organization

Prophecies on God’s Church in the End Time, Part II

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The following quotation is one that many Adventists do not want to apply to themselves. They look only to the other churches, applying the warning to them: “I saw that as the Jews crucified Jesus, so the nominal churches had crucified these [Three Angels’] messages, and therefore they have no knowledge of the way into the most holy, and they cannot be benefited by the intercession of Jesus there. Like the Jews, who offered their useless sacrifices, they offer up their useless prayers to the apartment which Jesus has left; and Satan, pleased with the deception, assumes a religious character, and leads the minds of these professed Christians to himself, working with his power, his signs and lying wonders, to fasten them in his snare.” Early Writings, 261.

Does that apply to Adventists today? Can we crucify Christ today? When Ellen White compares the crucifixion of Christ with the crucifixion of the Three Angels’ Messages, she describes an undermining of the Word by those who were aiming to destroy the fundamental beliefs of Adventism. God gave His people warning messages. It is Satan’s aim to destroy the sanctuary message and the Three Angels’ Messages.

An Effective Tool

Organization is good. It is a tool for the church, but the organization itself is not the church. Ellen White wrote of this and of Satan’s aim concerning the Adventist organization: “As our numbers increased, it was evident that without some form of organization there would be great confusion, and the work would not be carried forward successfully. To provide for the support of the ministry, for carrying the work in new fields, for protecting both the churches and the ministry from unworthy members, for holding church property, for the publication of the truth through the press, and for many other objects, organization was indispensable. . . .

“We sought the Lord with earnest prayer that we might understand His will, and light was given by His Spirit that there must be order and thorough discipline in the church—that organization was essential. System and order are manifest in all the works of God throughout the universe. Order is the law of heaven, and it should be the law of God’s people on the earth.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 26.

“Oh, how Satan would rejoice to get in among this people and disorganize the work at a time when thorough organization is essential and will be the greatest power to keep out spurious uprisings and to refute claims not endorsed by the word of God!” Ibid., 228.

“Organizations, institutions, unless kept by the power of God, will work under Satan’s dictation to bring men under the control of men; and fraud and guile will bear the semblance of zeal for truth, and for the advancement of the kingdom of God.” Ibid., 494. Satan’s methods are practiced even among Seventh-day Adventists who claim to have the advantage of truth.

This danger was already visible in Ellen White’s time! Many Seventh-day Adventists do not recognize that Satan already works through the organization of the Seventh-day Adventists, but he has a very effective tool in his hand. He can bring men under the control of other men.

Fallen Preachers

Ellen White warns us of fallen leaders and preachers, for through their influence whole churches have been and will be defiled. “If those who hold positions of trust in connection with our institutions, or in connection with the church, make self first, if their hands are defiled in any way, and they do not reflect in character the image of the divine One, they are bodies of darkness.” Review and Herald, February 27, 1894.

“We are in a day when iniquity abounds. There are those who have but little moral sense; self-pollution has been practiced, and the moral powers are benumbed. Such have no just sense of holiness or purity. They are corrupt, and will corrupt others. Miserable wrecks of humanity are everywhere. Some put on a religious garb; but the soul is defiled, and they corrupt other minds. They call evil good, and good evil. They are Satan’s most efficient agents, and individuals of this stamp will connect with our institutions and with God’s instrumentalities, masking their evil ways under a pretension of godliness.” Pamphlet 167, Counsels to Physicians and Medical Students, 38, 39.

She is describing those men who will be the reason for evil deeds, and when people follow these men, they will be separated from God. We are warned of those who defile institutions; we should never put our trust in men, but only in Christ and in His Word. All who trust in preachers who bring them nice and sweet words to calm them down are cursed. “The people are too willing to believe their teachers without careful thought and prayerful investigation of God’s word. They love to have their consciences quieted,—love to be rocked to sleep in the cradle of carnal security. In their blind selfishness, they deceive themselves in those things wherein they are willing to be deceived.” The Signs of the Times, March 6, 1884.

“Men who have perverted truth, misapplied Scripture, and who have become blinded by resisting the word which is truth, form the great apostate power of the last day. It belongs to the same order as the power which the Lord Jesus revealed to John as drunken with the blood of saints. It is to pursue the same line of action, determined to rule or ruin. The crisis is right upon us, and many will be deceived. Men who have all their life had opportunity to learn of Christ, but who have tenaciously clung to their own habits and practices, unwilling to change their own course of action and walk in the light, will act like blind men. They will accept everything that will coincide with their own ideas.” The Bible Echo, January 25, 1897.

End Time Apostasy

Ellen White predicts a dramatic apostasy in the end time. “Be not deceived; many will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. We have now before us the alpha of this danger. The omega will be of a most startling nature.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 197. Can you already see part of those startling things happening around you?

“I [Ellen White] knew that the omega would follow in a little while; and I trembled for our people.” Ibid., 203.

Do you know what the Alpha crisis has been among the Adventist people? You can read about it in Book 1 of Selected Messages. This crisis and what God told us these situations are teaching are helpful to us in the end time crisis.

“The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result? The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church, would be discarded. Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced.” Ibid., 204.

“We are living in the last days of this earth’s history, and we may be surprised at nothing in the line of apostasies and denials of the truth. Unbelief has now come to be a fine art, which men work at to the destruction of their souls. There is constant danger of there being shams in pulpit pr eachers, whose lives contradict the words they speak; but the voice of warning and of admonition will be heard as long as time shall last; and those who are guilty of transactions that should never be entered into, when reproved or counseled through the Lord’s appointed agencies, will resist the message and refuse to be corrected. They will go on as did Pharaoh, and Nebuchadnezzar, until the Lord takes away their reason, and their hearts become unimpressible. The Lord’s Word will come to them; but if they choose not to hear it, the Lord will make them responsible for their own ruin.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 4, 1170.

Is this being fulfilled today? We still have a time of mercy, although the time of mercy for Seventh-day Adventists is ending earlier than for the rest of the world, which has not yet had the opportunity to hear the truth. “Oh, that the people might know the time of their visitation! There are many who have not yet heard the testing truth for this time. There are many with whom the Spirit of God is striving. The time of God’s destructive judgments is the time of mercy for those who have had no opportunity to learn what is truth. Tenderly will the Lord look upon them. His heart of mercy is touched; His hand is still stretched out to save, while the door is closed to those who would not enter.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 97.

Ellen White stated that in her time she already had the impression that some pastors had gone too far, as they could not repent. “I inquire of those in responsible positions in Battle Creek, What are you doing? You have turned your back, and not your face, to the Lord. There needs to be a cleansing of the heart, the feelings, the sympathies, the words, in reference to the most momentous subjects—the Lord God, eternity, truth. What is the message to be given at this time? It is the third angel’s message. But that light which is to fill the whole earth with its glory has been despised by some who claim to believe the present truth. Be careful how you treat it. Take off the shoes from off your feet; for you are on holy ground. Beware how you indulge the attributes of Satan, and pour contempt upon the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. I know not but some have even now gone too far to return and to repent.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 89, 90.

When I look around among the German people and talk with our pastors, I only can agree with that impression. They cannot any longer see the truth. They are equally as blind as were the Pharisees who could not believe that God would cast off His people. But they forgot one thing—all prophesying of God is connected to conditions; promises are connected to conditions. They did not fulfill the conditions, but they liked to take the promises. Are we the same?

Fatal Choice

“Unsanctified ministers are arraying themselves against God. They are praising Christ and the god of this world in the same breath. While professedly they receive Christ, they embrace Barabbas, and by their actions say, ‘Not this Man, but Barabbas.’ ” Ibid., 409. Well, sure, all of those churches around us are this way, but keep on reading. “Many will stand in our pulpits with the torch of false prophecy in their hands, kindled from the hellish torch of Satan. If doubts and unbelief are cherished, the faithful ministers will be removed from the people who think they know so much. ‘If thou hadst known,’ said Christ, ‘even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.’ [Luke 19:42.]” Ibid., 409, 410.

Where will the faithful pastors and ministers be? Together with the professed people of God when they are in apostasy? The faithful ministers will be removed from the so-called Adventist people. We need to learn to distinguish between the real people of God and the so-called people of God.

What do we experience as the faithful ministers or preachers are removed from the so-called Adventist people? Are they separated from the true people of God? No, they are separated from the so-called or professed people of God. We must learn and know the difference. If we do not learn this differentiation, we will confuse and mix all the quotations of the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy that talk about the people of God. There is only one true people of God.

Ring-leaders

“Those who have been regarded as worthy and righteous prove to be ring-leaders in apostasy and examples in indifference and in the abuse of God’s mercies.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 212. About whom is this talking? It is talking about the ministers of God who once were His faithful ministers, bestowed with His presence and His guidance, but they departed from Christ and led others into error. Therefore, they are brought under divine displeasure.

Some Adventists do not discern this apostasy, and they are warned through the following quotations: “Men of finite judgment cannot see that in patterning after these men who have so often opened to them the treasures of God’s word, they will surely endanger their souls. Jesus is the only true pattern. Everyone must now search the Bible for himself upon his knees before God, with the humble, teachable heart of a child, if he would know what the Lord requires of him. However high any minister may have stood in the favor of God, if he neglects to follow out the light given him of God, if he refuses to be taught as a little child, he will go into darkness and satanic delusions and will lead others in the same path.” Ibid., 214.

Apostasy Prepares Way

Paul, in 11 Thessalonians 2:3, described the apostasy of the church. He said, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.”

So apostasy in the church will prepare the way for the image of the beast. (See The Great Controversy, 443.) What is the image of the beast? “The ‘image to the beast’ represents that form of apostate Protestantism which will be developed when the Protestant churches shall seek the aid of the civil power for the enforcement of their dogmas.” The Great Controversy, 445.

Unfortunately, that is happening now in Germany. Protestantism and the ecumenical movement are requiring Sunday laws from the state. It will happen in the United States: “When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the state to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result.” Ibid.

Read again the testimony in Revelation 13:15, 4: “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who [is] like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” This image is being formed, and the ecumenical unification is a step in this direction. Only unified churches of the world can force the state to support their dogmas. If the Seventh-day Adventist Church unites with those churches, is it still opposing the dogmas?

The leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Germany probably voted to keep Sunday as a national holiday. There has been no threat of religious persecution; it is just to keep no work on Sunday. In Germany, all the shops are closed and there is no work on Sunday.

This is not really going against the Sabbath, but can we, as Adventists, vote for keeping a work-free Sunday? God says, “Six days thou shalt work.” (Exodus 20:9.) To take a second holiday in the week is apostasy. That is a step towards forming a unity with the beast.

Therefore, Ellen White could state: “The spirit of worldly conformity is invading the churches throughout Christendom. Robert Atkins, in a sermon preached in London, draws a dark picture of the spiritual declension that prevails in England: ‘The truly righteous are diminished from the earth, and no man layeth it to heart. The professors of religion of the present day, in every church, are lovers of the world, conformers to the world, lovers of creature comfort, and aspirers after respectability. They are called to suffer with Christ, but they shrink from even reproach. . . . Apostasy, apostasy, apostasy, is engraven on the very front of every church; and did they know it, and did they feel it, there might be hope; but, alas! they cry, “We are rich, and increased in goods, and stand in need of nothing.” ’—Second Advent Library, tract No. 39.” The Great Controversy, 388. Surely she had in view her own people!

“Every church,” she wrote. “Well,” you say, “Ellen White did not write this. This comes from another historian.” When Ellen White quotes a historian of church history and includes his statements in her works, does she not stand behind such statements? Otherwise, she would have to criticize the statements! But she put it into The Great Controversy. It is very plain that in the last apostasy the Seventh-day Adventist Church is included.

Look Forward

When Christ returns, those united with Him are only those who are staying with His orders and His commandments, who heed His prohibitions, who truly heed the call of the Midnight Cry, “Come out of her, my people.” Revelation 18:4. We need to go forward. We are not allowed to look back. We have a great work to do. The whole world needs to be warned—more than just the United States, more than Europe—the whole world. We should allow nothing to hinder us in this work.

The history of most Adventist pastors who stand faithful to Jesus has been always the same. Satan tries to forbid those pastors, through the organization, to spread the message. He has used the organization to hinder it.

Should faithful ministers disregard such commands, even though the danger of losing their jobs exists? Should they disregard the commands, in spite of the danger that they will not receive any money from the conference? They might fear problems of sustaining their families; should they allow those things to hinder them from preaching the truth? When they want to be saved and show all of us the way to find redemption, they should not allow anything to hold them back.

The apostle said, “We need to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29), when the official organization wanted to hinder them. Today, again, there is an organization that wants to stop the faithful pastors. As a result, where are the faithful ministers to be found? Separated from the professed people who think, We are rich and we are in need of nothing. We do not need the Three Angels’ Messages in this clear form. We need a sermon about the love of Christ.

“The Lord knoweth them that are His. The sanctified minister must have no guile in his mouth. He must be open as the day, free from every taint of evil. A sanctified ministry and press will be a power in flashing the light of truth on this untoward generation. Light, brethren, more light we need. Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm in the holy mountain. Gather the host of the Lord, with sanctified hearts, to hear what the Lord will say unto His people; for He has increased light for all who will hear. Let them be armed and equipped, and come up to the battle—to the help of the Lord against the mighty. God Himself will work for Israel. Every lying tongue will be silenced. Angels’ hands will overthrow the deceptive schemes that are being formed. The bulwarks of Satan will never triumph. Victory will attend the third angel’s message. As the Captain of the Lord’s host tore down the walls of Jericho, so will the Lord’s commandment-keeping people triumph, and all opposing elements be defeated. Let no soul complain of the servants of God who have come to them with a heaven-sent message.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 410.

Without a doubt, we need to preach the love of Christ, but the preaching of love is the Three Angels’ Messages in a whole sense.

The Narrow Path

God loves mankind; He wants to save them. But the saving path is narrow. He is not irritated or confused because there are just a few people with you on the path. Do not become insecure that you may be on the wrong path or that you may have come a bit too far out from the mother church. What do we read about those who thus fear? “Some grew weary, and said the city was a great way off, and they expected to have entered it before. Then Jesus would encourage them by raising His glorious right arm, and from His arm came a light which waved over the Advent band, and they shouted, ‘Alleluia!’ Others rashly denied the light behind them and said that it was not God that had led them out so far. The light behind them went out, leaving their feet in perfect darkness, and they stumbled and lost sight of the mark and of Jesus, and fell off the path down into the dark and wicked world below.” Early Writings, 14, 15. They are lost for eternity.

As it is for the pastors, when they turn the wrong way, the same will happen to those who follow them. We cannot allow ourselves to go this wrong way. We cannot allow ourselves not to give the loud cry. We cannot allow ourselves to go together with those who fall off the path of Christ.

Can two walk one way if they are not in unity? Impossible. What is said of the people of the 144,000? Are they in unity? Fully, completely, in all things. May the Lord’s people come and be led to this unity, through His Spirit, through His light. May the Lord give His mercy, that we belong to those who have learned this lesson and who are fitting to the words of Matthew 25:34: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Dr. Korinth is a physician living in Berlin, Germany. He is very active in spreading the Three Angels’ Messages throughout Europe. He and his family have a printing press in their home and have had tracts translated in most of the different European languages. He is a promoter of home churches and is very interested in working with other historic Seventh-day Adventist groups worldwide. He may be contacted by e-mail at: hkorinth@mefag.de.

Editorial – Unity and Dissonance, Part VI

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Through this series on “Unity and Dissonance,” we have looked at how God’s faithful people at the end will be opposed—first by the professed church and later by the world. We have seen that one of the initial attacks against God’s people by their professed brethren will be the charge that they are not accountable to the church organization, as it is claimed they should be. This is the same attack that was made against John the Baptist at the first coming of Christ. It was made repeatedly against Jesus, and it was also made against the apostle Paul.

God’s people must remember as well that we need to counsel with one another and with the Lord at each step of advancement. On the other hand, we must know that there is a time when the Lord forbids us to counsel with our “brethren.” Inspired counsel has been given to us about this subject.

“A man can not safely be intrusted [sic] with the control of others, unless he himself is under the satisfaction of the Holy Spirit.” Bible Training School, January 1, 1908.

“Honor is to be given to the human powers by putting them to the very highest use in the service of God. Under the control and guidance of the Holy Spirit, all may be co-laborers with God. All whom God has blessed with reasoning powers are to become intellectual Christians. They are not requested to believe without evidence; therefore Jesus has enjoined upon all to search the Scriptures. Let the ingenious inquirer, and the one who would know for himself what is truth, exert his mental powers to search out the truth as it is in Jesus. Any neglect here is at the peril of the soul. We must know individually the prescribed conditions of entering into eternal life. We must know what is the voice of God, that we may live by every word that proceeds out of his mouth. We cannot allow these questions to be settled for us by another’s mind, or another’s judgment.” Review and Herald, March 8, 1887.

“John had not recognized the authority of the Sanhedrin by seeking their sanction for his work; and he had reproved rulers and people, Pharisees and Sadducees alike. Yet the people followed him eagerly. The interest in his work seemed to be continually increasing. Though he had not deferred to them, the Sanhedrin accounted that, as a public teacher, he was under their jurisdiction.” The Desire of Ages, 132, 133.

“From childhood He [Christ] acted independently of the rabbinical laws.” Ibid., 84.

“In His instruction to Moses the Lord very plainly set forth the character of those who were to fill important positions as counselors. They are to be ‘able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness.’ [Exodus 18:21.] The Lord’s counsel has been strangely neglected. There are men in places of holy trust who, when reproved, have cared nought for it. Some who for years have stood as counselors have boldly stated that they would not receive the testimonies given. In triumph they have declared that many of our most responsible men have lost faith in the message coming from Sister White. Thus the rejecters of light have been strengthened in their unbelief, feeling that they had quite a strong confederacy. Men who have had the light have walked contrary to the light. These words are appropriate: ‘Truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.’ The malaria of unbelief has been diffusing its deathly atmosphere throughout the ranks, nigh and afar off. All this has been stated plainly, yet for years matters have been left unchanged. Can the Lord’s favor be expected under such circumstances? . . .” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 341, 342.

Organization and Discipline

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An Overview of the Early Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church

The various forms of organization and church government existing in the several religious bodies of our time, is evidence that church organization and discipline are subjects upon which great and good men have differed. The testimony of the Bible, therefore, especially of the New Testament, must be allowed to decide these subjects of vast importance to the prosperity of the church. In no one chapter or book of the New Testament, has Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, or Jude, written out a complete system of Christian discipline, giving the positions and duties of the several officers of the church.

But that there should be order in the church of God is evident, not only from the declarations of the apostles, and the record of what they did, given in the Acts of the Apostles; but from the great facts relative to organization and order found in the Old Testament. The Jewish church was disciplined by a thorough system of organization. The freedom of the gospel of the Son of God does not consist in laxity and confusion.

The epistles of Paul and Peter distinctly speak of officers of the church, and of their duties. The New Testament clearly defines the relation which Christ sustains to the ministry and to the church, and also the proper relation of the ministry to the church and to one another. But the system of Christian organization is not given as fully in the New Testament as the system of Jewish organization was given in the Old Testament. Having, however, the benefit of both the record of the system of the former and the declarations and acts of the first apostles of the latter, we have all that infinite Wisdom saw necessary for the Christian church.

The relation which Christ sustains to the ministry and to the church, is stated in the following words of our Lord and of Paul: “One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.” Matthew 23:8. “But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:3. Christ is the great Shepherd of all, while His ministers are under-shepherds.

And Paul would impress the church with her duty to the ministry in these words: “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God.” Hebrews 13:7. “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls as they that must give account.” Verse 17. And yet it was not the design of God that any system of organization should exist in the Christian church that would take the leadership from Christ.

Organization was designed to secure unity of action, and as a protection from imposture. It was never intended as a scourge to compel obedience, but, rather, for the protection of the people of God. Christ does not drive His people. He calls them. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” Our living Head leads the way, and calls His people to follow.

Human creeds cannot produce unity. Church force cannot press the church into one body. Christ never designed that human minds should be molded for Heaven by the influence merely of other human minds. “The head of every man is Christ.” His part is to lead, and to mold, and to stamp His own image upon the heirs of eternal glory. However important organization may be for the protection of the church, and to secure harmony of action, it must not come in to take the disciple from the hands of the Master.

All true ministers are Christ’s ambassadors. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20. In their ministry they are to represent the doctrine of Christ, and the interests of His cause in this world. They surrender their own judgment and will to Him who has sent them. No man can be Christ’s ambassador, until he has made a complete surrender of his right of private judgment to Christ. Neither can any man properly represent Christ who surrenders his judgment to his fellow-man.

But the subject must not be left here, with the truth partly expressed. The words of Christ and His apostles relative to unity and the ordained means to secure it, and proper discipline, must have a qualifying bearing upon the subject, lest unsanctified men, who do not submit their will and judgment either to Christ or to church authority, assume the gospel ministry, and divide and scatter the flock of God.

But here we wish it distinctly understood that officers were not ordained in the Christian church to order or to command the church, or to “lord it over God’s heritage.” In the case of difference of opinion that arose in some of the primitive churches relative to circumcision and the keeping of the law of Moses, recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Acts, the apostles and elders at Jerusalem acted as counselors in a manner to give room for the Holy Ghost to sit as Judge. The report of that blessed meeting at Jerusalem to settle a festering difficulty, commences on this wise: “For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.” And the brethren who were from among the Gentiles in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia, “rejoiced for the consolation.” Differences settled in this way frequently seem more than settled, and generally remain settled; while those disposed of by the exercise of mere church authority are seldom really settled at all.

Between the two extremes, of church force, and unsanctified independence, we find the grand secret of unity and efficiency in the ministry and in the church of God. Our attention is called to this in a most solemn appeal from the venerable apostle Peter to the elders of his time: “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility; for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” 1 Peter 5:1–6.

Those who drafted the form of organization adopted by Seventh-day Adventists labored to incorporate into it, as far as possible, the simplicity of expression and form found in the New Testament. The more of the spirit of the gospel manifested, and the more simple, the more efficient the system.

The General Conference takes the general supervision of the work in all its branches, including the State Conferences. The State Conference takes the supervision of all branches of the work in the State, including the churches in that State. And the church is a body of Christians associated together with the simple covenant to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

The officers of a local church are servants of that church, and not lords to rule over it with church force. “He that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” Matthew 23:11. These officers should set examples of patience, watchfulness, prayer, kindness, and liberality, to the members of the church, and should manifest a good degree of the love to those they serve exhibited in the life and teachings of our Lord.

Our State Conference Committees should be men of God, with liberality and breadth of views and feelings that will lead them to have a fatherly care of all branches of the work in the Conference. It is their duty to counsel together in the fear and love of God, and regard themselves as a board of counselors to all the ministers and churches under their supervision, and not a board of directors. Our great leader and director is Christ.

The labors and duties of the General Conference Committee are still more extensive and important than those of the State Conference Committee. They should be men of experience, of breadth of views, and divested of sectional feelings, whose minds and hearts of love can take in the best good of the cause in all its branches, and in all parts of the field. They should be regarded as a board of fathers to the cause in the highest sense.

In the fulfillment of the duties of their office, in taking the general supervision of the entire work, their strength is in so counseling with their brethren in the spirit of tenderness and love as to bind the hearts of all the laborers to their hearts, and give room for the voice of the Holy Ghost, as was manifested in the days of the apostles. They should ever bear in mind that the head of every man is Christ.

They may counsel with the State Conference Committees in reference to ministers laboring here or there, but should never direct. “The head of every man (every minister), is Christ.” The minister who throws himself on any Conference Committee for direction, takes himself out of the hands of Christ. And that Committee that takes into its own hands the work of directing the ambassadors for Christ, takes a fearful responsibility. “One is your Master (Leader), even Christ, and all ye are brethren.” Matthew 23:8. May God preserve to us our organization and form of church discipline in its original simplicity and efficiency.

Taken from The Review and Herald, January 4, 1881.

 

Practical Tips on How to Organize a Local Church

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Throughout his entire ministry, Paul, the great evangelist of the New Testament, was careful to institute proper organization in the churches he established. In fact, Paul thought organization was so important, that a short time after he had been stoned in Lystra, he returned to organize the churches. He saw that gospel order (which included the appointment of elders and deacons) was “an important factor in the spiritual growth of the new converts.” Acts of the Apostles, 185. It was a safeguard against error and fanaticism and promoted unity among the believers. In place after place, Paul diligently instructed and aided churches in the establishment of proper order.

Ellen White says that in Lycaonia and Pisidia, “churches were duly organized in all places…where there were believers. Officers were appointed in each church, and proper order and system were established….” Ibid., 185.

The church in Thessalonica was also “properly organized.” “Officers had been appointed to act as ministers and deacons.” Ibid., 261.

Regarding the work in Crete, Paul instructed Titus to “set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee.” Titus 1:5.

Inspiration shows that the appointment of elders and deacons was an integral part—a fundamental element—of the gospel order that Paul established in his churches. A group of believers that simply gathers together for meetings, with no officers selected, as elders and deacons, is not a “properly organized” church.

Selection and Ordination of Leaders

To ordain an elder or deacon simply means to appoint a person to a position of authority and leadership, in the church of God. Through ordination, church members recognize a person’s spirituality and ability to serve the church in a leadership capacity.

In the selection of deacons, at the time of the early church, the apostles instructed the church to “look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the work.’ This advice was followed, and by prayer and the laying on of hands, seven chosen men were solemnly set apart for their duties as deacons.” Acts of the Apostles, 89.

We see that the apostles did not themselves alone choose the deacons, but the entire church recognized those, from among its membership, who were “of honest report and full of the Holy Ghost.” We are not told exactly how the process of the selection worked. Today, in some small churches, all the members are directly involved in the selection of officers. In other churches, members select a group of members, called a nominating committee. This committee selects, considers and prays about various potential candidates. When they are finished they recommend to the church at large their completed list of candidates. The church then votes to accept or reject the recommendations of the committee.

For new, small churches, we are given this extremely practical counsel in regards to choosing a leader for a church. “Such arrangements should be made for the little companies accepting the truth as shall secure the prosperity of the church. One man may be appointed to lead for a week or a month, then another for a few weeks; and thus different persons may be enlisted in the work, and after a suitable trial someone should be selected by the voice of the church to be the acknowledged leader, never, however, to be chosen for more than one year. Then another may be selected, or the same one may be re-elected, if his service has proved a blessing to the church.…Many fail to exercise proper discernment in these important matters where eternal interests are involved.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 619.

Consideration of whether a person meets the qualifications for an office is necessary. What are some of the questions that should be asked about a person being considered for a leadership position in the church? Please see the list of qualifications for elders and deacons along with reading the following inspired quotations:

Family

“The family of the one suggested for office should be considered. Are they in subjection? Can the man rule his own house with honor? What character have his children? Will they do honor to the father’s influence? If he has not tact, wisdom, or power of godliness at home in managing his own family, it is safe to conclude that the same defects will be carried into the church, and the same unsanctified management will be seen there.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 618.

Lay Hands on No Man Suddenly

We are also instructed in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy to give a man due consideration and to pray much before placing him in office. We should not be in a hurry. “It will be far better to criticize the man before he is put into office than afterward, better to pray and counsel before taking the decisive step than to labor to correct the consequences of a wrong move.” Ibid.

Head Elders and Deacons

Is it right that there should be a head elder or deacon? In Story of Redemption we find that Stephen was chosen to stand at the head of the seven deacons. He was to lead them. He was thought the best qualified because of his multi-cultural ability in the midst of the tension between the Jews and Greeks.

Blessings from the Appointment of Officers and the Establishment of Church Order

There are great blessings to be gained from following God’s counsel. We have found that the establishment of church order:

  • Enables churches to successfully give the Three Angels’ Messages
  • Shields churches from fanaticism
  • Is an important factor in the spiritual growth of church members
  • Serves to unite in one body all believers in Christ (Acts of the Apostles, 89)
  • Enables ministers and elders to be able to work more effectively
  • Increases the number of believers (Acts 6)
  • Increases the strength of believers (Story of Redemption, 260; Act 6:7)

Some may ask: “With all the theological issues facing the church today, why should they be concerned with the appointment of church officers? Shouldn’t we just focus on spreading the Three Angels’ Messages?” Yes, we should focus on spreading the Three Angels’ Messages. The appointment of church officers and the establishment of church order will not only help us give the message but, according to inspiration, we must have order to be successful in giving the message. “I saw that there should be order in the church of God, and that system is needed in carrying forward successfully the last great message of mercy to the world.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 211.

Many Seventh-day Adventists have been told that they should not conduct evangelistic efforts. Why? Because they are no longer connected with the conference. They have been forced out or have left because error is continually taught. Many have not felt it safe to bring their Bible students to church and felt forced to meet in their homes or in a rented building. Then, should these faithful Adventists no longer take the Three Angels’ Messages to the world—because they are not connected with the conference? No, they should do everything they can to spread it. While exercising the same courtesy that Jesus and the apostles did, we should say with Peter, “We ought to obey God rather than man.” Acts 5:29. We cannot obey any man or woman, whatever their position, when he or she tells us not to evangelize. And we cannot obey man when we are told not to follow the counsel of having orderly churches. The gospel commission of Matthew 28 still stands. And, to effectively fulfill that commission, we must have organized churches.

Proper church order will also help squelch some of the rampant fanaticism existing today and promote unity among the brethren. “There is order in heaven; and there should be system and order upon the earth, that the work may move forward without confusion and fanaticism.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 601.

Proper organization also enables ministers and elders to center their attention on the spiritual welfare of the church. Throughout history we see that it is too much for one man or one group of men to be able to focus on both the spiritual and business matters of the church. In the Old Testament, Moses’ father-in-law instructed him to delegate some of the voluminous load he was carrying, of settling all the minute details of the business, in the camp of Israel. In the New Testament (Acts 6), the church appointed deacons to oversee the business of the church and assist the apostles in spiritual leadership. As a result of dividing the labor (appointing deacons), the number and strength of the believers increased.

Results From Not Following God’s Counsel

  • If God’s counsel is not followed what will be some of the results?
  • Satan will benefit
  • Minister’s spiritual discernment will be dimmed

“Order must be observed, and there must be union in maintaining order, or Satan will take the advantage.” Testimonies, vol.1, 211.

“Those whom God has called to minister in word and doctrine should have time for meditation, prayer and study of the Scriptures. Their clear spiritual discernment is dimmed by entering into the lesser details of business and dealing with the various temperaments of those who meet together in church capacity.” The Story of Redemption, 261. This is very solemn. An elder or minister’s spiritual discernment needs to be as clear and bright as the day.

Reasons for Lack of Organization Today

There appear to be many groups of Seventh-day Adventists that believe in the historic pillars of our faith (including the Spirit of Prophecy), that meet together every Sabbath, but do not recognize the importance of “proper organization.” There are probably many reasons for the lack of organization. Examples include:

  • Fear of starting a “new organization”
  • Belief that it is unnecessary
  • Lack of knowledge of inspired counsel
  • Desire to avoid local church struggles

For those afraid to organize, for fear they are starting a new organization, we would say the following: The church is the “pillar and ground of the truth.” (I Timothy 3:15) To knowingly cling to error is to leave God’s church. If you have left a “structure” church because error is being taught, do not think that you are leaving the true church and starting a new organization.

It is unfortunate—more than unfortunate, it is a tragedy, that so many Seventh-day Adventists do not feel safe to worship in their local conference church. Surely it brings great pain to the heart of God and should to our hearts also. It should cause us to weep. But it should not cause us to disregard inspired counsel. The New Testament instruction, of Paul, Luke and Peter, is that the local church is not complete without the appointment and service of elders and deacons.

Many Seventh-day Adventists who are worshipping separately from the conference are told that they should not organize the group of historic believers with whom they are worshipping. Opponents quote a Spirit of Prophecy statement that says we should enter into no new organization and go on to say that if a church organizes separately from the conference that they are not following the Spirit of Prophecy.

Friends, the only way to avoid starting a “new organization” is to adopt New Testament church order. A candid look at inspired counsel reveals that Seventh-day Adventists, in and out of the conference, are not following the Lord’s instruction when it comes to church organization. (See previous articles by Neil Livingston, “The Mark of An Image,” parts one and two about the 1901 and 1903 General Conference Sessions.) The conferences that we are familiar with are not following God’s counsel regarding church organization. They already have entered a new form of organization and are not following the instructions clearly outlined in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy. Neither are most historic Seventh-day Adventists. It is past time that, along with following the counsel about health reform, dress reform and Christ-likeness of character, we also follow the counsel about New Testament church organization.

We cry about the departure of God’s professed people from following His counsel. And well we should. When a person cares about God’s work they will, like the apostle Paul, mourn at the pain we have caused to the heart of God and the reproach that has been brought upon His name. “The position which the Jews as God’s professed people occupied before an unbelieving world, caused the apostle intense anguish of spirit.” Acts of Apostles, 412. But let us do more than mourn. Let us look to see that we, like Paul, are individually doing all we can to promote conformity to the divine plan of order and organization among God’s people.

To those who believe organization to be unnecessary we would say, that, as children of God, we are not in a situation to be telling God what is and is not necessary. Surely our Creator, our Chief Shepherd, knows what is best for His churches. Whenever a church disregards the counsel of God, it is in a weakened position spiritually.

It seems that there are always some that are against proper church organization. There were some in the church at Thessalonica that were “self-willed, and impetuous, who refused to be subordinate to those who held positions of authority in the church. They claimed not only the right of private judgment, but that of publicly urging their views upon the church. In view of this, Paul called the attention of the Thessalonians to the respect and deference due to those who had been chosen to occupy positions of authority in the church.” Ibid., 261–262.

Deacons

In both the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy we are given counsel about the character and qualifications of deacons. Please see the shaded box.

Of the first seven deacons, in the early church, we are told that, “These officers gave careful consideration to individual needs as well as to the general financial interests of the church, and by their prudent management and their godly example they were an important aid to their fellow officers in binding together the various interests of the church into a united whole.” Acts of the Apostles, 89.

Interestingly enough, Ellen White does not limit the responsibility of attending to the business of the church to men alone. She says that women could also attend to this. “There is a wide field in which our sisters may do good service for the Master in the various branches of the work connected with His cause. Through missionary labor they can reach a class that our ministers cannot. . . . There is work neglected or done imperfectly that could be thoroughly accomplished by the help that sisters can give. There are so many kinds of work too laborious for women, which our brethren are called to engage in, that many branches of missionary work are neglected. Many things connected with different churches are left undone that women, if properly instructed, could attend to. Our sisters might serve as church clerks, and the church business would not be so sadly neglected. There are many other offices connected with the cause of God which our sisters are better qualified to fill than our brethren, and in which they might do efficient service.” Welfare Ministry, 147. This should be good news to many small churches. The workforce may be bigger than many at first thought it could be.

Ministers and Elders

The inspired instruction we are given regarding the character and qualifications of elders is both detailed and broad. Please see shaded box.

An elder’s duty encompasses more than merely preaching a good sermon. It means offering personal, unselfish effort for church members and non-church members.

“Those who occupy the position of undershepherds are to exercise a watchful diligence over the Lord’s flock. This is not to be a dictatorial vigilance, but one that tends to encourage and strengthen and uplift. Ministry means more than sermonizing: it means earnest, personal labor.” Acts of the Apostles, 526.

“The greatest help that can be given to our people is to teach them to work for God, and to depend on Him, not on the ministers. Let them learn to work as Christ worked.…Just as soon as a church is organized, let the minister set the members at work. They will need to be taught how to labor successfully. Let the minister devote more of his time to educating than to preaching.” Testimonies, vol. 7, 19–20.

“Let the neglected tithes be now brought in.…Elders of the churches, do your duty. Labor from home to home, that the flock of God shall not be remiss in this great matter, which involves such a blessing or such a curse.” Testimonies to Ministers, 306.

“But My Church is Very Small”

Some will make the plea, “But my church is so small. We do not have enough members to establish true gospel order.” Paul was careful throughout his ministry to organize even small groups of believers. “Those who in any place were by his labor led to accept Christ as the Savior were at the proper time organized into a church. Even when the believers were but few in number, this was done. The Christians were thus taught to help one another, remembering the promise, ‘Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.’ Matthew 18:20.” Acts of the Apostles, 185–186.

What Can Small Churches Do to Support Missions?

We are told in Gospel Workers, 466–467, that several small churches can unite to support a foreign missionary. What about two or three small home churches supporting a minister? Remember the widow with the two mites. She thought that her contribution was so small and insignificant. But how many, upon hearing the story, have given their small bit? And all those small bits added together have provided millions and millions of dollars for the advancement of the Lord’s work on earth. You may not be able to support a foreign missionary in your church, but, as we are told, you can unite with another church or several other churches and together support the local or foreign mission field.

An Important Requirement

Much more could be written about church order and organization. At the end of this article there is a list of recommended reading material for further study of the topic. However, there is one requirement to the establishment of proper church organization that we thought so key that we saved it until the end.

In speaking of the Jews and of Christians today, Ellen White said: “The order and prosperity of the church depended upon the good order and thorough discipline of families.…These injunctions which God laid upon the Jews with so much solemnity, rest with equal weight upon Christian parents.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 294.

In order to have orderly and organized churches, we must have orderly homes and disciplined families. And it does not happen overnight. Everyday we must take up the battle for order and discipline anew. Everyday we must humble ourselves before the throne of grace, pleading with God for a new heart, for wisdom to deal in a loving but firm way with our children and for a sense of our complete dependence upon Him. Only God can make our homes like heaven. In learning the secrets of how to have a happy, disciplined family and an orderly home, we will learn how to have happy, organized churches. It takes much effort, planning and prayer. But God will help you. We know He will. He has helped us. He works with all of us as we put forth earnest effort.

Today, God would have us to study—to be wide-awake to the times in which we live. The counsel is clear. God has instructed us to be organized because we need to be organized to help finish His work of salvation in our homes and our churches. He is calling us to come into line. It may not be easy. A person who has lost his job, because of keeping the Sabbath, would not call Sabbath-keeping easy. In fact, it could seem not only to be hard, but also down right awkward for several weeks; because it is new. But week after week it will become easier and more natural. The same is true with church order. It may be difficult and awkward at first, but, if we persist, God has promised a blessing.

“Choose ye this day whom you will serve.…But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15.

Deacons Qualifications

  • Reverent
  • Not double-tongued
  • Not given to much wine
  • Not greedy for money
  • Possess a pure conscience
  • An experienced Christian
  • Involved only in a monogamous relationship, if married
  • Able to rule their homes well
  • Possess calm judgment and discretion
  • Able to deal with difficult cases of trial including murmuring and jealousy

Duties

  • Attend to the general financial interests of the church
  • See that a faithful tithe is brought into the treasury (Testimonies to Ministers, 305)
  • Care for individual needs of the widows, orphans and worthy poor
  • Teach the faith (example: Stephen)
  • Take difficult temporal matters to the minister or elders

Elders Qualifications

  • Blameless
  • Converted
  • Earnest
  • Elevated
  • Ennobled
  • Gentle
  • Hospitable
  • Refined
  • Sober
  • Tactful
  • Unselfish
  • Vigilant
  • A hearer
  • A learner
  • Self-governed
  • Of good repute
  • Competent
  • Able to present Bible subjects
  • Familiar with the Scriptures
  • Full of zeal
  • An effective ruler of household
  • Able to educate church members to be workers
  • Possessor of judgment
  • Possessor of a fresh experience
  • Involved only in a monogamous relationship, if married
  • An experienced Christian

See 1 Timothy 3; Testimonies, vol. 4, 406–407; and Testimonies, vol. 5, 617–618.

Duties

  •  Laboring earnestly and personally for souls, inside and outside of the church
  •  Educating church members about how to work for souls
  •  Providing church members work to do in God’s vineyard
  •  Encouraging faithfulness in the return of the tithe
  •  Preaching the Word

Prerequisites of Unity

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Surrounded by the eleven men who were going to be responsible for taking the gospel of His grace to the whole world, Jesus offered the prayer for them that we find recorded in John 17. This prayer, however, is not for those eleven men alone, because verse 20 says; “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word.” All who believe in Jesus are included, because we only know of Him through the testimony of these men.

Jesus continues in verse 21: “That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” All the way to the end of His prayer in verse 26, the primary point for which Jesus expressed great concern was that there might be unity among His people.

Unity is not just something that is important; it is something that must take place before Jesus comes again. It is so important that Ellen White has told us that if we do not press together in unity, we will be destroyed.

From time to time, I have been asked to meet with various individuals in administration in the Seventh-day Adventist Church organization. While I would be glad to meet with these men, I cannot do it unless some conditions are met. We can have no unity with the various branches of the organization until there is repentance and confession.

For what do we need to repent? We need to repent for having wandered into doctrinal error, or heresy. There was a time when the head of our medical work, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, wandered into some theological positions that were not sound. Not only were they not sound, they would have destroyed Adventism had they been accepted, as was pointed out by Ellen White.

“I leave this matter as it now stands; for I am pained beyond measure because our brother’s spiritual views are not founded on a solid basis. The man can never be relied upon in the future, unless heart and soul, mind and strength, are entirely changed, revamped. As matters now stand, I can not see how there can be Christian unity between the medical missionary work as led by those in error, and the gospel ministry. There can be no unity without a decided change in the one who has stood as leader of our medical work.” Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 7, 54. [Emphasis supplied.]

Notice that she said that he could never be trusted in the future. It is no different today. When a minister or leader wanders into doctrinal heresy, he cannot be trusted unless his error is fully repented of and that fact has been demonstrated by a full confession. Our problem is that we have grown up in an era of public relations where people believe that you can smooth everything over with a veneer, and after a time, everyone will forget and life can go on, but this is not the gospel.

Because of their desire for harmony, many people are tempted to seek a type of unity with those whom they know to be in error. The devil wants us to harmonize with error, but there is a grave danger in doing so, and we must not do it.

“Oh, how deceptive is the human heart! How easy it is to harmonize with that which is evil! There is nothing more detrimental to the soul’s interest, its purity, its true and holy conceptions of God, and of sacred and eternal things, than constantly giving heed to and exalting that which is not from God. It poisons the heart, and degrades the understanding.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 78.

What does it mean to repent? In the Greek language, the word for repentance comes from a word that means “a change of mind.” In other words, you change your mind about sin, and when repentance is genuine, you will change your life. That is why we are told that genuine repentance is followed by reformation. (See The Desire of Ages, 555.) If there is no reformation in the life, then there has not been true repentance.

If, however, we are too proud to confess and repent, we can never come into unity.

It is so easy for people who have been Christians for a long time, and have not been living openly immoral lives, to think that somehow they no longer need to confess. This is especially true of those in positions of trust. Ministers, however, need to study the subject of repentance and confession just as much as anyone else, and maybe more, because their position makes repentance and confession so much more difficult to do.

“If when the Lord reveals your errors you do not repent or make confession, His providence will bring you over the ground again and again. You will be left to make mistakes of a similar character; you will continue to lack wisdom, and will call sin righteousness, and righteousness sin. The multitude of deceptions that will prevail in these last days will encircle you, [she is talking to ministers here] and you will change leaders, and not know that you have done so.

“I ask you who are handling sacred things, I ask the individual members of the church, Have you confessed your sins?” The Review and Herald, December 16, 1890.

It is a dangerous thing, when God reveals to a person something in his life that is wrong, for that person not to accept it with repentance and confession. When this takes place, the thinking becomes distorted so that sin appears as righteousness and righteousness as sin. It is even possible for a minister to continue preaching and call himself a Seventh-day Adventist, but to have changed leaders without realizing it. Instead of following Christ, he has become a part of Satan’s organization.

Confession is absolutely vital and of all people, ministers should be the most diligent to be sure that their sins are repented of and confessed.

“Confess your faults to one another, that you may be healed. How many there are who are carrying a load of unconfessed wrongdoing. They try to shape matters so that their dignity will not be hurt. To make wrongs right from the very first departure, looks to them like extinguishing themselves.” The Signs of the Times, October 30, 1901.

To where am I to go back, to get things made right? To the very first departure from the right. This is a critical point to understand when you want to have unity. Some people ask, “Why can’t we all just get together?”

Before we can get together in unity, we are going to have to go back to where the departure was and make it right.

Let me just give an illustration that has to do with this. Have you ever had somebody ask you, “Why can’t you just associate and fellowship with the Seventh-day Baptists? What is the difference?” Oh, there is a big difference between Seventh-day Baptists and Seventh-day Adventists. The difference is that in the 1840s, the Seventh-day Baptists did not accept the first angel’s message. When you do not accept the first angel’s message, you are not in a position to accept the second angel’s message. If you do not accept the second angel’s message, you are not in a position to accept the third angel’s message, which is present truth for today.

I worked with an evangelist once who told me that when you are explaining something sensitive, always put it on the other foot. Do not ever make the person you are talking with appear in a bad light. If you are talking with Methodists, do not talk about the Methodists; talk about the Baptists or some other group, or the person to whom you are speaking is very apt to take it personally and you will have a barrier of prejudice to overcome before you can reach them. I just followed that principle. I have not talked to you about Seventh-day Adventists, but if you follow this principle through, it applies in Adventism.

“Men have in their minds justified the course that was then taken. They have viewed things, from beginning to end, in an altogether false light; and from the present showing, the same course will be followed in the future.” Spalding-Magan Collection, 178.

These words were part of an appeal to our leading ministers to confess and repent of what we had done wrong. Some people urge charity and express a concern that it is hurtful to those involved to discuss these things, but notice what we are told about true charity: “True charity never covers up unrepented and unconfessed sins.” The Signs of the Times, May 11, 1876.

“While we should manifest Christian courtesy, we are authorized to call sin and sinners by their right names—that this is consistent with true charity. While we are to love the souls for whom Christ died, and labor for their salvation, we should not make a compromise with sin. We are not to unite with the rebellious, and call this charity. God requires His people in this age of the world to stand, as did John in his time, unflinchingly for the right, in opposition to soul destroying errors.” The Sanctified Life, 65.

Some people believe that it is wrong to name names, but that is not what we are told by inspiration. It is necessary that they be named so that other people will not be led astray. We are to call sin and sinners by their right name and appeal to them to repent. We are to denounce what they are doing so that the Holy Spirit can convict their minds to repent and confess their sins, because we are very close to the time when there will no longer be an opportunity to confess our sin, to repent.

Friend, in Adventism today, there is a lot to repent of and much to confess, but there can never be unity unless these steps are first followed.

“When Brother C once takes a position on the wrong side, it is not easy for him to confess that he has error; but if he can let his wrong course pass out of his mind and pass from the memory of others, and he can make some changes for the better without an open acknowledgement of his wrong, he will do so. But all these errors and unconfessed sins stand registered in heaven and will not be blotted out until he complies with the directions given in the word of God: ‘Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.’ ” [James 5:16.] Testimonies, vol. 4, 241.

Do you see what it is that is blocking us from having unity? Can we deny that there has been scheming and prevarication in Adventism in the last few years? These things make unity impossible.

“He would teach His people that disobedience and sin are exceedingly offensive to Him and are not to be lightly regarded. He shows us that when His people are found in sin they should at once take decided measures to put that sin from them, that His frown may not rest upon them all. But if the sins of the people are passed over by those in responsible positions, His frown will be upon them, and the people of God, as a body, will be held responsible for those sins.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 265.

“The plain, straight testimony must live in the church, or the curse of God will rest upon His people as surely as it did upon ancient Israel because of their sins. God holds his people, as a body, responsible for the sins existing in individuals among them. If the leaders of the church neglect to diligently search out the sins which bring the displeasure of God upon the body, they become responsible for these sins.” Ibid. 269.

Now, friends, if you understand very much at all about church history, that statement should put a great load on you. Do you have any idea of some of the things that have happened in Adventism that, as far as I can find out, have never been repented of or confessed? What was happening in the 50s, 60s, and 70s? Remember when the book Questions on Doctrine came out in the 1950s, introducing heresy? Remember what took place in the Mary Kay Silver case in the 1970s? Was it right? We have been defending it ever since. I have a whole booklet in my library defending what we did. I read the booklet and then read the accounts of what had happened, and when I finished, I said, “It was not right.”

Somebody may say, “Well, she did this, that and the other.” It does not matter what the other person has done. You do not have to answer for what she did, but if we were a member of the organization at that time, we are going to have to answer for what we have done, or allowed others to do in our church, without protest. We have more repenting and confessing to do than many of us have ever imagined. If we want to be ready for the Lord to come, we need to be attentive to what is going on and act accordingly.

In the 1980s there was John Marik who was put in prison for religious reasons. This action was initiated by the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and I have paperwork confirming this. That was a sin, friends, and what we did is registered in the books of heaven.

The first thing that is essential to unity is repentance.

Someone may ask, “Pastor John, are you speaking only about the organization?” No, I am not denying that there may be things for which I need to repent. If there are blind spots in my character that I do not see, for which I need to repent, then someone among God’s people who loves me needs to point them out to me, so that I can repent. Unity will never be obtained without repentance, and true repentance will always be followed by confession.

“All sin unrepented of and unconfessed will remain upon the books of record. It will not be blotted out, it will not go beforehand to judgement, to be canceled by the atoning blood of Jesus. The accumulated sins of every individual will be written with absolute accuracy.” The Review and Herald, March 27, 1888.

We are living in the Day of Atonement. Are you reviewing your life? Are you asking, “Lord, did I have a thought, speak a word or do anything today that was not pleasing in Your sight?”

If you will begin the process of repenting and confessing your faults and mistakes, you will find that it becomes progressively easier. It is certainly humbling, but as with many difficult things, it is always hardest at first.

Some of you may feel overwhelmed as you consider the formidable task before you and be tempted to say, “If I follow your advice on repenting and confessing of sin, I would not even get all my sins repented of and confessed before the Lord comes; there are too many!” But, God is the One who said this, and if you do not know how to get it all done, you had better talk to Him about it. All I can do is share with you what the Lord said. Ask the Lord to help you to get it done. The sooner you get started, the sooner you will finish.

About this time, one of the questions that makes people very nervous is, “What if I cannot remember? Am I then shut out of the kingdom of heaven?”

The Bible says: “For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.” 11 Corinthians 8:12. If you have willingness and will make a commitment with the Lord, the Holy Spirit will point out to you what you need to do to be right with God. The problem is not with our memories because God can supply our deficiencies. The real problem is whether we have a mind that is willing to make things right.

“There are those who are supposed to be excellent men, but they have some flaw in their character which, under special temptation, becomes as a dead fly in the ointment. The whole character will be perverted by one unconfessed sin.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 13, 190.

If we allow one sin in our life that is not confessed and repented of, that one sin will flaw the entire character. In Testimonies, vol. 5, 53, we are told that one sin will neutralize all the power of the gospel.

Ellen White once wrote to an elderly person who was living in sin, but who had not long to live. She said, “The sands of your life are nearly run out, and now if you will come to God just as you are, without one plea but that He has died to save the chiefest of sinners you will find pardon even in this the eleventh hour.” Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, 133.

Oh, friend, whatever your situation, whatever the sin in your life, even if it is the eleventh hour of your life, you can come to Jesus and repent and confess and find forgiveness for your sin. The gospel is a wonderful thing. Not only can you find forgiveness for your sins, but you can find power to live a new life, to no longer live in sin.

“Christ did not die to have power to cover transgression unrepented of and unconfessed. Not all sins are to be confessed publicly, but some are to be confessed alone to God and the parties that have been injured.” Ibid.

We need to pray: “Lord whatever You have to do with me to prepare me for heaven, whatever experience I have to go through, whatever trial, whatever happens, please, Lord, do not let me die in sin.” If you die with your sins concealed and unconfessed, you are lost.

“The mansions that Jesus has gone to prepare for all who love him, will be peopled by those who are free from sin. But sins that are not confessed will never be forgiven; the name of him who thus rejects the grace of God will be blotted out of the book of life.” The Review and Herald, December 16, 1890.

Friend, I am willing for you to correct me on anything that you can find from inspired writings, but if I am correct, we have a lot more repenting and confessing to do than most of us have ever had any idea of, and we had better pray and ask the Lord to help us to get it done. We are either going to confess it now, or after the millennium. By the grace of God, let us begin now. [All Emphasis supplied.]

Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Keeping Up with the Light

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The path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.” Proverbs 4:18. Notice, this verse does not say the room of the just, but the path of the just. As you walk that path, if you stay on it, the light is going to become brighter and brighter. But it is also true, friend, that if you do not keep walking on the path, the light is going to become darkness, because the light is moving.

The Bible talks about present truth. (See II Peter 1:12.) There are certain things that can be preached at one time that cannot be preached at another time. There are some truths that are timeless, but there is some truth that is present truth. What is present truth today is not exactly the same as it was 100 years ago.

I believe that very soon God’s servants are going to have to preach things that we have never thought we were going to preach. We are in a situation very similar to the Jews in the time of Christ. The devil had manipulated them into a situation, through what they had been taught, so that they were ready to reject the truth. They had developed a series of criteria which, if Jesus was the Messiah, they believed He would meet. Interestingly enough, they based these expectations on the Old Testament. Jesus did not, however, meet their criteria. It is interesting to note, in the study of history, that almost every time prophecy which is fulfilled is not fulfilled in the way expected.

Seventh-day Adventists used to wonder what Ellen White meant when she said, “I was shown the startling fact that but a small portion of those who now profess the truth will be sanctified by it and be saved.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 608. Very soon we are going to find out.

This concept that spiritual light is moving and the person who does not keep walking in the light finds himself in the dark explains many spiritual phenomena that are happening all around us that otherwise would be very confusing. A few years ago, two Seventh-day Adventist ministers came to question me. One of them asked something like this: “Do you believe that the Seventh-day Adventist Church organization was ordained by God? Well, do you or don’t you?” Well, let me ask you some questions? Do you believe that the Jewish church organization was ordained by God, or that He had a hand in setting it up? Was there a time when the Jews were in the light? Yes, there was. The Jews had been called by God and chosen as His special people. They had been in the light. They had, friends, the spirit of prophecy. They had all of the Old Testament; that is the spirit of prophecy. But when the light moved, they did not move with it. God had more light for them, but they would not accept it. They stayed put and, as a result, they were left in the dark.

Jesus is the light of the world. I want you to notice Revelation 14:4 and what it says about the 144,000. “These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.” When the light (Jesus) moves, the 144,000 follow. The problem today is that when the light moves, there are so many people who do not follow it; they stay put. They are left in the dark and are then spiritually blind. There was a time when they were in the light; but the light moved, and they did not move with it. “As the light and life of men was rejected by the ecclesiastical authorities in the days of Christ, so it has been rejected in every succeeding generation.” The Desire of Ages, 232. Did you notice that she said that this has taken place in every succeeding generation? “Again and again the history of Christ’s withdrawal from Judea has been repeated. When the Reformers preached the Word of God, they had no thought of separating themselves from the established church; but the religious leaders would not tolerate the light.” Ibid. What happened? The religious leaders refused to walk in the light. “And those that bore it were forced to seek another class, who were longing for the truth.” Ibid. Everyone who does not love the truth is going to be deceived and be lost.

“Few are listening for the voice of God, and ready to accept truth in whatever guise it may be presented. Often those who follow in the steps of the Reformers are forced to turn away from the churches they love, in order to declare the plain teaching of the Word of God.” Ibid. Did you know that there are many people who no longer believe that this statement can apply today? Have you ever heard people say, “Well, the cycles have to stop somewhere, and they stopped in 1863 because that is when we incorporated”? The trouble is, friends, The Desire of Ages was not even written until 1898.

We are living in a time that a few years ago no one expected to see. We believed that when persecution came, it would come from outside of the church. We failed to understand what Ellen White meant when she said that we have far more to fear from within than from without. (See Selected Messages, Book 1, 122.) Who would have thought that in Adventism the apostasy would become so great that in many places it would become spiritually dangerous to even attend the local Seventh-day Adventist Church because error was being “forced home to the people”? (See Early Writings, 125.) We were not expecting the true and faithful Seventh-day Adventists to be disfellowshipped and persecuted by their former brethren all over the world, as is taking place today. But when we go to the inspired writings, we see all of this prophesied—we just did not understand it. People have come to believe that these things would not happen until after the National Sunday Law. Friend, that theory is a dangerous deception. The National Sunday Law does not initiate the shaking; it brings the shaking to a climax! Those who are waiting to take a bold, unyielding stand for the truth until the Sunday law test comes are simply preparing to receive the mark of the beast.

You see, when anyone rejects the light of truth that God has given to this people, he has turned his back on the light and goes out in darkness. He may still call himself a Seventh-day Adventist, but if he does not believe the First Angel’s Message and the truth of the Investigative Judgment beginning in 1844, he has gone into darkness. You cannot, with safety, go to his church and listen to him preach. When a person rejects the truth of the great Day of Atonement that began in 1844 and says that instead of afflicting the soul (Leviticus 16:29, 30) it is time to celebrate, they have gone out into darkness. If a preacher says that you will sin until Jesus comes, he has accepted Satan’s fatal sophistry (See The Great Controversy, 489.), and you dare not go and listen to him preach lest you be deceived and lose your own soul. Finally, if you are not hearing the historic doctrines of Adventism preached in your church, if you are hearing the same kinds of sermons that you could hear in any other church, then you are endangering your soul if you do not either find a Historic Seventh-day Adventist congregation, or start a home church where you can teach the truth, at least to your own family.

Our opportunities for learning and knowing God’s last message to a perishing world and being prepared for what is coming on the world are very limited at best, and we dare not allow ourselves and our families to be exposed to either heretical preaching or “peace and safety” messages that come just before destruction. “I saw that we have no time to throw away in listening to fables. Our minds should not be thus diverted, but should be occupied with the present truth, and seeking wisdom that we may obtain a more thorough knowledge of our position, that with meekness we may be able to give a reason of our hope from the Scriptures. While false doctrines and dangerous errors are pressed upon the mind, it cannot be dwelling upon the truth which is to fit and prepare the house of Israel to stand in the day of the Lord.” Early Writings, 125.

Every Sabbath after church, you should be more fitted to stand in the day of the Lord than before. But the prophet wrote sadly, “Those who have been regarded as worthy and righteous prove to be ring-leaders in apostasy and examples in indifference and in the abuse of God’s mercies. Their wicked course He will tolerate no longer, and in His wrath He deals with them without mercy.

“It is with reluctance that the Lord withdraws His presence from those who have been blessed with great light and who have felt the power of the word in ministering to others. They were once His faithful servants, favored with His presence and guidance; but they departed from Him and led others into error, and therefore are brought under the divine displeasure. …

“Not all who profess to keep the Sabbath will be sealed. There are many even among those who teach the truth to others who will not receive the seal of God in their foreheads. They had the light of truth, they knew their Master’s will, they understood every point of our faith, but they had not corresponding works. These who were so familiar with prophecy and the treasures of divine wisdom should have acted their faith. They should have commanded their households after them, that by a well-ordered family they might present to the world the influence of the truth upon the human heart.

“By their lack of devotion and piety, and their failure to reach a high religious standard, they make other souls contented with their position. Men of finite judgment cannot see that in patterning after these men who have so often opened to them the treasures of God’s Word, they will surely endanger their souls. Jesus is the only true pattern. Everyone must now search the Bible for himself upon his knees before God, with the humble, teachable heart of a child, if he would know what the Lord requires of him. However high any minister may have stood in the favor of God, if he neglects to follow out the light given him of God, if he refuses to be taught as a little child, he will go into darkness and satanic delusions and will lead others in the same path. …

“What are you doing, brethren, in the great work of preparation? Those who are uniting with the world are receiving the worldly mold and preparing for the mark of the beast.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 212–216.

Friends, it is a dangerous thing to fail to advance in the opening providence of God. The light is moving. Are you moving with it or are you in the dark? Early in her experience, Ellen White saw a vision about this light. You can read this vision in Early Writings, 15–20. In other places in her writings, she speaks about the light that was set up at the beginning of the path that the Advent company was traveling that shone all of the way up to the Holy City. This path, friends, is narrow, and if you do not have light on the path, you are going to stumble and fall off.

What was that light that was set up at the beginning? Sister White says that it was the Midnight Cry. The Midnight Cry was based on the Bible prophecies of Daniel 8 and 9, and Revelation 14:6, 7—the message of the 2300 days and the sanctuary and the Investigative Judgment. The devil knows that if we reject these truths, we will stumble and fall off the path. It is amazing how successful the devil has been in leading people to reject them.

We have been told that, “When the power of God testifies as to what is truth, that truth is to stand forever as the truth. No after suppositions contrary to the light God has given are to be entertained.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 161. Yet there are Adventist teachers and ministers today who no longer believe these truths. Friend, if you are in the situation where you listen to this error, you are in the dark; you are going to lose your way. The Lord is not going to work a miracle to save you; you have turned your back on the light. This idea that you can have a spirit of free inquiry and ask any question you want to is not according to the Scriptures. Jesus rebuked people for their doubt. Friend, if these truths are not being upheld in your church, your church is in the dark.

In Testimonies, vol. 2, 594–597, Ellen White describes a very impressive dream. “I dreamed of being with a large body of people. A portion of this assembly started out prepared to journey. We had heavily loaded wagons. As we journeyed, the road seemed to ascend. On one side of this road was a deep precipice; on the other was a high, smooth, white wall. … As we journeyed on, the road grew narrower and steeper. … We concluded that we could no longer travel with the loaded wagons. We … took a portion of the luggage from the wagons and placed it upon the horses, and journeyed on horseback. As we progressed, the path still continued to grow narrow. … We then cut the luggage from the horses, and it fell over the precipice. We continued on horseback. … A hand seemed to take the bridle and guide us over the perilous way. As the path grew more narrow, we … left the horses and went on foot, in single file. … At this point small cords were let down from the top of the pure white wall; these we eagerly grasped. … The path finally became so narrow that we concluded that we could travel more safely without our shoes, so we slipped them from our feet. … Soon it was decided that we could travel more safely without our stockings; these were removed, and we journeyed on with bare feet.”

One of the most interesting points of this dream is that several changes were made. They began with heavily loaded wagons, then changed to horses with a portion of the luggage, to horses with no luggage, to single file on foot, to removing their shoes, and finally to removing their stockings. Notice that “at every change some were left behind, and those only remained who had accustomed themselves to endure hardships. The privations of the way only made these more eager to press on to the end. … We pressed close to the white wall, yet could not place our feet fully upon the path, for it was too narrow. We then suspended nearly our whole weight upon the cords, exclaiming: ‘We have hold from above!’ ” Ibid.

The light, friends, is moving. Are you keeping up with the providence of God? Are you aware that the road we are traveling is getting narrower? Have you noticed it? How are you going to stay on the path and keep up with the providence of God? The only way is to have faith. These cords represent faith. A few years ago a good friend of mine told me that he was sorry that I had worked so many years for the Adventist denomination and now had to give up all of my retirement benefits. If you stay on the road all the way to the end, you are going to give up much more than retirement benefits.

Oh friend, how much time are you spending in prayer? If you are energetic enough to get up and to pray, God will hear and answer.

“Where there is no active labor for others, love wanes, and faith grows dim.” The Desire of Ages, 825. You must not only study your Bible and pray, you must be actively involved in missionary work. If you are not, ask the Lord to show you what to do to become involved in some type of outreach program spreading the Third Angel’s Message.

We did not follow the path to the end of the vision. The time came, however, when the path disappeared and all that was left were the cords that had been let down from above. When you come to this place in your experience, will you have a faith that will hold you? Do you want the Lord to let down a cord of faith today so that you can get a hold from above? If so, determine that from this day forward you will faithfully walk in the light as God sheds it upon your pathway.

Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Commitment to God’s Church

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Week of Prayer for Sabbath

Many times, at Steps to Life and the Prairie Meadows Church, we receive telephone calls and letters questioning us as to why we are an independent church of Sabbath-keeping believers, not connected with the local conference, the union conference, or the General Conference structure of Seventh-day Adventists. While this is too extensive a question to be answered in one article, a few questions and answers will be given that, hopefully, will stimulate God’s people to think through their position relative to the coming of Christ.

Babylon

In an effort to avoid misunderstandings, it should be stated that we have not in the past called, nor are we at the present calling, the Seventh-day Adventist Church Babylon. In LandMarks magazine, the writer has published articles titled, “The Black and White Christian” [September and October 2005]. A large percentage of Catholics and Protestants, including Seventh-day Adventists, are black and white Christians. So many people say, “Either the church must be Zion or it must be Babylon; there are only two sides in the Great Controversy, so it must be one or the other.” They see that the church is in apostasy, which is a cardinal characteristic of Babylon, so they conclude that it is Babylon.

Most of the people we know who call the Seventh-day Adventist Church Babylon do so, in large part, because they see apostasy in the church at all levels. If we refuse to call the church Babylon, then these people conclude that it must be Zion—God’s church, and everyone should belong to it and work through the problems associated with it. However, in real life, a situation can be more complicated than just a simple yes or no.

Previous Independent Workers

Before addressing directly the situation of the present day, it is fair to ask the question, Are there instances in the Holy Scriptures or in the writings of Ellen White where individuals or groups of people did not work within the church structure of their day and yet were being led by God to do a work for Him? Many examples should immediately come to mind for any serious Bible student.

Jethro

First of all, there was Jethro. Jethro was Moses’ father-in-law, and he gave advice to Moses concerning church organization. Yet, Jethro was not a member of the children of Israel and refused to become one when Moses extended an invitation to him. Ellen White says, “When Moses was much burdened the Lord raised him up in Jethro an advisor and helper.” Christian Leadership, 55. Obviously, Jethro was being led by the Lord, but, as far as we can tell, he was never a member of the children of Israel. He was a priest and a prince but separate from the children of Israel, as far as membership was concerned. “Jethro was singled out from the darkness of the Gentile world to reveal the principles of heaven. God has ever had appointed agencies, and has ever given abundant evidences that these agencies were heaven-appointed and heaven-sent (Letter 190, 1905).” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 1, 1099.

Jethro did not understand all things, but he was spiritually in advance of Moses when Moses fled from Pharoah. He helped Moses to develop a more correct faith: “All the idolatrous rubbish of heathen lore must be removed, bit by bit, item by item, from Moses’ mind. Jethro helped him in many things to a correct faith, as far as he himself understood. He was working upward toward the light, when he could see God in singleness of heart. . . .” This Day With God, 321.

“And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses’ father in law, We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. And he said unto him, I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred. And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes. And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee.” Numbers 10:29–32.

Eventually, at least some of the descendants of Jethro lived among the children of Israel, and the wife of one of these descendants killed Sisera. (See Judges 4.)

Elijah

A second example is Elijah. The church organization was in apostasy and had been taken over by the woman Jezebel. The times of Elijah are very instructive for people who are confused by the arguments of those who believe that all people must belong to the organization of “God’s church.”

Had God by divine arrangement denominated the children of Israel as His special people? Yes, God had done this very thing.

Were the children of Israel called by a divinely appointed name, and were they God’s chosen people? Yes, they were.

Had their church been organized by divine appointment, and, therefore, was it God’s chosen and organized church? Yes, it was.

Then why did Elijah not cooperate by being obedient and submissive to the church organization? Because the leadership had decided to fight and destroy God’s people and to go contrary to the historic truths of the organization. Therefore, it could not be said any longer that the leadership had divinely constituted authority. They were no longer to be followed. In fact, if you followed the authority of the church leadership, you would be separated from God. The authority of the church organization was not duly authorized by God and did not constitute divinely authorized leadership, because they had decided to follow the practices of the world around them instead of the Word of God.

This is a key point that many people fail to understand. It is only the words and writings of prophets and apostles that give any church organization (including the Seventh-day Adventist Church) divine authority. As soon as a church organization makes decisions that are not in harmony with the Word of God or the writings of prophets, then that church organization no longer has any divine authority. This is true even if the decision is made in a conference session with delegates from all over the world. If the reader would like an example of a decision directly contrary to inspired writings, examine the decision concerning marriage and divorce made at the General Conference session in the year 2000.

There were believers in Elijah’s day who did not submit to or obey the church organization or have any part of it at all—at least 7,000 of them. These people would, today, be thought of as offshoots. They were the ones meeting in home churches and refusing to be a part of the general apostasy. Elijah was accused of being the troubler of Israel. He was saying many things against the church organization, and since he was separate from the church organization, he was no doubt accused of being a separationist. It is never wrong to be separate from apostasy.

Elijah could have been accused of starting a new movement, a new church, a new organization—the same accusations that are leveled at those in independent churches today. But the truth of the matter is that Elijah was being loyal and faithful to the movement that God had originally established, just as we are trying to do today.

The big question that needs to be answered is not to what organization are you loyal, but are you loyal and faithful in practice to the inspired writings? If not, then whether you are a physician, a lawyer, a judge, a minister, or whatever you may be, you are not really being loyal and faithful, even if you are a member in good and regular standing in a church organization. We are headed for the final judgment, and the question is going to be whether or not we were obedient to the Law of God.

Elijah could be accused of pulling apart from God’s organization, and, like today, people probably said that this was not a good sign. Elijah would have responded that the organization had pulled apart from the truth, and he was staying with the truths that had been vouchsafed to God’s people. Elijah could be accused of separating from the organized body.

The experience of the true and faithful in Elijah’s time is very similar to the experience of the true and faithful today. They were unknown. They were, to human sight, unauthorized to be organized in their little groups in caves and other out-of-the-way places. They were, however, recognized in heaven and written down in God’s book as the people who would not in any way participate in the apostasy, not even so much as by a kiss.

New Testament Examples

Other examples from the Old Testament could be given, but it is in the New Testament where we see God calling and using people independent of the organization, of the chosen people of God. This does not mean that the organization is Babylon. It does mean that we need to rise above the level of black and white Christians. We must perceive that God has many ways to perfect His plans, and some of them may be contrary to what humans believe is the only right way to do things.

John the Baptist

John the Baptist worked entirely independent of the church organization of God’s chosen people. He said, “The ax is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” Matthew 3:10. “Not by its name, but by its fruit, is the value of a tree determined. If the fruit is worthless, the name cannot save the tree from destruction. John declared to the Jews that their standing before God was to be decided by their character and life. Profession was worthless. If their life and character were not in harmony with God’s law, they were not His people.” The Desire of Ages, 107.

“To a people in whose hearts His law is written, the favor of God is assured. They are one with Him. But the Jews had separated themselves from God. Because of their sins they were suffering under His judgments. This was the cause of their bondage to a heathen nation. Their minds were darkened by transgression, and because in times past the Lord had shown them so great favor, they excused their sins. They flattered themselves that they were better than other men, and entitled to His blessings.

“These things ‘are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.’ 1 Corinthians 10:11. How often we misinterpret God’s blessings, and flatter ourselves that we are favored on account of some goodness in us! God cannot do for us that which He longs to do. His gifts are used to increase our self-satisfaction, and to harden our hearts in unbelief and sin.

“John declared to the teachers of Israel that their pride, selfishness, and cruelty showed them to be a generation of vipers, a deadly curse to the people, rather than the children of just and obedient Abraham. In view of the light they had received from God, they were even worse than the heathen, to whom they felt so much superior. They had forgotten the rock whence they were hewn, and the hole of the pit from which they had been digged. God was not dependent upon them for the fulfilling of His purpose. As He had called Abraham out from a heathen people, so He could call others to His service. Their hearts might now appear as lifeless as the stones of the desert, but His Spirit could quicken them to do His will, and receive the fulfillment of His promise.” Ibid., 106, 107.

Would to God that we all could learn the lesson. God is not dependent on the historic Adventists or the home churches or the Adventists in conference churches. He is not dependent on our organizations or institutions to finish His work. He can finish His work through others: “We have a great work to do in our world. If ministers and doctors will work in God’s lines, He will work with them. But they must change, decidedly change, in spirit and character. They must remember that they are not the only ones to whom the Lord will give wisdom. If His people will not follow in His way, the Lord will employ heathen princes to do His will. . . .” Notebook Leaflets from the Elmshaven Library, vol. 1, 62.

The Lord

We will pass over the example we have in the life of our Lord Himself. He took a position independent of the church organization of God’s chosen people, and remember that this was before probation had closed on the Jews as a nation. Some people say that, until probation closes on a church, all should remain in it and work under its authority, forgetting the example of our Lord who said, concerning the leaders of God’s chosen people, that they were blind leaders of the blind. (Matthew 15:14.) He cautioned His children for all future ages that if they followed those who were blind, they, as well as the leaders, would fall into the ditch. He said to let them alone. There is a time when the only safe thing to do is to be separate from those who will lead you into the ditch if you follow them.

“While they had been with Him, the disciples had often been perplexed by the teaching of the priests and Pharisees, but they had brought their perplexities to Jesus. He had set before them the truths of Scripture in contrast with tradition. Thus He had strengthened their confidence in God’s word, and in a great measure had set them free from their fear of the rabbis and their bondage to tradition.” The Desire of Ages, 349.

“Since the healing at Bethesda He had not attended the national gatherings. To avoid useless conflict with the leaders at Jerusalem, He had restricted His labors to Galilee. His apparent neglect of the great religious assemblies, and the enmity manifested toward Him by the priests and rabbis, were a cause of perplexity to the people about Him, and even to His own disciples and His kindred. In His teachings He had dwelt upon the blessings of obedience to the law of God, and yet He Himself seemed to be indifferent to the service which had been divinely established. His mingling with publicans and others of ill repute, His disregard of the rabbinical observances, and the freedom with which He set aside the traditional requirements concerning the Sabbath, all seeming to place Him in antagonism to the religious authorities, excited much questioning. His brothers thought it a mistake for Him to alienate the great and learned men of the nation. They felt that these men must be in the right, and that Jesus was at fault in placing Himself in antagonism to them.” Ibid., 450.

“It was most difficult for the disciples of Christ to keep His lessons distinct from the traditions and maxims of the rabbis, the scribes, and pharisees. The teachings which the disciples had been educated to respect as the voice of God held a power over their minds and molded their sentiments. The disciples could not be a living and shining light until they were freed from the influence of the sayings and commandments of men, and the words of Christ were deeply impressed upon their minds and hearts as distinct truths, as precious jewels, to be appreciated, loved, and acted upon.” Ye Shall Receive Power, 39.

The Apostle Paul

We will also pass over the example of the apostle Paul. Although he was raising up churches all over the Roman Empire, much of his work was done entirely independently of the church organization in Jerusalem. His imprisonment and martyrdom were the result of opposition and unbelief by the church structure, which included some of the apostles. (See Sketches from the Life of Paul.)

Current Time

In our time, did God authorize, during the lifetime of Ellen White, any work and workers which were separate from the church structure and independent of the church structure? For a beginning, look up the expression “irregular lines” in the writings of Mrs. White.

When Madison College and Sanitarium were being started, Ellen White gave the following counsel: “It was quite a problem with Brethren Sutherland and Magan and their faithful associates as to how, with limited means, they were to adapt themselves to the work in Madison, Tennessee. They had many obstacles and difficulties to meet, some of which need never have come into the work.

“The reason these brethren were persuaded to purchase the place now occupied by the Madison school, was because special light was given to me that this place was well adapted for the educational work that was most needed there. It was presented to me that this was a place where an all-round education could be given advantageously to students who should come from the North and the South for instruction. In what has already been accomplished by the Madison school, the Lord is making it manifest that He is blessing the work carried forward there, and is leading the teachers who are associated together in bearing the burdens of the work.

“Many obstacles have been placed in the way of the pioneers at the Madison school of a nature to discourage them and drive them from the field. These obstacles were not placed there by the Lord. In some things the finite planning and devisings of men have worked counter to the work of God.

“Let us be careful, brethren, lest we counterwork and hinder the progress of others, and so delay the sending forth of the gospel message. This has been done, and this is why I am now compelled to speak so plainly. If proper aid had been given to the school enterprise at Madison, its work might now be in a far more advanced stage of development. The work at Madison has made slow advancement, and yet, in spite of the obstacles and hindrances, these workers have not failed nor become discouraged; and they have been enabled to accomplish a good work in the cause of God.

“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 lack of interest in this work, by some who should have valued it highly, is decidedly wrong. Our brethren must guard themselves against the repetition of such experiences.

“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.

“Brethren Sutherland and Magan are as verily set to do the work of the Lord at Madison as other workers are appointed to do their part in the cause of present truth. The light given me is that we should help these brethren and their associates, who have worked beyond their strength, under great disadvantages. Let us seek to understand the situation, and see that justice and mercy are not forgotten in the distribution of funds.

“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.” Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 11, 30–32.

“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.

“When my advice was asked in reference to the Madison school, I said, Remain as you are. There is danger in binding every working agency under the dictation of the conference. The Lord did not design that this should be. The circumstances were such that the burden bearers in the Madison school could not bind up their work with the conference. I knew their situation, and when many of the leading men in our conferences ignored them, because they did not place their school under conference dictation, I was shown that they would not be helped by making themselves amenable to the conference. They had better remain as led by God, amenable to Him, to work out His plans. But this matter need not be blazed abroad.

“In their change from Berrien Springs, Brethren Sutherland and Magan made many sacrifices. The Lord counseled them where to go, and in their labors at Madison, they have worked far beyond their strength. But under the direction of the Lord they are capable of doing a good work. They will give to the students who come there an education altogether different than what has been given in Washington during the past years. They will not only labor to impart an education in book knowledge and manual work, but they will endeavor to teach the students to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.

“These teachers should be regarded, not as men who have had no valuable experience, but as men who have in the past accomplished a great and good work, and who have suffered privations for the cause of God. They have not exacted their just dues. Had some of their brethren been better able to reason from cause to effect, there would be a different record. The restrictions by which their hands have been tied are not pleasing to the Lord. They might have had a sanitarium and suitable buildings, and they might have been years in advance of where they now are. I would say, Let justice now be done.

“The world is our field. God’s children who feel a burden for the work of the message are to be allowed to work where the Spirit directs them. Let not a forbidding power be exercised to restrict them in their work. Let God accomplish His work through the agencies that He chooses. A great mistake has been made in the exercise of human authority in God’s work, and I am bidden to proclaim the message: ‘Break every yoke, and let the oppressed go free.’ [Isaiah 58:6.] I am bidden to say to church members, ‘Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee’ (Isaiah 60:1).

“When the disciples returned from their first missionary tour, the Saviour asked them, ‘Lacked ye anything?’ And the answer was given, ‘Nay, Lord.’ [Luke 22:35.] The same power that supplied the needs of the first disciples will provide for the necessities of those who today go forth to labor earnestly to give the last gospel message to the world. O, why do men and women feel so little burden to take up the work that needs to be done? Angels of God are waiting to go forth with them in this work.

“In the restrictions that have been placed on some who desired to do a definite work, many have found an excuse why they should not engage in active missionary work. I am bidden to bear my testimony against unnecessary restrictions being laid on those who desire to act a part in the work of the Lord.

“In all their associations together, God desires His followers to guard their personal responsibility to Him, and their individual dependence upon Him. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. No ruling power of man over man is to be exercised. We have as a people lost much time and means, because we have not followed closely the Lord’s plan for us. By carrying out their own devisings, men get in the way of the Lord, and close up the avenue by which He would reach those who need the blessings of the gospel.

“My brethren, stand out of the way of your fellow-beings. . . .

“In the day of final reckoning, the Lord will deal with each soul individually. . . .

“There are among our church members faithful souls who feel a burden for those who know not the truth for this time. But one will say to such, The conference will not support you if you go here or there. To such souls I would say, ‘Pray to God for guidance as to where you shall go; follow the directions of the Holy Spirit, and go, whether the conference will pay your expenses or not.’ ‘Go work today in My vineyard,’ Christ commands. [Matthew 21:38.] When you have done your work in one place, go to another. Angels of God will go with you, if you follow the leadings of the Spirit.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 8, 202–207.

“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.

“The Lord Jesus will one day call to account those who would so tie your hands that it is almost impossible for you to move in harmony with the Lord’s biddings. ‘The silver and the gold is mine, saith the Lord, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.’ [Haggai 2:8; Psalm 50:10.]

“You and your associates are not novices in educational work, and when you are in stress for means with which to advance the work, you are just as much entitled to ask for that which you need as are other men to present the necessities of the work in which they are engaged.

“You have in the past done much to bring means into circulation in the work of God. And you need not now feel troubled about accepting gifts and free-will offerings; for you will need them in the work of preparing young men and women to labor in the Lord’s vineyard. As you carry on this work in harmony with the Lord’s will, you are not to be kept on a constant strain to know how to secure the means you need in order to go forward. The Lord forbids the setting up of walls and bands around workers of experience who are faithfully acting their God-appointed part.

“Much precious time has been lost because man-made rules and restrictions have been sometimes placed above the plans and purposes of God. In the name of the Lord I appeal to our conference workers to strengthen and support and labor in harmony with our brethren at Madison, who are carrying forward a work that God has appointed them.” Spalding and Magan Collection, 411, 412.

“Well,” someone may say, “Sutherland and Magan started a school, a sanitarium, and a publishing ministry that were independent from the conference, but that was all right, because Ellen White endorsed it.” (Or would it be more fair and correct to say that she endorsed it because it was right—exactly what God wanted them to do at that time?) They continue, “But you are starting churches which are independent from the conference, and that is wrong and not endorsed by Ellen White.” We will look at independent or self-supporting churches in future articles.

Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas.

[Editor’s Note: This topic is so important and extensive that it will be further addressed in additional articles in future LandMarks.]

Sinful Independence, part 3

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The Basis For True Authority

But though they tried, and verily thought they had succeeded, they could not disfellowship Jesus from the church. Jesus was the church. They merely succeeded in disfellowshipping themselves from the true church. For God “has put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:22, 23.

The church is still to be “built upon Christ as its foundation; it is to obey Christ as its head. It is not to depend upon man, or be controlled by man. Many claim that a position of trust in the church gives them authority to dictate what other men shall believe and what they shall do. This claim God does not sanction. The Saviour declares, ‘All ye are brethren.’ All are exposed to temptations, and are liable to error. Upon no finite being can we depend for guidance. The Rock of faith is the living presence of Christ in the church. Upon this the weakest may depend, and those who think themselves the strongest will prove to be the weakest, unless they make Christ their efficiency. ‘Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm.’ . . .Jeremiah 17:5.” Desire of Ages, 414. “This principle bears with equal weight upon a question that has long agitated the Christian world,—the question of apostolic succession. Descent from Abraham was proved, not by name and lineage, but by likeness of character. So the apostolic succession rests not upon the transmission of ecclesiastical authority, but upon spiritual relationship. A life actuated by the apostles’ spirit, the belief and teaching of the truth they taught, this is the true evidence of apostolic succession. This is what constitutes men the successors of the first teachers of the gospel.” Ibid., 467.

Within Christ’s church there is to be no hierarchical, centralized, controlling power that supersedes the headship of Christ. As the messenger of the Lord said, “Battle Creek is not to be the center of God’s work. God alone can fill this place.” Testimonies to Ministers, 375. There is a place for order, but it is to be a simple, humble order, always uplifting the primacy of Christ. For “He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” Colossians 1:18.

Thus, as Christ is the head of the body, He is always to “have the preeminence.” Whenever the church assumes preeminence over Christ or His word, it thereby becomes an idol to the people.

Christ created the structure—it is holy—but it is always to remain subservient to the Word and to Christ as its head. Anything that supersedes God becomes a false God. That is what the Jews did with their temple. The temple became more important than the truth, or even God’s dear Son. A word of criticism spoken against the temple was worse than a false teaching being taught from its precincts. The final charge brought against Christ was that He spoke against the temple.

In view of this danger of making the system and its leadership a false God, Ellen White has a whole chapter in Testimonies to Ministers entitled, “Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me”—she was referring to Battle Creek, its system and the leadership. She also warns that “the trials of the children of Israel, and their attitude just before the first coming of Christ, have been presented before me again and again to illustrate the position of the people of God in their experience before the second coming of Christ—how the enemy sought every occasion to take control of the minds of the Jews, and today he is seeking to blind the minds of God’s servants, that they may not be able to discern the precious truth.” Selected Messages, vol. 1, 406.

Jesus was rejected by most because He was not sanctioned by the visible church, and those who rejected Him were lost. According to the Spirit of Prophecy, this will likewise be our test. “To stand in defense of truth and righteousness when the majority forsake us, to fight the battles of the Lord when champions are few—this will be our test.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 136.

 

The Head Of The Church

 

“And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.” 1 Corinthians 12:28. God is the One who has promised to place various gifts in the church. When the church is pure, God is the One who calls and ordains through His chosen instrumentalities. He chooses through the official channels when He can, but when He cannot, He will call people directly, as in the case of David and John the Baptist. Never has God turned the entire control of His church over to human instrumentalities.

The Lord wants to direct His heritage and His church far more than we give Him opportunity to do. “If ministers and men in positions of authority will get out of the way, and let the Holy Spirit move upon the minds of the lay brethren, God will direct them what to do for the honor of his name. Let men have freedom to carry out that which the Holy Spirit indicates. Do not put the shackles upon humble men whom God would use.” Review and Herald, July 9, 1895.

It is not being independent for humble men and women whom God has called to act upon their God given responsibilities. In various places around the world I have been told by laymen that they cannot even give a Bible study without the pastor’s permission. In most places, a layman is not even permitted to hold a prayer meeting in his own home, if it is called a prayer meeting, without the church’s permission —and if the pastor wants to come in and take control, he assumes that prerogative. Not long ago I was asked to have some meetings in one of the major cities of America. Previous to my coming they had had Ron Spear and Colin Standish in to speak. This meeting was held in a private hall and one of the local elders was in attendance and expressed great appreciation for the meetings. However, the pastor of the largest church in town, where this layman held office and membership, asked him not to have these meetings. The layman, however, felt that the Lord wanted these meetings, and as they were not a part of any church function or on church property, and as those who were asked to speak were all ordained Seventh-day Adventist ministers and members in good and regular standing, he felt impressed to quietly go on with the meetings. He had no intention of having a conflict with the pastor, but was simply trying to serve the Lord. Yet, because of his supposed “independence” from the pastor, he was duly disciplined by the church by way of official censor and removed from being an elder.

But who was acting independently—the layman or the pastor? There is no law in the Bible, or even the manual, forbidding people from getting together and reading and studying the Bible together. For the pastor to arbitrarily make these rules is independence indeed! During the Dark Ages it was against the law to hold private meetings, but America guarantees that right—have we lost it in the church? It is “Satan . . . [who] works to restrict religious liberty, and to bring into the religious world a species of slavery. Organizations, institutions, unless kept by the power of God, will work under Satan’s dictation to bring men under the control of men . . . His methods are practiced even among Seventh-day Adventists, who claim to have advanced truth.” Testimonies to Ministers, 366.

Today if someone tries to raise up a new congregation or hold a meeting for Bible study and prayer, the question asked is: “By whose authority are you holding these meetings?” That was the question that was asked of John the Baptist and Jesus. “Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?’ ” Matthew 21:23.

“Laws and rules are being made at the centers of the work that will soon be broken into atoms . . . The Lord does not ask permission of those in responsible positions when He wishes to use certain ones as His agents for the promulgation of truth . . . Those who know the truth are to be worked by the Holy Spirit, and not themselves to try to work the Spirit. If the cords are drawn much tighter, if the rules are made much finer, if men continue to bind their fellow laborers closer and closer to the commandments of men, many will be stirred by the Spirit of God to break every shackle, and assert their liberty in Christ Jesus.” Review and Herald, July 23, 1895.

God has appointed leadership to act under Him, but never in His place. There is a place for organization —heaven is a place of order. God’s church, all through the ages, has been a place of order. The Old Testament church was a church of order, and God’s church today is to be just as ordered and orderly as was the Old Testament church. There is a place for leadership, a place for elders, a place for deacons and administrators. But their job description was never intended to be that of being the head of the church or of controlling the church, but rather they were to be the servants of God to the people. “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:25–28.

Do you suppose that I, or anyone else, could ever get to the place where we could supersede God’s authority in the church? We could try, but that would be a false, sinful and assumed authority that God and His true people would not recognize anymore than John the Baptist did. (See Desire of Ages, 132.) Suppose that I had charisma and good leadership abilities, made a lot of friends, and made some good business or political decisions and so began to climb the corporate ladder in the church until I got to the very top. Could I ever get to the place where I had enough authority to supersede God’s authority? Could I tell someone whom God had called to preach, for example, that God had not called him to preach, as they told John the Baptist and Jesus? I could tell him, but no matter how much authority I might have assumed or think I had, I could never get enough authority to supersede God’s authority. That would be the epitome of independence. But in my blind presumption, I would probably think that the person whom God had called and who was merely fulfilling His God-given mission was being independent because he had not listened to me!—what pride!

“But,” someone might insist, “someone must have that kind of authority in order to maintain order in the church.” That is exactly the claim of the papal church. “It is one of the leading doctrines of Romanism that the pope is the visible head of the universal church of Christ, invested with supreme authority over bishops and pastors in all parts of the world . . . God has never given a hint in His word that He has appointed any man to be the head of the church.” Great Controversy, 50, 51.

While God has not given any man the authority to say who cannot preach when the Holy Spirit has made it plainly evident that God has called him to preach, likewise God has not given any man the authority to say that someone can or should preach whom God has not called. No local church should ever be forced by some higher human authority to allow a conference–appointed pastor or leader to speak when the congregation and elders feel, based upon biblical evidence, that God has not called him to speak.

In fact, for men to receive those sent to them from the conference whom God has not sent, causes them to become independent from God along with the pastor, and results in the withdrawal of God’s blessings. “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. “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.

Yet, how many ministers whom God has never recognized are lauded and applauded by men, and how many ministers have been scourged and even put to death who were the chosen instrumentalities of God.

For a central, ruling authority to assume controlling power over the local membership, telling them who will preach to them and who will not preach to them, is to place one’s self in the place of God over the people. God has entrusted to His people certain inalienable rights and obligations, such as the right and the obligation to carefully and prayerfully decide who they will receive and maintain to minister to them. The Bible predicted that there would come a power that would seek to put itself in the place of God. “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4. That, in a special way refers to the papacy of the Middle Ages, and we can adopt some of the same policies, until we are “following in the track of Romanism.” Testimonies to Ministers, 362.

“The high-handed power that has been developed, as though position has made men gods, makes me afraid, and ought to cause fear. It is a curse wherever and by whomsoever it is exercised. This lording it over God’s heritage will create such a disgust of man’s jurisdiction that a state of insubordination will result . . . The spirit of domination is extending to the presidents of our conferences . . .They are following in the track of Romanism . . .Rule, rule, has been their course of action. Satan has had an opportunity of representing himself.” Testimonies to Ministers, 361–363.

These statements from the Spirit of Prophecy were not written to imply that the church does not, or should not, have proper authority. The church is to have a great amount of authority under God. When a point or a decision can be shown from God’s word and from the leading of the Holy Spirit to be from the Lord, the leaders are to have a great deal of authority. Whenever the church utters the utterances of God, it is as the voice of God. But when they become independent of God and assume authority such as the Sanhedrin assumed, then they are no longer the voice of God. It was when the leaders were becoming independent of God, that Ellen White said, “That these men should stand in a sacred place, to be as the voice of God to the people, as we once believed the General Conference to be,—that is past.” General Conference Bulletin, April 3, 1901.

 

Religious Liberty and the Church

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We do not believe in putting too much confidence in impressions; however, we all have them. Recently I came across the notes of a sermon preached by my brother, Marshall, in Australia during the late 1980s. Though I had not heard it, I was aware of the concepts therein, as I was publicly challenged by a number of his elders and deacons denying those things to be really true.

Some people think that the church will continue to sink downwards into more and more apostasy and then, all of a sudden, bang, at the end, it is just going to spring up perfect. That is not the way it works. If you go deeper and deeper into apostasy, the end result is destruction.

God’s great desire is that He might have a pure and glorious church that is without spot or wrinkle or any such thing (Ephesians 5:27). Each church member has been called to be a steward guarding its spiritual interests, but as Jesus warned, while men slept, an enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat (Matthew 13:25).

God has ordained four basic ways to purify the church and protect it from being taken over by the tares.

New Members

The church is to exercise loving and judicious care when accepting new members into the church. “When a person presents himself as a candidate for church membership, we are to examine the fruit of his life, and leave the responsibility of his motive with himself. But great care should be exercised in accepting members into the church; for Satan has his specious devices through which he purposes to crowd false brethren into the church, through whom he can work more successfully to weaken the cause of God.” Evangelism, 313.

Baptism represents a death to sin. By it, the candidate makes a statement that he/she has chosen to leave his/her sinful life behind and walk in newness of life, a life that is in harmony with God’s law. This, according to the New Testament, is the condition of the person who is welcomed into church membership. It needs to be remembered that the church is not a club for saints; it is a hospital for sinners. The person who has not made a decision for baptism and chooses to live in sin should also be welcome to come to church, but that person who is openly living in sin, or one who has violated his/her baptismal vow and continues to live in sin, cannot be a church member.

Church Members

Matthew 18:15–17 spells out clearly the procedure to follow when a brother sins against a brother. If I sin against you, you are to come to me and speak with me about what I have done against you. But, if I will not listen to you, you then are to take one or two more and come and talk to me and say, “Look; what you have done is wrong.” If I still refuse to listen after the first two steps, then the matter is to be taken to the church.

Incidentally, Matthew 18 is not referring to difference of opinion. If you look in the Greek text, Jesus said, “If your brother sin against you.” This is specifically referring to a sin, breaking one of the last six commandments against you. The counsel is to labor with that person. If the sin is never acknowledged, the results will be disastrous. “If the sins of the people are passed over by those in responsible positions, His frown will be upon them, and the people of God, as a body, will be held responsible for those sins. In His dealings with His people in the past the Lord shows the necessity of purifying the church from wrongs. One sinner may diffuse darkness that will exclude the light of God from the entire congregation.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 265.

Open sin must not be allowed in the church. That does not mean that the open sinner cannot be saved, but the person who is living in open sin and continues in open sin cannot remain in the church, according to the teaching of Matthew 18.

Judgments

This is not our favorite way of purifying the church; however, it is one way that God uses. In response to the prayers of his servants, God sends judgments on the church. Elijah prayed because of the sins of the children of Israel and God sent judgments so that it did not rain for three years and 6 months, or 1,260 days, on that land (I Kings 17).

In the early church, judgments came upon Ananias and Sapphira who sold property and then lied saying they had given all of the proceeds to the church while keeping back part of the money for themselves (Acts 5:2). The problem was not that they kept some of the money; they could have offered half or a portion of the proceeds, but they lied. Peter said to them, “You have not lied to men, you have lied to God, because you have lied to the Holy Spirit” (Acts 5:4). Ananias immediately fell dead and three hours later his wife came in and told the same lie. Peter said, “The same people that carried your husband out will carry you out.” Immediately she dropped down dead. Verses 5, 7–10.

Ellen White writes about this. She says, “The Spirit of truth revealed to the apostles the real character of these pretenders, and the judgments of God rid the church of this foul blot upon its purity. This signal evidence of the discerning Spirit of Christ in the church was a terror to hypocrites and evildoers. They could not long remain in connection with those who were, in habit and disposition, constant representatives of Christ.” The Great Controversy, 44. This judgment kept unconverted people from joining the church, but it did not prevent them from soul winning and believers were multiplied to the church.

In our own denominational history as Seventh-day Adventists, God has also sent judgments because of backsliding into apostasy.

In 1902, there were two fires that burned down two of the headquarter institutions. Ellen White wrote, “In visions of the night I saw a sword of fire hung out over Battle Creek.

“Brethren, God is in earnest with us. I want to tell you that if after the warnings giving in these burnings the leaders of our people go right on, just as they have done in the past, exalting themselves, God will take the bodies next. Just as surely as He lives, He will speak to them in a language that they cannot fail to understand.” The Publishing Ministry, 171. That is a scary statement, if the lesson is not learned! Next time, it will not be the buildings; it will be the bodies. It is clear by this statement that judgments are not over yet.

Preaching the Straight Testimony

God purifies His church through the preaching of the straight testimony. This is also referred to in Revelation 3:14–22.

“The searching testimony of the Spirit of God will separate those from Israel who have ever been at war with the means that God has ordained to keep corruptions out of the church. Wrongs must be called wrongs. Grievous sins must be called by their right name. All of God’s people should come nearer to Him. … Then will they see sin in the true light and will realize how offensive it is in the sight of God. The plain, straight testimony must live in the church, or the curse of God will rest upon His people as surely as it did upon ancient Israel because of their sins.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 676.

These four methods are God’s true ways for maintaining and purifying the church and there is going to be a pure church when Jesus comes. We just read it in Ephesians 5:27 and you can read the same thing in Revelation 19:7, 8 and also in I John 3.

There is also another method being used. It is more popular than any of the four methods previously mentioned, but it is a counterfeit and produces the exact opposite result. People think that it will purify the church, but because it involves apostasy, it leads the church astray every time. Throughout the ages, church legislation and persecution have been the most popular method used to try to preserve and purify the church.

Whenever the church has tried to maintain church order by giving power to its hierarchy or ruling group to control its members, it has always, without exception, led to apostasy and persecution. This was the condition of the church in the days of Jesus. The leaders had assumed such great authority over the members that if they professed faith in Jesus, they were disfellowshipped (John 9). However, this control did not keep the church pure, protecting it from the abuse of sin. In fact, it did just the opposite. It protected the church from receiving the straight testimony which God sent to them through John the Baptist, His Son and the apostles, in order for it to become pure. It was the hierarchy, the leaders, who prevented the people from accepting Jesus. They had such a strong hold on the people that the only way they could receive the straight testimony was for the power of the hierarchy to be broken.

Ellen White said, “Through their reverence for tradition and their blind faith in a corrupt priesthood, the people were enslaved. These chains Christ must break. The character of the priests, rulers, and Pharisees must be more fully exposed.” The Desire of Ages, 611, 612. “For a time it had seemed that the people of Galilee would receive Jesus as the Messiah, and that the power of the hierarchy in that region would be broken.” Ibid., 395. It was impossible to accept Jesus as the Messiah unless first, the power of the hierarchy was broken.

This same experience was repeated during the Dark Ages. Never before or since has the church assumed more control, resulting in greater persecution. The more the church exercised control through its leadership, the more it sank into apostasy. In 1414, a church council was called to eradicate apostasy and bring in reformation. It was decided to depose one of the popes who was corrupt and also to burn John Huss at the stake. Persecution was the council’s favorite way in their attempt to purify the church.

During the Protestant Reformation the reformers sought to break the power of the hierarchy over the people in the same way that Jesus did in His ministry, but those who blindly yielded reverence to the church leadership rejected the Protestant Reformation. Ellen White wrote concerning Wycliffe, the morning star of the reformation, “He fearlessly arraigned the hierarchy before the national council and demanded a reform of the enormous abuses sanctioned by the church.” The Great Controversy, 89. She goes on to say, “The fears of the hierarchy were roused, and persecution was opened against the disciples of the gospel.” Ibid., 97. That happened in England. The same thing happened in Germany. The church sought to intimidate with threats and cajole the Protestant leaders to once again accept the hierarchy with promises, but they realized that, “The re-establishment of the Romish hierarchy … would infallibly bring back the ancient abuses.” The Great Controversy, 199.

Concerning the future, Ellen White writes, “When the leading churches of the United States, … will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result.” Ibid., 445. During the Dark Ages the church controlled the state and therefore anything done against the church became a civil crime. The image will do the same. One of the chief differences between the Protestants and the Romanists was the way in which the church was structured, but things are changing.

“There is an increasing indifference concerning the doctrines that separate the reformed churches from the papal hierarchy. … The time was when Protestants placed a high value upon liberty of conscience which has been so dearly purchased.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 380.

Hierarchicalism always leads to religious persecution and a curtailment of religious liberty, because it denies the Lordship of Jesus Christ in practice. By profession the church acknowledges it, but in practice, it is denied. God ordained that there should be judicious administration and shepherd-like leadership for the furtherance of the gospel, but never at any time were lines of control given to human authority.

The Bible says, “He [Jesus Christ] is the head of the body.” Colossians 1:18. The body is the church. Jesus Christ is the head of the body, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have preeminence. Whenever a person assumes undue authority in the church, which authority belongs only to Christ, the church is automatically brought into apostasy because Christ is always the head.

The usurping of authority is the sin of the beast power. “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God [hierarchy] in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” II Thessalonians 2:3.

This is also a danger within the Seventh-day Adventist church as well as in other churches and we need to learn the lessons of history. The Lord foresaw this developing in our own church and sent faithful warnings through Ellen White to our church leaders.

“The spirit of domination is extending to the presidents of our conferences. …

“They are following in the track of Romanism.”

This was being done by exerting a spirit of domination, putting a man or a group of men in the place of God.

“If a man … seeks to exercise dominion over his brethren, feeling that he is invested with authority to make his will the ruling power, the best and only safe course is to remove him, lest great harm be done and he lose his own soul and imperil the souls of others.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 362.

The New Testament church had a simple organization that was efficient, but not hierarchical in nature. There was cooperation, but not control. For example, the apostle Paul tried to cooperate with his brethren, but did not ask permission from the church in Jerusalem to speak or raise up churches in Corinth or Philippi or the other towns that he visited. One of his greatest concerns and sternest warnings was concerning the possibility of undue control being exerted over the local members of the church by some outside force, in fact, the leadership from Jerusalem. Notice, Paul called the elders (plural) of the church at Ephesus and said, “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.” Acts 20:28–31.

Paul’s concern, over which he stressed with great emotional appeal for three years, was that there would arise leaders in this church who would seek to draw attention to themselves and become a controlling power. He told the elders that they, not he, singular, but they, plural, were to be shepherds of the flock, not set above the flock and to keep this from happening. They were to guard the church from the wolves in sheep’s clothing, the wolves from outside and the wolves from the local congregation, and those who were visiting from a conference or some other church.

This had already been demonstrated in the churches that Paul had established in Galatia. Elders had been selected in the local churches (Acts 14:23). These churches were not independent of the body, but they were highly self-directed and self-sustained and locally organized. A situation arose when leading brethren came from the headquarters church in Jerusalem, namely Peter and some other brethren came from James, the two principal leaders at the headquarters, to minister to these churches in Galatia. Now remember, these people in Galatia had been pagan idolaters and had recently converted to the truth of Christianity. Peter and the other men who came had grown up being taught the Scriptures and had never been involved in worshiping idols.

The Galatians had a tremendous amount of respect for these leaders who had come to them from Jerusalem and it had a terrible effect on the whole congregation. Paul was unsparing in his denunciation of the Galatian leaders for allowing the leaders from Jerusalem to bring apostasy into that church. He said to them, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth?” Galatians 3:1. Notice he does not say, “What has bewitched you?” He says, “Who has bewitched you?” referring to the people who had this influence over them. Paul’s concern was what would happen in the future if the leaders of this church did not protect the church, if they were so weak as to be influenced by these outside forces, by these people from the headquarters church.

Have you ever wondered what Paul would say if he visited our churches today? Is it possible that he would say, “O you foolish churches? Who has influenced you to yield the high standard of truth and practice that was once manifested in your movement?” Paul told the Galatians to, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1. That yoke of bondage he referred to was not just circumcision and the law. If you look at the context of this question in Galatians 3:1 you will see that the yoke of bondage was bondage to leadership that had caused them to waver on a point of doctrine and teaching. He goes on to say, “This persuasion does not come from He who called you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. But he who troubles you … [the leadership from Jerusalem] shall bear his judgment. For you, brethren, have been called to liberty.” Galatians 5:8–10, 13. Paul was concerned about the influence that caused them to apostatize. He was very, very fearful of hierarchal forms of church government that would cause people to look to church councils and leaders for direction rather than the Holy Spirit.

The churches were to be grafted to Jesus Christ, cooperating with each other, and not to develop a human organization, a hierarchy.

This is the kind of organizational purity that has to come back into the church in order for the pentecostal blessings to return. Organizational purity and doctrinal purity go hand in hand and cannot be separated. It is not possible to have doctrinal purity with impure organization. Simple organization and church order are set forth in the New Testament Scriptures, ordained for the unity and perfection of the church.

“The man who holds office in the church should stand as a leader, as an advisor and a counselor and helper in carrying the burdens of the work. He should be a leader in offering thanksgiving to God. 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.” Loma Linda Messages, 464.

Ellen White then said to study I Corinthians 12 and 13 and Acts 15 and learn how the church is to be managed and operated. Again, she continued to write and say that many of the great difficulties that have come into our work are because of this very problem, people wanting to control and rule God’s work. As the church began to grow in the latter part of the 19th century, Ellen White began to warn, over and over, against the kingly power that was coming into the Seventh-day Adventist church. She wrote,

“The high-handed power that has been developed, as though position has made men gods, makes me afraid, and ought to cause fear. It is a curse wherever and by whomsoever it is exercised.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 361.

Many people, when beginning to run or operate churches, had very good motives, desiring to do what was right. But, as time went on, they thought that they should be in control and rule so that the church could have prosperity and grow faster. Ellen White said,

“Rule, rule has been their course of action. Satan has had an opportunity of representing himself.” Ibid., 363. “Let me entreat our state conferences and our churches to cease putting their dependence upon men and making flesh their arm. … Our churches are weak because the members are educated to look to and depend upon human resources.” Ibid., 380.

Hierarchicalism leads directly into apostasy and ultimately persecution. How does that happen? When somebody stands up and proclaims a message from God like John the Baptist or one of the prophets or one of the reformers in the 16th century, the hierarchy persecutes the one who protests. It led to the burning of martyrs during the Dark Ages and the imprisonment and death of God’s prophets and messengers throughout history. It also led to the crucifixion of Christ. This very same thing will lead to persecution in any church, including the Seventh-day Adventist church. Initially, the scribes and Pharisees would never have thought they were capable of putting someone to death, but the time came when they reasoned that they had to crucify Jesus in order to preserve the integrity of the church. Caiaphas actually said that if they did not get rid of Jesus they would be wiped out (John 11:47–50). The cross was a last resort after they had tried everything else to stop His ministry. “They regarded themselves as patriots, who were seeking the nation’s salvation.” The Desire of Ages, 541.

Today, we are Protestants and have the heritage of both the Bible and the New Testament church, the Protestant Reformation, and in America, the rich heritage of religious liberty. Concerning this heritage, Ellen White wrote, “This principle we in our day are firmly to maintain. The banner of truth and religious liberty held aloft by the founders of the gospel church and by God’s witnesses during the centuries that have passed since then, has, in this last conflict, been committed to our hands. The responsibility for this great gift rests with those whom God has blessed with a knowledge of His Word. We are to receive this word as supreme authority. We are to recognize human government as an ordinance of divine appointment, and teach obedience to it as a sacred duty, within its legitimate sphere. But when its claims conflict with the claims of God, we must obey God rather than men. God’s word must be recognized as above all human legislation. A ‘Thus saith the Lord’ is not to be set aside for a ‘Thus saith the church’ or a ‘Thus saith the state.’ The crown of Christ is to be lifted above the diadems of earthly potentates.” The Acts of the Apostles, 68, 69.

As standard bearers of the concept of the heritage of religious liberty, we cannot imagine that the Adventist church would ever become persecutors. But if hierarchicalism develops in a church, we have seen what always happens. We think that we could never do anything like the Jewish leaders did or like the Catholic hierarchy did during the Dark Ages, but we have already done it. In one situation a disfellowshiped preacher was first fined, then thrown into prison. What was his crime? He had a sign erected that said, “This is a Seventh Day Adventist church.” Because it was not under the control of the church hierarchy, he was put in prison. This happened in the United States, the land of the free, and this man was only set free after a prolonged court battle.

This proceeding was perpetrated by the General Conference in union with the state and it was financed, by the way, with the tithe money of the members of the church. Whether that man was theologically right or wrong is not the point. The church appealed to the strong arm of the state to enforce its will—its decree. When the authority will be employed by the church to accomplish her own ends, then the church has made an image to the beast. See The Great Controversy, 443.

This may be difficult to hear, but the Seventh-day Adventist church structure has been in the process of building an image to the beast for over twenty years. There have been other people, especially in communist countries, who have found themselves first disfellowshiped and then persecuted by the state in coordination with the church.

This is a testimony by Marshall when giving this sermon: “I personally have traveled to Hungary on several occasions and met with hundreds of disfellowshiped and persecuted brethren of that country. These dear brothers and sisters are true Seventh-day Adventists but simply gave the straight testimony of the involvement of the church in state politics and interdenominational ecumenicalism. Their message was given directly to the church leaders by ordained pastors and committed laymen and the response was, they were all disfellowshiped without a trial—over a thousand of them. Although the review acknowledged that the whole process was illegal, nevertheless, by the total silence of our leaders to even reprimand the offenders of this case, and by the continued barring of all the disfellowshiped members from all official church functions or activities, and by the admitting of the perpetrators of this persecution into the official activities of the General Conference, they have fully condoned their actions as a corporate entity. Now Hungary,” he says, “is just an example. The same thing has happened in Africa and other places. We have been traveling down the same dark road as was traveled by the church in the time of Christ and again during the Dark Ages, disfellowshiping and firing pastors here and there to give many examples, not just in the United States but in Europe, and other countries.”

It was this road—hierarchicalism, leading to persecution—that caused Ellen White to tremble. She said,

“My heart trembles in me when I think what a foe we have to meet, and how poorly we are prepared to meet him. The trials of the children of Israel, and their attitude just before the first coming of Christ, have been presented before me again and again to illustrate the position of the people of God in their experience before the second coming of Christ.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 406.

“At the time of the first advent of Christ to our world, the men who composed the Sanhedrin exercised their authority in controlling men according to their will. Thus the souls whom Christ had given his life to free from the bondage to Satan were brought under bondage to him in another form.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 361.

The very people that Christ had died to deliver from the bondage of Satan were brought under bondage to him in another form, through the church. That is what will happen just before the Second Coming. It has already happened!

For many years Ellen and James White fought to establish church organization. She stated, “Without some form of organization there would be great confusion, and the work would not be carried forward successfully.” Ibid., 26. Heaven is a place of order and God cannot bless disorganization. However, organization was never intended to become controlling in nature and hinder the preaching of the straight testimony or to persecute those who gave it and dictate how God should direct the work. Organization was never intended for the purpose of wresting the local churches out of the hands of the local members so that they became mere pawns in the hands of the leadership and the ministry. The leadership was to lead by example, prayer and faith, but not by commanding. The organization was not to restrict and control, but only to coordinate and promote the work, the preaching of the gospel and the straight testimony.

The devil fought so hard when James and Ellen White were trying to establish order and organization in the Adventist church that it took about twenty years before they could even become organized. Finally, when it did become organized in 1863 and the devil lost that battle, he switched his tactics to try to make them over-organized so that within four years of organization Ellen White wrote, “I dreamed I was in Battle Creek looking out from the side glass at the door and saw a company marching up to the house, two and two. They looked stern and determined. I knew them well and turned to open the parlor door to receive them, but thought I would look again. The scene was changed. The company now presented the appearance of a Catholic procession. One bore in his hand a cross [ceremonialism], another a reed [the scepter of a king]. And as they approached, the one carrying a reed made a circle around the house, saying three times: ‘this house is proscribed. The goods must be confiscated. They have spoken against our holy order.’ ” Testimonies, vol. 1, 578. She saw in that vision that the order of church organization had become controlling and persecuting in nature. From that time on she was fought constantly by church officials. Just like all the other prophets who were persecuted during their lifetime, now that she is dead she is revered, but the persecution continues against those who repeat her concerns.

In 1888, God gave the church a message through two young ministers, E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones, but the brethren thought that they should not be allowed to give it until they first had their permission. The issue was Christ our Righteousness. Ellen White’s main concern at that time was not about the doctrine, but the issue of organization and control by church organization which was also contained in that message. Referring to Christ our Righteousness, she said, “God designs that men shall use their minds and consciences for themselves. He never designed that one man should become the shadow of another, and utter only another’s sentiments. But this error has been coming in among us, that a very few are to be mind, conscience, and judgment for all God’s workers. The foundation of Christianity is ‘Christ our Righteousness.’ Men are individually responsible to God and must act as God acts upon them, not as another human mind acts upon their mind; for if this method of indirect influence is kept up, souls can not be impressed and directed by the great I AM. They will, on the other hand, have their experience blended with another, and will be kept under a moral restraint, which allows no freedom of action or of choice.” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, 112.

“The Lord will never sanction the exercise of arbitrary authority. … Yet these things have been manifest in the management of the affairs in connection with the work in Battle Creek. Words cannot express too strongly the offensive character of the disposition to rule or ruin which has for years been revealed, and which has been strengthening by exercise. …

“Plans are set on foot for restricting the liberty of workers. Through these oppressive plans, men who should stand free in God are trammeled by restrictions from those who are only their fellow-laborers. …

“Our people, who talk of religious liberty, have lessons to learn as to what liberty in Christ really is. The Lord has marked the oppression that has been practiced.” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, 1357, 1358.

Here in the United States of America, we are privileged to be living in a country that has been made strong and prosperous because of the principles of religious liberty. The Christian exiles who first fled to America and sought an asylum here from royal oppression and priestly intolerance decided that they were going to found a government in this country upon the broad foundation of civil and religious liberty. It was these principles of civil and religious liberty that are the secret of the prosperit and power of the United States of America. It is these same principles that are the secret for prosperity and peace within the church. In fact, the church is the place where religious liberty needs to start. This liberty is not a license to bring false doctrines into the pulpit or to bring in disorderly elements within the congregation, but religious liberty does give freedom of speech, freedom to dissent, freedom of the press without recourse to the law or defamation of character. When there are doctrinal differences, we need to be able to get together and talk those over, frankly and fairly. Error needs to be called by its right name. The problem is, when any kind of error can be taught within a system, if you tell the truth and you are not in the system, it will be rejected. That is how it was in the days of Jesus, so God chose a different channel through which to work. As it was when Jesus was here the first time, it will be again, right at the end of the world.

In the last days, God is going to work apart from those who have tried to control His work and persecute those whom they could not control. Ellen White described it this way:

“The Lord will work in this last work in a manner very much out of the common order of things, and in a way that will be contrary to any human planning. There will be those among us who will always want to control the work of God, to dictate even what movements shall be made when the work goes forward under the direction of the angel who joins the third angel in the message to be given to the world. God will use ways and means by which it will be seen that He is taking the reigns in His own hands. The workers will be surprised by the simple means that He will use to bring about and perfect His work of righteousness.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 300.

God’s church is going to be purified and perfected again, just like it was in the early church, but it is going to happen through God’s methods. It is not going to happen through the control of ecclesiastical power curtailing religious freedom.

It is predicted in Isaiah 4 that there is coming a time when everyone who is listed among the living in Jerusalem will be holy. You may think yourself too much of a sinner to be part of that group, but there is a way out. Jesus died to take away the guilt of your sins, to take away the power of sin in your life, to deliver you from your old ways and cover you with His robe of righteousness. But, you can only have it in God’s appointed way. When we try to do God’s work in our own way, we end up ruining it. We must learn the lesson of religious liberty if we are going to have a part in God’s final work.

Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316–788–5559.

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