The Body of Christ, part 2

As we approach the Second Coming of Jesus, the signs of the times are coming in upon us so rapidly that it is difficult to keep up. We are seeing developments taking place with lightning speed just as Ellen White said that they would. We see God’s judgments in the land, and we see a new world order taking shape. We find Vatican insiders, such as Malachi Martin, writing books, The Keys of This Blood, which provide us an astounding picture of the developments taking place as the pope strives to gain control of the world, undoing all that Protestantism has done and establishing persecution once again.

One of the most significant factors facing humanity is the disintegration of the sense of reality. It is as George Orwell wrote years ago in his book 1984. The totalitarian systems rule by dislocating the people’s sense of reality. As God’s people approach the Second Coming of Jesus, one of the great challenges is to have a correct perception of truth, of reality, a correct understanding of what is happening around us in the field of human thought. This is particularly difficult and yet important when we have a media that is being used as a propaganda tool for the new world order.

Over and over again my thinking has been brought back to the fundamental statement in the first verse of the Bible. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” One of the fundamental problems with humanity at this time, which has unleashed all manner of evil in the world, is a failure to recognize and worship the Creator. It is this issue that is addressed by the first angel’s message. “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him.” Revelation 14:7. The whole concept of worship rests upon the idea of the Creator-creature distinction which our society has lost. Having lost the concept of the creatorship of God, humanity today has lost its orientation. It no longer knows who God is, who we are, and who humanity is. The entire sense of reality has been shifted and warped in preparation for totalitarian systems to revive in the world.

The first chapter of the book of John begins much the same as the first verse of the Bible. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake [that is a literal translation right out of the Greek] it.” John 1:1-5

The very foundation of all human life is the Word of God. He spake and it was done. He commanded and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. That Word is omnipotent, it is all powerful, and it is the voice of God to our souls, transforming human life and bringing us into contact with reality. So when we look at all of human life, we have to dig deep. As Ellen White says, hunt for the Rock and make sure we are grounded on the Rock, Christ Jesus, who is the Word of God.

In the time in which we live, and particularly since Vatican II, the Protestant churches, which are virtually asleep, are being led step by step back into the fold of Rome. Soon to be raised is the issue of whether a power on this earth can exalt itself against the law of God, challenging his sovereignty, and whether the rest of humanity will yield allegiance to that power. We must never forget that the fundamental question of the Sabbath-Sunday issue at the end of time is, will divine authority be in its rightful place or will human authority replace divine authority and pervert humanity? J.A. Wylie in his The History of Protestantism, which paints for us the struggle that has gone on through the centuries between the forces of Protestantism and the Papacy, points out that human liberty depends upon its recognition of divine authority.

In 1215, the barons of England forced King John to sign the Magna Charta. Wylie points out, however, that the great charter for England was not, in reality, the fundamental charter of liberty for the English-speaking people; it was the Word of God. When the Word of God sank down into the hearts of Englishmen, it transformed all of human life in England and exalted England to greatness. When divine authority is present, it demands freedom to obey God and is a fundamental principle of all liberty.

But we live in a society that has rejected the authority of God, laying the foundation for human tyranny. In England the teachings of evolution destroyed the concept of the creatorship of God. For some time the American nation has been driven hard to the left into immorality and homosexuality, and we may except to soon see a hard shift back to the right. Already, Patrick Buchanan, regarded as a staunch conservative, is holding seminars across this land asserting that the only way to save America is to make it Catholic.

Soon, every person in this nation is going to have to come to grips with issue of what they are going to do with the creatorship of God and with the authority of His Word. Even in Adventism we are wrestling with this issue, and it is the result of a regard for the authority of God’s Word that we see the independent movement today.

When Luther, in reading the Scriptures, found that Christ is the head of the body, he began questioning whether there was any head of the whole church other than Christ. There came a point in his experience where he was engaged in the Leipzig debates, and, as a result of that experience, Luther began coming to grips with the issue of authority in the church. He finally came to doubt whether, after all, any other head of the whole church had been appointed upon earth except Christ. Once he accepted the principle that the authority of God’s Word is above counsels, popes, and all human authority, it began to transform all human life, changing even people’s concept of the church.

Once Luther established the principle of the supremacy of the Word of God, he began energetically applying it to every phase of human life. The outgrowth of that principle is reflected in our Constitution in the principle of the free exercise of religion. The whole Bill of Rights rests upon this principle of the supremacy of divine authority. But what has happened in America? As the creatorship of God has been destroyed by the teachings of evolution, we have lost the concept of inalienable rights, and we now have a government that is contemptuous of the Bill of Rights.

In 1958, the year before the pope called for Vatican II, a European theologian sounded a warning. He did not know what was coming, but he pointed out that unless we begin to have an experience with the Word of God so that our entire life rests upon it and unless we have placed our feet so firmly on the Word that we can say we know with certainly what we believe, we will eventually come back under the dominion of Rome. He sent out that warning to the world. The next year, the ecumenical council was called. Vatican II met from 1962-1965, and the religious world has never been the same since.

But the people are not going deep enough. They are skimming the surface and are not rooted on the Word of God. Therefore, they do not know how to evaluate what is taking place, and after a while they begin to adjust, adapting to the new realities of Socialism as it comes in like a flood. Meanwhile, a totalitarian system of enormous proportions is being set up in our nation and around the world.

It was Luther who observed that, “A council cannot make divine right out of that which is not by nature divine right. To establish the Romish papacy by divine right is a ‘new dogma’ which is not binding. The church needs no head. The hierarchical system is not biblical, nor of divine right. The whole canon law [set up by Rome] begins to totter.” The History of Doctrines, 290

When the human being submits to the authority of God and His law of liberty, he finds true freedom; and he is delivered from human tyranny. The central orientation of the Protestant worship was the Word of God, not the charisma of the speaker. The movement of the three angels’ messages of Adventism will triumph as it adheres to this principle of the primacy of the Word of God.

And so, the principle of the supremacy of the Word of God was adopted by Luther in the Reformation, and it transformed his idea about the church. Because he had bowed to the supreme authority of Christ, who is the head of the church, he no longer felt that he had to somehow stay within the confines of the papacy. It was out of the fountain spring of personal salvation that a whole new conception of the church was born, bringing Protestantism into being.

Luther first develops this doctrine in detail in a tract in which he observed that the church is an assemblage of all Christian believers on earth and is made up of those who are of His flesh and of His bone, who are united with Him by faith. He further pointed out that as this is a community of saints and is represented as a spiritual fellowship, the principle of its unity is not to be seen in a body such as Rome, or the papacy, but in Christ. He went on to say that it is Christ operating upon the members that unites them into one community. (See Ibid., 291.)

Remember, Ellen White says that the groups of believers at the end of time are bound together by the truth; and the truth rests, of course, upon Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. As the head, Christ infuses His disposition, temper, and will into the community. The church is, therefore, the spiritual association of those who believe on Christ, those established and sustained by Him.

“Where two or three are present who love and obey the commandments of God, Jesus there presides, let it be in the desolate place of the earth, in the wilderness, in the city enclosed in prison walls.” The Upward Look, 315

The idea that the true church is the spiritual fellowship where Christ presides is an entirely new concept of the church that came about from the study of the Word of God in the Protestant Reformation.

“By the word church is also understood the organized association of those who believe on Christ, ‘an outward thing with outward actions,’ and the order of the clergy. This ‘outward, bodily church’ and the ‘inner spiritual church’ are to be carefully discriminated, but not separated. They are related to one another as body and soul in man.” The History of Doctrines, 291. And in the Protestant Reformation, the concept that Jesus enunciated when He said the kingdom of heaven is within you, is an internal, spiritual kingdom of righteousness and peace. This is the non-negotiable element of the church that Luther seized upon in the Protestant Reformation. And then that spiritual fellowship that are of His flesh and of His bone have a visible, external manifestation as they gather together for the preaching of the Word and administration of the Lord’s ordinances, such as the Lord’s Supper and Baptism.

Luther recognized that the outward, bodily church and the inner, spiritual church are related to one another as body and soul to man. He asserted that, “It is, of course, of chief importance that we belong to the spiritual church, but this membership stand in close connection with membership in the external church.” Ibid. He went on to say that it is the Word of God, the preaching of the Word, externally set forth that calls into existence the inner, spiritual church. “The church is therefore in one aspect, an external, visible association. But this is not ‘the true church which is believed.’ Since, however, the Word and the sacraments are here operative, faith concludes that here in the external association may be found a community of saints. Thus the church is an object of faith and not the visible, ‘for what is believed is not bodily nor visible.’” Ibid., 292

Basically, what Luther was saying is that the invisible, inner relationship with Christ is the foundational concept of the church, just as Paul says here in Ephesians 5:30, “For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.” And out of that inner relationship with Christ, there comes a visible, external manifestation of the church as the community of faith comes together and hears the Word of God preached to them. The church is the assembly of all believers, the holy Christian nation, the regenerated. It is holy because the Holy spirit reigns in it. Those who belong to it are all priests in the spiritual sense. It is the new creation of God, the product and sphere of the redemptive work of Christ, the kingdom of God in which Christ reigns through the spirit and faith.

The Reformers went on to say that, “If the question be raised, which of the two churches, the Romish and the Evangelical, is the ‘true’ one, the answer cannot be given on the basis of their comparative morality. But, sense the object of the outward organization of the church is to bring Christ to men through the Word, therefore, it can lay claim to the title, ‘true church,’ just in proportion as its preaching of the Word is in harmony with this purpose, i.e., is truly evangelical.” The History of Doctrines, 294. And so, the mark of the true church, Luther said, is that in it, the gospel is purely preached.

This entire movement of historic Adventism rests upon this principle of the primacy of the Word of God because we believe that, where the truth is purely preached is the sign of the true church. Martin Luther said that this true church must have the “teaching, faith, and confession of Christ. This can be known from the agreement of its doctrine with the ‘Word of Christ.’ That the true church holds with me to God’s Word.’ Our doctrine is ‘the Scriptures and the clear Word of God.’ The ‘pure doctrine’ is therefore of the highest importance, since every corruption of it must immediately influence the life. Hence, the church dare not tolerate false teachers.” Ibid., 295. That is the sixteenth century Reformation.

The struggle that we are involved in in Adventism today is that we are faced on the one hand with a structure that has very subtly shifted its emphasis from the authority of God and His Word to the authority of man, as is evidenced by the fact that we find men who profess to speak for the structure exalting the church manual as being an inspired document. Recently, a man from the General Conference, who was delivering a sermon at a baccalaureate service, asserted that, yes, we have the authority of Scripture, but we also have the authority of tradition which is to be interpreted for all by the community of faith. These are Roman Catholic concepts.

On the other hand, there is the celebration movement. This movement is right out of Vatican II.

The issue that Seventh-day Adventists are now having to come to grips with is, what are they going to do with a pastor who is going in a different direction, with a conference structure that is going a different direction? This is not a situation that is taking place only in Adventism but throughout the churches. We have Baptists who, as soon as their Adventists neighbors get Freedom’s Ring, want to borrow it. They recognize that this is happening in their church. I was just talking to Texe Marrs; some of you know who he is, exposing the occult, exposing spiritualistic forces, exposing the new world order in a remarkable way. He said to me, “You know, I was brought up as a Baptist. My mother was Pentecostal. But you know, I didn’t go to church very much; and when I was in the Air Force, Wanda, my wife, and I gave our hearts to the Lord and began pursuing truth. When we got out of the Air Force, we went to attend the Baptist church.” And he said, “It was nothing like the Baptist faith I had known about.” This is happening in all of the churches. I have a friend who went, just out of the appeal of his Lutheran family, to attend a Lutheran service in North Dakota. The whole sermon was New Age, about the God within. I have a book by a conservative Roman Catholic who tells how New Age is all through their schools and all through their whole movement.

Part 2

As we approach the end, the people of God are called upon to proclaim the Sabbath more fully. The Sabbath rests upon the principle of the creatorship of God. It is the memorial of Creation, a sign of the power and love of Christ. As it is a sign and memorial of Creation and thus a memorial and sign of the power of Christ to recreate our hearts, every week it exalts the authority of Christ above all human authority. It is a foretaste of eternity; and as we proclaim the Sabbath more fully at the end of time, it involves this exaltation of Christ who is the head of the church, the true head of the church. As Luther said, “The inner unity of the church is established through Christ as its head, so its external unity is secured through the pure doctrine of the gospel.” The History of Doctrines, 295. This is why Satan is trying to attack this movement of historic Adventism with every form of fanaticism to pervert the pure preaching of the Word of God.

Our security from all of the forces that are harassing humanity at this time lies in our submission to the Word of God and the authority of Christ who is the Word made flesh. The power and love of Christ, and only a holy people, can keep the Sabbath day holy; therefore, the Sabbath is a sign of righteousness by faith. What a wonderful thing, every week to have the Sabbath come on Friday evening. Rest, rest from our labor that earns our living through the week and the rest of faith, as Paul said in Hebrews 4. A rest from our own labors and a resting in Christ. It is exactly what humanity needs. It is exactly what the whole human race needs. It exalts Christ to His proper sphere and thus eliminates human tyranny. It is the answer for a world that is racked with fear as it sees the new world order coming upon it.

We have no idea of what is hanging over the human race right now, but we are told in Early Writings that she saw a covering being drawn over God’s people, over all those who were settled into the faith of the three angels’ messages. But if their knees were shaking and they were not settled into the truth, intellectually and spiritually, that covering was not drawn over them, and they were left shelterless in the storm of human and demonic wrath at the end of time.

Martin Luther said, “This unity of the church is not said to be, and is not, the having and holding of any one form of outward government, law, or ordinance, and church customs, as the pope and his crowd profess and wish to have all excluded from the church who will not in this be obedient to him…It is called one holy catholic or Christian church, because there is here one pure and uncorrupted doctrine of the gospel and outward confession of the same.” Ibid.

And so, as we come to grips with what is happening in our own movement, we must come to grips with what is the church and the fundamental issue of where the church is really located. When we recognize that the head of the church is Christ and the church is made up of those who are of his flesh and of His bones, who keep His commandments and have the testimony of Jesus, when we understand the biblical definitions of the church, it sets us free to go ahead and proclaim the message to the entire world. The sovereignty of God is at the very foundation of this entire question. It is also at the basis of the entire question. It is also at the basis of the entire Sabbath-Sunday question. The point to which I am leading up to is that if we accept the exaltation of human authority above the authority of the Word of God in the sphere of the church, are we not setting ourselves up for the exaltation of human authority in the implementation of the mark of the beast? It is the same principle. Therefore, the Word of God calls upon us to be the Lord’s free people, secure in our understanding of our relationship with God, in our personal salvation, and in our understanding of what the Bible teaches regarding the nature of the church.

According to the Protestant concept, as brought forth from Luther’s writings, the church is first and foremost that invisible relationship with Christ of those who are of His flesh and of His bone, who are united with Him by faith. Therefore, it has an external manifestation of the preaching of the Word of God and the administration of the Lord’s ordinances. The next question is, What is the legitimate expression of the visible church? The answer is that it must be a part of the invisible church of those who are united with Christ, by faith, and who hold to the pure doctrine of Christ. There is no legitimacy for a visible church that is in apostasy from the Word of God, that is no longer teaching and preaching the pure Word of God. They cannot lay claim to being the visible church. This is the point that we are at in this struggle to understand what the church really is.

In Jesus’ day, He had to somehow break the chains of the hierarchy that were holding the people from following the word of God. That is why He preached the woes on the Pharisees in Matthew 23; the Pharisees had to be exposed. The whole system had to be exposed for what it was so that the people would be free to follow the Word of God and to join His kingdom. Many people, however, were afraid to confess Christ for fear of being put out of the synagogue. In John 9, when Jesus healed the man who had been born blind and this man confessed Christ, the One who had given him physical and spiritual eyesight, he was cast out because of his confession of Christ. Ellen White says that they did not throw him out in any gentle way. It was a very rough disfellowshiping. Jesus came to see this man, Ellen White says that Jesus took him into His fold. (See The Signs of the Times, December 4, 1893)

In John 10, which follows right on the heels of this incident, Jesus tells where His fold rally is. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.” John 10:1-4. This is an entirely new concept regarding the fold of God. The Pharisees, priests, and scribes felt that they determined who was in the fold of God and that if they excommunicated and disfellowshiped this man who confessed Christ, and everybody else who confessed Christ, they were putting them out of the fold. They thought that they had the final authority over who was in the fold and who was not, but Jesus came to the man and told him that he was a member of His fold. Later on in John 10, He turned to those men who had disfellowhiped the healed man and told them that they were not His sheep. Not only were they not His sheep, they were not even in His fold. What was He saying? The fold depends upon the inner, spiritual following of Christ.

In verses 7-9, “Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” And in verse 11, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” He said, in verses 27, 28, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give unto them eternal life: and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.”

What can give you the assurance of following your conviction and the truth that you are on the right course when an entire local church may disfellowship you for following you conscience? It is found in these words: “My sheep hear My voice… they follow Me. And I give unto them eternal life.” And then he says, “They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” Christ is making it very plain that He is not only the head of the church, not only the good shepherd, but He is the guardian of the flock, and no one can take anyone out of His hand because that hand is omnipotent. And then He goes on to say, “My Fathers, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” Verses 29, 30. When that voice of Christ comes to you through the Word of God, do you acknowledge it and bow before it as the voice of One who is one with the Father? Jesus asserted that no man can take you out of His hand.

If you are listening to His voice, coming to you through His Word, and you are following it and no one can take you out of His hand, and the Father is grater than all and no one can take you out of the Father’s hand, you are absolutely secure. Then why is this issue such a big issue right now? I believe it is this: It is not going to be long and God’s people are going to have to be living outside of the confines of the legal and economic system of the new world order. You will not be able to buy or sell unless you have the mark of the beast and submit to the human authority that is a rival of God’s authority. You will be living in the most desolate places of the earth. You may be in caves and dens of the earth, in forests, in a torture chamber, or a prison cell. But if you are going to be faithful to the authority of God in your life, the Bible is very clear that you are going to be living outside of the legal and economic confines of the new world order.

When Jesus told the church of His day where the fold of God really was—in the final analysis where the church of God really was—it led them to want to murder Him. It was a critical issue in Jesus’ day because if you did not understand where the fold of God really was, you would have remained in subjection to the primacy of human authority and been destroyed in the destruction of Jerusalem instead of stepping out and following Christ.

What does all of this mean for the movement of historic Adventism and the proclamation of the three angels’ messages today? It is just this: When Luther finally discovered from the Word of God what the church really was, that Christ is the head of the church and that it is composed of those who are of His flesh and of His bone and have an inner, spiritual union with Him, it enabled him to break free from the chains that had bound him and to launch the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century.

In our day, the same recognition of the primacy of the authority of God’s Word and the true understanding from the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy regarding the nature of the church will enable us to have the power, conviction, and ability to take the three angels’ messages to the world and to give the loud cry. No longer crippled by an inadequate understanding of what the church really is, we will take our stand under the full authority of Christ and His Word and valiantly give this message to the world. And, regardless of where we may be found at the end of time, we will have the secure conviction of knowing that we are in the fold of God because we are hearing His voice and following it and are in submission to His authority above all else. Unless this principle of the primacy of Christ is deeply ingrained in our souls in every dimension of our life, we will never have the spiritual power or perception to even understand what is coming upon us and to range ourselves on the right side of the question of the Sabbath-Sunday issue. The temptations of Satan are being prepared for God’s people, and those who years ago thought that they would never drift have subtly drifted by the thousands and tens of thousands because they have accepted the principle of following human authority rather than the authority of the Word of God.

“It is the first and highest duty of every rational being to learn from the Scriptures what is truth, and then to walk in the light, and encourage others to follow His example. We should day by day study the Bible diligently, weighing every thought, and comparing scripture with scripture. With divine help we are to form our opinions for ourselves as we are to answer for ourselves before God…When the testing time shall come, those who have made God’s Word their rule of life will be revealed…. In summer there is no noticeable difference between evergreens and other trees; but when the blasts of winter come, the evergreens remain unchanged, while other trees are stripped of their foliage. So the falsehearted professor may not now be distinguished from the real Christian, but the time is just upon us when the difference will be apparent. Let opposition arise, let bigotry and intolerance again bear sway, let persecution be kindled, and the halfhearted and hypocritical will waver and yield the faith; but the true Christian will stand firm as a rock, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, than in the days of prosperity.” Maranatha, 94, 195. This will be the experience of the true Christian.

As I watched the Waco tragedy unfold, I saw the searchlights playing on those buildings night after night to keep the people awake so that could get no rest. Recordings of screaming rabbits being slaughtered, Tibetan chants, and rock and rap music were played to try to dislocate the sense of reality of those who were inside, destroying their ability to resist. I wondered what was really going on with those people inside. And now we have the testimony on video tape that has just been released of one person who was in there. She was questioned by one of the leading NBC newsmen and asked, “What was it like? What was the impact of all the psychological warfare that was unleashed on you?” She said, “It didn’t bother us at all. Our faith is greater than that. Our faith sustained us.” How will it be with the true Seventh-day Adventist?

Texe Marrs has just released a tape about all of the evil, psychological warfare that is being developed. It has now come out that in Operation Phoenix in Vietnam, our military tested all kinds of psychological and mental torture on Vietnamese prisoners to see what would drive the human mind mad. There are now men risking their lives to come forward and expose these things. What will sustain God’s people? Their faith and their knowledge of God’s Word and their conscious awareness of being in harmony with Christ.

The greatest hour in earth’s history is right upon us; and just as all or these evil forces are being unleashes, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard for His people and the Holy Spirit will be poured out as never before. We are told in Maranatha, 205, that the persecution will be more intense than it was when the papacy ruled the world and almost exterminated the religion of Jesus Christ. She says that it is impossible to describe the experience of God’s people because at the same time, they will walk in the light that streams from heaven through the gates ajar and they will receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as never before. Are we preparing for that? Do we have the depth of experience that will give us that kind of triumphant witness, even in the face of death? Is our faith supreme?

Our environment today offers many challenges. There is great danger that our thinking will become confused and the clarity of the features of our faith will become blurred, replaced with the desire for social prestige and other interests that will corrupt the purity of our faith. The challenge for us is to preserve our hours of communion with God, our time for personal study. If we preserve the primacy of Christ’s authority in our life above all else, He will bring us through to a triumphant victory.

The End

Tracts

Good news is always welcome and so it is a delight to share with you a follow-up report on an article that was published in the October issue of Historic Adventist Landmarks. Since that article, “The Leaves of Autumn,” was printed, faithful Adventists in thirty-two states and six foreign countries have requested tracts as a way of sharing the three angels’ messages. This is exciting news because if we Historic Adventists do not reach out to others with the good news, we face the deadly peril that inactivity brings.

The Saviour’s denunciation of the fruitless fig tree is a warning to all who claim to be Christians, and yet remain in blind unbelief…. “the words spoken to the fig tree are applicable to all whose lives, though pretentious, are fruitless. The tree may have every indication of prosperity, but the Lord takes not its luxuriant foliage as an evidence of fruitfulness. His search for the fruit which alone makes the tree of value is close and critical. How is it with us? Can we bear the search made by him who never makes a mistake, or do we bear only the leaves of profession? Profession is nothing if it is only a mask to spiritual barrenness.” Youth’s Instructor, July 31, 1902

The first love experience of every true, new Christian is outreach. On the second Sabbath of February of this year, we welcomed a lovely family of three to our church who had been reached by the tract work. They have now become vegetarians and have discontinued the use of tobacco, coffee, and alcohol. We have found that very typically those who have just been introduced to the truth immediately begin to radiate their newfound knowledge and love for Jesus to their relatives and acquaintances. A question for each of us to ponder is, How alive is that first love in our own experience?

The Lord has continued to bless through Bible studies, tracts, and other literature. A young man recently joined one of the studies and asked how we could be sure that the Bible was not just a book written by men. We were studying Daniel 7 that evening. After seeing the historical fulfillment of these prophecies in detail, including the 1260 years of papal reign, he exclaimed, “He hit the nail right on the head every time!” I then asked if he still had any question as to who authored the Bible, and he replied, “No way! This book is inspired by God!” One week later he joined us again. At the end of that session he announced that he was going to quit smoking, a subject that we had not raised. He also promised to return the following week.

Have you ever experienced the thrill of having someone come running through the snow in below zero weather, without hat, gloves, coat, or even shoes, to get a tract? I have. She told me, “These tracts just make my week!” Currently, as a result of tract work, I have four weekly Bible studies scheduled with non-Adventists.

A young mother, living about three miles from our church building, received a piece of literature about the seventh-day Sabbath. After checking it out in the Bible, she, along with her small daughter, got a one-way ride the following Sabbath and joined us for services. Regarding the Sabbath she said, “If that is what the Lord wants me to do, I am going to do it.” During the course of this last week, she has broken her caffeine addiction and is preparing to deal with cigarettes.

Call Steps to Life at 1-316-788-5559 if you are interested in obtaining witnessing tracts of your own to share with others.

The End

The Armada, part 1

While Mary Stuart, the Roman Catholic Queen of Scots, lived, Rome’s hope of bringing England back under the control of the Catholic Church centered in her. Their death, however, effectively put an end to all of these hopes. The papal decree ordering all Christian princes to actively work for the destruction of Protestantism still remained as one of the infallible canons of the Council of Trent and was still acknowledged by the kings of the Catholic world. The plot to bring about the overthrow of Protestant England now took a new shape in the form of the invincible Armada.

It required no supernatural insight to recognize the approaching storm. Sixtus V, who even among popes was outstanding for his craft and daring, was just beginning his reign. Cold, selfish, hungry for power, and dedicated to the overthrow of Protestantism, Phillip II was on the throne of Spain. No Jesuit could be more dedicated in purpose, nor shrewd in disguising his purposes. His great ambition was that after-generations should be able to say of him that in his days and by his arms, heresy had been exterminated.

The Jesuits were operating throughout Europe, working to inflame the minds of kings and statesmen against the Reformation, seeking to organize them into armed combinations to put it down. Protestantism had been effectively purged from Spain and Italy. Worst of all, even among the friends of Protestantism there was fragmentation and disagreement. The spiritual influence, which like a mighty wave had rolled across all Christendom in the first half of the century, bearing on its swelling crest scholars, statesmen, and nations, was now on the ebb, and Catholicism was struggling to gain back that which it had lost. Luther, Calvin, Knox, Cranmer, and Coligny were all off the stage of action; and their successors, though men of faith and ability, were not of the same stature as those who had laid the foundation of the Reformation. In terms of facilities that generally determine the strength of a nation, there was little to compare between those who favored the Reformation and those who opposed it. To all human appearances, it seemed that the flame of the Reformation, which but a few years earlier had burned so brightly, must soon flicker and die.

Before her powerful enemies, England, with her little population of four million, and Holland, with even less, appeared completely vulnerable before the mighty armies of the Catholic world, enriched with their gold plundered from the New World. While the friends of the Reformation were divided, irresolute, cherishing illusions of peace, and making little or no preparations, there were omens that only too clearly betokened the coming conflict.

In 1584, two years before the execution of Mary Stuart, Phillip began preparations for building a fleet, the likes of which the world had never seen. For such an effort and for such a glorious cause, money and effort were now object. Stretching along nearly two thousand miles of coast line there was not a harbor or river’s mouth that could be utilized which was not taken advantage of for the building of ships that were to bear the Spanish soldiers of the Inquisition to the shores of heretical England.

The completed fleet had provisions for six months, as well as quantities of power, shot, all of the other materials that would be needed for an invasion. The Armada numbered 130 vessels, great and small. On board were 8,000 sailors in addition to 20,000 soldiers. This group was augmented by many noblemen and gentlemen who had volunteered to serve. The armor consisted of 2,650 pieces of ordnance; its burden was 60,000 tons. This was an immense tonnage at the time when the English navy consisted of twenty-eight ships and an aggregate weight that did not exceed the tonnage of a single, modern seagoing vessel.

The Spanish ships were of great capacity and amazing strength. Their strong ribs were lined with planks four feet in thickness, through which it was thought impossible that a cannon ball could pierce. Cables smeared with pitch were wound around the masts to enable them to withstand the fire of the enemy. Sixty-four of the total number of ships were galleons. Armed with heavy brass, they towered above the waves like castles.

During the time that the vast fleet was being built, Spain did everything that could possibly be done to conceal the knowledge of it from England. With poor, if any, postal communications, secrecy was more easily attainable than today. It was impossible however, to keep a complete secret. In order to ease the concerns of the English, Philip resorted to dissimulation. It was said at one time that the new fleet’s purpose was to sweep from the seas certain pirates that gave annoyance to Spain and had captured some of her ships. Later, it was said that Philip meant to punish certain unknown enemies on the far side of the Atlantic. All that craft and lying could do was done to allay the suspicions of the people of England. Even Walsingham, one of the most discerning and clear sighted of the queen’s ministers, expressed belief—just fifteen days before the Armada sailed—that it never would invade England and that Philip’s hands were too full at home to leave him leisure to conquer kingdoms abroad.

In reality, there were two Armadas being prepared to attack an unsuspecting England. In the Netherlands, at that time in the possession of Philip, there was a scene of activity nearly as great as that which was taking place in Spain. Philip’s governor in Belgium, the duke of Parma, was perhaps the most able general of his age. His instructions were to prepare an army and fleet to cooperate with the Spanish force as soon as it arrived in the English Channel.

The whole of the Spanish Netherlands suddenly burst into activity. Assembling 28 warships, along with several hundred smaller vessels, the duke gathered regiments of soldiers from every Catholic nation in Europe. There was scarcely a noble house of Spain that was not represented within the camp of Parma. Believing that the last hour of England had come, they assembled to witness her fall.

During this time of preparation, every imaginable deception was practiced toward Elizabeth and the statesmen who served her to hide from them their great danger until it should overtake them. She sent her commissioners to the Low Countries, but Parma protested, with tears in his eyes, that there lived not on earth anyone who more sincerely desired peace than himself. Did not his prayers morning and night ascend for its continuance? And as regarding the wise and magnanimous sovereign of England, there was not one of her servants that cherished a higher admiration for her than did he. This monumental hypocrisy was not without effect. The English commissioners returned, after three month’s absence, in the belief that Parma’s intentions were peaceful and confirmed Elizabeth and her ministers in dreams of peace. England did not fully awaken from this illusion of peace until just days before the guns of the Spanish Armada were heard in the English Channel.

To aid in the war effort, Sixtus V issued a bull against Elizabeth in which he confirmed the previous one by Pius V, absolving her subjects of their allegiance and conferring her kingdom upon Philip II, to have and to hold as tributary and feudatory of the papal chair. While the pope with one hand took away the crown from Elizabeth, he conferred with the other the red hat upon Father Allen. Already the archbishop of Canterbury, Allen was at once both the archbishop of Canterbury and, by order of the pope, papal legate. Allen now had the pope’s bull translated into English, intending that upon arrival of the Spanish fleet, it should be published in England.

Suddenly, as if from a deep sleep, England awoke to her great danger just before the Spanish ships were to arrive. How was the invasion to be met? England had but a handful of soldiers and a few ships to oppose the host that was coming against her.

The total English force was just over 150,000. This force was split into three groups with one group stationed for the defense of the capital, one for the personal defense of the queen, and the third was to guard the south and east as the place most likely to be selected by the enemy for landing. Beacons were prepared to be lighted at the first landing of the of the enemy on English soil, notifying the rest of the troops at what point to converge.

The English fleet that sailed to oppose the Armada consisted of thirty-four ships of small tonnage carrying 6,000 men. Besides these, the city of London provided thirty ships. In all the port towns, merchant vessels were converted into warships, bringing the total to possibly as many as 150 vessels, with a crew of 14,000. Though the total number of vessels nearly matched that of the Spanish, the figures on paper give a far more favorable appearance than is warranted. The English fleet was, in comparison to the Spanish fleet, but a collection of six or eight oared boats along with a few slightly larger vessels.

This force was divided into two squadrons: one, under Lord Howard, high admiral of England, consisting of seventeen ships which were to cruise the Channel and there wait for the arrival of the Armada. The second squadron, under Hawkins, consisting of fifteen ships, was stationed at Dunkirk to intercept Parma should he attempt to cross with his fleet from Flanders. Sir Francis Drake, in his ship the Revenge , had a following of about thirty privateers. After the war broke out, the fleet was further increased by ships belonging to the nobility and the merchants, hastily armed and sent to sea; though the brunt of the fight, it was foreseen, must fall on the queen’s ships.

England’s inferior army was simply militia, insufficiently drilled, poorly armed, and, except in spirit, could not compare in any way with the soldiers of Spain who had been seasoned on the field of battle. The Spanish army alone was deemed more than sufficient to conquer England; and how easy would the conquest become when that Armada should be joined by the mighty force under Parma, the flower of the Spanish army! England, with her long lone of coast, her unfortified town, and her four millions of population, including many thousands of Roman Catholics ready to rise in insurrection as soon as the invader had made good his landing, was at that hour in supreme peril. It was not England alone whose existence was in question. Its success or failure was the standing or falling of Protestantism. Should Philip succeed in his enterprise, Spain would replace England as the teacher and guide of the nations, some idea of the consequence of such an outcome may be seen by contrasting the political, religious, social, and moral conditions today of Latin America with those of Protestant North America.

For some time after the ships of the Armada had been collected in Lisbon, ready to sail, they were unable to move, waiting for favorable weather. When the wind finally shifted, the proud galleons spread their canvas and began their voyage toward England. For three days—May 28-30, 1588—galleon followed galleon, till it seemed the ocean must surely be filled with them. It was a breathtaking sight, as with sails spread to the breeze and banners and streamers gaily unfurled, it made its way along the coast of Spain. The twelve principal ships of the Armada bound on this holy enterprise had been baptized with the names of the twelve apostles. On board the St. Peter was Don Martin Allacon, administrator and vicar-general of the holy office of the Inquisition; and along with him were 200 barefooted friars and Dominicans. Though the guns of the Armada were to begin the conquest of heretical England, the spiritual arms of the Fathers were to complete it.

Just as the Armada was about to sail, the Marquis Santa Cruz, who had been appointed to the chief command, died. He had been thirty years in Philip’s service and was beyond doubt the most capable sea captian Spain had. Another had to be found to fill the place of the “Iron-Marquis,” and the duke of Medina Sidonia was selected for the job. The main recommendation of Medina Sidonia was his vast wealth. The “Golden Duke” was there simply to provide the armament; the real head of the expedition was to be the duke of Parma, Philip’s commander in the Netherlands and the ablest of his generals. As soon as the Armada should arrive off Calais, the duke was to cross from Flanders and, uniting his numerous army with the vast fleet, to descend like a cloud upon the shore of England.

The Armada was three weeks at sea. The huge ships, so disproportioned to the small sails, made windward progress wearisomely slow. They floated well enough upon a calm sea, but as they were about to open the Bay of Biscay, the sky began to be overcast, and dark clouds came rolling up from the southwest. The swell of the Atlantic grew into mountainous billows, tumbling around those towering structures whose bulk only exposed them all the more to the buffeting of the great waves and furious winds. The Armada was scattered by the gale. As the weather moderated, the ships reassembled and again began to move toward England. A second and more severe storm soon burst upon them. The waves, dashing against the lofty turrets at stem and stern, sent a spout of white water up their sides and high into midair, while the racing waves, coursing across the low bulwarks amidships, threatened every moment to engulf the galleons. One of the greatest of them went down with all on board, and another two were driven to the coast of France.

The storm subsiding, the Armada once more gathered itself together, and on July 29, it entered the Channel. The next day England had her first sight of the long expected enemy. Instantly the beacon fires were kindled, announcing that the Spanish had arrived. On the afternoon of July 30, the Armada could be seen from the high ground above Plymouth Harbor, advancing slowly from the southwest in the form of a crescent, the two horns of which were seven miles apart. As one massive hull after another came out of the blue distance, it was seen that rumor of its size had not been exaggerated in the least. On his great galleon, the St. Martin, in his shot-proof fortress stood Medina Sidonia, casting proud glances around him.

The night that followed was a night long to be remembered in England, as another and yet another hilltop lighted its fires in the darkness and the ever-extending line of light flashed the news of the Armada’s arrival from the shores of the Channel across all of England and Scotland. In this moment of destiny, the hearts of men were drawn together by the sense of a common terror. All controversies were forgotten in one absorbing interest; and the cry of the nation went up to God that He would place His protection over England and not suffer her to be destroyed.

Meanwhile, the harbor of Plymouth was in a fever of excitement. The moment the news arrived that the Armada had been sighted, Howard, Drake, and Hawkins began their preparations; and the rest of the night was spent in preparing the ships for sea. By morning, sixty ships had been towed out of the harbor. Their numbers were little more than a third of those of the Armada, and their inferiority in size was even greater; but manned by patriotic crews, they hoisted sail and went forth to meet the enemy. On the afternoon of the same day, the two fleets came in sight of each other. The wind was blowing from the southwest, bringing with it a drizzling rain and choppy seas. The waves of the Atlantic came tumbling into the Channel; and the galleons of Spain, with their heavy ordnance and their numerous squadrons, rolled uneasily and clumsily. The English ships, of smaller size and handled by expert seamen, bore finely up before the breeze, taking a close survey of the Spanish fleet, and then, standing off to windward, became invisible in the haze. The Spaniards knew that the English fleet was in the vicinity, but the darkness did not permit battle to be joined that night.

The End

True Education

“Welcome to the first rehearsal of Macbeth. This is an exciting day and a terrifying one. Over the next five weeks we’re going to grapple with one of the greatest plays ever written….Why do a play which is so fraught with problems?….Why is Macbeth considered to be an unlucky play?….The answer to both these questions is that Macbeth is the most brilliant and comprehensible play about evil ever written. Evil is portrayed in its private, public, supernatural and cosmic form. It is a vision of Hell, and during the next five weeks we will be using our imagination to bring that vision to life. We shall cast spells, evoke spirits, pray to demons, murder, intrigue, betray, lie, cheat and pillage. If we are brave enough, we will face the evil in ourselves in order to make the evil in our production true….We will be bringing into play the dark side of ourselves.” Longman Group limited 1986, William Shakespeare, Macbeth

These are the opening statements from the textbook used my senior year in academy. Over a three-month period we watched this play four times, acted it out once, and studied it more in-depth than any other work. This was at a Seventh-day Adventist academy! Does this bother you? If not, it should!

The strength of a family, movement, or culture depends heavily on how it is continued. This explains why people have expended large quantities of time and energy on passing down history and training their children. Today this process is called education.

To the world, education is understood to be an intellectual preparation for life. Webster defines education as: “the act of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.” [All emphasis supplied.]

Adventists, on the other hand, have been shown that education is the act of growing—spiritually, mentally, and physically. “True education means more than the pursual of a certain course of study. It means more than a preparation for the life that now is. It has to do with the whole being, and with the whole period of existence possible to man. It is the harmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers. It prepares the student for the joy of service in the world to come.

“To restore in man the image of his Maker, to bring him back to the perfection in which he was created, to promote the development of body, mind, and soul, that the divine purpose in his creation might be realized—this was to be the work of redemption. This is the object of redemption. This is the object of education, the great object of life.” Education, 13, 15-16

Education deals in the obtaining of wisdom. As such, man’s education began in Eden. There, Adam felt the thrill of unity and harmony with his Creator. Though for a little time inferior, there lay within him the possibility of attaining to greater heights than that held by angels. He was to be the companion of God, the perfect reflection of His light and glory. “The holy pair were not only children under the fatherly care of God, but students receiving instruction from the all-wise Creator. They were visited by angels, and were granted communion with their Maker, with no obscuring veil between….The mysteries of the visible universe—‘the wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge’ afforded them an exhaustless source of instruction and delight.” Education, 207. The divine method of education is here revealed,—God’s way of dealing with minds which are loyal to Him. This was education, perfect and complete.

Written on the face of creation is the wisdom of the Eternal. “And unto man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” Job 28:28. In other words, when a man lives in harmony with God, acting in accordance with the laws of the universe; when his thoughts are those of the Father, then he has truly entered the road that leads directly to wisdom.

Why, then, if wisdom may be had for the asking, do not all find it? Only one reason can be given: men in their search accept falsehood in the place of truth. This blunts their sensibilities until the false seems true and the true false.

When the serpent addressed Eve, her curiosity was aroused; and instead of fleeing, she argued with him. She attempted to determine in her own mind between right and wrong, but God had already told her what was right. This moment of indecision, of doubting, was the devil’s opportunity. He knew that if man’s mind could be gained, his great work would be accomplished. To do this he used a process of reasoning based on doubt—a method the opposite of that used by the Father in His instruction.

At Satan’s suggestion, Eve transferred her faith from the word of God to the tree of knowledge; and she was now easily led to test the truthfulness of all his statements by her senses. The theory had been advanced, and the experimental process now began. Eve looked upon the forbidden fruit, but no physical change was perceptible as the result of the misuse of this sense. This led her to be more certain that the argument used had been correct. All of this to the changing mind of Eve was still more conclusive evidence that the words of Christ and of the angels did not mean exactly what she had at first thought them to mean. The senses of touch, smell, and taste were in turn used, and each supported the conclusion drawn by the devil.

The woman was deceived, and through the deception, her mind was changed. This same change of mind may be brought about either by deception or as the result of false reasoning.

Today there are still two types of education in the world. There is that which comes form God and that which is the wisdom of the world, which God pronounces to be foolishness. The latter exalts the senses above faith and reason above revelation, but it results in spiritual death. That the fall of man was the result of choosing the false system cannot be debated. Redemption, therefore, comes through the adoption of the true system of education which links man with God, the true source of wisdom. The final and ultimate triumph of truth will, therefore, place those who are advocates of Christian education in the kingdom of God. Over these two great educational systems the great controversy between good and evil is now being waged.

When Christianity, in the power of Pentecost, entered the world, the Word of God was its educational book. There was, however, another system of learning which was claimed by the world to be true education and which had to be met by Christianity. On this question of education, as in all other things, Christianity and the world were diametrically opposed to each other.

There were, at this time, three great centers of education—Corinth, Ephesus, and Athens. Of the three, Athens was pre-eminent and was known as the mother of the then world’s education. The whole basis and theory of Greek education was established on the premise that doubt is the way to knowledge.

For a time, paganism, steadily retreated before a victorious Christianity; but as time passed, Christianity’s conquest faltered and slowed. Slowly at first, and then with accelerating speed, there was within the Christian church an exalting of the worldly wisdom. This so called wisdom was but Greek ignorance and resulted in the “falling away” from the gospel truth. For the next half-score of centuries, schools, from the grammar schools to the universities, all looked to Aristotle for the basis of knowledge. The Dark Ages had begun.

With the dawning of light, ushered in by the Reformation, true education received a fresh start. Luther and Melancthon developed a strong Bible based system of learning. “It was not the public worship alone the Reformation was ordained to change. The school was early placed beside the Church; and these two great institutions, so powerful to regenerate the nations, were equally reanimated by it. It was by a close alliance with learning that the Reformation entered into the world; in the hour of its triumph, it did not forget its ally.” D’Aubigne, History of the Reformation, book 10, chap. 9, 375

So successful was this education that, “Not more than a thirtieth part of the population remained Catholic…They withheld their children, too, from the Catholic schools.” Sutherland, Studies in Christian Education, 11. In reaction to this great movement, the Jesuits arose with the goal of regaining that which had been lost to the Reformation.

In the place of training the youth to be thinkers and not mere reflectors of other men’s thoughts, (see Education, 17, 18), the Jesuits emphasized the cultivation of the memory as a means of keeping down free activity of thought and clearness of judgment. (See Studies in Christian Education, 16.)

In the place of self-governing, which leads to independent and original works, “their method of discipline was a system of mutual distrust, espionage and informing.” Ibid. The papal system makes no effort to train students in self-governing, as such a system is fatal to the papal church organization.

In the place of the Bible as the basis of education, the papal education introduced secular literature for its foundation and guide. (See Ibid., 143)

Is the duty of Christians to repress the spirit of envy, or emulation (see Testimonies, vol. 5, 242), but the Jesuits made much of rivalry and competition. They believed that the ability to excite emulation was a most powerful aid in teaching. Under their system, nothing was more honorable than to outstrip a fellow student, and nothing more dishonorable than to be outstripped. (See Studies in Christian Education, 16.)

“’The Jesuits did not aim at developing all the faculties of their pupils but merely the receptive and reproductive faculties.’ When a student ‘could make a brilliant display from the resources of a well-stored memory, he had reached the highest points to which the Jesuits sought to lead him.’ Originality and independence of mind, love of truth for its own sake, the power of reflecting and forming judgments were not merely neglected, they were suppressed in the Jesuit system.” (See Ibid.)

True education, in contrast, will show students how to follow the established principles of God. The character of Christ is the one perfect pattern which we are to copy. “Godliness—Godlikeness—is the goal to be reached.” Education, 18

The strength of the papal system lied in repeating meaningless forms, and in a dead study of words in the place of a living knowledge of things. Mental cramming and formal memorizing are the exalted methods of teaching. (See Studies in Christian Education, 142.)

Manual training is not an essential part of papal education. In its place they have substituted athletics, sports, games, and gymnasiums. True education, however, will give students useful exercise that will uplift the mind, educate, and be of practical value. (See Ibid., 145.)

We are to be reformed and self-supporting, following the Spirit of Prophecy’s admonition to live in the country and be able to support ourselves. By contrast, the papal system is one of control. The more dependent you are upon others, the more perfectly it suits their plans.

“The Jesuit system of education was remarkably successful, and for a century nearly all the foremost men of the Christendom came from Jesuit schools.” Ibid., 16, 17. Within one hundred years after the death of Luther, Aristotle was again given the chief place in the seats of leaning and the Greek educational system was securely in place within the Protestant school system. This was accomplished with the assistance of such men as John Strum. Strum, a Protestant who was schooled in the papal universities, introduced a new system of education that effected a compromise. Maintaining the form of the Catholic schools, he threw in a wedge of Bible to keep it spiritual. So effective was the educational system that within a short span of time, the papacy was able to reclaim much of the ground lost to the Reformation. It was Strum’s system of education that was generally practiced in Ellen White’s time and which she spoke out against.

Sadly, instead of following the blueprint for true education, our Adventist form of education adopted the educational system of the 1850s that followed the pattern established by Yale, Harvard, and William and Mary. These three schools were known as the daughters of England, and Harvard was even referred to as the American Cambridge. The English universities, Cambridge, Oxford, Rugy, and Eaton, were, in turn, patterned after Paris University, which was the daughter of the papacy. As the center of theological learning, it received many privileges from the pope and retained a close relation to the papal see. (See Ibid., 9, 10)

The educational struggle has gone for ages between truth and error. The Christian and papal methods of instruction are inseparably connected with the history of nations; and we may, therefore, expect that in the final conflict, education will play a significant role. How can we proclaim the second angel’s message if we are wholeheartedly endorsing its system of education. This is as hypocritical as attempting to declare the third angel’s message while keeping Sunday.

“Before we can carry the message of present truth in all its fullness to other countries, we must first break every yoke. We must come into the line of true education, walking in the wisdom of God, and not in the wisdom of the world. God calls for messengers who will be true reformers. We must educate, educate, to prepare a people who will understand the message, and then give the message to the world.” The Madison School, 30

We have an effect on history by the way we educate. True education is the life blood of our movement; without it we shall surely fail. “Now, as never before, we need to understand the true science of education. If we fail to understand this, we shall never have a place in the kingdom of God.” Spaulding and Magan Collection, 56

God, has given us a window of time that is unique in modern history. Never in recent times have the laws governing home schools been as liberal as they are now, but none know how long this window of opportunity will remain open. To historic Adventist families this holds a tremendous significance. Jochebed was given twelve years to prepare Moses for his great work. Jehoida taught Joash for only seven years. At the age of twelve, Christ passed His mother’s teachings and began His heavenly Father’s business. Esther was yet a teen when she was called away from her uncle’s care. “The impressions made on the heart in early life are seen in after years. They may be buried, but they will seldom be obliterated.” Bible Echo, February 13, 1899. By the time a child reaches adolescence, any prospects of significant change in the life course are greatly diminished. Are we willing to take our responsibility seriously and no longer accept second best for our children’s education? If not, the enemy is more than willing to do our job. Until we sense the urgency of this issue, we are destined to fail.

The End

The Body of Christ, part 1

As we approach the Second Coming of Jesus, the signs of the times are coming in upon us so rapidly that it is difficult to keep up. We are seeing developments taking place with lightning speed just as Ellen White said that they would. We see God’s judgments in the land, and we see a new world order taking shape. We find Vatican insiders, such as Malachi Martin, writing books, The Keys of This Blood, which provide us an astounding picture of the developments taking place as the pope strives to gain control of the world, undoing all that Protestantism has done and establishing persecution once again.

One of the most significant factors facing humanity is the disintegration of the sense of reality. It is as George Orwell wrote years ago in his book 1984. The totalitarian systems rule by dislocating the people’s sense of reality. As God’s people approach the Second Coming of Jesus, one of the great challenges is to have a correct perception of truth, of reality, a correct understanding of what is happening around us in the field of human thought. This is particularly difficult and yet important when we have a media that is being used as a propaganda tool for the new world order.

Over and over again my thinking has been brought back to the fundamental statement in the first verse of the Bible. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” One of the fundamental problems with humanity at this time, which has unleashed all manner of evil in the world, is a failure to recognize and worship the Creator. It is this issue that is addressed by the first angel’s message. “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him.” Revelation 14:7. The whole concept of worship rests upon the idea of the Creator-creature distinction which our society has lost. Having lost the concept of the creatorship of God, humanity today has lost its orientation. It no longer knows who God is, who we are, and who humanity is. The entire sense of reality has been shifted and warped in preparation for totalitarian systems to revive in the world.

The first chapter of the book of John begins much the same as the first verse of the Bible. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake [that is a literal translation right out of the Greek] it.” John 1:1-5

The very foundation of all human life is the Word of God. He spake and it was done. He commanded and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. That Word is omnipotent, it is all powerful, and it is the voice of God to our souls, transforming human life and bringing us into contact with reality. So when we look at all of human life, we have to dig deep. As Ellen White says, hunt for the Rock and make sure we are grounded on the Rock, Christ Jesus, who is the Word of God.

In the time in which we live, and particularly since Vatican II, the Protestant churches, which are virtually asleep, are being led step by step back into the fold of Rome. Soon to be raised is the issue of whether a power on this earth can exalt itself against the law of God, challenging his sovereignty, and whether the rest of humanity will yield allegiance to that power. We must never forget that the fundamental question of the Sabbath-Sunday issue at the end of time is, will divine authority be in its rightful place or will human authority replace divine authority and pervert humanity? J.A. Wylie in his The History of Protestantism, which paints for us the struggle that has gone on through the centuries between the forces of Protestantism and the Papacy, points out that human liberty depends upon its recognition of divine authority.

In 1215, the barons of England forced King John to sign the Magna Charta. Wylie points out, however, that the great charter for England was not, in reality, the fundamental charter of liberty for the English-speaking people; it was the Word of God. When the Word of God sank down into the hearts of Englishmen, it transformed all of human life in England and exalted England to greatness. When divine authority is present, it demands freedom to obey God and is a fundamental principle of all liberty.

But we live in a society that has rejected the authority of God, laying the foundation for human tyranny. In England the teachings of evolution destroyed the concept of the creatorship of God. For some time the American nation has been driven hard to the left into immorality and homosexuality, and we may except to soon see a hard shift back to the right. Already, Patrick Buchanan, regarded as a staunch conservative, is holding seminars across this land asserting that the only way to save America is to make it Catholic.

Soon, every person in this nation is going to have to come to grips with issue of what they are going to do with the creatorship of God and with the authority of His Word. Even in Adventism we are wrestling with this issue, and it is the result of a regard for the authority of God’s Word that we see the independent movement today.

When Luther, in reading the Scriptures, found that Christ is the head of the body, he began questioning whether there was any head of the whole church other than Christ. There came a point in his experience where he was engaged in the Leipzig debates, and, as a result of that experience, Luther began coming to grips with the issue of authority in the church. He finally came to doubt whether, after all, any other head of the whole church had been appointed upon earth except Christ. Once he accepted the principle that the authority of God’s Word is above counsels, popes, and all human authority, it began to transform all human life, changing even people’s concept of the church.

Once Luther established the principle of the supremacy of the Word of God, he began energetically applying it to every phase of human life. The outgrowth of that principle is reflected in our Constitution in the principle of the free exercise of religion. The whole Bill of Rights rests upon this principle of the supremacy of divine authority. But what has happened in America? As the creatorship of God has been destroyed by the teachings of evolution, we have lost the concept of inalienable rights, and we now have a government that is contemptuous of the Bill of Rights.

In 1958, the year before the pope called for Vatican II, a European theologian sounded a warning. He did not know what was coming, but he pointed out that unless we begin to have an experience with the Word of God so that our entire life rests upon it and unless we have placed our feet so firmly on the Word that we can say we know with certainly what we believe, we will eventually come back under the dominion of Rome. He sent out that warning to the world. The next year, the ecumenical council was called. Vatican II met from 1962-1965, and the religious world has never been the same since.

But the people are not going deep enough. They are skimming the surface and are not rooted on the Word of God. Therefore, they do not know how to evaluate what is taking place, and after a while they begin to adjust, adapting to the new realities of Socialism as it comes in like a flood. Meanwhile, a totalitarian system of enormous proportions is being set up in our nation and around the world.

It was Luther who observed that, “A council cannot make divine right out of that which is not by nature divine right. To establish the Romish papacy by divine right is a ‘new dogma’ which is not binding. The church needs no head. The hierarchical system is not biblical, nor of divine right. The whole canon law [set up by Rome] begins to totter.” The History of Doctrines, 290

When the human being submits to the authority of God and His law of liberty, he finds true freedom; and he is delivered from human tyranny. The central orientation of the Protestant worship was the Word of God, not the charisma of the speaker. The movement of the three angels’ messages of Adventism will triumph as it adheres to this principle of the primacy of the Word of God.

And so, the principle of the supremacy of the Word of God was adopted by Luther in the Reformation, and it transformed his idea about the church. Because he had bowed to the supreme authority of Christ, who is the head of the church, he no longer felt that he had to somehow stay within the confines of the papacy. It was out of the fountain spring of personal salvation that a whole new conception of the church was born, bringing Protestantism into being.

Luther first develops this doctrine in detail in a tract in which he observed that the church is an assemblage of all Christian believers on earth and is made up of those who are of His flesh and of His bone, who are united with Him by faith. He further pointed out that as this is a community of saints and is represented as a spiritual fellowship, the principle of its unity is not to be seen in a body such as Rome, or the papacy, but in Christ. He went on to say that it is Christ operating upon the members that unites them into one community. (See Ibid., 291.)

Remember, Ellen White says that the groups of believers at the end of time are bound together by the truth; and the truth rests, of course, upon Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. As the head, Christ infuses His disposition, temper, and will into the community. The church is, therefore, the spiritual association of those who believe on Christ, those established and sustained by Him.

“Where two or three are present who love and obey the commandments of God, Jesus there presides, let it be in the desolate place of the earth, in the wilderness, in the city enclosed in prison walls.” The Upward Look, 315

The idea that the true church is the spiritual fellowship where Christ presides is an entirely new concept of the church that came about from the study of the Word of God in the Protestant Reformation.

“By the word church is also understood the organized association of those who believe on Christ, ‘an outward thing with outward actions,’ and the order of the clergy. This ‘outward, bodily church’ and the ‘inner spiritual church’ are to be carefully discriminated, but not separated. They are related to one another as body and soul in man.” The History of Doctrines, 291. And in the Protestant Reformation, the concept that Jesus enunciated when He said the kingdom of heaven is within you, is an internal, spiritual kingdom of righteousness and peace. This is the non-negotiable element of the church that Luther seized upon in the Protestant Reformation. And then that spiritual fellowship that are of His flesh and of His bone have a visible, external manifestation as they gather together for the preaching of the Word and administration of the Lord’s ordinances, such as the Lord’s Supper and Baptism.

Luther recognized that the outward, bodily church and the inner, spiritual church are related to one another as body and soul to man. He asserted that, “It is, of course, of chief importance that we belong to the spiritual church, but this membership stand in close connection with membership in the external church.” Ibid. He went on to say that it is the Word of God, the preaching of the Word, externally set forth that calls into existence the inner, spiritual church. “The church is therefore in one aspect, an external, visible association. But this is not ‘the true church which is believed.’ Since, however, the Word and the sacraments are here operative, faith concludes that here in the external association may be found a community of saints. Thus the church is an object of faith and not the visible, ‘for what is believed is not bodily nor visible.’” Ibid., 292

Basically, what Luther was saying is that the invisible, inner relationship with Christ is the foundational concept of the church, just as Paul says here in Ephesians 5:30, “For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.” And out of that inner relationship with Christ, there comes a visible, external manifestation of the church as the community of faith comes together and hears the Word of God preached to them. The church is the assembly of all believers, the holy Christian nation, the regenerated. It is holy because the Holy spirit reigns in it. Those who belong to it are all priests in the spiritual sense. It is the new creation of God, the product and sphere of the redemptive work of Christ, the kingdom of God in which Christ reigns through the spirit and faith.

The Reformers went on to say that, “If the question be raised, which of the two churches, the Romish and the Evangelical, is the ‘true’ one, the answer cannot be given on the basis of their comparative morality. But, sense the object of the outward organization of the church is to bring Christ to men through the Word, therefore, it can lay claim to the title, ‘true church,’ just in proportion as its preaching of the Word is in harmony with this purpose, i.e., is truly evangelical.” The History of Doctrines, 294. And so, the mark of the true church, Luther said, is that in it, the gospel is purely preached.

This entire movement of historic Adventism rests upon this principle of the primacy of the Word of God because we believe that, where the truth is purely preached is the sign of the true church. Martin Luther said that this true church must have the “teaching, faith, and confession of Christ. This can be known from the agreement of its doctrine with the ‘Word of Christ.’ That the true church holds with me to God’s Word.’ Our doctrine is ‘the Scriptures and the clear Word of God.’ The ‘pure doctrine’ is therefore of the highest importance, since every corruption of it must immediately influence the life. Hence, the church dare not tolerate false teachers.” Ibid., 295. That is the sixteenth century Reformation.

The struggle that we are involved in in Adventism today is that we are faced on the one hand with a structure that has very subtly shifted its emphasis from the authority of God and His Word to the authority of man, as is evidenced by the fact that we find men who profess to speak for the structure exalting the church manual as being an inspired document. Recently, a man from the General Conference, who was delivering a sermon at a baccalaureate service, asserted that, yes, we have the authority of Scripture, but we also have the authority of tradition which is to be interpreted for all by the community of faith. These are Roman Catholic concepts.

On the other hand, there is the celebration movement. This movement is right out of Vatican II.

The issue that Seventh-day Adventists are now having to come to grips with is, what are they going to do with a pastor who is going in a different direction, with a conference structure that is going a different direction? This is not a situation that is taking place only in Adventism but throughout the churches. We have Baptists who, as soon as their Adventists neighbors get Freedom’s Ring, want to borrow it. They recognize that this is happening in their church. I was just talking to Texe Marrs; some of you know who he is, exposing the occult, exposing spiritualistic forces, exposing the new world order in a remarkable way. He said to me, “You know, I was brought up as a Baptist. My mother was Pentecostal. But you know, I didn’t go to church very much; and when I was in the Air Force, Wanda, my wife, and I gave our hearts to the Lord and began pursuing truth. When we got out of the Air Force, we went to attend the Baptist church.” And he said, “It was nothing like the Baptist faith I had known about.” This is happening in all of the churches. I have a friend who went, just out of the appeal of his Lutheran family, to attend a Lutheran service in North Dakota. The whole sermon was New Age, about the God within. I have a book by a conservative Roman Catholic who tells how New Age is all through their schools and all through their whole movement.

To be continued…

Judas: An Example of a Tare

In Christ’s Object Lessons, 73, we are given the names of a number of the tares who were found in the early Christian church. We find Ananias and Sapphira listed, who, when their sin became open, were removed from the church by death. There are also Simon Magus and Demas, both of whom were at one time welcomed into church membership, but who, when their sin became open, were later openly disciplined or removed from fellowship. There is also Judas, who was perhaps the best known of all and whose name has become closely associated with being a prime example of a tare. When his sin became open, Judas took his own life, effectively removing himself from the church. It is most interesting to note, however, that Caiaphas, assumed* by many to rank close to Judas in notoriety, is not mentioned.

It also interesting to note that for at least the last year of his ministry, Jesus knew what was going on in the heart of Judas and that he was a tare, thought no one else suspected his real motives.

“Christ’s discourse in the synagogue concerning the bread of life was the turning-point in the history of Judas. He heard the words, ‘Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.’ He saw that Christ was offering spiritual rather than worldly good…

“In all that Christ said to His disciples, there was something with which, in heart, Judas disagreed. Under his influence the leaven of disaffection was fast doing its work. The disciples did not see the real agency in all this; but Jesus saw that Satan was communicating his attributes to Judas, and thus opening up a channel through which to influence the other disciples. This, a year before the betrayal, Christ declared. ‘Have not I chosen you twelve,’ he said, ‘and one of you is a devil?’” The Desire of Ages, 719, 720

The history of Judas presents a sad ending of a life that might have been honored of God. By becoming the slave of one vice, he gave himself to be driven to any lengths in sin.

I would like us to think about some of the experiences that Judas had which should have been sufficient to keep him from sin. More than that, however, his life is a warning to us that there is never a time when we can safely rest secure, believing that we have nothing to fear.

“Judas saw the sick, the lame, the blind, flock to Jesus from the towns and cities. He saw the dying laid at His feet. He witnessed the Saviour’s mighty works in healing the sick, casting out devils, and raising the dead. He felt in his own person the evidence of Christ’s power. He recognized the teaching of Christ as superior to all that he had ever heard. He loved the great Teacher, and desired to be with Him. He felt a desire to be changed in character and life, and he hoped to experience this through connecting himself with Jesus.” Ibid., 717 [All emphasis supplied]

It is significant that it was not sufficient that Judas enjoyed being in the presence of Jesus and desired to be with Him. It was not even sufficient that he recognized that his own character needed to be changed and that he even desired that Jesus should accomplish this for him. Without a willingness to put forth earnest efforts, casting sin out of the heart, he did not have a genuine relationship with Christ and his experience proved worthless.

Here is where the amazing love and patience of God is revealed. “The Saviour did not repulse Judas. He gave him a place among the twelve. He trusted him to do the work of an evangelist. He endowed him with power to heal the sick and to cast out devils. But Judas did not come to the point of surrendering himself fully to Christ. He did not give up his worldly ambition or his love of money. While he accepted the position of a minister of Christ, he did not bring himself under the divine moulding. He felt that he could retain his own judgment and opinions, and he cultivated a disposition to criticize and accuse.” Ibid.

Can you comprehend this? Jesus gave every possible benefit to Judas, even to the point of endowing him with power to heal the sick and cast out devils; but Judas failed of fully surrendering himself to Jesus.

“The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself. True, we have no power to free ourselves from Satan’s control; but when we desire to be set free from sin, and in our great need cry out for a power out of and above ourselves, the powers of the soul are imbued with the divine energy of the Holy Spirit, and they obey the dictates of the will in fulfilling the will of God.” Ibid., 466

We need to get on our knees and agonize with God, as did Jacob, that our heart may be broken and we may come to the point of fully surrendering ourselves to Christ. It is not enough that we do the work of an evangelist. It is not enough that we may have chosen to connect ourselves to Jesus and have felt His power in our soul, hoping for a change in character; if we never come to the point of a full surrender to Him, there is still a connection between Satan and our souls.

“If one sin is cherished in the soul, or one wrong practice retained in the life, the whole being is contaminated. The man becomes an instrument of unrighteousness.” Ibid., 313

“Judas was blinded to his own weakness of character, and Christ placed him where he would have an opportunity to see and correct this.” Ibid., 717. If you are deceived, it is impossible for you to know it, because if you knew it, you could no longer be said to be deceived. We need to be pleading that Jesus will place us where we have an opportunity to see the defects in our character that we are blind to.

It was a source of frustration to Judas that Jesus always seemed to be dwelling on the negative and discouraging side of life, talking of trial and persecution. He was offended when Jesus presented the spiritual nature of His kingdom, and he allowed doubts to begin running through his mind; he began to question Jesus. Though Judas had not yet decided that Jesus was not the Son of God, he began questioning and seeking to find some explanation of His mighty works. In spite of all this, “Judas made no open opposition, nor seemed to question the Saviour’s lessons.” Ibid., 720

You see, a tare is not a person who is in open sin. His sin is the sin of hidden doubt, and thus he becomes the embodiment of error and false principles. (See Christ’s Object Lessons, 71.) This was the experience of Judas. Though he was not openly sinning, he was secretly stealing.

Judas’ experience was not all one-sided. Even though he was plagued with doubts and uncertainty, we are told that, “he felt the satisfaction that always comes in service to God.” Ibid., 718

Although he felt the satisfaction that always comes in service to God, those feelings were not sufficient to save him. We must never forget that if we rely on our feelings as a barometer of our experience, we are on dangerous ground. Our only standard is the law of God. It matters not how good you may feel about helping the homeless and giving Bible studies; if your heart is not fully surrendered, it is to no avail. Until the root of selfishness is pulled out of the heart by the power of Christ and by our own choice, we are in a blind condition.

“John and Judas are representatives of those who profess to be Christ’s followers. Both these disciples had the same opportunities to study and follow the divine Pattern. Both were closely associated with Jesus and were privileged to listen to His teaching. Each possessed serious defects of character; and each had access to the divine grace that transforms character.” Acts of the Apostles, 558. And, though Judas might have comprehended the methods of Christ, his selfish desires blinded him and he found only disappointment and confusion.

Because of his disappointment in Jesus’ failure to fulfill his expectations in setting up a worldly kingdom, Judas decided that he was not going to unite himself with Christ quite so closely but that he could draw away easily. From that time he expressed doubts that tended to confuse the other disciples.

The scribes and Pharisees “had misinterpreted God’s promise of eternal favor to Israel: ‘Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is His name: If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me, saith the Lord: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 31:35-37. The Jews regarded their natural descent from Abraham as giving them a claim to this promise. But they overlooked the conditions which God had specified.” The Desire of Ages, 106. They had taken the promise of God’s everlasting favor to be an unconditional promise by which God had bound Himself. They believed that no matter what the Jewish people did, they were still the people of God.

“Many who were convinced that Jesus was the Son of God were misled by the false reasoning of the priests and rabbis. These teachers had repeated with great effect the prophecies concerning the Messiah, that he would ‘reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously;’ that He would ‘have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.’ Isaiah 24:23; Psalm 72:8. Then they made contemptuous comparisons between the glory here pictured and the humble appearance of Jesus. The very words of prophecy were so perverted as to sanction error.” Ibid., 458. Because Jesus failed to meet their false expectations, they concluded that He was an imposter and sent messengers all over the country to warn the people about Him. (See Ibid., 213.) Incredibly, the Author of the Scriptures was among them and yet they used the very words He inspired the prophets to write to turn the nation against Him. Just imagine the Bible studies that were given throughout the land and the Bible based sermons that were given, all with the determined purpose of turning a nation from the truth.

The scribes and Pharisees great problem lay in their failure to understand the spiritual nature of the true church, and, they were offended that Christ did not have the due regard that they supposed He should have for the priesthood. “Christ’s oft-repeated statement that His kingdom was not of this world offended Judas.” Ibid., 718. In all that Christ said to His disciples, there was something with which, in heart, Judas disagreed. He picked up the flawed theological thinking of the church leadership and was found “repeating the arguments urged by the scribes and Pharisees against the claims of Christ.” Ibid., 719. Jesus saw that Satan was communicating his attributes to Judas, and thus opening up a channel with which to influence the other disciples. He would introduce texts of Scripture that had no connection with the truths Christ was presenting, yet he did so in such a way as to make it appear that he was conscientious. (See Ibid., 719.) In taking the truths that Jesus taught and presenting them in a different light, he was attaching to the words of Jesus a meaning that He had not conveyed.

We need to remember that, if we come to the Word of God with the selfish desire to prove our own point or to lift up ourselves, we are certain to come up with a false reasoning, just as did Judas. So, when you see professed Historic Seventh-day Adventists who are lining up theologically with the scribes and Pharisees of today, repeating their arguments about the nature of Christ’s kingdom [His church]—beware!

And so it was that a year before the betrayal, Christ declared, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” John 6:70. It was generally Judas who began the contention as to who should be the greatest. “His suggestions were constantly exciting an ambitious desire for temporal preferment, and thus turning the disciples from the important things they should have considered.” Ibid., 719. The “embodiment of error” is an apt description of Judas, though his depravity was known only to Jesus. Judas offered no open opposition to the Saviour, nor did he openly murmur against Him. No matter how hidden we think our thoughts are, any thought that leads away from truth will eventually absorb us and turn us into the “embodiment of error.” “This will be the experience of every one who persists in tampering with sin. The elements of depravity that are not resisted and overcome, respond to Satan’s temptation, and the soul is led captive at his will.” Ibid., 720

There is a lesson here for us. Because we know that we have the truth of the three angels’ messages for the world, and because we have stood against the celebration apostasy and the new theology and firmly resisted the encroachment of worldliness into the church, I am fearful of our tendency to excuse our “little” sins. We fail to remember that beyond all of these things we must still overcome anger, impatience, overeating, fretfulness, love of the world, and a myriad of other sins that all come under the heading of selfishness.

“We may flatter ourselves that we are free from many things of which others are guilty; but if we have some strong points of character, and but one weak point, there is yet a communion between sin and the soul. The heart is divided in its service, and says, ‘Some of self and some of Thee.’ The child of God must search out the sin which he has petted and indulged himself in, and permit God to cut it out of his heart. He must overcome that one sin; for it is not a trifling matter in the sight of God.” Review and Herald, August 1, 1893

“‘How may are betrayed into sin, because they have not, through prayerful study of the Word of God, realized the sinfulness of sin, and found out how they may steadfastly resist it. When temptation comes upon them, they seem to be off guard, and ignorant of the devices of the enemy. We are living in perilous times, and as we draw near the close of earth’s history, there will be no safety for those who do not become familiar with the Word of God. I would warn the disciples of Christ of the impending days of peril, and beseech you to prepare for the time of test and trial; for everything that can be shaken, will be shaken. Do we now obey the Word of God, and live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God? Are we established and settled in the present truth? There is need of closely examining yourselves whether you are in the love of God; for except Christ be in you, you are reprobates. Self-deception is dangerous, and no one of us can afford to go on in delusion.” Youth’s Instructor, May 18, 1893

Of ourselves we cannot know our error. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9. We may even attempt to express our poverty with words, while all the time it goes unacknowledged by our proud hearts as they swell with conceit at their own superior humility.

“When sin has deadened the moral perceptions, the wrong-doer does not discern the defects of his character, nor realize the enormity of the evil he has committed; and unless he yields to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, he remains in partial blindness to his sin. His confessions are not sincere and in earnest. To every acknowledgment of his guilt, he adds an apology in excuse of his course, declaring that, if it had not been for certain circumstances, he would not have done this or that, for which he was reproved.” Signs of the Times, March 16, 1888

Our only safety is in the prayer, “Lord take my heart; for I cannot give it. It is Thy property. Keep it pure, for I cannot keep it for Thee. Save me in spite of myself, my weak, unchristlike self. Mold me, fashion me, raise me into a pure and holy atmosphere, where the rich current of Thy love can flow through my soul.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 159

May this be the prayer of each one of our hearts.

*As students of the Word, we need to be very careful that by a lack of careful study we do not come to some conclusions for which we have no inspired support. These ideas though we fail to realize it, are assumptions. An assumption is an idea that is so taken for granted that it is not thought necessary to prove it. Assumptions, once accepted, become very powerful as they bypass the critical faculty in the thinking process, shaping all of our other thoughts and decisions. It matters not how sincerely we hold them; false assumptions cannot help but lead us to wrong conclusions.

The End

God’s Warnings

God’s warnings serve to remind us of the conditionality of His promises to His church. If one forgets the conditionality of the promises, as the Jews did, he must first reject God’s warnings. God’s warnings often appear to contradict His promises, but properly understood, they are compatible. God always grants to us freedom of choice; and if we fail to comply with the conditions for receiving the promises, His warnings simply reveal His alternate plans.

In warning the people of Battle Creek of the danger of despising warnings and entreaties and of refusing to respect God’s counsels, Ellen White said that “By rejecting God’s warnings in this our day, men are repeating the sin of Jerusalem.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 68. To many of the Battle Creek people, these warnings were confusing and were misunderstood. Being seemingly unconscious of their wrong course, they felt Ellen White was speaking in parables or with idle tales. (See ibid.) Sincerity in believing is no protection against the result of failing to have a love for all of the truth. (See 2 Thessalonians 2.)

Today some are focusing only on God’s promises of prosperity, presenting those promises which reveal God’s optimal plan for His church while refusing to also present His warnings that reveal the conditionality of those promises and the alternative in the face of disobedience, While we all like to hear these messages, we must realize that they reflect a loss of love for part of the truth. In concentrating only on the promises of prosperity, those who present the messages are becoming sincerely deceived into believing that some of the promises for God’s church are not conditional! In seeking to prove their point, some even refer to the very same Old Testament promises which the Jews used, failing to remember that this became their fatal error.

Israel’s forty extra years of wandering was not part of God’s original plan for them. “It was not the will of God that Israel should wander forty years in the wilderness; He desired to lead them directly to the land of Canaan and establish them there, a holy, happy people. But ‘they could not enter in because of unbelief.’ Hebrews 3:19. Because of their backsliding and apostasy they perished in the desert, and others were raised up to enter the Promised Land.” The Great Controversy, 458

It was God’s plan that the Jewish organization and structure would remain pure. According to this plan, Jerusalem would have become the center of the universe; but as a people they rejected the only conditions under which this plan was open to them. Forgetting the conditionality of the prosperity of the church, the leaders, in their apostasy, still expected a future cleansing and triumph. They were thus blinded to the significance of what was taking place among them and the cleansing already going on in the minds of the faithful remnant who recognized the “good old paths” of truth which Jesus taught.

The vast majority of the leaders of the Jewish church and the structure as a whole maintained that they were the true professed church after Christ cleansed the temple. As most of the people did not study for themselves, they chose what seemed to them to be the next most reasonable approach. They followed their blind leaders into the same ditch and were lost. (See Testimonies, vol. 5, 747; Testimonies to Ministers, 109; The Great Controversy 19, 598.) They had concluded that Jesus’ warnings only confused them, so they chose not to listen to Him.

In arriving at truth, it is no less dangerous for us today to overlook God’s warnings. We are in just as great a danger of following in the tracks of the religious leaders of Christ’s day. If we fail to respond to the Laodicean message and its warnings, we, too, will go out into darkness as did the Jews. (See Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, 354.) When one is deceived, he is unaware of the fact that he has been spewed from Jesus’ mouth. (See Testimonies, vol. 6, 408; Review and Herald, November 26, 1861.*)

God is merciful; but in allowing this freedom of choice, there is a limit beyond which He cannot go and still respect our freedom of choice. In the book, The Publishing Ministry, 171, Ellen White points out that a cleansing of the temple took place in the Review and Herald fire, during which the alpha of apostasy text book plates were burned. She then states that if the warning was rejected, God’s judgments of mercy would soon become judgments of retribution. “I want to tell you that if after the warnings given in these burnings the leaders of our people go right on, just as they have done in the past, exalting themselves, God will take the bodies next.” Ibid. We need to consider carefully whether or not we as a people have allowed the early rain to remove all of our inherited and cultivated tendencies to evil. Must we not admit that as a group we have employed man-made weapons, such as the Perth Declaration or the Issues book, thereby fighting against the very means that our God of mercy sends to prepare us to receive the latter rain?

While true faith leads God’s children to claim His promises, thereby partaking of godliness and overcoming sin in their lives, another class presumptuously claim the same promises in order to lightly pass over sin. In doing so, they forget God’s warnings and conditions. Inevitably, such are uncomfortable around the true “virgins” with a pure faith, just as was Cain with Abel. In continuing to presume upon God’s promises and sin by choice, they become members of the synagogue of Satan. (See Testimonies to Ministers, 16; Review and Herald, December 4, 1900.) Such can change leaders little by little without even knowing it, until God eventually sends them strong delusions and they believe a lie. (See Testimonies, vol. 7, 219; 2 Thessalonians 2.) Though they still claim to be the church of God and are often sincere in this belief, they are not telling the truth. (See Revelation 2:2,9.) Some maintain that those who comprise this group are tares and should, therefore, be retained in the church. Though this may make them more comfortable, it is failing to carry out the work that God has given us to do.

Very soon, the door of mercy will close. As in the past, it will close first for those of us with the greatest light. We have nothing to fear, however, for we can be a part of the loud cry if we will take full advantage of this present probationary time.

Our most urgent need, and that which will keep us from receiving a delusion, is a love for all of the truth. “Perilous times are before us. Everyone who has a knowledge of the truth should awake and place himself, body, soul, and spirit, under the discipline of God. The enemy is on our track. We must be wide awake, on our guard against him. We must put on the whole armor of God. We must follow the directions given through the spirit of prophecy. We must love and obey the truth for this time. This will save us from accepting strong delusions. God has spoken to us through His Word. He has spoken to us through the testimonies to the church and through the books that have helped to make plain our present duty and the position that we should now occupy. The warnings that have been given, line upon line, precept upon precept, should be heeded. If we disregard them, what excuse can we offer?” Testimonies, vol. 8, 298

It is because of God’s great love that He warns of the alternative to obedience. In mercy and love he lifts the veil from the future, revealing to us the results of a course of sin.

In the parable of the cursed fig tree, the Jewish nation was represented by the fruitless fig tree; but it also stands as a warning to us. The Jews, who did not profit by their increased blessings, were represented by the fruitless fig tree. In the parable, Jesus did not reveal the final outcome for it rested with those of His day to determine their own destiny. “In the rejection of their present mercies and warnings lay the guilt of that generation.” The Desire of Ages, 584

The leaves, representing the profession or form of godliness but which are unaccompanied by fruit, are less than worthless for they do the work of Satan in misleading others by denying God’s power. (See 2 Timothy 3:5.) The new theology which is coming into our midst is as fig leaves without fruit. Not only does it fail to urge men to bring forth the fruits of righteousness, but it actually excuses their sins. (See Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 16.)

“Will the churches heed the Laodicean message? Will they repent, or will they, notwithstanding that the most solemn message of truth—the third angel’s message—is being proclaimed to the world, go on in sin? This is the last message of mercy, the last warning to a fallen world. If the church of God becomes lukewarm, it does not stand in favor with God any more than do the churches that are represented as having fallen and become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Those who have had opportunities to hear and receive the truth and who have united with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, calling themselves the commandment-keeping people of God, and yet possess no more vitality and consecration to God than do the nominal churches, will receive of the plagues of God just as verily as the churches who oppose the law of God. Only those that are sanctified through the truth will compose the royal family in the heavenly mansions Christ has gone to prepare for those that love Him and keep His commandments.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 19, 176

Some are forgetting God’s warnings* and are seeking to downgrade the importance of the issue of who and what the church really is as it applies to Seventh-day Adventists. Let us not forget, however, that this issue had to be understood by God’s people when Jesus taught that it was not mere profession which counted but obedience to the truth.

Though some seek to distance the early Christian church from the papacy, disavowing that the papacy was derived from it, inspiration is very clear that it was through corruption and by a departure from the simplicity of the gospel that the early church found itself in need of the secular power of the state. “The result was the papacy, a church that controlled the power of the State, and employed it to further her own ends, especially for the punishment of ‘heresy.’” The Great Controversy, 443. So today, by ignoring the Spirit of Prophecy counsels and resisting the cleansing of God’s church, currently in progress, we are preparing to receive the mark of the beast. (See Testimonies, vol. 5, 81.)

If it was crucial for the Jews, the early Christians, the churches in 1844, and the eight souls who walked into the ark to know who and what is the church, can we possibly be so naive as to believe it is not significant to God’s people today? Is it possible that we could still be found waiting for what we believe will be our ultimate denominational triumph when, because of disobedience and rebellion, we no longer have any warrant for such expectations?

After pointing out the failure of the Jewish church to fulfill God’s expectations for them and the results that followed, the servant of the Lord poses the question: “Is not the church of today doing the same thing?…Are they less guilty than was the Jewish church?” (See Christ’s Object Lessons, 303-306.) Do we believe that these are merely rhetorical questions, or do we love the truth enough to dig deep to find out answers to these questions?

“Men cannot with impunity reject the warnings that God in mercy sends them. From those who persist in turning from these warnings, God withdraws his spirit, leaving them to the deceptions that they love.” The Acts of the Apostles, 266

Because the Jews allowed God’s Word to be replaced by the Talmud (their church manual) as their guide, they disfellowhiped Christ at Calvary. In reality, this did not remove Christ from His church but secured the fact that corporately they were not a part of God’s church. If John the Baptist was today in our midst calling for our repentance, could he not be disfellowshiped according to our church manual? Would we do so?

In writing to the Thessalonian church, Paul not only admonished them to faithfully adhere to the truth but told them to separate from their fellowship those persisted in disregarding instruction. Because we have failed to follow this counsel, the time has come when church committees and boards have as members such a significant proportion who are Seventh-day Adventists by name and profession only, but who deny in their lives the truths that were given to this church, that there is extreme danger that they cannot be depended on to differentiate between light and darkness. “The minds of many have been so darkened and confused by worldly customs, worldly practices, and worldly customs, worldly practices, and worldly influences that all power to discriminate between light and darkness, truth and error, seems destroyed.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 62

Past history reveals that in times of great apostasy, those who are most involved in apostasy, are most often promoted while those who are standing for truth are put out of the way. Jesus clearly warned us of this when He said, “These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor Me.” John 16:1-3

We are not left to wonder as to what God’s alternate plan will be if we fail to accept His counsel. “Many will stand in our pulpits with the torch of false prophecy in their hands, kindled from the hellish torch of Satan. If doubts and unbelief are cherished, the faithful ministers will be removed from the people who think they know so much.” Testimonies to Ministers, 409-410

Notice that the words to follow this prophetic statement are the same that were pronounced over Jerusalem (see Luke 19:42) when in their deception, they knew not their hour of visitation. “‘If thou hadst known,’ said Christ, ‘even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes.’” Ibid., 410

At this time of crises, when above all other times there is need of faithfully rebuking sin and preparing a people for the latter rain, is the very time when, in the name of preserving the church, the confederacy of evil has brought in its unholy guns for warfare—the Perth Declaration and the Issues book. These are aimed at silencing those who are most faithful in reproving and upholding all of Gods’ truths, including His warnings. Such weapons are turned against the true church militant—those who are most faithful in reproving and upholding all of God’s truths, including His warnings. Such weapons are turned against the true church militant—those who are on God’s side in the great controversy, engaging their energies against the synagogue of Satan. We need to be surprised that this synagogue of Satan profess to be Jews while exalting apostasy over truth. “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” 2 Corinthians 11:14, 15. While professing to be and speaking as the church, they fight against God’s reproofs and corrections; but God does not own them as His.

“I am filled with sadness when I think of our condition as a people….And yet the general opinion is that the church is flourishing and that peace and spiritual prosperity are in all her borders.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 217

In the last analysis, it is not the profession or name but an adherence to God’s Word that draws the line of distinction between the professors and the true church of Christ. The history of the Jewish church is an eloquent testimony to the importance of recognizing this reality and that we not be found in the end with unrealistic expectations.

* “Those who separate from God and lose their spirituality, do not fall back all at once into a state which the True Witness calls lukewarm. They conform to the world little by little. As its influence steals upon them, they fail to resist it and maintain the warfare. After the first step is taken to have friendship with the world, darkness follows and they are prepared for the next. At every step they take in the downward course darkness gathers about them, until they are enshrouded. As they conform to the world they lose the transforming influence of the spirit of God. They do not realize their distance from God. They think themselves in good case because they profess to believe the truth. They grow weaker and weaker, until the Spirit of God is withdrawn, and God bids his angels, ‘Let them alone!’ Jesus spues them out of his mouth. He has borne their names to his Father; he has interceded for them, but he ceases his pleadings. Their names are dropped, and they are left with the world. They realize no change. Their profession is the same. There has not been so glaring a departure from the appearance of right. They had become so assimilated to the world that when heaven’s light was withdrawn they did not miss it.”

The End

Who and What is Babylon?

“And another angel followed, saying, ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.’” Revelation 14:8

“It was by departure from the Lord, and alliance with the heathen, that the Jewish church became a harlot; and Rome, corrupting herself in like manner by seeking the support of worldly powers, receives a like condemnation.” The Great Controversy, 382. If you do not understand that truth, you cannot understand what Babylon is. Let me explain that. The true church is a spiritual thing. Some people think that if you are in this organization, you are in Zion, and if you are in that organization, you are in Babylon. We must get over childish ways of thinking. Both Babylon and the true church are spiritual entities.

You see, the true church has to do with the mystery of godliness. Babylon has to do with the mystery of iniquity, or mystery of lawlessness, as Paul calls it in 2 Thessalonians 2. In Revelation 17, Babylon is referred to as a woman who is a great harlot. As a woman represents a church, and a harlot represents a church that is unfaithful, any church that becomes a harlot is part of Babylon. More than one church forms a part of Babylon because in Revelation 17:5 it says: “on her forehead a name was written: Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the abominations of the earth.” As she is the mother and she has daughters, clearly there are other churches that belong to this great system.

Notice some identifying marks about Babylon in Revelation 14:8.

  • It says that Babylon has fallen. If you are already lying on the floor, you cannot fall. To fall, at some time in the past you have to have been up in an elevated position so that you could fall. In other words Babylon is a church that at one time was in a pure and elevated, spiritual condition.

 

  • We see that Babylon uses force or coercion. It says, “She has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” So, she uses some kind of trickery, deceit, insinuation, force, or coercion to cause all of the people of the earth to drink this wine.

 

  • Babylon is a church or a spiritual organization that has world-wide influence. All of the nations in the world have been influenced by her.

 

  • As we saw in Revelation 17:5, Babylon is more than one church organization or group.

 

  • Babylon has to be a religious organization because it is a woman. (See 2 Corinthians 11:2; Jeremiah 6:2)

How does a church become a spiritual harlot? Let us go back to the Old Testament. We find in both the Old and New Testaments that those organizations that are referred to as Babylon were formerly in an elevated position. In fact, the prophets tell us that the nation of Israel became what you would call the equivalent of Babylon. In Isaiah 1, the prophet talked to Jerusalem, and he called her a harlot. That is the same as calling her Babylon, though she was still called Jerusalem. Obviously, you can call yourself Jerusalem and yet spiritually be a part of Babylon. When your spiritual condition indicates that you have fallen, the prophet says you are spiritually a harlot. (See The Great Controversy, 382.)

In Ezekiel 23, there is a whole chapter about two sisters. These two sistesr have become harlots. Who are these two harlots? It says in verse 4 that one is Samaria and the other is Jerusalem. I want you to see how a church becomes spiritually a harlot and becomes part of Babylon.

“The Lord also said to me: ‘Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. For they have committed adultery [they are harlots], and blood is on their hands.’” They worshiped idols, and worshiping idols constituted spiritual adultery. But that is not all. “‘And even sacrificed their sons whom they bore to me, passing them through the fire, to devour them. Moreover they have done this to Me: They have defiled My sanctuary on the same day and profaned My Sabbaths.’” How did they become spiritual harlots? They defiled God’s sanctuary and profaned His Sabbaths. When you break God’s law and teach others to break God’s law, you are committing spiritual adultery against Him. A person or group who claims to be the church of God and teaches others that they cannot keep the law of God is in a spiritual, adulterous situation as Ezekiel says very plainly here in Ezekiel 23:36-38.

Is it possible for a church, in the most literal sense, to become a harlot and still think they are keeping God’s law? Turn in your Bible to Ephesians 5, where Paul is talking about the church. In verse 30 it says, “For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’” Now let me ask you, friends, when Paul says here, and he is quoting from Genesis 2:23, 24, that a man shall leave his father and mother and should be joined to his wife and they two shall be one flesh, what is he talking about? He is talking about the sexual relationship of marriage. Let us read that right in the Bible. Turn back to 1 Corinthians 6:15-17. “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? [He is talking to the church.] Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For ‘the two,’ He says, ‘shall become one flesh.’” If you are an adult, you cannot misunderstand what Paul is talking about. When the Bible says the two shall become one flesh, what it is talking about? It is talking about the sexual relationship of marriage.

Just as a man is physically joined to his wife in marriage, in the same way the Christian is spiritually united to the Lord Jesus Christ, one body, one bone, and one flesh with Him. (See 1 Corinthians 6:16.) “We are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:30-32. Now, if you cannot understand it, you will be excused, because when the apostle Paul says something is a great mystery it is, but it remains that, he says, he is talking about the sexual relationship of marriage. Then he explains that he is really talking about Christ and the church. You are members of the body of Christ. He says, in 1 Corinthians 6:16, “The one who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”

I have a question for you. Is marriage holy? Yes, the Bible teaches that marriage is holy, but it has some stipulations. Notice what it says in Ephesians 5:31. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” Now, this should not be difficult to understand. If you have two, it is holy; but if you have three it is wicked. Is that understandable?

The church is to be one spirit with Christ, but when she unites herself with the governments of this world, with the kings of this world, what do you have? You have the church, the Lord, and the governments of the world. It is no longer two, but three; and that is wicked. That church has become a harlot, and, therefore, a part of Babylon. It does not matter whether it is done through the executive, the judicial, or the legislative branch. If she unites herself with the governments of this world, she becomes a part of Babylon. For a hundred and fifty years, Historic Seventh-day Adventists have preached the separation of church and state and that the church could not be united with the state without becoming part of Babylon. What have we forgotten!

“The world must not be introduced into the church, and married to the church, forming a bond of unity. Through this means the church will become indeed corrupt, and as stated in Revelation, ‘a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.’” Testimonies to Ministers, 265. How does the church become converted to Babylon? When she becomes united to the world; when she goes and unites herself with the world, with the governments of this world.

It says in Revelation 14 that this Babylon has made all of the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. The Bible speaks here about intoxicating wine, and intoxicating wine makes you drunk so that you cannot think. You become all confused, and, for the time, you are insane—gone mad—because you have drunk all of this wine.

“They also have erred through wine, and through intoxicating drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, they are swallowed up by the wine, they are out of the way through intoxicating drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filth; no place is clean.” Isaiah 28:7, 8. What happens when people drink wine? They are intoxicated and they err in vision and stumble in judgment.

In Revelation 14 it is not talking so much about physical wine as about spiritual wine. We find out what this spiritual wine is in Isaiah 29. “Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with intoxicating drink. For the Lord has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, namely the prophets; and He has covered your heads, namely, the seers. The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is literate, saying, ‘Read this, please.’ And he says, ‘I cannot, for it is sealed.’ Then the book is delivered to one who is illiterate, saying, ‘Read this, please.’ And he says, ‘I am not literate.’ Therefore the Lord said: ‘Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandments of men.” Isaiah 29:9-13. These people are drunk with spiritual, not physical wine. They are drunk because they are teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, and as a result, the people are deceived and confused!

It is time for Seventh-day Adventists to recognize that when they see that it is the commandments of men being taught that contradict the Word of God, it is the wine of Babylon. It does not matter what publishing house published it or what the name of the person is who wrote it; if it is the commandments of men and it contradicts the Word of God, it is the wine of Babylon. If you listen to it, you are going to become confused—drunk.

“And another angel followed, saying, ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.’” Revelation 14:8. If you drink of this wine, you are also going to drink of the wrath of God.

Who is it that is going to receive the wrath of God?

Concerning God, He “will render to each one according to his deeds,” “there is no partiality with God,” “eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek.” Romans 2:6, 11, 7-10.

Notice that it is the people who obey unrighteousness who drink of the wrath of God. The third angel’s message teaches that if you receive the mark of the beast, you are going to receive the wrath of God. The only people who receive the wrath of God, according to Paul in Romans 2:8, are those who obey unrighteousness. So, there is something about the wine of Babylon and the mark of the beast that is unrighteous.

Well, what is unrighteousness? “All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.” 1 John 5:17. The sin that does not lead to death is the sin that is repented, forsaken, and confessed. That sin does not lead to death because the cross of Jesus Christ will save you from the consequences. The only people, according to Romans 2:8, who are going to receive the wrath of God are those who obey unrighteousness; but unrighteousness is sin. What is sin? Sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4). All right, is there something in the wine of Babylon that teaches people to break God’s law? Yes, there is.

Have you ever heard the idea that you really cannot overcome sin, that you really cannot keep God’s law perfectly, that you are going to go on sinning some and confessing? Oh, you will not sin great big, but you are going to go on sinning and confessing until Jesus comes.

“Success in any line demands a definite aim.” Education, 262. I want to ask you this question, Will a person overcome sin who is not aiming to do so? Obviously, the person who is led to believe that you cannot overcome your sins perfectly, that you are going to go sinning and confessing, sinning and confessing, is never going to overcome the sin in his own life. The name of the church where this is taught is not important; it comes from Babylon and it will lead you to the seven last plagues.

“He who sins is of the devil.” 1 John 3:8. Let me tell you, friend, if your pastor is teaching you that you can sin, you had better got our of that church and go to a church where they do not teach that sort of thing, because he who sins is of the devil.

“Will the churches heed the Laodicean message? Will they repent, or will they, notwithstanding that the message—is proclaimed to the world, go on in sin? This is the last message of mercy, the last warning to a fallen world. If the church of God becomes lukewarm, it does not stand in favor with God any more than do the churches that are represented as having fallen and become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Those who have had opportunities to hear and receive the truth and who have united with the Seventh-day Adventist church, calling themselves the commandment-keeping people of God, and yet possess no more vitality and consecration of the plagues of God just as verily as the churches who oppose the law of God. Only those that are sanctified through the truth will compose the royal family in the heavenly mansions Christ has gone to prepare for those that love Him and keep His commandments.” [All emphasis supplied] Manuscript Releases, vol. 19, 176

Some people say, “Oh, we are Zion. Don’t ever talk to us about Babylon. We are out of that organization.” Listen friends, you may be baptized and call yourself a Seventh-day Adventist but be just as bad off as the fallen churches that oppose the law of God and receive the plagues just the same.

“It is now the duty of God’s commandment-keeping people to watch and pray, to search the Scriptures diligently, to hide the Word of God in the heart, lest they sin against Him in idolatrous thoughts and debasing practices, and thus the church of God become demoralized like the fallen churches whom prophecy represents as being filled with every unclean and hateful bird.” Review and Herald, May 17, 1887

“We must as a people arouse and cleanse the camp of Israel. Licentiousness, unlawful intimacy, and unholy practices are coming in among us in a large degree; and ministers who are handling sacred things are guilty of sin in this respect. They are coveting their neighbors’ wives, and the seventh commandment is broken. We are in danger of becoming a sister to fallen Babylon, of allowing our churches to become corrupted, and filled with every foul spirit, a cage for every unclean and hateful bird; and will we be clear unless we make decided movements to cure the existing evil?” Manuscript Release, no. 449, 17. Just try to make movements to cure the existing evil and see what happens. Friend, it is time to read the Spirit of Prophecy and read all of the statements.

“When Jerusalem was divorced from God it was because of her sins. She fell from an exalted height that Tyre and Sidon had never reached. And when an angel falls he becomes a fiend. The depth of our ruin is measured by the exalted light to which God has raised us in His great goodness and unspeakable mercy. Oh, what privileges are granted to us a people! And if God spared not His people that he loved, because they refused to walk in the light, how can He spare the people whom He has blessed with the light of heaven in having opened to them the most exalted truth ever entrusted to mortal man to give to the world?” Manuscript Releases, vol. 12, 319

If we fall and become spiritually like Babylon, it is going to become worse for us because we had more light.

The End

Editorial – The Most Dangerous Religion

When the disciples came to Jesus as recorded in Matthew 24 and asked Him about the sign of His coming and of the end of the world, the very first thing that is recorded in Jesus’ answer is a warning that they be not deceived. This warning is given in different language three times in Matthew 24. When our Lord gives us a warning three times, would you think that there is something there that we would need to pay close attention to?

Not only are we warned against false Christs, false prophets, and wonder workers, but we are given the plain warning that these deceptions will arise among God’s people. (See Matthew 24:24; 2 Peter 3:17.) “Do not forget that the most dangerous snares which Satan has prepared for the church will come through its own members who do not love God supremely or their neighbor as themselves.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 477

So the most dangerous deceptions will come from professed Seventh-day Adventists. “The gospel of Christ has little to fear from its open opponents. Its most dangerous foes are the pretended friends of Christ, who say, ‘I go,’ but do not go. They profess to love the Lord Jesus, but through the deceptions of Satan, they work against Christ, because they are not doers of the word.” Youth’s Instructor, August 14, 1894

Of these various infiltrators or pretenders, the most dangerous teachers or preachers are not those who preach a radically different theology, although some have been taken in by these. The most dangerous are those who preach mostly the truth with some sly errors built in which negate the power of the gospel. If the truth is received in the love of it, it will sanctify the life and prepare a person for heaven. But if a vital ingredient is missing, the soul will be left bankrupt for eternity. Ellen White had much to say on this subject:

“The most dangerous falsehoods are those that are mingled with truth. It is thus that errors are received that captivate and ruin the soul.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 338

“Many are in reality fighting his [Satan’s] battles while they profess to serve under the banner of Christ. These traitors in the camp may not be suspected, but they are doing their work to create unbelief, discord, and strife. Such are the most dangerous of foes. While they insinuate themselves into our favor, and gain our confidence and sympathy, they are busy suggesting doubts and creating suspicion.” Review and Herald, August 28, 1883

“Those temptations are the most dangerous which come from the professed servants of God, and from our friends.” Signs of the Times, January 3, 1884

“In every age false prophets have been the most dangerous enemies Christianity has had. Men have appeared who claimed to be champions of truth, professing to have a great burden for the souls of their fellowmen. But they taught false doctrines, and perverted the truth. The spirit they manifested, the work they wrought, testified to the character of their religion. Such men have arisen and do arise, and will continue to arise, in our own day. They will criticize, judge others, will be always ready for controversy, and will resist the truth. They will put false interpretations upon the Scriptures. They will misstate the words of those who advocate truth and some who listen to them, who do not have spiritual discernment, will be misled by these false teachers, and be found fighting under the black banner of the adversary of God and man.” Ibid., July 1892

So what is the most dangerous religion or religious teacher? The most dangerous religion or religious teacher is that which claims to be Seventh-day Adventist but which does not include all of the vital truth or is interwoven with subtle error. The closer it is to the truth, the more dangerous it is.

“Our faith is not to stand in the ability of men but in the power of God. There is danger of trusting in men, even though they may have been used as instruments of God to do a great and good work. Christ must be our strength and our refuge. The best of men may fall from their steadfastness, and the best of religion is found in obedience to every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Righteousness exalts a nation, and the absence of it degrades and ruins man.” Ibid., May 19, 1890

Somebody is probably asking now, Who are you talking about? That is a question that you must become able to answer through your study of the Word and your vital connection with Christ through the Holy Spirit. If you are going to go through to the end, your faith must be in God and His Word and not on any many or you will not make it.

“As we near the end of time, falsehood will be so mingled with truth, that only those who have the guidance of the Holy Spirit will be able to distinguish truth from error.” Maranatha, 192

The End