firm rock-like stand of Luther that saved the Reformation: “Fearlessly did Luther defend the gospel from the attacks which came from every quarter. He stood firm as a rock against the fanaticism that sought to ally itself with the Reformation.” Ibid., 193.

It was the same in the early Advent movement. After the movement of William Miller, which was remarkably free of fanaticism, when the Bible conferences were going on for the next four or five years, and the message we lovingly describe as “the truth” was being studied out, Ellen White was called to her work. She tells us herself that her very first work was to fight off the fanatics. Although she was little more than a youth, her first work was to travel in Maine, then Vermont, and much later into Wisconsin and meet people with their wild ideas. Probably they were very earnest people. Only in a few rare cases does she accuse anyone of insincerity, but oh, the nonsense they wanted to get into the movement.

Sister White knew what it was like to fight fanaticism. She knew the intensity of the battle and she knew something else. She knew it was going to be acted on all over again in the final days of the movement! Here are just some of the warnings she gives about fanaticism.

“Fanaticism will appear in the very midst of us.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 16.

“Every phase of fanaticism and erroneous theories claiming to be the truth will be brought in among the remnant people of God.” Ibid., 14.

“Fanaticism will come in as it always has when God works.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 5, 245.

“Every conceivable, fanciful and deceptive doctrine will be presented by men who think that they have the truth.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 25.

“In the last days it will be like it was in 1844 as far as fanaticism is concerned.” The Review and Herald, January 28, 1909.

“Fanaticism once started and left unchecked is as hard to quench as a fire which has obtained hold of a building.” Mind, Character and Personality, 43.

“I was instructed that fanaticism similar to that which we were called to meet after the passing of time in 1844 would come in among us again in the closing days of the message. And then we must meet this evil just as decidedly now as when we met it in our early experience.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 221.

Are you a little surprised to read an article such as this from the pen of Ralph Larson, the gentle, kind old man? Well, I want to be gentle and I want to be kind, but I am going to be fair! Fanaticism could destroy us and I am going to take a stand against it. Sister White said fanaticism is like fire in a building. It is harder to quench when the whole building is in flames than when the fire is first ignited. And so, today, it is past time that we take a stand against fanaticism in our midst. We must call heresy by its right name and we must call fanaticism by its right name.

The Basis of All Fanaticism

Fanaticism has many different names, but they all have something in common which runs like a thread through them. We read in Selected Messages, Book 2, 14: “The devisings of men’s minds will invent tests that are no tests at all. That when the true test shall be made prominent, it shall be considered on a par with the man-made tests that have been of no value.”

“God will send us direct and practical tests, to teach us, if we will be taught, the benefits of faith. He has no use for man-made tests. The tests that He has given are sufficient.” The Pacific Union Recorder, October 20, 1904.

“Satan will lead men to manufacture false tests and thus seek to obscure the value of and make of non-effect the message of truth.” The Review and Herald, May 29, 1888.

What is the real test we should be focusing on today? “The commandment of God that has been almost universally made void is the testing truth for this time.” Ibid.

After referring to the Sabbath, Sister White stated: “This is the Lord’s test. Let us not descend from it to man-made tests.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 3, 56.

“‘Ye shall not add to the word nor diminish from it.’ The Lord guarded against the adding of man-made tests which would bring in confusion.” Letters to Sanitarium Workers in Southern California, 10.

“There will be brought in a vast amount of man-made tests that have not the least bearing upon the word given us of God to prepare a people to stand with the whole equipment of the heavenly armor on without leaving one piece.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 7, 91.

Examples of Man-Made Tests

What are the man-made tests that historic Adventists are being faced with today? The following is just a partial list.

The Feast Days

We are being called to tests on the Feast Days. We are being told today that if we do not keep the Passover, Pentecost, Feast of Tabernacles and so on we are going to be lost. Strange as it may seem, this is unsettling and troubling to good sincere people because it is wrapped in packages of sophistry that appears to be very convincing. (Sophistry is that which appears to be logical but it is not logical.)

It is not easy to know how to relate to someone who comes to you, apparently with great earnestness and with great sincerity and zeal and assures you most solemnly that two plus two, properly understood, equals seventy-five. Let me explain. A certain brother put out information calling on everyone to keep the feast days. When I published an article in Land Marks in which I called attention to some of the errors with these type of teachings, he responded with an open letter. I’ll reproduce just a few lines from his letter here, so that you may evaluate the logic of his conclusions for yourself.

Here are his words. “We are all familiar with the story of Moses and Pharaoh. Most of us have thought, until recently, that the Feast of the Passover was given to the Jews at that time. However, Abraham kept the feast four hundred thirty years before Moses.”

What! Abraham kept the Passover? How could a man, who claims to believe the Spirit of Prophecy, send out a letter of this type and even sign his name to it?

Look carefully at these inspired quotations which so clearly tell us when the Passover was instituted. “The observance of the Passover began with the birth of the Hebrew nation on the last night of their bondage in Egypt. The Hebrews went out from Egypt an independent nation.” The Desire of Ages, 76.

“On that night so terrible to the Egyptians and so glorious to the people of God was the solemn ordinance of the Passover instituted.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 1, 217.

“The Jews had been strictly enjoined to celebrate the Passover. This had been instituted at the time of their deliverance from Egypt.” The Review and Herald, November 4, 1902.

Now do you understand what I mean when someone solemnly assures you that two plus two equals seventy-five? How do you deal with that kind of a mind? I sent him the quotations that I have just listed and, so far, he has not responded. So, that was just one example of how we are being challenged to face a test about the Feast Days.

The Name of God

We are being called to face a test about the name/names of God. There are at least three variations on the name of God being endorsed and embraced by certain groups among us today. And all of them assure us that if we do not pronounce it their way, we will all go to hell. There is no hope whatever for our salvation if we do not say it right and they say it three different ways?

Beloved, if I may say so, of all the strange stuff, this is the most weird that we have ever come across. The Jewish people stopped pronouncing the name of God at least five hundred years before Christ. And the orthodox Jew, today, will not pronounce the name of God. He will refer to the deity saying “Hashem” which means “The Name.” He will not pronounce the sacred name. It has not been pronounced for probably twenty-five hundred years. Yet there are people coming among us today who say, “We know exactly how that name should be pronounced and if you do not say it like we say it, you are going to hell.”

Dear hearts, what happens to the human mind? They will with great triumph, pull out a verse from the Psalms which says “My name is Yaw” and place that under your nose. David, who wrote that, put down the Y or J and he put down the H, but he did not put the A in there. There were no vowels in the Hebrew alphabet. They had only consonants.

How did they get along? Well, they got along just like you and I do with abbreviations. When you see Mt. Lassen, does anyone have to tell you what it means? It means Mount Lassen, of course. However, if you had never learned that, as a child, you could look at Mt. for a thousand years and never know it said Mount.

The Hebrew alphabet was entirely like that and that is the way they read all of their words. About seven to eight hundred years after Christ, they finally decided to invent some vowels and put them underneath the letters so that you could follow along if you did not know from memory.

So, just think, if there has been no one around for twenty-five hundred years to speak the name and tell you how it sounds and if the people who wrote the name did not even have vowels, how can someone come along in our time and say, “I know! You say it like I say it or you are going to hell.” Dear people, what goes on in the human mind? And what is surprising is that this is troubling our people.

The Godhead

Another man-made test deals with the Godhead. Is the Holy Spirit God? Most people do not argue about whether the Father is God, but they argue about whether the Spirit is God. Here are just a few lines from the Spirit of Prophecy. “The Spirit being God knoweth the mind of God;” “The three powers of the Godhead;” “The Spirit in all the fullness of the Godhead;” “The Third Person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit;” “The three powers of the Godhead, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 3, 36; Review and Herald, July 18, 1907; Evangelism, 615; Australian Union Conference Record, October 7, 1907.

There are also those who are trying to chip away at the divinity of Christ. Consider this strong rebuke: “That doctrine that denies the absolute Godhead of Jesus Christ denies also the Godhead of the Father.” Signs of the Times, June 27, 1895.

Dual Application of Prophecy

Then we have a lot of “dual application of time prophecies.” When people approach me and say, “Would you not be interested in learning about a dual application of this prophecy?” I say, “No thanks, give me the tenth application. That is where my interest lies. Give me the fifteenth, the twentieth, the thirtieth, the fortieth, the fiftieth, the hundred and fiftieth, that is where my interest lies.”

Am I bewildering you? If an historic time prophecy can be re-applied, can it be re-applied twice or again and again and again? I do not know why not. So tell me about the twentieth one, that is where I want to plug in.

Then to a lesser degree, there are smaller items such as kneeling in prayer. I want to believe that these folk who come in and challenge us when we do not kneel for a benediction are sincere, dedicated, earnest, consecrated people, but I have a little trouble over this point. Almost invariably, when they detect that you are not buying their reasoning, they get furiously angry with you and are ready to denounce you as a false minister, a false prophet, a child of Satan, etc. It just makes me wonder, is this the spirit of Christ?

I have to share with you the bitter pill. There have been, and there are now, many thousands of earnest, sincere, dedicated, historic Seventh-day Adventists who in view of all the warnings that we have about error, have found it necessary to worship separately in little groups here and there. Inevitably, there come in among them people professing to be just like they are and, of course, they embrace them. They take them right in and pretty soon they start telling them, “You will surely be lost if you do not keep the Passover.” Or, “You will surely be lost if you do not pronounce the name of God right.” Or, “You will surely be lost if you think there are three divine beings who have the fullness of the Godhead, when Jesus and the Holy Spirit were not really God,” and so forth and so on down the list. They point out irrelevant texts and pile them around the issue, until, by their confused logic, they have convinced some that they are speaking the truth.

Dear friend, as we have read, God has no use for man-made tests. The Sabbath is the test that we are all going to be called upon to pass. All man-made tests will divert the mind from the great and important doctrines that constitute present truth. Let us not descend from the Sabbath to man-made tests. The truth is pure; the truth is wonderful. The tests of God are like they ought to be. They do not need to be improved upon.

We know that the truth will prevail, the only problem is that we must hold fast to it. This message is going to go through. The only question is whether I will go through with it. And that is what we all need to be thinking about day-by-day. Let us accept the test of God and let us reject all man-made tests.

Watch out for the devil’s third brigade—fanatics.

The Struggle for Unity

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Today the revival and reformation movement in Adventism is being attacked from several different directions.

  1. It is attacked by professed Adventists in the organized church structure.
  2. It is attacked by the world.
  3. It is being attacked, and will be more and more, by the powers of Babylon.

However, none of these attacks are our most serious threat. The most serious problem that the revival and reformation movement in Adventism has today is what I call the attack from within.

Zechariah 13:6 speaks about the experience which Christ went through when He was here on this earth. “And one will say to Him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms [or between your hands].’ Then He will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’”

Where was Jesus wounded? In the house of His friends! What was the most serious attack that Jesus had to meet? Was it the Romans? No, it was not. It was the attack from within.

In The Great Controversy, 187, 188, we find a statement about the reformation in the time of Martin Luther. “The opposition of the Pope and the Emperor had not caused him so great perplexity and distress as he now experienced. From the professed friends of the reformation had risen its worst enemies.”

Where did the worst enemies of the reformation come from? From her professed friends. Where is our greatest danger today? Is it from the world, or Babylon, or is it from the structure church? No, the worst danger for the revival and reformation today is our professed friends. We are our worst enemies!

“From the professed friends of the reformation had risen its worst enemies. The very truths that had brought him so great joy and consolation were being employed to stir up strife and create confusion in the church.” Ibid.

Is there strife and confusion in the revival and reformation movement in Adventism today? Yes, it is all over the world. We are in a battle: not against human beings, but against the greatest deceiver of all times and he deceives human beings and uses them to wound the very work which they profess to be strengthening. This is why we have so much strife and confusion in our midst today.

However, look at what the Lord desires for us. In Christ’s most famous prayer He said, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” John 17:20–23.

Do you believe that, by the grace of God, we are going to develop unity and harmony? Are we going to learn how to get along with each other or must we just go on scrapping and fighting until the Lord takes us to heaven and works a miracle in our hearts so that, suddenly, we will be able to get along? Even if we wished that it could happen this way, we know that the Lord will not change our characters when we go to heaven. We must finish that work here, with His help.

Do we have work to do? We have much work to do if we are going to be part of the one hundred and forty-four thousand who will be perfectly united. I cannot say that I have all of the answers, but through studying the inspired writings on this subject I am trying to learn all that I can on how we can have unity. In this article, we will study just a few of the thousands of inspired quotations on this topic, as we consider character traits that we must develop or character flaws that we must overcome if we are going to have unity among us today.

Respect and Honor

As I have studied the Ten Commandments, I have come to the conclusion that every one of the Ten Commandments has to do with the concept of respect and honor. We will never have the harmony and unity that we want until we learn to respect one another.

Much is said on this topic in inspired writings. Inspiration instructs that in the home we are to cultivate honor and respect. Children should never see their father say or do something that is disrespectful to their mother. Likewise they should never see their mother say or do something that manifests a lack of honor or respect for the father. (See Child Guidance, 239.)

However, this concept is not just for the home. We must especially learn respect in our relationships with others in the church. We must have respect, not just for certain people, but for every person in the church. We need to ask ourselves, Do I respect my brother when he does something that I do not like? Or when he holds a different opinion on some issue, do I still respect him? I do not have to think the same way that every one else thinks, but I must still respect them, even though I do not agree on every point.

In 1888, Ellen White wrote a letter to Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. At the time that this testimony was written, Kellogg was trying to promote health reform in the Adventist Church almost single handedly, and was receiving opposition from other leading men in the church. And, as can easily happen when one is standing alone, he became discouraged. The following is a part of the message Sister White gave him: “We must have unity. These representative men [physicians and ministers in Battle Creek that Kellogg was having difficulty working with] must respect one another and work in harmony. You have a most responsible position, and the Lord will greatly bless you if you walk in humility before Him. But do not, my brother, expect every mind to be constituted like your own. Do not expect that your brethren will see everything in the same light, and attach the same importance to some matters that you do, for you will certainly be disappointed.” 1888 Materials, 1156.

Did you notice the two major points that Sister White made in this statement? They were that:

  1. We must have respect for all our brothers and sisters in the faith.
  2. While we must respect each other, we must not expect that everyone else is going to think just like we think on everything.

It is only when we learn these principles about respect and honor that we will be able to find true unity and harmony.

As we noted earlier, these lessons should first be learned and practiced in the home. Children need to learn it because, the fifth commandment says, “Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Exodus 20:12. No one will go to heaven who has not learned to keep the fifth commandment. A young person may not agree with the way his father or mother manages the household (and he does not have to think exactly as his parents do), but he still has an obligation, written in the law of God, that he is to honor his parents.

Do we honor each other in our homes? Do we honor each other in the church? Consider for a moment how the principle of respect applies in practical situations. Take the following example: If I am going to honor you and respect you, even though you think completely different than I do on some points, will I try to prove that you are wrong and make you look like a fool in public? Will I do that? No, I will not. I may go to you privately and say, “I do not see this the way you do,” but if I truly respect you, I will not try to make you look foolish before others.

Pride and Passion

Consider this statement: “There is nothing which will weaken the strength of a church like pride and passion. If one engaged in the work of God does things in contradiction to another engaged in the same work, that is strife and variance. If we do this to be esteemed or to exalt self, it is vainglory, and death to spirituality and to Christian love and unity of action.” Review and Herald, July 5, 1887.

Pride is a very serious problem according to Malachi 4:1. “‘For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up’ says the Lord of Hosts.” Is pride a serious problem? It will send you straight to hell. And it is one of the most deeply ingrained problems in fallen, sinful, human nature.

What really is pride? Pride is a disease of the heart that you and I cannot see. So, I do not have any right to go to anyone and say, “You are proud.” Only the Lord could do that through His prophet. However, pride is one of the roots of disunity and I need to know something about the symptoms of pride so that I can check myself to see if pride is still alive in my heart.

I have found two major symptoms of pride in inspired writings. First, pride leads people to make a display. This love of display can be seen in the clothes we wear, the homes or cars we buy or in the way that we behave. In The Desire of Ages, 261, we read about the life of Christ: “ In that life no noisy disputation, no ostentatious worship, no act to gain applause, was ever witnessed. Christ was hid in God, and God was revealed in the character of His Son. To this revelation Jesus desired the minds of the people to be directed, and their homage to be given.” Christ never behaved in any way that would lead others to look to Him; He never sought the applause of others.

We need to teach this principle to our young people. I think it is wonderful when we train our young people to be musicians, but we must be careful that the motive in learning to play music is not to demonstrate skill so that we attract attention to ourselves. That is pride; the desire to make a display. And remember there is nothing that will weaken the strength of a church like pride.

The second symptom of pride is the desire for self-exaltation. When pride first developed in heaven, this is the symptom that was manifest in Lucifer. It finally led him to the point where he wanted to control the angels and possess the position that Jesus Christ alone was worthy to hold. He wanted to be in control of the government of God. He wanted to be in control of the work. Have you ever been in a church where there is one or more persons that think that they ought to control what goes on there? If you or I desire to control others or we demonstrate that we want to control the work, we still have a problem with pride. And if we get upset because someone else does not do exactly what we told them to do, it is time that we begin searching our hearts and realize how deeply pride is rooted there!

Brotherly Love

“Our strength is in our unity. We are weak when we do not love one another.” The Kress Collection, 84.

When we do not love one another, what is the problem? We are weak. We may know all the right theology. We may be able to prove all of our positions, but if we do not love one another, we are weak. Ellen White wrote many testimonies and counsels to people that needed help in this area.

I would like to quote a few lines that are pertinent to our study, from a testimony that Sister White wrote to a Seventh-day Adventist woman. She said: “You see the truth, and then you mark out how this one and that one should practice it; and if they fail to come up to the mark you set, you feel to draw off from them. [When did she begin to condemn others? When they did not come up to how she thought they should behave.] You cannot fellowship with them, and love dies out of your heart for them, when in reality they are just as near right as you are. [This is quite a warning for us!] You make yourself enemies when you might have friends. You are ardent and positive in your temperament, and when you see points of truth, you carry matters to extremes. You thus repulse persons, instead of winning and binding them to your heart.

“You look upon the objectionable features in the character of those with whom you associate, and dwell upon their seeming inconsistencies and wrongs, overlooking their redeeming traits. I was referred to this scripture: ‘Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.’” Testimonies, vol. 2, 437.

This sister was looking on the objectionable points of other’s temperaments. But do we not all have objectionable traits of character which require mercy from others. Shouldn’t we then be willing to give mercy to other people who have some objectionable traits of character, as we do? If God treated us the way we treat each other, I do not believe any of us would be here today. We serve a wonderful God of mercy; are we really His children?

“Here, dear sister, you may meditate and speculate with profit. Dwell upon the good qualities of those with whom you associate, and see as little as possible of their errors and failings.” Ibid. If we could just put this sentence in our mind and say, “Lord, help me to dwell on the good qualities of those with whom I associate.”

Did you know that there are people that you associate with who already know about some of their objectionable traits of character and they sometimes abhor themselves because of the way they are? They need a word of encouragement so that they will be encouraged to fight the battles with self and to overcome their objectionable traits of character. Just think, Is it easier for you to overcome an objectionable trait of character if someone is encouraging you or if they are condemning you?

“You possess too much of a spirit of war, and throw things into confusion and strife. You must change your life and character if you are ever classed with those who hear the words: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.’” Ibid.

“The great lesson that Christ taught by His life and example was that of unity and love among brethren. This love is the token of discipleship, the divine credentials which the Christian bears to the world. ‘By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.’ Love to God and man must be an inwrought principle in the soul; for there is no other way that the Christian can become a ‘partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.’” Review and Herald, August 12, 1884.

Humility

“In humility and union there is strength.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 15, 357. We are never going to have unity that we must have, according to John 17, until we learn how to be humble. And friend, it does not matter how wicked the world becomes or what Babylon does, I do not believe that the Lord will return to this world until John 17 is fulfilled. And it will never be fulfilled unless we become humble people. Are we humble enough yet so that the Lord could bring in unity among us through the Holy Spirit? Are we humble enough to realize that the Lord is in charge of the work and that we do not have to get everything straightened out? Is this a lesson that we need to learn?

“Another great need of the church is humility,—the deep humility of Christ. Believers need to see the necessity of working as Christ worked. O for that devotion and humility of heart that will lead God’s people to do those things that Christ has commanded, and still in all humility and truth say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done only that which it was our duty to do!’ But many, many are swelling with pride and importance, who in God’s estimation are lukewarm. Self-gratification is revealed because of a few things accomplished. Where do we hear the testimony of hearts that are broken in repentance and confession before God? Where do we see professed believers wearing the yoke of Christ? How little time is given to fervent prayer, the result of which would be the possession of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price.” Review and Herald, September 16, 1909.

Death to Self

One of the greatest reasons that we have so much strife is that self is not dead yet. The Holy Spirit wants to create unity among us, but it says in Manuscript Releases, vol. 20, 268, “Just as soon as self gains the supremacy, the Spirit of God is quenched.” When self is still ruling the hearts of those in the church, the Holy Spirit cannot work to bring unity.

When I read this statement, I wanted to know what the symptoms are of self still being alive so that I could examine my own life, and so I started studying the Spirit of Prophecy. Here are some of the symptoms that demonstrate that self is not dead and is gaining the supremacy in the human heart. They are taken from many different places in the Spirit of Prophecy.

The Basis of Unity

“The truth is one. It will take people . . . and, mingling them with other elements, soften and refine them through the truth. Teach them that in humility and union there is strength. The love of Christ and living faith would have a transforming power upon the man, upon his ideas, upon his character. The temper and the life experience will be softened and ennobled by divine truth. The influence of the truth is to take away from man that which is impetuous and rebellious, and bring him into harmony with heaven. God’s purpose is to bring all into harmony and unity on the platform of truth as it is in Jesus.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 15, 357, 358. [Emphasis supplied.]

The basis for true unity and harmony is whether or not we are willing to stand on the same platform of truth. When we talk about unity and harmony, we are not talking about it in an ecumenical sense. We are not talking about unity and harmony with all the world. We are not even talking about unity and harmony with all professed Adventists. We are talking about unity and harmony with the people that are all willing to stand on the same platform of truth. And what is that platform?

In the book Early Writings there is a chapter entitled “A Firm Platform.” In that chapter Sister White identifies the Three Angels’ Messages as an immutable platform. She also states that these three messages are infallible (this is a very strong statement if you consider what Adventists believe about the infallibility of the inspired writings), and will triumph over the whole world. A proper understanding of them will guide you to a complete chain of truth and prepare you for the Second Coming of Christ.

Many people ask, “Do you think the church is going through?” The truth is that the church which stays with the Three Angels’ Messages is going to go through and none of the rest of the churches are going through. Even if you meet in a tiny homechurch, if your church stays faithful and true to the Three Angels’ Messages, it will go through. Because, the Three Angels’ Messages, Ellen White says, will triumph. Conversely, if your church, no matter how large and respected it is, does not remain faithful and true to the Three Angels’ Messages, it will not go through. (This same principle applies to a sisterhood of churches or even a world-wide system of churches, for if these organizations apostatize from the truth, they will certainly not go through to the end, either.)

The truth is the platform on which unity is built. Do you want to be on the platform that is going through? People talk about the ship that is going through. However, contrary to popular opinion, the ship that is going through is the ship that is based on the Three Angels’ Messages. If there was only one person in the world that believed them, that person would go through and the rest of the world would go down, because these precious messages are infallible. The people that believe them, and are willing to change their ideas to come into perfect harmony with them, will triumph with them. Is this your great desire? Then diligently study the Word and ask the Lord to help you to stand faithfully on the platform of eternal truth.

If self is not dead the person:

  1. Is ready for a contest.
  2. Has an ambition to be noticed and is afraid of being in some way mistreated.
  3. Regards their judgment as the best of all.
  4. Is not willing to forgo his wishes. (He feels that he should have his own way.)
  5. Has too high an appreciation of himself and eventually he becomes “too good” to labor with his brethren unless he is in charge.
  6. Becomes self-sufficient.
  7. Feels that he can manage the work.
  8. Reveals self in his management.
  9. Is a part of many religious controversies which result.
  10. Is not tender when dealing with others.
  11. Is ready to express his own mind and will, all the time.
  12. Is strenuous to have his will regarded as the will of God.
  13. Wants rules and regulations concerning even the details of the work.
  14. Seeks for knowledge or skills that will bring him into notice.
  15. Shows exhibitions of self. (This has to do with being angry, being harsh or impatient.)
  16. Is jealous of others.

Full and Final Display

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It is an awesome thought that if you do not resist, the angels of God will see to it that you are saved. Ellen White wrote, “Under God, the angels are all-powerful.” The Signs of the Times, January 17, 1900.

“Angelic agencies are standing firm, determined that he [Satan] shall not obtain the victory. They would recover every soul in our world who is under Satan’s banner if these poor souls would not so eagerly seek to keep out of and away from their merciful ministrations and rescuing power. Their deep and earnest love for the souls for whom Christ has died is beyond measurement. They would make these deceived souls intelligent in regard to how they might arm themselves and break the spell which Satan has cast upon them.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 922.

Angels have been commissioned to rescue every single person in our world who does not resist. “Christ designs that heaven’s order, heaven’s plan of government, heaven’s divine harmony, shall be represented in His church on earth. Thus in His people He is glorified. Through them the Sun of Righteousness will shine in undimmed luster to the world. Christ has given to His church ample facilities, that He may receive a large revenue of glory from His redeemed, purchased possession. He has bestowed upon His people capabilities and blessings that they may represent His own sufficiency. The church, endowed with the righteousness of Christ, is His depositary, in which the riches of His mercy, His grace, and His love, are to appear in full and final display.” The Desire of Ages, 680.

A full display of the mercy of Christ means that its manifestation is complete. The church could display a fuller manifestation of His mercy, grace and love. This is going to be the experience of God’s church when heaven’s plan of government and heaven’s harmony are developed and it is necessary now to show the world the character of God before the return of Jesus.

At no other time in eternity will this display of mercy be necessary, for heavenly intelligences are not in need of mercy or grace. They do not need to learn of the gospel of Christ and His saving grace because they have never sinned. Throughout eternal ages there will never again be another display of the mercy of God. Before sin entered the world everything was perfect and angels had no concept of mercy because there was no need. Grace is another attribute of the character of God that was not understood until sin entered the world. But when sin entered and the plan of salvation was instituted, the universe began to see that mercy was an integral part of God’s character.

The psalmist says, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne” (Psalm 89:14). Righteousness is doing right. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne. The devil knew that and made the claim that God could not be both just and merciful. He said that you can be merciful, and you can be just, but you cannot be both. Incidentally, Ellen White says there was no finite intelligence who could answer that challenge or charge. That same accusation that Satan had brought against the Lord for thousands of years was finally answered at the cross where it was demonstrated beyond doubt that God can be both just and merciful and forgive sins.

The cross demonstrated that God is a God of justice, and as David said, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and truth go before Your face” (Psalm 89:14). A just price was paid for the sins of the world. Angels who had heard Satan’s unjust accusations for thousands of years saw at the cross mercy and justice demonstrated and were convinced without question of Satan’s error and lies which ultimately led to the crucifixion of his Creator.

Psalm 85:10 KJV says, “Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” So, “According to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5).

It is stated explicitly in the second commandment that God is merciful. He shows “mercy to thousands” (Exodus 20:6). God is merciful and He tells those who love Him to also be merciful. In fact, Micah 6:8 says, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justly [do what is right], to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Those are the three things God requires. James 2:13 says, “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” Paul said “… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We are all in need of great mercy, therefore we must show mercy to others.

Mercy is an attribute of character shown when a child is not punished for every infraction he commits against a command. It may be just and right to punish every time a child does wrong, but if you exercise mercy sometimes, especially for minor infractions, the child is more likely to overcome that problem, using the mistake as a learning experience. Parents need to understand that if a child is never shown mercy and all he understands is justice, that child will grow up to be a hard-hearted man or woman.

Mercy is one of the characteristics of God of which the church is to make a full display to the whole world. It will be complete, “full and final,” because those characteristics will never need to be demonstrated again. Mercy has been demonstrated millions of times in the past, but as we approach the end, there will be a full, that is, a complete, and final display of God’s mercy.

“The church, endowed with the righteousness of Christ, is His depository, in which the riches of His mercy, His grace, and His love, are to appear in full and final display.” The Desire of Ages, 680. [Emphasis added.]

Grace is another attribute of the character of God that was not understood until sin entered the world. Notice what Paul says about it in Ephesians 1:7: “We have … the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” It is through His grace that we receive forgiveness of sins.

He wrote in Ephesians 2:8, “By grace you have been saved through faith.” And he says in Ephesians 4:7, that “To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” James says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

There is a good reason that Hebrews 4:14–16 is a favorite text to Seventh-day Adventists. It says, “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

It is through grace that we receive forgiveness of sins, but it is also through grace that we receive help. Paul said in Romans 1:5 that we receive grace for the “obedience to the faith.” God does not only forgive our sins through the grace of Christ, but through the grace of Christ, we receive help to do what is right, help to be obedient to the faith.

Zechariah 12:10 says, “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

The church in the very last days of earth’s history is going to receive the Spirit of grace. Today we have the opportunity while time lasts to show grace and mercy to people who are in various kinds of trouble. Once sin has been eradicated there will be no more need for either.

Jesus said in Luke 6:27 and 28 to love our enemies, a concept that is completely alien from most religions. Jesus told His disciples the night before He left, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another … . By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for one another” (John 13:34, 35). To do that is an external sign that you are a Christian. Paul said the love of God is “poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5).

Paul also told us in Romans 12:9 that we were to have love without hypocrisy. Love is the first fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5. He said in 1 Corinthians 13 that no matter what else you have, if you do not have love, you do not have anything, and you cannot really gain anything in your spiritual life. Remember, there is going to be a full and final demonstration of the love of Christ by the church before Jesus comes and you can be part of it.

The love of Christ was a love for people who were undeserving and unappreciative. His love went out to people who never reciprocated that love. In heaven, the angels love each other, but the love that goes out is not unrequited. They are loved in return. Sadly, there are many times in this world when you have love for somebody with no response. Or maybe it is even worse than that. Maybe you love them, and they hate you, but you can keep loving the person who hated you.

When Jesus was nailed to the cross, He said to His Father in Luke 23:34: “ ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’ ” Angels watching the scene knew that God was love, but they had never seen a love like this before. This love for your enemies, love for the people who do not return your love or maybe even hate you in return—this is the type of love that is going to have a full and a final display in God’s church.

Some people have become quite indignant at this message, claiming that this condition refers to the church triumphant but at present we are in the church militant. However, the church representing Christ on earth before He returns will be endowed with His righteousness living in harmony with heaven’s plan of government in which the riches of His mercy, His grace, and His love, are to appear in full and final display.

As I studied the statement in The Desire of Ages, 680, it talked about His mercy, grace and love as full, as complete, and as final. After this final display, it will not be necessary again. The whole world and the whole universe are going to see this display. The full and final external display of the mercy, of the grace, and of the love of Christ by the church to the world, before Jesus comes, will be what the world and the whole universe can see. But before that can happen, something has to happen internally to the people who are to make that display.

The Bible tells us that there is an internal work in people’s character that has to take place before they can display God’s character. Let’s take a look at a couple of Scriptures about this.

Isaiah said, “ ‘The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,’ says the Lord. ‘As for Me,’ says the Lord, ‘this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,’ says the Lord, ‘from this time and forevermore’ ” (Isaiah 59:20, 21).

“Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth [in the last days], and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising” (Isaiah 60:1–3).

Isaiah here is referring to the full and final display of the mercy, and grace, and love of God that will occur among God’s people just before the second coming.

Peter also talks about this. “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:9, 10).

The church must be endowed with the righteousness of Christ.

An endowment is something that you are given. It is not something earned. The church is endowed with the righteousness of Christ. It says, “The church, endowed with the righteousness of Christ, is His depositary, in which the riches of His mercy, His grace, and His love, are to appear in full and final display.” The Desire of Ages, 680.

They must have purity.

The church is going to have purity and the church is going to have perfection. “Christ looks upon His people in their purity and perfection, as the reward of His humiliation, and the supplement of His glory—Christ, the great Center, from whom radiates all glory.” Ibid.

They must have moral perfection of character—character perfection.

God has a training program in which Jesus Christ is performing some experiments. Inspiration says, “God has in training a people chosen, elect, precious. They were once the children of disobedience, disloyal to God. But now ‘Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous 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’ (1 Peter 2:9, 10).” The General Conference Daily Bulletin. February 27, 1893, 409.

These people that God has in training and on whom Jesus is performing divine experiments are in a divine laboratory in this world. “The Lord Jesus is making experiments on human hearts through the exhibition of His mercy and abundant grace.” Ibid. It is impossible to make a display of the mercy and grace of God until you have received it yourself.

“The Lord Jesus is making experiments on human hearts through the exhibition of His mercy and abundant grace. He is effecting transformations so amazing that Satan with all his triumphant boasting, with all his confederacy of evil united against God and the laws of his government, stands viewing them as a fortress impregnable to his sophistries and delusions. [Oh to be part of that experiment!] They are to him [the devil] an incomprehensible mystery. The angels of God, seraphim and cherubim, the powers commissioned to co-operate with human agencies, look on with astonishment and joy, that fallen men, once children of wrath, are through the training of Christ developing characters after the divine similitude, to be sons and daughters of God, to act an important part in the occupations and pleasures of heaven.” Ibid.

We can be part of those divine experiments designed to transform our characters after the divine similitude and be a reflection of His own character.

This condition in the church is what has been predicted to happen before Jesus returns. However, before that display can be made, there is an internal work that must be done on the people who are going to make that display. The question is, do you want to be part of these divine experiments?

“To His church, Christ has given ample facilities, that He may receive a large revenue of glory from His redeemed, purchased possession. The church, being endowed with the righteousness of Christ, is His depositary, in which the wealth of His mercy, His love, His grace, is to appear in full and final display. The declaration in His intercessory prayer, that the Father’s love is as great towards us as toward Himself, the only begotten Son, and that they shall be with Him where He is, forever one with Christ and the Father, is a marvel to the heavenly host, and it is their great joy. The gift of His Holy Spirit, rich, full, and abundant, is to His church as an encompassing wall of fire, which the powers of hell shall not prevail against it.” Ibid.

We are in training.

The Lord is performing experiments on us and we are to receive the Holy Spirit, rich, full, and abundant, which will be as a wall of fire which all the forces of hell cannot overcome. “In their untainted purity and spotless perfection Christ looks upon His people as the reward of all His suffering, His humiliation, and His love, and the supplement of His glory—Christ the great center from which radiates all glory. ‘Blessed are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb’ (Revelation 19:9).” Ibid.

Jesus wants to perform a divine experiment on you. He wants to pour His mercy, His grace, His love into your heart so that you will become a reflection of His own character so that He can use you to make a full, and complete, and final display of His mercy, grace, and love in this world before He comes. He wants to give you the gift of His Holy Spirit, rich, full, and abundant, as an encompassing wall of fire against which the powers of hell shall not prevail.

The devil has been saying for thousands of years that this is not possible and many people in the church today have bought into this lie. However, this is what the Lord says He is going to do and if we refuse His invitation to be part of this experiment, He will choose somebody else. There will be people who are willing to cooperate.

It would be wonderful if each of us could be involved in that full and final display. Today decide to be willing to yield yourself to Him, allowing Him to perform that divine experiment in your life. Do not murmur or complain when troubles and trials and things happen that you do not understand, but trust that God is working something out for your good.

Pray that God’s love will transform us in character so that we can be people whose names are written in heaven as having spotless purity and character perfection, not for ourselves, but for the glory and honor of our Redeemer.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

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

The Devil’s Lie, 1888 and Today

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Airplane pilots are constantly checking their instruments to determine their exact location, and boat captains and truck drivers often consult maps to pinpoint where they are and where they are going. We, as Seventh-day Adventists, are also traveling down a road with an exact destination in mind, and, in this article, we will look at where we are on this journey to the everlasting kingdom. We will start at the very beginning of the great controversy with Revelation 12:7. “And there was war in heaven: Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was there place found any more in heaven.”

Why were the devil and his angels cast out of heaven? We all know that the controversy began with the devil trying to overthrow his Creator and take His place. His presumptive boast was “I will be like the Most High.” Isaiah 14:14. I would like for you to focus your attention on how the devil tried to do this and the lever that he used in his attempt to pry God off His throne.

“When Satan rebelled against the law of Jehovah, the thought that there was a law came to the angels almost as an awakening to something unthought of.” Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 109. They operated on the law of love; love for their Creator and love for their fellow beings and, for them, that was sufficient. It was not necessary to explain to an unfallen angel that if you loved someone you would not lie to him. That was self-evident to him. It was not necessary to explain to an unfallen angel that if you loved someone you would not steal from him. He could figure that out by himself. The law of love was all the angels needed and it was all they had.

However, when God saw the rebellious thoughts in Lucifer’s heart, He spelled out His law in a heavenly council. “The Son of God presented before him [Lucifer] the greatness, the goodness, and the justice of the Creator, and the sacred, unchanging nature of His law.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 36. The devil saw in this a chance to accuse God. He launched the accusation against God that He was not a just and loving God because He had given a law that His creatures could not obey. If this was true, how could He possibly be a God of love?

Christ, the Son of God, heard that lie and determined that He would prove it to be false. He made plans to come to this world to live the law in humanity, that Satan’s charges, that man cannot keep the law, might be demonstrated to be false.

Revealing the Devil’s Lie

There were two aspects to Satan’s accusation that had to be met. If Christ came to this earth with any advantage over us He could not truly be our example. Also, if Christ had access to any power to help Him resist temptation that we do not have access to, then His demonstration would be phony and would prove nothing.

Christ accepted these two challenges, and promised to come to this earth in the human nature of man, with no advantage because of His birth or any power that is not available to you and me. He would resist temptation in the same manner in which every tempted soul may resist the evil one. Through His humiliation and poverty, Christ would identify Himself with the weakness of the fallen race. The great work of redemption could be carried out only by the Redeemer taking the place of fallen Adam. The king of glory proposed to humble Himself to fallen humanity, and so the plan of redemption was devised.

When Adam fell in the Garden of Eden, Satan said, “See, that proves that God gave a law that no one can obey.” When the conditions reached such a terrible state before the flood, again he said, “See, that proves that God has given a law that man could not obey.” When the Jewish church wandered so far away from God during the time before Christ came, again the devil said, “You see now, how can there be any doubt that God’s law cannot be kept.”

Then Jesus came. He did not argue. He just quietly, from infancy through childhood and adolescence and all the way to the cross, lived a sinless life with no advantage of any kind over us. At the end of His life He could say, “Who convinceth Me of sin?” “The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in Me.” John 8:46; 14:30. The victory was full and complete and it once and for all disproved the devil’s greatest lie.

Are you beginning to understand the meaning of Ellen White’s first vision? In this vision she seemed to be above the world and she was looking for the Adventist people. She could not find them looking down at the earth. The angel said, “Look again, and look a little higher.” God’s last day people have been called to follow our Lord in that magnificent demonstration that He gave to us-to prove to the universe that God’s law can be kept perfectly by the fallen sons of Adam.

The Birth of Two Heresies

Continuing down through history we come to the reformation. In the reformation days the state church, the Catholic Church, stood on the principle that man could not obey the law of God. Maybe a few saints could, but the rest could not. They had to invent the doctrine of purgatory in order to take care of the problem of man’s inability to stop sinning while on this earth.

The reformation went very well in the beginning, but quickly ran into trouble. Since that time there have been two theological opinions coming to us from the reformation. One is what we call Armenian-Wesleyan-Methodist-Seventh-day Adventist theology. The other is called Calvinism, which embraces the Reformed, the Presbyterians and the majority of those churches who, today, call themselves Evangelicals.

Within each of these two schools of thought the devil developed a theory to destroy their testimony to the world. In the Armenian ideology, he developed the doctrine that the law of God has been nailed to the cross so that it no longer needs to be kept explicitly. Within Calvinism he took an entirely different approach. He led men to teach that the law of God was not nailed to the cross, it is still binding, but it cannot be obeyed. And, that since God knows we cannot obey His law, He does not want us to waste our strength in vain endeavors to do that which is impossible, so we must just trust in Him to forgive us. And so the argument in Calvinism has been simply a repetition of the devil’s great lie.

I must point out that neither of these errors were in the original Armenianism or the original Calvinism. John Wesley preached a rip-roaring sermon once in which he said that anyone who declares that the law of God is nailed to the cross is one of the worst enemies the gospel ever had. He would never have said that the law of God was abolished, and neither would John Calvin have ever said that the law of God could not be obeyed. And so it was a corruption in Armenian Methodism and a corruption in Calvinism that brought us to the point where Adventism was in 1888.

Calvinism and 1888

In 1888 there were three major issues that were contended: an organizational problem of kingly power reaching out over the world, a spiritual problem which was rebellion against the Spirit of Prophecy, and a theological problem, an invasion of Calvinism.

In this article we will focus on this third major issue, the invasion of Calvinism. Many have thought that the theological issues at the 1888 General Conference centered on a controversy over the law in Galatians. But the hassle over the law in Galatians was only a symptom, not the problem. Ellen White said that there was no sense in making such a debate over that. It is not that important. But the larger problem, an angel told her in vision, had been going on for years. In Testimonies, vol. 5, 76, she wrote this warning: “Many who preach the truth to others are themselves cherishing iniquity.” “What can I say to arouse our people? I tell you not a few ministers who stand before the people to explain the Scriptures are defiled. Their hearts are corrupt, their hands unclean.” Ibid., 78. These ministers had been living failures in their Christian life, and, in order to excuse their failures, they were advancing the arguments of Calvinism.

On the first Sabbath of the 1888 General Conference, Ellen White spoke these words to the assembled ministers and delegates. “Now, what we want to present is how you may advance in the divine life. We hear many excuses: I cannot live up to this or that. What do you mean by this or that? Do you mean that it was an imperfect sacrifice that was made for the fallen race on Calvary, that there is not sufficient grace and power granted us that we may work away from our own natural defects and tendencies, that it was not a whole Saviour that was given us? or do you mean to cast reproach on God?” 1888 Materials, 122.

The idea that God has given a law that His creatures cannot obey, is the devil’s greatest lie, and it was invading the Adventist Church in 1888. At that time, Ellen White took a firm and powerful stand against it. Over the years she continued to emphasize that theme. In 1892 she wrote on the subject, pointing out the very same kind of reasoning. And so, Calvinism was refuted and did not give the church very much more trouble for about a half a century. In the 1950s, Calvinism invaded the church again, this time much more successfully by using a more subtle approach.

A Harmless Concession?

A certain scholar, named Walter Martin, visited with some leaders in Adventism. He wanted to write a book about Adventists, describing us as a cult. After some hesitation, the brethren set up conferences with him, and in an attempt to persuade him that we were not a cult, they gave him a statement to the effect that the Seventh-day Adventist Church had always believed just like the Calvinists believe: that our Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth in the human nature of unfallen Adam.

To refute this claim, my wife and I compiled a book called The Word Was Made Flesh, which contains twelve hundred statements about the human nature of our Lord, from many different Adventist publications, four hundred of them by Ellen White. In these twelve hundred statements, written over a one hundred year period, there was not one that claimed that Christ came in the unfallen nature of Adam. In spite of that, our brethren gave Walter Martin a statement that the opposite was true: that we had always believed, except for a poorly informed minority, that our Lord came to this earth, like the Calvinists believe, in the human nature of the unfallen Adam.

Apparently no one realized that that was a Trojan horse-it seemed like a harmless doctrine. I find people to this very day who will look at me, and ask, “Brother Larson, What difference does it make?” It makes a lot of difference. If our Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth in the human nature of the unfallen Adam, He knows nothing at all about the problems that I struggle with because of my heredity. He knows nothing at all about the weaknesses that have come to me through generation after generation down the stream of time. It would be utterly ridiculous to say that He was tempted in all things as I am tempted and it would be utterly unfair to say that I ought to live like He lived. How could I? How could I, four thousand, five thousand, six thousand years down the stream of time, live like He lived? The unfallen Adam! Why it would be utterly unfair.

Through this seemingly harmless doctrine, a way was opened for the wave of Calvinism to sweep into Adventism. Within an incredibly short time, as theological trends go, the Calvinistic doctrine, embracing Satan’s greatest lie, began to creep into colleges, academies and churches all over North America, and to a lesser extent all over the world. The Calvinistic doctrine which says that man cannot stop sinning is now being heard in Seventh-day Adventist churches all across the country.

Today, Adventism is divided into two camps: those who are embracing Calvinism and those who recoil from it in horror. A great shaking is occurring, and many are wondering who can withstand the test? If everything we have trusted in fails, what will we do. Let me remind you of a story that I think will help us understand what our position should be in these days of seeming uncertainty.

If They Had Only Listened

Do you remember the story of the two men who walked from Jerusalem to Emmaus on the Sunday of the resurrection? Now the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus is not an easy road. It goes downhill sharply. The hills are very steep and the valley is very narrow. If you and I could have placed ourselves on that steep slope and watched on that Sunday afternoon, we would have seen these two men coming along the trail obviously despondent. Their shoulders slumped, their feet dragging and, in spite of the fact that another man walks with them for a way before they go out of our sight and into one of the villages, they still seem very, very cast down and discouraged because the Lord had been crucified.

Then, in a little while, we suddenly see that door open and those two men come out of that little house like they were shot out of a gun. They start rampaging up that narrow zigzag road back toward Jerusalem in such haste that they overrun the corners in some places and have to come back and find their way again in the deepening shadows. They cannot rest until they get all the way back to Jerusalem. They find that upper room and they pound on the door. When they are let in, they say, “He is alive! He is alive! We have seen Him! He is alive!”

Can you imagine the change? We like to think about that night when Jesus appeared among them and they saw, with their own eyes, that it was really true. But what I want to ask you to consider is what might have been. Jesus had told them, not less than three times, what was going to happen to Him. Three times He had told them that He was going to go to Jerusalem, to be crucified and would rise again. But when He came to the part about the crucifixion, they stopped listening. If they had fully internalized the promise of the resurrection, just imagine where they would have been early Sunday morning. They would not have been mourning in the upper room; they would have been out at the gravesite, would they not? And they would have seen that glorious moment when the angel of God came down and said, “Son of God, come forth. Thy Father calls Thee.” How much power that would have given to their witness if everywhere they went they could say, “We saw Him come out of the tomb with our own eyes.” They suffered much sadness because they did not listen to everything Jesus said.

You and I should now listen to what God has told us through His prophet about the great shaking time. If we do not listen, we might be as overcome with discouragement and despondency as they were. Carefully note these unfailing promises.

“God will arouse His people; if other means fail, heresies will come in among them, which will sift them, separating the chaff from the wheat.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 707. Why is God allowing these heresies to come in among us? He is sifting His people, preparing those who are faithful to withstand the final test.

“Many will stand in our pulpits with the torch of false prophecy in their hands, kindled from the hellish torch of Satan.” Testimonies to Ministers, 409, 410. Again people say, Why? And the answer is, He is purging the wheat from the tares.

“The days of purification of the church are hastening on apace.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 80. (For further study read the chapter in Testimonies, vol. 5, 62-84, entitled “The Testimonies Slighted.”)

“Every wind of doctrine will be blowing.” Ibid., 80

“Many a star that we have admired for its brilliancy will then go out in darkness. Chaff like a cloud will be borne away on the wind, even from places where we see only floors of rich wheat.” Ibid., 81.

“Standard after standard was left to trail in the dust as company after company from the Lord’s army joined the foe.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 41.

In Selected Messages, Book 2, 36, we are told that at our camp meetings there will be dancing and horrible music. (We are certainly seeing at least the beginnings of this already.) The question is, How are we going to handle all of this? Are we going to be overcome with discouragement? It all depends on how well we listen. If we have properly listened to the Lord, we will be successful. It will be hard, but we will make it. Take the following promises to heart:

“The world is not without a ruler. The program of coming events is in the hands of the Lord. The Majesty of heaven has the destiny of nations, as well as the concerns of His church, in His charge.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 753.

“Not one cloud has fallen upon the church that God has not prepared for.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 108.

God knows what He is going to do. He has told us what to expect. There is no reason in the world why we should let it discourage us or dishearten us or confuse us, if we will listen. Let the chaff blow. Let the brilliant stars go. Let company after company join the foe. Let the people dance. Let the drums beat. Let the heresies arise. May God grant that we shall stand for the right though the heavens fall. God bless you.

The Church and Its Work

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In the gospel of Matthew, we see the reason why Jesus organized the church and gave her a mission. Jesus’ time on this earth was limited and He needed to make sure that the work He started would continue until the end of time. In Matthew 9 we read this account: “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith He unto His disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest.” Matthew 9:36–38.

After Jesus spoke these words, He did not go and retire somewhere in the wilderness. When Christ said the harvest was ready, He was ready. He immediately began to organize His disciples for involvement in His work. In Matthew 10 Jesus gave them specific instructions on how to work. Too often we make a mistake in not following the Lord’s example. We can show others the need of working for the Lord. We can preach the importance of being involved in missionary work, but if we fail, by not actually showing them how to do it, we are only giving half a message. Jesus did not leave His disciples to themselves to figure out what to do, He gave them His strategy on how they could succeed. The instructions found in Matthew 10 are needed in the church today.

The first thing that we learn is that Jesus is interested in training others to work. He preached the gospel in Matthew 5–9. But He did not continue preaching all the way through the gospel of Matthew. Many sincere Christians are satisfied with just hearing. But that is not God’s perfect plan for His church. In Christ’s day there were many that followed Him because they desired to see a miracle. Others loved to see our Lord battle the demons and cast them out. There were some that liked to row Jesus across the Sea of Galilee, since they knew that He had the power to calm the sea. How many of you would like to have sat around the campfire with the Lord. There is nothing wrong with wanting to do that, but that is not God’s perfect plan for your life. Jesus is in the business of training disciples. In Matthew 28:19, the Lord says, “Go ye therefore, and make disciples.”

You can rejoice that you have heard the gospel. But the Lord says, “Make disciples.” Some say, “Oh, I have been an Adventist all my life.” So what. The Lord says, “Make disciples.” Many successful evangelists or pastors have the talent to preach the Word. Teach others to do what you do. We must not be selfish and think that we are the only ones that should share the Word in our church or ministry. If God has blessed you with the knowledge His Word, then find someone and show them how they can do what you do. If we had a hundred people doing what only one or two are now doing, we could finish the work. And that is what Christ wants to see in His church. Jesus in interested in what is known as “on the job training.”

Jesus often used people who did not appear to be very well fitted for the job. Look at the twelve apostles. Here we see a group of men who did not have the necessary skills for the work they were called to do. They did not have the ability to work well with others. They were not dependable. They were slow and easily discouraged. But that is the wonderful thing about Jesus. He not only sees how we are now, but He can see what we can and will be when we accept God’s call.

“And when He had called unto Him His twelve disciples…” Matthew 10:1. It is to Christ that we are drawn. Who does the calling? The church did not find Christ. The twelve did not say, “This Jesus is perfect for the job.” The church today is guilty of reversing the Biblical order. The church today offers a Jesus that will run all of your errands. Some say, “Lord, You get me a job, You do this or that.” These people have been waiting for years to accomplish something, but the Lord has done nothing for them. It is presumption for us to ask God to do something that He has told us to do. If you notice, the Bible says that Jesus is the one who calls and sends out workers. It is His mission, His work, His church, and His strategy. He sends them; they do not send Him. Let us look at Christ’s strategy for saving souls. Jesus said, in Matthew 10:5-6: “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

When we think of mission work, we think of Africa or India, and there is nothing wrong with taking our work overseas. But what about the inner city mission? We have a tremendous work that needs to be done in our own neighborhoods. We must get involved in foreign mission, but we cannot forget our own neighborhoods. Jesus said to start with the people that you know. Start with the people that you live with. He called them the lost sheep of Israel. Those are people who know that there is something wrong with them, people who have problems, and people who need help. We are surrounded by those who are crying out for help. Pray for them. Talk to them. Encourage them. Invite them to church. Tell them you love them and that God does, too. You will find many opportunities to minister and witness to those around you. The point is just do something. Make a list of five people that you know and start working for them. Never give up and you will see the fruit of your labor.

The Need to Work Together

“No advice or sanction is given in the Word of God to those who believe the Third Angel’s Message to lead them to suppose that they can draw apart. This you may settle with yourselves forever. It is the devising of unsanctified minds that would encourage a state of disunion.” Manuscript 109, 1899.

Our prophet tells us that the Third Angel’s Message will be given by a unified body of Christians. Unity is not an option we choose, but an evidence that the Holy Spirit is leading us. God cannot bless us when we are going contrary to His Word, and His Word says to unify.

We have had brothers who have written us and called us on the phone saying that the Holy Spirit told them not to ever visit us again. Others have said that we are starting a new organization. Some have said that if we are going to follow the Holy Spirit we have to meet in a park under a tree.

“It is not a good sign when men will not unite with their brethren, but prefer to act alone, when they will not take in their brethren because they do not just exactly meet their mind. If men will wear the yoke of Christ, they cannot pull apart. They will wear Christ’s yoke, they will draw with Christ.” Manuscript 56, 1898.

We are our brother’s keeper. If you are in a situation where your brother has erred from the word, only a coward and a traitor would abandon his brother. How can we say we love someone and not do all we can to help them? “But he that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own, the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep.” John 10:12–13. “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.” Matthew 18:15.

When you are in a church or a home church, and problems arise, it is so much easier to run far away so that you do not have to deal with the problems. But the most difficult and necessary work is to solve them. Human nature always wants the easy road, but we cannot run away from our duty without risking great loss. Ezekiel 33:6, 7, gives this solemn warning to us, the watchmen on the walls. “But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at My mouth and warn them from Me.”

In the church, we must look at all men as our brothers and all women as our sisters. And when problems arise, we have a greater need to press closer together and look for solutions. Some of the problems today cannot be remedied in one or two meetings. It will take a lot of humility, study, fasting, and hours on our knees in prayer.

Questions on Unity

At times, people from the conference have read us these statements on unity by Ellen White, and accused us of not following God’s counsel on unity, because we meet in a self-supporting church. We have always believed that one should study the Spirit of Prophecy with the same care that we use when we study the Bible. Seventh-day Adventists have always been very careful Bible students. We never allow anyone to just read one or two texts to prove a Bible doctrine. We read every text that has reference to the subject in question. By doing this, we can make intelligent, informed decisions. But when it comes to the Sprit of Prophecy, we are often no different than those other churches that “twist the scriptures unto their own destruction.” 2 Peter 3:16 (NKJV).

Let us forever settle the fact that Ellen White never intended for anyone to use her statements on unity to refer to those who are in gross apostasy. She wrote in Manuscript 31, 1906: “We have a testing message to give, and I am instructed to say to our people, ‘Unify, unify.’ But we are not to unify with those who are departing from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. With our hearts sweet and kind and true, we are to go forth to proclaim the message, giving no heed to those who lead away from the truth.” (See also The Great Controversy, 445, 446.)

Let Them Alone

In Matthew 15:12–14, Jesus gives us counsel on unity. At this time Jesus’ disciples were troubled when they saw the Pharisees offended with Christ’s teachings. They approached Jesus in verse 12 saying, “Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?” The Pharisees hated Christ. They wanted Him dead. They were never going to accept Jesus or allow Him to work. Christ knew that, but the people (including His twelve disciples) thought that these men were God’s wonderful leaders. The apostles believed that if Christ was ever going to succeed in His labor, He must find favor with these men. “But He [Jesus] answered and said, ‘Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.’ ” Matthew 15:13, 14.

Jesus told His disciples “Let them alone.” These men, “however great their authority with people, they could not endure the testing of God.” Desire of Ages, 389. This message rings true for us today, at a time when the prophet tells us that “God is now sifting His people, testing their purposes and their motives. Many will be but as chaff—no wheat, no value in them.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 51.

“The work which the church has failed to do in a time of peace and prosperity she will do in a terrible crisis under the most discouraging, forbidding circumstances.…And at that time the superficial, conservative class, whose influence has steadily retarded the progress of the work, will renounce the faith. …” Testimonies, vol. 5, 63.

“To stand in defense of truth and righteousness when the majority forsake us, to fight the battles of the Lord when champions are few—this will be our test. At this time we must gather warmth from the coldness of others, courage from their cowardice, and loyalty from their treason.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 136.

The Lord is not against human leaders. We see that He organized His work when He ordained twelve. But Christ does warn us against blindly following church leaders. Sadly, today, we are following in the same course as our spiritual forefathers; despite the warnings found in the Spirit of Prophecy. We give unquestionable loyalty and reverence to a man or a group of men.

It is past time that we learned to “Prove all things.” We can support men when they support and follow the Word of God. We should respect the authority of the church, when the church respects the authority of God’s Word. But when the majority forsake the truth, we must take our stand firmly against all unrighteousness, or suffer eternal consequences.

A High Sense of Duty

In order to fulfill the gospel commission, we must have a high sense of duty. This high sense of duty is more important than anything else we may have today. We have a duty to work. No church can last whose people are encouraged to be idlers and loafers. It is our duty to do our best and to be as productive as we can. We must love the work of God. Duty does not fall upon a select group of people, but upon the shoulders of each individual believer.

In the parable of the talents, Jesus described the responsibility of each individual as his use of that which was given him. There was no corporate report of earnings, but each individual stood alone as custodian of his gifts, and this is even more true in the day in which we live.

“We are not doing the will of God if we sit in quietude, doing nothing to preserve liberty of conscience. Fervent, effectual prayer should be ascending to heaven that this calamity may be deferred until we can accomplish the work which has so long been neglected. Let there be most earnest prayer, and then let us work in harmony with our prayers.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 714.

“Let not the commandment-keeping people of God be silent at this time, as though we gracefully accepted the situation. There is the prospect before us of waging a continuous war, at the risk of imprisonment, of losing property and even life itself, to defend the law of God, which is being made void by the laws of men.” SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 975.

“Those who have been warned of the events before them are not to sit in calm expectation of the coming storm, comforting themselves that the Lord will shelter His faithful ones in the day of trouble. We are to be as men waiting for the Lord, not in idle expectancy, but in earnest work, with unwavering faith. It is our duty to do all in our power to avert the threatened danger.” Review and Herald, December 11, 1888.

We have the privilege of being called by Christ to finish the work that He began during His earthly ministry. Let us take heed to His call and bring an end to the great gospel commission of Matthew 28:19. God bless you and prepare to meet thy God.

Raphael Perez has been a Seventh-day Adventist minister for the past ten years. He presently is publishing Earth’s Final Warning in major newspapers across the United States. He writes from West Palm Beach, Florida.

Financing God’s Last Army

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Do you really want Jesus to come soon? Jesus will not return to earth again until the everlasting gospel is preached to the entire world, to every nation, kindred, language and people. (Matthew 24:15; Revelation 14:6,7.) Jesus would not have given the gospel commission if He did not have a plan to accomplish it. This plan is outlined in the Bible, but, because of the feebleness of our comprehension of God’s purposes, He has condescended to outline His plan for a finished work in much more detail in the writings of Ellen G. White.

God Has Devised Methods Of Support For All His Plans

For every plan that God has devised for the finishing of His work, He has devised methods and left instructions about how that plan is to work and how it is to be supported. For example, literature evangelists were to earn their living from the profits of the books that were sold. Physicians and nurses were to be paid from the fees paid to the sanitarium by the patients. Missionary farmers and tradesmen were to receive payment from their crops or the services rendered.

But there was one class of missionary worker that was not to receive their living from the profits of secular labor. That class of workers were those participating in the work of the gospel ministry. This includes more than just those called “ministers.” According to Ellen White the work of the gospel ministry includes the following kinds of workers: “Institutions that are God’s instruments to carry forward His work on the earth must be sustained. Churches must be erected, schools established, and publishing houses furnished with facilities for doing a great work in the publication of the truth to be sent to all parts of the world. These institutions are ordained of God and should be sustained by tithes and liberal offerings.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 464.

“I have had special instruction from the Lord that the tithe is for a special purpose, consecrated to God to sustain those who minister in the sacred work, as the Lord’s chosen to do His work not only in sermonizing, but in ministering. They should understand all that this comprehends.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, 187.

It is true that at times the apostle Paul supported himself by a trade to illustrate “in a practical way what might be done by consecrated laymen” (Acts of the Apostles, 355), but this is not actually God’s plan for the support of the ministry for on the next page Ellen White writes: “It is God’s design that such workers shall be freed from unnecessary anxiety, that they may have full opportunity to obey the injunction of Paul to Timothy, ‘Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them.’ 1 Timothy 4:15. While they should be careful to exercise sufficiently to keep mind and body vigorous, yet it is not God’s plan that they should be compelled to spend a large part of their time at secular employment.” Acts of the Apostles, 356.

We Are Responsible For the Use Of Our Tithe

The gospel confers individual responsibility upon each of us. In no case can this personal responsibility be avoided or transferred. If God tells us to spend the tithe for the work of the gospel only, He will not condone our using it for something else. God will not condone our using tithe for the preaching of apostasy or any use other than specified: “There are fearful woes for those who preach the truth, but are not sanctified by it, and also for those who consent to receive and maintain the unsanctified to minister to them in word and doctrine.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 261, 262.

“The churches must arouse. The members must awake out of sleep and begin to inquire, How is the money which we put into the treasury being used? The Lord desires that a close search be made. Are all satisfied with the history of the work for the past fifteen years? Where is the evidence of the co-working with God? Where has been heard throughout the churches the prayer for the help of the Holy Spirit? Dissatisfied and disheartened, we turn away from the scene.” The Kress Collection, 120.

Diversion of Tithe

One of Satan’s major goals is to divert the money that should be coming into the Lord’s treasury and thereby dry up the financial resources to finish God’s work.

“A flattering prospect may be presented to invest in patent rights or some other supposed brilliant enterprise around which Satan throws a bewitching enchantment. The prospect of getting more money, fast and easily, allures them. They reason that, although they had resolved to put this money into the treasury of God, they will use it in this instance, and will greatly increase it, and will then give a larger sum to the cause. They can see no possibility of a failure. Away goes the means out of their hands, and they soon learn, to their regret, that they have made a mistake. The brilliant prospects have faded. Their expectations are not realized. They were deceived. Satan outgeneraled them. He was more shrewd than they, and he managed to get their means into his ranks and thus deprive the cause of God of that which should have been used to sustain it in extending the truth and saving souls for whom Christ died.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 665.

We have a responsibility to be sure that our tithe and gifts to God’s cause are supporting the preaching of the truth and that the devil does not outgeneral us and secure, into the wrong storehouse, those assets that God has placed into our hands.

What is the Storehouse?

In order to ascertain a responsible and appropriate Christian decision about the use of tithe we need to understand what the storehouse is.

Only two storehouses exist in the world: “There are only two places in the world where we can deposit our treasures—in God’s storehouse or in Satan’s, and all that is not devoted to Christ’s service is counted on Satan’s side and goes to strengthen his cause.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 447.

All of our tithes and offerings are to be brought to God’s storehouse: “As did Abraham, they are to pay tithe of all they possess and all they receive. A faithful tithe is the Lord’s portion. To withhold it, is to rob God. Everyone should freely, willingly, and gladly bring tithes and offerings into the storehouse of the Lord. In so doing, he will receive a blessing. There is no safety in withholding from God His own portion.” The Kress Collection, 60.

The word “storehouse” is equivalent to the word “treasury:” (“If all tithes were brought into the storehouse, God’s treasury would not be empty.” Pacific Union Recorder, 10.)

We receive rich gifts from God’s storehouse. Eternal life is a gift which we receive from God’s storehouse and every temporal blessing which we receive is from His storehouse. In gratitude to the great giver and to develop the principle of unselfishness in our hearts, we are then to return, as the Lord has blessed us, to His storehouse: “The Lord Jesus is a never-failing storehouse from which human beings may draw strength and courage.” Faith I Live By, 341. “He to whom God has entrusted gifts, should return to the Lord’s storehouse that which he has received, by freely giving to others the benefit of his blessings.” In Heavenly Places, 221.

We lay up treasures in heaven when we give to God’s storehouse: “Very many might be laying up for themselves treasures in heaven, by keeping the Lord’s storehouse supplied with the portion He claims as His own, and with gifts and offerings.” Messages to Young People, 307.

Where is the Storehouse?

If we are going to send tithes and gifts to God’s storehouse, we need to know where it is. Some think that it is near the Tiber river in Italy. Others think that it is in Maryland and still others think that it is their local church. God’s storehouse is much bigger than any of these places. The reason for confusion is that many, if not most, do not know who and what the church is. Notice the following divine counsel:

“I have myself appropriated my tithe to the most needy cases brought to my notice. I have been instructed to do this; and as the money is not withheld from the Lord’s treasury, [the storehouse], it is not a matter that should be commented upon; for it will necessitate my making known these matters, which I do not desire to do, because it is not best. Some cases have been kept before me for years, and I have supplied their needs from the tithe, as God has instructed me to do. And if any person shall say to me, Sister White, will you appropriate my tithe where you know it is most needed, I shall say, Yes, I will; and I have done so. I commend those sisters who have placed their tithe where it is most needed to help to do a work that is being left undone; and if this matter is given publicity, it will create knowledge which would better be left as it is. I do not care to give publicity to this work which the Lord has appointed me to do, and others to do.” Spaulding Magan, 215.

When Ellen White gave tithe directly to those engaged in gospel work, she said that this money had not been withheld from the Lord’s treasury (storehouse) and then she said that the Lord had not only appointed her to do this but also others. Obviously then the storehouse must include more than one organization or group. In fact the Lord has forbidden that all monies go through one organization: “The different conferences have been led to look to the leading men at Battle Creek, feeling that no important move can be made without their approval. This tendency has been growing stronger, until it is a serious hindrance to the advancement of the work. This arrangement should never have been. The Lord would have His people under His jurisdiction. . . . The arrangement that all moneys must go through Battle Creek and under the control of the few men in that place is a wrong way of managing.” Testimonies to Ministers, 321.

“Do not worry lest some means shall go direct to those who are trying to do missionary work in a quiet and effective way. All the means is not to be handled by one agency or organization. There is much business to be done conscientiously for the cause of God. Help is to be sought from every possible source. There are men who can do the work of securing means for the cause, and when these are acting conscientiously and in harmony with the counsels of their fellow-laborers in the field which they represent, the hand of restraint is not to be laid upon them. They are surely laborers together with Him who gave His life for the salvation of souls.” Spaulding Magan, 421.

Also, in order to understand how to keep our tithe from being diverted, we need to understand what should be done with surplus tithe. Surplus tithe is not to be diverted into other areas of God’s work, other than what He has specified. It is to be sent to pay gospel workers in areas of the world where there is little or no tithe income: “There are missions to be sustained in fields where there are no churches and no tithes, and also where the believers are new and the tithe limited. If you have means that is not needed after settling with your ministers in a liberal manner, send the Lord’s money to these destitute places.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, 184.

Special Counsel Concerning Bible Workers

Much discussion has arisen as to whether a person should be eligible to receive tithe if not employed by the conference. This question existed in Ellen White’s day though not to the extent as today since the apostasy had not progressed to the enormous extent it has today. Ellen White did comment on this issue, however: “There are minister’s wives, Sisters Starr, Haskell, Wilson and Robinson, who have been devoted, earnest, whole-souled workers, giving Bible readings and praying with families, helping along by personal efforts just as successfully as their husbands. These women give their whole time, and are told that they receive nothing for their labors because their husbands receive their wages. I tell them to go forward and all such decisions shall be reversed. The Word says, ‘The laborer is worthy of his hire.’ When any such decision as this is made, I will in the name of the Lord, protest. I will feel it in my duty to create a fund from my tithe money, to pay these women who are accomplishing just as essential work as the ministers are doing, and this tithe I will reserve for work in the same line as that of the ministers, hunting for souls, fishing for souls. I know that the faithful women should be paid wages proportionate to the pay received by ministers. They carry the burden of souls, and should not be treated unjustly. These sisters are giving their time to educating those newly come to the faith, and hire their own work done, and pay those who work for them. All these things must be adjusted and set in order, and justice be done to all. Proof-readers in the office receive their wages, two dollars and a half and three dollars a week. this I have had to pay, and others have to pay. But ministers’ wives, who carry a tremendous responsibility, devoting their entire time, have nothing for their labor. This will give you an idea of how matters are in this conference. There are seventy-five souls organized into a church, who are paying their tithe into the conference, and as a saving plan it has been deemed essential to let these poor souls labor for nothing! But this does not trouble me, for I will not allow it to go thus.” Spaulding Magan, 117.

Obviously this same counsel would apply to full-time Bible workers today. Very few young people have trained themselves for Bible work. They have been told that there are no job openings (no tithe money) available for this! The entire time that I taught at Southwestern Adventist college, which was over seven years, I only met one person who was training to become a Bible worker! The result is that in this crisis hour when we should have thousands of young people trained and ready to go throughout Europe, Russia and China and other continents, we look about, and alas, there is a dearth of trained Bible workers all over the world. This fact alone, if you had no other information of God’s counsels for medical or publishing or ministerial work, is proof of a gigantic apostasy in Adventism today.

A truly Christian education is at the very foundation of God’s plans to finish His work. Every Christian is to have a part in finishing God’s work. God designed for us to educate not only ministers and Bible workers but physicians, literature evangelists, nurses and teachers and many other skilled persons to finish the gospel commission.

Special Need for Bible Workers

It is God’s will that we prepare thousands to do Bible work. (Testimonies, vol. 9, 126.) “In every school that God has established there will be, as never before, demand for Bible instruction.” Evangelism, 474. What is this Bible instruction to accomplish? The next sentence says, “Our students are to be educated to become Bible workers.” “In every city there should be a corps of organized, well-disciplined workers; not merely one or two, but scores should be set to work.” Christian Stewardship, 72.

This work will require money. “It almost seems as if scarcely anyone dares ask a worker to go into the cities, because of the means that would be required to carry on a strong, solid work. It is true that much means will be required in order to do our duty toward the unwarned in these places; and God desires us to lift our voices and our influence in favor of using means wisely in this special line of effort.” Evangelism, 42.

If We Fail, God’s Plan Will Succeed Through Others

If none of us feel a responsibility to fill the gap and become trained in Bible work and then help to train others, the Lord will pass us by and finish His work with others. He may use “children” as in the triumphal entry into Jerusalem or the rocks may cry out, but if that happens we will lose the blessing God wanted us to have and in the process we might lose our souls, also. If we do not feel a responsibility for all of our tithe to support the giving of the Three Angels’ Messages, God can at any time find other intelligences and other money or sources of support to finish His work, but we will be the losers. If we support apostasy with our tithe and offerings we are not hastening the Lord’s coming by getting the last message to all the world—rather we are delaying His coming and in dire danger of being accounted as an evil servant at the end. (Matthew 24:44-51).

The time will soon come when God will finish His work in a way completely different than we expect. If we oppose what God is doing because it differs from our expectations of how the work should be conducted, we will be found fighting God and will lose our souls just as surely as the unbelieving Jews. Notice the following prophecies:

“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.” Testimonies to Ministers, 300.

Note to Home churches: Since the goal of all historic Adventists should be to see the final message given to the world, it is vitally important that home churches be organized so that they can use their finances to further the great commission by hiring Bible Workers or involving themselves in other types of evangelism.

If you would like more information about how to arrange financial matters in your church, call Steps to Life and we will be happy to send you a free information sheet to help you get started.

A Whole Conference Dissolved

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In December, 1992, the Zambesi Conference under the Zambesi Union of Seventh-day Adventists and the SDA Association of Southern Africa, headed by president Abdulla Ahomed, was voted to be dissolved at the Annual Council of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. A General Conference representative, Elder Kenneth Mittleider, a vice-president, was sent to Zimbabwe to execute this vote. However, according to the Zambesi Conference constitution, a 75% vote of the conference constituents was required to dissolve the conference.

President Ahomed spoke with Elder Mittleider and told him that the Zambesi Conference would abide by the legal constitution and a vote would be taken by the constituents regarding dissolving the conference. When a vote was taken by the constituent members, 83% voted to retain the Zambesi Conference. It was this decisive vote, not recognized by the General Conference, that created an independent Zambesi Conference with membership at that time of 1200-1500 members.

In January, 1999, after seven years of skirmishes over properties occupied by members of the Zambesi Conference (whose members had for the most paid for them) and other legal matters associated with the Zambesi Conference, the SDA Association of Southern Africa and the Zambesi Union of SDAs took their case to court against the Zambesi Conference. During these interim years of independence, because of active evangelism and missionary work, the Zambesi Conference Sabbath school membership has grown to between six and seven thousand members and the baptized membership now stands at 4,500.

A issue centrally in this dispute is property including 26 buildings consisting of the Zambesi Conference head office complex, houses occupied by pastors and other workers, church buildings, and a large built up campsite in the Vumba mountains. The combined value is estimated at $17 million Zambesi dollars. (The US equivalent is $460,000) As per policy of the Eastern African Division of SDA, all fixed property acquired by churches and conferences must be legally registered in the name of the property holding body, namely the SDA Association of Southern Africa which is registered at the deeds office in Harare, Zimbabwe. However, according to the constitution (constitutions have now been changed for the other three conferences in the Zambesi Union), all title deeds included the proviso that property was being “held in trust” by the association but remained the property of the legal owners, the Zambesi Conference. This designation of properties being “held in trust” by the property holding body is stated in all copies of the constitutions backdated to the establishment of the Zambesi Conference, in 1929.

In the case of the churches, local congregations who raised the funds for these buildings and who underwrote loans and guaranteed financial responsibility for repayment of same, retained the right of real ownership in the event of dispute. Additionally, local church membership and the Zambesi Conference leadership accepted all liability for expenses incurred in the maintenance and operation of properties and buildings. Witnesses testifying have clearly shown that the Zambesi Conference provided the major portion of all funds required in the purchase and construction of these churches, offices and houses. Receipts and documents can be provided by the Zambesi Conference to substantiate this claim of funding. However, in some cases, limited funds were provided by the Zambesi Union and the Eastern Africa Division.

Judgment which normally takes several weeks before publication, was delivered in a few days by the presiding High Court Judge. The ruling was totally in favor of the plaintiffs—the Zambesi Union and the SDA Association of Southern Africa. April 1, 1999, when the appeal by the Zambesi Conference was dismissed, the same High Court Judge also ruled that the Zambesi Union could move into the Zambesi Conference premises.’ This is somewhat unusual, since further appeal can be made and Justice Smith’s ruling could be overturned, thereby returning properties to the Zambesi Conference.

Even before the dismissal of the appeal was communicated to the Zambesi Conference, Pastor Ahomed was asked by Zambesi Union officials to vacate his home with one weeks’ notice. This request was denied as Zimbabwe law requires three months notice of eviction from homes. Conference churches, however, were vacated in less than a week. Members, nearly as a body simply walked away from the buildings they had sacrificed to build and maintain.

At the present time, members of the churches have been meeting in tents, under trees, and in rented facilities. The Zambesi Conference plans to appeal their case to the Supreme Court which they are entitled to do. However, an appeal cannot be made until the High Court Judge places his ruling in writing and as of the end of August 1999, this had not been done.

Members of the independent Zambesi Conference are of good courage in the Lord. They are moving ahead with plans to obtain new facilities and to continue evangelism in their country. High on the priority list is to develop the new camp facilities where children can attend, Pathfinders can be encouraged, campmeetings can be held, and pastors can more effectively be prepared to preach the everlasting gospel. If you would like to have a part in the development of this project and the work in Zimbabwe, mark your gift to Steps to Life for Zimbabwe. Pray for the Lord’s work in this part of the vineyard.

Early Ecumenical Aspirations

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The message of the second angel of Revelation 14 is that the churches of the last days have fallen. Has spiritual Babylon always been fallen? No. At some previous time these churches must have been in an unfallen condition in order to become fallen! Why have they fallen? Because in 1844 they rejected the First Angel’s Message—the truth about Christ’s work in the heavenly Sanctuary.

“The Second Angel’s Message had its initial sounding early in the summer of 1844 in the call to the Advent believers to come out of the nominal churches that had rejected the proclamation of the First Angel’s Message.” Appendix Note, Early Writings, 304. (See also, “The Final Warning,” The Great Controversy, 603–612.)

A Closer Look At Modern Babylon

The message of the fourth angel of Revelation 18, which adds power to the message of the second and third angels of Revelation 14, is that the Church of Rome and her harlot daughters have fallen, and the angel fervently calls God’s people to come out of the fallen churches of the last days. Indeed, the angel cries aloud that these churches have “become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” Revelation 18:2b. The fourth angel comes down from heaven “having great power; and the earth is lightened with his glory.” Revelation 18:1b. Notice that this special angel “cried mightily with a strong voice.” Revelation 18:2a. This, beyond question, is a vivid description of the Latter Rain of the Advent message. Indeed, do not Seventh-day Adventists know the Latter Rain as the “Loud Cry” of the message?

“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. The work of this angel comes in at the right time to join in the last great work of the Third Angel’s Message as it swells to a loud cry. And the people of God are thus prepared to stand in the hour of temptation, which they are soon to meet. I saw a great light resting upon them, and they united to fearlessly proclaim the Third Angel’s Message.” Early Writings, 277. [All emphasis supplied throughout unless otherwise noted.]

“For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,” the fourth angel cries aloud, “and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.” Revelation 18:3.

Habitation Of Devils

Let us more carefully analyze Revelation 18, verses 1 and 2. The fourth angel states that because the modern churches of Babylon have fallen they have “become the habitation of devils.” What does this mean? The contemporary Roman Catholic and Sunday-keeping churches are now filled with spiritualism in the form of false healing, false speaking in tongues, casting out demons, and using hypnosis in the practice of so-called “Christian psychology.” Rock music, inspired by demons, is now used in the worship service of most contemporary denominations, including the Roman Catholic Church. All of Christendom is rampant with the modern spiritualistic techniques of “Self-Esteem,” and “Neuro-Linguistic Programming,” known as NLP. This, without question, is spiritism in its most subtle and deceptive form!

“When Satan has undermined faith in the Bible, he directs men to other sources for light and power.…Criticism and speculation concerning the Scriptures have opened the way for spiritism and theosophy—those modernized forms of ancient heathenism—to gain a foothold even in the professed churches of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Desire of Ages, 258.

“History is repeating,” Ellen White warned. “With the open Bible before them, and professing to reverence its teachings, many of the religious leaders of our time are destroying faith in it as the word of God.” Ibid. Like ancient Israel, modern Babylon has accepted spiritualism into their midst. “Side by side with the preaching of the gospel, agencies are at work which are but the medium of lying spirits.” Ibid.

Three Important Concepts Of Revelation 18, Verse 3

  1. “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” The nations have drunk from the wine of her false doctrine.
  2. “The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her.” The contemporary Roman Catholic and modern Evangelical churches have sought the power of the state to enforce their so-called Christian values, and to support their institutions.
  3. “The merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.” The merchants of the earth have become rich from the sale of goods connected with the Christian faith. Christmas, Easter, Saint Valentine’s Day, All-Saints Day (Halloween), Saint Patrick’s Day, and other so-called Christian holidays reap millions in revenue for merchants and the churches.

The blasphemous movie productions, “Jesus Christ Superstar,” and the even more blasphemous “Godspell,” reaped millions and millions of dollars. Although the Bible says of Judas, “Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot” (Luke 22:3), in the production “Godspell,” Judas Iscariot is depicted as the hero. Also in this blasphemous production the disciples crawl around on the stage and bleat like sheep. Jesus is depicted as a clown. He has a contemporary “rock star” Afro hair style, a little red heart on his shirt, and eyes painted with large teardrops under them, like a circus clown.

It is sad that we have become so gospel-hardened that some of these things no longer shock us. However, we should not be surprised by these developments in the fallen churches of Babylon. Seventh-day Adventists have been warned that gross apostasy would increase in the end of time. “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.” Isaiah 60:2. But what is most astounding is that these two blasphemous movie productions were endorsed by the major denominations as tools for evangelism among the youth. (See, Bob Larson, Rock and the Church, available at most Christian book stores.)

The False Doctrines Of Modern Babylon

The wine is the false doctrine of Roman Babylon and her fallen harlot daughters are apostate Protestantism. Let us now examine the false doctrines of modern Babylon.

“This is the same message that was given by the second angel. Babylon is fallen, ‘because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication’ (Revelation 14:8.) What is that wine?—Her false doctrines. She has given to the world a false sabbath instead of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and has repeated the falsehood that Satan first told Eve in Eden—the natural immortality of the soul. Many kindred errors she has spread far and wide, ‘teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.’ Matthew15:9.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 118.

“The whole chapter shows that the Babylon that has fallen is the churches who will not receive the messages of warning the Lord has given in the First, Second, and Third Angel’s Messages,” Ellen White states. “They refused the truth and accepted a lie. Anyone who reads this chapter need not be deceived.” Manuscript Releases,
vol. 1, 302.

Notice that these fallen churches have “refused the truth and accepted a lie.” Are we to join hands with those who have accepted a lie?

The false leaders and teachers of modern Babylon will lead the masses of earth’s final generation to perdition. Only a few of earth’s billions will come out of Babylon. “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matthew 7:14. From Egypt only two passed into the promised land. Only eight were saved in Noah’s day. After the flood they all apostatized into Babylon. A few followed when the Lord called Abraham. Fewer still stood at the cross. “And all His acquaintance, and the women that followed Him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.” Luke 23:49. Only one hundred and twenty in the upper room received the early rain of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. A small company believed William Miller. Fewer still accepted the Sanctuary and Sabbath truths, the Spirit of Prophecy, and became Seventh-day Adventists. Today many are living in the broad way. However, there remains a small remnant throughout the earth. “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh,” Jesus asked, “shall He find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8.

A Link Between Church and State

“When the churches of our land, uniting upon such points of faith as are held by them in common,” Ellen White warned, “shall influence the State to enforce their decrees and sustain their institutions, then will Protestant America have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy.” Spiritual Gifts, vol. 4, 277.

“By this first beast is represented the Roman Church, an ecclesiastical body clothed with civil power, having authority to punish all dissenters. The image to the beast represents another religious body clothed with similar power. The formation of this image is the work of that beast whose peaceful rise and mild professions render it so striking a symbol of the United States. Here is to be found an image of the papacy.…Protestant churches that have followed in the steps of Rome by forming alliance with worldly powers have manifested a similar desire to restrict liberty of conscience.…Persecution always follows religious favoritism on the part of secular governments.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 278.

Although God has given up on the Sunday-keeping churches of Babylon, He has not given up on the people in those denominations As in the days following the crucifixion of Christ, there was probation for the people—but there was no probation for the leadership of Israel! Jesus had declared, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” Matthew 23:38.

A Warning Against Fellowship With Modern Babylon

The early Christian Church apostatized in the rise of the Papal Church and her link with the secular State. The Protestant churches apostatized when they rejected the message of the first angel. Now, through the message of the second angel, and the amplified message of the special angel of Revelation 18, God is calling His people out of Babylon, out of these false churches. He warns that if they do not come out of Babylon, they shall be “partakers of her sins” and will receive of her plagues. (See Revelation 18:4.)

Again, the point cannot be over-emphasized that, the message of the second and fourth angels call people out of Babylon, and to reject the false teachings of the fallen Protestant churches of the end times. It is a message directly against the Ecumenical Movement, which champions the brotherhood of all Christian churches. We, as Seventh-day Adventists, should not turn toward the churches of Babylon, but should be calling people out of these false churches!

Why can we not have fellowship and brotherhood on all sides with these Christians of other denominations? Why cannot Seventh-day Adventists become members of the National and World Council of Churches? “There is as great a difference in our faith and that of nominal professors,” Ellen White replies. “as the heavens are higher than the earth.” Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2, 300.

“The world is against us, the popular churches are against us, the laws of the land will soon be against us,” Ellen White wrote. “God has committed to us the special truths for this time to make known to the world.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 236.

How can we fellowship with the false Sunday-keeping churches of Babylon when “the popular churches are against us.” Indeed, did not Jesus Himself say, “For he that is not against us is on our part.” Mark 9:40. If the modern churches of Babylon are no longer against us, perhaps we are no longer teaching and preaching the historic Advent truth!

James White also gave some wise counsel on the subject of ecumenism and fellowship with the Sunday-keeping churches of Babylon. Notice carefully his wise counsel: “Here is a man, for instance, who does not agree with us on the subject of the second coming of Christ. He believes that we are wholly mistaken in regard to this great truth. Can we feel union with such a man, and take him into our fellowship and communion? We cannot. We can but feel that he shuts his eyes to some of the clearest light of the Scriptures, and refuses assent to their most unequivocal testimony. We cannot therefore extend to him the hand of Christian fellowship. Just so with the Sabbath. Can we fellowship with the man who violates it? We cannot. On a vital point connected with the teaching of the word of God, we are at issue; and the union that would otherwise exist between us, is of course destroyed. So with the subjects of baptism, the sleep of the dead, the destruction of the wicked, etc. Where there is not agreement in theory, there can be, in the Christian sense, no real communion of heart and fellowship of feeling.” James White, “Fifty Unanswerable Arguments,” Review and Herald, January 14, 1861.

“Where there is not agreement in theory [theology],” James White states, “there can be, in the Christian sense, no real communion of heart and fellowship of feeling.” Can anything be more plain? Pioneer Seventh-day Adventists did not believe in ecumenicalism. They did not advocate joining in mutual fellowship with the churches of Babylon, or recognizing all those who lift up Christ, though they reject the truths of these last days.

“I saw that since Jesus left the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary and entered within the second veil, the churches have been filling up with every unclean and hateful bird. I saw great iniquity and vileness in the churches, yet their members profess to be Christians. Their profession, their prayers, and their exhortations are an abomination in the sight of God. Said the angel, ‘God will not dwell in their assemblies. Selfishness, fraud, and deceit are practiced by them without the reprovings of conscience. And over all these evil traits they throw the cloak of religion.’ ” Early Writings, 274.

Notice that it is the voice of an angel that says, “God will not dwell in their assemblies.” If God does not dwell with these assemblies (National and World Council of Churches), why do we wish to “dwell” with them when God does not?

Again, is it possible to have unity with modern Babylon? Can we have dialogue and goodwill between the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the fallen churches of Babylon? Pioneer Adventists did not believe so. The Spirit of Prophecy warns against it.

“After a long and severe conflict the faithful few decided to dissolve all union with the apostate church if she still refused to free herself from falsehood and idolatry. They saw that separation was an absolute necessity if they would obey the Word of God. They dared not tolerate errors fatal to their own souls and set an example which would imperil the faith of their children and children’s children.…If unity could be secured only by the compromise of truth and righteousness, then let there be difference and even war. Well would it be for the church and the world if the principles that actuated those steadfast souls were revived in the hearts of God’s professed people.” The Story of Redemption, 324.

Notice that Ellen White described the stand of the faithful during the Dark Ages by saying, “If unity could be secured only by the compromise of truth and righteousness, then let there be difference and even war.” Then she brings it home to the contemporary Seventh-day Adventist Church: “Well would it be for the church and the world if the principles that actuated those steadfast souls were revived in the hearts of God’s professed people.” In the hearts of God’s professed people? That is us, is it not? It would be well if these principles were revived in the hearts of Seventh-day Adventists.

Ecumenism—Modern-Day Deception of Satan

Before we can continue our study we must first understand the concept of “ecumenism.” Today we often hear the word ecumenical. What is ecumenism? The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Student’s Source Book and SDA Bible Dictionary give a clear answer: “At its most ambitious, the ecumenical movement aspires to heal the
thousand-year-old break between Rome and the Eastern Orthodox churches on the one hand, and the later breach between these and the Protestant denominations on the other.” Editorial, “To a Greater Christian Church,” Life, 49 (December 19, 1960), 24; op. sit., Seventh-day Adventist Bible Student’s Source Book, Art. “Ecumenical Movement,” Second Revised Edition.

“But despite these deep doctrinal differences, these three chief branches of Christianity are on much friendlier terms than they used to be,” the editorial stated. “Their spokesmen are able to meet in serious dialogue without thinking of each other as antichrists; they have learned to know what they believe in common and why they disagree.” Editorial, Life, December 19, 1960.

Notice the phrases, “the ecumenical movement aspires to heal the thousand-year-old break [wound].” Does that sound familiar? “And his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” Revelation 13:3b. “Their spokesmen are able to meet in serious dialogue without thinking of each other as antichrists.” Have you ever heard, dear reader, the phrase “beast bashing” in today’s Adventist thinking? But the most astounding fulfillment of prophecy is the phrase, “they have learned to know what they believe in common and why they disagree.”

“When the churches of our land, uniting upon such points of faith as are held by them in common,” Ellen White warned, “shall influence the State to enforce their decrees and sustain their institutions, then will Protestant America have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 278.

So Much In Common

In 1973, Bert Beverly Beach (later secretary of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty department of the General Conference) co-authored a book with Lukas Vischer, Secretary of the World Council of Churches. The title of the book was, So Much In Common, the subtitle, “Between the World Council of Churches and the Seventh-day Adventist Church.” The book was published by the World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland, in 1973. The title of the book alone tells the story, “So Much In Common, Between the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the World Council of Churches.” What do Seventh-day Adventists have in common with the World Council of Churches? How did Adventists ever come to the place where they thought they had something in common with the great assembly of the churches of Babylon, the harlot daughters of Rome?

In 1977, Bert Beach was President of the Northern Europe-West Africa Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. At that time Beach was also serving as Secretary of the World Confessional Families, the theological branch of the World Council of Churches. On May 18, 1977, as Secretary of the World Confessional Families, meeting in Rome, Italy, Beach presented a medallion to Pope Paul VI. (See Religious News Service (RNS), Foreign Service, May 19, 1977; W.D. Eva, Adventist Review, “Book, Medallion Presented to Pope,” August 11, 1977, page 23.)

The Goal Of Ecumenism

“As long as the Catholic is Catholic and the Protestant is Protestant, there is only one way to union—the conversion of one to the views of the other. If that should
happen, either Catholicism or Protestantism would disappear. There can never be a Catholic-Protestant Church, or even a Catholic-Protestant fellowship of churches. This is the basic fact.

“The Catholic must say to the Protestant that the [Catholic] Church was substantially right, and therefore any endeavor toward reunion will be a return to her unreconstructed, unreformed unity.” Gustave Wiegel, A Catholic Primer on the Ecumenical Movement, 50, 51, 64, 66. Copyright 1957 by The Newman Press, Westminster, Md.

Ecumenism Will Triumph

“Through the two great errors, [1] the immortality of the soul and [2] Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions,” Ellen White concluded. “While the former lays the foundation of spiritualism the latter creates a bond of sympathy with Rome.” The Great Controversy, 588.

“The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience.” Ibid.

—To be continued…

Why Home Churches, Part II

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Why is there a home church movement worldwide in Adventism today?

In part one, it was seen that those who were the foremost in denouncing the message from God, in 1888, were those in positions of leadership. The message of righteousness by faith was treated with contempt by the president of the General Conference and by the editor of the Review and Herald. The administration of the General Conference did its best to commit the denomination to what was called “the old landmarks,” righteousness by works, and that spirit and element did not cease in 1888, as the 1888 Materials clearly document.

“The righteousness of Christ by faith has been ignored by some; for it is contrary to their spirit and their whole life experience. Rule, rule, has been their course of action. Satan has had an opportunity of representing himself. When one who professes to be a representative of Christ engages in sharp dealing and in pressing men into hard places, those who are thus oppressed will either break every fetter of restraint, or they will be led to regard God as a hard master. They cherish hard feelings against God, and the soul is alienated from Him, just as Satan planned it should be.

“This hard-heartedness, on the part of men who claim to believe the truth, Satan charges to the influence of the truth itself, and thus men become disgusted and turn from the truth. For this reason no man should have a responsible connection with our institutions who thinks it no important matter whether he has a heart of flesh or a heart of steel.” Testimonies to Ministers, 363.

“A strange thing has come into our churches. Men who are placed in positions of responsibility that they may be wise helpers to their fellow workers have come to suppose that they were set as kings and rulers in the churches, to say to one brother, Do this; to another, Do that; and to another, Be sure to labor in such and such a way. There have been places where the workers have been told that if they did not follow the instruction of these men of responsibility, their pay from the conference would be withheld.” Ibid., 477.

A big part of the problem that plagued the church both before and after 1888 (since the message was not accepted) was a rejection of the message of righteousness by faith. It was accepted, perhaps, theoretically. However, the church had lost sight of Jesus (Ibid., 93), and had been looking to man and expecting much from man. This resulted in looking to herself for authority, and in a compelling power used to control the members. (See above quotation.) The message of righteousness by faith was to set the church free from this compelling power and place it again under the direct control of divine agencies, where men and human leadership would be in an advisory and not a controlling capacity. Notice the way leadership is to operate from the following quotation: “Simple organization and church order are set forth in the New Testament Scriptures, and the Lord has ordained these for the unity and perfection of the church. The man who holds office in the church should stand as a leader, as an advisor and a counselor and helper in carrying the burdens of the work. He should be a leader in offering thanksgiving to God. But he is not appointed to order and command the Lord’s laborers. The Lord is over His heritage. He will lead His people if they will be led of the Lord in the place of assuming a power God has not given them. Let us study the twelfth and thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, and the fifteenth chapter of Acts.” Paulson Collection, 298.

The Work of a Satanic Spirit

Sadly, the message in 1888 was rejected, and the weight of evidence shows that a large part of the reason for this was the reluctance and the actual refusal of those in positions of leadership to release control of the work so that the Holy Spirit could take control. The Holy Spirit was insulted, as we saw in part one, and a Satanic spirit took control: “Thus it was in the betrayal, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus—all this had passed before me point by point. The Satanic spirit took control and moved with power upon the human hearts that had been opened to doubts and to bitterness, wrath and hatred. All this was prevailing in that meeting. I decided to leave the meeting, leave Minneapolis.” 1888 Materials, 308.

“I had been shown that in their special meetings but little good was accomplished because they did not have such a living connection with God that He could impress them by His Holy Spirit. When not under the control of the Spirit of God, another spirit had control of their thoughts, words, and actions, and in place of growing in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ they were becoming dwarfs in spiritual things.” Ibid., 358, 359.

“The spirit manifested is not of Christ. The outgrowth of this will be that some will turn away from light and others will come to a standstill in spiritual growth, because from this hour blindness of mind and self-righteousness will take the place in their experience of justice, mercy, and the love of God. The seeds of disaffection and disunion will be scattered broadcast, and all because men allow their own spirit to control them and make them unsympathetic and unimpressible, like moral icebergs, cold, sunless, dark, and forbidding. The result will be ruin to souls.” Ibid., 95. (See also Ibid., 1116.)

“He who trusts in man not only leans upon a broken reed, and gives Satan an opportunity to introduce himself, but he hurts the one in whom the trust is placed; he becomes lifted up in his estimation of himself, and loses the sense of his dependence upon God. Just as soon as man is placed where God should be, he loses his purity, his vigor, his confidence in God’s power. Moral confusion results, because his powers become unsanctified and perverted. He feels competent to judge his fellowmen, and he strives unlawfully to be a god over them.” Testimonies to Ministers, 376.

Testing and Proving

“The Lord was testing and proving His people who had had great light, whether they would walk in it or turn from it under temptation, for but few know what manner of spirit they are of until circumstances shall be of a character to test the spirit which prompts to action. In many the natural heart is a controlling power, and yet they do not suppose that pride and prejudice are entertained as cherished guests, and work in the words and actions against light and truth. Our brethren who have occupied leading positions in the work and the cause of God should have been so closely connected with the Source of all light that they would not call light darkness and darkness light.” Selected Messages, vol. 3, 176. (1888)

This testing and proving went on for thirteen years. In 1896, Ellen White wrote: “O if I could have the joyful news that the will and mind of those in Battle Creek who have stood professedly as leaders, were emancipated from the teachings and slavery of Satan, whose captives they have been for so long, I would be willing to cross the broad Pacific to see your faces once more. But I am not anxious to see you with enfeebled perceptions and clouded minds because you have chosen darkness rather than light.” 1888 Materials, 1497.

What were these teachings and the slavery of Satan she referred to in this statement? “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. Whatever in our practice is not as open as the day, belongs to the methods of the prince of evil. His methods are practiced even among Seventh Day Adventists, who claim to have advanced truth.” Ibid., 1433.

People often think that reorganization attempts in 1897 and 1901 were made to change the outward church structure. Actually this was peripheral to the problem that was actually being addressed. These outward changes were made to end the reign of kingly power and to place the control of the work again under the Holy Spirit with all men in servant-brethren relationships.

Ellen White outlined the problem and the needed solution for coming into working order in the famous library speech in 1901. She stated that these changes should have been done years ago. “I feel a special interest in the movements and decisions that shall be made at this Conference regarding the things that should have been done years ago, and especially ten years ago, when we were assembled in Conference, and the Spirit and power of God came into our meeting, testifying that God was ready to work for this people if they would come into working order. The brethren assented to the light God had given, but there were those connected with our institutions, especially with the Review and Herald Office and the Conference, who brought in elements of unbelief, so that the light that was given was not acted upon. It was assented to, but no special change was made to bring about such a condition of things that the power of God could be revealed among His people.” Ibid., 1743.

Notice the following points from the above quotation:

  1. The power of God could not be revealed among His people until there were some changes.
  2. God was ready to work for us if we would come into working order.
  3. The work was not in working order when the statement was made.
  4. The changes which needed to be made had been made known years before and had been assented to but not acted upon.

Ellen White revealed that some needed to be separated from the work: “Why, I ask you, are men who have not brought self into subjection allowed to stand in important positions of truth and handle sacred things? They have grown to the stature of men, but they have brought with them their childish tendencies. God does not want any such thing. He has made provision for all to have in them the grace of Christ. No others will enter heaven. There has been one rebellion there, and there will not be another. We have been given an opportunity to get rid of every kind of rebellion.” Ibid., 1744.

“It only takes a word to fire up a man who has not made a practice of talking with God. This spirit is as contagious as the leprosy. One and another catch it, and thus dissension and strife and commotion are brought in. God is not in any of this work.

“O, my very soul is drawn out in these things! Men who have not learned to submit themselves to the control and discipline of God, are not competent to train the youth, to deal with human minds. It is just as much an impossibility for them to do this work as it could be for them to make a world. That these men should stand in a sacred place, to be as the voice of God to the people, as we once believed the General Conference to be,—that is past. What we want now is a reorganization. We want to begin at the foundation, and to build upon a different principle.” Ibid.

“Now I want to say, God has not put any kingly power in our ranks to control this or that branch of the work. The work has been greatly restricted by the efforts to control it in every line…. Let me tell you, if your heart is in the work, and you have faith in God, you need not depend upon the sanction of any minister or any people; if you go right to work in the name of the Lord, in a humble way doing what you can to teach the truth, God will vindicate you.” Ibid., 1746.

Self-Supporting Work Develops

In 1903, as we have documented in other articles, the progress made in 1901, which Ellen White said that the Lord endorsed, was reversed. The 1901 constitution was rejected and a new one, that allowed the same old problems to exist, was put in its place.*

Since we live in a moral universe, there are consequences to all actions. The result of the turn around in 1903, the very next year, the world-wide self-supporting movement had its beginnings, in the development of Madison.

Following are some inspired statements about the Madison School and these statements need to be read in addition to those mentioned earlier about all our schools being under the authority of the General Conference.

“In the work being done at the training school for home and foreign missionary teachers in Madison, Tennessee, and in the small schools established by the teachers who have gone forth from Madison, we have an illustration of a way in which the message should be carried.” Spaulding Magan, 420.

“The Lord has instructed me that, from the first, the work in Huntsville and Madison should have received adequate help. But instead of this help being rendered promptly there has been long delay. And in the matter of the Madison school, there has been a standing off from them because they were not under the ownership and control of some Conference. This is a question that should sometimes be considered, but it is not the Lord’s plan that means should be withheld from Madison, because they are not bound to the conference. The attitude which some of our brethren have assumed toward this enterprise shows that it is not wise for every working agency to be under the dictation of conference officers. There are some enterprises under certain conditions, that will produce better results if standing alone.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 8, 202.

“We are to respect the light that led Brethren Magan and Sutherland to purchase property and establish the school at Madison. Let no one speak words that would tend to demerit their work, or to divert students from the school. I do not charge any one with an intention to do wrong, but from the light I have received, I can say that there is danger that some will criticize unjustly the work of our brethren and sisters connected with the school at Madison. Let every encouragement possible be given to those who are engaged in an effort to give to children and youth an education in the knowledge of God and of His law.” The Madison School, 17.

“When my advice was asked in reference to the Madison school, I said, Remain as you are. There is danger in binding every working agency under the dictation of the conference. The Lord did not design that this should be. The circumstances were such that the burden bearers in the Madison school could not bind up their work with the conference. I knew their situation, and when many of the leading men in our conferences ignored them, because they did not place their school under conference dictation, I was shown that they would not be helped by making themselves amenable to the conference. They had better remain as led by God, amenable to Him, to work out His plans. But this matter need not be blazed abroad.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 8, 202, 203.

“The school at Madison not only educates in a knowledge of the Scriptures, but it gives a practical training that fits the student to go forth as a self-supporting missionary to the field to which he is called. In his student days he is taught how to build simply and substantially, how to cultivate the land, and to care for the stock. To this is added the knowledge of how to treat the sick and care for the injured. This training for medical-missionary work is one of the grandest objects for which any school can be established. There are many suffering from disease and injury, who, when relieved of pain, will be prepared to listen to the truth. Our Saviour was a mighty Healer. In His name there may be many miracles wrought in the South and in other fields through the instrumentality of the trained medical missionary. Therefore it is essential that there shall be a sanitarium connected with the Madison school. The educational work at the school and the sanitarium can go forward hand in hand. The instruction given at the school will benefit the patients, and the instruction given to the sanitarium patients will be a blessing to the school.” Ibid., 192, 193.

“The Lord does not set limits about His workers in some lines as men are wont to set. In their work, Brethren Magan and Sutherland have been hindered unnecessarily. Means have been withheld from them because in the organization and management of the Madison school, it was not placed under the control of the conference. But the reasons why this school was not owned and controlled by the conference have not been duly considered.…The Lord does not require that the educational work at Madison shall be changed all about before it can receive the hearty support of our people. The work that has been done there is approved of God, and He forbids that this line of work shall be broken up. The Lord will continue to bless and sustain the workers so long as they follow His counsel.

“Brethren Sutherland and Magan are as verily set to do the work of the Lord at Madison as other workers are appointed to do their part in the cause of present truth.

“The Lord’s money is to sustain them in their labors. They have a right to share the means given to the cause. They should be given a proportionate share of the means that comes in for the furtherance of the cause.

“God forbids you to put yokes on the necks of His servants. Brethren Sutherland and Magan have a right to solicit means for the support of the Madison school. This wonderful burden to restrict their work, which some suppose God has bestowed upon them with their official position, has never been laid upon them. If they were standing free on the high platform of truth, they would never accept the responsibility of framing rules and regulations that will hinder and cramp the laborers in their work for this time. When they learn the lesson that ‘All ye are brethren,’ and realize that their fel-low workers sometimes know just as well as they do how to use in the wisest way the talents and capabilities entrusted to them, they will remove the yokes that they are now binding upon them, and will give them credit for love for souls and a desire to labor unselfishly to promote the interests of the cause.” Manuscript Releases,
vol. 20, 103.

“Some have entertained the idea that because the school at Madison is not owned by a conference organization, those who are in charge of the school should not be permitted to call upon our people for the means that is greatly heeded to carry on their work. This idea needs to be corrected. In the distribution of the money that comes into the Lord’s treasury, you are entitled to portion just as verily as are those connected with other needy enterprises that are carried forward in harmony with the Lord’s instruction.” Spaulding Magan, 411.

We conclude from these statements that:

  1. It was not God’s will for all of His work to be under the control of the conferences and the reasons for this have been amply documented.
  2. God approved and authorized the setting up of Adventist work for the world, independent from the conference, as Madison.
  3. This work that was independent from the conference was just as much Adventist work as conference work, just as much a part of the last great work of the second Advent movement for the world as conference work. In fact,
  4. Self-supporting work was to have a significant part in the closing work for the world.
  5. God forbid for this kind of work to be broken up.
  6. The first part of the work to be organized in this way was educational work but other kinds of work were also authorized including food factories, sanitariums, etc. The question is, could there be a self-supporting church body anywhere in the world as there were schools, sanitariums and publishing houses and food factories?

—To be continued…

* In regard to claims made by many that the voice of the General Conference in session is the voice of God, it needs to be asked, since the 1901 decision and the 1903 decision were opposite and contrary to each other, which one was the voice of God? Obviously the General Conference in session is not necessarily the voice of God, for He never changes. (Malachi 3:6.)

Early Ecumenical Aspirations, Part II

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Editor’s Note: Last month we looked at an overview of the steps leading toward the ecumenical push in Adventism today. In the conclusion of this study we will consider where this movement is leading and what our response should be.

Early History of Ecumenical Aspirations In the SDA Church

With this background of “ecumenism” in mind, we must now consider the historical evidence that the Seventh-day Adventist Church has joined hands with the World Council of Churches in the Ecumenical Movement. How did it all begin? Why has the SDA leadership been deceived by the erroneous concept that we should seek fellowship and acceptance from the fallen churches of Babylon? That we should also seek fellowship and approval from the Papacy, the Anti-christ of the end-times, is truly astounding!

The American Sentinel’s Ecumenical Aspiration

The first hint of a desire for the acceptance of Seventh-day Adventism by the popular denominations took place in 1890. (See Manuscript Releases, No, 1033.) Ministers who were in charge of the American Sentinel, (Seventh-day Adventist Religious Liberty magazine of the day, forerunner of our contemporary Liberty magazine), met behind closed doors to contemplate dropping the name Seventh-day Adventist from the magazine. The reason given by the editorial board was to gain acceptance from the Sunday-keeping churches. Ellen White received a vision of what was taking place and gave the following testimony:

“In the night season I was present in several councils, and there I heard words repeated by influential men to the effect that if the American Sentinel would drop the words “Seventh-day Adventist” from its columns, and would say nothing about the Sabbath, the great men of the world would patronize it. It would become popular and do a larger work. This looked very pleasing. These men could not see why we could not affiliate with unbelievers and non-professors to make the American Sentinel a great success. I saw their countenances brighten, and they began to work on a policy to make the Sentinel a popular success.” Counsels to Writers and Editors, 96.

“These things have gone as far as they should without someone protesting against them in plain words,” Ellen White admonished. “The Lord’s time to set things in order has fully come.” Ibid.

Notice that these early ecumenical-minded Adventist leaders, these “influential men,” as Ellen White stated, desired that “the great men of the world would patronize” the American Sentinel magazine. They believed that if they dropped the name Seventh-day Adventist it would then “become popular and do a larger work.” However, they could not see “why we could not affiliate with unbelievers and non-professors.” Because of their false concept of ecumenical ties between Seventh-day Adventists and the Sunday-keeping churches “they began to work on a policy to make the Sentinel a popular success.” This erroneous policy was never implemented because the messenger of the Lord was alive and well. She was given a vision of the movements underfoot and gave her faithful testimony to the “influential men.” They saw their error and kept the name Seventh-day Adventist on the Sentinel magazine. Indeed, who would like to stand up against a living prophet of the Lord?

How is it today, friend? Since the living prophet has passed from the scene has the contemporary Church preserved the name “Seventh-day” on its periodicals and institutions? No, it has not! The contemporary church has dropped the name “Seventh-day” from everything, and simply employs the name “Adventist.” Adventist Book Center, Adventist Media Center, Adventist Community Center, etc. Indeed, today many churches and book centers have even dropped the name Adventist, and call themselves simply, Christian Book Center, or Community Worship Center. A Seventh-day Adventist Church in Bothell, Washington, took the name “North Creek Fellowship.” This group met in the local Conference office until funds were raised to construct a church building. The name “Seventh-day” has been dropped from hospitals and clinics. (See, “Portland Adventist Hospital,” Portland, Oregon.) Indeed, the name “Seventh-day” has been dropped from the church’s welfare system. Remember when the church’s welfare system was called SAWS, which stood for, “Seventh-day Adventist Welfare System?” What is the title of this entity today, friend? ADRA, “Adventist Development and Relief Agency.” How about the periodicals? We now have the Adventist Review. What was the name of our church paper in the days of the pioneers? Advent Review and Sabbath Herald!

Heaven gave counsel against removing the name Seventh-day Adventist from the periodicals and institutions of the church. Speaking on the subject Ellen White stated in part: “This policy is the first step in a succession of wrong steps. The principles which have been advocated in the American Sentinel are the very sum and substance of the advocacy of the Sabbath, and when men begin to talk of changing these principles, they are doing a work which it does not belong to them to do. Like Uzzah, they are attempting to steady the ark which belongs to God, and is under His special supervision.” Ibid.

“This policy is the first step in a succession of wrong steps,” Ellen White warned. Why would the “wrong steps” be successful from 1926 onward, and not in 1890 and 1905? The answer is simple. The messenger of the Lord passed from the scene in 1915! Leadership no longer had to answer to a living prophet. What has been the succession of “wrong steps” taken toward ecumenical policies since these first attempts were made in 1890 and 1905? Sadly, history reveals the answer.

The First Wrong Step Toward Ecumenism Approved In 1926

“In the desire to avoid occasion for misunderstanding or friction in the matter of relationship to the work of other societies, the following statement of principles are set forth as a guidance to our workers in mission fields in their contacts with other religious organizations,” the General Conference voted in 1926. (General Conference Executive Committee, 1926.)

“#1. We recognize every agency that lifts up Christ before man as a part of the divine plan for the evangelization of the world, and we hold in high esteem the Christian men and women in other communions who are engaged in winning souls to Christ.” “Relationship To Other Societies,” General Conference Executive Committee, 1926.

Notice that the leadership of the Seventh-day Adventist Church “recognize every agency that lifts up Christ.” This would include the Roman Catholic and apostate Protestant churches and unholy- spirit-filled Pentecostal churches. SDA leadership also recognizes these fallen churches of Babylon “as a part of the divine plan for the evangelization of the world.” That is not what my Bible says! Neither can this premise be found in the Spirit of Prophecy. “There is as great a difference in our faith and that of nominal professors, as the heavens are higher than the earth.” Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2, 300.

This statement is the last sentence in an important testimony. Let us consider the complete testimony in context: “Those who engage in the solemn work of bearing the Third Angel’s Message, must move out decidedly, and in the Spirit and power of God, fearlessly preach the truth, and let it cut. They should elevate the standard of truth, and urge the people to come up to it. It has been lowered down to meet the people in their condition of darkness and sin. It is the pointed testimony that will bring up the people to decide. A peaceful testimony will not do this. The people have the privilege of listening to this kind of teaching from the pulpits of the day. But God has servants to whom He has entrusted a solemn, fearful message, to bring out and fit up a people for the coming of Christ. There is as great a difference in our faith and that of nominal professors, as the heavens are higher than the earth.” Ibid., 299, 300.

“God has committed to us the special truths for this time to make known to the world.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 236. In these last hours, “God has given to us,” Seventh-day Adventists, “the special truths for this time to make known to the world.” He has not given this message to the Sunday-keeping churches of Babylon. Our commission is to call the people out of Babylon, not to join hands with Babylon! We are not to please the churches of the world by emphasizing doctrines the SDA leadership alleges we hold in common with them. “The world is against us, the popular churches are against us, the laws of the land will soon be against us.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 236.

How can we “recognize” the “popular churches” that are “against us” as being “a part of the divine plan for the evangelization of the world?” Notice also that the contemporary Seventh-day Adventist Church holds “in high esteem the Christian men and women” who teach the false doctrines of the Protestant churches, the churches that the Scripture calls the harlot daughters of Babylon.

“And the Roman Catholic Church was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her false doctrine, and upon her forehead was a name written, mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” Revelation 17:4, 5, paraphrase.

“In our day. . .are not religious teachers turning men away from the plain requirements of the word of God? Instead of educating them in obedience to God’s law, are they not educating them in transgression? From many of the pulpits of the churches the people are taught that the law of God is not binding upon them.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 305.

“The Protestants have accepted the spurious Sabbath, the child of the papacy, and have exalted it above God’s holy sanctified day,” Ellen White stated, “and our institutions of learning have been established for the express purpose of counteracting the influence of those who do not follow the word of God.” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 288.

Does this sound like Ellen White would approve of any idea of ecumenism? How can we “recognize” the Sunday-keeping churches of Babylon as a part of the divine plan for the evangelization of the world” and still be “counteracting the influence” of those churches “who do not follow the word of God?” How can we “recognize” those churches who have “accepted the spurious Sabbath, the child of the papacy, and have exalted it above God’s holy sanctified day?”

Ellen White stated that in the Sunday-keeping churches of Babylon “the doctrine is now largely taught that the gospel of Christ has made the law of God of no effect; that by ‘believing’ we are released from the necessity of being doers of the word.” Signs of the Times, February 25, 1897. She stated further that this teaching “is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which Christ so unsparingly condemned.”

Have the Sunday-keeping churches become more “Adventist” since the death of Ellen White? What was Ellen White’s position on the recognition of the Sunday-keeping churches of Babylon? What would she say if she were alive today? She would give the same testimony she gave from the beginning. Truth does not change.

“I saw that since Jesus left the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary and entered within the second veil, the churches have been filling up with every unclean and hateful bird. I saw great iniquity and vileness in the churches, yet their members profess to be Christians. Their profession, their prayers, and their exhortations are an abomination in the sight of God. Said the angel, ‘God will not dwell in their assemblies. Selfishness, fraud, and deceit are practiced by them without the reprovings of conscience. And over all these evil traits they throw the cloak of religion.’” Early Writings, 274.

Ellen White’s position on the other denominations was that the members of these churches of Babylon “profess to be Christians.” The contemporary Seventh-day Adventist Church concurs with these false churches by stating that “we hold in high esteem the Christian men and women in other communions who are engaged in winning souls to Christ.” GC Executive Committee, 1926.

Because we recognize the fallen churches of Babylon, does this mean that they will always love and recognize Seventh-day Adventists as Christian brethren? No, they will not.

“When we reach the standard that the Lord would have us reach,” Ellen White warned, “worldlings will regard Seventh-day Adventists as odd, singular, strait-laced extremists.” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 289.

We now have the answer to two important questions.

  1. Why were the attempted moves toward ecumenism by “influential men” not successful in 1890 and 1905?
  2. Why would the “wrong steps” toward ecumenism be successful after the year 1926 and onward? Again, the answer is simple. The messenger of the Lord passed from the scene in 1915—and the written Testimonies of the Lord have been made of non-effect!