Dear Forum,

Ellen White Says SDA Church Worse Than Babylon!

Many SDAs say that Ellen White never said that the SDA church was anything resembling the apostate Jewish church, and that she never said we should flee, fear, and shun the church, to form home churches. There are over 100 statements to the affect that SDAs are repeating the history of ancient Israel, and of course, according to Scripture, Christianized Israel formed home churches. Here are just a few of Ellen White's statements portraying the fact that SDA are paralleling ancient Israel:

"I have been shown that the spirit of the world is fast leavening the church. You are following the same path as did ancient Israel. There is the same falling away from your holy calling as God's peculiar people. You are having fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Your [ecumenical] concord with unbelievers have provoked the Lord's displeasure. You know not the things that belong to your peace, and they are fast being hid from your eyes. [The very words applied to fallen Israel on page 17 of The Great Controversy]. Your neglect to follow the light will place you in a more unfavorable position than the Jews upon whom Christ pronounced a woe." Testimonies, vol. 5, pp. 75-76.

"Like ancient Israel, the church has dishonored her God by departing from the light, neglecting her duties, and abusing her high and exalted privilege of being peculiar and holy in character. Her members have violated their covenant to live for God and him only. They have joined with the selfish and world-loving. Pride, the love of pleasure, and sin have been cherished, and CHRIST HAS DEPARTED. His Spirit has been quenched in the church. Satan works side by side with professed Christians; yet they are so destitute of spiritual discernment that they do not detect him." E.G. White, Testimonies,vol. 2, pp. 441-442.

"Among the professed followers of Christ, there is the same pride, formalism, vainglory, selfishness, and OPPRESSION, that existed in the Jewish nation." E.G. White, Sketches from the Life of Paul, 251-252.

"God's professed people are selfish and self-caring....They are idolaters, and are worse, in the sight of God, than the heathen, graven-image worshippers who have had no knowledge of a better way." Testimonies, vol. 2, 441-442.

Am I remiss in observing (reasoning) that worse than heathen, graven-image worshippers, means worse than Babylon? Especially after SDAs have known the truth and have knowledge of a better way! If I am, how and why? and if I am I apologize. By the above statement it is flattery, presumption, and patronization error, to refer to the apostate SDA church as Babylon! No, let it not be said by anyone that Ron Beaulieu believes the church is Babylon! I concur with Ellen White that God's professed people are worse than Babylonian heathen graven image idol worshippers! Worse than Catholics! Worse than the great Whore! Why? Because they had the light of truth and have willfully united with the great whore in business partnership! Ellen White said we are never to unite with unbelievers in business partnership, let alone the great Whore of Babylon!

"Now it is just EXACTLY as in the days of the Jews. When a message came in, why all the power of the leaders WAS PUT AGAINST IT, THAT IT SHOULD NOT HAVE ACCESS TO THE PEOPLE. Now, brethren, GO TO GOD FOR YOURSELVES, and on your knees plead with God...If God sends us light, let it come to us, and let no man close the door, or try to close it. Don't close it yourselves. Open the door of your heart and let the brilliant rays of light shine into your heart and into your mind. I pray you, let the Sun of Righteousness in." E.G. White, Manuscript Release #900, Manuscript 9, 1890. 1888 Materials, p. 541.

"The day of God is right upon us, and the world has converted the church. Both are in harmony, and are acting upon a short-sited policy" E.G. White, General Conference Bulletin, 1st Quarter, 1900.

"The leaven if godliness has not entirely lost its power. At the time when the danger and depression of the church are greatest, the little company who are standing in the light will be sighing and crying for the abominations that are done in the land. But MORE ESPECIALLY will their prayers arise in behalf of the church because ITS MEMBERS are doing after the manner of the world." Testimonies, vol. 5, 209, 210.

Here we have reference to "...when the danger and depression of the church are greatest..." This can refer ONLY to the SDA church, because it is only she who will experience such great danger and depression.

We find a little company (remnant) standing in the light and they are not MEMBERS, because the MEMBERS are doing after the manner of the world, and if the little company were MEMBERS of the church, they would be doing after the manner of the world also! Come, let us reason together. We were given the ability and license to so reason.

"We must as a people arouse and cleanse the camp of Israel. Licentiousness, unlawful intimacy, and unholy practices are coming in among us in a large degree...We are in danger of becoming a sister to fallen Babylon, of allowing our churches to become corrupted and filled with every foul spirit, a cage for every unclean and hateful bird, and will we be clear unless we make decided movements to cure the existing evil? E. G. White, Manuscript Releases No. 449, pp. 17, 18.

If Ellen White saw the church going through with a blanket pre-approval by her, such warnings as stated above are superfluous, foolish, and self-contradictory.

"It is IMPOSSIBLE for you to unite with those who are corrupt, and still remain pure. (II Corinthians 6:14-15 quoted). God and Christ and the heavenly host would have men know that if he unites with the corrupt he will become corrupt." E. G. White, Review and Herald, Vol. 4, p. 137.

This statement is also foolish, superfluous and redundant, if we cannot judge what Ellen White brands as corrupt. If judging corruptness is only idle and ill conceived criticism, based on focusing on mere flaws, defects and weaknesses, then we should have remained with Rome!

"Any connection with infidels and UNBELIEVERS which would identify us with them is FORBIDDEN by the word. We are to come out from them and be separate. in no case are we to link ourselves with them in their plans or work." E. G. White, Fundamentals of Christian Education, 482.

If any church should link itself with unbelievers, we are to come out from them and be separate. The instruction is clear. Notwithstanding the SDA church's links with the ecumenical movement, it has linked in PARTNERSHIP with the Catholics at their hospital in Colorado. Every MEMBER of the church is corporately responsible for this corrupt corporate liaison with unbelievers. This act alone calls for separation.

Fear and Shun--"They that forsake the law praise the wicked.' Proverbs 28:4. When those who are uniting with the world, yet claiming great purity, plead for union [including partnership] with those who have ever been the opposers of the cause of truth [Catholics] we should fear and shun them as decidedly as did Nehemiah. Such counsel is prompted b the enemy of all good. It is the speech of timeservers, and should be resisted as resolutely today as then. Whatever influence would tend to unsettle the faith of God's people in His guiding power, should be steadfastly withstood." E.G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 661.

Ellen White says that the fallen churches cannot be distinguished from the world, Early Writings, 273. Therefore, by uniting in business partnership with the Catholics, we are united to the world! By ecumenical union we are united to the world. If we do not fear, shun and flee when our prophet directs, we will be taken in a snare! What snare is there to be concerned about other than the National Sunday Law? The snare of becoming corrupted by the corrupt, because it is impossible to unite with the corrupt and remain pure and ripen as wheat. Is that an important concern? Ellen White and Scripture say that it is!

Anyone who denies this counsel is a timeserver. The above statement applies to ecumenical union as well as business partnership with unbelievers. Ellen White says that in no case are we to form business partnerships with unbelievers! Some teach that we are not to flee until the Sunday Law, as if to say the only reason we should ever flee or separate from apostasy is to avoid danger or persecution.

Paul Left for Other Reasons Than to Avoid Persecution

"And as they persisted in their rejection of the gospel the apostle (Paul) went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space for three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus." Acts, 19:8, 9.

"Fearing that the faith of the believers would be endangered by continued association with these opposers of the truth, Paul separated from them, and gathered the disciples into a distinct body." E.G. White, Acts of the Apostles, p. 286.

History is replete with examples of separating from churches because of apostasy and because they would not accept light, not just merely from a motive to avoid danger or persecution such as will occur at the time of the National Sunday Law. Desire of Ages, 232.

Jesus "gathered out" his disciples in AD 27, 43 years before the destruction of Jerusalem and 40 years before the true Christians fled to Pella to avoid danger, persecution and destruction!
Also, the disciples converted folk away and out from the apostate Jewish system from A.D. 27 to A.D. 66, when every true Christian fled to Pella. The disciples collected tithe every Sunday from Christian home churches dotting the hills of Judea. The Bible mentions home churches. Remember, Christianized Jews were leaving the church prior to the parallel to the National Sunday Law, which was the surrounding of Jerusalem in AD 66, three and one-half years before the Temple and the city of Jerusalem were destroyed in AD 70!

Christians were separating from apostate Jerusalem since AD 27, when Christ began to "gather out" of the apostate system, Desire of Ages, 232. So when anyone says that the Sunday Law is the only time and reason to flee, that is not supported by Scripture or the Spirit of Prophecy. That is the time when the gold is separated from the dross in the church triumphant, Zion, from and by which sinners are shaken, but that is not the only time and reason for separation. There have been many separations in history for very different reasons, eg. the reformation and 1844, which were primarily because of apostasy of the ecclesiastical churches. They rejected light.

"Worldly policy is taking the place of true piety and wisdom that comes from above, and God will remove His prospering hand from the conference. Shall the ark of the covenant be removed from this people? Shall idols be smuggled in? Shall false principles and false precepts be brought into the sanctuary? Shall antichrist be respected? Shall the true doctrines and principles given us of God, which have made us what we are, be ignored?.... This is directly where the enemy, through blinded, unconsecrated men, is leading us." E. G. White, Manuscript 29, 1890.

"The Bible Prophets Wrote for Our Time.--Never are we absent from the mind of God. God is our joy and our salvation. Each of the ancient prophets spoke less for their own time than for ours, so that their prophesying is in force for us. 'Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come' (! Cor. 10:11). 'Not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into' (1 Peter 1:12).'" E.G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 3, p. 338.

Were the Bible prophets just discouraged about Israel as some soothsayers say about Ellen White--that "she was just discouraged about the church when she wrote the following statement"

"And thou, Capernaum [Seventh-day Adventists, who have had great light], which art exalted unto heaven [in point of privilege], shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom IN THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, than for thee." E.G. White, Review and Herald Articles, vol. 3, p. 69, col. 3. Here Ellen White is paralleling a corporate church with a corporate city of Capernaum. She is not referring merely to individuals in the church. She is referring to a corporate church after a remnant have escaped, just as the Bible does in many instances of reference to faithful Jews escaping from their apostate church structure.

"In the fear and love of God I tell those before whom I stand today that there is increased light for us, and that great blessings come with the reception of this light. And when I see my brethren stirred with anger against God's messages and messengers, I think of similar scenes in the life of Christ and the Reformers. The reception given to God's servants in past ages is the same as the reception that those today receive through whom God is sending precious rays of light. The leaders of the people today pursue the same course of action that the Jews pursued. They criticize and ply question after question, and refuse to admit evidence, treating the light sent them in the very same way that the Jews treated the light Christ brought them." E.G. White, The 1888 Materials, Vol. 2, p. 911.

There are about 80 more statements by Ellen White paralleling SDAs to the Jews of old. Sincerely, Ron Beaulieu Ron Beaulieu