reformation

Reformation in England

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Descending on England like soft dew and advancing noiselessly as the light of the rising sun, the Word of God, given to the common people by Tyndale, began to work, laying the foundation for the Reformation. While there were many martyrs who would yet lay down their lives before England would fully accept the reformed faith, there were signs that popular feeling was turning against the old faith. From time to time there was destruction of public symbols. Many of the crucifixes that stood along the roadways were pulled down. Images of saints were found destroyed. Though there were a few arrests made and the perpetrators of the act hanged, in most cases they remained unknown.

As the years passed and Catherine gave Henry VIII no sons, the kings affection for his queen began to wane.

Cardinal Wolsey, archenemy of the Protestant faith, had twice been promised the Roman tiara by Charles V, the emperor and nephew of Catherine. Twice Charles broke his promise and Wolsey saw another become pope in his place. A man as proud and powerful as Wolsey could scarcely pardon such an affront. A plan to avenge himself began to form in Wolsey’s mind, though it might convulse all of Europe in the process.

The cardinal knew that Henry had harbored secret doubts about the lawfulness of his marriage to Catherine and that the king was less favorably disposed towards her than he had been in the early years of their marriage. Taking advantage of the king’s intense fear of having no heir to the throne and the apparent hopelessness of obtaining one by Catherine, Wolsey saw the means of breaking the alliance between Henry and Spain and at the same time humiliating the emperor by having removed his aunt in disgrace from being the queen. In all of his planning, Wolsey did not see that his scheme would result in his own downfall and the fall of popedom in England.

Going to the king in private, he pointed out to him that the salvation of his soul and the welfare of his kingdom were in jeopardy. Three days later, he again approached the king and told him: “Most mighty prince, you cannot like Herod, have your brother’s wife. Submit the matter to proper judges.” Wylie, The History of Protestantism, vol. 3, 375. The fact that Charles V had previously objected to an alliance with Princess Mary, the daughter of Catherine, on the grounds that she was the issue of a forbidden marriage helped to influence the king; and the pope was approached and asked for his blessing in granting Henry a divorce. The divorce would not have cost Clement VII so much as a second thought, had it not been that he greatly feared the emperor, Charles V, whose armies surrounded him.

Wolsey, made it clear to Clement and his cardinals that if the divorce were not granted, England was lost to the papacy. The fact that Charles’ armies were at that minute in retreat before the French armies gave courage to Clement, and he allowed himself to be persuaded that Charles was as good as driven out of Italy. On June 8, 1528, the pope issued a commission empowering his nuncio Campeggio and Wolsey to declare the marriage between Henry and Catherine null and void. A few days later he signed a decretal by which he himself annulled the marriage. This document he entrusted to Campeggio, instructing him to travel by slow stages, delaying as long as possible his arrival in England. If the emperor were finally beaten, the decretal was to be made public and acted upon; but should Charles recover, it was to be burned.

At last, to the great joy of the king, Campeggio arrived in England with the bull dissolving the marriage. His conscience at rest, the way was opened for Henry to contract another marriage. And so, while the newly acquired Scriptures were separating England from the bondage of the papacy, the papal decretal was serving to bind the realm even more tightly. “But like the stars in the vast circuit of their appointed path, God’s purposes know no haste and no delay.” Desire of Ages, 31

Eight months passed before Campeggio opened his commission to consider the propriety of Henry’s proposed divorce of Catherine. On the way to England he had been overtaken with messengers from the pope with new instructions. The tide of war had changed and the armies of the emperor had triumphed. Campeggio’s instructions, therefore, were to try to persuade Catherine to enter a nunnery. Should he fail in this, he was not to decide the case but to refer it back to Rome.

Campeggio approached Catherine, but she refused to cooperate. He was left with the unhappy task of trying to convince Henry to abandon his plans for a divorce. The king became irate and asked if this was how the pope kept his word, repaying his faithful service of the past. Campeggio responded by showing the king the bull annulling the marriage, but nothing the king could say could prevail upon the legate to part with it.

After a series of delays, on June 18, 1529, a commission was opened and both the king and queen were cited to appear. The hearings lasted for about a month. It was believed by everyone that on July 23 a verdict would be announced. On the appointed day, the hall was crowded. The king himself slipped into a gallery adjoining the hall so that unobserved he might watch the proceedings. Slowly Campeggio arose. The silence grew intense. The moment was great; the fate of the papacy in England was at stake. Speaking, the nuncio adjourned the hearings until the 1st of October. The words fell on the crowded room with a stunning effect, but none were more shocked than was Henry. Clearly he saw that he was being played for a fool by the pope and that Clement cared nothing for his welfare or for the peace of his kingdom.

Of the two men who had incurred his anger—Clement and Wolsey—Wolsey was the first to feel the king’s wrath. The cardinal’s fall from favor was quickly apparent to the courtiers who were not slow to hasten to the king with additional proofs of Wolsey’s willingness to sacrifice England for the papacy. There was scarcely a nobleman at court whom Wolsey had not offended; and wherever he looked, he saw only hostility. The prospects abroad were no better for he had used both Charles the emperor and Francis, king of France, for his own purposes, plunging Europe into war. Rarely has a career climbed to such splendid heights, to end so quickly in such utter defeat.

The king was completely disgusted. Two years had been worse than wasted in dealing with Clement, for which he now had nothing to show. Charles and Clement were now fast friends, and Henry was left without a single ally on the Continent. More than that, he had been bitterly humiliated at home. The realization came to him that he had but two courses to choose from. He must either abandon the idea of a divorce or withdraw his case from the jurisdiction of Rome. The first he would not do, but the second was a course that required much consideration.

“In the annals of human history the growth of nations, the rise and fall of empires, appear as dependent on the will and prowess of man. The shaping of events seems, to a great degree, to be determined by his power, ambition, or caprice. But in the Word of God the curtain is drawn aside, and we behold, behind, above, and through all the play and counterplay of human interests and power and passions, the agencies of the all-merciful One, silently, patiently working out the counsels of His own will.” Education, 173

Just as with the stars, an overruling hand of Providence brings men upon the stage of action at just the time they are needed to fulfill His divine purpose. Just as the most ardent foe of Protestantism was removed from the stage, two more men, each destined to play an important part in the events that were to shape the future of the nation, made their entrance.

The king, on his way to London from Grafton where he had retired to escape the vexations of mind that had resulted from the duplicity of the pope stopped to enjoy a chase in the forest. As there were too many courtiers to all be entertained in the abbey, two of his servants were entertained in the house of a citizen named Cressy. At the evening meal, they unexpectedly met a former acquaintance, Thomas Cranmer.

Cranmer, born in 1489 near Nottingham, was then a professor at Cambridge. As the teachings of Luther were stirring much controversy in England just then, Cranmer set himself to know the truth of the matter. Setting aside all other material, Cranmer was determined to know the truth from the Bible. After three years of study, without commentaries or the assistance of other humans, the darkness of scholasticism which had until now obscured his vision, cleared; and for the first time, he saw the beauty of the plan of salvation.

His two friends, knowing his eminence as a scholar and theologian, directed the conversation so as to draw from him an opinion as to the matter of the royal divorce. Speaking frankly, little dreaming that his comments would be heard outside of the room in which he spoke them, he asked, “Why go to Rome? Why take so long a road when by a shorter you may arrive at a more certain conclusion?” His friends inquired as to what approach he spoke of, and he replied: “The Scriptures. If God has made this marriage sinful, the pope cannot make it lawful.” His friends asked how one might know what the Scriptures said on this point, and the doctor replied: “Ask the universities; they will return a sounder verdict than the pope.” Wylie, The History of Protestantism, vol. 3, 392

Two days later, the words of Cranmer were related to the king. On an earlier occasion he had approached the universities, but the question he had asked was not that which Cranmer proposed. Earlier he had asked both Oxford and Cambridge what they thought of his marriage, but Cranmer was suggesting that they tell him what the Bible said of the marriage. In this proposal, Henry thought that he saw a possible solution to his dilemma, little realizing that in doing so he was accepting the formal, fundamental principle of Protestantism—appealing the case from the pope to God, from the Church to the Scriptures. Cranmer was immediately summoned to court and commanded to begin gathering the opinions of the scholars as to what the Bible taught about his marriage. Clement VII had summoned the king of England to his bar; but instead, Henry would summon the pope to the tribunal of God’s Word.

At this point, we must introduce a second man who was to play a significant role in the emancipation of England from the Roman yoke. Thomas Cromwell, after returning to England as a military adventure, became connected with Wolsey, whom he served faithfully. In Wolsey’s overthrow, which was largely the result of Wolsey’s subservience to the pope, he saw a new course set for himself. Going to Henry, with great courage and clearness, he pointed out to the king the great humiliation and embarrassment that both he and his kingdom had suffered because of their dependency on the pope. Who was the pope, he asked, that he should be monarch of England? And, who were the priests, that they should be above the law? He pointed out that for Henry to submit his case to an Italian court was to be but half a king. He raised the question as to why the king should not declare himself head of the church in his own realm. If the king were to declare himself head of the church, it would put the clergy on the same level with all the rest of his subjects. As things then stood, the clergy did, indeed, swear allegiance to the king, but they then took a second oath to the pope that virtually annulled the first and made them more the pope’s subjects than the king’s.

During the few minutes that Henry listened to these courageous words, a revolution took place in his thinking. Fixing his eyes on the speaker, he asked him if he could prove the things he had said. Anticipating such a question, Cromwell pulled from his pocket a copy of the oath every bishop was required to take. This was enough for Henry. As he listened with mingled astonishment and delight, a new future seemed to be opening to Henry.

In the days and weeks that followed, sweeping changes were instituted. The laws were changed, making the clergy amenable to the laws of the land, curbing to a large extent the abuses that had existed. An end was made to many of the payments to Rome, by which an enormous amount of wealth had been drained from the country. The law was repealed by which heretics might be burned on the sentence and by the authority of the bishop, and without writ from the king. Though this did not fully abolish the stake as a punishment for heresy, it was restricted to a less arbitrary, possibly more merciful tribunal.

It was foreseen that the new policy might eventually lead to the nation being placed under interdict; but this threat had lost much of the terrors it once had, even though it might yet cause considerable inconvenience. In order to help avoid a crisis should this take place, a law was passed that the English bishops were to have power to consecrate new bishops without license from the pope. It was forbidden from that time on for the archbishop or bishops to be nominated or confirmed by the pope.

Henry found himself in the position of fighting Rome on the one hand and Lutheranism on the other. Many crimes stained Henry’s hands, and he has been severely blamed by both Protestants and Catholics. When however, Henry’s record is compared with that of his contemporaries, Francis I and Charles V, he contrasts very favorably. Though at times cruel, he did not spill nearly as much blood as did Charles V; and he was never guilty of some of the barbarities practiced in both France and Spain. In giving to England the Bible, breaking the chains of foreign tyranny, and in destroying the monastic system, though he did these things form very mixed motives, Henry’s policies laid the groundwork for making England a Protestant nation and foremost among the nations of Europe.

On January 28, 1547, Henry VIII died, and Edward VI ascended the throne at ten years of age. During his reign, Protestantism prospered; but six short years later, when Edward died at the age of sixteen, Mary, the daughter of Catherine, became the ruling monarch of England. Without losing a day, she proceeded to undo all that had been accomplished under the reigns of her father and brother, and the night again closed around the Reformation.

 

Bible Study Guides – Reformation in Elijah’s Time

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October 11, 2015 – October 17, 2015

Key Text

“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” James 5:17, 18.

Study Help: Prophets and Kings, 119–154.

Introduction

“God was seeking to free the people [of Israel] from their delusion, and lead them to understand their accountability to the One to Whom they owed their life and all things.” The Review and Herald, August 21, 1913.

1 A CALL FOR REPENTANCE AND REFORMATION

  • What mission did God entrust to Elijah when Israel was controlled by the priests of Baal and Ashtoreth? What did he say to Ahab, the king? I Kings 17:1.

Note: “God’s message to Ahab gave Jezebel and her priests and all the followers of Baal and Ashtoreth opportunity to test the power of their gods, and, if possible, to prove the word of Elijah false.” Prophets and Kings, 124.

  • As God sought to speak to the king, the leaders, and the people through judgments—calling for repentance and reformation, how did the heathen priests seek to keep the nation deceived?

Note: “The people were urged by their leaders to have confidence in the power of Baal and to set aside as idle words the prophecy of Elijah. The priests still insisted that it was through the power of Baal that the showers of rain fell.” Prophets and Kings, 123.

2 A SAVOR OF LIFE OR OF DEATH

  • When they met face to face, with what question did the king try to rebuke Elijah? I Kings 18:17. What must God’s messenger expect from those who refuse to receive the truth?

Note: “The prophets of God were hated by apostate Israel because through them their hidden sins were brought to light. Ahab regarded Elijah as his enemy because the prophet was faithful to rebuke the king’s secret iniquities. So today the servant of Christ, the reprover of sin, meets with scorn and rebuffs.” The Desire of Ages, 587.

“As men see that they cannot maintain their position by the Scriptures, many determine to maintain it at all hazards, and with a malicious spirit they assail the character and motives of those who stand in defense of unpopular truth. It is the same policy which has been pursued in all ages. Elijah was declared to be a troubler in Israel, Jeremiah a traitor, Paul a polluter of the temple. From that day to this, those who would be loyal to truth have been denounced as seditious, heretical, or schismatic.” The Great Controversy, 458, 459.

  • What can we expect from the vast majority, even when the truth is presented to them? Isaiah 59:14, 15; II Timothy 3:10–12. How is this to affect us?

Note: “Multitudes who are too unbelieving to accept the sure word of prophecy will receive with unquestioning credulity an accusation against those who dare to reprove fashionable sins. This spirit will increase more and more. …

“In view of this, what is the duty of the messenger of truth? Shall he conclude that the truth ought not to be presented, since often its only effect is to arouse men to evade or resist its claims? No; he has no more reason for withholding the testimony of God’s word, because it excites opposition, than had earlier Reformers. …

“The great obstacle both to the acceptance and to the promulgation of truth is the fact that it involves inconvenience and reproach. … But this does not deter the true followers of Christ. These do not wait for truth to become popular. Being convinced of their duty, they deliberately accept the cross.” The Great Controversy, 459, 460.

3 THE DANGER OF SMOOTH SERMONS

  • When King Ahab accused Elijah of being a troubler of Israel, how did the prophet respond? I Kings 18:18.

Note: “Standing in conscious innocence before Ahab, Elijah makes no attempt to excuse himself or to flatter the king. Nor does he seek to evade the king’s wrath by the good news that the drought is almost over. He has no apology to offer. Indignant, and jealous for the honor of God, he casts back the imputation of Ahab.” Prophets and Kings, 140.

  • What kinds of sermons are needed in calling for repentance and reformation? Isaiah 58:1. What is wrong with smooth sermons?

Note: “The smooth sermons so often preached make no lasting impression; the trumpet does not give a certain sound. Men are not cut to the heart by the plain, sharp truths of God’s word.” Prophets and Kings, 140.

“Those ministers who are men pleasers, who cry, Peace, peace, when God has not spoken peace, might well humble their hearts before God, asking pardon for their insincerity and their lack of moral courage. It is not from love for their neighbor that they smooth down the message entrusted to them, but because they are self-indulgent and ease-loving. …

“God calls for men like Elijah, Nathan, and John the Baptist—men who will bear His message with faithfulness, regardless of the consequences; men who will speak the truth bravely, though it call for the sacrifice of all they have.” Ibid., 141, 142.

  • When will the accusations of Ahab be repeated against the servants of God? Revelation 13:15–17.

Note: “As the wrath of the people shall be excited by false charges, they will pursue a course toward God’s ambassadors very similar to that which apostate Israel pursued toward Elijah.” The Great Controversy, 590.

4 A CONTEST BETWEEN TWO POWERS

  • After rebuking Ahab, what did Elijah demand? I Kings 18:19, 20.

Note: “[I Kings 18:19 quoted.]

“The command was issued by one who seemed to stand in the very presence of Jehovah; and Ahab obeyed at once, as if the prophet were monarch, and the king a subject. Swift messengers were sent throughout the kingdom with the summons to meet Elijah and the prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth.” Prophets and Kings, 143.

  • What challenge did Elijah put before the people? I Kings 18:21, first part.

Note: “Facing King Ahab and the false prophets, and surrounded by the assembled hosts of Israel, Elijah stands, the only one who has appeared to vindicate the honor of Jehovah. He whom the whole kingdom has charged with its weight of woe is now before them, apparently defenseless in the presence of the monarch of Israel, the prophets of Baal, the men of war, and the surrounding thousands. But Elijah is not alone. Above and around him are the protecting hosts of heaven, angels that excel in strength.” Prophets and Kings, 147.

  • What answer did Elijah get from the assembled multitude? I Kings 18:21, second part.

Note: “The Lord abhors indifference and disloyalty in a time of crisis in His work. The whole universe is watching with inexpressible interest the closing scenes of the great controversy between good and evil. The people of God are nearing the borders of the eternal world; what can be of more importance to them than that they be loyal to the God of heaven? All through the ages, God has had moral heroes, and He has them now—those who, like Joseph and Elijah and Daniel, are not ashamed to acknowledge themselves His peculiar people.” Prophets and Kings, 148.

5 THE TEMPORARY PROTECTION OF ISRAEL

  • When Elijah proposed that, in the impending contest, “the God that answereth by fire, let him be God,” what did the people say? I Kings 18:22–24.
  • After the people had seen that the heathen priests were deceivers, what did Elijah do? I Kings 18:30–34. And then, what happened when he prayed to the Lord to manifest Himself? Verses 36–38.
  • At the end of the contest, when the people saw the fire from heaven consuming the sacrifice and the water, what did they do and say of the true and only God? 1 Kings 18:39. What order did Elijah give concerning the false teachers? Verse 40.

Note: “The priests of Baal … would still remain the prophets of Baal. Thus they showed themselves ripe for destruction. That repentant Israel may be protected from the allurements of those who have taught them to worship Baal, Elijah is directed by the Lord to destroy these false teachers.” Prophets and Kings, 153, 154.

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 Describe the operation of the great controversy as it related to Ahab against Elijah.

2 Explain our duty when facing the unbelieving multitudes.

3 Why are smooth messages especially perilous today?

4 When, in the near future, will the accusation of Ahab be repeated against the servants of God?

5 How are we warned against false religious teachers?

© 2014 Reformation Herald Publishing Association, 5240 Hollins Road, Roanoke, Virginia. Reprinted by permission.

Tyndale

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The reformation was the result of two significant factors, a revival of learning and the return of the Word of God. While the Bible was the principle cause of the Reformation, without learning, it could not, by itself, have caused the great changes of the Reformation. Without the benefit of learning, the work that Wycliffe began in England would not have had the lasting affect it did. It would have been much like the brief bursts of light that had from time to time shone forth in earlier times; they shone for a little time, only to be crushed out by the darkness that everywhere prevailed. Times, however, were changing, and a new era was beginning.

After the death of Wycliffe, his followers traveled from one end of England to the other, spreading the gospel. Townspeople crowded around preachers of truth, and many of the nobility accepted the new teaching; some even of the royal family believed. For a time it appeared that England would accept the reformed faith.

The favorable reception with which the gospel was received encouraged Wycliffe’s followers to advance even further. Placards aimed at the priests and friars, and the abuses they defended, were placed on the walls of some of the cathedrals. In 1395, the friends of the gospel petitioned Parliament for general reforms. Then, not fully understanding the true nature of government and the truth which they were teaching, they asked Parliament to abolish celibacy and various other errors of Rome. Emboldened by early successes and the absence of the king in Ireland, they fastened their Twelve Conclusions on the gate of St. Paul’s and Westminster Abbey.

When Arundel, archbishop of York, and Baybrooke, bishop of London, had read these propositions, they quickly found their way to the king and urged him to return. On his return to London, he forbade the Parliament to take up the propositions the Wycliffites had petitioned them to consider. He then summoned before him the most influential supporters of the reformed movement and threatened them with death if they persisted in defending their opinions.

Richard had scarcely withdrawn his hand from the gospel when, as the historian says, God withdrew his hand from Richard. (See D’Aubigne’s History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, book 17, chapter 9.) His cousin, Henry of Hertford, son of the famous Duke of Lancaster, who had been banished from England, suddenly returned from the Continent. Having gathered all the malcontents in England around him, he was acknowledged as king. Unhappy, Richard was deposed and confined to Pontefract castle where he soon died.

Sadly, Henry chose to become the protector of the church, exercising his power and influence to conciliate the clergy. Under his reign, in the beginning of the fifteenth century, England’s first martyrs were burned at the stake in Smithfield.

A foremost leader among the followers of Wycliffe was Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, a man highly in favor with the king. Lord Cobham caused many copies of Wycliffe’s writings to be made and circulated through the dioceses of Canterbury, Rochester, London, and Hertford. Cobham attended the preaching of the gospel ministers, and if anyone attempted to interrupt them, he threatened them with his sword.

In 1413, Henry V followed his father to the throne of England, and the clergy were not slow to denounce Cobham to him. On September 23, 1413, an ecclesiastical court tried Lord Cobham, sentencing him to death. One night he escaped from the tower where he awaited execution and made his way to Wales. He remained there until he was again arrested in 1417 and returned to London where he was burned alive.

England was to pass through more years of suffering before the gospel truth would shine forth in the soft light of tolerance. For the next few years, the humble followers of Wycliffe suffered severe persecution.

About the end of the fifteenth century, the learning that was taking place in Florence, Italy, began to make its way to England. Caxton imported printing from Germany, and the dawn began to break more fully over England.

While learning was reviving, a new dynasty succeeded to the throne; Henry Tudor became king. His mother, Countess of Richmond, was known for her piety. Among her closest friends was Montjoy, who, along with his wife, were the governor and governess of the king’s children. Montjoy had met Erasmus in Paris and now invited him to visit England. Erasmus, who was the greatest scholar of his time, was fearful of catching the plague that was then ravaging the Continent, and he gladly accepted the invitation.

One day while visiting the Montjoy home, Erasmus, was introduced to young prince Henry. The young prince could ride his horse with great skill and hurl a javelin further than any of his companions. Besides these skills, he had a taste for music and could perform on several instruments. The king had taken great care to see that his young son should not come behind in any area of learning. It was his intention that the young prince would one day become the archbishop of Canterbury. Erasmus, appreciating Henry’s aptitude, did his best to share his learning with him.

About this time, King Henry VII asked the hand of Catherine of Argone for his oldest son. Catherine was the daughter of Ferdinand, the king of Spain, and was the richest princess in Europe. The marriage of the Catholic Catherine to Arthur, however, was an ill-fated marriage that was to have a long lasting effect.

A short time after the marriage, in the early part of 1502, prince Arthur died. It soon become evident that Catherine would not become a mother, and young Henry was declared to be heir to the crown.

A difficult question now surfaced. Henry VII had received from Spain a dowry of two hundred gold ducats as a dowry for Catherine. With her husband dead, having left her without a son, the question was raised as to whether Henry VII would be obliged to return the dowry. Besides this misfortune, there was the very distinct possibility that such a rich heiress might marry a rival of England. To prevent this from taking place, Henry decided to unite her with his second son, and heir apparent to the throne. There were, however, serious objections raised. Warham, the primate, pointed out that according to Scripture, it was not proper for a man to marry his brother’s wife. (See Leviticus 20:21.)

As a solution to this dilemma, a special dispensation was sought from the pope. In December, 1503, Julius II granted a bull declaring that for the sake of preserving union between the Catholic princes, Catherine was authorized to marry the brother of her first husband. The two parties were engaged, though the marriage was delayed because of the youth of the Prince of Wales.

Soon after the engagement, the king, who had earlier lost his queen, became sick. Wondering if all of these things were judgements from God, he began to have second thoughts about the proposed marriage. Many people were still unhappy about the idea of the young prince marrying his brother’s wife and questioned the right of the pope to authorize something forbidden by God. Young Henry, learning of his father’s change of mind and taking advantage of the popular feeling that was running high, declared he would never make Catherine his wife.

On May 9, 1509, Henry VII died and the Prince of Wales became Henry VIII. Seven weeks later he married Catherine. Only eighteen years of age, and with an insatiable desire for pleasure, Henry engaged himself in one grand round of amusement.

During the Middle Ages, the orders of the church had come above the law. A member of a religious order could commit any crime but could be tried only by the church. Parliament, seeking to correct this abuse and to check the growing power of the church, in 1513 passed a law that any ecclesiastic accused of theft or murder should be tried before a secular tribunal. Exceptions, however were made in favor of bishops, priests, and deacons. In doing so, they had actually exempted nearly all clergy of the church. This however, did not satisfy the church, and Cardinal Wolsey, accompanied by a long train of priests and prelates, attained an audience with the king. With hands uplifted, Wolsey protested that it was a violation of God’s laws for a church clerk to be tried. Henry, distinctly seeing that to put the clergy above the law was to put them over the throne, replied that it was by the will of God that the kings who reigned in England were kings. Furthermore, the kings of England in time past had recognized no superior, other than God. He therefore, affirmed the right of the crown above that of the church.

The Reformation in England, to a greater extent than in the rest of Europe, was the result of the Bible. While there could have been no Reformation without God’s Word, unlike much of the rest of Europe, England had no great individuals to compare with Luther in Germany or Zwingli in Switzerland. Men of the stature of Calvin did not appear in England during the Reformation period, but the Bible was widely circulated. That which was largely responsible for the light in England was the Word—the invisible power of the invisible God.

Erasmus left England and returned to the Continent where he completed his work on the Greek New Testament. When he published his finished work, he little realized the impact it would have on the world. When some of his friends questioned the wisdom of the work he had set himself to accomplish, he replied: “‘If the ship of the church is to be saved from being swallowed up by the tempest, there is only one anchor that can save it: it is the heavenly Word, which issuing from the Father, lives, speaks, and works still in the gospel’….Erasmus, like Caiaphas, prophesied without being aware of it.” Ibid., book 18, chapter 1

The clergy were horrified. They pointed to some passages where the differences were most glaring and accused Erasmus of trying to place himself above Saint Jerome in seeking to correct the Latin Vulgate. “Look here! This book calls upon men to repent, instead of requiring them, as the Vulgate does, to do penance! (Matthew 4:17)” Ibid.

On none of his works had Erasmus worked so carefully. He had compared all of the best manuscripts. He had corrected many obscurities and errors found in the Vulgate and had even placed in his version a list of the errors he had found. Nothing else went as far to prepare the way for the Reformation as the Bible being restored in its purity.

As the time for the dawning of the Reformation approached, Providence worked to prepare the way for the coming day. In 1484, about a year after the birth of Luther and about the time Zwingli first saw the light, William Tyndale was born to the southwest of Gloucester. At a very early age he attended Oxford, where Erasmus had many friends. Here he was introduced to the Greek New Testament, which profoundly affected his life. He later went to Cambridge but left there in 1519.

The spiritual revival that was beginning to gain ground in England because of the introduction of the Greek New Testament filled the clergy with apprehension. They were not in such a position of strength as to dare attack the universities, so they turned their attention to the more humble Christians.

Tyndale, after leaving Oxford and Cambridge, obtained employment as a tutor for the children of Lord and Lady Walsh. Sir John Walsh had made a fine showing in the tournaments of the court and by this means had gained the favor of the king. Many men of note and learning as well as church dignitaries, found a welcome at their home.

Behind their mansion was a small chapel where Tyndale would preach on Sundays. Tydale explained the Scriptures so clearly that his hearers felt as though they were listening to the apostles themselves. Soon, however, the small church became too small for the interest that was aroused, and Tyndale began to preach from place to place. No sooner would he leave one place than the priests would follow him, seeking to undo all that he had done, threatening to expel from the church anyone who dared listen to him. When Tyndale returned, finding the field laid waste by the enemy, he exclaimed; “‘What is to be done? While I am sowing in one place, the enemy ravages the field I have just left. I cannot be everywhere. Oh! If Christians possessed the Holy Scriptures in their own tongue, they could of themselves withstand these sophists. Without the Bible it is impossible to establish the laity in the truth.’” Ibid., chapter 4. From that point on, Tyndale began to dream of giving the Bible to England in the common language of the people.

The first triumph of the truth was in the home of Lord and Lady Walsh. As Sir John and his wife began to accept the gospel, they became disgusted with the priests. The clergy were not so often invited to Sodbury, and when they did come, they no longer met with the same welcome. Soon they could think of nothing but how they might drive Tyndale from the diocese.

A storm was beginning to build. A formal complaint was filed, but a judicial inquiry into Tyndale’s conduct presented some serious problems. The king’s champion-at-arms was a patron of Tyndale’s and Sir Anthony Poyntz, Lady Walsh’s brother, was sheriff of the county. It was, therefore, decided that the most prudent thing that could be done would be to call a general conference of the clergy. Tyndale obeyed the summons to appear, but recognizing what was planned for him, sought the strength and help that could come from God alone.

Before the assembled church dignitaries, when his turn came to speak, Tyndale, in a calm and Christian manner, administered the chancellor a severe reprimand. This so exasperated the chancellor that he gave way to his passion, treating Tyndale as though he were a dog, whereupon Tyndale, required of him that he produce witnesses to support the charges. Not one of those assembled dared to come forward. Tyndale was, therefore, allowed to return quietly to Sodbury.

When the priests saw that their plot to silence the Reformer had failed, they commissioned one of the celebrated members of the clergy to undertake the task of converting Tyndale. The Reformer answered his opponent so well from the Greek Testament that the latter was left speechless. He then exclaimed: “‘Well then! It were better to be without God’s laws than the pope’s.’ Tyndale, who did not expect so plain and blasphemous a confession, made answer: ‘And I defy the pope and all his laws!’ and then, as if unable to keep his secret, he added: ‘If God spares my life, I will take care that a ploughboy shall know more of the Scriptures than you do.’” Ibid.

For some time, the position of Lord and Lady Walsh had been as a barrier protecting the Reformer from the malice of his enemies, but the enmity of the clergy was so great that Tyndale realized they would stop at nothing to interrupt his work of translating the Scriptures. Sorrowfully, he bade his host and hostess farewell and left to search for a safer retreat from which to pursue his work.

Tyndale made his way to London where he hoped to gain the patronage of Tonstall, the bishop of London. Tonstall, who was a learned man, was a friend of letters and the gospel. For a time, he had managed to walk a thin line between the two sides. Though learned, Tonstall lacked courage; and when forced to choose between the ignorant and bigoted priests and learning, clerical interests prevailed and he refused Tyndale employment. Greatly disappointed, Tyndale turned away.

Among those who had heard Tyndale speak was a rich merchant named Humphrey Monmouth. Monmouth invited the poor man to come live with him, and for the next year Tyndale pursued his work of translation in Monmouth’s home. Soon, however, persecution broke out in England and Tyndale, foreseeing an interruption to his work, left England.

From London, the Reformer made his way to Hamburg, and eventually to Cologne, France, where he continued his work. At last he took his prepared manuscripts to a printer and the actual printing was begun. Before the work had progressed far, Tyndale’s secret became known to the clergy and he was forced to flee, taking with him his precious manuscripts.

About the close of the year 1525, the first English New Testaments made their way across the Channel to England, hidden among the cargo of five different merchants. In spite of the strict vigilance exercised by the English authorities, the Bibles were successfully brought into the country. Thus, the Word of God, first given to the learned by Erasmus in 1517, Tyndale gave to the common people in 1526.

It was not Tyndale’s edition alone that was entering England. A Dutch house, knowing the desire for the Bible, printed an edition of 5,000 of Tyndale’s translation and sent them to England. These were soon sold and two more editions followed. Tyndale was able to follow these with a new and more accurate edition. This edition was printed in a smaller and more portable form, filling the clergy with great dismay. They quickly found that in endeavoring to prevent the circulation of the Bible, they were attempting a work that was beyond their ability to accomplish. The foundation of the reformed church was being laid in England by the diffusion of the Scriptures.

Tyndale was eventually betrayed into the hands of his enemies. After having suffered many months of imprisonment, he witnessed for his faith by a martyr’s death. Just before he died, his last prayer was that God might open the eyes of the king of England.

In a most unusual way, that prayer was answered. In 1538, Henry VIII signed an order appointing that a copy of the Bible was to be placed in every parish church, available for all to read. That edition become known as the Coverdale Bible, but it was largely the work of Tyndale. Within two years the edition was sold out and another one was printed. How different things were than they had been but two years before when anyone who had a Bible could only read it in secret, where none might see him.

Though Tyndale did not live to see the event, the weapons he prepared enabled others to carry forward the standard of truth, changing for all time the course of history.

The End

The Morning Star

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For many years before the beginning of the Reformation, the Bible was an almost unknown book. Except for the Waldenses, who had for hundreds of years had the Bible in their own tongue, it had been locked up in a language known only to the highly educated. As centuries passed, the darkness appeared to increase in intensity; but by the beginning of the fourteenth century, in many countries there appeared tokens of the coming dawn. Just as in the darkness of the nighttime sky the morning star can be seen, brightly shining, giving promise of the near approach of day, so in fourteenth century England there arose a man who was destined to strike a blow against Rome that would eventually result in the freeing of men, churches and nations. He was the herald of reform, not only for England but for all of Christendom.

Born in 1324 in the parish of Wycliffe, John followed his ancestors in taking as his surname the place of his residence. There is little known of his early life, for history has preserved for us almost nothing of the personal incidents in his life. The services done for his own time and for future generations are the things that have occupied the interest of historians, almost to the exclusion of any personal matters.

At the age of sixteen, Wycliffe was sent to Oxford. A quick mind, a penetrating intellect and a retentive memory allowed him to advance very quickly in the learning of his day. In addition to his other studies, Wycliffe became proficient in both canon and civil laws. This branch of learning was to be especially valuable to him in the coming battle that was soon to arise between the crown of England and the pontiff of Rome.

While in college, Wycliffe’s attention was directed to the Scriptures. In the study of God’s Word he found satisfaction for the great want of his soul. As he studied, the determination arose within him to share the truths he had found. His devotion to truth, however, could not help but bring him into conflict with Rome.

In 1365, Wycliffe was appointed to be head of Canterbury Hall, a new college at that time. Through rivalry, he was later removed from that position by a new archbishop of Canterbury. He appealed to the pope, but in 1370 the case was decided against him. From this point on, his conflict was no longer to be with the primate of England but with the very pontiff of Christendom. However, to properly understand the situation, we need to go back a century in time.

In 1205, Hubert, the primate, or head of the church in England, died. The churchmen, in a secret meeting that very same night and without consulting with the king, elected Reginald as the new archbishop of Canterbury. By the next morning, Reginald was on his way to Rome to receive his confirmation from the pope. When King John learned of what had taken place, he was furious and set about to place the Bishop of Norwich in that position. Then both parties—the king and the churchmen—sent their representatives to Rome to plead their cause.

The man who then reigned as pope was Innocent III. Innocent, who was vigorously pursuing the course laid out by Gregory VII—that of humbling the pride of kings—was working with all the skill and power at his command to make the power of kings subject to the papal see. John had appealed to the pope to arbitrate the case, and in this he had revealed his weakness. The pope was not slow to recognize the advantage and to make the most of it. Innocent annulled both elections and appointed his own nominee, Cardinal Langton to be archbishop.

King John could clearly see the danger of such an encroachment on the royal pregrogative. The see of Canterbury was the highest seat of dignity and jurisdiction in England, excepting only that of the throne itself, and in an age when ecclesiastical authority was even more to be feared than temporal authority, this was a dangerous threatening of the authority of the king and of the national independence. Filled with the bitterness of humiliation, John ordered all of the prelates and abbots out of England and refused to seat the pope’s appointee. Unfortunately, John was one of the weakest of England’s kings, and the pope was not slow to strike back, placing all of England under interdict. Being under interdict meant that the gates of heaven were locked and that no one in England could enter. All who died were condemned to wander as disembodied ghosts in some doleful region, amid unknown sufferings, until it should please the pope to open heaven to them. The church doors were closed and the dead were buried in ditches or open fields, while marriages were performed in church yards.

The king braved this situation for two whole years. Eventually, Innocent pronounced the sentence of excommunication upon him, deposing him from his throne and absolving his subjects from allegiance to him. It was one thing to pronounce the king deposed but quite another to enforce the decree. In order to fully accomplish this, the pope recognized that he needed an army, and looking around him, he determined to secure the assistance of Philip Augustus of France. Promising Philip the kingdom of England as his prize, the pope succeeded in obtaining his help.

When John saw the fearful danger he was in, his resolve left him and he determined to make peace with the pope at any cost. As a part of the bargain, the king agreed that he and all future kings of England should hold England as tenants of the land, on condition of loyalty to Rome. In recognintion of this arrangement, England would make an annual payment of a thousand marks to Rome. Should John or any of his successors default in payment, they would immediately forfeit all right to their dominions, which would immediately revert to Rome. On May 15, 1213, it is said that the king met with the papal legate and placed his crown at the legate’s feet. The haughty legate there upon kicked it around as though it was a worthless object before placing it again on John’s head.

The barons of England were appalled at John’s cowardly stand. Determined not to be slaves of the pope, they unsheathed their swords and vowed to maintain the ancient liberties of England, or die in the attempt. Appearing before the king in April of 1215, they presented him with a charter confirming the rights of England. Though the king stormed and at first refused, on June 15, 1215, John signed the Magna Charta at Runnymede. This, in effect, told Innocent that John revoked his vow of vassalage and took back the kingdom he had laid at the pontiff’s feet.

When the news reached Innocent, he correctly interpreted the significance of what had taken place. He realized that the Magna Charta was a great political protest against, not only himself but his whole system. In it he saw the beginning of an order of political ideas and a class of political rights entirely antagonistic to the fundamental claims of the papacy. He was infuriated and immediately declared the whole transaction null and void.

The bold attitude of the barons saved the independence of England, and though future kings of England came to the throne without taking the oath of loyalty to the pope, they continued, year by year to send the thousand marks which John had agreed to pay. At last, during the reign of Edward II, the annual tribute payment was quietly stopped without protest from Rome.

Nearly thirty-five years passed without any payment being made. Then suddenly and quite unexpectedly, in 1366, Pope Urban V demanded not only the annual tribute but all of the arrears. Urban, however, was not dealing with John but with Edward III. During the hundred years that had passed since the signing of the Magna Charta, England had been increasing in strength and greatness. Not only had she advance as center of learning but she had won some brilliant military victories and was already beginning to be feared and respected by nations of the continent. When the summons from the pope arrived, England hardly knew whether to meet it with indignation or with derision.

While acting as chaplain for the king, the position he now held, Wycliffe showed that the papal assumption of authority over secular rulers was contrary to both reason and revelation.

At this moment the eyes of all of Europe were on England. Should England submit, it would so greatly add to the prestige and power of the papacy as to reduce the whole world to vassalage. “The demands of the pope had excited great indignation, and Wycliffe’s teachings exerted an influence upon the leading minds of the nation. The king and the nobles united in denying the pontiff’s claim to temporal authority and in refusing the payment of the tribute. Thus an effectual blow was struck against the papal supremacy in England.” The Great Controversy, 82

The crisis was a great one, and the decision of England determined that the tide of papal tyranny would, from that point on, recede. Even though it was Edward III and Parliament who issued the decision that struck the blow against papal tyranny, it was Wycliffe who was the real champion in turning the tide of the battle.

The next great battle that Wyclffe was to fight for England was against the monastic orders. The pope had given these monks the power to hear confessions and to grant pardons. In spite of the fact they were sworn to poverty, these friars were constantly playing upon the superstitions of the people to increase their wealth. Wycliffe began to write tracts against these orders. In his writing, he not so much attacked the men as he sought to point the people to Bible truth. His plain speaking, however, soon attracted the attention of Rome, and bulls were dispatched to England demanding immediate measures be taken against the reformer to silence him. Just when it appeared that his enemies would succeed in silencing him, the pontiff of Rome died.

Though only sixty years of age, Wycliffe became seriously ill. The news of his illness brought great joy to the friars and they quickly made their way to his bedside, expecting to hear his recantation. Instead of recanting, the reformer raised himself and said in a strong voice: “I shall not die, but live; and again declare the evil deeds of the friars. Astonished and abashed, the monks hurried from the room.” Ibid., 88

The idea occurred to Wycliffe to give the whole Bible to the people of England so that every man in the realm might read for himself the Word of God. No one had ever thought to do this before, but this was the work Wycliffe now set himself to do. He realized that if he were successful in this endeavor, he would do more to place the liberties of England on a sound foundation than might be accomplished by a hundred brilliant victories.

Wycliffe had but a few years of time left to complete this great work he had set his hand to accomplish. He was a good Latin scholar and he turned to the Vulgate Scriptures for his source from which to translate, a translation which, unfortunately, contained many errors. In spite of the flawed source, Wycliffe’s Bible was remarkable in its effect upon the language, contributing to the formation of the English tongue by way of perfecting and enlarging its vocabulary. Because he wrote largely for the common people, Wycliffe studied to be simple and clear.

Once having completed this greatest of all his accomplishments, Wycliffe had no fear of death. In giving the Bible to England he had kindled a light which could never be put out. The Magna Charta which the barons had wrested from King John would have turned to little account had not Wycliffe given his countrymen the even mightier charter of freedom. “It might take one or it might take five centuries to consummate their emancipation; but with the Bible in their mother-tongue, no power on earth could retain them in thralldom. The doors of the house of their bondage had been flung open.” Wylie, The History of Protestanism, vol. 1, 111

Once the work was completed, though there were no printing presses, the interest in Wycliffe’s work was so great that hundreds of expert hands were ready to assist in multiplying the copies.

When the hierarchy learned what Wycliffe had done, they were greatly perplexed. They had comforted themselves with the thought that Wycliffe had but a short time to live, and once he was gone, they felt certain his work would come to nothing. Though they might successfully silence the reformer, a mightier voice than his was now raised against the errors of Rome. The horrified prelates raised a great cry.

The question was raised as to the right of the people to read the Bible. As the question had never before been raised in England, there were no laws governing its circulation. Though laws were soon enacted to prohibit it being read, the clergy had been caught so completely by surprise that it had an opportunity to become quite widely distributed before its circulation was banned.

It seems that in the life of every reformer there comes a moment when he must stand alone, forsaken by all others, painfully aware of his isolation. Following the release of his Bible, a general clamor was raised against the reformer. “He was accused of being a heretic, a sacrilegious man; he had committed a crime unknown to former ages; he had broken into the temple and stolen the sacred vessels; he had fired the House of God. Such were the terms in which the man was spoken of, who had given to his country the greatest boon England had ever received.” Ibid., 113

It was under Wycliffe that English liberty had its beginning. The English Bible assured England’s greatness. As she began to resist the papacy she began to grow in power and wealth.

Wycliffe expected that his death would be by violence. The primate, the king and the pope were all working to bring about his destruction. However, on the last Sunday of 1384, while he was in the act of consecrating the bread and wine, he was struck with an attack of palsy and fell to the church floor. He was carried to his bed in the rectory where he died on December 31, 1384. That a man who defied the whole hierarchy and who never gave into compromise of any kind, should die in his own bed, was truly a miracle.

“The papists had failed to work their will with Wycliffe during his life, and their hatred could not be satisfied while his body rested quietly in the grave. By the decree of the Council of Constance, more than forty years after his death his bones were exhumed and publicly burned, and the ashes were thrown into a neighboring brook. ‘This brook,’ says an old writer, ‘hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over.’—T. Fuller, Church History of Britain, b. 4, sec. 2, par. 54.

Little did his enemies realize the significance of their malicious act.” The Great Controversy, 95, 96

The political measures that Parliament adopted at Wycliffe’s advice in order to guard the country against the usurpations of the popes, reveal how clearly he saw the true purposes of the papacy to devour the wealth and liberty of the nations. Under his wise guidance, England was able to foresee the great evil and took precautions to protect themselves only after it had all but destroyed them.

In his submission to the Bible lay the secret of Wycliffe’s wisdom. He turned the eyes of England from popes and councils to the inspired Word of God. He taught that the Word of God was an all sufficient rule and that every man, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, had a right to interpret it for himself. Thus he taught men to throw off the blind submission to the teachings of men, which is bondage, and to submit their conscience to the Word of God, which alone is liberty.

It was under Wycliffe that English liberty had its beginnings. The real secret of England’s greatness is found in her acceptance of the Bible, very early in her development, and the principles of order and liberty which it brought her. This love for freedom and submission to law are the foundation upon which our political constitution and our national genius was built. It was Wycliffe who laid that foundation.

“Wycliffe was one of the greatest of the reformers. In breadth of intellect, in clearness of thought, in firmness to maintain the truth, and in boldness to defend it, he was equaled by few who came after him. Purity of life, unwearying diligence in study and in labor, incorruptible integrity, and Christlike love and faithfulness in his ministry, characterized the first of the Reformers. And this notwithstanding the intellectual darkness and moral corruption of the age from which he emerged.” Ibid., 93

The End

Current Events – Time to Bury the Hatchet

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“The storm is coming, relentless in its fury. Are we prepared to meet it?”

Testimonies, vol. 8, 315

It is the purpose of the church to combine religion with the state in order to control the consciences of the people. Protestant Christians should look at their roots and ask themselves what the protest of the middle ages was about and whether or not it has been resolved since that time. There has been a change over time in the beliefs of the Protestant world. Today, through ecumenism Protestant churches have incorporated into their beliefs Roman Catholic doctrines that they once protested.

Rome’s Holy Year of Mercy which opened on December 8, 2015 is presented as creating an opportunity for the world to look upon the pope as a holy man as he is portrayed kneeling before the confessional.

The pope said, “I have chosen the date of 8 December because of its rich meaning in the recent history of the Church. In fact, I will open the Holy Door on the fiftieth anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. …

“The Catholic Church, as she holds high the torch of Catholic truth at this Ecumenical Council, wants to show herself a loving mother to all; patient, kind, moved by compassion and goodness toward her separated children.”

Extraordinary Jubilee

The pope has “proclaimed an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy as a special time for the Church, a time when the witness of believers might grow stronger and more effective. www.news.va/en/news/presentation-of-the-extraordinary-julilee-of-mercy

Indulgences, though this time not sold, are being offered to relieve the punishment of sins forgiven, but it should be remembered that it was the selling of indulgences that triggered the Reformation.

What can we expect in 2017?

In 2008 Jesuit Professor Eduard Kimman, then time General Secretary of the Netherlands Bishop’s Conference, proclaimed that there remains hardly any reason to remain a Protestant. He saw Protestantism as an action group that forgot to dissolve itself and a group that had not recognized the significance of a global, visible leadership personality such as that of the pope. Moreover, he stated that he doubted that the Reformation would still exist after 2017 (the year when Protestantism commemorates its 500th year of existence) and Protestantism, he said should return to the mother church.

Lutherans and Catholics Bury the Hatchet for Reformation’s 500th Anniversary

“The Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation released a joint document, From Conflict to Communion, in Geneva that said there is little purpose in dredging up centuries-old conflicts.

“In the document, the two churches recognize that in the age of ecumenism and globalization, the celebration requires a new approach focusing on a reciprocal admission of guilt and on highlighting the progress made by the Lutheran-Catholic dialogue over the past 50 years. …

“The document re-examines the history of the Reformation and the split it created, stressing that Luther ‘had no intention of establishing a new church, but was part of a broad and many-faceted desire for reform’ within the church.

“ ‘The fact that the struggle for this truth in the 16th century led to the loss of unity in Western Christendom belongs to the dark pages of church history,’ the document says. ‘In 2017, we must confess openly that we have been guilty before Christ of damaging the unity of the church.’

“After caricaturing each other’s beliefs for centuries, an honest theological confrontation between the two sides began after the modernizing reforms of the Catholic church’s Second Vatican Council (1962–65), the document says.

“It stresses that, thanks to the ecumenical dialogue of recent decades, Lutherans and Catholics ‘have come to acknowledge that more unites than divides them.’ ” http://ncronline.org/news/lutherans-and-catholics-bury-hatchet-reformations-500th

Go Stand in the Temple

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Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. But at night the angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, ‘Go stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.’” Acts 5:17-20 NKJV

When we think of the temple, we visualize, first of all, Solomon’s Temple. Though it was later destroyed by Babylon, Ellen White tells us that it was the most magnificent building the world had seen at that time.

Then we think of the second temple, which was rebuilt after the captivity. It was beautiful, but it did not compare with the original. But this was the temple that Haggai the prophet prophesied about, “’ I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of all nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of host.” Haggai 2:7 NKJV

This building, enlarged and rebuilt by Herod, was glorious, and as the prophet had promised, the Desire of all nations did come. He came as a baby to be dedicated there. We would expect that there would be a glorious celebration, but there was not anything like that. Those who were in charge of the affairs of the temple did not see or feel anything unusual. They saw only a husband and a wife, clothed in the garments commonly worn by the poorer people, bringing the offering of the turtle doves that was the offering prescribed for those who did not have money enough to bring something more. They concluded that it was a matter of no consequence, another poor child.

But the Lord of heaven was not going to let the event pass unnoticed. He caused someone to be there who was spiritually tuned in. Simeon, who had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would see the Lord’s Christ before he died, came in by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Seeing the baby, he knew He was the One. Although the priest giving the baby back into the arms of Joseph and Mary did not have any awareness of what was going on, Simeon did. Simeon took that baby and made a prophecy about it, while the priest looked on in wonder.

So it is still. Events upon which the attention of all heaven is centered are undiscerned and their very occurrence is unnoticed by religious leaders and worshippers in the house of God. What a tragic thing, but history does repeat itself.

The prophecy was fulfilled; the Desire of all nations did come. He went first of all to those who should have been foremost in recognizing Him, but something was wrong. They were not in harmony with the Spirit of God. They were desperately confused and did not know what was happening. Nevertheless, He came, fulfilling the promise and witnessing to the leaders of Israel. He witnessed to them several times and, of course, indirectly many times. Finally, He had to give up on the leaders of Israel, but He never gave up on the people.

There seems to be a law of diminishing returns, a point beyond which the Lord recognizes that there is still a little bit of good being accomplished; but the evil being done is so much greater, that it does not justify the continuance of the system.

“The people whom God had called to be the pillar and ground of the truth had become representatives of Satan. They were doing the work that he desired them to do, taking a course to misrepresent the character of God, and cause the world to look upon Him as a tyrant. The very priests who ministered in the temple had lost sight of the significance of the service they performed. They had ceased to look beyond the symbol to the thing signified. In presenting the sacrificial offerings they were as actors in a play. The ordinances which God Himself had appointed were made the means of blinding the mind and hardening the heart. God could do no more for man through these channels. The whole system must be swept away.” The Desire of Ages, 36

But God does not give up on people, so, though the priests had put the apostles in prison for preaching in the temple, the angel brought them right out the same door they went in and said, “Go back; go right back and stand in the temple and preach to the people all the words of this life.”

It was the time of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, probably one of the greatest, if not the greatest occasion which drew people to the temple. They were gathered from far and near, and in the sheltered area in Solomon’s porch they gathered to hear messages of the kind the apostles were going to give them. So, that is where the apostles went to speak to them. God had to give up on the leaders of the church, but He never gives up on the people. This has been manifested ever so many times in the history of religion.

We read in The Great Controversy about the experience of Wycliffe, the Morning Star of the Reformation. That very brilliant man, whose work was not exceeded by those Reformers who followed him, even a hundred years later, took his message to the people.

“Wycliffe, like his Master, preached the gospel to the poor. Not content with spreading the light in their humble homes in his own parish of Lutterworth, he determined that it should be carried to every part of England. To accomplish this he organized a body of preachers, simple, devout men, who loved the truth and desired nothing so much as to extend it.” The Great Controversy, 87

These ministers of the gospel were called Lollards. As nearly as we can learn from the records, the word lollard is a bit of an extension of a Dutch word which means to speak or sing softly. These simple, humble preachers went with such success that the new faith was accepted by nearly one half of the people of England. It is interesting to note that the organized church rose up against these humble ministers, these men called from their walks of life, charging them with heresy.

Have you ever noticed that no matter when in the history of religion that heresy appears and heretics embrace heresy, they invariably accuse the faithful of being the heretics.

Zwingli also took his message to the people.

“Another class received with gladness the tidings of redemption through Christ. The observances enjoined by Rome had failed to bring peace of soul, and in faith they accepted the Saviour’s blood as their propitiation. These returned to their homes to reveal to others the precious light which they had received.” The Great Controversy, 175

Calvin took his message to the people. Of him we read, “His work began with the people at their homes. Surrounded by the members of the household, he read the Bible and opened the truths of salvation. Those who heard the message carried the good news to others, and soon the teacher passed beyond the city to the outlying towns and hamlets. To both the castle and the cabin he found entrance, and he went forward, laying the foundation of churches that were to yield fearless witnesses for the truth.” Ibid., 222

As you know, Wesley preached at the entrances to coal mines, in the fields and in the streets. All of the Reformers had to take their message to the people when they were forced to give up on the leaders of the church. A tragic situation but a very constantly reoccurring thing.

In 1888 Ellen White did the same thing. She found such resistance among the leaders of the church to the message of righteousness by faith, that she and A.T. Jones, as well as others, took their message to the people. In response, in 1891 the leadership sent her to Australia to get rid of that problem.

The lesson for us is that God never gives up on the people, and true reformers never give up on the people. True reformers may have to give up on the leaders, but never on the people.

Right after the angel had brought the apostles out of the prisons, he said to them, “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.” Acts 5:20 NKJV

I think that three and a half years earlier they would not have been able to handle that command; their childhood training would have been too strong. They would have said, “We cannot disobey the leaders of the church.” But after three and a half years, during which time they had seen the church leaders’ attitude of indifference harden into an attitude of opposition, then into an attitude of bitter hostility, finally ending in the crucifixion, they had no illusions about church leadership. They knew that church leadership can be led of God, but it does not necessarily have to be so. And so, without hesitation they made their decision: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29 NKJV

Now, may I suggest that our problem today is not greatly different. We have been told to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Added to that is the mandate to take the three angels’ messages to every nation, kindred, tribe, tongue and people. As a people, we have made it our first work—so much so, that in our own Adventist cultural jargon, to speak of “the truth” means simply one thing: we are talking about the three angels’ messages. To speak of “the work” means simply the work of spreading the gospel all around the world, This has been our all-encompassing concern, but in our time, we are seeing the uncaring indifference of church leaders hardening into opposition and open hostility. Now they are declaring that you and I are cancers in the body of the church, which must be cut out. So, we ought to lay aside all of our illusions, beloved, and look very carefully at this in the light of the question, What do we do under these circumstances?

We do not have to guess; we do not have to speculate; we are told very clearly what we should do. “The angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, ‘Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.’ We see here that the men in authority are not always to be obeyed even though they may profess to be teachers of Bible doctrine.” Testimonies to Ministers, 69 [Emphasis supplied]

Well, what does “not always” mean? When is it all right not to obey the leaders of the church? “Because those who were once the depositaries of truth became unfaithful to their sacred trust, the Lord chose others who would receive the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and would advocate truths that were not in accordance with the ideas of the religious leaders.” Testimonies to Ministers, 69, 70

That is pretty clear, isn’t it? When those who were once the depositaries of sacred truth become unfaithful to their sacred trust, they have no authority. Where there is no truth, there is no authority.

“Unless the truth is enthroned in the heart, and a thorough transition takes place from darkness to light, those who handle sacred responsibilities are ministers of darkness, blind leaders of the blind.” Ibid., 81

O that God’s people would open their eyes! How many times I have tried to explain to people who question me that in the Seventh-day Adventist church today, you have three groups of people. On the one side you have one group of people who know very well what they are doing; they are trying to change our doctrines and destroy our historic faith. On the other side you have a group of people who know very well what they are doing; we call them Historic Adventists. They are trying very hard to resist and oppose those unauthorized, ungodly changes. But in the middle, we have the vast majority who do not know what is going on. O that God’s people would open their eyes!

“If a brother is teaching error, those who are in responsible positions ought to know it; and if he is teaching truth, they ought to take their stand at his side.” Ibid., 110

I want to give credit where credit is due, but if any of our modern leaders have ever taken their stand at the side of an Historic Adventist, that has not been reported to me.

We can go on from there to take some examples illustrating the principle that there is no authority higher than the authority of truth, that position without truth has no authority whatsoever. We read here of Caiaphas, “Though clothed with a gorgeous dress, he was acting under the inspiration of Satan.” The Youth’s Instructor, June 7, 1900

“God has made His people the depositaries of His law. They must uphold the claims of that down-trodden law against the opposition of ministers of the gospel, against men of learning, position, and authority.” Sketches From the Life of Paul, 279

So we are not giving blind respect to authority.

“However great the confidence reposed in any man, whatever the authority given him by his position….His position and authority depend upon his connection with God, upon the discernment and wisdom he receives from above.” Review and Herald, May 14, 1895

The fact that a person has an office does not mean that he has authority from God. He may have authority from man but not from God. Wycliffe faced this problem, as did Huss, Luther, Wesley and many others.

According to the apostle Paul in Galatians 1:6, the position of an apostle is not enough if that person is not preaching truth. He must preach the truth, and so must we.

But how shall we handle our problem? In our time, those who have brought apostasy into the church are accusing the faithful of apostasy. When we say, “Would you please point out our heresy to us,” they say, “We will not discuss theology with you; we are only here to talk about authority.”

“Because those who were once the depositaries of truth became unfaithful to their sacred trust, the Lord chose others who would receive the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and would advocate truths that were not in accordance with the ideas of the religious leaders. And then these leaders, in the blindness of their minds, give full sway to what is supposed to be righteous indignation against the ones who have set aside cherished fables. They act like men who have lost their reason.” Testimonies to Ministers, 69, 70

When they are looking at a problem which is theological from the first word to the last, when they are looking at relationship in the church of tension and stress that is entirely theological and they say that it has nothing to do with theology, have they not lost their reason? When they take heroes of the gospel of Christ and disfellowship them from the temple, are they not acting like men who have lost their reason? When they accuse us of being the cancer in the body of Christ, when they exalt their rules above the Scriptures and above the Spirit of Prophecy, are they not acting like men bereft of reason? When they have taken the policy of credentials, which was established for the purpose of keeping falsehood out of the pulpit and keeping truth in, and prostituted and turned it around to keep falsehood in the pulpit and truth out, are they not acting like men who have lost their reason? But most of all, beloved, when they fantasize that they can destroy the historic faith of the Adventist people, have they not gone stark raving mad? God is going to protect His truth. This truth is going to survive.

In the fall of the year 1977, Jean and I took a public stand against apostasy at Loma Linda, California, and we were so alone. We thought that we would never again have fellowship with anyone else in the same frame of mind. But God is calling out His people. When there is a crisis, God will raise up men and women to meet that crisis. This truth will survive! It will never be destroyed, because it is God’s truth!

I remember Marshall Grosboll once making a statement in the state of Washington. When a certain problem was arising about the ones who wanted to follow the truth faithfully and those who did not, Marshall said, “You will be surprised when the dust has settled how few will stand.” That is sad is it not? We have our determination, our purpose, our intentions, and that is all very well, but we must have the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ if we will be among those who stand in the hour of trial.

The End

New? Movement

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After the death of Wycliffe in 1384, his followers, variously known as Wycliffites or Lollards, traversed the length and breadth of England preaching the gospel. An effort to restrict these activities resulted in the passage of a law that allowed for fines, confiscation of property and imprisonment for the crime of preaching “without license of the ordinaries.” “These preachers were not troubled with doubts touching their right to assume the sacred office. They reasoned that the same charter which gave to the Church her right to exist, gave to her members the right to discharge those functions that are needful to her welfare. They went not to Rome, therefore, but to the Bible for their warrant to minister.” Wylie, The History of Protestantism, vol. 1, 350

Today, Adventism is faced with a similar situation as a “new movement” has sprung up of Seventh-day Adventist ministers who do not look to any earthly authority for their authorization to preach the gospel, not only within the United States but indeed all over the world.

Just as the preaching of present truth for fourteenth century England evoked a harsh response from the combined religious and civil powers, so today the leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church have sought ways and means by which they might avail themselves of the assistance of the civil power to eliminate, and failing in that, make as difficult as possible, the work of the independent ministries.

The history of the early Reformation in England reveals that when lesser efforts failed, it ultimately resulted in a death decree being passed against the Lollards by King Henry IV. In the preamble of this infamous act, we find enumerated the activities in which the Lollards were engaged which were so offensive to those who opposed them that they felt constrained to resort to such harsh tactics. It was there stated that the Lollards “were going from diocese to diocese, holding conventicles, opening schools, writing books, and wickedly teaching the people.” Ibid., 351.

In comparing these charges with the record of those who today speak on behalf of Historic Adventists, we find some remarkable parallels. The leaders in the movement, if it may be called that, of Historic Adventists, not only travel widely, preaching and holding conventions, but they have organized training programs and Bible-worker training schools.

It is interesting to note that William Sawtrey, the rector of St. Margarets’s in Lynn and the first Lollard martyr, was martyred on the charge that he would not worship the cross. Yet, in Montana, one home church group was formed over precisely this same issue. The pastor of the church which a family that has since started a home church had been attending, reportedly erected a cross on the platform and then, with his wife, sang a hymn to it and kissed it.

I hope it is thus clear to all our readers that the Historic Adventist Movement is not new at all. In fact, it goes back at least as far as the first century A.D. We read in Acts 19:8-10 of Paul’s failure to convert all of the Jews of his day and the resulting separation that took place. “And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.”

Let us take special note of the fact that the separation occurred only after certain of the Jews hardened their hearts against the truth. Then Paul was presumably forced to move his location of worship service and Sabbath school out to a private location, a school of one brother named Tyrrannus. Reread verse 10 and note that this separation did not happen overnight. It occurred over a period of years. This was clearly a period of turmoil and perplexity as apostolic Christianity became distinct from Jewish orthodoxy. This is the corresponding period in which we find ourselves today.

What is it that motivates Adventists to separate from the fellowship of their brethren? The answer lies in the fact that they believe that it is neither wise, nor safe, to continue listening to error week after week. This is not a personal preference but a biblical principle. “Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.” Proverbs 19:27

Were this principle not true, there would never have been a need for the early Adventists to have separated from the other denominations from which they came. Neither was this separation something peculiar to the early Adventists. Many true Christians have had to make this painful transition—the Waldenses, the Lollards, the Hussites, the Lutherans—to name only a few.

That those who value truth refrain from listening to error is no surprise. The thing that is so surprising is that apparently good and faithful Adventists continue to excuse themselves in listening to wolves in sheep’s clothing preach to them such errors as the pre-fallen nature of Christ, of His inability to save us from sin, and kindred heresies.

The idea of home churches is not a new one but extends back at least as far as New Testament times. In Romans 16, Paul refers to this. “I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea: that ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you; for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also. Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus: who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well beloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfrutis of Achaia unto Christ.” Romans 16:1-5 [All emphasis supplied]

In addition, there are several other places where home churches are referred to. “The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.” 1Corinthians 16:19. “And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house.” Philemon 1:2. In Colossians 4:15, we read of yet another home church, “Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house.”

Returning our attention to fourteenth century England, we read of William Thorpe, a Lollard Protestant, whose chief sins in the eyes of the establishment of his day were his refusal to believe in the transubstantiation of the communion bread and his refusal to worship images such as the cross. While his final fate is unknown to us, it seems most likely that he perished in a dungeon for there is no record of his release of public execution. So I class William with the lengthy list of martyrs and request your attention to his recorded statement as to what constitutes God’s church. “And I believe in the holy Church—that is, all they that have been, and that now are, and that to the end of the wold shall be, a people that shall endeavor to know and keep the commandments of God.” The History of Protestantism, vol. 1, 357

It is a remarkable thing, but a point well to be remembered, that in every moral crisis within the church, when the majority have followed after error, leading those who choose to be faithful to the truth to separate from them, there has been unity of understanding as to what constitutes the church of Christ. Thorpe’s understanding of God’s church was that it is “a people that shall endeavor to know and keep the commandments of God.” God’s church is not and never has been a man-made structure. It is simply those people who love God supremely and keep His commandments. How very different is this ancient but simple understanding from that of the majority in every age who have viewed the corporate structure as the church!

By way of illustrating the point, consider in your mind a church. Most often the picture that comes to mind is a typical church building. Generally, most people will form a mental picture of a building with doors, windows, probably a steeple, and perhaps with a cross on the top.

Starting at the top of this structure, we must recognize that the cross is not at all a Christian symbol but was imported from pagan sun worship. Its introduction occurred in the ninth century and it caused a schism in the establishment of that day. Claude, the bishop of Turin, stoutly resisted cross worship, commenting, “…in kneeling to the image, or kissing the cross, you do what the second commandment forbids, and what the Scripture condemns as idolatry. God commands one thing and these people do quite the contrary. God commands us to bear our cross, and not to worship it; but these are all for worshipping it, whereas they do not bear it at all. To serve God after this manner is to go away from Him. For if we ought to adore the cross because Christ was fastened to it, how many other things are there which touched Jesus Christ! Why don’t they adore mangers and old clothes, because He was laid in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes? Let them adore asses, because He entered Jerusalem upon the foal of an ass.” Ibid., 22

In tracing back the history of the cross, its origin appears to have been the first letter of the name of Tammuz, the illegitimate son of Ishtar, the evil queen who originated sun worship and astrology. After Tammuz’s death in a hunting accident, Ishtar shrewdly encouraged his worship by the populace of Babylon, thereby retaining her position of authority. Very quickly the “T” was used as Tammuz’s symbol in the same manner that the sign of the cross is practiced today by Roman Catholics. It is from this satanic religion that pagan Rome apparently borrowed the cross as the form on which to practice crucifixion. The Bible lists a number of pagan practices within God’s church in Ezekiel 8, calling them abominations. In the fourteenth verse we read of this worship of Tammuz. “Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.”

Moving away from this satanic symbol of cruelty and idolatry and striking it from the top of our mental picture of a church, we move our consideration down to the steeple.

The fifteenth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 11, 232, correctly identifies the origin of the steeple as the obelisk. The obelisk was the externally identifying mark of temples of the sun god in the Middle East, just as the steeple today commonly identifies the buildings of many Christian denominations. The very center of modern spiritual Babylon, the Vatican, has gone to great pain and cost to identify itself with the mystery religion of ancient Babylon by erecting the largest obelisk in Europe in the very heart of the papacy, St. Peter’s Basilica.

Now, recognizing that the steeple is not more Christian than the cross, we strike it from our mental image of a church building, and what do we have left? Just a house—a home church. Yes, the home is the real center for Christian worship.

In closing, let us take a quick look at a passage of Scripture that is commonly twisted out of its proper context to attack the home church movement. How often we hear that we are not to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together.” See Hebrews 10:25. Let us, however, consider this admonition in the context in which it was given. “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised;) and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” Hebrews 10:23-26. The context clearly identifies that the meeting that we are not to forsake is one where we provoke one another to good works, not one where virtually everybody does no more good than warming the pews once a week. And of current import, do not miss the fact that in verse 26, Paul clearly connects sinless living with the meeting of the saints. Yet the meetings forsaken by those who have joined the home church movement are those where the preacher openly preaches that sinless living is impossible until Jesus returns.

Given the errors and outright apostasy of the corporate Sabbath gatherings that I have seen, these verses in Hebrews demand that we find meetings apart from those which contradict the biblical gospel. For further bible study on this topic see also: 1 Corinthians 6:15-18; Proverbs 5:3-8; and Proverbs 7:10-22. As you read, keep in mind that a harlot is the biblical symbol for an apostate church.

Brothers and Sisters, I do not believe that this Historic Adventist Movement is some new phenomenon but a necessary continuation of historic theology and practice. We presently know of over 600 groups that have satellite receivers and we have reason to believe that there are approximately 1000 home churches which meet regularly.

We have seen that though a conventional church building may be desirable as a place of meeting, it is not necessary, and certainly not synonymous with the church. I would like to urge each reader to not only consider this home church alternative, but to support the leaders of this movement. Once you have joined or started your home church, remember that every successful reformatory movement has been characterized by active proselytizing by all members. If we do not seize our opportunity to do the task in front of us, taking the gospel to the whole world, our candlestick will also be removed from its place.

The End

The Call to the Sleeping Virgins

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There are two statements in the Spirit of Prophecy that motivated me to search the parable of the ten virgins as for hidden treasures. One of them is found in the Review and Herald, September 19, 1890, and it says: “I am often referred to the parable of the ten virgins, five of whom were wise, and five foolish. This parable has been and will be fulfilled to the very letter, for it has special application to this time, and like the third angel’s message, has been fulfilled and will continue to be present truth until the close of time. In the parable, the ten virgins had lamps, but only five of them have the saving oil with which to keep their lamps burning. This represents the condition of the Church.”

The second statement is in an article on the parable of the ten virgins in the Review and Herald, October 31, 1899, and it says: “Every specification of this parable should be carefully studied.”

“As Christ sat looking upon the party that waited for the bridegroom, he told His disciples the story of the ten virgins, by their experience illustrating the experience of the church that shall live just before His second coming. The two classes of watchers represent the two classes who profess to be waiting for the Lord. They are called virgins because they profess a pure faith. By the lamps is represented the Word of God. The Psalmist says, ‘Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.’ Ps. 199:105. The oil [we know] is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 406

Remember that there were ten virgins. They all had lamps, and the lamps were all lit. They all initially had oil. They were all anxiously awaiting the bridegroom, but there was a delay. In this delay, they grew very weary. Hour after hour passed, and God’s people began to slumber and sleep. At midnight the call was heard, and all ten arose. They saw a procession going by. The ten virgins seized their lamps and began to trim them, but only five of them had the oil so needed. Those who had the oil made preparation, joined with this procession of people going by and entered into the house with the bridal train.

Let us remember also that every specification of this parable is to be studied and that it has been and will be fulfilled to the very letter.

When the bridal party—remember, the bride is the true church—came along, the call was given, and five of the waiting virgins, representing the professed church, joined with the bridal party and went in to the feast.

For a while the waiting virgins all looked the same, until there was a shaking, a message that startled them from their lethargy.It then became apparent who had made preparation and who had not. To the five who were the foolish virgins the master said: “I know you not.” They were left without in the blackness of night.

“The class represented by the foolish virgins are not hyprocrites. They have a regard for the truth, they have advocated the truth, they are attracted to those who believe the truth; but they have not yielded themselves to the Holy Spirit’s working. They have not fallen upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, and permitted their old nature to be broken up.” Christ Object Lessons, 411. Ellen White also tells us that they are not open sinners. They are professed Christians. “In the time of peril they are found wanting and their cry is peace and safety.” See Review and Herald , October 31, 1899.

In the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 985, 986, Ellen White states three different times that the bride is the Church, the Lamb’s wife. Yet it is stated in Christ’s Object Lessons, 406, that the ten virgins illustrate the church that shall live before the second coming of Christ.

In trying to understand this apparent contradiction, I began to study. How could the bride, who is obviously with the party that is passing by on their way to the wedding, and the waiting ten virgins both represent the church of Christ? I found some very interesting and enlightening statements regarding this parable.

“All the Christian world is represented in this parable. The bride constitutes the church that is waiting for the second appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 16, 268. Did you notice that the church—God’s true church—is represented by the bride? A little further along in this same article, Ellen White, speaking specifically of the ten virgins, says that “They represent the church of professed Christians.” Ibid., 271. Here we have a distinction being made between the true and the professed church.

In Christ’s Object Lessons, 405, we are told: “By torchlight the bridal party proceed from her father’s house to his own, where a feast is provided for the invited guests. In the scene upon which Christ looks, a company [the professed church] are awaiting the appearance of the bridal party, intending to join the procession.”

We are told in the Spirit of Prophecy that the five wise virgins joined with the little company (the true church) that had given them the light. Ellen White also makes another observation. “At midnight the cry is heard, ‘Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him.’ The sleepers, suddenly awakening, spring to their feet. They see the procession moving on, bright with torches and glad with music.” Ibid., 406

Friends, I was puzzled. I thought, the cry is coming from the bride, but the bride is the church; and yet the ten virgins are the church. As I studied further, everything began to come clear. As Paul preached of two Israels—literal Israel and spiritual Israel—so this parable represents literal, or professed church members, and spiritual, or faithful and true church members.

Wise virgins, please let us wake up. There is a procession going by; I see it in Caleb and Joshua, outside; I see it in camp meetings across the country; I see it in the voice of the independent ministries, speaking loud and clear a distinct message: “Prepare to meet thy Lord.”

I Jeremiah 3:1, the Lord tells Israel: “But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.” He rebukes them because they have polluted the land with their whoredoms and their wickedness, and in verse 3, he tells them: “Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.” They would not heed the call from the true bride.

Notice what it says in verse 8. Here was the church; here was Israel, His professed people, and the Lord says: “And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce.”

I then looked in Jeremiah 7:30,34. “For the children of Judah have done evil while in My sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it.” “Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.”

“Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.” Jeremiah 6:16,17 [All emphasis added]

As we go further down in time, to the time of John the Baptist, there is again another voice crying, this time in the wilderness. John was independent of the professed church, working for the Lord, calling Israel to repentance.

We read in The Great Controversy, 382: “It was by departure from the Lord, and alliance with the heathen, that the Jewish church became a harlot.” Just as Jeremiah was telling Israel—you have become a harlot; you have become an adulterous wife, and I must give you a bill of divorce—see John the Baptist giving the same message because the Jewish Church became a harlot, and he is trying to call them back to repentance.

Another time in which God raised faithful ministers to call His people from apostasy was in the days of William Miller. It was called the first great Advent Movement and took place in the 1840s. Ellen White makes a comment on this in Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 222. “To Wm. Miller and his colaborers it was given to preach the message in America, and the light kindled by their labors shown out to distant lands.” The procession that God had called—His true bride—with torches shining, glad with music, was giving light to America; this time to the harlot churches. It goes on to say: “The testimony of the Scriptures pointing to the coming of Christ in 1843, awakened widespread interest. Many were convinced that the arguments from the prophetic periods were correct, and , sacrificing their pride of opinion, they joyfully received the truth. Some ministers laid aside their sectarian views and feelings, left their salaries and their churches, and united in proclaiming the coming of Jesus. There were but few ministers, however, who would accept this message; therefore it was largely committed to humble laymen. Farmers left their fields, mechanics their tools, traders their merchandise, professional men their position; and yet the number of workers was small in comparison to the work to be accomplished. The condition of an ungodly church and a world lying in wickedness burdened the souls of the true watchmen, and they willingly endured toil, privation, and suffering that they might call men to repentance unto salvation.” Ibid., 223

“Under the proclamation of these messages the cry was made, ‘Behold the Bridegroom cometh….go ye out to meet Him.’ Many who heard these messages thought they would live to see Christ come; but there was delay in the coming of the Bridegroom, in order that all might have an opportunity to hear the last message of warning to a fallen world.” Review and Herald, October 31, 1899

In the same article it says: “At the call, the sleeping eyes are opened, and everyone is aroused. They see the procession they are to join moving on, bright with torches and glad with music. They hear the voice of the Bridegroom and the voice of the bride.” Who was the bride who was giving the message to those churches? William Miller and his co-laborers, whom God had called to announce it to the world, were fulfilling this. The five wise virgins trimmed their lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom. You see, they joined the procession that was moving on and left the harlot apostate churches.

“Unfaithful watchmen hindered the progress of the work of God. As the people were roused, and began to inquired the way of salvation, these leaders stepped in between them and the truth, seeking to quiet their fears by falsely interpreting the Word of God. In this work, Satan and unconsecrated ministers united, crying, Peace, peace, when God had not spoken peace. Like the Pharisees in Christ’s day, many refused to enter the kingdom of Heaven themselves, and those who were entering in, they hindered. The blood of these souls will be required at their hand….

“Many were persecuted by their unbelieving brethren….Not a few were cut off from the fellowship of the church for no other reason than expressing their belief in the coming of Christ….

“Angels of God were watching with deepest interest the result of the warning. When the churches as a body rejected the message, angels turned away from them in sadness….many were deceived by husbands, wives, parents, or children, and were made to believe it a sin even to listen to such heresies as were taught by the Adventists.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 226,227

Do you see a parallel today? Every letter of this prophecy will be fulfilled.

I see today that the true church is calling the professed church to wake up. The voice of the bride—the true church—is once again sounding to the apostate structure.

“Many who went forth to meet the Bridegroom under the messages, of the first and second angels, refused the third, the last testing message to be given to the world, and a similar position will be taken when the last call is made.” Review and Herald, October 31, 1899

I believe we are seeing history being repeated one more time.

“The state of the Church represented by the foolish virgins, is also spoken of as the Laodicean state.” Review and Herald, September 19, 1890. You see, the foolish virgins equal the Laodicean state.

“Since the time of the Minneapolis meeting, I have seen the state of the Laocicean Church as never before.” Ibid., September 26, 1890. The people of God have rejected the message of 1888. They have rejected the call of the Holy Spirit and the righteousness by faith message—victory over all sin. They bolted the door shut and drove the Spirit of God away.

Eight years later, Ellen White said: “The Church is in the Laodicean state. The presence of God is not in her midst.” Notebook Leaflets, 99. She likens the church to the foolish virgins. These are those who call Him by His name, and they say: “Didn’t we go to church every Sabbath. Wasn’t I an elder and a deacon. Didn’t I serve and put my tithe faithfully in the collection plate.” But he looks and says, “But you did not do the will of My Father. You sat by and preached a peace and safety message while millions around you were perishing for the truth.”

Today, God’s faithful are being disfellowhsipped and many are again hearing the call from the Bridegroom and the bride. Jesus is ready to come and the procession is moving on again.

“Some will not receive the testimony that God has given us to bear, flattering themselves that we may be deceived and that they may be right. They think that the people of God are not in need of plain dealing and of reproof, but that God is with them.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 259. They think that God is with them, but she said in 1898, that he is not. “These tempted ones, whose souls have ever been at war with the faithful reproving of sin, would cry: Speak unto us smooth things….There can be no deception here. This message must be borne to a lukewarm church by God’s servants.” Ibid. You see, the true bride is giving the cry to the professed bride. “It must arouse His people from their security and dangerous deception in regard to their real standing before God.” Ibid.

Why do you have the right to speak and rebuke open sin publicly? Because open sin is to be publicly rebuked. I am pleading within my heart for a church to come to repentance, because the door of probation is closing fast; God is withdrawing. And when the professed believers persecute God’s faithful servants, they are silencing the voice of the bride.

“The Lord here shows us that the message to be borne to His people by the ministers whom he has called to warn the people is not a peace-and-safety message….The people of God are represented in the message to the Laodiceans as in a position of carnal security. They are at ease, believing themselves to be in an exalted condition of spiritual attainments.” Ibid., 252. But they are not.

“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 will consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result?” Special Testimonies Series B, no. 2, 54,55
I want you to see the identifying marks of a new organization. You tell me if it is the one that the independent ministries are preaching, or is it one that you see taking place in the structure of the Seventh-day Adventist Church?

“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 established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced….Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the new movement. The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice,….they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is worthless. Their foundation would be built on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure.” Ibid.., 55

How long can you sit within an apostate structure, a false bride that is receiving a bill of divorce from God, and think you are in the remnant church of Bible prophecy? Who has conditioned your mind?

“One thing it is certain is soon to be realized,—the great apostasy, which is developing and increasing and waxing stronger, will continue to do so until the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout. We are to hold fast the first principles of our denominated faith, and go forward from strength to increased faith.” Ibid., 57

Do not apostatize. Do not accept this new movement. Hold firm to the first denominated faith. Hold to the old paths—the landmarks of Adventism. Jesus Christ is ready to come.

The church structure became a harlot in Jeremiah’s day. It rejected Christ and His truth in John the Baptist’s day, and in William Miller’s day it again did the same. Today modern Israel is following in the footsteps of ancient Israel. I believe that God’s last call to the professed Seventh-day Adventist structure is now being sounded by His bride. Soon it will end, and when it does, of which group will you be a part?

The End

The Valley of Deceitfulness

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I believe that God has a message for his people today, which is found in Isaiah 28. I have deepening conviction that what is here portrayed, is that which we are soon to face.

“Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the verdant valleys, to those who are overcome with wine! Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one, like a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, who will bring them down to the earth with His hand. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, will be trampled underfoot; and the glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the verdant valley, like the first fruit before the summer, which an observer sees; he eats it up while it is still in his hand.” Isaiah 28:1-4.

The valley of deceitfulness can look so fair; there can be so many beautiful flowers in it; those in charge of the valley can be so fat with the gifts of God’s professed people; but, friend, the judgment of God hangs over the professed people of God today because we have disregarded the voice of his messenger. We have cast it aside if it called us to reform, and we have obeyed only that which has gone along with our natural inclination. Then, to prove that we are obeying it, we have held up that part of the counsel which goes along with our inclination. It is for this reason the judgement of God hangs over His people today. However beautiful the flowers in the valley of deceitfulness may be, destruction and judgment are coming from the Lord. If God’s people today are to know where they are in the stream of time, they must have the heavenly eye salve.

Many men who once might have given godly counsel to God’s people, today, are no longer fit to give that counsel because they have failed to stand against the prevailing apostasy. They have stood, watching it take place, but they have continued to make strange alliances with the falsehood. Perhaps these men, themselves, are trying to live righteous lives, but this is not enough. If we do not stand up against apostasy, wherever it is manifest, we are no longer fit to be messengers to God’s people.

To illustrate this point, let us draw from the rich, but terrible history, of the conflict between the Waldenses and the papacy. If we do not learn from the mistakes of history, we are destined to repeat them.

Before we look at this history let me share a story with you.

A few years ago, our family visited a Pennsylvania colony called the Ephrata Cloister. Here many years ago there lived a group who kept the seventh day Sabbath. They introduced the seventh day Sabbath to the Baptists. The Baptists who accepted this truth became the Seventh-day Baptists, who in turn, later shared this truth with the Seventh-day Adventist.

I remember the guide showing us into the print room where the old-fashioned press was located. The press had a long handle, which, when pulled down, lowered the plate, leaving an impression on the paper. This process was repeated again and again, all day long. Because the labor was very wearying to the people, the handle became known as the devil’s tail.

The guide explained to us that there were more copies of the Bible printed here than of any other book. But, do you know what book ranked second in the number of copies to be printed? Fox’s Book of Martyrs. It was the second most widely read book in the United States of America. Our forefathers used to read these stories to their children. This reading helped to make us a Protestant nation. Our people knew the history then.

History of Protestantism by Wylie records the history of God’s people during the seventeenth century. It is recorded that in 1655, a decree was made calling for the complete extermination of the Waldenses. Army after army attempted to destroy them, only to meet with failure. After a short time of peace, General Pianeza determined he was going to do that which others had failed to do. As he began his march, the Waldenses became aware of his plans and they sent ambassadors down to the town of Turin to plead with the army to leave them alone.

The governor on Turin stalled the Waldensian representatives, while the papal armies were secretly gathering, hoping to deceive them as to their real intentions. A meeting was arranged with the Waldensian representatives for April 17, 1655. At about two o’clock in the morning, on the day of the meeting, General Pianeza’a army surrounded the city. Three hundred of his army of 15,000 slipped under the city wall and made an attack on Sabbath morning, April 17.

The Waldenses, totally unprepared for the attack, hastily threw up a barricade, which the invading soldiers stormed. So stoutly did the Waldenses resist that after three hours of intense fighting, the papal soldiers, who had been unable to make any advance at all, were driven back.

At one o’clock the next morning, one of General Pianeza’s colonels who knew the territory, sent a flanking recruitment to storm the town from behind. The Waldenses turned about-face, pierced the enemy rank, held the soldiers back and escaped to the mountains. In the whole encounter, which involved much bloody fighting, there were only three Waldensian soldiers killed.

The Vaudois (Waldenses) were once more in the mountains, their families having previously been transported up because of the threat of war. They watched the valley below as their orchards were cut down and their homes burned. On Monday, the nineteenth, and the day that followed, a series of skirmishes took place. The Vaudois, although poorly armed and vastly out numbered, were victorious on every point, causing the popish soldiers to fall back, carrying wondrous tales of the Vaudois’ valor and heroism and infusing panic into the rest of their troops.

Pianeza now began to have misgivings. As he recalled history, he was haunted by the memory of other mighty armies that had perished on these mountains. He determined to resort to deceit. Before daybreak on Wednesday, the twenty-first of April, he announced by the sound of trumpet, his willingness to receive the Vaudois deputies and treat for peace. Delegates set out for his camp headquarters and, on arrival, were treated with utmost courtesy and sumptuously entertained. Pianeza expressed the utmost regret for the excesses committed by his soldiers, which he assured them had been done contrary to orders. He protested that he had only come into their valleys to track a few fugitives who had disobeyed Gastaldo’s order. He said that the higher communes had nothing to fear, but that if each would admit a single regiment for a few days, in token of their loyalty, all war would be amicably ended. Despite the warnings of the more discerning pastors, especially pastor Leger, Pianeza was able to convince the Vaudois of his sincerity and accomplished by craft that which he had been unable to do by open warfare. The Waldenses opened the passes to their valleys and the doors of their dwellings to the soldiers of Pianeza.

The first two days were passed in comparative peace—the soldiers eating at the same table, sleeping under the same roof and conversing freely with their destined victims. This interval was needed to allow for every preparation to be made for what was to follow. The enemy now occupied the towns, the villages, the cottages, and the roads throughout the valleys.

At last the blow fell with the sudden crash of a thunderbolt. At four o’clock on the morning of Sabbath, April 24, 1655, the signal was given and in an instant a thousand assassins began the work of death. In a moment dismay, horror, agony, and woe overspread the Valleys of Lucerna and Angrogna. The cries and groans of the dying were echoed and reechoed from the rocks around. It seemed as if the mountains had taken up a wailing for the slaughter of their children. “Our Valley of Lucerna,” exclaimed pastor Leger, “which was like a Goshen, was now converted into a Mount Etna, darting forth cinders and fire and flames. The earth resembled a furnace, and the air was filled with a darkness like that of Egypt, which might be felt, from the smoke of towns, villages, temples, mansions, granges, and buildings, all burning in the flames of the Vatican.” History of Protestantism, 484.

The soldiers were not content with the quick dispatch of the sword; they invented new and hitherto unheard-of modes of torture and death. No man to this day dare write in plain words all the disgusting and horrible deeds of these men; their wickedness can never be all known because it never can be all told.

Uncontrollable grief seized the hearts of the survivors at the sight of their brethren slain, their country devastated and their church overthrown. “Oh that my head were waters,” exclaimed Leger, “and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.” Ibid., 485

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own consciences seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.” 1 Timothy 4:1-3

Let us look carefully at verse two: “Speaking lies and hypocrisy.” If you allow the first part of this verse, “speaking lies and hypocrisy,” to lodge in your heart, the second half of the verse is the result, “speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” Your conscience is seared by your speaking lies and by hypocrisy. If the lies start living in our heart and we start acting out these lies, we are preparing our conscience to be “seared by a hot iron” so that we have no conscience left.

Let us consider the fact that, in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, ministers are being trained in imaging, a form of mind control that is basic in the spiritual exercises of Ignatius Loyola. In this story we have seen the end result of training a priesthood to have a dead conscience. These men are now teaching these exercises to their congregations. We can already see the first fruits of the persecution through the disbanding and disfellowshipping taking place, but these persecutions will not be the last fruits.

What the Vaudois had power and valor to do in open confrontation, they were unable to do when they gave in to deceit. The deceit cloaked the murder in the wicked ones’ hearts. In Proverbs 12:5 we read: “The counsels of the wicked are deceitful.”

Friends, what do you think all these committee meetings concerning the independent ministries are really about? Do not be fooled; the devil knows that what he cannot do through open confrontation, he can often accomplish through the deceitfulness of pretended friendship. If you accept the proposals of such, it will be as fatal to your salvation and that of your family as was the Waldenses’ accepting of their murderers into their homes.

The devil has studied history; he knows what tricks will work. We would be extremely naive to believe that he will not use them on us. He is seeking to do through peace and unity what he has been unable to do by force.

“When God’s people voluntarily unite with the worldly and the unconsecrated, and give them the preeminence, they will be led away from Him by the unsanctified influence under which they have placed themselves. For a short time there may be nothing seriously objectionable; but minds that have not been brought under the control of the Spirit of God will not take readily to those things which savor of truth and righteousness. If they had heretofore any relish for spiritual things they would have placed themselves in the ranks of Jesus Christ. The two classes are controlled by different masters and are opposites in their purposes, hopes, tastes, and desires.” Counsels to Teachers, 542

This is the reason that the issue of who and what is the church is a salvational issue; one you must understand. If you are confused on this issue and you believe that there is a set of men which you need to go counsel with (regardless of their betrayal of sacred trust in upholding wickedness in others), you will lose your soul. In His instruction to His disciples, Jesus warned them to beware of men. “They were not to put implicit confidence in those who knew not God, and open to them their counsels; for this would give Satan’s agents an advantage. Man’s inventions often counterwork God’s plans. Those who build the temple of the Lord, are to build according to the pattern shown in the mount–the divine similitude. God is dishonored and the gospel is betrayed when His servants depend on the counsel of men who are not under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Worldly wisdom is foolishness with God. Those who rely upon it, will surely err.” Desire of Ages, 354

Do not go to the Pharisees and the Sadducees and try to unite with them in an evangelistic endeavor or some other seemingly worthy project. Do not get up in front of church and try to speak words that will please both the children of darkness and the children of light.

“‘The kingdom of God cometh not with outward show.’ The gospel of the grace of God, with its spirit of self-abnegation, can never be in harmony with the spirit of the world. The two principles are antagonistic.” Review and Herald, January 18, 1906. (All emphasis supplied.) What does it mean when it says never? Never! When those who were professing truth, but were not bringing forth its fruits in their life, came to John the Baptist, he refused to baptize them. In fact, he called them vipers, or deadly snakes.

Before the cobra strikes, it hypnotizes its victim. In the same manner, the Waldenses were first lulled to sleep with a treaty of peace. Then, when they least expected it, the deathblow was struck.

It says of John the Baptist’s harsh denunciation of religious leaders of his day: “This sect [the Sadducees] was largely composed of unworthy characters, many of whom were licentious in their habits. By the word ‘vipers’ John meant those who were malignant and antagonistic, bitterly opposed to the expressed will of God.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1077

Is malignant a safe situation to be in? It is deadly! Though they were the leaders of God’s professed church, it was not safe to follow them. Can we see the importance of the issue who and what is the church?

The devil is striving to lull the whole world into a fatal sleep from which they will not awaken until it is too late. I am so thankful that there are some people who are standing up and warning the people before they are struck by the poisonous snake.

“Those who have the mind of Christ will let the light shine forth to the world in good works, but that light will bring about a division. Shall the light therefore be hid under a bed or under a bushel, because it will mark a distinction between the followers of Christ and the world? It must be apparent that the believers in the truth are antagonistic to the serpent and to his seed.” Signs of the Times, April 9, 1894

The fear of being branded as “uncooperative” or ” uncharitable” leads many to join work with those they have no confidence in, and become involved in activities about which they have grave reservation. We must, brothers and sisters, stand up against the apostasy and not be content to remain in the shadows, mingling on the fringes. There are vipers in the camp today. With sublety and deceit they will seek to deceive you. Do not listen to their talk of peace.

“The words of Jesus addressed to this generation may well be regarded with sorrow and awe. He asks, ‘When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?’ Christ looked down the ages, and with prophetic eye marked the conflict between the antagonistic principles of truth and error. He saw how real Christianity would become almost extinct in the world, so that at His second advent He would find a state of society similar to that which existed before the flood. The world will be engaged in festivity and amusement, in theatrical show, in the indulgence of base passion. Intemperance of every grade would exist, and even the churches would be demoralized, and the Bible would be neglected and desecrated. He saw that the desperate revelries of the last days would only be interrupted by the judgments of God.” Signs of the Times, April, 21, 1890

Judgments are coming. Do not try to secure peace by your silence. Regardless of the motive, beware of entering into any kind of agreement for peace with the children of darkness. You will be taking a step toward Babylon. “Peace is too dearly obtained if purchased by the smallest concession to Satan’s agencies.” Signs of the Times, November 8, 1899

“The opposition of the children of disobedience is excited by a Christianity that is spiritual….That peace and harmony which are secured by mutual concessions to avoid all differences of opinion are not worthy of the name.” Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 1, 244

“We are to make no concessions to the enemy. [What is a concession? Giving in.] We are not to change one principle of the truth that we have received from God. We cannot hold converse with those who are in league with evil angels. Christ never purchased peace by compromise.” Notebook Leaflets, 124

Friend, no one should feel that he is so strong that he is safe to enter into discussions with people who are in league with evil angels in order to keep peace. None of us are safe from deception. Our only safety is in being kept by holy angels. If, however, we go where the Lord has not bidden us go, we forfeit their protection.

Do not think you are doing a soul winning endeavor when you join in peace talks with ministers who are not speaking up against the apostasy. You are preparing to be destroyed. God did not protect the Waldenses when they entered into an unauthorized treaty with the powers of darkness. Do you believe He will deal differently with us today?

If we do not learn the lessons of history, we are insuring that we will share the bitter results of the same mistakes.

Those who are teaching NLP and practicing it on our people are wicked men; and those who hold these men’s hands in quietness are partakers of their sins. The Word of God says, “Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the verdant valleys, to those who are overcome with wine! Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one, like a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, who will bring them down to the earth with His hand.” Isaiah 28:1-4

The judgments of God are far bigger than any of us. Our only safety when the storm breaks is to be found under the sheltering hand of God. There is no other safety.

“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11

Everyone in this world is either going to have a new heart, a heart of truth and righteousness, or they will enter into a league with Satan’s angels and be deceived by a strong delusion. Which is it going to be for you?

The End

Who is an Historic Seventh-day Adventist?

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Today, our people are being taunted with: “You people call yourselves ‘Historic Seventh-day Adventists,’ but you don’t even know what being an historic Seventh-day Adventist really is.” Sooner or later someone is going to ask you this question and you have to have something to say, so let us look at, “What is an Historic Seventh-day Adventist?”.
If you are not familiar with the little book Issues: The Letter the NAD Officers Did not Publish, The Church, it is part two of the Issues books printed by Steps to Life. The first half is a letter to the NAD, and the last is material written by John Grosboll. There is a section in the back called “Fundamental Principles.” The material contained there first appeared in an article by James White in the Signs of the Times in 1874. In this article, he outlined the beliefs of Historic Seventh-day Adventists. It should also be said that an Historic Seventh-day Adventist believes Ellen G. White to have been a prophet of God and that her writings have divine authority. Therefore, an Historic Seventh-day Adventist will give precedence to God’s last day prophet, to his last day church, over his own opinion. An Historic Seventh-day Adventist will never say, “Well, she did not know what she was talking about,” or “You know, she didn’t understand everything.” You see, God does not have junior prophets—a prophet of God is a prophet of God. There are no percentage scales; either you are a prophet of God or you are not. Either Ellen White was a prophet of God on the same par as the Biblical prophets or she was not a prophet at all.

Fundamental Principles:
By James White
[Comments by John Osborne in brackets and italicized]

In presenting to the public this synopsis of our faith, we wish to have it distinctly understood that we have no articles of faith, creed, or discipline aside from the Bible.
[John Osborne—So, an Historic Seventh-day Adventist absolutely has no creed outside of Inspiration—bottom line. Now, if you take any other book of spiritual significance, aside from Inspiration, then you are not a Historic Seventh-day Adventist. If you take any other book and place it on a par, or pattern your life or the church, or anything else after it, then you are not an Historic Seventh-day Adventist.]

We do not put forth this as having authority with our people, nor is it designed to secure uniformity among them, as a system of faith, but is a brief statement of what is, and has been, with great unanimity, held by them. We often find it necessary to meet inquiries on this subject, and sometimes to correct false statements circulated against us, and to remove erroneous impressions which have obtained with those who have not had an opportunity to become acquainted with our faith and practice. Our only object is to meet this necessity. With these remarks, we ask the attention of the reader to the following propositions which aim to be a concise statement of the more prominent features of our faith. That there is one God, a personal, spiritual Being, the Creator of all things, omnipotent, omniscient, and eternal, infinite in wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, truth, and mercy; unchangeable, and everywhere present by his representative, the Holy Spirit. Psalms 139:7.

That there is one Lord Jesus Christ, and Son of the Eternal Father, the One by whom God created all things, and by whom they do consist; that He took on Him the nature of the seed of Abraham for the redemption of our fallen race; that He dwelt among men, full of grace and truth, lived our example, died our sacrifice, was raised for our justification, ascended on high to be our only Mediator in the sanctuary in heaven, where, with His own blood, he makes atonement for our sins; which atonement, so far from being made on the cross, which was but the offering of the sacrifice, is the very last portion of His work as priest, according to the example of the Levitical priesthood, which foreshadowed and prefigured the ministry of our Lord in heaven. See Leviticus 16; Hebrews 8:4,5; 9:6,7; etc.

[John Osborne—Now, what this is saying is that we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God. His life was our example; in his death he was our substitute—he died as our Sacrifice. He is now acting as our High Priest in heaven, pleading his blood for the forgiveness of our sin. Do you believe that? Amen.]

That the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, contain a full revelation of His will to man, and are the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

That baptism is an ordinance of the Christian church, to follow faith and repentance, an ordinance by which we commemorate the resurrection of Christ, as by this act we show our faith in His burial and resurrection, and, through that, of the resurrection of all the saints at the last day; and that no other mode fitly represents these facts than that which the Scriptures prescribe, namely, immersion. Romans 6:3-5; Colossians 2:12.
That the new birth comprises the entire change necessary to fit us for the kingdom of God, and consists of two parts: First, a moral change, wrought by conversion and a Christian life; second, a physical change at the second coming of Christ, whereby, if dead, we are raised incorruptible, and, if living, are changed to immortality in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. John 3:3,5; Luke 20:36.

We believe that prophecy is a part of God’s revelation to man; that it is included in that Scripture which is profitable for instruction (2 Timothy 3:16); that it is designed for us and our children (Deuteronomy 29;29); that so far from being enshrouded in impenetrable mystery, it is that which especially constitutes the Word of God a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105; 2 Peter 1:19); that a blessing is pronounced upon those who study it (Revelation 1:1-3); and that, consequently, it is to be understood by the people of God, sufficiently to show them their position in the world’s history, and the special duties required at their hands.

[John Osborne—As Historic Seventh-day Adventists, we not only believe in all of Scripture, but especially in the books of Daniel and Revelation. We do not believe the book of Revelation is a sealed book, but that it is very important, revealing to us where we are in earth’s history and outlining the place of God’s church in the last days.]

That the world’s history from specified dates in the past, the rise and fall of empires, and the chronological succession of events down to the setting up of God’s everlasting kingdom, are outlined in numerous great chains of prophecy; and that these prophecies are now all fulfilled except the closing scenes.

[John Osborne—So, if you are going to be an Historic Seventh-day Adventist, you not only have to believe in prophecy, you must also understand and believe the true applications of prophecy, including the day for a year principle. See Numbers 14:34, Ezekiel 4:6]

That the doctrine of the world’s conversion and temporal millennium is a fable of these last days, calculated to lull men into a state of carnal security, and cause them to be overtaken by the great day of the Lord as by a thief in the night; that the second coming of Christ is to precede, not follow the millennium; for until the Lord appears, the papal power, with all its abomination, is to continue, the wheat and tares grow together, and evil men and seducers wax worse and worse, as the Word of God declares.

That the mistake of Adventists in 1844 pertained to the nature of the event then to transpire, not to the time; that no prophetic period is given to reach to the second advent, but that the longest one, the two thousand and three hundred days of Daniel 8:14, terminated in that year, and brought us to an event called the cleansing of the sanctuary.

[John Osborne-Everyone who calls himself an Historic Seventh-day Adventist ought to be listening to what the husband of God’s prophet wrote in 1874, when he wrote that all time prophecy came to an end in 1844. Just a short time before this, his little wife had said exactly the same thing. If you do not believe that, you do not believe in Historic Adventism.]

That the sanctuary of the new covenant is the tabernacle of God in heaven, of which Paul speaks in Hebrews 8, and onward, of which our Lord, as great High Priest, is minister; that this sanctuary is the antitype of the Mosaic tabernacle, and that the priestly work of our Lord, connected therewith, is the antitype of the work of the Jewish priests of the former dispensation (Hebrews 8:1-5, etc.); that this is the sanctuary to be cleansed at the end of the 2300 days; what is termed its cleansing being in this case, as in the type, simply the entrance of the High Priest into the Most Holy Place, to finish the round of service connected therewith, by blotting out and removing from the sanctuary the sins which had been transferred to it by means of the ministration in the first apartment (Hebrews 9:22,23); and that this work, in the antitype, commencing in 1844, occupies a brief but indefinite space, at the conclusion of which the work of mercy for the world is finished.

That God’s moral requirements are the same upon all men in all dispensations; that these are summarily contained in the commandments spoken by Jehovah from Sinai, engraved on the tables of stone, and deposited in the ark, which was in consequence called the “ark of the covenant,” or testament for under the sounding of the seventh trumpet we are told that “the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament” (Revelation 11:19).

That the fourth commandment of this law requires that we devote the seventh day of each week, commonly called Saturday, to abstinence from our own labor, and to the performance of sacred and religious duties; that this is the only weekly Sabbath known to the Bible, being the day that was set apart before Paradise was lost (Genesis 2:2,3), and which will be observed in Paradise restored (Isaiah 66:22,23); that the facts upon which the Sabbath institution is based confine it to the seventh day, as they are not true of any other day; and that the terms Jewish Sabbath and Christian Sabbath , as applied to the weekly rest day, are names of human invention, un-Scriptural in fact, and false in meaning.
That, as the man of sin, the papacy has thought to change times and laws (the laws of God, Daniel 7:25), and has misled almost all Christendom in regard to the fourth commandment; we find a prophecy of a reform in this respect to be wrought among believers just before the coming of Christ, Isaiah 56:1,2; 1 Peter 1:5; Revelation 14:12, etc.

[John Osborne—Do you believe that God’s people in the last days are going to stand up and expose the man of sin, the papacy, and how he has changed the seventh day Sabbath? This is Historic Adventism.]

That, as the natural or carnal heart is at enmity with God and His law, this enmity can be subdued only by a radical transformation of the affections, the exchange of unholy for holy principles; that this transformation follows repentance and faith, is the special work of the Holy Spirit, and constitutes regeneration or conversion.

[John Osborne—This means that you are going to have a lifestyle change. When a person gives their heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, they change; they are a new creature in Jesus Christ.]

That, as all have violated the law of God, and cannot of themselves render obedience to His just requirements, we are dependent on Christ, first for justification from our past offenses, and, secondly, for grace whereby to render acceptable obedience to His holy law in time to come.

[John Osborne—Through the power and strength of Jesus Christ, you can be victorious over all sin in your life. Do you believe that?]

That the Spirit of God was promised to manifest itself in the church through certain gifts, enumerated especially in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4; that these gifts are not designed to supersede, or take the place of, the Bible, which is sufficient to make us wise unto salvation, any more than the Bible can take the place of the Holy Spirit; that in specifying the various channels of its operation, that Spirit has simply made provision for its own existence and presence with the people of God to the end of time, to lead to an understanding of that Word which it had inspired, to convince of sin, and work a transformation in the heart and life; and that those who deny to the Spirit its place and operation do plainly deny that part of the Bible which assigns to it this work and position.

That God, in accordance with His uniform dealings with the race, sends forth a proclamation of the approach of the second advent of Christ; that this work is symbolized by the three messages of Revelation 14, the last one bringing to view the work of reform on the law of God, that His people may acquire a complete readiness for that event.

[John Osborne—If you are not willing to stand up, proclaim, teach and believe in the three angels of Revelation 14, you are not an historic Seventh-day Adventist.]

That the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary (see proposition 10), synchronizing with the time of the proclamation of the third message, is a time of investigative judgment, first, with reference to the dead, and, at the close of probation, with reference to the living, to determine who of the myriads now sleeping in the dust of the earth are worthy of a part in the first resurrection, and who of its living multitudes are worthy of translation—points which must be determined before the Lord appears.

That the grave, whither we all tend, expressed by the Hebrew sheol and the Greek hades, is a place of darkness in which there is no work, device, wisdom, or knowledge. Ecclesiastes 9:10.

[John Osborne—The grave is a place of sleep where the dead know not anything—waiting for the resurrection. What a beautiful message that is.]
That the state to which we are reduced by death is one of silence, inactivity and entire unconsciousness. Psalm 146:4; Ecclesiastes 9:5,6; Daniel 12:2; etc.

That out of this prison house of the grave, mankind are to be brought by a bodily resurrection; the righteous having part in the first resurrection, which takes place at the second resurrection, which takes place a thousand years thereafter. Revelation 20:4-6.

[John Osborne—Now do you understand that? There are going to be two resurrections—the righteous come forth when Christ comes; then there is the thousand year millennium; and after the thousand year millenium, the wicked come forth. Now the righteous come forth perfected, changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. The wicked, when they come up a thousand years later, come up the same way they went into the grave. Is that clear?]

That at the last trump, the living righteous are to be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and with the resurrected righteous are to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, so forever to be with Lord.

That these immortalized ones are taken to heaven, to the New Jerusalem, the Father’s house in which there are many mansions (John 14:1-3), where they reign with Christ a thousand years, judging the world and fallen angels, that is, apportioning the punishment to be executed upon them at the close of the one thousand years (Revelation 20:4; 1 Corinithians 6:2,3); that during this time [thousand years] the earth lies in a desolated and chaotic condition (Jeremiah 4:20-27), described, as in the beginning, by the Greek term abussos, bottomless pit (Septuagint of Genesis 1:2); and that here Satan is confined during the thousand years (Revelation 20:1,2), and here finally destroyed (Revelation 20:10; Malachi 4:1); the theater of the ruin he has wrought in the universe, being appropriately made for a time his gloomy prison house, and then the place of his final execution.

[John Osborne—Christ comes in the clouds of heaven, the righteous are taken, the wicked are destroyed by the brightness of his coming. This earth is desolate, as Scripture says in Jeremiah 4:22,23. Satan is here with all his angels, but with no one to tempt. They cannot go anywhere; they have to just sit there bound with a great chain—a chain of circumstances—for a thousand years and think about the desolation they have caused.
The righteous living in heaven at this time are going over the records of the wicked dead. This is when you are going to be able to have your questions answered. If you have a question about a loved one that did not make it to heaven, you can see how the Holy Spirit worked on that person’s heart, but how they rejected His work. You are going to have all of your questions answered, and then your tears are going to be wiped away. There are going to be some tears when your loved ones do not make it to heaven; you are not going to have amnesia, but your tears will be wiped away.]

That at the end of the thousand years, the Lord descends with His people and the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2), the wicked dead are raised and come up upon the surface of the yet unrenewed earth, and gather about the city, the camp of the saints (Revelation 20:9), and fire comes down from God out of heaven, and devours them. They are then consumed root and branch (Malachi 4:1), becoming as though they had not been (Obadiah 15, 16). In this everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 1:9), the wicked meet the everlasting punishment threatened against them (Matthew 25:46). This is the perdition of ungodly men, the fire which consumes them being the fire for which “the heavens and the earth, which are now,” are kept in store, which shall melt even the elements with its intensity, and purge the earth from the deepest stains of the curse of sin. 2 Peter 3:7-12.

[John Osborne—At the end of the thousand years, the New Jerusalem will come down. The wicked are resurrected and Satan says, “We can take the city.” He is going to convince the wicked that they are the righteous and that the Antichrist and the wicked are inside the city, This is exactly what the secret rapture doctrine teaches. The dear people who believe the secret rapture doctrine believe that the Antichrist is going to have the Holy City and that the wicked are inside and the righteous are outside. They are being prepared to be deceived.
But, when the wicked try to take the city, fire is going to come down from God out of heaven and devour them. The Bible calls this God’s strange work, but he has to purify the universe of sin, once and for all, never to rise up again. ]

That a new heavens and earth shall spring by the power of God from the ashes of the old, to be, with the New Jerusalem for its metropolis and capital, the eternal inheritance of the saints, the place where the righteous shall evermore dwell. 2 Peter 3:13; Psalm 37:11, 29; Matthew 5:5.

[John Osborne—When somebody asks: “What is an Historic Seventh-day Adventist?” you may tell them: One who believes what our historic pioneers believed and taught, what they struggled, prayed, and pled with God to show them, and that which he confirmed for them through the Spirit of Prophecy. This is what it means to be an Historic Seventh-day Adventist.]

The End