Issue: 2002 April

Wake Up and Blow the Trumpet – An Appeal to Live the Truth and Share It

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For weeks I have not been able to sleep after half past three o’clock. My mind is deeply exercised in regard to our condition as a people. We ought to be far in advance of any other people on the earth because we have greater light and greater knowledge of the truth, which lays us under increased accountability to advance that light and not only profess to believe the truth but to practice it. When we do practice the truth we are then following Jesus, who is the light of the world; and if we as a people are not constantly elevating, becoming more and more spiritually minded, we are becoming like the Pharisees—self-righteous—while we do not the will of God.

Less of Self

We must have a greater nearness to God. Much less of self and much more of Jesus Christ and His grace must be brought into our everyday life. We are living in an important period of this world’s history. The end of all things is at hand; the sands of time are fast running out; soon in heaven it will be said: “It is done.” “He that is holy, let him be holy still,” “he which is filthy, let him be filthy still.” [Revelation 21:6; 22:11].

Let our testimonies be sharpened up; let us have a firmer hold on God. I cannot refrain from prayer at one, two, and three o’clock in the morning for the Lord to work upon the hearts of the people. I think of all heaven being interested in the work that is going on upon the earth. Ministering angels are waiting about the throne to instantly obey the mandate of Jesus Christ to answer every prayer offered in earnest living faith. I think of how many who profess the truth are keeping it apart from their lives. They do not bring its sanctifying, refining, spiritualizing power into their hearts. I think how this grieves Jesus.

I think of His great sorrow as He wept over Jerusalem, exclaiming, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not.” [Luke 13:34]! God forbid that these words shall apply to those who have great light and blessings. In the rejecting of Jerusalem it was because great privileges were abused, which brought the denunciation upon all who lightly regarded the great opportunities and precious light that were entrusted to their keeping. Privileges do not commend us to God, but they commend God to us. No people are saved because they have great light and special advantages, for these high and heavenly favors only increase their responsibility.

Woe Unto Thee

The more and increased light God has given makes the receiver more responsible. It does not place the receiver in any safer position unless the privileges are wisely improved, prized, and used to advance God’s glory. Christ said, “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” [Matthew 11:21].

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 as 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?

We are far from being the people God would have us to be, because we do not elevate the soul and refine the character in harmony with the wonderful unfolding of God’s truth and His purposes. “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” [Proverbs 14:34]. Sin is a disorganizer. Wherever it is cherished—in the individual heart, in the household, in the church—there is disorder, strife, variance, enmity, envy, jealousy, because the enemy of man and of God has the controlling power over the mind. But let the truth be loved and brought into the life, as well as advocated, and that man or woman will hate sin and will be a living representative of Jesus Christ to the world.

Needed—Real Bible Religion

The people claiming to believe the truth will not be condemned because they had not the light, but because they had great light and did not bring their hearts to the test of God’s great moral standard of righteousness. The people who claim to believe the truth must be elevated by living it out. Real Bible religion must leaven the life, refine and ennoble the character, making it more and more like the divine model. Then will the home be vocal with prayer, with thanksgiving and praise to God. Angels will minister in the home and accompany the worshiper to the house of prayer.

Let the churches who claim to believe the truth, who are advocating the law of God, keep that law and depart from all iniquity. Let the individual members of the church resist the temptations to practice evils and indulge in sin. Let the church commence the work of purification before God by repentance, humiliation, deep heart searching, for we are in the antitypical day of atonement—solemn hour fraught with eternal results.

Let those who teach the truth present it as it is in Jesus. Under the subduing, sanctifying, refining, influence of the truth of God they are as clean vessels. Let them be leavened with Bible religion, and what an influence would go forth from them to the world! Let the individual members of the church be pure, steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the love of Jesus, and they will then be a light to the world. Let the men standing as watchmen and as shepherds of the flock proclaim the solemn truth, sound the notes of warning to all people, nations and tongues. Let them be living representatives of the truth they advocate, and honor God’s law by strict and holy compliance with its requirements, walking before the Lord in purity, in holiness, and a power will attend the proclamation of the truth that will reflect light everywhere.

Internal Corruption Brings Denunciations of God

God never forsakes people or individuals until they forsake Him. Outward opposition will not cause the faith of God’s people, who are keeping His commandments, to become dim. The neglect to bring purity and truth into practice will grieve the Spirit of God and weaken them because God is not in their midst to bless. Internal corruption will bring the denunciations of God upon this people as it did upon Jerusalem. Oh, let pleading voices, let earnest prayer be heard, that those who preach to others shall not themselves be castaways. My brethren, we know not what is before us, and our only safety is in following the Light of the world. God will work with us and for us if the sins which brought His wrath upon the old world, upon Sodom and Gomorrah and upon ancient Jerusalem, do not become our crime.

The least transgression of God’s law brings guilt upon the transgressor, and without earnest repentance and forsaking of sin he will surely become an apostate. You inquire in regard to the course which should be pursued to secure the rights of our people to worship according to the dictates of our own conscience. This has been a burden on my soul for some time, whether it would be a denial of our faith and an evidence that out trust was not fully in God. But I call to mind many things God has shown me in the past in regard to things of a similar character, as the draft and other things. I can speak in the fear of God, it is right we should use every power we can to avert the pressure that is being brought to bear upon our people. I know that were our people spiritualized by the truth the greatest love would be maintained.

Policy Does Not Save

[We are] not to provoke those who have accepted this spurious sabbath, an institution of the Papacy, in the place of God’s holy Sabbath. Their not having the Bible arguments in their favor makes them all the more angry and determined to supply the place of arguments that are wanting in the Word of God, by the power of their might. The force of persecution follows the steps of the dragon. Therefore great care should be exercised to give no provocation. And again let us as a people, as far as possible, cleanse the camp of moral defilement and aggravating sins. When sin is making its march upon the people who claim to be elevating the moral standard of righteousness, how can we expect God to turn His power in our behalf and save us as a people that did righteousness?

All the policy in the world cannot save us from a terrible sifting, and all the efforts made with high authorities will not lift from us the scourging of God, just because sin is cherished. If as a people we do not keep ourselves in the faith and not only advocate with pen and voice the commandments of God, but keep them every one, not violating a single precept knowingly, then weakness and ruin will come upon us. It is a work that we must attend to in every one of our churches. Each man must be a Christian.

Let the sin of pride be put away, let all superfluities of dress be overcome, and repentance toward God be exercised for the highhanded robbery toward Him, which has withheld money that should flow into the treasury to sustain the work of God in its mission fields. Let the work of reformation, of true conversion, be set before and urged upon the people. Let our works, our deportment, correspond with the work for this time, that we may say, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” Let us humble our souls before God by humiliation, fasting and prayer, repentance of sin, and putting it away.

The Trumpet Must Give a Certain Sound

The voice of the true watchman needs now to be heard all along the line, “the morning cometh, and also the night” [Isaiah 21:12]. The trumpet must give a certain sound, for we are in the great day of the Lord’s preparation. All the struggles to carry our appeals to the highest authorities in our land, however earnest and strong and eloquent may be the pleas in our favor, will not bring about that which we desire unless the Lord works by His Holy Spirit in the heart of those who claim to believe the truth. We may struggle as a mighty man in swimming against the current of Niagara, but we shall fail unless the Lord pleads in our behalf. God will be honored among His people. They must be pure, they must be divested of self, steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. The Lord will elevate the humblest soul that trusts in Him. He will unite His power with human effort if that man will honor Him as did Daniel. But as a people we need the beauty of righteousness, holiness, and truth. The most harmonious theory will not save us. The God that ruled in Babylon is the same God that rules now.

There are many doctrines current in our world. There is many a religion current that numbers its thousands and tens of thousands, but there is but one that bears the superscription and the stamp of God. There is a religion of man and a religion of God. We must have our souls riveted to the eternal Rock. Everything in God’s world, both men and doctrines and nature itself, is fulfilling God’s sure word of prophecy and accomplishing His grand and closing work in this world’s history.

We are to be ready and waiting for the orders of God. Nations will be stirred to their very center. Support will be withdrawn from those who proclaim God’s only standard of righteousness, the only sure test of character. And all who will not bow to the decrees of the national councils and obey the national laws to exalt the sabbath instituted by the man of sin to the disregard of God’s holy day, will feel, not the oppressive power of popery alone, but of the Protestant world, the image of the beast.

The Church—the Loyal and True

Satan will work his miracles to deceive; he will set up his power as supreme. The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out—the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place. None but those who have been overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true, without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths. We must be divested of our self-righteousness and arrayed in the righteousness of Christ.

The remnant that purify their souls by obeying the truth gather strength from the trying process, exhibiting the beauty of holiness amid the surrounding apostasy. All these, He says, “I have graven . . . upon the palms of My hands.” [Isaiah 49:16]. They are held in everlasting, imperishable remembrance. We want faith now, living faith. We want to have a living testimony that shall cut to the heart of the sinner. There is too much sermonizing and too little ministering. We want the holy unction. We need the spirit and fervor of the truth. Many of the ministers are half paralyzed by their own defects of character. They need the converting power of God.

Rendering to God

That which God required of Adam before his fall was perfect obedience to His law. God requires now what He required of Adam, perfect obedience, righteousness without a flaw, without shortcoming in His sight. God help us to render to Him all His law requires. We cannot do this without that faith that brings Christ’s righteousness into daily practice.

Dear brethren, the Lord is coming. Lift up your thoughts and heads and rejoice. Oh, we would think that those who hear the joyful news, who claim to love Jesus, would be filled with joy unutterable and full of glory. This is the good, the joyful news which should electrify every soul, which should be repeated in our homes, and told to those whom we meet on the street. What more joyful news can be communicated! Caviling and contention with believers or unbelievers is not the work God has given us to do.

If Christ is my Saviour, my sacrifice, my atonement, then I shall never perish. Believing on Him, I have life forevermore. Oh, that all who believe the truth would believe in Jesus as their own Saviour. I do not mean that cheap faith unsupported by works, but that earnest, living, constant, abiding faith, that eats the flesh and drinks the blood of the Son of God. I want not only to be pardoned for the transgression of God’s holy law, but I want to be lifted into the sunshine of God’s countenance. Not simply to be admitted to heaven, but to have an abundant entrance.

The Cause is One

Are we so insensible as a peculiar people, a holy nation, to the inexpressible love that God has manifested for us? Salvation is not to be baptized, not to have our names upon the church books, not to preach the truth. But it is a living union with Jesus Christ, to be renewed in heart, doing the works of Christ in faith and labor of love, in patience, meekness, and hope. Every soul united to Christ will be a living missionary to all around him. He will labor for those near and those afar off. He will have no sectional feeling, no interest merely to build up one branch of the work over which he presides and there let his zeal end. All will work with interest to make every branch strong. There will be no self-love, no selfish interest. The cause is one, the truth a great whole.

Well may the question be asked with earnest, anxious heart, “Is envy cherished, is jealousy permitted to find a place in my heart?” If so, Christ is not there. “Do I love the law of God, is the love of Jesus Christ in my heart?” If we love one another as Christ has loved us, then we are getting ready for the blessed heaven of peace and rest. There is no struggling there to be first, to have the supremacy; all will love their neighbor as themselves. Oh, that God would open the understanding and speak to the hearts of our churches by arousing the individual members.

The Lord appoints and sends forth ministers not only to preach, for this is a small part of His work, but to minister, to educate the people not to be fighters but to be examples of piety. There are workers in every department appointed to do their work. When Jesus ascended on high He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Some have entered the work with a human commission rather than the divine. They have educated themselves as debators, and the churches under their care show the character of their work. They were not ready; they were not fitted for the work. Their hearts are not right with God. In short, they have a theory but not true conversion and sanctification through the truth. The great issue so near at hand will weed out those whom God has not appointed, and He will have a pure, true, sanctified ministry prepared for the latter rain.

Our prayer should ascend to the throne of grace with fervor for the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into His vineyard. My heart aches as I look around upon the mission fields and see so feeble efforts to get the truth before the people. No censure can be attached to our leading men. I believe, brethren, you are one with me in heart, in sentiment, in regard to our great need, and in the earnest desire and earnest efforts to meet the mind of the Spirit of God in these things.

Wanted—Wide Awake Christians

Those who are at ease in Zion need to be aroused. Great is their accountability who bear the truth and yet feel no weight or burden for souls. Oh, for men and women professing the truth to arouse, to take on the yoke of Christ, to lift His burdens. There are wanted those who will not have merely a nominal interest but a Christlike interest, unselfish—an intense ardor that will not flag under difficulties or cool because iniquity abounds.

I want to speak to the ears of our people in America in every church. Awake from the dead, and Christ will give you life. Souls are perishing for the light of truth as it is in Jesus. We are standing upon the very borders of the eternal world. Fair-weather Christians will not be wanted for this work. The sentimental and tasteful religion is not needed for this time. There must be intensity brought into our faith and in the proclamation of truth. I tell you, a new life is proceeding from satanic agencies to work with a power we have not hitherto realized. And shall not a new power from above take possession of God’s people? The truth, sanctifying in its influence, must be urged upon the people. There must be earnest supplications offered to God, agonizing prayer to Him, that our hopes as a people may not be founded on suppositions, but on eternal realities. We must know for ourselves, by the evidence of God’s Word, whether we are in the faith, going to heaven or not. The moral standard of character is God’s law. Do we meet its requirements? Are the Lord’s people bringing their property, their time, their talents, and all their influence into the work for this time? Let us arouse. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” [Colossians 3:1].—Letter 55, 1886. (Written from Basel, Switzerland, to G. I. Butler and S. N. Haskell, December 8, 1886.)

[All emphasis supplied.]

Will the Real Seventh-day Adventist Protestant Please Stand Up?

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Seven score and eighteen years ago our pioneers brought forth, line upon line, our distinctive message for the sole purpose of fulfilling a mission by manifesting it to the world. We are now at a crossroads, a fork, a great divide, attesting whether or not the Second Advent Movement will withstand in the hallowed footsteps of its founders.

“I was shown three steps—the First, Second, and Third Angels’ Messages. Said my accompanying angel, ‘Woe to him who shall move a block or stir a pin of these messages. The true understanding of these messages is of vital importance. The destiny of souls hangs upon the manner in which they are received.’ I was again brought down through these messages, and saw how dearly the people of God had purchased their experience. It had been obtained through much suffering and severe conflict.” Early Writings, 258, 259.

Dedicated to the Work

Our brave predecessors struggled against all odds. We may long forget what we do, but we can never forget what they did, what God did through them, for us! Those courageous pioneers now dead, struggled for us, so that we could be dedicated to the great task of completing the work that they started.

“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.” Revelation 14:13.

It has been said that all a man hath will he give for his life. While we are required to contribute our substance, these honored dead gave their lives and devotion to our cause. The greater merits are due to them, and we should be highly determined that these shall not have died in vain.

“God had led them along step by step, until He had placed them upon a solid, immovable platform. I saw individuals approach the platform and examine the foundation. Some with rejoicing immediately stepped upon it. Others commenced to find fault with the foundation. They wished improvements made, and then the platform would be more perfect, and the people much happier. Some stepped off the platform to examine it and declared it to be laid wrong.” Early Writings, 259.

We expect to maintain this task come what may. Whether we triumph or are conquered, through life or death, come rain or shine, whether men embrace or forsake us, it must be well understood, once and for all, that we will not surrender or turn away from our stern purpose in making known our old, historical, timely, beloved messages to the world.

Proclaiming the Final Invitation

We urge you again, we admonish you not to let go but to be steadfast and do all you can do, which is your duty as well. It is your business to rise up and preserve this work. Do it for yourselves. Do it for your Lord. Do it for those that are still in Babylon, to whom the Lord declares, “Come out of her, My People.” Revelation 18:4. Let us readopt our mission, and together, let us harmonize with it. Let all Seventh-day Adventists, lovers of the Three Angels’ Messages, join in this great and marvelous work.

If we do this, we will not only save souls, but we will save ourselves and fulfill our destiny by proclaiming the final invitation from God to this dying world. The millions and millions of celestial inhabitants, and the holy people in the world made new, shall rise up and call us blessed, for we labor in the final era of the plan of salvation.

For now, this unpopular work must continue. The cause of God must not be surrendered, even though there may be one or a hundred obstacles.

Do Not Falter

So many find fault with our course of action, which can sometimes bring sorrow. Yet it is a perfect certainty that if we stick to our resolution, if we do not falter or give up, one day, very soon, God will turn all our sorrow into everlasting joy. We would be most happy indeed if we could be a humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, by perpetuating the real issues of the great controversy.

We must never remain silent. It is the eternal struggle between the two principles, right and wrong, that we endeavor to proclaim. These are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and have ever continued to struggle. In your hands, my fellow Adventist, is the momentous issue of the great controversy. Get involved. When you do, you will be assailed. You will be in conflict. You will meet with aggressors, but you will be registered in heaven as a co-laborer with God. Heaven will guide, preserve, protect, and defend your efforts.

My fellow Adventists, we are not enemies. We must not become enemies. Though many difficulties may have strained our bonds of fellowship, let it not affect our bonds of affections. The same Spirit that leads in every mission, every battlefield, whether past or present, will yet swell in our hearts again.

Kiss the Protestants Good-bye

“Romanism is now regarded by Protestants with far greater favor than in former years.” The Great Controversy, 563.

“It is not without reason that the claim has been put forth in Protestant countries that Catholicism differs less widely from Protestantism than in former times. There has been a change; but the change is not in the papacy. Catholicism indeed resembles much of the Protestantism that now exists. . . . Instead of standing in defense of the faith once delivered to the saints, they are now, as it were, apologizing to Rome for their uncharitable opinion of her.” Ibid., 571, 572.

“The Protestant churches are in great darkness, or they would discern the signs of the times. . . . Protestants have tampered with and patronized popery.” Ibid., 565, 566.

We, as Seventh-day Adventists, have already seen what has happened to Protestantism today. There was a time when Protestants would protest all the corrupt practices of apostate churches and promote true, biblical Christianity. By this unholy union with Rome, we shall see how Protestants have ceased to be what they once were. Rome has perpetuated a change, a “liberation” of the Protestants. This was accomplished through Vatican II. Adventists have seen this and know this to be true, so why do we believe that, if we do the same thing, somehow we cannot be affected in the same way? Why, then, should Seventh-day Adventists make compromises and concessions with ecumenical Babylon? We would be very foolish to do this, knowing what the consequences would be. It would be appropriate for us to review how this change has taken place and to review our Protestant-Christian heritage.

One “Catholic” Church

Soon after Christ’s ascension into Heaven, churches began to appear. In the New Testament, the word church means an assembly or body of people. The first Christian church was in Jerusalem. Most of its members, if not all, were Jews who had accepted Jesus Christ as the Messiah. As the disciples of Christ began to carry the gospel to the Gentile nations, there were many churches established. Even though there were several churches started, God looked down from heaven and saw only one church made up of all true Christians.

The term catholic, which means universal or one, was used to describe the great church of all believers. The idea of a catholic church was gradually accepted to mean a single, visible, large, organized church for all Christians. Perhaps their motives were at first innocent—a desire to unite all believers (which Christ had taught) and to defend Christian beliefs, but the visible catholic church soon began to distort and change Christianity.

In time, the organization of the churches had changed. Bishops had come to the forefront and had become very powerful. A single bishop ruled several churches. The bishops tried to maintain and to justify their supremacy in the church by the idea of apostolic succession. They said that the apostles were the guardians of the gospel. Instead of emphasizing the New Testament as the Christians’ permanent link to the apostles, they claimed that the apostles had appointed bishops as their successors. They also claimed that these successors had, in turn, appointed successors of their own and that much, if not all, of the authority of the apostles had, therefore, been passed down in an unbroken line to the bishops of this day. During the first century, the bishops of Rome began using the scripture to support the Petrine theory, that Christ made Peter the head of the Catholic Church, and that Peter passed his power to the bishop of Rome. Yet, the Bible never shows Peter acting as if he were the head of the church nor does it refer to Peter as the church foundation.

The Petrine theory permitted the supremacy of the church in Rome to emerge, resulting in the idea of the Roman Catholic papacy that the bishop of the Church of Rome is supreme over all churches. The bishop of Rome, eventually called the pope, meaning papa or father, began to rule the Catholic Church as supreme ruler or king.

The Reformation

The word reformation is a term that describes the fragmentation of the Roman Catholic Church during the Sixteenth Century. Several Christian groups rose up to protest the way the established Roman church was distorting the truth and denying people access to the Word of God. Bible-believing Christians protested the corrupt practices of the Catholic Church and at first sought to reform the church, restoring it to the authority of the Scriptures, rather than to withdraw from it. The followers of this movement were called Protestants. By the 1530s all of Scandinavia, the British Isles, and much of Germany, Austria, and France had severed their ties with Rome. The Protestant Reformation so shook the Roman church that the pope soon responded with the Counter-Reformation. The main objectives were to prevent any more Catholics from becoming Protestants and to force Protestants back into the Roman fold. The Counter-Reformation put life into the Inquisition. Throughout Europe, the Inquisition used torture and terror to destroy Protestantism.

Babylonian Captivity of the Church

Most of the Protestants compared the pope to ancient Babylon, which had taken the Chosen People captive. They declared that the pope held the church in captivity by his distortions of Biblical Christianity. They believed in the freedom of the Christian. They declared that one thing, and one thing alone, is necessary for life, justification, and Christian liberty. That one thing is the most holy Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Protestants said nothing new; they simply revealed that what the Catholic Church had put between man and Christ was a distortion of the Word of God. They only tried to restate the Bible and restore the authority of the Scriptures to men’s lives. The work of the Reformation resulted in the formation of the first Protestant churches. Roman Catholic doctrines and practices incompatible with the gospel of Christ were rejected. The sermon came to occupy a central place in public worship; in it the preacher exposed sin and then proclaimed forgiveness, life, and salvation in Christ through faith in the gospel. The formation of these Independent-Protestant churches completed the breach with Rome. In spite of intense persecution from Rome, the newly formed Protestant churches continued to greatly influence the world.

Second Vatican Council and the Ecumenical Developments

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) brought about enormous changes to the Catholic Church. Vatican II produced 16 council documents in all. During the third session of 1964, The Decree on Ecumenism was produced. The decree describes the ecumenical movement as one of seeking Christian unity.

We know, from Bible prophecy (Revelation 13), that the decree on ecumenism is really an attempt to destroy the Protestant Spirit and to bring Protestants back to the already existing unity of the Roman Catholic Church.

Protestants once taught that the Roman Catholic Church was the whore and beast of Revelation 17. During the Reformation there were men like Martin Luther, John Knox, and John Calvin; and then you had the great preachers like Moody, Finney, Spurgeon and so on. They all believed the same thing—that the papacy was the anti-Christ. It wasn’t until lately, after Vatican II, that things have changed.

Liberals, Moderates, and Conservative Protestantism

In the past, when a person professed to be a Protestant Christian, this meant that they identified their theological beliefs by the list shown on page 7. But recently, after Vatican II, Protestants are finding themselves internally divided. Protestants today talk about the existence of two Christian religions. They are not referring to a split between Roman Catholics and Protestants, as in the past, but rather a division among the Protestant denominations. The terms, such as fundamentalist, conservative, evangelical, mainline, modernist, and liberal, all refer to Protestants today.

Religious conservatives and fundamentalists are viewed negatively, as overly strict on moral issues, close-minded, intolerant of other religious views, fanatical about their beliefs, too harsh, too much emphasis placed on guilt or sin, too concerned about their own salvation, and too rigid and simplistic. Many people would not like to have them as neighbors.

Liberals, mainline, and modernists are viewed as substituting social concerns for the true Gospel, too compromising with the world, morally loose, having a shallow knowledge of the Bible, and influenced too much by the world. The chart on the previous page spells out some of the differences between liberals and conservatives. Moderates fall somewhere in between.

Roman Catholic leaders have been trying to accelerate a change in the Protestant churches. They call it the modernization of the church. Vatican II is responsible for changes within Protestantism. The Roman church is trying to liberate (called liberation theology) Christians from fundamentalism. Rome’s objective is complete—Keep the Protestants fighting among themselves so that they are not protesting.

Protestants must wake up. Romanism, as a system, is no more in harmony with the gospel of Christ now than at any former period in her history. (See The Great Controversy, 566.) Does this mean our fight is with the Roman Catholic people who have been betrayed by their leaders? No! Our job is to rip that mask off her face, and let Roman Catholics and Protestants see that to which they are really tied. They have to be set free. They have to find Christ as the answer. It is not Mary and the rest of the unscriptural practices that will save them. It is our job to win them to the truth.

Protestants are in great darkness, or they would discern the signs of the times. Liberalism and modernism (New Theology) have taken over Protestantism and have even made their way into the ranks of Seventh-day Adventism. Historic Seventh-day Adventists must proclaim the Three Angels’ Messages, the only remedy for this spiritual disease that plagues this world. Catholics and Protestants must wake up! They can only do so by the faithful missionary efforts of the true, Protestant-historic Seventh-day Adventists.

“We are not to cringe, and beg pardon of the world for telling them the truth. We should scorn concealment. Unfurl your true colors to the gaze of men and angels. Let it be understood that Seventh-day Adventists can make no compromise.” Review and Herald, January 31, 1893.

Seventh-day Adventists should never apologize to Rome for the Three Angels’ Messages. Rome should apologize and repent for what it has done. We are not out to please pastors, churches, or denominations. The truth is worth everything, and we must be willing to share it regardless of the opposition. It is worth enduring persecution, when it is for the truth’s sake. But how do we expect to stand for the truth during the terrible crisis that is before us, when we have been compromising, acting political with the truth, and apologizing to Rome? Why do we keep deceiving ourselves?

“The persecutions of Protestants by Romanism, by which the religion of Jesus Christ was almost annihilated, will be more than rivaled when Protestantism and popery are combined.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 16, 239.

“Protestants will throw their whole influence and strength on the side of the papacy; by a national act enforcing the false sabbath, they will give life and vigor to the corrupt faith of Rome, reviving her tyranny and oppression of conscience.” Signs of the Times, June 12, 1893.

The fields are ripe for the harvest now! It is now time to go forward with the work and win precious souls for Christ. God bless you; may you “Prepare to meet thy God.” Amos 4:12.

The First Lie, Part I

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Some time ago, when we had some visitors from Europe, we had a special weekend. We visited and studied God’s word together and we studied some of the pillars of our faith. After that weekend, I received many questions; the one most frequently asked was, Are there other pillars of the Adventist faith that we need to know?

There are many people going to Seventh-day Adventist churches who do not know the pillars, the foundations of our message.

Rooted and Grounded

If you really want to get rooted and grounded in the Adventist message, ask the Lord to help you find somebody with whom you can study the Bible. I personally believe that my own ministry would not amount to very much if I were not out studying the Bible with people. It keeps you in contact with reality.

What are the questions on people’s minds? If you are studying the Bible with people, it is easy for you to think that the pillars of the Seventh-day Adventist faith are fundamental things. We have studied these doctrines, and we have studied them over and over with other people, so we do not study them in the church. We assume that people in the church know them, but Ellen White has told us that many people in our churches want to understand the way of salvation (see Evangelism, 350), but they do not. They need to know the fundamental doctrines.

Facing the Hard Texts

We need to know the objections that people have to our faith, so we are going to look at some hard texts that, if you live until Jesus comes, I can guarantee people are going to use to try to overthrow your faith.

We will start with the sixth commandment. In John 8:44, Jesus is talking to the Jewish people. It is one of the strongest rebukes that He gave to them. Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

I do not believe the devil understood that he was a murderer. When he began walking down this path, he did not see where it was going to lead him. Thousands of years ago if you had said to the devil, You are getting ready to break the sixth commandment, he would have said, Oh, no, I am not; I am just trying to make things better. But he was starting down a path that was going to lead him to attempt to destroy God.

If you were told straight out, You can be part of the kingdom of light and life, or you can be part of the kingdom of death and darkness, which would you choose? That would not be a hard choice to make, would it? Everybody would choose life. Well, if that is the case, how did the devil get any followers? The answer is found in John 8:44. He is the father of lies. In order to get people to follow him, he had to tell a lie, because no one would intentionally choose death over life.

His kingdom is literally the kingdom of death and darkness, and it is filled with murderers. He is called the Prince of Darkness. To get any followers he had to use deceit, and he used deceit first of all on the angels. Then he used deceit on Eve. What was the first lie that the devil told Eve in the Garden of Eden? You will not die. (See Genesis 3:4.)

The Father of Lies

God said, If you eat of this fruit, you are going to die. The devil said, No, you will not. He was trying to get Eve to do something that would cause her death. He was trying to do something that would bring death to every single descendant that she had. He was breaking the sixth commandment. I have come to the conclusion that all murderers are liars. Jesus linked murdering and lying in John 8:44.

The devil, in the Garden of Eden, murdered Adam and Eve. He caused their death. In order to get them to take the hook, he had to put some bait on it, and that was a lie. The lie was that they would not really die. After Adam and Eve sinned, the devil had murdered them. He had brought about their death and the death of every living thing. Trees died; plants died; animals died, and all men and women died.

So the devil was proved to be a liar. God told the truth. But the devil has told this same lie over and over again, right up to the present time, and has gained repeated victories. Ellen White says the lie that you will not really die is one of the two lies by which the devil will gain control over the whole world in the last days. (See The Great Controversy, 588.)

Obviously the devil is a liar, because everybody does die. So what the devil did then, was to create this fiction that there is something in you that does not die. Now in the English language it is called the soul or the spirit. This apparently is a belief of almost all heathen religions also.

Chasing Fables

I have a book at home on Tutankhamun. Some time ago, when my wife and I were in Cairo, we went to the Cairo Museum, and we actually saw some of the things that are pictured in this book. We saw a gold plated box with four women on each of the four sides. They were goddesses in the Egyptian religion.

At the top there were the hooded heads of cobras, probably 25 or 30 on each side. On the top of each one of these hooded heads of the cobras, was a sun disc. We saw carved snakes everywhere in the Museum. The snake is a symbol of Satan worship as far back as we can go. It is interesting that Satan worship and sun worship are that closely related. There must have been 100 snakes around the box.

We read that when Tutankhamun died, they made a mummy of him, but they cut out his internal organs—heart, liver, kidneys and those kinds of things, and they put them in this box. The carved goddesses were placed around the box to guard these organs.

When these people were buried, a food supply and a chariot with lots of clothes and money were buried with them. They still do this today in heathen countries. That is why, over the centuries, the graves have been robbed.

Why did they bury all of these things with these Egyptian kings? They did it because the devil had convinced them that there was an afterlife.

The Spirit of “Ka”

They had been taught, and they believed, that there was what they call the “ka.” They had different words for it in the Egyptian language. It was something within you that went on living when you died. They thought that, as long as you could keep the body intact, then, at some future time, this spirit “Ka,” whatever it is, could come back and enter the body again.

You find this, incidentally, in all the heathen religions. You find it in the Greeks. Where did the church in the Middle Ages develop that idea of the immortality of the soul? Did they get it from the Bible? No, they did not. They got it from Plato, who was a Greek philosopher, who got it from the Egyptians, who got it from the high priests of their heathen religion, which was actually demon or devil worship.

This is the lie that the devil started telling at the beginning of time. He told it to Eve, he convinced the ancient nations, and this lie has come into the Christian Church. It has come clear up to our time.

If you believe this deception, what further deception are you ready to accept? Let us put it a different way. Suppose you have a relative who dies. Suppose the form of one of these dead relatives should appear to you at some time.

I have gone through this scenario in my mind many times. What would I do? Well, I would immediately have to ask the Lord to deliver me from this demon. I understand what happens to a person when they die, and therefore if a form of one of my dead loved ones or relatives comes to me, I know immediately that somebody is trying to trick me. I am not going to go and put my arms around them, because it is not who it looks like. Are you clear on that point?

Misunderstanding the State of the Dead

Interestingly enough, most of the people who translated the Bible, and this includes the Old King James Bible from 1611, did not understand the truth about the state of the dead. They were coming out of the Dark Ages. Martin Luther, in the beginning of his career, was trained to be a priest, and he studied Aristotle and Greek philosophy. If you are mixed up on the state of the dead, is there a possibility that your own thinking could color your translation of the Bible? There most certainly is. That is exactly what happened. In fact, the most serious errors in the Old King James Bible have to do with the state of the dead.

We need to know what these errors are. They remain uncorrected in most of the English translations, so we need to understand these things. We will go over some of the “hard” texts. I believe that this is so serious, and the devil is deceiving so many millions of people today, that we should know every text in the Bible that can be thrown at us on this subject, and we should know how to answer.

Some of the texts say, unequivocally, what happens to a person when they die. In the book of Genesis there is a hard text. Let us see if we can understand this.

Collecting Objections

When a person becomes a professional salesman, the professional salesman collects objections. He knows what all the objections are to his product. Not only does he know what all the objections are, the professional salesman has written down the best answers to every objection. When you are talking to him, and you bring up an objection, he will casually give you the answer word for word—the very best answer there is to your objection. If you still object, he will give you, word for word, the second-best answer to your objection. And if you still object, he can just as casually give you the third-best answer to your objection.

Do you think that the children of light should be as wise and as intelligent as the people of this world? I believe we should. As Christians who expect that Jesus is coming soon, who want to help others get ready, we should know what the objections are to what we believe, and we should be able to look in the Bible and explain them. Let us see if we can.

Genesis 35 talks about the death of Rachel. “And so it was, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-Oni; but his father called him Benjamin.” Genesis 35:18. What do you do with that text? Someone says, Well, a person has a soul, and when they die their soul departs. It says so right here in this text. What is your answer?

The word soul comes from a very common Hebrew word. It is translated as soul over 400 times in the Bible, but it has another translation. It is translated as the English word life over 100 times in the Bible. If you put the other translation in this text, it would read, “And so it was, as her life was leaving (or departing) for she died, that she called his name Ben-Oni, but his father called him Benjamin.”

If you have ever talked with somebody who is dying, or who has come very close to death and has been revived, they will tell you that life departs from the feet first, and they can feel the life leaving their body. The feeling comes right up, and when it gets up to the heart, that is the end, life departs. But that does not mean that there is some conscious entity that goes up in the clouds somewhere. Life just departed.

What Really Happens When We Die?

Let us consider some texts in the book of Job that prove exactly what happens to a person when they die. We will also look at some hard texts that people think we cannot answer. You might think the book of Job would be a depressing book to read, yet this book has been one of the favorites for people who are in trouble, for thousands of years.

The book of Job was one of the favorite books among the Waldenses, those who were being persecuted and martyred for their faith. There were Waldenses who could quote the entire book of Job, word for word. In Job 3, he is bemoaning the day of his birth and then in verses 11–19 he says, “‘Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have been asleep; Then I would have been at rest With kings and counselors of the earth, Who built ruins for themselves, Or with princes who had gold, Who filled their houses with silver; Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, Like infants who never saw light? There the wicked cease from troubling, And there the weary are at rest. There the prisoners rest together; They do not hear the voice of the oppressor. The small and great are there, And the servant is free from his master.’”

So the dead do not hear anything; they are not doing anything; they are resting. They are asleep. “As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, So he who goes down to the grave does not come up. He shall never return to his house, nor shall his place know him anymore.” Job 7:9, 10.

Visited by Demons

The dead are not going to come back home. If somebody comes to your house in the form of your dead loved one, it is a fraud. The devil is trying to deceive you by impersonating your loved one. Ellen White says that the devil can impersonate, and that the impersonation is perfect. (See Signs of the Times, September 3, 1894.) That is quite a statement. The form, the features of the face, the sound of the voice, are a perfect impersonation.

That spirit might tell you something that only you and the dead person knew, but it is still a fraud. It is more deceptive; that is all, because Job says that the real person who dies is never going to come to his house again.

Now let us look at a hard text and see if we can figure it out. “‘But man dies and is laid away; indeed he breathes his last And where is he? As water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up, So man lies down and does not rise, Till the heavens are no more.’” Job 14:10–12.

He tells us how long he is going to lie down. When will he rise again? When the heavens are no more. Now you can find out when that is if you look in the last chapters in the book of Revelation. They will not awake nor be roused from their sleep until the heavens are no more. (See Job 14:12.)

Let us look at a few texts that will give us Job’s understanding of death.

“If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, ‘Til my change comes. You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands.’ ” Job 14:14, 15.

A Proof Text?

I was taught to use Job 14:21 as a proof text to explain the state of the dead. I never use it however, and you will see why if you read verse 22.

When a person dies, “His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; They are brought low, and he does not perceive it. But his flesh will be in pain over it, and his soul will mourn over it.” Now what are you going to do with that? I do not need to bring up all the objections that a person might have.

Job 14:21 is very clear, but what are you going to do with verse 22? Let us investigate verse 22 a little bit. Look, first of all, at Isaiah 58:7. “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and hide not yourself from your own flesh?” Whose flesh is it talking about?

This is a Biblical expression, and it is talking about your family, your loved ones. We still use that terminology today concerning our family—we say they are our own flesh and blood.

In Job 14:22 he says, “His flesh will be in pain over it.” He is talking about his relatives. His loved ones are in pain. Are you in pain if you have a loved one die? Yes, you are in a lot of pain. His flesh, his kinfolks, his relatives, are going to be in pain. That makes sense, does it not?

However, we are only half way through. What do you do with the last part of the verse? “His soul will mourn over it.” That is just about as much trouble as the first part of verse 22.

Next month we will look at the word mourn, and see what the Bible is trying to tell us.

To be continued. . . .

Editorial – The Church that Appears to Fall- Part II

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A professed Christian church that becomes united to the world and to the papacy is, by those acts, standing under sentence of being divorced of God. It is proper for a church to be subservient to civil laws of any state where she resides, as long as they do not violate the law of God, but churches and individuals are forbidden to amalgamate the things of God with the things of the state. (See Romans 13,14; I Peter 2; Acts 5:29; Matthew 22:21.)

A divorce generally takes some time. There are hearings; an opportunity for counseling and to make amends and restitution to the injured; time to decide whether the decision is final or whether there can be reconciliation, and a return of the affections according to the original covenant.

Where are your affections today, friend? To what is your heart united? To what is the church that you attend united? Is it united to this world, to the papacy? If so, then, when your church is finally divorced from God, you, if you are still part of it, will be divorced from God also, without hope. Are you praying that this will not happen to you?

“The mingling of churchcraft and statecraft is represented by the iron and the clay. This union is weakening all the power of the churches. This investing the church with the power of the state will bring evil results. Men have almost passed the point of God’s forbearance. . . . But the time will come when God will punish those who have made void His law, and their evil work will recoil upon themselves.” Ellen G. White Manuscript 63, 1899.

“The spirit of the papacy,—the spirit of conformity to worldly customs, the veneration for human traditions above the commands of God,—is permeating the Protestant churches, and leading them on to do the same work of Sunday exaltation which the papacy has done before them.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 390, 391.

The Sunday crisis is simply the final working out of a long process of the spirit of conformity to worldly customs and veneration of human tradition about the commands of God. If you, or the church that you attend, are going down that road, and if you do not repent, you will be divorced from God.

“God never forsakes people or individuals until they forsake Him. Outward opposition will not cause the faith of God’s people, who are keeping His commandments, to become dim. . . . Internal corruption will bring the denunciations of God upon this people as it did upon Jerusalem. . . . My brethren, we know not what is before us, and our only safety is in following the Light of the world. God will work with us and for us if the sins, which brought His wrath upon the old world, upon Sodom and Gomorrah and upon ancient Jerusalem, do not become our crime.” Ibid., 321.

“The least transgression of God’s law brings guilt upon the transgressor, and without earnest repentance and forsaking of sin he will surely become an apostate.” Ibid., 322.

Apostasy is a transliteration of a Greek word that means “to fall away.” If you are in this category, the invitation of Jesus to you is to repent and forsake your sins before it is too late. (See Revelation 2:21.)

To be continued…