The Denomination of Christ
In Part I we learned that the true church is made up of those who have the Word of God and are purified by it.
So, if somebody says, of what denomination are you a part? Well, we are not part of any new one; I will tell you that! We are part of a denomination that existed since the days of Adam and Eve, and we do not ever intend to start a new one. We just want to stay with the old one. What is it that makes us a part of this denomination?
People say, Oh, you are non-denominational.
Well, I beg your pardon. We are strictly denominational. Ellen White said that she was strictly denominational. Here are a couple of statements that explain why we are denominational and what makes us denominational. People are very confused about this. I find people tend to think that we are just self-supporting workers, out there somewhere on the fringes. No, we are strictly denominational, friend. This is what it means to be denominational. “As I was considering this matter in the night season, it seemed as if One stood up in the midst of us and pointed us back to the Israelites as an illustration of a distinct people, denominated of God. That which made them denominational, was the observance of God’s commandments.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 19, 38, 39.
Are you keeping God’s commandments? If you are, that is what makes you denominational. That is what Ellen White says. “We are strictly denominational,” she said. Testimonies, vol. 7, 109. We still are.
This next quote is even more pointed than the first one. “When you come to the point where you decide to serve God, you are denominational.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 19, 52. Now what do you think of that? Have you decided that? Are you denominational? You are strictly denominational!
I am not claiming to be perfect. We do not claim to be the church triumphant. We do not claim that we are not making mistakes, but we have decided to serve God, have we not? We are trying to serve Him in an organized way. Then we are strictly denominational. That is what makes you denominational, she says. Then she says, “You should not link up with men who have no faith… Such men are not to have a voice in your council-meetings. Even if they were very rich, I would not bind myself to them by a single thread. I would not seek their advice in regard to the business transactions and other matters connected with the management of the institution. The time has come when we must find our bearings. We must come to our senses, and know where we are standing. We are on the very borders of the eternal world. We cannot tell what may happen next.” Ibid.
So, are we denominational? We are strictly denominational on two counts:
- We have decided to keep God’s commandments, and
- We have decided to follow the Lord. When you make that decision, Ellen White says, you are denominational. You are not somebody out there on the fringes. All the people who have made those decisions are to press together and work for harmony and unity.
Back to the Beginning
You see, we are not founded on any new denomination or any new organization. We are founded on an organization that goes back, back, back to the beginning. Here is the way Ellen White expressed it: “God has a church, and these churches [local churches] are organized on the foundation.” Testimonies to Southern Africa, 7. To what foundation do you suppose she was referring? The foundation of 1863? The foundation of 1861? The foundation of 1517? The foundation of 1901? No, no, no!
These churches are organized on what foundation? “God has a church, and these churches are organized on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.” Ibid.
So we belong to that same denomination for the very same reason that the Israelites did, because we decided to keep God’s commandments, and we have decided to follow the Lord all the way.
Now having said that, that does not mean that you will not have to organize some new churches. When you organize a new church, have you started a new denomination? Absolutely not! Was Paul starting new churches when he went all over Galatia? We do not even know how many churches they formed there. It could have been in the hundreds.
Remember, in those days they did not have automobiles. You could not travel to a church that was 20 or 30 miles away, so they organized little churches. They had many churches in the big cities. Paul told Barnabas to ordain elders in every city. Why did he have to do that? Because they had a church in every city.
Was Paul starting a new denomination when he organized these new local churches? Absolutely not. In fact, friends, we need to organize new churches and new conferences all over the world. Let us read what Ellen White said about this. This is not starting a new denomination. This is just organizing to finish God’s work, staying in the same organization.
Forming a New Conference
She says, “New conferences must be formed.” The General Conference Bulletin, April 5, 1901.
Oh, no, somebody says, that is starting a new organization! That is starting… No, it is not. Let us not be foolish. She was not talking about starting a new organization. Starting a new conference is not starting a new organization. It is not starting a new denomination. Ellen White does not contradict herself. She says starting a new organization would be apostasy from the truth. Was she telling people in the 1901 General Conference to go into apostasy against the truth by starting new conferences? Do you see, that starting a new conference and starting a new organization is not the same thing?
Is there any way, friends, that we can come to our senses and not just go contradicting ourselves and making the Spirit of Prophecy contradictory? You see, if the Spirit of Prophecy is the truth, it all has to agree with itself. Do you agree?
Ellen White says in Patriarchs and Prophets, 113, 114, that the truth is consistent with itself in all of its manifestations. If we really understand the truth, the Spirit of Prophecy will all agree. And Ellen White, while she said not to start a new organization, did say new conferences must be formed.
Oh, somebody says, that was 1901. We have all we need now.
No, we do not, friends. We need many new churches and these churches need to be organized into conferences to finish God’s work. Do you realize, that we still have billions of people to reach with the Third Angel’s Message? Are we going to be able to reach these people if we are not organized? To be organized is not starting a new organization. We are organized on the foundation of the prophets and the apostles, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. Ellen White said, “New Conferences must be formed.” Local churches need to be established in all parts of the world.
The Message Must Go Out
When Evelyn and I were in India last year, we went out with the man we were visiting to look around. We were up in the mountains, out in the country, and there was a little village over there and another little village over there. There were not any Seventh-day Adventist churches in any of those villages.
I will tell you that when you go to a place like that, and you start looking around, you say, Lord, help us to get busy and to get organized so the work gets done. Those villages have to have the Three Angels’ Messages before Jesus can come. Do you believe that? So do not let the devil trick you.
This is the devil’s trick. The devil wants to keep God’s people from being organized so that God’s work can never be finished. That is the devil’s program. So he invents all kinds of philosophical tricks to try to make people think that if you organize to finish God’s work, then you are starting a new organization.
No, we are not! We believe and belong to the same denomination to which Adam and Eve belonged. The same one to which the disciples belonged. The same one to which Martin Luther belonged. The same one to which the Waldenses belonged. We are not starting anything new. All during all those times, God’s people were organized to do His work. We have the biggest job that anybody has had since the days of Noah.
We have the job of getting the Three Angels’ Messages to a world that is exploding in population. We are never going to do it, friends, unless we are organized. Becoming organized is not starting a new organization; it is getting back to the old principles that God taught us right in the Bible. In fact, Ellen White was so strong on this, that she said that the angels of God cannot bless His ministers if they work in an unorganized way. (See Testimonies, vol. 1, 49, 650.)
I do not want to work in a way so that angels cannot bless my work. How about you? If the angels are going to bless our work, we are going to have to be organized. That does not mean that we are going to start a new organization. We are going to start churches and organize conferences the same way that the apostle Paul did, the same way the Waldenses did, and the same way they did in the days of Ellen White.
New Testament Gospel Order
The same way! We are not starting anything new! What we are doing is exactly what you read about in the book of Acts. Is it all right to get back to New Testament gospel order? That is what we need, friends, and that is what we are going to have to do if the work is going to be finished quickly.
Sometimes, when I see the opposition to it, I say, Lord, what is going to happen? If You do not help us get organized, we are going to be in this world for another 50 or 100 years. If something does not happen so that God’s people can get organized to finish His work, we will be. But it is going to happen, and if you and I do not get involved in it, it will still happen. God will just finish His work with somebody else.
I have talked to the Lord many times about the thing that is scary to me. I have said, Lord, I do not need to be a leader, and I do not need to be known by anybody. I am not asking for any position or name or any title or anything else. But I just ask you one thing, Lord, since I see the evidence that You have decided to finish Your work in the world. Please, I know I am a sinner, and I know I need a powerful amount of grace so that I can overcome and do what is right, but Lord, please do not pass me by. I am willing to have the smallest part. I am willing to be the doorkeeper. I am willing to do whatever needs to be done. I am willing to take a lowly place and have nobody know anything about me; that is fine. But, Lord, please do not pass me by. Help me to have just a little part in Your work.
Do you want to have a part in God’s finishing work? If we are going to have a part in it, we are going to have to quit fighting New Testament Church organization and start getting organized the way the apostles were organized. They were organized, and they took the gospel to the whole world in just one generation. It can happen again. It can happen very quickly, when God’s people are ready.
Let me tell you it is already happening in some other countries, where they have almost no resources, faster than it is happening in the United States. I think that is a shame! With all the resources we have, I think we ought to be more organized than any other country in the world. But we are not. Could this be changed? Well, that is up to you and to me.