shut door

Editorial – When The Door Shuts, Part I

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“There was a shut door in Noah’s time. There was a shut door to the unbelievers in the destruction of Sodom, but an open door to Lot. There was a shut door to the inhabitants of Tyrus, a shut door to the inhabitants of Jerusalem . . . who disbelieved, but an open door to the humble, the believing, those who obeyed God. Thus it will be at the end of time.—Manuscript 17, August 14, 1885, ‘Shipboard Meditations.’ ” This Day With God, 235.

When the door shut in the time of Jesus and the apostles, “The Jews who rejected the light given at Christ’s first advent, and refused to believe in him as the Saviour of the world, could not receive pardon through him. When Jesus at his ascension entered by his own blood into the heavenly sanctuary to shed upon his disciples the blessings of his mediation, the Jews were left in total darkness, to continue their useless sacrifices and offerings. The ministration of types and shadows had ceased. That door by which men had formerly found access to God, was no longer open. The Jews had refused to seek him in the only way whereby he could then be found, through the ministration in the sanctuary in Heaven. Therefore they found no communion with God. To them the door was shut. They had no knowledge of Christ as the true sacrifice and the only mediator before God; hence they could not receive the benefits of his mediation.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 269, 270.

There was an open door and also a shut door in 1844: “Then I heard the voice of another angel saying, ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen!’ A light shone upon those desponding ones, and with ardent desires for His appearing, they again fixed their eyes upon Jesus. . . . Their faces shone with excellent glory, and they united with the angels in the cry, ‘Behold, the Bridegroom cometh.’ As they harmoniously raised the cry among the different companies, those who rejected the light pushed them and with angry looks scorned and derided them. But angels of God wafted their wings over the persecuted ones, while Satan and his angels were seeking to press their darkness around them, to lead them to reject the light from heaven.

“Then I heard a voice saying to those who had been pushed and derided, ‘Come out from among them, and touch not the unclean.’ In obedience to this voice, a large number broke the cords which bound them, and leaving the companies that were in darkness, joined those who had previously gained their freedom, and joyfully united their voices with them. I heard the voice of earnest, agonizing prayer from a few who still remained with the companies that were in darkness. The ministers and leading men were passing around in these different companies, fastening the cords more firmly; but still I heard this voice of earnest prayer. Then I saw those who had been praying reach out their hands for help toward the united company who were free, rejoicing in God. The answer from them, as they earnestly looked to heaven, and pointed upward, was, ‘Come out from among them, and be separate.’ I saw individuals struggling for freedom, and at last they broke the cords that bound them. They resisted the efforts which were made to fasten the cords tighter and refused to heed the repeated assertions: ‘God is with us.’ ‘We have the truth with us.’ ” Early Writings, 241–243.

Editorial – When the Door Shuts, Part II

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“There was a shut door in Noah’s time. There was a shut door to the unbelievers in the destruction of Sodom, but an open door to Lot. There was a shut door to the inhabitants of Tyrus, a shut door to the inhabitants of Jerusalem . . . who disbelieved, but an open door to the humble, the believing, those who obeyed God. Thus it will be at the end of time.—Manuscript 17, August 14, 1885, ‘Shipboard Meditations.’ ” This Day With God, 235.

“Oh, my brother and sister, I wish all of God’s people could get a sight of it [the shut door] as God has shown it me. The work of the Lord is going on. Souls are coming in to the truth, and soon the work will be all done. Keep up good courage, hope in God, let nothing weigh thee down. We have the truth. We know it. Praise the Lord. I saw yesterday our work was not to the shepherds who have rejected the former messages, but to the honest deceived who are led astray. I saw the false shepherds would soon be fed with judgment. Let the truth come out everywhere we go, the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord our God. Cheer up. There are better days coming.—Letter 18, 1850, p. 1. (To Brother and Sister Hastings, January 11, 1850.)” Manuscript Releases, vol. 5, 91.

“I was shown the interest which all heaven had taken in the work going on upon the earth. Jesus commissioned a mighty angel to descend and warn the inhabitants of the earth to prepare for His second appearing. As the angel left the presence of Jesus in heaven, an exceedingly bright and glorious light went before him. I was told that his mission was to lighten the earth with his glory and warn man of the coming wrath of God. Multitudes received the light. Some of these seemed to be very solemn, while others were joyful and enraptured. All who received the light turned their faces toward heaven and glorified God. Though it was shed upon all, some merely came under its influence, but did not heartily receive it. Many were filled with great wrath. Ministers and people united with the vile and stoutly resisted the light shed by the mighty angel. But all who received it withdrew from the world and were closely united with one another.

“Satan and his angels were busily engaged in seeking to attract the minds of as many as possible from the light. The company who rejected it were left in darkness. I saw the angel of God watching with the deepest interest His professed people, to record the character which they developed as the message of heavenly origin was presented to them. And as very many who professed love for Jesus turned from the heavenly message with scorn, derision, and hatred, an angel with a parchment in his hand made the shameful record. All heaven was filled with indignation that Jesus should be thus slighted by His professed followers.” Early Writings, 245, 246.

“Those who rejected and opposed the light of the first angel’s message, lost the light of the second, and could not be benefited by the power and glory which attended the message, ‘Behold, the Bridegroom cometh.’ Jesus turned from them with a frown; for they had slighted and rejected Him.” Ibid., 249.

“I was shown what did take place in heaven at the close of the prophetic periods in 1844. As Jesus ended His ministration in the holy place and closed the door of that apartment, a great darkness settled upon those who had heard and rejected the message of His coming, and they lost sight of Him.” Ibid., 251.

Behold the Bridegroom Cometh

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Behold, the bridegroom cometh.” Matthew 25:6. Christ, with his disciples, is seated upon the Mount of Olives. The sun has set behind the mountains, and the heavens are curtained with the shades of evening. In full view is a dwelling house lighted up brilliantly as if for some festive occasion. An expectant company mill about, indicating that a marriage procession is soon to appear.

In many parts of the East, wedding festivities are held in the evening. The bridegroom goes forth to meet his bride and bring her to his home. By torchlight the bridal party proceeds from the house of the bride’s father to the bridegroom’s house where a feast is provided for the invited guests. In the scene upon which Christ looks, a company is awaiting the parents of the bridal party, intending to join the procession. Lingering near the bride’s house are ten young women robed in white. Each carries a lighted lamp and a small flagon for oil. All are anxiously waiting for the appearance of the bridegroom, but there is a delay. Hour after hour passes; the watchers become weary, and they fall asleep. At midnight the cry is heard, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.”

The sleepers suddenly awake and spring to their feet. They see the procession moving on, bright with torches and glad music. They hear the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. The ten maidens seize their lamps and begin to trim them in haste to go forth, but five have neglected to fill their flasks with oil. They did not anticipate so long a delay, and they have not prepared for the emergency. In distress, they appeal to their wiser companions, saying, “Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.” Matthew 25:8. But the waiting five with their freshly trimmed lamps have emptied their flagons. They have no oil to spare, and they answered, “[Not so]; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.” Verse 9. While they went to buy, the procession moved on and left them behind. The five with lighted lamps joined the throng and entered the house with the bridal party, and the door was shut. When the foolish virgins reached the banqueting hall, they received an unexpected denial. The master of the feast declared, “I know you not.” They were left standing in the empty street in the blackness of the night.

Christ’s Coming

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 disciple Matthew is the only one of the four gospel writers to record the account of the parable of the ten virgins. Having been a Jew who was converted to Christianity, perhaps his focus was now centered on his fellow countrymen, many of whom had embraced the Christian religion.

The parable of the ten virgins is focusing on the coming of the Son of man. The common motif that runs through this parable is readiness for His coming. The parable brings to full view the visible church. It is clear that all who attend church are termed Christians. All who went out to meet the bridegroom were virgins. They all had lamps. They all looked alike. The difference in their character was proved by the results. The folly of the foolish virgins is seen in the fact that at the time of action they were unable to do the work assigned to them.

The story is told of a watchman who was employed at a railway crossing to wave the lantern during the night when the train was coming so the oncoming vehicles could stop. However, one night, unfortunately, the watchman fell asleep. While asleep he heard the train coming. Awaking, he grabbed his lantern and rushed out into the street to wave it before the oncoming vehicles. But the vehicles did not stop. He had to jump out of the roadway, and the vehicles and the train collided.

The watchman was accused of negligence and taken to court. When the judge asked him, “Did you hear the train coming?” He replied, “Yes.” Then the judge asked him, “Did you wave the lantern?” The watchman again said, “Yes,” then continued, “but because I was sleeping while the train was coming, I had no time to light it.” That is why there was a crash.

Jesus spoke this parable of the ten virgins just after concluding the signs that would signal His glorious return. In Matthew 24, in answer to the question of His disciples concerning the signs of His coming and of the end of the world, Christ had pointed out some of the most important events in the history of the world and of the church from His first to His second advent—namely, the destruction of Jerusalem, the great tribulation of the church on the pagan and papal execution, the darkening of the sun, and the falling of the stars. After this, He spoke of His coming and His kingdom, and related the parable described in the two classes of servants who looked for His appearing.

The Shut Door

Chapter 25 of the Book of Matthew opens with, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins.” Here is brought to view the church living in the last days, the same that is pointed out in the close of chapter 24. There is a striking parallelism that exists between the early Adventist expectancy imbedded in the Millerite movement and the end time church, and as it relates to the parable of the ten virgins. What do I mean by that? There were the signs, the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom, the midnight cry, the tarrying, the expectancy, the delay, the apostasy. There was also the shut door and the open door experience.

We are told that in 1844 Christ had shut the door of the holy place at the end of His ministration in that apartment, also signifying that some human beings’ probation had been closed as a consequence of their rejection of the present truth then proclaimed. The open door in 1844 by Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, was the opening of the door of the most holy place. Based upon the early Adventist belief, they thought that in 1844 the door of mercy was forever shut. That is how the theory about the shut door was developed, but clearer light came with the investigation of the sanctuary question. While it was true that the door of hope and mercy by which men had found access to God was closed, another door was opened, and forgiveness of sins was offered to men through the intercession of Christ in the most holy place.

One part of His ministration had closed only to give place to another. There was still an open door to the heavenly sanctuary where Christ was ministering in the sinner’s behalf. The parable of the ten virgins is specifically applicable to God’s professed people living on the earth just before the return of Jesus. So what we need to understand is that the ten virgins’ parable is specifically referring to Seventh-day Adventists. It is our parable. It is our message. It is our warning.

Read again Matthew 25:1–13. Note verse 13, which says: “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”

The Procession

If I were to ask you which group of followers or which group of virgins you would like to be among—the wise or the foolish—I suspect most people, if not all, would say the wise. That is a very noble response. No one wants to be numbered with the foolish virgins.

However, there is another group associated with the bridegroom that many people have overlooked. I would prefer to be a part of it, and that group is the procession. According to Matthew, the five wise virgins joined the procession at midnight. The procession, however, came at the eleventh hour, while the five wise virgins along with the five foolish virgins were sleeping. At midnight a cry was made, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” Who made that cry? It was not the five wise virgins, nor was it the five foolish virgins. I would submit to you that it was the procession that made the cry, the cry that awoke the virgins.

So, the question is, Who is the procession? To answer this question, let us address briefly the time of the latter rain and the loud cry.

The Latter Rain

Concerning the time of trouble and the latter rain, Ellen White stated: “I saw that the holy Sabbath is, and will be, the separating wall between the true Israel of God and unbelievers and that the Sabbath is the great question to unite the hearts of God’s dear, waiting saints.

“I saw that God had children who do not see and keep the Sabbath. They have not rejected the light upon it. And at the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully.” Early Writings, 33.

“This view was given in 1847 when there were but very few of the Advent brethren observing the Sabbath, and of these but few supposed that its observance was of sufficient importance to draw a line between the people of God and unbelievers. Now the fulfilment of that view is beginning to be seen. ‘The commencement of that time of trouble,’ here mentioned, does not refer to the time when the plagues shall begin to be poured out, but to a short period just before they are poured out, while Christ is in the sanctuary. At that time, while the work of salvation is closing, trouble will be coming on the earth, and the nations will be angry, yet held in check so as not to prevent the work of the third angel. At that time the ‘latter rain,’ or refreshing from the presence of the Lord, will come, to give power to the loud voice of the third angel, and prepare the saints to stand in the period when the seven last plagues shall be poured out.” Ibid., 85, 86.

Now, that is the time of the latter rain. Let us connect a few passages with that to give an answer to the question and to show what is the result of the latter rain.

Result of Latter Rain

“I heard those clothed with the armor speak forth the truth with great power. It had effect. Many had been bound; some wives by their husbands, and some children by their parents. The honest who had been prevented from hearing the truth now eagerly laid hold upon it. All fear of their relatives was gone, and the truth alone was exalted to them. They had been hungering and thirsting for truth; it was dearer and more precious than life. I asked what had made this great change. An angel answered, ‘It is the latter rain, the refreshing from the presence of the Lord, the loud cry of the third angel.’ ” Ibid., 271.

“But I speak not my own words when I say that God’s Spirit will pass by those who have had their day of test and opportunity, but who have not distinguished the voice of God or appreciated the movings of His Spirit. Then thousands in the eleventh hour will see and acknowledge the truth.

“ ‘Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed’ (Amos 9:13).

“These conversions to truth will be made with a rapidity that will surprise the church, and God’s name alone will be glorified.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 16.

“The message will be carried not so much by argument as by the deep conviction of the Spirit of God. The arguments have been presented. The seed has been sown, and now it will spring up and bear fruit. The publications distributed by missionary workers have exerted their influence, yet many whose minds were impressed have been prevented from fully comprehending the truth or from yielding obedience.” The Great Controversy (1888), 612.

Eleventh Hour Workers

Sometimes we give our loved ones or our friends literature to read, but their friends, pastors, or family members discourage them from reading it and may, consequently, prevent them from accepting the truth. We become troubled, but we do not need to become troubled, because the Holy Spirit is doing His work.

“Now the rays of light penetrate everywhere, the truth is seen in its clearness, and the honest children of God sever the bands which have held them. Family connections, church relations, are powerless to stay them now. Truth is more precious than all besides. Notwithstanding the agencies combined against the truth, a large number take their stand upon the Lord’s side.” Ibid. This is referring to the period of the latter rain.

Who comprised the procession? “There are diligent students of the word of prophecy in all parts of the world, who are obtaining light and still greater light from searching the Scriptures. This is true of all nations, of all tribes, and of all peoples. These will come from the grossest error, and will take the place of those who have had opportunities and privileges and have not prized them. These have worked out their own salvation with fear and trembling, lest they should become deficient in doing the ways and will of God, while those who have had great light, through the perversity of their own natural heart, turned away from Christ because they were displeased with his requirements. But God will not be left without witnesses. The one-hour laborers will be brought in at the eleventh hour, and will consecrate their ability and all their entrusted means to advance the work. These will receive the reward for their faithfulness, because they are true to principle, and shun not their duty to declare the whole counsel of God. When those who have had abundance of light throw off the restraint which the word of God imposes, and make void his law, others will come in to fill their places and take their crown.” Review and Herald, June 15, 1897.

It is good to have been in the church a long time, but the question is, Has the truth been in you a long time? What have you done with the truth?

“There will be those who will come in at the eleventh hour, and they will receive an equal reward with those who have long known the truth.” Ibid., July 2, 1889.

Why is this? It is because they will use all their talents to the utmost of their abilities, and bring all their powers to bear on the work of advancing the light of the truth. They come in one hour before the work is over and, realizing the time is short, they put everything into the work. When the truth is brought to their attention, they accept it with joy. They are part of the procession!

Pastor Ivan Plummer ministers through the Emmanuel Seventh Day Church Ministries in Bronx, New York. He may be contacted by telephone at: 718-882-3900.

The Seven Churches, Part VII : The Church of Sardis

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Revelation 1:3 says, “Blessed [is] he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time [is] near.” The Bible says that there is a special blessing for those who read the words of Revelation. The Bible’s blessings are not like a salutation that we may put in a letter or like saying “blessings on you” when someone sneezes or saying “good luck” to someone. When God gives blessings, they are real, tangible blessings.

When He gave the Sabbath, He blessed it. We are accustomed to the simple, meaningless blessings from mankind, but when God blesses something, there is meaning in it. His blessing on the Sabbath means that we can learn things out of God’s Word, as we worship and study on that day, that we cannot learn were we worshipping Him on any other day. It is that simple. There is a blessing on the Sabbath that is not given on any other day.

People can be saved who are living up to all the light they know and who have never heard of the Sabbath, but they still are missing the blessing. There is a blessing on the Sabbath. God blesses people. He loves people. There is a blessing on the Sabbath that will never be found on any other day of the week. It matters not how sincere a person is or if he or she is saved.

When we begin reading the Book of Revelation, it says that there is a blessing in the reading of it. There is life in the reading of Revelation, but not only in the reading. “Blessed are those who read and hear and keep.” Do you suppose that we can hear the Word without keeping it and end up with at least half a blessing? No, it does not work that way. It is like a man and a woman. Both of them are blessed with the ability to create, but alone they cannot create half a being, can they? It takes both to create a whole being. So it is here; there is no half blessing in hearing only. It has got to be the whole thing in order to receive the blessing. That is the message of Sardis. The church of Sardis was especially adept at hearing without doing. That is why they did not receive a full blessing. In fact, they did not receive any blessing at all.

A Review

Before going any farther, perhaps a little review would be helpful. Revelation was written as a blessing—if people read it. What was it that God gave at the very beginning of the Book of Revelation that was to be a blessing to mankind? It says, “I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” You see, there is a blessing! John was keeping the Lord’s Day, and that is when Jesus came down and communicated with him. There is a blessing in the keeping of the Sabbath, and on the Sabbath Day—the Lord’s Day—John had a vision. “And I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,’ and, ‘What you see, write in a book and send [it] to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.’ ” Verses 9–11.

These seven churches represent seven different periods of the earth’s history—the seven periods of the Christian church from Jesus’ day to the end of time. God, as He is so skillful in doing, has here used illustrations. I guess we are all of kindergarten maturity when it comes to our understanding of truth, so God has to keep drawing simple illustrations for us. Old Babylon became illustrative of the churches in the end of time. When we read, in Revelation 18:2, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen,” God is using an example from old Babylon to illustrate the last days. Revelation 16:12 refers to the drying up of the river Euphrates. That is an illustration from old Babylon.

All through Revelation, God uses illustrations, as He is doing when He speaks of the seven churches. God chose seven different, real, literal, tangible churches that were meeting every Sabbath morning. Each of them had special problems or special attributes—one or the other. He picked out seven churches to represent the different periods of earth’s history. As you can see, all of these counsels applied to one or another of these churches, just as all of these counsels apply to different churches today. There may be a church that more closely represents one than another, but in general, each church in a special way represented a special era of Christian history.

Ephesus

Ephesus was the church the apostles started. It lasted from the time of Jesus’ ascension until the apostles died. They were a faithful church, faithful to the gospel. They were a hardworking church, but the Bible says they were lacking their first love. The Bible tells us that even if you have all faith and all knowledge and even if you give your body to be burned, but do not have love, it will profit you nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2, 3.) God says, “You have all these things, but because you do not have love—the first love, My love—and have not made Me first in your life and in your affections, your candlestick will be removed.” (Revelation 2:1–5.)

Smyrna

Then we come to the church of Smyrna. This is the church that existed during the pagan persecution. It continued to the time when Constantine was “converted,” in the early part of the fourth century. That is when Constantine became kind, even though he was not truly converted. The church of Smyrna existed during an age when thousands of Christians were persecuted and lost their lives. The ones who were not killed had their goods confiscated. They were poor, dirt poor. They had nothing—any legal property—for it was all taken from them. The Bible says, “You think you are poor, but actually you are rich.” (Revelation 2:9.) You see, they were poor for only a few short years while on this earth, compared to the riches of eternity.

Pergamos

The church of Pergamos, which was the compromising church, followed the church of Smyrna. That was the time when the church became popular, which is a danger. If a persecuted church suddenly becomes popular, that is one of the greatest temptations that can happen. If Steps to Life suddenly became extremely popular with the conference—which probably will not happen—do you suppose there would be a temptation to compromise a little bit here or there in order to retain that favor? That is what we see happening with the church of Pergamos.

The church had been extremely unpopular; people would spit on Christians. Then the emperor became a Christian! Suddenly it was popular to be a Christian; everyone wanted to be a Christian. Do you suppose there was a little temptation to want to hold on to those good public relations for a little while? I want to tell you, the church began to slide, and it never stopped sliding.

The church promoted worship on Sunday and the wearing of clerical vestments, and the people started to wear the clothing styles of the world that they had not before worn. One thing after another began to happen after they first compromised until—believe it or not, and totally beyond the wildest imagination of the people—they not only were worshipping on the pagan day of the sun and believing in various pagan customs, allowing their children to celebrate Easter bunnies and Easter eggs and those kinds of things, but they began worshipping idols in the church. They changed the names of the idols to St. Peter, St. Mary, or St. Somebody Else, but the church came to a place where they were worshipping idols. Of course, they did not like the word idols, so they called them images or statues or whatever else. I remember hearing a saying once: “A rose by any other name is still a rose.” That is right! I want to tell you, an idol by any other name is still an idol!

The church even came to the place where—and this was straight from paganism—they began to pray to the dead. God condemned this act so straightly in the Old Testament. He said, “If anyone communicates with the dead and prays to the dead, they are to be stoned and killed.” (See Leviticus 20:27.) That is from the devil, straight from hell. We are to pray to God. When praying to the dead came into the church, they decided to make it “kosher.” The people called the dead, to whom they prayed, saints, but whatever you call them, “A rose by any other name is still a rose.” A dead person by any other name is still a dead person. The church began praying to the dead. That was a compromising church.

Thyatira

God had little good to say about the church of Pergamos, but an even worse church followed it. The church of Thyatira, the church of Jezebel, was the church during the Dark Ages from a.d. 538 until about the Protestant Reformation, when the church was united with the world, even legally. During this time, there was a union of church and state, and the Christian church persecuted people for trying to practice their faith. When the church itself begins to persecute, that is a very serious situation.

Sardis

That brings us to Sardis, the church that we are now studying. Sardis was the church of the Protestant Reformation—those stalwart men and women who stood up and said, “We will die rather than sacrifice our faith.” During that time, people died and were burned at the stake for owning a Bible and for believing it.

We can expect to hear many good things about the church during the Sardis era. We think of those great men, such as Martin Luther, who were willing to stand against all the forces of medieval bigotry and the perverted religion that had overtaken the world. We think of Zwingli, Melancthon, Calvin, Knox, and Tyndale.

Many men gave their lives for the Lord. The favorite method of torture for these Protestant heretics was burning at the stake. These stalwart men of the cross changed the face of Europe and impacted history and our lives. It was the principles of these Protestant reformers that were incorporated into the United States’ Bill of Rights, guaranteeing liberty and the separation of church and state.

So, we expect to hear many wonderful things about the church of Sardis, but what a surprise! What a shock to find that the very time we expect to hear the greatest blessing and acclamation of praise, it is not so.

Spiritually Dead

A church is made up of more than its leaders. Sometimes there are good leaders and bad churches. Sometimes there are bad leaders and good churches. A church seldom rises higher than those who lead it. Most people are like sheep, sad to say, in blindly following evil, and they will never rise higher than their human teachers. Sometimes—more often—God will have sent leaders, but the church lags behind, and thus it was with the Protestant reformers.

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars.’ ” Revelation 3:1. What are the seven Spirits of God? What are the seven stars? We read in Revelation 1:20 that these seven stars represent the seven angels, the seven messengers. In some Bible versions, “seven stars” is translated as the seven preachers, the seven ministers, the seven messengers, or the seven angels. These are God’s messengers to the churches—such as Huss and Jerome, Luther, Zwingli, and Melancthon. God held them in His hands; He protected them; He gave them a message.

But what does He say to the church? “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” Revelation 3:1. This text is very appropriate for us in the last days, because it also applies to Laodicea. Over and over again, this is the description of God’s people in the last days.

Matthew 7:21 is part of the Laodicean message, and it applies to the people of God immediately before the last days. It says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ . . . .” These people have a name that says they are Christians, and they believe they are saved. They have a name, but Jesus says that not everyone who has a name “shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” It is not just hearing; it is doing.

“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ ” Verses 22, 23. They had a name that they were living, but they were spiritually dead. This is the message of Sardis.

Shut Door

“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door,” that is the close of probation. Luke 13:24, 25. This is at the end of time. Notice that there are people still living and arguing, but the door is shut, just as the door of the ark was shut. In Revelation, we find that the door is going to be shut; probation is going to close. Some at that time are going to be found wise with extra oil; some are going to be found foolish.

When once the door is shut, many will find themselves standing on the outside, knocking at the door, and saying, “Lord, Lord, open to us.” This is going to be the experience of a multitude of Seventh-day Adventists. They are going to say, “We are still Adventists; our names are still on the church books. Open the door to us,” but the door will be shut. The Lord will answer and say to them, “I do not know you, where you are from.” Verse 25.

These people have a name. They say, “Lord,” but the Lord does not know them. They have a name that they are living, that they are Christians, but they are dead. That is the greatest, most awful deception that can come upon anyone—to think that they are saved when they are most assuredly lost.

“Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence [they partook of the Lord’s Supper], and You taught in our streets [we listened to You preach].’ ” Verse 26. They thought the messengers were teaching the Words of God, and they listened. That was Sardis. They listened to Martin Luther; they listened to the messengers. God taught in their streets, and they accepted the message, but they were never converted.

First Shall be Last

“But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.” Verses 27–30. There was never a more appropriate message for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, for the Christian church, or for the world today.

It is a solemn reality. There are many people who have been Adventists all their lives—even church leaders—who are going to find that they are thrust out, while God brings others in to take their places. The first shall be last and the last shall be first.

Hide It Not

Why do you suppose God likened the church to a candlestick? Because, Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” But God says, “Do not hide the light under a bushel.” Matthew 5:14; Luke 11:33. Is it possible for the church to hide the light under a bushel? It happened in the Jewish church, and millions of people were lost.

God has given freedom. You see, sin is the misuse of freedom. The Jewish people misused their freedom, and God held them accountable, more so than the pagans, because they were to be the light of the world, but they hid it. Is it possible for the light to be perverted? Yes, it is. When once a people have the light but then they hide it or pervert it, they are worse off than if they had never had the light in the beginning.

Do you remember what Jesus told His true people—those who went to church on the Sabbath, paid their tithe, had the oracles of God, and who were the Jewish people of Capernaum? He said, “You people are worse than those of Sodom and Gomorrah,” who were homosexuals who died of the judgments of God, because He sent fire down from heaven, when they became so wicked. God told the people of Capernaum, “You are worse than they.” (See Matthew 11:23–25.) Is it important what we do with the light?

Do you know what I want to see happen in all of our churches? I want to see people who have the love of Jesus within, who love the Lord with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength, and who are going to share this message and love one another as themselves. They did not do that in Sardis.

To be continued . . .

Pastor Marshall Grosboll, with his wife Lillian, founded Steps to Life. In July 1991, Pastor Marshall and his family met with tragedy as they were returning home from a camp meeting in Washington state, when the airplane he was piloting went down, killing all on board.

Removing the Protection from Jerusalem

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In ancient times people mostly lived off the land. The people of God lived in the valleys where their cows grazed and they worshipped in the mountains. The heathen also had their places of worship in the hills. Isaiah 65:7 says, “Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.”

The Lord was also worshipped on the mountains. Abraham was directed to the mountain to make sacrifices. Mt. Sinai, where God met and talked with His children, was above the plain where the children of Israel were encamped after coming out of Egypt. Later, God had His temple built on Mt. Moriah, outside of Jerusalem. God was also worshipped on the mountain which was called the mountain of God.

In the last days we are told that the mountain of God would be higher than all the other mountains. Isaiah 2:2, 3 says, “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.” This passage of Scripture refers to the time when the Holy Spirit is poured out on the church and many people from all walks of life and from all nationalities come into the church.

In the last days the people of the earth are likened to a people living in a valley. Looking forward to Jesus’ second coming, Joel 3:13–17 says, “Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.”

We find the same expression used in Revelation 14:15, “Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.” Joel 3:13, 14: “Come, go down for the winepress is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision.” God is in the mountain while the people are in the valleys. Some versions say the valley of judgment. It continues, “For the Day of the Lord is come in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon will grow dark, and the stars will diminish their brightness. The Lord also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake: but the Lord will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So you shall know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain.” Joel 3:14–17.

The real meaning of this verse in context is that God, who dwells on high, is judging these people in the valley. They are being judged and are receiving the decision for eternal life or eternal damnation.

In Hebrew there are two words for valley. The first is ameq, which means a great large valley, big valley, wide valley. That is used here because it is a valley that houses all the people of the world; it is a big valley.

The second word is gaya which means a smaller valley, a narrower valley with high sides, but more narrow than ameq. That is used to depict God’s people, those on the narrow way. Here in Isaiah 22:1 we find another valley. It says, “The burden against the valley of vision.” Isaiah in the last few chapters has been talking about several valleys and several nations. There is a whole chapter on Moab and a chapter on Damascus. He talks about Samaria, Ethiopia, Egypt, and then in chapter 21, finally Babylon.

In the Bible, Babylon, denoting the world, and Jerusalem, God’s people, are always pitted against each other. In Chapter 21 it begins with the burden of the wilderness of the sea, a dry and desolate valley. A valley of the sea is very interesting because a sea in prophecy, according to Revelation 17:15, represents multitudes and peoples. Babylon is a great vast dry desolate valley of many peoples, nations, multitudes and languages. The merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.

In Isaiah 21:9 it says, “I looked and look, here comes a chariot of men and with a pair of horses. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” Literal Babylon fell at one time. This is referring to the same Babylon we find in Revelation: Babylon is fallen, is fallen.

In chapter 22, we find a narrow valley, a smaller valley and this is the valley of vision. The people of God were called, led, guided and directed by vision. God refers to them as a people of vision, a valley of vision. Metaphorically they are living in a land of vision. In Hosea 12:13 it says, “By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved.” God’s people were established, preserved and directed by a prophet. II Chronicles 20:20 says, “Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper.”

Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” This prophecy is written to the land of vision. When people listen to vision, they become established. When they disregard vision, they become destroyed.

What does Isaiah 22:8–10 say about the people in the land of vision who do not listen to visions? It says, “He removed the protection of Judah.” He removed the protection of Judah. “You looked in that day to the armour of the house of forest. You also saw the damage to the city of David. It was great: you gathered together the waters of the lower pool. You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses you broke down to fortify the walls.” What didn’t they do? “You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool, but you did not look to its maker, nor did you have respect to Him who fashioned it long ago.” Verse 11. It says you’ve got a lot of human plans, wisdom, councils, and meetings, but you did not look to the counsel of God and so He removed the protection of Judah.

When God’s protection is gone, things deteriorate very quickly. Where there is no vision, the people perish. It doesn’t matter how many provisions you may have had for the future. You soon perish, and the provisions also perish.

When God’s protection is removed, the strongest fortifications become like paper maché. The greatest, most skillfully laid plans become like kindergarten strategy. The greatest security and the greatest secure institutions become like the Titanic on its maiden voyage. The most secure political alliances become like the alliance between Brutus and Caesar. Ruin follows. Where there is no vision, the people perish.

Could this be true of the United States of America? Are we great because of natural resources, education or because of some super intelligence that God has given to us? Is that what made America great today?

“Republicanism and Protestantism became the fundamental principles of the nation. These principles are the secret of its power and prosperity.” The Great Controversy, 441.

Is America always going to remain with the Protestant ethics of liberty of conscience and belief in the Bible and God, with the idea of Republicanism? Republicanism is a little different than democracy. Republicanism believes in protecting the rights of the minority, not just the majority. Pure democracy means that you protect the rights of the majority.

“The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience.” Ibid., 588.

What happens when God withdraws His protection from America?

“Satan delights in war, for it excites the worst passions of the soul and then sweeps into eternity its victims steeped in vice and blood. It is his object to incite the nations to war against one another, for he can thus divert the minds of the people from the work of preparation to stand in the day of God.” Ibid., 589.

Satan delights in war. When God’s protection is not over us, Satan can bring us into confusion and war. But he does not stop there. “Satan works through the elements also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows.” Ibid., 589.

Aren’t you thankful that God only allows Satan to go so far and that God protects as much as we allow Him to protect? “It is God that shields His creatures and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. But the Christian world has shown contempt for the law of Jehovah; and the Lord will do just what He has declared that He would—He will withdraw His blessings from the earth and remove His protecting care from those who are rebelling against His law and teaching and forcing others to do the same.” Ibid., 589.

God’s protection will be removed. In Isaiah 22 it says He will remove His protection from Jerusalem. Satan will bring disaster upon disaster until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation.

“In accidents and calamites by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. … These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast.” The Great Controversy, 589, 590.

God has signally blessed this country because it has been established on the principles of the Bible, upon principles of religious freedom, upon principles of belief in God and in His word. “Unsheltered by divine grace, they have no protection from the wicked one. Satan will then plunge the inhabitants of the earth into one great, final trouble. As the angels of God cease to hold in check the fierce winds of human passion, all the elements of strife will be let loose. The whole world will be involved in ruin more terrible than that which came upon Jerusalem of old.” Ibid., 614. I want to be under the banner of God; how about you?

It is a pretty terrible thing when God withdraws His protection. When He removed the protection from Israel of old, Israel was destroyed. When He removed it from Jerusalem, Jerusalem was destroyed. When He removes it from America, national apostasy will be followed by national ruin, and America will be destroyed.

Could God’s blessing be removed from the church as well? Remember, Isaiah is especially written for the last days. Isaiah 22:22 says, “The key of the house of David I will lay on His shoulder; so He shall open, and no one shall shut; He shall shut, and no one shall open.”

There are three special times when God opened a door that no one could shut and closed the door that no one could open. It happened the first time when the temple in heaven was opened when Jesus ascended to heaven and the temple on earth was closed. The temple in heaven was opened and could not be closed. It happened the second time in 1844 when God opened the door to the Most Holy Place and closed the door to the Holy Place.

The Holy Place door was closed forever. No one can open it. The door into the Most Holy Place is open and no one can close it. It will happen the third time when God leaves the Most Holy Place and closes that door and no one can open it.

What counsel does God have for us in Isaiah 22:1, 2? “The burden against the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you are gone up to the housetops? You who are full of noise, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: your slain men are not slain with a sword, nor dead in battle.”

Here we see God’s people in great apostasy. The men are gone, but they are not slain in battle. It is not through battle with the enemies that they are slain, but they are apostatizing. Somehow the ranks are narrowing and thinning, not through conflict with the world, but through some inner apostasy.

It continues, “All your rulers have fled together, they are captured by the archers: all who are found in you are bound together (Verse 3).” Here we find political alliances.

Isaiah 22:4: “Therefore I said, Look away from Me; I will weep bitterly, do not labor to comfort Me, because of the plundering of the daughter of My people.” God says, this is a time to weep. Verse 5: “For it is a day of trouble, and treading down, and perplexity by the Lord God of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.” Could there come a time in this church when God withdraws His protection? Look at what happened in Battle Creek, at the very headquarters of this church. We are told that was just the beginning. When apostasy takes hold of this church, God’s blessings will be withdrawn.

“Unless the church, which is now being leavened with her own backsliding, shall repent and be converted, she will eat of the fruit of her own doing, until she shall abhor herself.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 250.

Battle Creek was only a beginning. God will not be trifled with.

There will come a time when His hand will be removed, and we see one disaster after another. Isaiah 22:7 says, “It shall come to pass, that your choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.” There will come a time when our choicest institutions will be filled with non-Adventists and when they will eventually be taken over.

Isaiah 22:8, 9: “He removed the protection of Judah. You looked in the day to the forest of the house of forests. You also saw the damage to the city of David, and it was great.” But what did you do when you saw that the damage was great? Verses 10, 11: “You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses you broke down to fortify the walls. You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool.” Just consolidate, bring them together. When two are going bad, bring them together; make one strong conference out of two. “But, you did not look to its maker, nor did you have respect to Him who fashioned it long ago.”

We can institute all the studies we want, but dear friend, where is the prayer and repenting? Where is the weeping between the porch and the altar? Where is the belief in the visions? Where is simple obedience to what God has told us?

We are told the last great deception will be as follows. Satan is constantly pressing in the spurious to lead away from the truth. “The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 48. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18. Ellen White is referring that to our church. “Satan will work ingeniously, in different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the confidence of God’s remnant people in the true testimony.” Ibid. They consolidated. They carried out studies, they carried out all kinds of things, but they did not look to their Maker and the protection was removed.

What next? Look at Isaiah 22:12–14: “And in that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness, and girding with sackcloth: But instead joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating meat, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die. Then it was revealed in my hearing by the Lord of hosts, Surely for this there shall be no atonement for you, even to your death, says the Lord God of hosts.”

God says that He called for weeping and for mourning, but you went on, rejoicing and saying all is well. You went on with your religious ceremonies of killing the sheep and went on with your eating of meat and drinking and partying and saying all is well, happy and joyous, when I (the Lord God) called for weeping and mourning.

It is very interesting to look at Ezekiel 9:4. There can be no doubt that this verse refers specifically to God’s last church because it describes the time God’s Spirit left between the cherubim which is in the Most Holy Place. This is just before His Spirit leaves, just before the close of probation. But before He leaves, “The Lord said to Him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men” who do what? “Who sigh and cry for all the abominations done in Israel.” Those who did what the Lord called them to do in Isaiah 22, who went out and sighed and cried.

Today, we are living in the midst of apostasy in the United States of America. Someday God’s protection will be removed. It won’t come in one day; it is even happening today. We are living in the midst of apostasy within the church and God calls for repentance. The Bible says that those who are repentant and those who are concerned, He’s going to seal and carry through. But those who go on uncaring, and instead of weeping and mourning as it says in Isaiah 23:13, they have joy and gladness, continual religious ceremonies, of the slaying of ox and killing of sheep, of eating meat, or the Old King James says, “eating flesh, and drinking wine” Isaiah 22:13; and “let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.” I Corinthians 15:32. People who are planning to live their whole life in this earth.

I heard a sermon from a union president who was saying, “Today we are planning now for the 21st century.” “We are not planning on God coming before then.” “Let us go on with our business, for we’re going to die here in this land.”

It says in Isaiah 22:14, “It was revealed in my hearing by the Lord of hosts, Surely for this iniquity there’ll be no atonement.” Because you were joyous when God said to mourn; you went on saying everything was good when God said, ”Cry aloud and spare not and tell the house of Jacob their sins and the people of Israel their transgressions.” Isaiah 58:1.

Today God is calling for prayer, repentance, weeping and tears. The question today is, Will we join the apostasy or will we repent? Will we cry aloud and spare not? Will there be anybody who stands in the breach as the Bible says? Very soon we are going to see the very close of earth’s history; in fact, it’s happening today. We see Isaiah 22 being fulfilled. Very soon we are going to see plagues. We are going to see greater and greater apostasy, both within America and within God’s church. We are going to find most Adventists are going to be lost. We are going to see more and more of human plans and human devising.

Today it is time to look away from man’s devising and to look at the Maker. It’s time to look at the visions. It’s time to say, “Lord, our best plans are nothing without You. It’s time for You to come in and pour out Your Holy Spirit upon us. We can’t win any souls with our plans, methods and devising. We need You, and we need Your power.”

It’s time for us to get down on our knees and pray and plead for God’s power. The best human skills are not going to convert one of our children. We need to pray for God’s power to be poured out on our television program. I am so impressed that we need God’s power pleading with the people as they are watching. Nothing we can say is going to change a human heart unless the Holy Spirit is working on that heart.

We need God’s power today. We need to look away from consolation. Look away from manipulation. Look away from human plans. We need to look at the Maker. It is time to pray that God pours out His Spirit on this church. It is time for us to look to the Maker.

Pastor Marshall Grosboll, with his wife Lillian, founded Steps to Life. In July 1991, Pastor Marshall and his family met with tragedy as they were returning home from a camp meeting in Washington State, when the airplane he was piloting went down, killing all on board.

The White Truth

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The “ shut door ” has been one of the most contentious subjects in Adventism for some time. Of all Adventist doctrines, probably none has been more attacked by those opposing Adventism than this doctrine. D. M. Canwright and Desmond Ford both challenged the concept.

Walter Ray, a Seventh-day Adventist minister who not only lost confidence and faith in the Spirit of Prophecy wrote the book, The White Lie (copyright 1982), in which he attacks Ellen White, not just of plagiarism, but accuses her of more serious wrongs.

This is not a book that I would advise anybody to read. I am not afraid of facts, but Ellen White warned about reading books written by infidel authors. She wrote,

“Suffer not yourselves to open the lids of a book that is questionable. There is a hellish fascination in the literature of Satan. It is the powerful battery by which he tears down a simple religious faith. Never feel that you are strong enough to read infidel books; for they contain a poison like that of asps.” The Faith I Live By, 241.

This book is full of sarcasm, sneering remarks, and criticism. It is the interpretation of the facts that are of great concern. Ellen White did not plagiarize. It was one of the subjects on which she was attacked in The White Lie. After it was published, John J. Robertson, an Adventist minister, wrote the book, The White Truth to refute Walter Ray’s arguments.

The doctrine of the shut door is not something that was invented by Seventh-day Adventists. It is taught throughout the Bible. Jesus also taught it. Genesis 7:16 reads: “So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him, and the LORD shut him in.” In Noah’s day clearly there was a shut door. Noah and his family, which comprised all who obeyed and entered the ark, were shut in and saved from the flood. The rest of the world were shut out and drowned in the flood waters—they were lost. When you start to understand it, the shut door is a very emotional doctrine because it refers to a time when some will be shut in and some will be shut out. Those who are shut in will be saved and those who are shut out will be lost.

Matthew 25:10–13 records the parable of ten virgins. Jesus said, “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with Him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” Again, some are shut in while others are shut out.

In Luke 13:23–30, it says, “Then one said to Him, ‘Lord, are there few who are saved?’ And He said to them. ‘Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, “Lord, Lord, open for us,” and He will answer and say to you, “I do not know you, where you are from.” Then you will begin to say, “We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.” But He will say, “I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.” There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. They will come from the east and the west, and the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.’ ”

Seventh-day Adventists believe that after the great disappointment on October 22, 1844, the door was shut. The Bible records a number of times when the door has been shut: in Noah’s day, in Abraham’s day, in Christ’s day and again in 1844. Revelation 3:7, 8 reads: “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens. I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word and have not denied My name.” ’ ”

The angel goes on to say in verse 9, “Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.” When does this happen?

God’s people are going to be delivered from the death decree at midnight (see Revelation 13:15). This is elaborated on in the last chapters of The Great Controversy as well as many other places in Ellen White’s writings. “While the cloud was passing from the Holiest to the East, which took a number of days, the synagogue of Satan worshipped at the saints’ feet.” Maranatha, 287. This will happen for a number of days between the death decree and the time of Jesus’ coming.

Satan also has a church. It is called the synagogue of Satan. They say they are Jews but do not the works of Abraham. It is a very large church, much larger than God’s church in this world. We are told who those people are in A Word to the Little Flock, 12. It says, “You think, that those who worship before the saint’s feet (Revelation 3:9), will at last be saved. Here I must differ with you; for God shew me that this class were professed Adventists, who had fallen away, and ‘crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame’ (Hebrews 6:6). And in the ‘hour of temptation’ (Revelation 3:10), which is yet to come, to show out every one’s true character, they will know that they are forever lost; and overwhelmed with anguish of spirit, they will bow at the saint’s feet.”

It is those who claim that they are Jews (spiritual Israel) who will come and worship at the saint’s feet. They are Adventists who give up the Sabbath in the time of the Sunday law crisis. Tragically, they may be people whom you now know and who do not “endure to the end” (Matthew 10:22).

Revelation 3:7, 8 tells about a door that was open and a door that was shut. Some who try to discredit Ellen White’s prophetic gift like to say that she believed that the door was shut in 1844 and that she was mistaken. She comments on this in Selected Messages, vol. 1, 63: “For a time after the disappointment in 1844, I did hold, in common with the advent body, that the door of mercy was then forever closed to the world. This position was taken before my first vision was given me. It was the light given me of God that corrected our error, and enabled us to see the true position.

“I am still a believer in the shut-door theory, but not in the sense in which we at first employed the term or in which it is employed by my opponents.

“There was a shut door in Noah’s day. There was at that time a withdrawal of the Spirit of God from the sinful race that perished in the waters of the Flood. God Himself gave the shut-door message to Noah:

“My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years (Genesis 6:3).” [Emphasis added.]

It is the Holy Spirit that leads us to true repentance. Many people feel sorrow for the consequences of their sins, however, they do not repent. When the Holy Spirit is grieved away by numerous rejections to His promptings, that person will never be converted. The door of opportunity for them is shut. Shutting the door is removing the Holy Spirit.

“There was a shut door in the days of Abraham. Mercy ceased to plead with the inhabitants of Sodom, and all but Lot, with his wife and two daughters, were consumed by the fire sent down from heaven.

“There was a shut door in Christ’s day. The Son of God declared to the unbelieving Jews of that generation, ‘Your house is left unto you desolate’ (Matthew 23:38).” Ibid.

In 1844 the door was shut for multitudes of people, not only in America, but also in Europe and other countries. The Holy Spirit was behind the development of what we call, “The Second Advent Movement.” The Holy Spirit inspired many people in different churches around the world, including the Roman Catholic Church, that Jesus was coming soon. The Day of Judgment had arrived. The first angel’s message of Revelation 14:6 was preached by William Miller with ministers Himes, Litch and Fitch as well as others. Shortly after in the summer of 1844, the second angel’s message was preached.

The second angel’s message announced the fall of Babylon in 1844. Babylon consisted of the people and the churches that rejected, the first message. It is very serious at any time to reject the pleading of the Holy Spirit. When people rejected the message of the judgment hour and that Jesus was coming soon, they committed the unpardonable sin. There are some people today calling themselves Adventists who do not accept the doctrine of the investigative judgment. If those who refused to accept the present truth in 1844 became Babylon, would the same result happen again? Is God still the same?

Ellen White wrote, “I was shown in vision, and I still believe, that there was a shut door in 1844. All who saw the light of the first and second angels’ messages and rejected that light, were left in darkness. And those who accepted it and received the Holy Spirit which attended the proclamation of the message from heaven, and who afterward renounced their faith and pronounced their experience a delusion, thereby rejected the Spirit of God, and it no longer pleaded with them.” Ibid.

That same dangerous situation is still present today. Many people have renounced doctrines that they once held as truth and have been left in darkness because the Spirit of God no longer pleads with them. We need to pray that we’ll never get in that kind of situation. It happened to Lucifer in the courts of heaven. In the first chapter of Patriarchs and Prophets, 39, Ellen White wrote that he was convinced that what he thought about doing was wrong but continued believing that he had such a high position that it would be too humbling to admit that he had made a mistake.

Pride is very dangerous, causing people to defend an incorrect position instead of humbly admitting they have made a mistake. We need to willingly say, Lord, I made a mistake. What I understood and have been teaching is wrong and I want to get that corrected.

We cannot, without guilt, reject the warnings that God sends to us. When Noah preached to get into the ark, salvation depended on whether or not they accepted and acted on that message. Those who hear and understand the three angels’ messages and reject them turn away from the Lord and will eventually seal their doom. It is these messages that will determine the eternal destiny of all who live in this world in the last generation.

“Because they rejected the warning, the Spirit of God was withdrawn from the sinful race, and they perished in the waters of the flood. In the time of Abraham, mercy ceased to plead with the guilty inhabitants of Sodom, and all but Lot with his wife and two daughters were consumed by the fire sent down from heaven. So in the days of Christ. The Son of God declared to the unbelieving Jews of that generation, ‘Your house is left unto you desolate’ (Matthew 23:39). Looking down to the last days, the same infinite power declares, concerning those who ‘received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved,’ ‘For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness’ (II Thessalonians 2:10, 11). As they reject the teachings of His Word, God withdraws His Spirit, and leaves them to the deceptions which they love.” Early Writings, 45.

It is evident today that God’s Spirit is being withdrawn. We are experiencing more natural disasters. Society is sinking to a moral low. We are told that the entire world will be devastated more than Jerusalem at the time of its destruction in A.D. 70. You can read a description of that in the first chapter of The Great Controversy.

When God sends a warning and it is rejected, His Spirit is withdrawn. This can happen, not just to nations or churches, but also in a family or to an individual. The Lord pleads, but so many refuse to listen and act on the information. However, He does not give up easily on people. The most common way that the unpardonable sin is committed is by persistently rejecting or neglecting the pleading of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit leaves you, you are shut out from salvation. Our only safety is to heed the promptings of the Spirit. Inquire of the Lord an understanding of His plans for you on a daily basis. He has many ways to make it evident what to do and what not to do.

Be aware that continual resistance to the message that the Lord sends to a person results in the door of mercy being shut, just as it happened in Noah’s day and to the Jews in Christ’s day. It happened in 1844 and it will happen again. The pen of Inspiration says,

“The Jews were left in total darkness, to continue their useless sacrifices and offerings. The ministration of types and shadows had ceased. That door by which men had formerly found access to God, was no longer open.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 269, 270.

Men had formerly found access to God through that door. When they came to worship in the sanctuary, the Lord accepted their animal sacrifice. It showed that they had faith in the coming Redeemer and their sins were forgiven. “That door by which men had formerly found access to God, was no longer open. The Jews had refused to seek Him in the only way whereby He could then be found, through the ministration in the sanctuary in Heaven. Therefore they found no communion with God. To them the door was shut.” Ibid., 270.

When God shuts the door to salvation it cannot be reopened however, there are still people trying to open the door today. The early Christians were also confused on this point; so Paul addressed it in the book of Hebrews and other places in the New Testament.

“The condition of the unbelieving Jews illustrates the condition of the careless and unbelieving among professed Christians, who are willingly ignorant of the work of our merciful High Priest. In the typical service, when the high priest entered the most holy place, all Israel were required to gather about the sanctuary, and in the most solemn manner humble their souls before God, that they might receive the pardon of their sins, and not be cut off from the congregation. How much more essential in this anti-typical day of atonement that we understand the work of our High Priest, and know what duties are required of us.” Ibid.

In 1844 the door into the Holy Place, the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary, by which Christ had been approached since Pentecost, was shut. It was the way to salvation for a time until it was shut and another door was opened, the door into the most holy place. We read in Revelation 3 that when God shuts something, no man can open it.

“Because so many good Christians have fallen asleep in the triumphs of faith and have not kept the true Sabbath, they were doubting about its being a test for us now.

“The enemies of the present truth have been trying to open the door of the holy place, that Jesus has shut, and to close the door of the most holy place, which He opened in 1844, where the ark is, containing the two tables of stone on which are written the ten commandments by the finger of Jehovah.” Early Writings, 43.

While people continually try to pry open the door that God has shut, they keep closed the door He opened that clearly reveals the blessing of the Sabbath commandment.

In 1844, the Adventist people did not understand the truth about the heavenly sanctuary, but when they started to study they realized that everything in the earthly sanctuary was just a type of the sanctuary in heaven. They discovered that the contents in the heavenly sanctuary would be the same in the most holy place as were in the earthly sanctuary. Reading Revelation 11:19, they saw that the Ark of the Covenant was there and inside it were the Ten Commandments written on two tables of stone. Within the heavenly sanctuary is the great original. The one on earth was only a copy. These searchers after truth, being Sunday worshipers at that time, were shocked when reading the fourth commandment. They realized that this commandment, part of the Law of God, was in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary in heaven where Jesus was, and they were not keeping the true Sabbath. They realized then that they had some repenting to do, some confession to make, and some changing to do.

Ellen White was not the first one that understood this. Joseph Bates and some others understood it before she did and when they first told her about it, she couldn’t comprehend that it would be that important, much like many people today. Then the Lord gave her a vision in which she was taken inside the most holy place where Jesus opened the ark and showed her the Ten Commandments.

She said she saw a halo of light around the fourth commandment, the most important of all the ten. It gives authority to the rest of the law because it is the one that identifies the Lawgiver and His authority.

These faithful students of the Word studied the Sabbath in connection with the Sanctuary. Although they had preached the first angel’s message and the second in 1844, they realized when they read Revelation 14 that they had not been preaching the whole message. With the first and second messages there was the third message that did not end in Revelation 14:11, but included verse 12, which reads:

“Here is the patience of the holy people (or the steadfast endurance of the saints); here are those that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (literal translation).

Ellen White said after that, “We know that we have the truth.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 6, 252.

During this time the devil was fighting to try to keep people from becoming convinced of these things, the three angels’ messages that today we call “present truth.” That term was not coined by Seventh-day Adventists; it was used by the apostle Peter in his writing when he said, “… being confirmed in the present truth.” II Peter 1:12 literal translation.

There has been a present truth in every age. In the apostle Paul’s day it was that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. The central focus of every message the apostles preached was that Jesus was the Messiah. People believed at the risk of being killed.

Present truth in Noah’s day was that a flood was coming. An ark was prepared to save the people who believed. To accept or reject the offer of mercy determined the destiny of the people.

When the Adventists began to preach the present truth of the three angels of Revelation, the first and second messages determined the destiny of those who rejected it in 1844 when the door shut. The eternal destiny of every single person in the world will be determined on his or her response to the third message. Ellen White wrote, “God has begun to draw this covering over His people, and it will soon be drawn over all who are to have a shelter in the day of slaughter.” Early Writings, 44.

This covering is protection from the seven last plagues to come. “Satan is now using every device in this sealing time to keep the minds of God’s people from the present truth and to cause them to waver. I saw a covering that God was drawing over His people to protect them in the time of trouble; and every soul that was decided on the truth and was pure in heart was to be covered with the covering of the Almighty. …

“I saw that Satan was working through agents in a number of ways. He was at work through ministers who have rejected the truth and are given over to strong delusions to believe a lie that they might be damned. While they were preaching or praying, some would fall prostrate and helpless, not by the power of the Holy Ghost, but by the power of Satan breathed upon these agents, and through them to the people. While preaching, praying, or conversing, some professed Adventists who had rejected present truth used mesmerism to gain adherents, and the people would rejoice in this influence, for they thought it was the Holy Ghost. Some even that used it were so far in the darkness and deception of the devil that they thought it was the power of God.” Early Writings, 43, 44.

The very same thing is happening again today. There are Adventist preachers in some of our largest churches that instead of preaching the present truth are using spiritualistic exercises on the people. “I saw some who were not standing stiffly for present truth. Their knees were trembling, and their feet sliding, because they were not firmly planted on the truth, and the covering of Almighty God could not be drawn over them while they were thus trembling.” Ibid., 44.

Many Adventists today are wavering and God cannot draw over them His covering of protection while they are undecided on what is right and what is wrong. If you have not been attacked yet, you will be by these forms of spiritualism designed to affect God’s people instead of preaching the present truth for today, the three angels’ messages.

The all-important thing at this time of earth’s history is to prepare for the second coming of Christ. Therefore worship with like believers, for the door of mercy is soon to be shut. Some will be shut inside like the wise virgins (Matthew 25) and safe in the ark like Noah’s family. All the others will be shut out.

When probation closes, all decisions will have been made and the door will be permanently shut. Those on the inside will be those who were established on present truth, not just intellectually but in their heart and in their life. All others will be shut out. We are living in “a most solemn period of earth’s history.” The Signs of the Times, February 23, 1882.

Concerning the three angels’ messages, Ellen White said that they are infallible. “We have received the light of the three angels’ messages; and we now need to come decidedly to the front and take our position on the side of truth.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 2, 21.

All who take their position on these messages and understand their significance and stand on that position will triumph with them.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

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