Issue: 1999 March

We Are Living on Borrowed Time

by

There is an increasing excitement among many Seventh-day Adventists that some great event is about to take place as the year 2000 A.D. approaches. This is based on the assumption that God has allotted seven thousand years to this world before He destroys and recreates it. God has often used the number seven in the Scriptures to represent completion, such as the seven days of Creation, the seven churches of Revelation, the seven seals, the seven trumpets and the seven beasts of Daniel and Revelation, which cover the time period from the creation to the return of Jesus.

If we carefully study the Bible record, we know that the earth was about four thousand years old when Christ came. We add this figure to the year 2000 A.D., and we discover that the earth is about six thousand years old. Therefore, it must be about time for the Second Coming of Christ, for when He comes, He will usher in the one-thousand-year Millenium of Revelation 20, which makes a total of seven thousand years.

The Age of the Earth

But the big question is this, How old is this earth? Surely inspiration must have something to say about the actual age of this earth, for the Scriptures say that “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7. Let us search to see what God has revealed about the coming of His dear Son, Jesus.

Jesus, speaking about the end of the earth in Matthew 24, said: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” Matthew 24:29–36. [All emphasis supplied.]

These words of Christ should settle this matter forever. There can be no actual time setting for this event. Yet, there are some, within our church, teaching that Jesus will return at the end of six thousand years, and they place this event in the near future when the earth supposedly reaches the six thousand-year mark.

Now to those who are teaching such beliefs, I have some very startling news. Ellen White wrote, between the years 1869 and 1890, that the earth was already six thousand years old. Look carefully at these quotations. The first is from 1869.

“Creation week was only seven literal days, and the world is now only about six thousand years old.” Lift Him Up, 52.

“He (man) has withstood the accumulation of disease brought upon the race in consequence of perverted habits, and has continued for six thousand years.” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 22.

“Ever since he (Satan) succeeded in overcoming our first parents in their beautiful Eden home, he has been engaged in this work. More than six thousand years of continual practice has greatly increased his skill to deceive and allure.” Signs of the Times, September 29, 1887.

“For six thousand years, Satan’s work of rebellion has ‘made the earth to tremble’ . . . For six thousand years his prison house has received God’s people.” The Great Controversy, 659.

Finally, in 1890 she wrote: “The continual transgressions of men for over six thousand years has brought sickness, pain and death as its fruit.” Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 154.

This last statement by Ellen White was written one hundred seventeen years ago. So the earth is already over six thousand one hundred seventeen years old. What has gone wrong? Why has Jesus not returned? The answer can again be found in inspiration. In 1883 Ellen White wrote: “Had Adventists after the great disappointment in 1844, held fast their faith and followed on unitedly in the opening providence of God, . . . Christ would have come ere this to receive His people to their reward . . . It was not the will of God that the coming of Christ should be delayed. God did not design that His people, Israel, should wander forty years in the wilderness. He promised to lead them directly to the land of Canaan, and establish them there a holy, healthy, happy people. But those to whom it was first preached, went not in ‘because of unbelief.’ Their hearts were filled with murmuring, rebellion, and hatred, and He could not fulfill His covenant with them.

“For forty years did unbelief, murmuring, and rebellion shut out ancient Israel from the land of Canaan. The same sins have delayed the entrance of modern Israel into the heavenly Canaan. In neither case were the promises of God at fault. It is the unbelief, the worldliness, the unconsecration, and strife among the Lord’s professed people that have kept us in this world of sin and sorrow so many years.” Evangelism, 695, 696.

“If all who had labored unitedly in the work in 1844 had received the Third Angel’s Message, and proclaimed it in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts. A flood of light would have been shed upon the world. Years ago the inhabitants of the earth would have been warned, the closing work completed, and Christ would have come for the redemption of His people.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 291.

Now that we have the facts before us, all taken from divine inspiration, we are still faced with the remaining question, Why is Christ now waiting to come and put an end to sin? I will tell you the conclusion that I have come to. The Lord sees so many of us who are not ready and in His great mercy He delays His coming that sinners may have the opportunity to heed His warning message and find divine shelter before the wrath of God is poured out. In 1896, Ellen White wrote: “If those who claimed to have a living experience in the things of God had done their appointed work as the Lord ordained, the whole world would have been warned ere this, and the Lord Jesus would have come in power and great glory.” The Review and Herald, October 6, 1896.

“But because the people are disobedient, unthankful, unholy, as were ancient Israel, time is prolonged that all may hear the last message of mercy proclaimed with a loud voice. The Lord’s work has been hindered, the sealing time delayed.” The Faith I Live By, 288.

During the years 1898 to 1903, Ellen White explained the delay. “It is because the work has not been done for the wicked that time delays.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 10, 816.

“Had the Adventists in the early days still trusted to the guiding hand that had been with them in their past experience, they would have seen the salvation of God.” Testimonies, vol.8, 115, 116.

It is plain to see from these quotations that the six thousand years of earth’s history ended before 1890 and that Jesus would have come for His people had they been faithful.

Conditional Promises

As we continue, we will discover that it is absolutely impossible now for anyone on this earth to figure out a time schedule for the coming of Christ. When we compare the signs that pinpoint the time period around the Second Coming in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21 and Revelation 6, we find the actual signs of Christ’s coming. They are the following: the sun was to be darkened; the moon would not give its light and the stars were to fall.

Every Adventist knows that the signs of the sun and moon were fulfilled on May 19, 1780. The falling of the stars occurred on November 13, 1833. Keeping this in mind consider these words by Ellen White: “Those who behold these harbingers of His coming are to know that it is near, even at the doors.” The Great Controversy, 37.

“Christ has given signs of His coming. He declares that we may know when He is near, even at the doors. He says of those who see these signs, ‘This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.’ These signs have appeared. Now we know of a surety that the Lord’s coming is at hand. ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away,’ He says, ‘but my words shall not pass away.’” The Desire of Ages, 632.

So, it is safe to say that the generation that saw the last sign, the falling of the stars in 1833, was to live until Jesus would come in His Second Coming between 1869 and 1890. But that generation perished long ago. And how is this to be explained?

Twelve years after the disappointment of 1844, Ellen White was given a significant vision. She wrote about it in Spiritual Gifts: “A conference was held at Battle Creek in May, 1856 . . . At the conference a very solemn vision was given me. I saw that some of those present would be food for worms, some subjects for the seven last plagues, and some would be translated to heaven at the second coming of Christ, without seeing death.” Spiritual Gifts, 207, 208. This was written one hundred forty years ago. I am reminded of this statement: “The promises and threatenings of God are alike conditional.”

Selected Messages, vol. 1, 67. This answers why Jesus did not come before the last of those present at this conference had died. This prophecy was not fulfilled because Seventh-day Adventists, who were then living, had proved to be unfaithful, thus causing a delay in the Second Coming of Christ.

As late as 1888, Ellen White wrote when some of those at that General Conference held in Battle Creek were still living: “The hour will come; it is not far distant, and some of us who now believe will be alive upon the earth, and shall see the prediction verified, and hear the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God echo from mountain and plain and sea, to the uttermost parts of the earth.” The Review and Herald, July 31, 1888.

The church continued in unfaithfulness and that meant more delay. Ellen White, one of the last remaining in this group, died in 1915. We are over one hundred years past God’s intended time schedule and no one knows the exact time of Christ’s return. Present truth for this hour is the fact that we are living on borrowed time. I have three short quotations that emphatically stress this:

“The prophetic periods reached to 1844 . . .Prophetic time closed in 1844.” Spiritual Gifts, 138, 148.

This means that the twelve hundred sixty, the twelve hundred ninety and the thirteen hundred thirty-five-day prophecies of Daniel 12, all ended in 1844.

I have a photocopy in my files of the prophetic chart used by our pioneers as they preached the Three Angels’ Messages. This chart revealed that all the prophecies of Daniel 12 ended in the year 1844. Ellen White spoke specifically about this chart: “I have seen that the 1843 chart was directed by the hand of the Lord, and that it should not be altered; that the figures were as He wanted them.” Early Writings, 74.

And in this final quotation, Sister White makes it so clear that none can misunderstand:

“Time has not been a test since 1844, and it will never again be a test.” Ibid., 75.

Beware of False Prophets

Now, I am going to give you some names. I do not like to do that, but it is necessary because I do not want you to be caught up in the error that is being presented by these people in the church today. Marian Berry uses the prophecies of Daniel 12 to point out future events, leading to a definite time for Christ to come. Her teachings and charts declare that the prophecies of Daniel 12 are to be understood as literal days instead of prophetic years and that they will meet their fulfillment when the National Sunday Law is enacted.

Such futuristic teachings have been ensnaring thousands within our church during the last fifty years, just as was predicted: “Every phase of fanaticism and erroneous theories, claiming to be the truth, will be brought in among the remnant people of God.” Selected Messages, book 2, 14. And for what purpose? “God will arouse His people; if other means fail, heresies will come in among them, which will sift them, separating the chaff from the wheat.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 707.

Another futuristic “prophet” is Larry Wilson. He states in his paper, The Daystar, of February 1992, “I expect to see these people, the one hundred forty-four thousand, revealed by a powerful Holy Spirit manifestation during the latter part of 1993 or early 1994.” Then in June of 1993, he sent out a chart with this heading, “A survey of the possible timing of the end time events.” For the spring of 1994, the chart had this entry, “Seventy Jubilee cycles end. A hundred forty-four thousand sealed. Two witnesses begin twelve hundred sixty days of preaching.”

Such teachings enabled Wilson to invite his followers to join him at Round Rock, Texas, on March 19, 1994, with the expectation that shortly thereafter, God would use the one hundred forty-four thousand to complete the Three Angels’ Messages in a time period of twelve hundred sixty literal days.

Wilson has publicly stated that he believes some of God’s prophets made mistakes in their prophecies. He further states that Ellen White made similar mistakes in her book, The Great Controversy. For he writes that he does not believe that the United States is the two-horned beast of Revelation 13. This is a very solemn error. I warn you to beware of all who put themselves in the place of God’s inspired prophet!

Questions About Time Setting Answered

For the remainder of this article I would like to let the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy answer some questions about time setting that are being asked by many Adventists today.

Question: Can man fix a definite time for any future event?

“And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer.” Revelation 10:5, 6.

Question: What is the meaning of the foregoing declaration of this angel?

“This time, which the angel declares with a solemn oath, is not the end of this world’s history, neither of probationary time, but of prophetic time, which should precede the advent of our Lord. That is, that people will not have another message upon definite time. After this period of time, reaching from 1842 to 1844, there can be no definite tracing of the prophetic time. The longest reckoning reaches to the autumn of 1844.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 971.

“And he said unto them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power.’ ” Acts 1:7. “Should we advance in spiritual knowledge, we would see the truth developing and expanding in lines of which we have little dreamed, but it will never develop in any line that will lead us to imagine that we may know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power. Again and again have I been warned in regard to time setting. There will never again be a message for the people of God that will be based on time.” Ibid., vol. 6, 1052.

Question: Can we fix a definite time for probation to end?

“God has not revealed to us the time when this message will close, or when probation will have an end . . . .

“But there is no command for anyone to search the Scriptures in order to ascertain if possible, when probation will close. God has no such message for any mortal lips. He would have no mortal tongue declare that which He has hidden in His secret councils.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 191, 192.

Question: Can we fix a definite time for the Latter Rain?

“I have no specific time of which to speak when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will take place—when the mighty angel will come down from heaven, and unite with the third angel in closing up the work of this world; my message is that our only safety is in being ready for the heavenly refreshing, having our lamps trimmed and burning . . . ‘Watch and pray’ is the charge given us by our Redeemer . . . ‘Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.’” Ibid., 192.

Question: Can we fix a definite time for the judgment of the living to begin?

“The judgment is now passing in the sanctuary above. For many years this work has been in progress. Soon—none know how soon—it will pass to the cases of the living. In the awful presence of God our lives are to come up in review. At this time above all others it behooves every soul to heed the Saviour’s admonition: ‘Watch and pray for ye know not when the time is.’” The Great Controversy, 490.

This does not mean that we are not to give our special attention to the judgment, for our characters are being judged and evaluated daily.

“The names of all those who have once given themselves to God are written in the book of life, and their characters are now passing in review before Him. Angels of God are weighing moral worth. They are watching the development of character in those now living, to see if their names can be retained in the book of life. A probation is granted us in which to wash our robes of character and make them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Historical Sketches, 138.

Question: Can we fix a definite time for the fulfillment of any other future event?

“Let all our brethren and sisters beware of anyone who would set a time for the Lord to fulfill His word in regard to His coming, or in regard to any other promise He has made of special significance.” Testimonies to Ministers, 55.

“The times and the seasons God has put in His own power and why has not God given us this knowledge? —Because we would not make a right use of it if He did. A condition of things would result from this knowledge among our people that would greatly retard the work of God in reparing a people to stand in the great day that is to come. We are not to live upon time excitement. We are not to be engrossed with speculations in regard to the times and the seasons which God has not revealed. Jesus has told His disciples to ‘watch’ but not for a definite time. His followers are to be in the position of those who are listening for the orders of their Captain, they are to watch, wait, pray, and work, as they approach the time for the coming of the Lord; but no one will be able to predict just when that time will come; for ‘of that day and hour knoweth no man.’ You will not be able to say that He will come in one, two, or five years, neither are you to put off His coming by stating that it may not be for ten or twenty years.” Selected Messages, book 1,189.

Time setting disqualifies the person from giving the Three Angels’ Messages. “Satan is ever ready to fill the minds with theories and calculations that will divert men from the present truth, and disqualify them for the giving of the Third Angel’s Message to the world.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, 1052.

“He [Christ] distinctly states the suddenness of His coming. He does not measure the time lest we should neglect a momentary preparation and in our indolence look ahead to the time when we think He will come and defer the preparation. ‘Watch ye therefore for ye know not.’ ” Testimonies, vol. 2, 191. Satan is continually implanting within many a desire for something startling. We need a change of heart, a transformation of character fitting us to meet Jesus.

” ‘Be ye also ready for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh.’ Matthew 24:44. This is our message, the very message that the three angels flying in the midst of heaven are proclaiming.” Selected Messages, book 2, 114.

We should realize that should we die today, our destiny is sealed forever. As far as we are individually concerned, we must live day by day as though it is our last day, for we may not have another day. Our full attention should be given to two major questions. First, How can I be ready to meet Jesus with victory over every sin? And second, How can I faithfully do my part in sharing the Three Angels’ Messages that Jesus may come? This is what is vital for us today.

If we are faithfully doing these things, we will someday know the day of His coming for all that are alive will know the exact day and hour of the return of Christ when God’s people are about to be delivered from the jaws of the battle of Armageddon. “The voice of God is heard from heaven declaring the day and hour of Jesus’ coming, and delivers the everlasting covenant to His people. Like peals of loudest thunder His words roll through the earth. The Israel of God stand listening with their eyes fixed upward. Their countenances are lighted up with His glory, and shine as did the face of Moses when he came down from Sinai. The wicked can not look upon them. And when the blessing is pronounced on those who have honored God by keeping His Sabbath holy, there is a mighty shout of victory.” The Great Controversy, 640.

I want to be among the living saints who hear these words of God. Is that your most earnest desire?

The Word From Heaven

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In this article I would like to share with you some memories. Memories that go back twenty years, to when, as far as I was concerned, the whole historic Adventist movement began.

At that time I received an assignment from the brethren that I found very difficult to understand. It just did not make any kind of sense to me. Throughout all of my forty years of ministry for the Lord in the Adventist Church, my main interest has always been the soul winning work. I sympathize with Elder W. A. Spicer, one of the early pioneer Presidents of our General Conference, who used to say, “In this work there is only one thing that is worthwhile, and that is bringing a soul to Jesus Christ. All of the rest is just muss and fuss and bother.”

That is how I have always felt. So, when I was pastoring a church, I kept evangelism going as much as I could. When I was teaching in college, I did the same thing. And when I was teaching in the Theological Seminary, I did the same thing. I also spent fifteen years in full time evangelism, which was the cream of my years of life.

In 1977, in the fall of the year, I was conducting an evangelistic experiment in another Conference that I fully believed was going to revolutionize the whole picture of evangelistic work among Seventh-day Adventists. During this time I began to get calls from leaders in the conference and they told me, “We want you to go to the Campus Hill Church, in Loma Linda, and be the senior pastor there.” I said, “Why? That church is an institutional church with no new territory for evangelism whatsoever. It is surrounded by other churches.” I just could not make sense of it. I turned down the offer three times. But finally, when the Union Conference President pressed me, I decided I had better be a good soldier and start obeying orders. But I still kept wondering why?

Watching Prophecy Be Fulfilled

When I began pastoring the Campus Hill Church, I ran into something that I had never seen before in my whole life as a Seventh-day Adventist, even though, as an evangelist and as a Ministerial Secretary, I had come in close contact with many churches. The congregation was divided over theological issues and the tensions were severe. One could walk around on Sabbath morning and go into the different Sabbath School classes and hear two different theologies being presented on any Sabbath morning. I was absolutely dumbfounded. I had never seen anything like it, and never dreamed that anything like it existed in Adventism. I had to dig in and figure out what it was all about.

At that time, I did not realize that I was watching a fulfillment of prophecy. Later, however, I discovered that Ellen White had written about exactly what I saw happening in Loma Linda. She said in Selected Messages, vol. 2, 114: “Divisions will come in the church. Two parties will be developed.”

I saw the two parties being developed in the Loma Linda Campus Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church, and since then I have seen the division spread throughout our churches all over the country. It is no longer in isolated places; it is throughout Adventism. Who are these two parties? The first group was made up of people who were very thoroughly convinced that the message they had been taught when they joined the church, the message they had been taught when they went to Seventh-day Adventist academies, colleges and seminaries, was true. There was nothing wrong with the message they had learned to love and they had no intention of changing it for another gospel.

The other group was insisting that we change traditional, Biblical Adventist theology into something called New Theology. Actually their “new theology” is very old. Just like many of the doctrines that are promoted as “new light,” New Theology dates back a long, long time to errors the Reformers made and even earlier.

For example, a few years back we started hearing a great deal about a new morality in the world. When you took the curtains off and looked at it, you could see that this was something that began in Sodom and Gomorrah a long, long time ago.

And progressive theology is not much different. It is really regressive. I read with a strange mixture of feelings, recently, a prediction made by the president of a Seventh-day Adventist College in our country, in which he said something like this: “We have theological minds among us who are going to bring us into vistas of truth that the apostles could not even dream of.” I thought for a moment, “Man you have me on the edge of my seat. Show it to me!” Then I thought, “Oh, come on, relax, Larson. When the curtains are parted, it will have originated in Sodom and Gomorrah or back in some ancient time.” That is the way it always works.

When I came to Loma Linda and I found the New Theology apostasy, that is now a tide flowing through all Adventism, it was in its beginning there. The question I faced was, “What shall I do?” I did not feel as though I had any choice. As an evangelist, I had been defending the Seventh-day Adventist faith for years and years and I was not about to change—unless God showed me some good reason why I should—and He did not!

Consequently, I took a public stand against this apostasy and for a little while I felt all alone. However, I soon began to find out that there were people all over the country who shared my feelings. They, too, were astonished at what was happening around them. One by one, people scattered across this nation began to sound the cry, “This is terrible! I am going to do something about this if I can.”

After a while I became acquainted with Ron Spear in Washington and then with Doctors Russell and Colon Standish. We soon learned that the apostasy was really creeping through the whole ranks of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. And people all around the country were beginning to rise up and say, “I do not know what I can do, but I am going to try to do something.”

In a short time there was a Hope International Ministry, which is now putting out a hundred million pages of truth filled literature every year as a part of their worldwide work. There was a Steps to Life Ministry which sends out thousands of videos, magazines, tapes and books. There was a Remnant Publications, which has published hundreds of thousands of Spirit of Prophecy books for use worldwide. And there was a little tiny Cherrystone Press out in Cherry Valley, CA, which was my own ministry, publishing scholarly books.

In these ministries, and many others, there have been an innumerable number of cities of refuge started. Cities of refuge that are needed because of the warnings we have against listening to and receiving error.

The Danger of Error

I want to share with you in these pages several inspired statements about error, and the danger that exists for all who go to listen to it. Consider carefully these inspired messages for God’s people: “Error is falsehood and deception. Those who partake of it must suffer in consequence.” The Upward Look, 125.

“Error is never harmless. It never sanctifies but always leaves confusion and dissention. It is always dangerous.” Counsels to Writers and Editors, 47.

“There is in error and unbelief that which bewilders and bewitches the mind.” Selected Messages, vol. 1, 46.

“I was shown the necessity of those who believe that we are having the last message of mercy, being separate from those who are daily imbibing new errors. I saw that neither young nor old should attend their meetings . . . God is displeased with us when we go to listen to error, without being obliged to go; for unless He sends us to those meetings where error is forced home by the power of the will, He will not keep us. The angels cease their watchful care over us, and we are left to the buffetings of the enemy, to be darkened and weakened by him.” Early Writings, 124, 125.

If anyone challenges you about using this statement from Early Writings, which was written quite a while ago, just remind them that Bible writers, including Jesus Himself, when a question was placed before them, gave principles of truth to answer issues which were much bigger than the individual question they were being asked.

When the Pharisees brought Jesus a coin in the temple and said, “Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or no?” Jesus said, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” Matthew 22:17, 21. No theologian of any faith has ever argued that those words apply only to taxes. All theologians hold that those words apply to all relationships between a Christian and the state. Similarly, when Ellen White says, “Where error is being preached we have no business going,” it applies to all times and all circumstances.

Inspired messages such as these have been the mandate that has required many faithful Adventists, in order to be faithful to God’s Word, to leave the conference churches and begin attending homechurches.

Do You Know the Issues at Stake?

How many historic Adventists are there now? After twenty years, there are thousands and thousands of those who have seen the issues at stake. But there are tens of thousands of those who do not yet comprehend what is going on.

In the Adventist Church today there are three kinds of people. On the one side, at the extreme end of the scale, there is a small group of Seventh-day Adventists who know exactly what they are doing. They are trying to change our faith from Adventism to Calvinism. At the other end there is another small group that knows exactly what they are doing. They are trying to defend the faith so it will not be changed from Adventism into Calvinism. In between there is a larger group who do not know what the score is. They have not figured out the enormous issues at stake yet. That is why we are trying to help them understand what is happening.

There is a line in The Great Controversy, 640, that makes me tremble when I read it, because it is so applicable to our time and our situation. It says, “Religious teachers have led souls to perdition while professing to guide them to the gates of Paradise.” [All emphasis supplied.] Throughout the Biblical story and throughout the history of the modern church from Christ to this day, apostasy in churches has usually begun with the leadership and come down to the common people, especially through schools and institutions of higher education.

Those who today are standing for the truth against the wave of error that is sweeping through Adventism are being treated just as God’s people of all ages have been treated when they stand firm for the truth. Sister White wrote: “Now as in former ages, the presentation of a truth that reproves the sins and errors of the times will excite opposition. ‘Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.’ John 3:20. As men see that they cannot maintain their position by the Scriptures, many determine to maintain it at all hazards, and with a malicious spirit they assail the character and motives of those who stand in defense of unpopular truth. It is the same policy which has been pursued in all ages. Elijah was declared to be a troubler in Israel, Jeremiah a traitor, Paul a polluter of the temple. From that day to this, those who would be loyal to truth have been denounced as seditious, heretical, or schismatic . . . This spirit will increase more and more.” The Great Controversy, 458, 459.

On the same page she poses this question, “In view of this, what is the duty of the messenger of truth? Shall we conclude that the truth ought not to be presented, since often its only effect is to arouse men to evade or resist its claims?” Her answer is a most emphatic NO! We must keep pressing on, giving the straight truth no matter the odds. And this is what we have done. They have not been able to frighten us—although they have tried very hard. Despite all of the things that were intended to frighten us away from our defense of the historic faith, we are still hanging on.

The Unity Problem

However, there is another problem, which many historic Adventists have been increasingly concerned about as the years have passed by, and that is the lack of unity among the historic Adventists. It is easy to understand why we have this problem when you realize that this movement did not start with all of us gathering for a big council meeting before going out to do our job. This was a grass roots movement. People came forward to do the work in different places, without the knowledge that there were others involved in the same work and who shared the same burden to defend our faith. So, the way things began did not contribute to unity.

Then, of course, the devil wants to keep us apart. He tries to work hard on his policy of divide and conquer—which he practices with skill. Consider thoughtfully these inspired statements: “Unity is the strength of the church. Satan knows this, and he employs his whole force to bring in dissension. He desires to see a lack of harmony among the members of the church of God.”Selected Messages, vol. 2, 159. “The unity of the church is the convincing evidence that God has sent Jesus into the world as its Redeemer. This is an argument which worldlings cannot controvert. Therefore Satan is constantly working to prevent this union and harmony, that unbelievers, by witnessing backsliding, dissension, and strife among professed Christians, may become disgusted with religion and be confirmed in their impenitence. God is dishonored by those who profess the truth while they are at variance and enmity with one another.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 619.

And there is something that has contributed to our lack of unity. We were very sensitive about the accusation that we were trying to start a second church to compete with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. That was not a true accusation. It never has been and it never will be. It is not our purpose or intention to try to start a second church. However, because we were all so sensitive on this subject, many of us hesitated to join ourselves in united, organized ways.

Nevertheless, these reasons for our disunity in no way diminish the fact that God has called us to unity. “Press together, press together,” is what the angel said. (See Selected Messages, vol. 2, 374.)

This has been a concern to many of us. We have been praying, thinking and studying about it for years. There have been many conversations and very many prayers sent heavenward asking the Lord what we should do. Finally, all of this bore its fruit. In a meeting in February, 1998, in Florida, a group of more than twenty ministry leaders spent three days together. It was a heavenly sitting together. We wept together. We prayed together. We studied together. We confessed our sins together and we vowed we were going to find some way to mold this movement into unity like it ought to be—still without violating the principles we stand for.

One of the first things we had to settle was, Are those who charge us with divisiveness correct when they say that we are destroying the unity of the church and that we should just come back and unite with them? Is their argument correct?

When we studied this together, these are the types of inspired instructions that we found: “I am instructed to say to our people, unify, unify. But we are not to unify with those who are departing from the faith.” Selected Messages, vol. 3, 412.

“Christ calls for unity but He does not call for us to unify on wrong practices. The God of heaven draws a sharp contrast between pure, elevating and ennobling truth and false misleading doctrines. He calls sin and impenitence by the right name. He does not gloss over wrong doing with a coat of untempered mortar. I urge our brethren to unify upon a true scriptural basis.” Notebook Leaflets, vol. 2, 164.

“The Lord calls upon us to unify in harmony with Bible truth.” The Upward Look, 149.

“Harmony and cooperation must be maintained without compromising one principle of truth.”Counsels to Writers and Editors, 79.

“We are to unify but not on a platform of error.” Battle Creek Letters, 111.

So that question was very quickly and easily settled in our discussion. Are those in the conference correct when they say, “It does not make any difference which way we go, what we teach or what we do not teach. You must stay together with us.”? No, that is pure falsehood. We are to have unity, but not with those who are teaching error.

However, that does not lessen our obligation to seek for unity with those who are standing on the platform of eternal truth. We have been given many divine commands on this point:

“Unity of thought, unity of prayer, unity of action is essential.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 15, 165.

“He [Christ] calls for unity and unity we must have.” The Upward Look, 141. This is not just good advice. This is a command from the Lord Himself. We must unify!

“In unity there is a life, a power, that can be obtained in no other way. There will be a vast power in the church when the energies of the members are united under the control of the Spirit. Then will God be able to work mightily through His people for the conversion of sinners.”Testimonies, vol. 7, 236.

“The Lord is greatly dishonored when disunion exists among His people.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 174.

“Union brings strength, disunion weakness. Those who refuse to work in harmony greatly dishonor God.” The Southern Watchman, February 2, 1904.

“The world is looking on with gratification at the disunion among Christians. Infidelity is well pleased. God calls for a change among His people.” Review and Herald, December 30, 1902.

“Let us not think that our churches can enjoy God’s blessing while in a state of disunion.” Upward Look, 172.

“The Spirit of God will not abide where there is disunion and contention among believers in the truth.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 221.

After studying these solemn warnings, we had no choice. We must do something about the disunion that exists among us. We resolved that things must be changed drastically, dramatically, fully and completely because God has commanded it and we must do it.

After much study and prayer, we chose to endeavor to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:3.) While recognizing our differences of opinions on various points we also recognized that the Lord wanted to lead us to a higher level that would finally result in perfect unity of faith as expressed in the following paragraph: “It is the same to-day as it was in the days of Christ. As the disciples were brought together, each with different faults, some inherited or cultivated tendency to evil, so in our church relations we find men and women whose characters are defective; not one of us is perfect. But in Christ, and through Christ, we are to dwell in the family of God, learning to become one in faith, in doctrine, in spirit, that at last we may be received into our eternal habitation. We shall have our tests, our grievances, our differences of opinion; but if Christ is abiding in the heart of each, there can be no dissension. The love of Christ will lead to love of one another, and the lessons of the Master will harmonize all differences, bringing us into unity, till we shall be of one mind and one judgment. Strife for supremacy will cease, and no one will be disposed to glory over another, but we shall esteem others better than ourselves, and so be built up into a spiritual temple for the Lord.” Signs of the Times, April 20, 1891.

This spiritual temple, which can only be completed with love and unity (while at the same time refusing to unite with error of any kind), must be finished before Jesus comes. We recognize that much more work needs to be done before God’s spiritual temple is completed and ready for Jesus to come, but we are completely dedicated to cooperating with the Holy Spirit for the finishing of this task.

This experience of perfect unity must take place in every institution and in every church. If it does not, then some of the people in these institutions or churches will be purged out by the fan of God, as the chaff is sifted from the wheat. We are in “the days of purification of the church.”

Testimonies, vol. 5, 80. Is it not time that every Adventist in the world should fast and pray that we may be purified and brought into the experience described in Ephesians 4—the experience of unity, not only in spirit, but in faith, so that we are not purged out by the trials that are thickening around God’s people?

May you be one of the people described in the next sentence: “God will have a people pure and true. In the mighty sifting soon to take place we shall be better able to measure the strength of Israel. The signs reveal that the time is near when the Lord will manifest that His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor.” Ibid.

They Professed to Be Wise

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The most fundamental truth in the Bible is stated in the very first words of the Holy Record. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The foundation of faith in God is based upon the fact that He is the source of all matter. He is the source of time. He is the source of all life.

When God gave the Ten Commandments to His people and wrote them in tables of stone with His own finger, this fact was so important that the longest of all the commandments is the fourth one, dealing with the origin of our world and of life. It reads, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work; you nor your son nor your daughter nor your male servant nor your female servant nor your cattle nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8–11.

Notice, the fourth commandment says that God created the entire world: planet earth, the atmospheric heavens around our earth, our solar system, the sun and the moons, the planets, this whole heavenly system, called, in the Bible, “the heavens and the earth.” God created this in six days—six twenty-four hour days. On the seventh day God rested and set apart the Sabbath as a memorial of His creative power—a memorial of the fact that He is the origin, the source of all life.

Jesus not only acknowledged the Sabbath by worshipping upon it. (See Luke 4:16.) He also affirmed the genuineness of the record written by Moses. Notice what Jesus said to the Jews. “For if you believe Moses, you would have believed Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how would you believe My words.” John 5:46, 47. Jesus acknowledged that the record written by Moses was factual and He said to the people of His time: “But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” John 5:40. That is the problem with many people today. They are not willing to come to the only One who can give them life. 1 John 5:12 says, “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” There is only one source of life. You cannot make life. No man can make life and life cannot be generated of itself. So, if you are not connected to this Source, you have no life.

A Final Message to Worship the Creator

Not only at the beginning of the Bible, but also at the end of the Bible, the truth about the creation of the world and the origin of life is repeated. The apostle Peter stated that in the last time there would come scoffers who would ridicule the idea of the Second Coming of Christ, and laugh at the Biblical record of the origin of the world and of the world-wide flood. They will say: “Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.” 2 Peter 3:4–6.

So to the last generation, living in a great age of unbelief (as predicted by the Bible), the God of heaven gives three last warning messages. The first of these is on the very point of creation. It is found in Revelation 14:6, 7: “Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue and people; saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment has come and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.’ ” The first message of this final warning is a command to worship God as the Creator, to fear Him and to be afraid to tamper with or disbelieve what He has said. These three messages in chapter 14 are a focal point of Revelation. Careful study will show that all the chapters following them are simply the outworking of the results of these three messages having been given to the last generation.

The Bible teaches that we are all going to give an account of ourselves to God, whether we are atheists, agnostics or otherwise. But man does not want to believe this. He does not want to acknowledge a God Who is a moral Governor and Who will “bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:14.

Because man does not want to acknowledge God, he ignores the evidence around him that points directly to an infinite Creator. Paul wrote about this in Romans 1: “Because what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse.” Romans 1:19, 20. If people would just look on the natural world they would see the evidence of God’s eternal power and Godhead and they would be without excuse.

Continuing on Paul says: “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” Romans 1:21, 22.

We are living in a time when there are many people who profess to be wise. They are wiser, they believe, than the Bible. (It has always been very dangerous when men place themselves above God. It has happened many times in the past, and it is one of the primary characteristics of our generation.) When men think they can figure out the origin of our world through science alone, and begin to doubt God’s creative power, they must doubt His Word. For you must either believe that the world was created in six days, or believe that the God of the Bible is a liar.

This is the dilemma to which modern science has brought mankind. Was the world created in six days or did it come into existence over a period of millions of years as people suppose and as is taught in institutions of so-called higher learning all over the world?

Creation Evidence in the Rocks

Many discoveries have been made that disprove the most fashionable and accepted evolutionary theories, but these discoveries have not been accepted because they counter the prevailing belief. One of these was made by a scientist named Dr. Robert Gentry. He discovered radiohalos below the sedimentary rock in the basement granites around the globe. He has examined more than one hundred thousand of these halo phenomena. According to every basic principle of evolutionary theory these halos cannot be there and yet they are!

Briefly this is what his studies have shown: Polonium isotopes were formed during the process of radioactive decay which took place during the formation of the granites. The halos were captured when the rock hardened. The polonium particle has a very short half-life, and so in order for these halos to be visible, the granite would have needed to be formed almost instantaneously, or the traces of this fleeting element would never have been captured. This is very powerful evidence that these rocks had to come into existence instantaneously —not over long periods of time. (The details of Dr. Gentry’s research is found in his book, Creation’s Tiny Mystery.)

Although this research has been published in several prestigious, peer-reviewed, scientific journals and the methods and findings have never been disproven, most of the scientific community does not accept it. They have either ignored it or tried to fight it because it totally demolishes evolutionary theory.

There are many other examples like this that totally disprove the most widely believed theories today, but they are rejected. For example: Detailed studies of various animals have revealed certain physical equipment and capabilities that the world’s best designers cannot duplicate, even using the most sophisticated technologies. Here are just a few: the miniature and reliable sonar systems of the dolphins, porpoises and whales; the frequency modulated radar and discrimination system of the bat; the efficiency and aerodynamic capabilities of the humming bird; the control systems, internal ballistics and the combustion chambers of the bombardier beetle. In addition to these, there are the precise navigational systems of many birds and fish. All of these things point to an exquisite, complicated and precise design.

If you ask some people where all this came from, they will say, “Well, it originated in the big bang.” Now think this through. There have been many “big bangs” around the world in the last fifty years, with different nations dropping bombs on each other. What has been the result? Have any of these explosions ever developed a precise design or a working model of anything? Of course not! Explosions produce chaos, not order and design. Yet we see exquisite, complicated order and design, beyond anything we can produce, all throughout the natural world.

The Work of a Divine Designer

One of the most persuasive arguments against the whole concept of evolutionary processes is something that every human being knows something about. We call it sexual reproduction. Sexual reproduction occurs in both plants and animals. If sexual reproduction were a result of some evolutionary or chance process, an absolutely unbelievable series of chance events would have had to occur.

First of all, the complex and completely different reproductive systems of the male must have independently evolved at about the same time and place as those of the female. A slight incompleteness in just one of the two would make both systems useless, and natural selection would oppose their survival.

Secondly, the physical systems of the male and the female would also need to be compatible. Third, the complex products of the male reproductive system such as pollen or sperm would need to have an affinity for and a mechanical and chemical compatibility with the eggs from the female reproductive system.

Fourth, the intricate and numerous processes occurring at the molecular level inside the fertilized egg would have to work with fantastic precision the very first time it happened. Processes which, even today, scientists can only describe in an aggregate sense.

Fifth, the environment of the fertilized egg from conception until it also reproduces, as an adult, with another sexually capable brother or sister would have to be controlled to an unbelievable degree. If these processes did not occur at precisely the right time, then one must restart this incredible chain of events all over again near ground zero. The odds then would become so astronomical that they insult the intelligence of anyone with common sense.

We are left with only two options. Either this series of incredible events occurred by random processes—as many people believe—or else an intelligent Designer created sexual reproduction. Which one makes the most sense? You decide. The first week of this world’s existence, creation week, as recorded in Genesis 1 and 2, was believed in by all the prophets, all the apostles and Jesus Christ Himself. God wrote down the facts in His Law which He wrote, with His own finger, in tables of stone. It said, “In six days God created the heavens and the earth.” But man says, “No, I know better than the Bible. I know better than Moses, I know better than Jesus Christ. I know better than the God that wrote His Law in tables of stone. I know that it took millions of years for the earth to come into existence through an evolutionary process.”

The Three Suppositions of Evolution

The evolutionary theory is built mainly on three suppositions or hypotheses. These are the theories of:

  1. Natural selection
  2. Mutations
  3. Lengthy periods of time

Let us look briefly at the first two:

According to evolutionists, natural selection is supposed to work this way. First, two different creatures mate and they reproduce offspring. This offspring then mutates or slowly changes into a better, more efficient species.

Now let us think about this. For thousands of years human beings have been experimenting with breeding animals. (Genesis records that even Jacob was working with breeding animals.) This is not natural selection. This is a man or group of men, with all their intelligence, attempting to control the selection process.

However, over the last several thousand years, even though men have controlled the breeding of many different species of animals, both wild and domesticated, has any person ever succeeded in creating a new species? Or maybe even a partial change from one specie to another? Certain amalgamations have been produced. But no one has ever been able to take a dog, breed it thousands of times and come up with a horse! It just will not work.

And the reason it will not work is because inside the DNA of every living cell there is contained an enormous amount of information, enough to fill a one-thousand six hundred page book. And the genetic information in a dog’s cells is not capable of producing a horse or a bird or a fish or anything else except a dog. This has been proven over and over again for thousands of years. No amount of breeding or natural selection has ever produced a change of specie, a change of what God called in Genesis “the kinds” that He originally created. We can change the animals within a specie, of course. We can breed two different dogs and get a new kind of dog. But it is still a dog. It is not a horse, a cow, an elephant, a fish or a bird.

The change of species by natural selection has been proved over and over again to be mathematically impossible. Yet, people want to believe it, because, if they do not believe in this evolutionary theory, the only alternative is to believe in the Bible and what the Bible says about the origin of the universe. And human beings are determined that they will not believe what the Bible says!

Magical Mutation

The next supposition upon which the theory of evolution is based is the idea that during natural selection various mutations occur and these mutations result in a better or superior creature than before. Mutations are accidents, or errors, that happen in the instruction bank of an organism. When that organism grows into adulthood, according to evolution, that accident is supposed to produce a better life form.

However, when we look at the real world, we find that mutations in genetic material are virtually always detrimental in some way and the results are usually fatal, although sometimes they are only crippling to the organism. The fact is that mutations almost always produce a form of life that is worse than the original.

There are a number of mutations that have happened in the human race in the last few thousand years. Here are a few of the mutations that we find present today. Which of these mutations would you like to have? There is albinism, dwarfism, color blindness, Downs’ syndrome and possibly dyslexia. These conditions are all caused by mutations in different parts of the human genetic code. Does that sound like the kind of process that produced modern man? That is what evolution demands we believe.

We are faced with a theory that is mathematically bankrupt, that has never been demonstrated or proved and yet millions of people all over the world believe it because they do not want to believe in the God of the Bible, the only other choice. The Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The Ten Commandments say, “For in six days God created the heavens and the earth and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” But our world has forgotten the Sabbath day and, in forgetting it, they have forgotten their Creator, and they have produced new theories to try to explain away the entire Bible because they do not want to keep God in their thinking. They do not want to be accountable to Him. But, friend, you are accountable to God whether you are an atheist, an agnostic or whatever you are.

The Bible says, “If you cannot tell from the natural world the power and existence of God, you are without excuse.” To the last generation God sends this message, “Fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment has come and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.” Revelation 14:7.

There is a God in heaven. We are going to have to give an account to Him of what we have done in this world, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10.) If you want to be ready for that day of judgment, the Bible says, “Fear God and give glory to the Creator.”

Do not worship your own mind, your own intellect. You will never figure it all out on your own. Acknowledge God as your Creator and worship Him and you will have eternal life. “He who has the Son has life; he that does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5:12. Remember, no one in this world, no human being, can create life. Only God can give life, and He can give it to you more abundantly.

For helpful information on Creation see these internet sites:

www.carm.org/evquotes.htm

www.icr.org

www.origins.swau.edu

Editorial – Purification of the Church, Part II

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The door of salvation was shut for many in the 1840’s: “God was in the proclamation of the time in 1843. It was His design to arouse the people and bring them to a testing point, where they should decide for or against the truth . . . they [ministers and laymen] helped to sound the cry, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.. . . Angels were watching with the deepest interest the result of the heavenly message, and when the churches turned from and rejected it, they in sadness consulted with Jesus. He turned His face from the churches and bade His angels faithfully watch over the precious ones who did not reject the testimony.” Early Writings, 232–235.

Notice the way that the church was purified in 1843: God sent them light which brought them to a testing point. Would they accept or reject it? The second angel’s message revealed that those who rejected the first angel’s message had “rejected light from heaven and fell from the favor of God.” Early Writings, 237. Many were disfellowshipped and many left their former churches. (Early Writings, 260, 261.)

Any church that received and then rejected the first angel’s message in 1843 fell from the favor of God and the beloved of God had to separate from such a church. (Involved in the first angel’s message is the 2300 days terminating in 1844, the cleansing of the sanctuary, including both an open and a shut door and the call to worship God as the creator.)

“Near the close of the second angel’s message, I saw a great light from heaven shining upon the people of God. The rays of this light seemed bright as the sun. And I heard the voices of angels crying, ‘Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him!’ This was the midnight cry, which was to give power to the second angel’s message.” Early Writings, 238.

The early Adventists thought that the midnight cry was at the end of the path to the city of God, but the Lord revealed to Ellen White that the midnight cry was at the beginning of the path and was of vital importance to the purification of the church. She wrote, “I raised my eyes and saw a straight and narrow path, cast up high above the world. On this path the Advent people were traveling to the City, which was at the farther end of the path. They had a bright light set up behind them at the first end of the path, which an angel told me was the midnight cry. This light shone all along the path, and gave light for their feet so they might not stumble. And if they kept their eyes fixed on Jesus, who was just before them, leading them to the City, they were safe . . . Others rashly denied the light behind them, and said that it was not God that had led them out so far. The light behind them went out leaving their feet in perfect darkness, and they stumbled and got their eyes off the mark and lost sight of Jesus, and fell off the path down in the dark and wicked world below. It was just as impossible for them to get on the path again and go to the City, as all the wicked world which God had rejected. They fell all the way along the path one after another, until we heard the voice of God like many waters.” A Word to the Little Flock, 14.

Are you still on this path? Is your lamp burning and do you have extra oil? Or have you accepted Satan’s sophistry “that God had deceived the people”? (Early Writings, 248.) Is your religious experience vitally involved with the cleansing of the sanctuary, beginning in 1844? Do you know what it means to enter the “Most Holy Place”? Do you understand who and what the spiritual entity called “Zion” is and who and what “Babylon” is? Will you eventually fall off the path? When all who are going to deny the light behind them (the first and second angel’s messages and the midnight cry) have done so, then the church will become purified.

This is taking place with alarming rapidity all around us. As we will see, from the 1950s until the present, many Adventists all over the world have been falling off the path. (Just as the Christians in the 1840s still went to their churches, many of these today are still going to church and calling themselves Adventists, but they have fallen off the path.) Are you going to stay on the path?

continued…