A Touchy Subject
The idea of organization has been a touchy subject among us as Seventh-day Adventists, even in the situation we now find ourselves in. It is a subject that needs to be approached with much tact, prayer and concern. However, I have observed, over the last few years, that we have been too quick to throw the baby out with the bath water. If something did not work correctly for us in the past, we are a little more gun shy now.
Why are we, as a movement, here? Because we want true fellowship; we want to be where God’s people are; we want cooperation; we want to hear the truth; we do not want it watered down.
Jesus is doing something here, folks, and we really need to do some deep thinking so that we understand the whys and the wherefores of what is really happening. It will give us a better understanding of what God expects from us in the future. We are where we are today because what we receive and what we desire to get we are not getting in the regular Seventh-day Adventist Churches.
I want to present to you our thoughts and concepts as we began to organize an association of small churches in Maine. We have had to come to grips with a lot of things, and I want to share these with you. I am not telling you that we have something with which you need to fall in line, but I hope this article will reaffirm concepts you have been forming.
Many of the things that I have mentioned are the exact reasons why I started going to independent meetings in my area almost 12 years ago. I wanted to hear things that were actuated and empowered by the Spirit of God! I would sit in the regular church, and I would say, “Why do I want to go to sleep? I should listen, but what am I hearing? Even though I am hearing words, I am really not hearing anything.”
Missing the Point
Communication is more than just words. It is the concepts and the spirit behind the communication. The idea that we see many of the things that are wrong within the regular church does not mean that we have really come clear of that completely. Often times my heart has been wrung over the years as we have basically licked our wounds and talked a lot about what the conference has done to us, and we have missed the whole point.
Take a look at some of the early settlers in this country who fled severe persecution in Europe, only to come here and pass religious laws and put people in stocks who did not follow their rules and regulations. I have often seen, in our groups in Maine, the same spirit that we condemn within the conference. So we have to ask, what is happening?.
What is happening is that the regular Seventh-day Adventist Church is not organized. You say, “What do you mean? They have conferences, pastors, teachers, conference presidents and all that.”
I want to introduce into your mind the concept that the Adventist movement, before it formed an organization in 1863, starting when the Michigan Conference was organized. They were spiritually organized, and this spiritual order is what we need to understand.
We seek to become involved in an outward organization that will facilitate doing God’s work, which I believe is necessary. But it is the icing on the cake. We have to understand true spiritual order, in order to have physical organization really function. Otherwise all we have done, again, is form another situation that will follow the track of Romanism at some point in time.
Some time ago I heard a friend of mine speak on apostasy. He quoted many things from the Bible and a lot of things from the Testimonies dealing with the alpha and the omega. Our eyes were opened. A lot of things that I had thought about were confirmed. I was thrilled to hear my thoughts echoed in what he said.
When I shared these things with fellow members in the Adventist Church, I was set back when I saw the displeasure on their faces. So my wife and I learned that there were places where we would be fed and there were other places where we would not.
Divisive and Disloyal?
After awhile we said, “Why should we go someplace where we are not fed when we can go to a place where we are fed?” To make a long story short, after two or three business meetings at the church, we were disfellowshipped for belonging to a divisive and disloyal organization. Well, I am sorry to say, brothers and sisters, to my disappointment and to the disappointment of others, within a year that organization folded.
It was an embarrassment to the Lord, and it was heart–rending to most of the participants. I now understand that even though it was an organization, it was not truly organized in gospel order. That was why, as soon as something came along that was controversial, everybody ducked and ran for their corners.
The problem is, brothers and sisters, our thinking, as Seventh-day Adventists, is in the same mode as the children of Israel when they said, “Let us make us a king.” (See 1 Samuel 18:5.)
Still Looking to Man
This organization was formed around a man. He was a very charismatic speaker, so people said, “Let us get together and raise funds so that you can speak.” It was based on an individual.
Now there is room for personal ministries, and they have filled a void, but if we look for people like that to fill those voids, instead of taking our own place in service, we are going to be in big trouble.
It is a human tendency to sit back and say, “Let us make us a king that will judge among us” and then have some kind of central government. But I believe that God would have a kingdom with Jesus as the Head. Christ said, “All ye are brethren,” (See Matthew 23:8) with an invisible but obvious Leader. When we learn to order ourselves in that manner, then we can go forward. Without ordering ourselves in this manner we cannot accomplish the work, neither can we have personal victory.
Some of us think, “I just cannot deal with other folks. I just want to go off by myself and get this right.” If we do this, at some point in time we are going to be missing out on the interaction that occurs among brethren and in the strengths and weaknesses that bind us together. When we work in concert, we can be balanced.
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffer-ing, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:1–3.
Many times I have seen division after division after division take place. If you have not, brothers and sisters, I feel thankful for you, but I have seen this so many times in so many groups. I have heard of it in so many different places and people ask “Why?” Oftentimes we think these divisions are of little consequence, because we are in the shaking time. There are those who are going to depart from us.
But in Ephesians 4, Paul said that we must endeavor to keep “the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.” He did not say endeavor to make it but endeavoring to keep it. You would not get married to someone you did not love with the hope that, just because you were getting married, you would love each other eventually.
Just Living Together, but Never Married!
Oftentimes that is what so-called Christianity is doing today in ecumenism. “Well, let us just get together and live together because we have some common goals and we will put all these other things aside for now.” That is not what God is asking for. He is wants us to become one, as He and the Father are one. That occurs through sanctification of the truth.
The disciples did not fully understand it, being brought up in the system in which they were. They had been taught to look for a temporal kingdom and a temporal king. Jesus would often try to teach them a lesson but their minds would be darkened because of their own preconceived ideas. Jesus would tell them, “Oh, but My kingdom is like this,” and He would try to give them an example. (See John 18:36.) They did many things which showed that, even though they were teachable, there were still wrong ideas within them.
We are dealing with the same thing today. We cannot make unity. God in His Spirit, within us, draws us into unity, but we have to understand the concepts of Christian conduct among ourselves so we know how to conduct ourselves in the church for God.
There are things that we are doing that God would not have us to do, and there are things that we are not doing that God would have us to do. There is conduct that is acceptable, and there is conduct that is not acceptable. If we have an intelligent faith, God expects us to study His Word and come into line.
We may talk to 20 different people and come up with 20 different ideas of organization. My friend has often said, “There is the “Big O” organization and there is the “Little o” being organized.” There is no way that anybody can efficiently do anything or amount to anything unless they are organized.
In the Testimonies the Servant of the Lord has told us that God’s angels are not authorized to work with confusion. (See Testimonies, vol. 1, 649.) Orderly conduct, “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore He saith When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that He ascended, what is it but He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things.” Ephesians 4:3–10.
New life, new spirit—the human carnal nature that is within us must be eradicated in order to have true unity.
I am not saying that we cannot go forward unless we all have perfect victory. I am saying we need to be aware of what spirit is within us and what that Spirit leads us to do, as far as conduct within our family, within the church, or within larger groups.
Responsibility Within the Church
When there is no order within the home, that disorder spills over into a lack of order within the church. I am not talking about being a hard, dictatorial individual who drives your family. We, as men and fathers, women and mothers, grandparents or children, have a place within the family, a responsibility, and we must fulfill it in a diligent manner. Otherwise there is going to be trouble in the family.
It is also true in the church. There are those whom God has given to fill places of responsibility in the church. If those people take more responsibility than what God has given them, there is trouble. If they do not take the responsibility that God has given them, there is trouble. So we cannot go either way; and since we are gun shy of organization, because of what the “Big O”organization has been doing, we will find ourselves going to perdition because we lack order and organization among us.
Brothers and sisters, there is no option. It is mandatory that we have order. We are forming no new organization, and we encourage no one else to form a new organization. This organization has been around since before this world existed. This organization is still there, existing, in place. The only problem is that we do not understand where our place is to function within it.
Jesus Christ is now calling for all of those who have faith to fall into line and to understand their place within the temple of God. When we fall into line, it will start a domino effect for perfection of character, for the building up of the church and for an understanding of the truth. We will no longer be divided and will not be tossed around by every wind of doctrine. Those things have come in among us and have given us all heartache, trouble, contention and confusion. It is not God’s will. It is because we are not organized.
“And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” Ephesians 4:11. Here are the gifts. He has given gifts to men, not positions of authority but positions of responsibility. These positions of responsibility are given straight from the Commander to those generals whom He has chosen as leaders.
Christ has set these positions in place. If these are not soon coming about within historic Adventism, we are in trouble. We have no right to point to the regular Seventh-day Adventist Church and say, “Shame on you.” Shame on us! We are in as much trouble, if not more than them, because our knowledge of truth should be greater than those who say, “Well, I just do not care. I think we just ought to love.”
If we serve God with a faith that is based upon correct and right principles, we have an intelligent faith. These positions of responsibility Jesus put within His church, not to function as independent atoms but to culminate and work in concert with all the rest of the people and with the other gifts within the church, “For the perfecting of the saints,” (See Ephesians 4:12), bringing about character development.
Do We Really Love God?
We have talked many times in groups, as brothers and sisters, about the concept of character perfection. I am sure that most of us understand that God expects us to overcome every sin. Just to say that I love Jesus is not good enough.
The overcoming of every sin is not going to happen until things come to order in the church. Yes, sin is personal between you and God. It effects the group, however, when individual problems come to the surface. How do you deal with that? There is a tactful way to give counsel. If my brother is at fault, or if people begin to realize that I am off balance, then we say, “Help me, brother. Help me, sister, to see where I should put my next footstep.”
Working in concert within a group, as brethren, begins to give balance and provides a format where people can see those deep rooted tendencies they have not seen. The way things are now, if someone is continually coming up with a problem, how are they to know? They will think it is because so-and-so put them in that situation. They have no way to sit down to bring about justice, to have good counsel and to deal with problems that arise in the church.
How are you really going to follow Matthew 18 through in most cases? It is impossible. “…for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:12–16.
How is this working together in concert to happen? This is the key to understanding where we stand before God and how we proceed. Often we have said, “Well, let us just go do the work.” We have tried that with sometimes success and sometimes very limited success. I dare say that God is not going to bring in that great influx of people, which we have been promised, until things are done decently and in order.
People are not foolish. They are not spiritually dumb, and they are not ignorant. These people are wide awake. They understand issues. They just have not had everything revealed to them, and I dare say that God is not taking the blinders off, in many cases. Oftentimes, all they would be brought into is a very discouraging circumstance of wrangling, faultfinding, backbiting, gossiping, self-righteousness, and condemnation of someone because they are not following the convictions of the one doing the condemning.
There are going to be problems, but when people come in and see the love of God brought about in an orderly fashion, they will know this is completely different than what they experience anywhere else.
Choose Ye This Day—God or Man?
Everywhere else man rules! And where man rules, one man is exalted and other men are put down. That situation is never going to bring about perfection of Christian character. All it is going to do is discourage character development and produce fanaticism.
Another situation we have to deal with is that God expects us to come into unity and all speak the same thing. Unless you are greatly immune from what we in New England have experienced, every wind of doctrine has also blown your way. In many cases some of these winds of doctrines have not necessarily been that far off from truth. We have kind of puzzled over them to see what is really occurring. Remember, communication is more than words. We have to learn to detect the spiritual undertow of what is presented.
We have come to the conclusion that many of these people have one prominent issue. It is on their mind, and they come and teach this one prominent issue. Even if you may not disagree, they want you to stand fully for that issue. Sister White calls these people “one-idea people.” (See Gospel Workers, 1915 edition, 119.) They have made this one issue the prominent test. That is it.
So accepting or rejecting that one issue determines whether you are in their group or whether you are not in their group. This has caused more division or heartache than is imaginable. If you have had trouble with that, and I am sure you have to some extent, remember, there are testing truths that God has given, which are not optional.
The Issue
The message we have to take to the world, to warn the world; the information we need in order to put together the nuts and bolts of a practical Christian character; the sealing of ourselves, our families and those out there in the world, is the issue.
If we are ever going to accomplish this work and go home to see our Saviour, we must come to the point where we ask, “What is the priority?” The concepts that are involved in the Three Angels’ Messages apply to our lives, and when taught and applied to the lives of others, they are the key to going home. It is the key to finishing the sealing so Christ can finish His work in the Most Holy Place, is it not?
If Satan can distract us on any other issue, so that we are waylaid, held up, and resources expended in any other way, even though it may be an important issue, we have failed to address the prominent emergency of the day. That is where we need to get centered. What are those issues?
In New England, we are, as you know, very strong personality people, and there have been issues that have divided us. We have had to come together and say, “We believe at this point in time that some of these issues can be tabled for now because there is a situation on which we must go forward, otherwise things will not progress, and we will not progress personally either.”
Remember the divisions in Corinth? Paul wrote them a letter. He said, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” 1 Corinthians 1:10.
Isaiah 9 says that Christ’s kingdom is going to be set up and He is going to order it in justice and judgment. How many folks have gone out from groups like ours because there was no justice and there was no judgment?
We Cannot go Back
That has to stop! Jesus would bring in justice and judgment, but He wants us to all speak the same thing! What is it? Now truth runs close to error. You have those people out there saying, “You believe one thing; we believe another. Let us just put aside our differences and work together.” My reply would be, “No, we cannot just put our differences aside. We need to resolve our differences.”
There needs to be some fence mending. There needs to be some prayer and fasting so we can find out where we are not in harmony with God’s order. That is a must! “I will have you all speak the same mind,” He said. Why were they not speaking the same thing and why were they not of the same mind?
It is very obvious that in Corinth the people were choosing men to lead them. “For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 1:11, 12.
It is the human tendency to make a king. This was brought out to me on one of our brother’s back lawns a few weeks ago. As we began to come together, we read the chapter in Patriarchs and Prophets of when the children of Israel finally asked for a king. They came to Samuel. They had already been thinking about this, and they said, “Your sons are not just. So we want a king to reign over us and to judge us.” Ibid., 604.
How often I have heard it said that if the regular church would stop celebrating; if they would stop some of the erroneous training of the pastors; if that (and the list goes on) was corrected, then we could go back. I say to you what Jesus said to His disciples when they suggested the same thing: “You cannot put new wine into old bottles lest the old bottles burst.” (See Matthew 9:17.) Brothers and sisters, I believe that we could not go back into the regular church unless the whole thing was set up on completely different principles.
In order to do that you would have to dismantle it from top to bottom. To say that just putting different men in those positions would correct the problem is not the right concept. Look around you. We have done that. It is still a human tendency to set up these kingdoms with a prominent individual that we can look at and say, “Here, world, here is a charismatic individual, a steady, spiritual individual. He is our leader.”
Are You Asleep in the Pew?
As we have looked at the regular church with the pastors who are man–made leaders just because they have gone through the system and have been ordained, it seems the people think, “Well, he has to be God’s appointed.” Well, no! Then you have the people who sit in the pews and say “Amen” to whatever they hear. But if somebody new comes along who is not endorsed by those in authority, then these same people find fault with him, no matter what is said.
I have also seen this within the independent ministries. It is still not so much what is spoken as how it is spoken and by whom it is advocated. We have to get over that hump. We have to come to the place where we stop looking for a human king and start looking for our King Jesus. Then all of us can come into line and say, “All of us are brethren.” (See Matthew 23:8.) Paul said, “I would have you all of the same mind, the same judgment.” (See
1 Corinthians 1:10.) The reason they were not of the same mind is that they were following different leaders and receiving a different spirit.
You know, the disciples had their problems. Upon their return from a missionary tour, John said to Jesus, “…Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in My name, that can lightly speak evil of me.” Mark 9:38, 39.
So even the disciples had the concept that if someone was not part of their group, then they were not with the program. This is the thinking that we have.
We are No Man’s Master!
There have been more ills caused in Adventism because we have not understood that we are not mind and judgment for our brothers. We are to be wise counselors, but we are not another man’s master. Christ is the Master of all. In giving counsel we can give information, but then, if the individual is not involved in open error or open sin, that brother or sister must follow their own convictions, even though we do not agree.
Many times we have not discerned the difference between counsel and law. For instance, we are told that Eve was counseled not to leave the side of her husband. (See Early Writings, 147, 148.) Did she sin when she left his side? No, she did not. She did not sin until she ate of the tree, but departing from that counsel was the first step leading up to her sin.
So there are things we have been counseled to do and not to do. We need to heed that counsel very closely, and if we expect to honor God, we will. When someone else has departed from that counsel, we cannot treat them as though they have transgressed.
There is a great difference there. Out of that misunderstanding we have the “dress police,” and we have the “food police.” We have people who will, at a potluck dinner, scrutinize the food to the point where they do not even want to be there, or eat, because somebody has brought something that is not quite what they are convicted ought to be on the table. God is not asking us to be somebody else’s policeman. We are not to be mind and judgment for someone else. Many times we watch our brethren to see where they are in the faith, rather than examining our own hearts to see whether we are in the faith.
Louder than Words?
There is, however, a condition where we seek Christ’s approval, and then we go ahead and do things to the contrary. How many times have we made mistakes because we want to be seen as good Christians, yet we have neglected to do the things that God says constitutes being a good Christian. “And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” Matthew 23:9–12.
So the idea of being exalted, as opposed to being brethren and servants, was formed. I think if we sat down with His disciples at the time, they would not realize that they thought that way. I think it is that way among us, too, even though we talk about being a servant and being the least; our natural tendencies like to take over. Actions speak louder than words.
Often our actions have said that we would like to be first. Jesus said this could not be. You know, we talk about the pope and all of these things that go on in Romanism, and a lot of times we miss the point that what is wrong with Romanism is the exaltation of man in the place of God and the putting down of other men. That exists among us today. You do not just have to look to the structured church to see that.
Primitive Godliness?
If there is anything that I can impress upon your minds, it is this: we have not fully understood the deep underlying reasons and concepts of what has really happened within the structured church and why we are where we are. We need to understand those, and we need to understand it like the disciples did.
Look at Acts 1:6. The disciples had gone through so much. They had Jesus, Who was raised right before their faces, and still they asked, “…Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” These men still had not come to an understanding of what Jesus was saying when He said, “My kingdom is not of this world. My kingdom is spiritual. The words that I speak unto you are spirit and they are life.” (See John 18:36.)
They were still looking for a temporal kingdom and they wanted somebody on that throne. However, Jesus said to them, “…It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8. You know, it is so wonderful how Jesus does things, and it is something that we have to learn about counseling people.
Oftentimes people are doing something, and we would like to say, “Do not do that!” Jesus, rather than hitting them on that point would draw them onto a higher plane of truth. He would almost avoid the subject, but He would take them beyond that situation.
Another place He said, “…but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Luke 24:49. So these individuals were put in a situation where they were to tarry. They fellow-shipped together. They prayed together and something began to happen. “And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots….” Acts 1:24, 25.
Now look at Acts 2:1. “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” Now everybody in the world cannot get together in one place, but it says to not neglect the gathering of yourselves together as you see that day approaching. As these men were together in one place, the Spirit of God began to work on their hearts and they began to see how they had been treating each other.
Me, First!
They had been putting themselves first; they were looking for a king, but who did they really want for a king? They wanted to be a king themselves. They realized of what spirit they were, and they then began to confess their faults among one another.
They started to mend some fences and go to their brothers and say, “Look, I am sorry how I did this, and said that, and how I injured you.” I believe they started to get very specific in how they had been doing things to one another.
That is what I think needs to be done among groups where there have been divisions. There may be such a broad area of doctrinal difference that healing cannot occur. There may be other individuals who cannot work closely together because of their strong tendencies. But certainly these things, the strife and contention that we have had among us, must be put away. It cannot be shuffled under the carpet. It has to be resolved.
The apostles began to repent of their sins before God, and that prepared the way. “…suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And their appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:2–4.
Some have said that Acts of the Apostles would be more rightly titled, the Acts of the Holy Spirit. These men came into order; they came to a place where they could go no other way. They realized that what they had been taught was going nowhere. They had run right into a theological wall, and they had to rethink everything. There was no place for them to go. They could not turn around and go back to the Sanhedrin; they knew that was not going to work. So they had nothing left to do but to resolve things. They saw, that even though there was contention, differences and strong personalities, these were the people whom God was going to use to move His work forward as soon as they received the Spirit of God.
In that situation, God could fill them. Then they were teachable. They were no longer like Peter saying, “I can do it!” But they were meek, saying, “Let us have faith and God will guide us.”
Suspicious of Ourselves
They became what the Servant of the Lord has often talked about; we should be more suspicious of ourselves than we are of others. (See Review and Herald, April 15, 1880; Ibid., October 29, 1901.) Many of you have probably been in the Adventist Church all of your lives. I think that we should be more suspicious of ourselves than we are of the structured church.
We have a great knowledge, and we need to be suspicious of ourselves. As we come before God and allow Him to point out where we have erred, we will be a lot more gracious with our brothers and sisters as they err.
Acts continues to tell about how they preached; and many dwelling in Jerusalem were added to the church that God would have saved. God is not adding all to the church today that need to be saved, and there is a good reason for it.
Gun Shy
Brothers and sisters, I want to appeal to you today. We, as Seventh-day Adventists have been so gun shy of organization, because it has been drummed into our heads from the time we were small that the Adventist Church is the last church. It is God’s only church. Just stick with the church. But God is going to sift the sinners out of Zion. Quotes from the Testimonies have been misused to contradict clear and plain “Thus saith the Lord” from Scripture on coming into order. We must come into order!
Over one hundred years ago, the Servant of the Lord wrote, “I would hope there would not be another coming out.” She lays down principle, and the principle is bigotry. If you look it up you will find that bigotry comes from a term that is meant to take an oath, to dig in your heels, personal opinion. “This is where I am going to stand. I am not going to move.” That is not what God would have. It is also synonymous with what the Scripture calls a heretic. Someone who is an opinionated person. We need people who are able to move with a “Thus saith the Lord.” If you have taken a position and you are not willing to move when more light is given, you have a serious problem. That is going to cause division, too.
There is much need of men who will hold to principle, who are able to say, “I am sorry,” when they have erred. That is what we need today. People who are able to say, “I am sorry. I really messed up. I believed that this was the issue. I believed this is where we were supposed to stand, but now that I have had more light revealed to me, I see where I have been mistaken, and we need to move along in this other area.” That would be a great change of spirit from what I have seen over the years.
To be Organized?
So these are the principles and concepts that we need to understand to move forward. This is the “Little o” that my friend is talking about, a physical organization on top of the spiritual organization.
Just because the “Big O,” which has become a monster of its own, is coming after the church, does not mean that we should not have the “Little o” organized. We must be organized. You cannot do anything officially without being organized, and God and all beings in the universe are very well organized. Order must come into our ranks.