church

A Lesson From Australia

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In 1888 our church leaders and a large proportion of the Seventh-day Adventist church rejected the message that God sent to us through A.T. Jones and E.J. Waggoner at the Minneapolis General Conference. Ellen White, A.T. Jones, and E.J. Waggoner traveled all over the United States preaching and teaching our people, attempting to reverse the tide that had been set in motion by our leaders, but it did not work. The majority of Adventists flessonsdid not accept the message of righteousness by faith. The General Conference leaders decided they needed to get Ellen White out of the way, so they suggested that she go to Australia. She had no light from the Lord that she should go, but she said at one time when she had no light from the Lord, she followed the counsel of the brethren (see appendix part A). This statement has been quoted all over the world, but she made another statement later that she believed that she had made a mistake in going to Australia. Later the General Conference brethren wanted to get her even farther out of the way so they suggested that she go to Africa, but she would not go (see appendix part B).

She came back to the United States in 1900, just in time for the greatest crisis that the Seventh-day Adventist church would go through, up to that time. It is reported that Ellen White said in Australia in 1896, that if we had accepted the message in 1888, we would have been in the Kingdom by then. It was during the 1890s, after we had rejected the message of righteousness by faith, that we started on the long way home to the Kingdom. The long way involved the building up of many institutions.

If you look at the history of Adventist institutions, you will find that most of our colleges started in the 1890s. The college at Keene started in the 1890s; the one at Lincoln and Walla Walla started in the 1890s too. Shortly afterwards, we had two crisis General Conferences in 1901 and 1903. After the 1903 General Conference, which Ellen White said was one of the deepest disappointments of her life, the Lord chose to institute another plan for finishing His work.

Ellen White, through Divine inspiration, authorized Dr. Sutherland and Magan to begin Madison College, a self-supporting institution which she said was not to be under the control of the conference (see appendix part C). God authorized self-supporting work, work that was not under the control of the conference, and it has been under attack by the devil ever since. When Ellen White was in Australia, she was instrumental in helping them start a model school. There were two schools that were established in Ellen White’s lifetime which she spoke of as model schools. One of them was the college at Avondale; the other one was Madison College.

I recently visited Avondale College with Elder O. K. Anderson. His father was very well acquainted with Ellen White. Elder Anderson showed us around the college and showed us the place where Ellen White saw a furrow in vision and knew that this was the sight that they needed to purchase. Elder Anderson’s father was contacted and he went and investigated this property. People thought that it would not grow anything, but it became a very fertile farmland in just a few years.

Ellen White directed them to plant an apple orchard, where today they have a ball field. They had a high-producing apple and persimmon orchard on this farm. Ellen White lived at Cooranbong, just a stone’s throw from where this college was established, from 1896 to 1900. Under her direction this college was established, and the Austral-Asian Division became a flagship division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The work progressed very rapidly; Ellen White visited both Australia and New Zealand and taught them that they had the responsibility of taking the Gospel to all of that region of the world. From Australia and New Zealand we sent missionaries to Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and to New Guinea. In addition to that, there are many small islands scattered throughout the Pacific. Before World War II, we had mission boats and our missionaries would travel from island to island.

The work was established in these islands at great sacrifice. Many of the missionaries that first went there lost their lives. We lost one of our missionaries in 1920 from Blackwater Fever. In 1966 there was a new convert to Adventism who wanted to take the Gospel to the islands, so he and his wife went to the islands. He was there for only eleven days when he was speared and lost his life. In 1988 we had a missionary who was shot and lost his life. Taking the gospel to these islands has not been without cost.

As the work progressed in these islands, everyone looked to Austral-Asia as a flagship division—a place where the Adventist work was progressing rapidly in purity. We had no idea what was going to happen, that this would be the division that would be the first to come under a tremendous attack through the new theology.

At the General Conference Session in 1980, H. M. S. Richards, Sr. referred to the possibility of losing a whole division. This attack began when Desmond Ford began to teach our ministers and theology students at Avondale College. A fight developed between Desmond Ford and many of our leading evangelists and pastors in Australia. These pastors and evangelists in Australia said that Desmond Ford was preaching heresy and something needed to be done about it. The interesting thing was that our organization would not do anything about it. Anyone in the Austral-Asian division that went to school after about 1960 was trained in this new theology. Ministers that were experienced said, “This is heresy!” But the church would not listen to them. However, it finally got so bad that something had to be done, so this is what was done:

People said, “He is just a big fish in a little pond over here in Australia. We’ll just ship him off to the United States and then he’ll be a little fish in a big pond and he won’t cause so much trouble.” So they transported the problem to the United States, and within a matter of months it became a worldwide problem. At that time Desmond Ford was “defrocked.” However, it was a situation in which outwardly he was defrocked, but actually instead he got control of a large portion of the Adventist church. New theology had already taken hold—it had taken hold in the 1940s and 1950s among some of the leading men in our seminary. In the mid 1950s we published the book Questions on Doctrine, and by the 1960s it was starting to take hold of the men who were teaching our ministers in the United States. By the 1980s it was everywhere, not just with the ministers, but all through the ranks of Adventism.

Let me just mention a few of the cardinal teachings of the new theology. The first and the main one is the teaching that you cannot keep the law of God perfectly. You can keep it, but you cannot keep it perfectly. Desmond Ford was grilled on this by his opponents; he would say, “Yes, I believe that you can keep the law of God.” So he was finally asked, “Do you believe that you can keep the law of God perfectly?” He said, “No, I don’t believe that you can keep the law of God perfectly.” That understanding is based on a certain understanding of the nature of Christ, original sin, what happened at the cross, and the meaning of the sanctuary. New theologists do not think that the Adventist doctrine concerning the sanctuary has any real relevance.

In 1979 Desmond Ford made the statement that he did not think that 1844 was relevant. If 1844 is not relevant, then our Sanctuary teaching from Daniel 8 and 9 and the book of Hebrews is not relevant. If that is not relevant, then you do not have any rational reason to be a Seventh-day Adventist, you might as well be a Seventh-day Baptist or something else. Of course, Ellen White would be a false prophet. Desmond Ford was forced to take a position on all of those things. He said that he did not believe that Ellen White had canonical authority (whatever that is)! He said that she had pastoral authority. That’s the same as denying the prophetic gift! A prophet has Divine authority!

This controversy exploded all over the United States, and we had a tremendous shaking in which we lost members from all of our large churches in the early 1980s. The effects of this liberal theology are still being felt in our conferences, institutions, and in the structure of the Seventh-day Adventist church today.

But this attack came first in Australia, and it has been there longer than any other place. The very same thing that happened there could happen in the United States if we are not thinking correctly. In Australia, as this fight between Historic Adventism and the new theology went throughout the churches, there were many ministers and laymen who were concerned, so they began to fight this liberal theology.

Colin Standish, Ron Spear, Marshall Grosboll and a number of other Historic Adventist preachers went throughout Australia preaching against this new theology. They preached about things like the nature of Christ, the Sanctuary, the Spirit of Prophecy, and all of these things that pointed out the difference between Historic Adventism and the new theology. They would get crowds of people—over a thousand—at these different meetings. By the time I was there in 1988 you were not getting crowds of over a thousand, but you could get crowds of several hundred sincere, Christian people.

But a terrible thing happened in Australia. I want to describe to you as briefly as I can, without mentioning any names, what happened. Preachers went around Australia preaching about this terrible apostasy. They preached the doctrines of Historic Adventism, and the people believed it. But there was one fatal flaw, and if we do not learn our lesson, the same thing that is happening there will happen in other places. Here is what many preachers were telling the people: “In spite of all this apostasy, in spite of this new theology, the church is the church.” Have you ever heard that expression? “The church is the church.”

What do people mean when they say that “the church is the church?” This organized church, this conference structure—that is the church, and you have to stay in there and fight it out. Let us just think this through a little bit. Suppose that you are in a mental and a spiritual battle with the forces of darkness. You are supposed to fight it out, but when you go to fight it out, all you can do is sit in the pew—you cannot say anything! The other side has the pulpit and control of who speaks all the time. Who do you think is going to win?

In Revelation 3, what is the big problem among the people of God in the last days? They think they are all right! People got the idea, “I’m not part of the new theology, I believe the Historic Adventist doctrines, but I’m going to stay here.” So they stayed; they kept going to church. And over a period of time their convictions, their fervor, their zeal, their burden for lost souls just seemed to disappear. Why? Because of the preaching they were listening to. Don’t you ever let anybody tell you that where you go to church and what kind of preaching you listen to has no affect on your soul’s salvation. It does!! If you go listen to people that are preaching the new theology or easy-going sermons, it is going to have an affect on you. God is not going to work a miracle to cover up or take away the effect of your presumption, when you go and listen to that kind of preaching.

Do you know what has happened in Australia today? I have talked to some very concerned people who have been there and watched this whole thing develop, some have even lost their own children! They decided that they needed to keep going to these churches. The new theology people had control of the pulpit, and as they kept going there year after year after year, finally they got calmed down. And at the same time they got calmed down, the apostasy got worse.

There are still some today who are trying to tell the people that they need to stay in the conference churches. They have had evangelists come in from the United States who have had evangelistic meetings, and they have had twenty to twenty-five people get ready for baptism. But they said, “We’ve got to keep these people in the church structure; take them to a conference church.” And after a few months, they do not have anything to show for. Either the people leave the church, or what is even worse, they become Laodicean, they get calmed down. There is almost no protest going against the apostasy.

I spoke at three different places in Australia, and in every place that I spoke, it was a place that just happened to have a home church, and so people came. These people were still alive spiritually, they were not totally asleep. The places that are still alive are the places where there are home churches. We need to pray for a miracle in Australia; it used to be one of the strongest divisions in Adventism, and, at the present time, it is one of the weakest.

I do not want to see what happened in Australia happen here in the United States. We are going to have to tell everyone, “You cannot keep going where the new theology is being preached and people say, Just believe in the Lord, trust Him! Everything will be all right.” If you go and listen to that, you will get calmed down and will go to sleep. Jude 3 says that we are to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. The word contend literally means fight. There is a time to fight; there is a worldwide battle going on in Adventism. If you just sit and get calmed down, the devil will put you to sleep and the end result will be that you will lose your soul.

Here is what has developed in the Austral-Asian Division. Eight years ago, when all this was going on in Australia that I described, I was over there for the first time. I was told that all of these awful things that are going on in Australia and New Zealand had not gotten out to the islands. How long do you think that would last if things keep getting worse in Australia, which calls the shots in the islands? It should not be impossible to figure out that the time is coming when the same thing that is going on in Australia and New Zealand is going to start up in the islands; it did in the early 1990s. The same thing that has happened in Australia and New Zealand is now taking place in the islands.

But there is one difference: Evan Sadler has been up to these islands and they have figured out that they have to stay together as a church. You have to have a church of people that believe the same way, you have to meet together, exhort one another, and help one another get to Heaven. You cannot stay in an apostate church! We are hoping that we will have a completely different outcome in the islands. There has been an effort to crush the revival and reformation movement in all the islands, but it has not been possible. God has raised up people to proclaim the Adventist message in Fiji, Vanuatu, in the Solomon Islands, and in Papua New Guinea.

In Papua New Guinea, when Livingston Kul was raised up by the Lord to preach, he did not intend to be a preacher. He already had a very good job, a nice home and was better off than most of the people on the island. He left his good job and went to get trained to be a minister. Not too long ago, Livingston Kul got in trouble with the conference because he was preaching the Three Angels’ Messages on the street. There were so many Roman Catholics that were listening to him that one of the Catholic clergy went and talked to one of the leaders of the Adventist mission. The president of the Adventist mission called Pastor Kul into his office and told him, “We want you to quit preaching on the street.” Livingston Kul was convicted that he was doing what the Lord wanted him to do, so he said, “I will never, never, never quit!” A short time afterwards the Adventist mission did not have any money to pay him anymore.

Now he was without a job and he did not know what to do, so he started praying. The Lord led him to start teaching laymen how to be street preachers, and he has organized a force of street evangelists. Seventeen people were disfellowshipped because they were supporting Livingstone Kul and all these street preachers. When they were disfellowshipped, eight churches said, “We’re going with them.” Now the revival and reformation movement has about twenty churches. These lay preachers are going out and they are shaking Papua New Guinea.

Right now they are going through a similar experience to what Australia went through fifteen years ago. I hope that the outcome will be much different. What is it that will make the outcome different? You must gather all the people that want to do the Lord’s will and organize. You need to have regular meetings and organize for evangelism.

One of the things I learned when I visited Australia was that if I want my religious experience to stay hot, I have something to do. I need to be part of a church that has regular meetings, that is organized and has discipline, where we help each other get to heaven.

The purpose of the church is two-fold. 1. We are to send out a warning message to a lost world in an organized way. 2. We are to help those inside the church get ready for heaven. Where you are going to church is either helping you get ready for heaven or for hell—one or the other. It would be better to be in a little home church with six or eight people and be helping each other get ready for heaven, than to be in a great big church and just sit down and warm the pew and lose your Christian experience. Ellen White said that it was difficult to maintain a high level of Christian experience in large churches. The small churches are where the action has always been.

It is the little home church where people meet together regularly to pray and to study the word, to encourage and help each other get ready for heaven, to send out the warning message to the world—that is the places where people are going to be ready for heaven. I want to be in a place like that, do you? I want to take advantage of all the spiritual opportunities the Lord gives us, to help each other to have discipline and order, and to be ready for heaven.

 

Appendix

PART A – Australia

I have not, I think, revealed the entire workings that led me here to Australia. Perhaps you may never fully understand the matter. The Lord was not in our leaving America. He did not reveal that it was His will that I should leave Battle Creek. The Lord would have had W.C. White, his mother, and her workers remain in America. . . There was so great a willingness to have us leave, that the Lord permitted this thing to take place. Those who were weary of the testimonies borne were left without the persons who bore them. Our separation from Battle Creek was to let men have their own will and way, which they thought superior to the way of the Lord. . . . It was not the Lord who devised this matter. I could not get one ray of light to leave America. 1888 Materials, 1622, 1623

PART B – Africa

Elder Olsen, I wish to say to you, You must not make any calculation for me to go to Africa, I see no light and consistency in such a move. . . . I have not the slightest inclination to go to Europe or to visit Africa, and I have not one ray of light that I should go. I am willing to go where ever the Lord indicates my duty, but I am not willing to go at the voice of the Conference unless I see my own way closer to do so. 1888 Materials, 1263

PART C – Madison

The Lord has instructed me that, from the first, the work in Huntsville and Madison should have received adequate help. But instead of this help being rendered promptly there has been long delay. And in the matter of the Madison school, there has been a standing off from them because they were not under the ownership and control of some Conference. This is a question that should sometimes be considered, but it is not the Lord’s plan that means should be withheld from Madison, because they are not bound to the conference. The attitude which some of our brethren have assumed toward this enterprise shows that it is not wise for every working agency to be under the dictation of conference officers. There are some enterprises under certain conditions, that will produce better results if standing alone. Manuscript Releases, vol. 8, 202

The Lord does not set limits about His workers in some lines as men are wont to set. In their work, Brethren Magan and Sutherland have been hindered unnecessarily. Means have been withheld form them because in the organization and management of the Madison school, it was not placed under the control of the conference. But the reasons why this school was not owned and controlled by the conference have not been duly considered. Madison School, 31, 32

The Need for Union Conferences

There is need of a most earnest, thorough work to be carried forward now in all our churches. We are now to understand whether all our printing plants and all our sanitariums are to be under the control of the General Conference. I answer, Nay. It has been a necessity to organize union conferences, that the General Conference shall not exercise dictation over all the separate conferences. The power vested in the Conference is not to be centered in one man, or two men, or six men; there is to be a council of men over the separate divisions. Manuscript Releases, vol. 14, 279

The End

Has God Ordained Independent Self Supporting Work ?

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The idea of independent self-supporting work is very old. Some people think that it has existed only within the last few years. There were independent self-supporting workers in Bible times. We do not mean independent in the sense of a person going off and doing his own thing. God’s people are never independent in that sense.

We need to understand the word “independent.” In Matthew 24:3, 4 the disciples came to Jesus and said: “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” And what did Jesus answer? “Take heed that no man deceive you.” The first thing that Jesus said when they asked for the sign of his coming and the end of the world was “Be careful that someone does not deceive you.”

By What Authority?

The Bible teaches that in the multitude of counselors there is safety. In Bible times God’s people counseled with one another. They counsel with other people whom the Lord is leading, and they work together. That is the way things are done in heaven. The angels are organized. And all of God’s work is organized. If we are not organized, the Lord cannot work with us, the angels cannot work with us, and we cannot have the success that the Lord wants to give us.

When I say independent I mean independent from the control of the denomination. Has God authorized independent self-supporting work? Matthew 21:23 says: “And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?” Have you ever heard that question asked? “Who gave you authority to do this? Has your meeting been authorized? Is your preacher duly credentialed? Have you been given permission to give Bible studies?”

Are you authorized to do what you are going to do? Is there a conference representative on your board? Have you been given permission? Have you been recognized? Often the conclusion is that since you have not been authorized, you are against the church.

Eventually it comes to a threat. “If you cannot follow directions, you are going to be disfellowshiped, or your ordination is going to have to be taken away, and you will not be part of the church.”

Let us read again Matthew 21:23. They asked: “By what authority?” Did Jesus have authority from the Sanhedrin? No, He did not. Did He have a certificate from any of the schools? No. Did John the Baptist? No, he did not have one either. Neither John the Baptist nor Jesus had permission from the “right sources” to do what they were doing. They were not authorized. Their meetings were not authorized. Their ministries were not authorized. See The Desire of Ages, 132, 133.

Friends, I want you to see how current this subject is. In a paper published March 30, 1991, which states ten questions that people ought to ask to find out whether they should listen to someone or not. The third question is: “Are you authorized by the General Conference Committee?” If someone had asked you that question in Jesus’ day, would you have gone to listen to Jesus? Would you have gone to listen to John the Baptist? Let us go back a little farther. If someone had asked you that question in Isaiah’s day, would you have gone to listen to him? Would you have gone to listen to Elijah? Would you have gone to listen to Elisha? If that question would have caused you to reject the Messiah; if it would have caused you to reject John the Baptist—the greatest of the prophets, I wonder if that is a good question to ask today.

This is the question that we need to ask today: “Has God authorized independent self-supporting work?” Jesus was challenged as to His authority. “Who gave you the authority to do this? Who gave you the authority to teach? Who gave you the authority to come here to the temple and talk in public?”

Please notice how Jesus answered that question: “And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.” Matthew 21:24–27.

Notice what Jesus did here. They asked Jesus: “Who gave you the authority to do what you are doing? Where did you get permission?” And Jesus led them back in the providence of God to the time of John the Baptist. He said: “Where was the authority for the baptism of John? Was it from heaven? or was it human authority?” Suppose they had answered the truth. They knew the answer to the question, but they thought that telling the truth would get them in trouble. One of the great shocks that I had as a young minister was being in a meeting with other young ministers when a man in a very high position in the church said to us, “Do not do this, because if you do, you will make us tell a lie.” Well, that is the way the priests and elders who came to Jesus felt. “If we tell the truth, Jesus will get us in trouble in public, and we will be embarrassed.” If they had told the truth, saying that the baptism of John was from heaven, what would Jesus have said? Did John the Baptist recognize who Jesus was? He told everybody who Jesus was. “I [John the Baptist] . . . bare record that this is the Son of God.” John 1:34. If they had recognized that John the Baptist’s authority came from Heaven, their question as to where Jesus’ authority came from would had been answered. But since they did not want that answer, they told a lie.

The answer to the question, “Has God authorized independent self-supporting work?” is the same today as it was in Jesus’ day. The way to find the answer to the question is to go back in the providence of God, and see what He has authorized or done in the past.

Protestant or Catholic?

Do you understand the difference between a Protestant and a Roman Catholic? For a Protestant the highest authority is God’s Word, and underneath it is every other authority, including the authority of the church. Ellen White said that Jesus was a Protestant, she was a Protestant, Adventists are Protestants, and if you and I are Seventh-day Adventists, we should be Protestants also. For a Roman Catholic the supreme authority is the authority of the church, and even the Bible is underneath the church’s authority. That is the difference between a Protestant and a Roman Catholic. You have to understand that if you want to understand this subject.

In 1888 we reached a crisis point in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Read from the book Testimonies to Ministers what happened then. One of the primary problems that the Seventh-day Adventist Church had in 1888 was that of finite men putting themselves in God’s place. They took a Roman Catholic position. “Finite men should beware of the control of their fellow men, taking the place assigned to the Holy Spirit. Let not men feel that it is their prerogative to give to the world what they suppose to be truth, and refuse that anything should be given contrary to their ideas. This is not their work. Many things will appear distinctly as truth which will not be acceptable to those who think their own interpretations of the Scripture always right. Most decided changes will have to be made in regard to ideas which some have accepted as without a flaw. These men give evidence of fallibility in very many ways; they work upon principles which the Word of God condemns. That which makes me feel to the very depths of my being, and makes me know that their works are not the works of God, is that they suppose they have authority to rule their fellow men. The Lord has given them no more right to rule others than He has given others to rule them. Those who assume the control of their fellow men take into their finite hands a work that devolves upon God alone.

“That men should keep alive the spirit which ran riot at Minneapolis is an offense to God. All heaven is indignant at the spirit that for years has been revealed in our publishing institution at Battle Creek.” Testimonies to Ministers, 76.

Do you want to manifest the spirit that causes all heaven to be indignant at what you are doing? It happened in our work in the 1880s, and it reached the crisis point at Minneapolis in 1888—the idea of finite men trying to control and rule God’s work.

Divine Counsel

“There are men whose character and life testify to the fact that they are false prophets and deceivers. These we are not to hear or tolerate . . . Men can become just as were the Pharisees—wide-awake to condemn the greatest Teacher that the world ever knew . . . There are those who are today doing the very same things . . .

“These men who presume to judge others should take a little broader view and say, Suppose the statements of others do not agree with our ideas; shall we for this pronounce them heresy? Shall we, uninspired men, take the responsibility of placing our stakes, and saying, This shall not appear in print? . . .

“Has not our past experience in these things been sufficient?” Notice the next sentence: “Will we ever learn?” Does it sound as if the prophet is frustrated? She says: “Will we ever learn the lessons which God designs we shall learn? Will we ever realize that the consciences of men are not given into our command? If you have appointed committees to do the work which has been going on for years in Battle Creek, dismiss them; and remember that God, the infinite God, has not placed men in any such positions as they occupied at Minneapolis, and have occupied since then.

“I feel deeply over this matter of men being conscience for their fellowmen.” Ibid., 294, 295. This took place at the General Conference level. What about in the local church, or the conference?

“A strange thing has come into our churches. Men who are placed in positions of responsibility that they may be wise helpers to their fellow workers have come to suppose that they were set as kings and rulers in the churches, to say to one brother, Do this; to another, Do that; and to another, Be sure to labor in such and such a way. There have been places where the workers have been told that if they did not follow the instruction of these men of responsibility, their pay from the conference would be withheld.” Ibid., 477.

“I write thus fully, because I have been shown that ministers and people are tempted more and more to trust in finite man for wisdom, and to make flesh their arm. To conference presidents, and men in responsible places, I bear this message: Break the bands and fetters that have been placed upon God’s people. To you the word is spoken, ‘Break every yoke.’ Unless you cease the work of making man amenable to man, unless you become humble in heart, and yourselves learn the way of the Lord as little children, the Lord will divorce you from His work.” Ibid., 480, 481.

Oh, friends, I do not want God to divorce me from His work, do you? If I lose everything else in this world, I do not want to lose the Lord.

This problem did not cease at Minneapolis. We reached a crisis point at that time, but it did not cease at Minneapolis in 1888. “The prejudices and opinions that prevailed at Minneapolis are not dead by any means; the seeds sown there in some hearts are ready to spring into life and bear a like harvest. The tops have been cut down, but the roots have never been eradicated, and they still bear their unholy fruit to poison the judgment, pervert the perceptions, and blind the understanding of those with whom you connect, in regard to the message and the messengers.” Ibid., 467.

I hope that you have seen from these statements that the SDA Church in 1888 was in the midst of a gigantic apostasy from truth. And what did this apostasy involve? It involved men in positions of responsibility dictating and controlling what other people should do. The problem came when some men had convictions about how something should be done, but they could not carry them out. They were men trying to do God’s work, and were not able to do what in their consciences they thought they should do, because they were receiving orders and instructions from men of responsibility who said: “We are in authority and you are going to do it this way.”

Self-Supporting Work Begins

Because of this gigantic apostasy there were sincere-hearted men in the Seventh-day Adventist Church who found it impossible to carry out God’s instructions within the denomination. This dilemma eventually led to what we call today self-supporting work.

Apparently, the educational work was the first to be reformed on a self-supporting basis. Two young men named Sutherland and Magan were trying to follow the counsel of the Spirit of Prophecy in regard to education, and found it impossible to do so. The development of self-supporting work at Madison, Tennessee, came into being because our church leaders would not listen to the counsel from the Spirit of Prophecy about God’s method of education.

“A great many of the difficulties that have come into our work in California and elsewhere have come in through a misunderstanding on the part of men in official positions concerning their individual responsibility in the matter of controlling and ruling their fellow laborers. Men entrusted with responsibilities have supposed that their official position embraced very much more than was ever thought of by those who placed them in office, and serious difficulties arose as the result.

Church Organization

“Simple organization and church order are set forth in the New Testament Scripture.” Paulson Collection, 298.

If your church organization is not following the New Testament plan, it is not divinely inspired.

In the book of Galatians, is the apostle Paul writing to a world-headquarters organization, or is he writing to the believers in the church in Galatia? He is writing to the brethren in the local churches. See Galatians 1:2. What is he telling them? “And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man’s person).” Galatians 2:4–6. The New Testament teaching is that if someone comes to your church, wherever he comes from, if he says something not in line with the truth, you should oppose it.

“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:8. Paul says that even if an angel from heaven comes to tell you something that is contrary to truth, oppose it in a Christlike manner. That is the New Testament position.

“Simple organization and church order are set forth in the New Testament Scriptures, and the Lord has ordained these for the unity and perfection of the church.” Paulson Collection, 298.

The Work of a Leader

I want you to see what the Lord says is the rightful position for a leader. “The man who holds office in the church should stand as [1] a leader, as [2] an adviser and [3] a counselor and [4] helper.” Ibid.

But here is what the leader should not do. “But he is not appointed to order and command the Lord’s laborers. The Lord is over His heritage. He will lead His people if they will be led of the Lord in the place of assuming a power God has not given them.” Ibid.

“Position does not give a man kingly authority. The meekness of Christ is a wonderful lesson given to the fallen world. Learning this meekness from the great Teacher, the worker will become Christlike.” Ibid., 298, 299.

As I study this subject my great desire is that the work that I do for Jesus will become Christlike. Do you want your work for Jesus to become Christlike? If that is going to happen, we must humble ourselves. I am very concerned, because as I study I realize that unless you and I learn a lesson of penitence and humiliation at the foot of the cross, we will not be saved. See The Desire of Ages, 83, 84.

Because of these problems with kingly authority, the rule-or-ruin principle, the desire to control others, Ellen White began to encourage self-supporting work. She helped to set up a self-supporting school near Madison, Tennessee. She counseled them to incorporate, and she told them to remain separate from the General Conference. The basic issues were always the same.

Sutherland and Magan, the founders of Madison, were opposed by the General Conference, and especially by the president of the General Conference. He said, in effect, “You should not work independent of the Conference, and you must not ask Seventh-day Adventists for any money to do a project which the General Conference has no vote or control over.” That was the issue.

On May 14, 1907, Ellen White wrote to Magan from Loma Linda, California, she said: “I bare positive testimony that you and your fellow workers in Madison are doing the work that God has appointed to you . . . The attitude of opposition or indifference on the part of some of your brethren has created conditions that have made your work more difficult than it should have been. You have not received from some many words of encouragement, but the Lord is pleased that you have not been easily discouraged.

“Some have entertained the idea that because the school at Madison is not owned by a conference organization, those who are in charge of the school should not be permitted to call upon our people for the means that is greatly needed to carry on their work. This idea needs to be corrected. In the distribution of the money that comes into the Lord’s treasury, you are entitled to [a] portion just as verily as are those connected with other needy enterprises that are carried forward in harmony with the Lord’s instruction.” Spalding-Magan Collection, 411.

“The Lord does not set limits about his workers in some lines as men are wont to set. In their work, Brethren Magan and Sutherland have been hindered unnecessarily. Means have been withheld from them because in the organization and management of the Madison school, it was not placed under the control of the conference. But the reasons why this school was not owned and controlled by the conference have not been duly considered . . .

“The Lord does not require that the educational work at Madison shall be changed all about before it can receive the hearty support of our people. The work that has been done there is approved of God.” Special Testimonies, Series B. No. 11, 31, 32.

Did God approve of independent, self-supporting work in 1907? He did be- cause of the difficulties that we were experiencing as a church. People could not follow the dictates of their conscience and follow the counsels of the Lord, because their brethren would not let them do so within the organization. That was the precise problem. It cannot be denied by anyone who candidly looks at the evidence.

“The work that has been done there is approved of God, and He forbids that this line of work shall be broken up.” Ibid. These words are strong. Did you read the second part of that sentence?

When Madison was organized, Ellen White did not permit its leaders to place themselves under the control of the conference. She said: “God forbids that this line of work shall be broken up.” Today I see people who say: “Well, unless you have somebody from the conference on your board, you should not be recognized.” That counsel is directly contrary to the divine plan.

“The Lord will continue to bless and sustain the workers so long as they follow His counsel.” Ibid. The emphasis is not on whom you are associated with; the emphasis is, Are you following the divine counsel? Are you following the truth? That was the position of the apostle Paul.

Ellen White was very emphatic about how the title should be held and where the controls of this property at Madison should be.

P. T. Magan’s diary, August 8,1904: He says that he “worked with W. C. White during the forenoon getting articles and plans ready regarding the incorporation of the school at Nashville. In the afternoon he met with Daniells, the General Conference president, Prescott, field secretary of the General Conference, Griggs, Washburn, Byrd, and W. C. White to consider our plan of organization. Daniells did not like it.”

We ought to think about that a little while. Here is a plan that the Spirit of Prophecy had authorized and said to follow, but the General Conference president does not like it.

“Prescott thought that we traveled too much; so did Daniells. Bland thought other teachers would envy our independence and would like to do likewise.”

August 9, 1904, one day later: “Talk with Mrs. E. G. and W. C. White regarding our plan for organization. She said we were not to go under the dominion of the Southern Union Conference.”

April 14, 1906: “Spent forenoon with Daniells . . . Told him why our school was independent and would have to eat shewbread.”

May 7, 1907, Paradise Valley: “Talked with Sister White regarding attitude of General Conference toward us. Mrs. Sara McEnterfer and Lillian present. Told Sister White that the administration held we had no right to go and get money unless we were owned by the conference. She replied: ‘You are doing double what they are. Take all the donations you can get. The money belongs to the Lord and not to these men. The position they take is not of God. The Southern Union Conference is not to own or control you. You cannot turn things over to them.’” Why? Because when things were turned over to them, they forced people to go against their conscience and not follow the counsels.’”

May 14,1907: “I talked to her [E. G. White] about the General Conference position that concerns non-conference owned [institutions] should have no money. She answered: ‘Daniells and those with him are taking a position on this matter that is not of God.’ She said she had something written on this and would try to find it.” We have just refered to it in the Spalding-Magan Collection, 411.

May 23, 1907, St. Helena. “Spent the forenoon with W. C. White. He gave me Sister White’s letters to Daniells regarding us. He told me he did not agree with the administration at Washington in insisting that all monies pass through their hands. Said that he would not agree to our going under conference domination.”

Ellen White wrote on January 19, 1907: “Today I have been carrying a heavy burden on my heart . . . You have a work to do to encourage the school work in Madison, Tennessee . . . all in their power to hold up the hands of these workers by encouraging and supporting the work at the Madison school. Means should be appropriated to the needs of the work in Madison—that the labor of the teachers may not be so hard in the future.” Spalding-Magan Collection, 395, 396.

I want to ask some questions. This self-supporting school that was begun in Madison, Tennessee, around the turn of the century, was it a Seventh-day Adventist school? Yes, it was. Here is a school not owned or controlled or operated by the conference, but it is a Seventh-day Adventist school. It was not some school owned by some other church. These people were Seventh-day Adventists. The sanitarium that was started at Madison, was this a Seventh-day Adventist sanitarium? Was it owned and operated by the conference? No, it was self-supporting. It was independent from the conference, but it was Seventh-day Adventist. Did they later start a printing operation? Did Madison start many self-supporting schools and sanitariums and print shops all over that area of the United States? Yes. And were those printing shops that were self-supporting and not owned and controlled by the conference, were they Seventh-day Adventist? Yes.

Starting a New Church?

Is it then possible for a local church that is not controlled or operated by the conference to be a self-supporting congregation and still be Seventh-day Adventist? It most certainly is. I am not telling people to separate from a conference church. But people have been forced to do that because of repeated influences which are detrimental to the spiritual welfare of their family. Were Sutherland and Magan starting a new church when they started a self-supporting school? No. They just wanted to follow God’s counsel. If you must go to a homechurch because of the apostasy, if you are not recognized by the conference, are you still Seventh-day Adventists? Yes, they are. Has God authorized that? Yes, He has. Any area of God’s work, even if it is self-supporting, can still be Seventh-day Adventist, even if it is not connected or controlled by the conference.

Individual Responsibility

Whenever this topic is being discussed, the subject of tithe inevitably comes up. Remember what I quoted earlier from a Seventh-day Adventist paper dated March 30, 1991. “All genuine independent ministries will encourage their supporters to return their tithe and offerings to the appropriate channels.” Let us examine the validity of this statement.

You cannot have a candid discussion about self-supporting work without discussing finances; it is impossible. God is not raining manna from heaven to support us today. However, He has given us guidelines and told us what we should do, and how His work is to be supported. Do you think that God has designed for any work to be done and not planned how He would support it? Can you comprehend such a thing? For each kind of work that God wants to be done, He has figured out how it is to be supported.

Did God have a plan how His ministers would be supported? Yes, He did. Did He have a plan how literature evangelists would be supported? Yes, He did. Did He have a plan how sanitariums would be supported? Yes, He did. Did He have a plan how Bible workers should be supported? Yes, He did. Now do you think it would be at all safe for you or me to try to figure out our own way to support God’s work instead of following God’s directions? Do you think that would be safe?

Inspiration has given us this solemn warning regarding our responsibility in the support of God’s work: “If God pronounces a woe upon those who are called to preach the truth and refuse to obey, a heavier woe rests upon those who take upon them this sacred work without clean hands and pure hearts. As there are woes for those who preach the truth while they are unsanctified in heart and life, so there are woes for those who receive and maintain the unsanctified in the position which they cannot fill.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 552.

“I call upon God’s people to open their eyes. When you sanction or carry out the decisions of men who, as you know, are not in harmony with truth and righteousness, you weaken your own faith and lose your relish for communion with God.” Testimonies to Ministers, 91.

When efforts were made to urge writers to return to the conference or publishing house all of the profits derived from their writing, Sister White counseled, “The Lord has made us individually His stewards. We each hold a solemn responsibility to invest this means ourselves . . .

“While it is not your own property that you are handling, yet you are made responsible for its wise investment, for its use or abuse. God does not lay upon you the burden of asking the conference or any counsel of men whether you shall use your means as you see fit to advance the work of God in destitute towns and cities, and impoverished localities.” Pamphlets in the Concordance, vol. 2, 467.

Counsels on Finances at Madison

When Madison was started, the comments in the diaries showed that one of the main points of contention between the General Conference and those who were trying to start Madison was over money.

Inspiration has given us no right to feel that all the means should be handled through one organization.

“All the means are not to be handled by one agency or organization . . . To those in our conferences who have felt that they had authority to forbid the gathering of means in certain territory I now say: This matter has been presented to me again and again. I now bear my testimony in the name of the Lord to those whom it concerns. Wherever you are, withhold your forbiddings. The work of God is not to be thus trammeled . . . This wonderful burden of responsibility which some suppose God has placed upon them with their official position, has never been laid upon them.” Spalding-Magan Collection, 421, 422.

“You ask me what you shall do in view of the fact that so little help is given to that department of the work in which you are working.

“I would say, ‘Trust it with the Lord. There is a way opened for you in regard to securing help for the Southern field. Appeal to the people. This is the only course you can pursue, under the circumstances.

“Send no statement of the situation through our religious papers; because it will not be honored. Send direct to the people. God’s ways are not to be counterworked by man’s ways. There are those who have means, and who will give large and small sums. Have this money come direct to your destitute portion of the vineyard. The Lord has not specified any regular channel through which means should pass.’” Ibid., 498.

If we cannot understand language as plain as that, I do not know what we will do.

Because of the great apostasy, God authorized independent, self-supporting work as one of the means through which He would finish His work. Do not let anybody tell you that self-supporting work is not Seventh-day Adventist, that something that is not controlled, directed or authorized by the conference is not Seventh-day Adventist. It is. A self-supporting school can be Seventh-day Adventist, a self-supporting sanitarium can be Seventh-day Adventist, a self-supporting printing press can be Seventh-day Adventist, and a self-supporting local congregation can be Seventh-day Adventist. The important thing is to test the work by what Paul says in Galatians 2. Is it according to the truth? If it is according to the truth of inspiration, you can depend on it.

Whatever happens, one of these days very soon the truth is going to triumph. When the truth triumphs, I want to be with it, do you? Let us dedicate ourselves in prayer to be faithful to the truth no matter what happens.

Appendix

“There are ministers’ wives, Sisters Starr, Haskell, Wilson, and Robinson, who have been devoted, earnest, whole-souled workers, giving Bible readings and praying with families, helping along by personal efforts just as successfully as their husbands. These women give their whole time, and are told that they receive nothing for their labors because their husbands receive their wages. I tell them to go forward and all such decisions shall be reversed. The Word says, “The laborer is worthy of his hire.” When any such decision as this is made, I will in the name of the Lord, protest. I will feel it in my duty to create a fund from my tithe money, to pay these women who are accomplishing just as essential work as the ministers are doing, and this tithe I will reserve for work in the same line as that of the ministers, hunting for souls, fishing for souls. I know that the faithful women should be paid wages proportionate to the pay received by ministers. They carry the burden of souls, and should not be treated unjustly. These sisters are giving their time to educating those newly come to the faith, and hire their own work done, and pay those who work for them. All these things must be adjusted and set in order, and justice be done to all. Proof-readers in the office receive their wages, two dollars and a half and three dollars a week. This I have had to pay, and others have to pay. But ministers’ wives have nothing for their labor. This will give you an idea of how matters are in this conference. There are seventy-five souls organized into a church, who are paying their tithe into the conference, and as a saving plan it has been deemed essential to let these poor souls labor for nothing! But this does not trouble me, for I will not allow it to go thus.” Spalding and Magan Collection, 117, 118

“It has been presented to me for years that my tithe was to be appropriated by myself to aid the white and colored ministers who were neglected and did not receive sufficient properly to support their families. When my attention was called to aged ministers, white or black, it was my special duty to investigate into their necessities and supply their needs. This was to be my special work, and I have done this in a number of cases. No man should give notoriety to the fact that in special cases the tithe is used that way.

“In regard to the colored work in the South, that field has been and is still being robbed of the means that should come to the workers of that field. If there has been cases where our sisters have appropriated their tithe to the support of the ministers working for the colored people in the South, let every man, if he is wise, hold his peace.

“I have myself appropriated my tithe to the most needy cases brought to my notice. I have been instructed to do this; and as the money is not withheld from the Lord’s treasury, it is not a matter that should be commented upon; for it will necessitate my making known these matters, which I do not desire to do, because it is not best.

“Some cases have been kept before me for years, and I have supplied their needs from the tithe, as God has instructed me to do. And if any person shall say to me, Sister White, will you appropriate my tithe where you know it is most needed, I shall say, Yes, I will; and where it is most needed to help to do a work that is being left undone; and if this matter is given publicity, it will create knowledge which would better be left as it is. I do not care to give publicity to this work which the Lord has appointed me to do, and others to do.

“I send this matter to you so that you shall not make a mistake. Circumstances alter cases. I would not advise that any should make a practice of gathering up tithe money. But for years there have now and then been persons who have lost confidence in the appropriation of the tithe who have placed their tithe in my hands, and said that if I did not take it they would themselves appropriate it to the families of the most needy minister they could find. I have taken the money, given a receipt for it, and told them how it was appropriated.” Spalding and Magan Collection, 215, 216

“There are those who have means, and who will give large and small sums. Have this money come direct to your destitute portion of the vineyard. The Lord has not specified any regular channel through which means should pass.” Spalding and Magan Collection, 498

In Ellen White’s writings, “means” include tithe.

“Every soul who is honored in being a steward of God is to carefully guard the tithe money. This is sacred means.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, 185

“Of the means which is entrusted to man, God claims a certain portion—a tithe.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 149

“Should means flow into the treasury exactly according to God’s plan—a tenth of all the increase, there would be abundance to carry forward His work.” Evangelism, 252

“Pharisaism in the Christian world today is not extinct. The Lord desires to break up the course of precision which has become so firmly established, which has hindered instead of advancing his work. He desires his people to remember that here is a large space over which the light of present truth is to be shed. Divine wisdom must have abundant room in which to work. It is to advance without asking permission or support from those who have taken to themselves a kingly power. In the past one set of men have tried to keep in their own hands the control of all the means coming from the churches, and have used this means in a most disproportionate manner, erecting expensive buildings where such large buildings were unnecessary and uncalled for, and leaving needy places without help or encouragement. They have taken upon themselves the grave responsibility of retarding the work where the work should have been advanced. It has been left to a few supposed kindly minds to say what fields should be worked and what fields should be left unworked. A few men have kept the truth in circumscribed channels, because to open new fields would call for money. Only in those places in which they were interested have they been willing to invest means. And at the same time, in a few places, five times as much money as was necessary has been invested in buildings. The same amount of money used in establishing plants in places where the truth has never been introduced would have brought many souls to a saving knowledge of Christ.

“For years the same routine, the same “regular way” of working has been followed, and God’s work has been greatly hindered. The narrow plans that have been followed by those who did not have clear, sanctified judgment has resulted in a showing that is not approved by God.

“God calls for a revival and a reformation. The “regular lines” have not done the work which God desires to see accomplished. Let revival and reformation make constant changes. Something has been done in this line, but let not the work stop here. No! Let every yoke be broken. Let men awaken to the realization that they have an individual responsibility.

“The present showing is sufficient to prove to all who have the true missionary spirit that the “regular lines” may prove a failure and a snare. God helping his people, the circle of kings who dared to take such great responsibilities shall never again exercise their unsanctified power in the so-called “regular lines ” Spalding and Magan Collection, 174, 175

“Shall the “regular lines,” which say that every mind shall be controlled by two or three minds at Battle Creek, continue to bear sway? The Macedonian cry is coming from every quarter. Shall men go to the “regular lines” to see whether they will be permitted to labor, or shall they go out and work as best they can, depending on their own abilities and on the help of the Lord, beginning in a humble way and creating an interest in the truth in places in which nothing has been done to give the warning message? . . .

“Young men, go forth into the places to which you are directed by the Spirit of the Lord. Work with your hands, that you may be self-supporting, and as you have opportunity, proclaim the message of warning.

“The Lord has blessed the work that J.E. White has tried to do in the South. God grant that the voices which have been so quickly raised to say that all the money invested in the work must go through the appointed channel at Battle Creek, shall not be heard. The people to whom God has given his means are amenable to him alone. It is their privilege to give direct aid and assistance to missions. It is because of the misappropriation of means that the Southern field has no better showing than it has today . . .

“I have to say, my brother, that I have no desire to see the work in the South moving forward in the old, regular lines. When I see how strongly the idea prevails that the methods of handling our books in the past shall be retained, because what has been must be, I have no heart to advise that former customs shall continue.” Spalding and Magan Collection, 176, 177

“In their work, Brethren Magan and Sutherland have been hindered unnecessarily. Means have been withheld from them because in the organization and management of the Madison school, it was not placed under the control of the conference. But the reasons why this school was not owned and controlled by the conference have not been duly considered . . .

“The Lord does not require that the educational work at Madison shall be changed all about before it can receive the hearty support of our people. The work that has been done there is approved of God, and He forbids that this line of work shall be broken up. The Lord will continue to bless and sustain the workers so long as they follow His counsel. . . .

“The leaders in the work of the Madison school are laborers together with God. More must be done in their behalf by their brethren. The Lord’s money is to sustain them in their labors. They have a right to share the means given to the cause. They should be given a proportionate share of the means that comes in for the furtherance of the cause.” Madison School, 31, 32

“The tithe should go to those who labor in word and doctrine, be they men or women.” Evangelism, 492

“Paul set an example against the sentiment . . . that the gospel could be proclaimed successfully only by those who were wholly freed from the necessity of physical toil. He illustrated in a practical way what might be done by consecrated laymen in many places where the people were unacquainted with the truths of the gospel . . .

“It is God’s design that such workers shall be freed from unnecessary anxiety, that they may have full opportunity to obey the injunction of Paul to Timothy, “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them” (1 Tim. 4:15). While they should be careful to exercise sufficiently to keep mind and body vigorous, yet it is not God’s plan that they should be compelled to spend a large part of their time at secular employment.” Acts of the Apostles, 355, 356

“There are fearful woes for those who preach the truth, but are not sanctified by it, and also for those who consent to receive and maintain the unsanctified to minister to them in word and doctrine.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 261, 262

“As there are woes for those who preach the truth while they are unsanctified in heart and life, so there are woes for those who receive and maintain the unsanctified in the position which they cannot fill.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 552

“The children of Israel beheld the awful semblance of God’s presence in the mount but before Moses had been forty days away from them, they substituted a golden calf for Jehovah. Things similar to this have been done among us as a people. Let us now return to God in penitence and contrition. Let us trust in Him, not in man.” Kress Collection, 120

“There are only two places in the world where we can deposit our treasures—in God’s storehouse or in Satan’s, and all that is not devoted to Christ’s service is counted on Satan’s side and goes to strengthen his cause.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 447

“The word “storehouse” is equivalent to the word ‘treasury.’ If all TITHES were brought into the storehouse, God’s treasury would not be empty.” Pacific Union Recorder, 10

“Brethren Sutherland and Magan should be encouraged to solicit means for the support of their work. It is the privilege of these brethren to receive gifts from any of our people whom the Lord impresses to help. They should have means—God’s means—with which to work. . . Our people are to be encouraged to give of their means to this work which is preparing students in a sensible and creditable way to go forth into neglected fields to proclaim the soon coming of Christ.” Spalding and Magan Collection, 422

“There is to be no man that has the right to put his hand out and say, No, you can not go there; we won’t support you if you go here. Why, what have you to do with supporting? Did they create the means? The means come from the people, and those who are destitute fields. The voice of God has told me to instruct them to go to the people and to tell them their necessities, and to draw all the people to work just where they can find a place to work, to build up the work in every place they can.” Spalding and Magan Collection, 168

“Representations have been made to me of a work that does not bear the divine credentials. The prohibitions that have been bound about the labors of those who would go forth to warn the people in the cities of the soon coming judgments, should every one be removed. None are to be hindered from bearing the message of present truth to the world. Let the workers receive their directions from God. When the Holy Spirit impresses a believer to do a certain work for God, leave the matter to Him and the Lord. I am instructed to say to you, Break every yoke that would prevent the message from going forth with power to the cities. This work of proclaiming the truth in the cities will take means, but it will also bring in means. A much greater work would have been done if men had not been so zealous to watch and hinder some who were seeking to obtain means from the people to carry forward the work of the Lord.” Spalding and Magan Collection, 435

“If we are to bear a part in this work to its close, we must recognize the fact that there are good things to come to the people of God in a way that we had not discerned; and that there will be resistance from the very ones we expected to engage in such a work. A man that is sincere in the wrong is not justified in the wrong.” 1888 Materials, 1024

The End

Editorial – Separation, Necessary or Just Advice?

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The Scripture says, “what participation has righteousness with lawlessness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14. The lawless are those who break one or more of God’s commandments and teach others to do so. We are to love these people enough to tell them the truth of the Three Angel’s Messages. But as long as they have heard and not accepted the Three Angels’ Messages in entirety and are not living by them, they are described in the scripture as the “unclean,” (those who break God’s law are described throughout scripture as defiled or unclean) the “children of the world,” the “children of darkness,” the “world,” and unbelievers,” etc. This does not mean that they are not professed Christians, but they are still part of what the book of Revelation calls “Babylon” and are called to come out. Revelation 14:8-12. As long as they remain in Babylon in their lawbreaking condition, God’s faithful children must be separate from them. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. Notice how clear the counsel of God is: “Those who join themselves to worldly men, that they may carry out their unsanctified purposes, make a fearful mistake; for they forfeit the favor and blessing of God.” This Day With God, 354.

“You are not to unite with unbelievers in medical work.” Medical Ministry, 45.

“Let not God’s people in any of our institutions sign a truce with the enemy of God and man. The duty of the church to the world is not to come down to their ideas and accept their opinions, their suggestions, but to heed the words of Christ through His servant Paul. (2 Corinthians 6:14, 15 quoted.) This means in a special sense marriage with unbelievers, but it covers more ground than this: it means in our instrumentalities ordained of God, in our institutions for health, in our colleges, in our publishing houses.” Testimonies to Ministers, 271.

“The children of the world are called the children of darkness. They are blinded by the god of this world, and are led by the spirit of the prince of darkness. They cannot enjoy heavenly things. The children of light have their affections set on things above. They leave behind them the things of this world. They fulfill the command, ‘Come out from among them and be ye separate.’ Here is the conditional promise, ‘I will receive you.’ Christ from the beginning has chosen his people out of the world, and required them to be separate, having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. If they love God and keep his commandments, they will be far from having the friendship, and loving the pleasures, of the world. There is no concord between Christ and Belial.” Review and Herald, June 25, 1861.

“’Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean.’ This means that the children of God are in no case to be contaminated with the spirit of the world, to receive its evil suggestions, nor to come under its influence. Be afraid of uniting with the world in secret societies, or of being bound in bundles with them. Be afraid of communicating to the world that which concerns the cause of God; for they would have no sympathy with those who love the truth of God.” Review and Herald, July 31, 1894

“Satan is constantly seeking to strengthen his power over the people of God by inducing them to enter into alliance with the hosts of darkness. And to accomplish this he endeavors to arouse unsanctified passions in the heart which is naturally prone to evil. It is not safe for Christians to imitate the example of the ungodly, or to yield to their influence. The wisest counsels of the wicked are not to be relied upon.” Signs of the Times, October 6, 1881.

“May the Lord bless his people with spiritual eyesight, to see that the children of God and the world can never be in copartnership. Whosoever will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God…Let us not form unholy bonds of union, with the friends of the world; for God has pronounced his curse upon all such unions…Let not the world’s direction and propositions be given to God’s people to control them. Woe be unto him whose wisdom is not from above but from beneath! Men of superficial piety, by their desire to receive patronage, to obtain fame, betray the most sacred interests into the hands of unbelievers. Let not money be obtained by touching or sanctioning any unclean practices.” Testimonies to Ministers, 276, 277.

The End

Miracle! The Conversion Testimony of John Lazor

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I was born in Stockbridge, Michigan, United States of America, in 1953, and raised in Northville, near Detroit. I wasn’t raised in a Christian home; on the contrary, I grew up in a very dysfunctional family with an abusive, alcoholic father. Life for me was very difficult. I never felt loved by either of my parents in my growing-up years, and my four siblings and I fought almost constantly. Rarely did I ever see my father sober, and in his drunken stupors I was often beaten for no reason at all, causing me to grow up bitter and hateful. There was just one bright spot in my childhood years—my mother saw a need to have us obtain some religious training, so she sent us off to a nondenominational Sunday School and church on the church bus. Attending somewhat regularly, and accepting Jesus Christ as my Saviour resulted in my baptism at age 13. However, things changed drastically in my mid-teen years.

It is no wonder that in my mid-teen years I started hanging around with a bad crowd, quit attending church, and became heavily involved with alcohol, using and selling drugs, stealing, partying, attending rock music concerts, and all that goes with that wild lifestyle. Although having been arrested for a felony and spending some time in jail, I still believed in God—that He was up there somewhere, just looking down on me. But I wanted nothing to do with Him. I just wanted to live my own life the way I wanted to live.

But something within me began to change when I was 18 years old. I began to realize that the life I was living was empty and vain. This caused me to think for the first time about my future. I realized that I wanted something more in life; that the life of drugs and partying was not the way I wanted to live my whole life. I thought that now, as an adult, I needed to start thinking seriously about having a job, a family, etc. I knew that I needed to change my lifestyle, so I decided that I should quit the drugs and alcohol, and start going back to church. So, I returned to church, and tried to change my ways. But it was more difficult to change the drug and alcohol habits after several years than I had thought! I would stay away from the drugs and alcohol for a few weeks—or even a few months—then it was back with my old friends, and into the old situations again, and before I knew it, I was right back there in my old ways. This continued for about a year-and-a-half: the attempts to change my life, and then the fall back into my old lifestyle.

Then one night at the age of 20, there was a breakthrough. I had been clean and sober for about six months. Then for three weekends in a row I fell victim to the devil’s temptations, and found myself using the drugs again! I thought I’d had the victory after six months, but found how weak I was when hanging out with the wrong crowd. My willpower was not as strong as I had thought. On that last of the three weekends, Friday night, January 26, 1973, something happened that forever changed my life. After again falling into the trap of getting high with a girlfriend, I went home and felt guiltier than ever before. Unlike other times, I now realized that I had no strength in myself to overcome that terrible drug habit, and that the only way to overcome it would be by taking hold of the strength of God! For the first time in my life, I fell down on my knees and cried out to God for help to gain the victory that I was powerless in myself to achieve! And the Lord answered that prayer right then! Getting up off my knees, I felt a new power—God’s power—surging through me. I remember saying words to the effect, “Praise God; I’ll never get high again!” It was as though God showed me right then and there that the victory was won forever, for now it was God who was doing it, not me! And, praise the Lord, that victory was real, and is real, for it has now been more than 38 years since that life-changing night, and I have never once used drugs or alcohol since! But that was only the beginning.

I knew right away that if God has the power to change my life in such a dramatic way instantly, then that’s the kind of God I wanted to live for! I then recommitted my life to the Lord and I started to read the Bible more regularly and seriously, searching for a church that followed the Bible all the way. I realized that the church I had been attending had many man-made teachings instead of basing them all on the Bible, so I went to Catholic, Pentecostal, “The Jesus People,” and many other churches in search of a truly Bible-based church. Finding none, I was very disappointed and decided that I would quit attending formal church services, and just meet with a few friends to have our own “church” services under a tree. It was at this time that an old friend, who had also become a Christian about the same time I was reconverted, showed me a beautiful Bible he had received as a gift. I told him that the old Bible I had was falling apart—literally missing pages, and the cover falling off. I wanted a new Bible, but I couldn’t afford one. He told me that I could get a free Bible. I wanted to know how. He told me to just pray to God, and ask Him to send me a free Bible! I believed that God was interested in even small things, so I began to pray for a new free Bible.

Within a few weeks of beginning to pray for a new Bible, my mother received a brochure in the mail, with an invitation to attend a “Voice of Prophecy” Bible crusade. I had no idea what the Voice of Prophecy was, but several things in the brochure made it clear to me that this was of God, and that He wanted me to attend that crusade. The most prominent of them was that if I attended 19 of the 27 meetings, I would receive a free Bible! There was the answer to my prayer! I knew that the Lord wanted me to attend this crusade to get my free Bible! I had no idea what church or denomination was holding the crusade, for it was held in a community center. But I knew that I was supposed to be at those meetings.

The first thing I noticed when entering that community center in Plymouth, Michigan, in April of 1973 were the smiles on the faces of the young people who greeted me at the door. All of the people there seemed radiant with the love of Christ. I wasn’t used to seeing this at the other meetings I had attended, so this made a good impression right away. But the most important thing was the message. It was straight from the Bible! None of man’s added teachings! I was invited back night after night, and I gladly came. I wanted that free Bible—but after a few nights, I realized that there was another reason I was to be there—it was that Bible-based teaching I so hungered for, but found nowhere else! I knew now that I was attending not just for that free Bible, but also for the life-changing truth that I was hearing each night! Unlike all the other meetings I had attended, the pastor, Elder Robert Wiese, handed out a paper each night with every text that was used in the sermon, and encouraged us to go home and look up all the texts and study them for ourselves! That’s what I really wanted—sermons based completely on the Bible! And every night after the sermon, the pastor would encourage us to go “all the way with the Lord”; not just what was convenient, but to accept all His teachings, and go all the way with Him! And this was what I wanted!

After the 19 nights and my free Bible, of course, I knew that I was to attend the rest of the meetings, for by that time I knew that this was God’s true message, and that the real reason God had led me there was to bring me to His marvelous light of truth! After learning the truth about the true Sabbath, the state of man in death, the Three Angels’ Messages, Bible prophecy, and more, I knew that this was God’s true message, and that I wanted to be part of God’s true church! At the last meeting when the pastor made a call for all who wanted to follow the Lord all the way, and to be baptized, and be a part of His last day remnant church to come forward, all of my former shyness left me immediately, and I was on my feet and at the front, committing my life to God’s true message, and publicly showing my desire to serve Him and be part of His true church! I gave my life totally to Jesus—accepted Him as Saviour and Lord of my life, to live for Him!

Pastor Wiese came to my home and gave me follow-up Bible studies, which further solidified my understanding of God’s word and His present truth message for these last days. Then in July, I attended part of the Michigan Seventh-day Adventist Camp Meeting, which I felt was “a taste of heaven”! I learned much Bible truth at those wonderful meetings. I also became a vegetarian at that camp meeting, and have been so for nearly 38 years! Then on August 25, 1973, I was baptized in the Plymouth Seventh-day Adventist Church, and became a member that day. It was the most wonderful day of my life! There’s a song that tells how I felt in my newfound faith: “New Life in Christ,” by John W. Peterson. The lyrics are:

New life in Christ! Abundant and free!

What glories shine, What joys are mine,

What wondrous blessings I see!

My past with its sin, The searching and strife

Forever gone—There’s a bright new dawn!

For in Christ I have found New Life!

Two years later, I felt the call of God to the gospel ministry. I was led to Southern Missionary College (now Southern Adventist University) in Collegedale, Tennessee, United States of America, to study for the ministry. After four years, I received my Bachelor’s degree in theology, and began my ministry in the Florida Conference as a youth pastor. Since then, I have been involved in ministry as a pastor, academy Bible teacher, academy chaplain, and academy boys’ dean in several states, drug education counselor, and short-term foreign missions worker in Romania, Thailand, and the Philippines. I presently serve as director of Paradise Ministries International, a self-supporting ministry in Hawaii, operating a Bible Correspondence School and literature distribution program. My greatest desire is to see the Three Angels’ Messages spread throughout the entire world, so that Jesus may come again, and all of the faithful be gathered with Him in that glorious Kingdom He is preparing for us, to be with Him forever! Maranatha!

John Lazor is founder and director of Paradise Ministries International of Hawaii, and pastors the Paradise Free Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kalapana, Hawaii. Pastor Lazor may be contacted by phone at: 808-965-2666, or by e-mail at: paradisemin7@yahoo.com.

Would you like to share how the Lord has worked in your life? Because of space, not all submissions can be published, but we would love to hear from you. Please write or email us at: landmarks@stepstolife.org.

Bible Study Guides – The Greatest Evidence

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June 26, 2011 – July 2, 2011

Families for Christ

Key Text

“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” Matthew 5:14.

Study Help: The Adventist Home, 25–39; Welfare Ministry, 35–49.

Introduction

“The greatest evidence of the power of Christianity that can be presented to the world is a well-ordered, well-disciplined family. This will recommend the truth as nothing else can, for it is a living witness of its practical power upon the heart.” The Adventist Home, 32.

1 THE ORIGINAL PLAN

  • What was the first institution given by God to His creation? Genesis 2:23, 24. What did this relationship include? Genesis 1:27, 28. How did God describe all that He had created? Genesis 1:31.

Note: “As the Creator joined the hands of the holy pair in wedlock, saying, A man shall ‘leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one’ (Genesis 2:24), He enunciated the law of marriage for all the children of Adam to the close of time. That which the Eternal Father Himself had pronounced good was the law of highest blessing and development for man.” Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 63, 64.

  • How long was this relationship to continue? Matthew 19:4–6.

Note: “This [marriage] vow links the destinies of the two individuals with bonds which naught but the hand of death should sever.

“Every marriage engagement should be carefully considered, for marriage is a step taken for life. Both the man and the woman should carefully consider whether they can cleave to each other through the vicissitudes of life as long as they both shall live.” The Adventist Home, 340.

2 OUR INFLUENCE ON ONE ANOTHER

  • What effect can our influence have on the family? Psalm 128:1–6; I Peter 3:1. Which influence will we choose?

Note: “No member of the family can enclose himself within himself, where other members of the family shall not feel his influence and spirit. The very expression of the countenance has an influence for good or evil. His spirit, his words, his actions, his attitude toward others, are unmistakable. If he is living in selfishness, he surrounds his soul with a malarious atmosphere; while if he is filled with the love of Christ, he will manifest courtesy, kindness, tender regard for the feelings of others and will communicate to his associates, by his acts of love, a tender, grateful, happy feeling. It will be made manifest that he is living for Jesus and daily learning lessons at His feet, receiving His light and His peace.” The Adventist Home, 33, 34.

  • What effect can we have upon our church family? Acts 2:44–47; John 13:34.

Note: “Remember that just as you are in your family, so will you be in the church. Just as you treat your children, so will you treat Christ. If you cherish an un-Christlike spirit, you are dishonoring God.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1131.

  • What commitment is needed in both the family and the church? Colossians 3:9, 10; Galatians 5:13.

Note: “The happiness of families and churches depends upon home influences. Eternal interests depend upon the proper discharge of the duties of this life. The world is not so much in need of great minds as of good men who will be a blessing in their homes. …

“The truth lived at home makes itself felt in disinterested labor abroad. He who lives Christianity in the home will be a bright and shining light everywhere.” The Adventist Home, 37–39.

3 REACHING OUT

  • How far should the influence of our family and church reach? Galatians 2:10; James 2:6–8; 1:27.

Note: “The first work of Christians is to be united in the family. Then the work is to extend to their neighbors nigh and afar off. Those who have received light are to let the light shine forth in clear rays. Their words, fragrant with the love of Christ, are to be a savor of life unto life.” The Adventist Home, 37.

  • How should we behave toward our neighbors? Galatians 5:14.

Note: “God is displeased with the selfish interest so often manifested for ‘me and my family.’ Every family that cherishes this spirit needs to be converted by the pure principles exemplified in the life of Christ. Those who shut themselves up within themselves, who are unwilling to be drawn upon to entertain visitors, lose many blessings.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 344.

“We are in a world of sin and temptation; all around us are souls perishing out of Christ, and God wants us to labor for them in every way possible. If you have a pleasant home, invite to it the youth who have no home, those who are in need of help, who long for sympathy and kind words, for respect and courtesy. If you desire to bring them to Christ, you must show your love and respect for them as the purchase of His blood.” Ibid., 348.

“Unless there is practical self-sacrifice for the good of others, in the family circle, in the neighborhood, in the church, and wherever we may be, then whatever our profession, we are not Christians.” The Desire of Ages, 504.

  • What will this accomplish? Matthew 5:16; II Corinthians 3:2.

Note: “Let the world see that we are not selfishly narrowed up to our own exclusive interests and religious joys, but that we are liberal, and desire them to share our blessings and privileges, through the sanctification of the truth. Let them see that the religion which we profess does not close up or freeze over the avenues to the soul, making us unsympathizing and exacting. … We shall then see many souls following the light that shines from our precept and example.” Welfare Ministry, 295.

4 INTO ALL THE WORLD

  • What is our commission? Mark 16:15.
  • What is the best way to preach the gospel? I Timothy 4:12, 16.

Note: “Character is power. The silent witness of a true, unselfish, godly life carries an almost irresistible influence. By revealing in our own life the character of Christ we cooperate with Him in the work of saving souls. It is only by revealing in our life His character that we can cooperate with Him. And the wider the sphere of our influence, the more good we may do. When those who profess to serve God follow Christ’s example, practicing the principles of the law in their daily life; when every act bears witness that they love God supremely and their neighbor as themselves, then will the church have power to move the world.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 340.

“God would have our families symbols of the family in heaven. Let parents and children bear this in mind every day, relating themselves to one another as members of the family of God. Then their lives will be of such a character as to give to the world an object lesson of what families who love God and keep His commandments may be.” The Adventist Home, 17.

  • Can we actually have an effect upon the society around us? John 13:35.

Note: “Society is composed of families, and is what the heads of families make it. Out of the heart are the ‘issues of life’; and the heart of the community, of the church, and of the nation is the household. The well-being of society, the success of the church, the prosperity of the nation, depend upon home influences.” The Adventist Home, 15.

“One well-ordered, well-disciplined family is a greater power in demonstrating the efficiency of Christianity than all the sermons in the world.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, 1118.

“Our business in this world … is to see what virtues we can teach our children and our families to possess, that they shall have an influence upon other families, and thus we can be an educating power although we never enter into the desk. …

“A lamp, however small, if kept steadily burning, may be the means of lighting many other lamps.” The Adventist Home, 32, 33.

5 A SPECTACLE UNTO ANGELS

  • What effect do our positive actions have in heaven? I Corinthians 4:9; Hebrews 12:22; Matthew 5:19.

Note: “Angels delight in a home where God reigns supreme and the children are taught to reverence religion, the Bible, and their Creator.” The Adventist Home, 28.

  • How do our sins and mistakes affect our heavenly Father and the other heavenly beings? Ephesians 4:30; Ezekiel 18:32.

Note: “Those who think of the result of hastening or hindering the gospel think of it in relation to themselves and to the world. Few think of its relation to God. Few give thought to the suffering that sin has caused our Creator. All heaven suffered. … Every departure from the right, every deed of cruelty, every failure of humanity to reach His ideal, brings grief to Him.” Education, 263.

  • What should be our most important consideration? Romans 15:6. What is the opposite of this, which we must avoid? Matthew 10:33.

Note: “In our mingling in society, in families, or in whatever relations of life we are placed, either limited or extended, there are many ways wherein we may acknowledge our Lord and many ways wherein we may deny Him. We may deny Him in our words, by speaking evil of others, by foolish talking, jesting and joking, by idle or unkind words, or by prevaricating, speaking contrary to truth.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 331, 332.

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 What does God want to accomplish through the family unit?

2 How can we be a better influence in our homes and church?

3 What does God want you to understand about the blessings He bestows?

4 How can the family have an impact on the world?

5 How do you affect the heavenly family in your everyday life?

Copyright © 2002 Reformation Herald Publishing Association, 5240 Hollins Road, Roanoke, Virginia. Reprinted by permission.

Renaissance Church

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Founded as a haven for true and faithful Seventh-day Adventist believers in need of a place to worship together untainted by false teachings and celebration services, Renaissance Church opened its doors for its first Sabbath service on July 4, 1992. Nestled in the foothills southwest of Denver in a quiet country setting near Sedalia, Colorado, the members of Renaissance Church take seriously Ellen White’s counsel that “as wickedness increases in the great cities, we shall have to work them from outpost centers.” Review and Herald, July 5, 1906. Renaissance Church serves as an outpost to the Denver metropolitan area but most specifically to the smaller “bedroom communities” of Sedalia, Castle Rock, and Louviers.

Pastor John Grosboll with Steps to Life broke the Bread of Life for the special communion service held that first Sabbath, serving almost 200 attendees. Believing the number in attendance that day was an indication of the hungering so many Seventh-day Adventist believers have to hear the Three Angels’ Messages taught from the pulpit, Renaissance Church sponsors a guest speaker each month who presents Historic Seventh-day Adventist teachings. Many of our fellow believers who may not otherwise have the opportunity to hear historic doctrine are being fed through these spiritually uplifting weekends.

In the book Education, 191, Mrs. White tells us that “when a real love for the Bible is awakened, and the student begins to realize how vast is the field and how precious its treasure, he will desire to seize upon every opportunity for acquainting himself with God’s word.” So it is for the individuals attending Renaissance Church. In addition to the mid-week prayer meetings, one Sabbath afternoon each month is devoted to Bible marking sessions and another to doctrinal studies. These activities provide a treasured time of fellowship, and also strengthen our faith, giving us a deep desire to share that faith, and encourages us to be bold in our outreach endeavors. As a result of our group studies, God has blessed with several baptisms. Others are currently studying in anticipation of being baptized at our summer convocation in August.

To “soften the community,” a twelve part doctrinal tract series has been distributed to 5,000 homes near our church. Each Christmas season, special gifts from the church are delivered to homes and businesses in Sedalia. The first year we provided a freshly baked loaf of bread to each home and business. The last two years we have given packages of trail mix. We also adopted a two-mile stretch of highway near Sedalia and volunteer time to keep the roadside clean of litter. A sign at both ends of the two miles acknowledges our group by name for the clean-up. One Seventh-day Adventist family who recently moved to the Denver area is worshipping with us because they saw the signs!

Through these humble beginnings we have learned indeed that “he who begins with a little knowledge, and tells what he knows, at the same time seeking for more knowledge, will become qualified to do a larger work. The more light he gathers to his own soul, the more of heavenly illumination will he be able to impart to others.” Gospel Workers, 98.

As we gained name recognition within the community, we decided in 1994 it was time to use the “entering wedge” and introduce healthful living alternatives through vegetarian cooking classes. Each series of four classes has had members of the community in attendance who are thrilled with the information being provided. We have been especially grateful to see several of the attendees join us for Sabbath services when Danny Vierra of Modern Manna Ministries was our guest speaker, addressing health issues.

Renaissance Church sponsored a booth at the Douglas County Fair in August, 1995. Our theme, “Vegetarian Advantage,” provided a positive view of eliminating meat from the diet and lowering cholesterol for general health improvement. Often lines of people were waiting for the free samples of bulgur burger taco filling (a hamburger substitute made from bulgur wheat) and the children especially enjoyed the healthy, sugarless cookies. Some visitors told us they were sent to our booth from the Colorado State University Extension Agent’s booth to learn more about wholesome vegetarian cooking. Free literature, books, and recipes were available, and we obtained many names of individuals interested in attending the vegetarian cooking classes we sponsor six times a year. Booth space is already reserved for the 1996 county fair when we will be giving away the book Steps to Christ as well as other truth-filled literature.

Another avenue of outreach to families in the community will be provided through a before and after school care program beginning this fall. The curriculum of activities will include morning worship with the children before they are taken to school. Renaissance Academy will open to the community this fall, offering full-time classes as well as subject specific classes for homeschooled students (one out of five families in the county homeschool). Principles of truth will be presented in the classroom, and it is our prayer that families will be reached through the children and the lessons they learn at school.

On March 3, 1996, we prayerfully began featuring Steps to Life Sunday television programming on Channel 41, KRMT-TV in Denver. Considering the cost and competition for air time in the Denver market, this is quite an undertaking for a church our size. Such topics as “The Origin of the Bible,” “Attacks on the Bible,” “War in Heaven,” and “The Great Controversy” have begun what we pray will be a six-month to one-year airing of historic Seventh-day Adventist doctrines to the two million plus inhabitants of the Denver metroplex. One goal of our television outreach is to give everyone within the viewing area the opportunity to hear the Three Angels’ Messages. Several dozen requests for Bible lesson studies and free books have already been received. Another goal of our television outreach is to awaken the Laodicean Adventists in the Denver area to the nearness of Christ’s coming.

With God’s help we plan to follow up the television series with a Revelation Seminar. It is our constant prayer that God will continue to use the Renaissance Church as a light upon the hill.

Reporting from the Philippines – Pressing Forward Despite Difficulties

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The work in the Philippines is going forward and we are very busy. There are currently eight historic Seventh-day Adventist pastors and we have plans to increase that number to 10 very soon. Their work is mainly evangelism and also visiting and strengthening and organizing the home churches. In April we had a month long training session for the young people which was followed by a month long evangelistic series in Roblon. They learned how to go door to door and sing for the people and give health talks and Bible studies in their homes.

At first the meetings in Roblon were in the open air but when rain interfered we rented a very old condemned school building and completed the series there. Our evangelistic meetings could be helped with a tent and a good PA system. The young people were active in visitation in the villages during the day and assisting the ministers with the meetings each evening. There are about thirty-five young people who are involved in Bible work. But after we trained them we have no more funds to support them in their work. All of the pastors have given up good jobs to go into full time gospel work and they and their families often suffer want as they sacrifice for the work.

We recently held a campmeeting on Palawan. There are two home church groups there who have been constructing church buildings. We are thankful to the supporters of Steps to Life for assisting financially so that these buildings could be completed.

We have been receiving many urgent calls from groups of Catholics (the Philippines is 80-85 % Catholic) who are asking to hear our message. Brother Jun Mendoza and Brother Willie just returned from meeting with a group in Urdaneta Pangasinan in central Luzon. This was a group of Catholics, mostly professional people, who have been studying the Bible and have their own chapel. They were very open to the health message and some became vegetarians immediately. They also enjoyed the messages of prophecy. They asked us to give a series of studies. Hopefully we will be returning soon.

Some of the pastors have been requested by conference SDA churches to give presentations on health and prophecy topics and we have seen some changes with a growing openness. They have learned that Elder Ralph Larson has helped our work and they are more open since he is highly respected here because he taught here in the seminary for many years. Also, we have been explaining about historic Adventist. They know the older conservative Adventists don’t cook on Sabbath and are health reformers and they know that we believe these things and they ask if we are “original” and we say yes we are original or historic Adventist. One young lady from a home church was asked to give health lectures during the first half hour of a radio broadcast sponsored by a conference church and this is working well. We are slowly able to present the Spirit of Prophecy to them. We are praying for a reformation.

One pastor in Palawan has been asked by a group of SDA students in the public university to start a study with them. This is a group of several hundred young people. This will involve a great deal of travel which is costly.

We are moving forward with organizing the home churches with each group electing elders, deacons, a treasurer and clerk. We have been having meetings to decide on the best way to organize for the improvement of the evangelistic work so that we work like a team. We have read of the organization in Ghana and see that it benefits their efforts to have organization.

We have difficulty visiting the many home churches scattered throughout the provinces. Some of the young people are studying under the pastors and are visiting some of the remote home churches. The young people are learning to carry some of the pastorial duties of the pastors.

Brother Willie will be traveling to Mindanao soon to meet with the home churches and to visit the home church school on that island. Workers on this island have a vegetarian restaurant and bakery and often give Daniel and Revelation seminars in cottage meetings. They also have a radio broadcast.

The headquarters for the Philippine work will be in Mindoro on a property which has been donated. This property is in need of some repairs but it includes a large home which can house the offices and a building which was once a shoe factory which can be used for a training center and possibly contain a publishing work in the future. Renovations and office equipment are needed to furnish this facility.

Plans are being made for a program of medical missionary training for the many young people who have requested this training. The curriculum is being prepared now. They will be learning the eight laws of health and also hydrotherapy and simple home remedies. This training will be held in the old shoe factory on Mindoro during the month of August.

We continue to have a radio broadcast in Manila which has one half hour of health lectures and one half hour of evangelistic Bible sermons. The funding for this broadcast will end in a few months. There have been many calls and requests for literature through this broadcast but the supply of books is inadequate.

There is so much work that we are not able to answer all the calls. The people are open when we go door to door and we can always find interested people who wish to study. We have willing workers but limited funds which keep us from doing all that we want to do.

There are workers who wish to start a Bible Correspondence school and others who want to open a sanitarium. When there are funds to copy tracts and literature this is used quickly to meet requests. Many home churches are active in literature distribution.

We want to thank the supporters of Steps to Life for the assistance with books and child evangelism materials, for help to complete construction of the chapels and also for your prayers.

 

Editor’s Note: This report is from Willie Manipol, Dave Matudan, Jr., and other pastors and workers in the Philippines. It contains excerpts from recent phone conversations and letters, which have been edited for this publication.

Conservative Adventists and the Shaking

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In the 1960’s and the 1970’s Adventism went through a shaking—many so-called “liberal” Adventists were shaken out by the new theology—they may still be attending an Adventist church today but they were shaken out of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15—the church is the pillar and ground of the truth so when you are shaken out of the truth you are shaken out of the church even if you go to “church.”) This new theology affected and is affecting the Advent movement in all parts of the world.

Conservative Adventists felt secure, but shouldn’t have, because the Bible predicted that everything that could be shaken would be shaken. In the middle 1980’s conservative Adventists, who had no question about the inspiration of the writings of Ellen White, or about the meaning of 1844 or the doctrine of the sanctuary, or the Three Angels’ Messages were shaken. This shaking has intensified. We must go through the purging process because God is sifting His people and will continue to do so until He has a holy church. See Testimonies, vol. 1, 99.

This shaking is now everywhere, through families, special or independent ministries, everything that can be shaken will be shaken and the shaking has become discouraged. They have heard so much evil speech about almost everybody that they do not know who to trust or even what to believe. They have heard ministers and leaders denouncing other ministers and leaders so much that they have believed that part of it must be true and they have lost confidence in anything or anybody. Soon the devil hopes to overwhelm their faith entirely and cause them to give up and go to perdition. But Jesus is going to have a people who endure all these troubles that Historic Adventism is presently going through, a people that will overcome all inclinations to backbite with the tongue and to take up a reproach against his neighbor. They will be a people who will strictly oppose sin in any garb and at the same time will be “slow to censure, quick to discern penitence, ready to forgive, to encourage, to set the wanderer in the path of holiness, and to stay his feet therein.” Desire of Ages, 462. We are praying that we may be a part of that remnant. In this magazine are reports from others who are praying and striving to be part of that remnant and we hope that this is your continual prayer and striving also.

“Satan has gained many victories over the professed followers of Jesus through their unchristlike spirit and behavior toward their brethren who do not agree with them, and toward unbelievers. The discussion of doctrines has not resulted in bringing union, but variance. A bitter spirit has been cherished, bitter words have been spoken. The words of the True Witness should be carefully studied by all “‘I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left they first love,’—grown cold, unsympathetic; hardness of heart has taken the place of brotherly, Christlike love. ‘Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent,’ This warning should be heeded by every church in our ranks. New elements of Christian life must be brought into the church. Love for Christ means a broad, extended love for one another, that love which is now so sadly wanting. The lack of love leads to the lack of respect for each other, and the neglect of true courtesy. There is criticizing, faultfinding, reporting words spoken in confidence, and using these to second the accusations of Satan, who is ever busy in sowing distrust, jealousy, and bitterness. Why do the members of the church run so readily into this evil work, overlooking the precious things? Why do they not speak words of approval and encouragement to one another, and thus water the precious plant of love, that it may not die out of the heart?” Review and Herald, February 9, 1892.

Heaven

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I want to share with you about heaven. I think it is so wonderful that we are preparing for that place, and we are all doing it together.

I am a lover of poetry and I like to use quite a lot of it:

The Master’s here at Sabbath School and e’er we start our day

Let us thank Him for the order of the day

Which helps us walk throughout the day the narrow way.

The Master’s here at Sabbath School and as we read and study and sing

We ask the Master for the very tool that will shape our lives to please the King.

The Master’s here at Sabbath School, let each countenance beam with joy

As we see with Him the mighty dual over evil in each adult, girl and boy.

The Master’s here at Sabbath School and with love, let each one do our part

To invite the Master into Sabbath School and into every life and heart.

There are many puzzling experiences we go through in this life not knowing which way to turn. But we are so thankful that God has promised to lead and guide us each day with the help of the holy angels and the Holy Spirit.

I am sure there are many who have the same kind of longing that I have, a longing to see Jesus return. We are almost home, but before we get there we have a work to do. We are told, “All heaven was represented to me [Ellen White] as beholding and watching upon the Sabbath those who acknowledge the claims of the fourth commandment and are observing the Sabbath. Angels were marking their interest in, and high regard for, this divine institution. Those who sanctified the Lord God in their hearts by a strictly devotional frame of mind, and who sought to improve the sacred hours in keeping the Sabbath to the best of their ability, and to honor God by calling the Sabbath a delight—these [souls] the angels were specially blessing with light and health, and special strength was given them.” Counsels for the Church, 271.

The Lord has given us the Sabbath as a blessing to help us on our way to heaven. I know that you all realize that sometimes the road is a little harder than that which we had planned, but remember, we are almost home.

“We are homeward bound. He who loved us so much as to die for us hath builded for us a city. The New Jerusalem is our place of rest. There will be no sadness in the city of God. No wail of sorrow, no dirge of crushed hopes and buried affections, will evermore be heard. Soon the garments of heaviness will be changed for the wedding garment. Soon we shall witness the coronation of our King. Those whose lives have been hidden with Christ, those who on this earth have fought the good fight of faith, will shine forth with the Redeemer’s glory in the kingdom of God.

“It will not be long till we shall see Him in Whom our hopes of eternal life are centered. And in His presence, all the trials and sufferings of this life will be as nothingness. … Look up, look up, and let your faith continually increase. Let this faith guide you along the narrow path that leads through the gates of the city of God into the great beyond, the wide, unbounded future of glory that is for the redeemed.” Maranatha, 352.

I am looking forward to that day with excitement. From day to day I think of the love of God and His promises and I think there is nothing in this world worth losing heaven for—no, not one thing. The following is something about the joy of heaven:

Knowest thou the joy of a handclasp of the return of a long, lost friend,

Then you begin to know the joy of eternity, the joy that will never end.

Knowest thou the joy of a mother as she clasps her firstborn babe,

Then you begin to know the joy of heaven, the joy that will never fade.

Knowest thou the joy of the birds, the bride and groom as together they start on their journey to trod,

Then you begin to know the joy, the wonderful joy that is found in the love of God.

The joy of this earth is small and short compared to the joy of our Father’s love,

As a drop in the Ocean is the joy on earth compared to the joy we will have up above.

I contemplate that joy and think of it a lot. I often look up at the clouds and think of that little cloud that starts out the size of a man’s fist. And as it gets bigger and closer, we will recognize it as the realization of all our hopes. It is the Second Coming and we will finally see Jesus and hear Him say, “Awake, awake” and the graves all over the world will open up and the dead in Christ shall rise. Oh how wonderful. This is more than any of us dare miss. It is more than anybody who has had the opportunity to know truth dare think of letting it slip by.

If we are to be saints in heaven we must first be saints on earth. “Those who in heaven join with the angelic choir in their anthem of praise must learn on earth the song of heaven, the keynote of which is thanksgiving.” Testimonies, vol. 7, 244.

Thankfulness must be learned and practiced. We need to learn to praise the Lord with our very breath and life, because as we learn these things on earth, we are preparing for eternity. As we come closer and closer to the end of time, the conflict between good and evil will become more severe. And though we often think of the outside conflict that will come, the real conflict occurs throughout day-to-day life. It is with those little annoyances, when you can’t get the screw to turn and you need more patience, when you have an appointment and you have to be there at a certain time and somebody knocks on the door and they talk and you can’t get away, or when you are ready to go some place and the phone rings and somebody needs help. It is at those times when we guard our patience and our thoughts and our words that we are being prepared for eternity.

All of the problems of this earth must be laid aside and then readily accept the providence of God and realize that He is leading us on the way. “The conflict in which you have to take an active part is found in your everyday life. Will you not in times of trial lay your desires by the side of the written word, and in earnest prayer seek Jesus for counsel? Many declare that it is certainly no harm to go to a concert and neglect the prayer-meeting, or absent themselves from meetings where God’s servants are to declare a message from heaven. It is safe for you to be just where Christ has said He would be.

“Those who appreciate the words of Christ will not turn aside from the prayer meeting, or from the meeting where the Lord’s messenger has been sent to tell them concerning things of eternal interest.” Messages to Young People, 140, 141.

Man was made a social creature and we need the association of one another. We need to be together and to attend our prayer meetings and other sacred meetings to receive the needed encouragement in order to do all the things necessary to shape up our lives for eternity, for we are on the road to heaven. “Those who enter heaven must learn on earth the song of heaven, the key-note of which is praise and thanksgiving. Only as they learn this song can they join in singing it with the heavenly choir.” The Signs of the Times, November 20, 1901.

My message to you is that Jesus is coming soon—get ready! As we are getting ready, we want to remember that heaven is not only for us but also for others, and we want others to be with us.

I hope to see each one of you there, and I hope that as we gather around that great white throne we will know one another and continue to develop the relationships we started on earth for eternity.

Jesus is coming in the clouds above.

He has told us about it in His book of love.

The Bible describes this glorious event

By the prophets whom to you He has sent.

The soldiers and Pilate heard Jesus say,

They’d see Him in the glorious day.

He promised the disciples there would be mansions for them,

That He would come back and for them to prepare.

The signs of His coming are described in the book

And we are to watch and to be ready and to look.

The nations will be angry and then overcharged with care.

Peace and safety they will cry but none will be there.

As I see these things happening, my heart overflows

And a longing to see Him in my breast grows.

With an urgency that is hard to describe,

The spirit impresses that I must decide.

Oh to meet Jesus, to be ready that day

For there I am longing and for this I pray.

I know there are mansions above in the sky.

I am planning to go to them and to occupy.

And I hope there is a mansion not far away

Where you will be living and planning to stay.

Oh let us be neighbors in that home up above

Where all is peace and joy and love.

Ruth Grosboll, matriarch of Steps to Life, lived a long life in the service of her Master. She served as a missionary nurse in Myanmar, formerly Burma. In her later years she held the position of receptionist and correspondent at Steps to Life Ministry, blessing many people with her heartfelt encouraging letters. She is sadly missed to this day.

Reporting from England

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My Experiences

In the early eighties the Lord sought me out and brought me from a life of crime into a conversion experience. For many years I had been a professional drug-dealer/smuggler and for at least twelve years I was using drugs on a daily basis. Thanks to the witnessing efforts of members of the Seventh-day Adventist church I was baptized into the church in 1983. For the next seven years the Lord led me through a time of spiritual growth and tuition until in 1990 my wife and I responded to a call to enter the mission field.

In January 1991 we left with our two children to follow the call to work as missionaries in Hungary and other parts of Eastern Europe. While in Hungary the work involved preaching the gospel in SDA churches and witnessing, the saving grace of Jesus Christ in schools, hospitals, prisons, community centers, and anywhere there was an opportunity. Much of the work involved speaking with drug addicts and alcoholics and introducing them to the true gospel. Evangelistic meetings were held not only in Hungary, but also Romania and (the then) Czechoslovakia, plus there were opportunities to speak to a wider audience through newspaper, radio, and television interviews in Hungary, Yugoslavia, and France. During this time the Lord also provided many opportunities to pursue my research into “the Mystery Babylon” of Revelation 17 and the influence of the “New Age Movement.” This research began in 1981 and drew on many aspects of my life “before Christ.” It seemed as if the Lord had been preparing me for this work from my youth. This resulted in a series of tracts “The Prophetic Look” series and a booklet “Unveiling the Mystery Babylon Using Biblical and Historical Evidence.”

Following the outbreak of the war in Yugoslavia I had the opportunity to travel into that country twice and the Lord opened the doors so that I was able to take the truth of “the great controversy between Christ and Satan” to many members of the media and to be able to confront members of the governments within the federation on the role of the Vatican in the war and modern politics. During the visits there I was able to gather much research material, which, when added to material gathered in Israel, Argentina and Peru, resulted in the video, “The Vatican and Fascism.” This video was produced in the USA after giving this presentation in several States and taking part in Religious Liberty meetings in both the USA and Jamaica. It was a follow-up from a two previous videos: “The Future Plans of the New Age Movement” and “The Vatican’s Conspiracy for World Domination.”

Since that time my research has continued into the role that the Roman Catholic church has played in history, culminating in the (so far) five-part series: “The Vatican and Politics” and the two-part “Religion of 666,” which traces the roots of the number 666 and identifies the true meaning of Revelation 13:18. These presentations have also been given in England, France, Germany, Italy, and Holland as well as Eastern Europe. Unfortunately in 1993 my wife and children had to return to England and were not able to return to be with me on the mission field. Understandably this placed quite a strain on all members of the family, which was resolved by my return to England in January, 1995. Being loathe to work for anyone else and after prayerful consideration, my wife and I decided to trust in His guidance and continue the work that He set before us, from England.

Since that time He has continued to provide for us and we have followed His leading. There have been evangelistic meetings in Australia, England, Denmark, Holland, and Germany as well as research undertaken in various other places. We now produce a newsletter on an irregular basis which focuses on the research undertaken and updates on previous topics.

 

Statement of the Aims of this Ministry:

(1) The primary aim of this ministry is to lead souls to Christ.

(2) As loyal members of God’s Seventh-day Adventist Church we recognize that we are members of the church that is destined to fulfill Christ’s commission to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 28:19, 20.

(3) We also recognize that this commission is to be fulfilled through the preaching of the Three Angels’ Messages of Revelation 14, namely, that we should preach the everlasting gospel “unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” Revelation 14:6.

(4) We recognize that each of the Three Angels has it’s own peculiar aspect to its message.

First Angel — a call to worship the God of creation, to glorify Him through faith and obedience to His commandments and proclaim the fact that the day of judgment has begun. Revelation 14:7.

Second Angel — to identify Babylon and expose her corruption of not only God’s plan of redemption but also His plan for His church. Revelation 14:8.

Third Angel — to warn the world of the dangers of straying from God’s way and the vital importance of God’s original Ten Commandments in His plan (particularly the fourth commandment as the sign of allegiance to Him). Revelation 14:9, 10.