A letter to which no reply was ever received, followed by a
quotation from a Review and Herald
article by Ellen G. White:
Elder ____
[Address]
Dear Elder _____:
First as a reminder, since it has
been weeks since your visit, this letter is written because you invited me to
make submissions, which you promised to consider. I hope that you will take the time to read
all of this letter and the enclosures.
At the very least, if not persuasive, you should find it all very
interesting.
I believe that I started this
letter nearly a month ago. I am revising
it as I continue with the draft, with unavoidable breaks between. This section was inserted on Sabbath, May 4,
after I woke up in the morning with the persistent refrain in my mind of a
youth song from the past. You will
recall, "Give of your best to the Master.
Give of the strength of your youth.
Put on salvation's full armor.
Join in the battle for Truth."
If this song is doctrinally sound, if it ever had real meaning, it
should have inspired the youth to seek out the Truth as the armor of salvation
and go forth into battle, never evading the controversy. I wonder, do they still sing this song today,
or only the modern "feel-good" ditties. The song has brought to my mind the words of
the apostle Paul in
Eph. 6:11-17:
Put
on the whole armour
of God, that
ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For we wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and
having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt
about with truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness;
And your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace;
Above all, taking the shield of faith,
wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
And take the helmet of salvation, and
the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
In the use of this language of
warfare Paul was revealing the spiritual realities. The battle was joined in his time. It is intense
in these present times, whether we realize it or not. War has been waged on the Truth throughout Christendom,
and the stage is set for the final "war with the remnant of her seed"
(Rev. 12) who hold fast to the Gospel of Truth. The leaders of the
To ancient Israel God spoke the
following words of assurance:
Jer
31:35 Thus
saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by
day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night,
which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar;
The LORD of hosts is his name:
Jer 31:36 If
those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel
also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
Jer 31:37 Thus
saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the
earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all
that they have done, saith the LORD.
However, this was followed by the prophecy of Dan. 9, which
gave a definite time limit for God's forbearance towards
Dan
9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon
thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an
end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in
everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to
anoint the most Holy.
Dan 9:25 Know therefore and understand,
that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem
unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks:
the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
Dan 9:26 And after threescore and two
weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the
prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end
thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are
determined.
Before the end of the delimited
time God gave clear warning of the impending doom by the voice of John the
Baptist:
Mat
3:7 But when he
saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them,
O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Mat 3:8 Bring
forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
Mat 3:9 And think not to say within
yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able
of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Mat
In Luke 13:6-9 Jesus spoke the parable of the unfruitful fig
tree. Of this parable
Ellen G. White wrote:
Christ's
hearers could not misunderstand the application of His words. David had sung of
Later, Christ enacted the parable described in Matt.
21:17-20. Of this parable
Mrs. White wrote:
The cursing of
the fig tree was an acted parable. That barren tree, flaunting its pretentious
foliage in the very face of Christ, was a symbol of the Jewish nation. The
Saviour desired to make plain to His disciples the cause and the certainty of
The parable of the fig tree, spoken before Christ's visit to
Mrs. White further stated:
The warning is for all time. Christ's act in cursing the tree
which His own power had created stands as a warning to all churches and to all Christians. . . . . {DA 584.1} (Emphasis added.)
In an earlier chapter of the book Mrs. White had written:
The Jews had
misinterpreted God's promise of eternal favor to Israel: "Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of
the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth
the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is His name: If those
ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also
shall cease from being a nation before Me forever. Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the
earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of
To
a people in whose hearts His law is written, the favor of God is assured. They
are one with Him. But the Jews had separated themselves from God. Because of
their sins they were suffering under His judgments. This was the cause of their
bondage to a heathen nation. Their minds were darkened by transgression, and
because in times past the Lord had shown them so great favor, they excused
their sins. They flattered themselves that they were better than other men, and
entitled to His blessings. {DA 106.2}
These things "are written for our
admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." 1 Cor. 10:11. . . . . . {DA
106.3} (Emphasis added.)
This brings us down to our time, and this Church which once
could rightly be called the Remnant Church of God. Note the progression of dates in relation to
the following quotations:
In 1893 Mrs. White wrote:
God is leading
out a people. He has a chosen people, a church on the earth, whom He has made
the depositaries of His law. He has committed to them sacred trust and eternal
truth to be given to the world. He would reprove and correct them. The message
to the Laodiceans is applicable to Seventh-day
Adventists who have had great light and have not walked in the light. It is
those who have made great profession, but have not kept in step with their
Leader, that will be spewed out of His mouth unless they repent. The message to pronounce the Seventh-Day
Adventist Church Babylon, and call the people of God out of her, does not come
from any heavenly messenger, or any human agent inspired by the Spirit of God.
{2SM 66.2} (Emphasis added.)
Continuing in similar vein she stated:
The Church Not to Be Broken Up
Again I say,
The Lord hath not spoken by any messenger who calls the church that keeps the commandments of God,
69
in this; there is not the least evidence that such a thing will be. . . . .
{2SM 68.3} (Emphasis added.)
Here is where the Church leadership want
to put a period. "The church is
going through!" However, as in the
case of
In the balances of the sanctuary the
Seventh-day Adventist church is to be weighed. She will be judged by the
privileges and advantages that she has had. If her spiritual experience does
not correspond to the advantages that Christ, at infinite cost, has bestowed on
her, if the blessings conferred have not qualified her to do the work entrusted
to her, on her will be pronounced the sentence: "Found wanting." By
the light bestowed, the opportunities given, will she be judged.
{8T 247.2}
Who can
truthfully say: "Our gold is tried in the fire; our garments are unspotted
by the world"? I saw our Instructor pointing to the garments of so-called
righteousness. Stripping them off, He laid bare the defilement beneath. Then He
said to me: "Can you not see how they have pretentiously covered up their
defilement and rottenness of character? 'How is the faithful city become an harlot!' . . . . . {8T
250.2} (Emphasis added.)
Here it is well to consider the definition of harlotry as
found in Great Controversy:
383
the
truth and the approval of God, in order to form an unlawful alliance with the
world. The message of
Revelation 14, announcing the fall of
In 1904 Mrs. White wrote:
The
enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation
was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation would
consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and
engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this
reformation to
55
take place, what would result? The
principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church, would be discarded. Our religion would be changed.
The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty
years would be accounted as error. A new organization would be established.
Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy
would be introduced. The founders of
this system would go into the cities, and do a wonderful work. . . .
{SpTB02 54.3} (Emphasis added.)
That last sentence in the quotation is the reason why I have
stated in conversation with you that the flourishing present-day evangelistic work
of the Church is meaningless. In 1905,
the following unequivocal statement was made by the Messenger of the Lord under
the chapter title "Standing in the Way of God's Messages," with
counsel as follows:
One thing it is certain is soon to be
realized,--the great apostasy, which is developing and increasing and waxing
stronger, and 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. Ever we are
to keep the faith that has been substantiated by the Holy Spirit of God from
the earlier events of our experience until the present time. We need now
larger breadth, and deeper, more earnest, unwavering faith in the leadings of
the Holy Spirit. If we needed the
manifest proof of the Holy Spirit's power to confirm truth in the beginning,
after the passing of the time, we need today all the evidence in the
confirmation of the truth, when souls are departing from the faith and giving heed to seducing spirits and
doctrines of devils. There must not be any languishing of soul now.
{SpTB07 57.1} (Emphasis and italics
added.)
In the following year Mrs. White made the following
statements in a Review and Herald article:
As has been foretold
in the Scriptures, there will be
seducing spirits and doctrines of devils in the midst of the church, and these evil influences will increase;
but hold fast the beginning of your confidence firm unto the end. {RH,
The time is at hand when Satan will work
miracles to confirm minds in the belief that he is God. All the people of God are now to stand on the platform of truth as it
has been given in the third angel's message. All the pleasant pictures, all
the miracles wrought, will be presented in order that, if possible, the very
elect shall be deceived. The only hope
for any one is to hold fast the evidences that have confirmed the truth in
righteousness. Let these be proclaimed over and over again, until the close of
this earth's history. {RH,
So we see that beginning in 1903 there are consistent
testimonies in the Writings predictive of a fallen Church. Yet, astonishingly, one of the most powerful
predictions of the the Church's ultimate fall from
grace because of the repudiation of its unique mission to the world is found in
a testimony written prior to the turn of the century. In 1892 the testimony "The Seal of
God," unequivocally predicted the following concerning the Church's
ultimate fate:
The
class who do not feel grieved over their own spiritual declension, nor mourn
over the sins of others, will be left without the seal of God. The Lord
commissions His messengers, the men with slaughtering weapons in their hands:
"Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare,
neither have ye pity: slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little
children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin
at My sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men
which were before the house." {5T 211.1}
Here we see that the church--the
Lord's sanctuary--was the first to feel the stroke of the wrath of God. The
ancient men, those to whom God had given great light and who had stood as
guardians of the spiritual interests of the people, had betrayed their trust.
They had taken the position that we need not look for miracles and the marked
manifestation of God's power as in former days. Times have changed. These words
strengthen their unbelief, and they say: The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil. He is too merciful to visit
His people in judgment. Thus "Peace and safety" is the cry from men
who will never again lift up their voice like a trumpet to show God's people
their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. These dumb dogs that would not bark
are the ones who feel the just vengeance of an offended God. Men, maidens, and little children all
perish together. {5T 211.2} . . . .
Our own course of action will
determine whether we shall receive the seal of the living God or be cut down by
the destroying weapons. Already a few drops of God's wrath have fallen upon
the earth; but when the seven last
plagues shall be poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation, then it will be forever too late to repent and find shelter.
No atoning blood will then wash away the stains of sin. {5T 212.4} (Emphasis added.)
The Scripture quoted by Mrs. White is from Eze. 9:5,6. In fact in an even earlier testimony titled
"The Laodicean Church," written in 1873, Mrs. White had stated:
Mark this point with care: Those who receive the pure mark of
truth, wrought in them by the power of the Holy Ghost, represented by a mark by
the man in linen, are those "that sigh and that cry for all the abominations
that be done" in the church. Their love for purity and the honor and glory
of God is such, and they have so clear a view of the exceeding sinfulness of
sin, that they are represented as being in agony, even sighing and crying. Read the ninth chapter of Ezekiel. {3T
267.1} (Emphasis added)
There is a prediction, also written in 1892, which provides
a landmark for the time when the Church's mission would be terminated:
After
the truth has been proclaimed as a witness to all nations, every conceivable
power of evil will be set in operation, and
minds will be confused by many voices crying, "Lo, here is Christ, Lo, he
is there. This is the truth, I have the message from God, he
has sent me with great light." Then there will be a removing of the landmarks,
and an attempt to tear down the pillars of our faith. A more decided
effort will be made to exalt the false Sabbath, and to cast contempt upon God
himself by supplanting the day he has blessed and sanctified. This false
Sabbath is to be enforced by an oppressive law. Satan and his angels are
wide-awake, and intensely active, working with energy and perseverance through
human instrumentalities to bring about his purpose of obliterating from the
minds of men the knowledge of God. But
while Satan works with his lying wonders, the time will be fulfilled foretold
in the Revelation, and the mighty angel that shall lighten the earth with his
glory, will proclaim the fall of Babylon, and call upon God's people to forsake
her. {RH,
At the time of the loud cry of
the third angel those who have been in any measure blinded by the enemy,
who have not fully recovered themselves from the snare of Satan, will be in
peril, because it will be difficult for them to discern the light from heaven,
and they will be inclined to accept falsehood. . . . . {RH,
Of course, any Church member who has failed to appreciate
the vital significance of Truth to the fulfillment of the Church's mission -
who has failed to search the Scriptures with diligence to "know the
Truth," as Jesus promised - will be either unaware or indifferent that
there have been a removal of the
landmarks of prophecy and a continuing attempt to "tear down the pillars
of our faith" by the scholars and ministerial leaders of the Seventh-day
Adventist Church. In the 1980 General
Conference session the retreat from the Truth that had begun in 1949 with the
alteration of the statement on the Incarnation in Bible Readings for the Home, through the 1950s conferences with the
Evangelical leaders Walter Martin and Donald Grey Barnhouse and the publication
of Questions on Doctrine, became
official Seventh-day Adventist doctrine when the 27 Statements of Belief were
adopted. It is plain for anyone to see
that there has been a proliferation of "voices" within the community
of Adventists since 1980.
The conclusion is inescapable that the time for the
preaching of the gospel as a witness to all nations is past. Furthermore, the Loud Cry of Rev. 18 follows the closing of the gospel
witness to the world. When the learning
process concerning the enormity of the Church's departure from the true faith
first began for me upwards of fifteen years ago, it immediately appeared to me
that logically there could no longer be a mission for the corporate body. Continuing study has confirmed that this
initial insight was correct. Now, if the
1
Tim
There is one true Church from which the remnant of God will
never be severed, be they in isolation or in the "little companies"
of which Ellen G. White wrote. It is
described by the aposle Paul:
Heb
Heb
12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written
in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made
perfect. (Emphasis added.)
Although I am not going to quote from the Writings on the
subject of how the wheat and the
tares are separated, I would be remiss if I did not invite you to take a
careful look at Matt. 25:1-6. Now the
popular belief is that verse 6 was fulfilled in the 1844 movement; but look
again at verses 1 & 6 together. There are two goings out. The
first was in the 1844 movement. Then
follows the period when all of the ten virgins slumbered and slept, and finally
the second going out. The book Great Controversy (a great book in
general) holds to the mistaken belief that the midnight cry was in the 1844
movement, but in a Review and Herald article dated February 11, 1896 Mrs.
White made a statement which proves that belief to be erroneous:
There is a
world lying in wickedness, in deception and delusion, in the very shadow of
death,--asleep, asleep. Who are feeling travail of soul to awaken them? What
voice can reach them? My mind was carried
to the future, when the signal will be given. "Behold, the Bridegroom
cometh; go ye out to meet him." But some will have delayed to obtain
the oil for replenishing their lamps, and too late they will find that
character, which is represented by the oil, is not transferable. {RH,
I leave you with these words of the apostle Paul, found in
the last chapter of the Book written to the Jewish Christians, for whom
separation from the
Heb
Heb
Yours very truly,
[Webmaster@adventistlaymen.com]
From the Review and
Herald,
The
first, second, and third angels' messages are to be repeated. The call is to be
given to the church: "
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.
(All emphasis added.)