The Three Angel’s Messages as They Relate to Corporate
Responsibility for the Apostasy of the
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Dear Reader, In the 1950’s, two
Seventh-day Adventist ministers submitted a large manuscript to the leaders
of the church on its corporate responsibility for the 1888 crisis. The leaders rejected that serious study
proving the principle of corporate responsibility. That act only emboldened the leaders to go
further into acts of gross apostasy by venturing upon strictly forbidden
commands of God in Scripture. Many other SDA laymen have spoken
against God and truth by saying that Scripture does not in any wise teach the
principle of corporate responsibility. As Joshua 6 and 7 clearly
portray, the entire camp of 18 And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed
thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of 1 But the children of 12 Therefore the children of Clearly, the entire camp was cursed until
the sin of one man and his family was removed from the camp. That is corporate responsibility! The Lord showed me that is why Ellen White
made the following statement: "The gospel makes no compromise with evil. It cannot excuse
sin. Secret sins are to be confessed in secret to God but, for open sin, open
confession is required. Desire of Ages,
p. 811. "The plain straight testimony must live in the church,
or the curse of God will rest upon His people as surely as it did upon
ancient Corporate responsibility: "For evils that we might have
checked, we are just as responsible as if we were guilty." Desire of
Ages, p. 44. "We are just as responsible for evils that we might have
checked in others by exercise of parental or pastoral authority as if the
acts had been our own." Patriarchs
Prophets, 578.2 Ellen White’s commentary on the story of Achan: https://omega77.tripod.com/achan1.htm "True confession is always of a
specific character, and acknowledges particular sins. They may be of such a
nature as to be brought before God only they may be wrongs that should be
confessed to individuals who have suffered injury through them or they may be
of a public character, and should then be as publicly confessed. But all
confession should be definite and to the point, acknowledging the very sins
of which you are guilty." Steps to
Christ, p. 38. Ellen
White Says we are Under God’s Theocracy the·oc·ra·cy 1.
A government
ruled by or subject to religious authority. 2.
A
state so governed. The
Three Angel’s Messages, Theocracy and Corporate Responsibility The following commission was given to
corporate Gospel Commission "Go ye therefore,
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I
have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world. Amen. Matthew 28:19, 20. Theocracy -- "God's people have been called out of the
world, that they may be separated from the world. It is not safe for them to
take sides in politics, whatever preference they may have. They are ever to
remember that they are one in Christ. God calls upon them to enter their
names as under His THEOCRACY. He
cannot approve of those who link up with worldlings [and churches which
cannot be distinguished from the world, Early Writings, 273]. We are entirely out of our place when we
identify ourselves with party interests.... God has chosen a people who are to proclaim the third angel's
message to the world. They are to be a
separate and peculiar people in this world of churches who are transgressing
His commandments." E.G. White
Manuscript Releases Volume 3, 40, 41. In the above statement may be clearly
seen the corporate responsibility of the mission and commission of the three
angel’s messages. We were called out
of the fallen churches and as a body,
as a church, were given the responsibility, the mission, the commission
of the three angel’s messages and obeying the second by being a separate and
peculiar people, separate from all who do not keep the commandments of
God. The very fact that a person has become a Seventh-day Adventist, is
acquiesced confession to the principle of corporate responsibility, for it we
were not responsible for the sins of "It was to separate the "The churches that would not receive the light of the first
angel's message, and as they rejected the light from heaven they fell from
the favor of God. They trusted in their own strength, and placed themselves
by their opposition to the first message where they could not see the light
of the second angel's message. But the beloved of God, who were oppressed,
answered to the message, "In every part of the land, light was given upon the second
angel's message, and the cry was melting down thousands. It went from city to
city, and from village to village, until the waiting people of God were fully
aroused. Many would not permit this message to enter the churches, and a
large company who had the living testimony within them left the fallen churches.
A mighty work was accomplished by the Midnight Cry." E.G. White,
Spiritual Gifts, Volume 1, p. 141. Clearly, rejecting any of
the three angel's messages, and/or the Midnight Cry, is to render a church in
a fallen state called "Babylon of Revelation 18 [Revelation 18:1-8 quoted].--The
whole chapter shows that Babylon that has fallen is the churches (plural) who
will not receive the messages of warning the Lord has given in the first,
second, and third angel's messages. They refused the truth and accepted a lie.
They refused the messages of truth. See 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12." E.G.
White Manuscript Releases Volume One, p. 361. "In every part of the land, light was given upon the second
angel's message, and the cry was melting down thousands. It went from city to
city, and from village to village, until the waiting people of God were fully
aroused. Many would not permit this message to enter the churches, and a
large company who had the living testimony within them left the fallen
churches. A mighty work was accomplished by the Midnight Cry." E.G.
White, Spiritual Gifts, Volume 1, p. 141. Violate the
Midnight Cry and the First and Second Angel’s Messages and it is IMPOSSIBLE
to Get Back on the Path "While praying at the family altar, the Holy Ghost
fell on me, and I seemed to be rising higher and higher, far above the dark
world. I turned to look for the Advent people in the world, but could not
find them--when a voice said to me, 'Look again, and look a little higher.'
At this I raised my eyes and saw a straight and narrow path cast up high
above the world. On this path the Advent people were traveling to the City,
which was at the farther end of the path. They had a bright light set up
behind them at the first end of the path, which an angel told me was the
Midnight Cry. This light shone all along the path, and gave light for their
feet so they might not stumble. And if they kept their eyes fixed on Jesus,
who was just before them, leading them to the City, they were safe. But soon
some grew weary, and they said the City was a great way of, and they expected
to have entered it before. Then Jesus would encourage them by raising his
glorious right arm, and from his arm came a glorious light which waved over
the Advent band, and they shouted Hallelujah! Others rashly denied the light
behind them, and said that it was not God that had led them out so far. The
light behind them went out leaving their feet in perfect darkness, and they
stumbled and got their eyes off the mark and lost sight of Jesus, and fell off
the path down in the dark and wicked world below. It was just as impossible
for them to get on the path again and go to the City, as all the wicked world
which God had rejected. They fell all the way along the path one after
another, until we heard the voice of God like many waters, which gave us the
day and hour of Jesus' coming.... By this time the 144,000 were all sealed and perfectly united. On
their foreheads was written, God, New Jerusalem, and a glorious Star
containing Jesus' new name." E.G. White, Word to the Little Flock, p. 14. How is it that SDA’s today can know and violate the Midnight Cry
and the first and second angel’s messages by ecumenical MEMBERSHIP in All
SDA Members are Responsible for Crucifying Christ Afresh Scripture says that we can crucify Christ
afresh by sinning. The Bible says that
When
Wheat and Tares are Not to Grow Together Did you ever wonder why SDA’s had to
leave the fallen churches if the wheat and tares grow together until the
harvest and the harvest is at the end of the world? Did you ever wonder why Luther and the
Protestant Reformers left the Roman Catholic Church? And more importantly, did you ever wonder
why Jesus left the apostate church of His day and gathered out all who would
give the gospel to the world? The point at which the wheat and tares
are not to grow together is when a church betrays sacred trusts and violates
the commandments of God and the three angel’s messages. The reason there must be a separation at
that time is because of the principle of corporate responsibility for the sin
if one is a member of an apostate church. The
Difference Between Tares and Open Apostates Ellen White defined tares as insincere
believers whose motives we would have to judge in order to uproot them. Open sinning apostates are quite another
matter. They are considered as thorns
who will choke the wheat and make it impossible for the wheat to mature. "Christ has plainly taught that those who persist in open
sin must be separated from the church..." Christ's Object Lessons,
71. But what to do when the church will NEVER AGAIN show the House of
Jacob its sins, Testimonies, Vol.
5, 211? Then God gives the church a time of probation to play out its
iniquitous character and when it does, we must separate or be corporately
responsible for its apostasy. That is
why Jesus separated. That is why Paul
separated. That is why in ever
succeeding generation since Christ, faithful reformers have had to separate
from the church of their fathers. "The Sanhedrin had rejected Christ's
message and was bent upon His death therefore Jesus departed from Jerusalem, from
the priests, the temple, the religious leaders, the people who had been
instructed in the law, and turned to another class to proclaim His message,
and to gather out those who should carry the gospel to all nations. As the light and life of men was rejected by
the ecclesiastical authorities in the days of Christ, so it has been rejected
in every succeeding generation. Again and again the history of Christ's
withdrawal from "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 "Christ was a protestant...The Reformers date back to
Christ and the apostles. They came out and separated themselves from a
religion of forms and ceremonies. Luther and his followers did not invent the
reformed religion. They simply accepted it as presented by Christ and the
apostles." E.G. White, Review and Herald, vol. 2, 48, col. 2. Consider if you will, if you were a
member of the Did
you Know That the Ellen White says in Early Writings, p.
273, that Satan controls the fallen churches as a body. That means that Satan is controls them
corporately. What if it can be proven
that the SDA church is linked by MEMBERSHIP in https://omega77.tripod.com/sdaecumenical2.htm Here is what God says about such
unscriptural alliances with the Synagogue of Satan: https://omega77.tripod.com/ecusolomon.htm "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. "The people of God are not to stand upon common ground, but
upon the holy ground of gospel truth." E.G. White, Review and Herald Articles, August 1, 1893, col. 2. The Foundation
of my Warning Message to Professing Seventh-day Adventists Some who are disparate of spiritual discernment have attacked
corporate responsibility, thinking that is was the “spine” of my warning
message. Though corporate
responsibility is linked to the three angel’s messages per our duty as our
brother’s keeper and the corporate mission and commission of the church to
warn the world, the two are inextricably united. One cannot attack the one without attacking
the other if one is aware of the nature of both. "The peculiar work of the third angel has not been seen in
its importance. God meant that His people should be far in advance of the
position which they occupy today. But now, when the time has come for them to
spring into action, they have the preparation to make. When the National
Reformers began to urge measures to restrict religious liberty, our leading
men should have been alive to the situation and should have labored earnestly
to counteract these efforts. It is not in the order of God that light has
been kept from our people--the very present truth which they needed for this
time. Not all our ministers who are giving the third angel's message really
understand what constitutes that message. The National Reform movement has
been regarded by some as of so little importance that they have not thought
it necessary to give much attention to it and have even felt that in so doing
they would be giving time to questions distinct from the third angel's
message. May the Lord forgive our brethren for thus interpreting the very
message for this time." {5T 714.2} The three angel’s messages are a
corporate responsibility mission and commission accruing to the SDA
church. Any violation of them involves
like corporate responsibility. Just as
"The Lord Jesus will always have a chosen people to serve
Him. When the Jewish people rejected Christ, the Prince of life, He took from
them the God is not 'worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any
thing' (Acts 17:25). E. G. White, The
Upward Look, 131. The
Religion of Cain When Seventh-day Adventist leaders in the
1950’s denied the principle of corporate responsibility, they then adopted
the gospel of Cain, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Gen 4:9 And
the LORD said unto Cain, Where [is] Abel thy brother? And he said, I know
not: [Am] I my brother's
keeper? You see friend of mine, we are indeed responsible for
not only ourselves, but our brother’s and sisters. That responsibility is portrayed in the
following verse of Holy Writ: “So far as his opportunities extend,
every one who has received the light of truth is under the same solemn and
fearful responsibility as was the prophet of Israel, to whom the word of the
Lord came, saying: "Son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the
house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn
them from me. When I say unto the
wicked, O wicked man surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked
from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I
require at thine hand. Nevertheless,
if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he does not turn from
his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou has delivered thy soul. Eze
33:7-9 Great Controversy, p. 391. "Christ speaks of the church over which Satan presides as
the synagogue of Satan. It members are the children of disobedience. They are
those who choose to sin, who labor to make void the holy law of God. It is
Satan's work to mingle evil with good, and to remove the distinction between
good and evil. Christ would have a church that labors to separate the evil
from the good, whose members will not willingly tolerate wrong-doing, but
will expel it from the heart and life." E.G. White, Review and Herald,
Dec. 4, 1900. All I just so happens that God says that we
can crucify Him afresh today: Hbr 6:6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance;
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and
put [him] to an open shame. The professing Seventh-day Adventist
church has fallen away. Appeals to the church have been made for
decades now in an effort to renew the church to repentance. Those efforts
have proven totally fruitless. That great falling away of the church,
first prophesied by Paul, will continue until Jesus comes. That great
falling away God equates with crucifying His Son afresh. In the same
way that the Jews were held corporately responsible for the sin of the few
who cried "Crucify Him, Crucify Him, give us Barabbas
and let His blood be on us and our children Mat
27:25 Then
answered all the people, and said, His blood [be] on us, and on
our children. Luk 19:44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children
within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another;
because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. Eph 5:6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these
things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of
disobedience. Corporate
Responsibility as Taught by Jesus Himself Many do not realize that Jesus taught
corporate responsibility by testimony and by His example. Here is His testimony: Mat 23:34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets,
and wise men, and scribes: and [some] of them ye shall kill and crucify; and
[some] of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute [them] from
city to city: Mat 23:35 That upon you may come all
the righteous blood shed upon
the earth, from the blood of righteous
Abel unto the blood of
Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. We hear a lot today about the
impossibility of being righteous. Did
Christ consider Abel righteous? Hbr 11:4 By
faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by
which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his
gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. Now I will put the conclusion I have cited
above to the test of the Spirit of Prophecy.
Turn to the first page of Chapter 1 of The Great Controversy, and you will find the following words: Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [thou] that killest the prophets,
and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered
thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under [her]
wings, and ye would not! Now turn to p. 25 of The
Great Controversy, to find that the destruction of “The future was
mercifully veiled from the disciples. Had they at that time fully comprehend
the two awful facts--the Redeemer's sufferings and death, and the destruction
of their city and temple--they would have been overwhelmed with horror.
Christ presented before them an outline of the prominent events to take place
before the close of time. His words were not then fully understood; but their
meaning was to be unfolded as His people should need the instruction therein
given. The prophecy which He uttered was twofold in its meaning; while
foreshadowing the destruction of The Ezekiel 9 judgment
of apostate Begin at My
Sanctuary -- "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." E. G. White, Testimonies, Vol. 5, 211. "Study the 9th chapter of Ezekiel. These words will be literally fulfilled yet the time is
passing, and the people are asleep. They refuse to humble their souls and to
be converted. Not a great while longer will the Lord bear with the people who
have such great and important truths revealed to them, but who refuse to
bring these truths into their individual experience. The time is short. God
is calling will YOU hear? Will YOU receive His message? Will YOU be converted
before it is too late? Soon, very soon, every case will be decided for
eternity. Letter 106, 1909, pp. 2, 3, 5, 7. (To "The churches in Oakland
and Berkeley, September 26, 1909.)"
E. G. White Manuscript Releases Volume One, p. 260. The Sealing
of Ezekiel 9 Ezekiel 9 applies to every man who ever lived since it was
written because it is God’s sealing chapter and only those who sigh and cry
for all the abominations in the church (spiritual Only those who are separated from sin and sinners, and sighing
and crying for all the abominations in
the church will receive the seal of God: Ellen
White’s Comments on Ezekiel Chapter 9 2-4 (Eph. 1:13; 4:30). A
Mark Which Angels Read.--[Eph. 1:13 quoted.] What is the seal of the living
God, which is placed in the foreheads of His people? It is a mark which
angels, but not human eyes, can read; for the destroying angel must see this
mark of redemption (Letter 126, 1898). {4BC 1161.4} The angel with the writer's ink horn is to place a mark upon the
foreheads of all who are separated from sin and sinners, and the destroying
angel follows this angel (Letter 12, 1886). {4BC 1161.5} We are to separate from personal sin as well as separating from
sinners and a church that sins corporately by violating God’s commands. If this were not true, we might have
remained in the other fallen churches. (Rev. 7:2.) Seal Is a Settling Into Truth.--Just as soon as the
people of God are sealed in their foreheads--it is not any seal or mark that
can be seen, but a settling into the truth, both intellectually and
spiritually, so they cannot be moved--just as soon as God's people are sealed
and prepared for the shaking, it will come. Indeed, it has begun already; the
judgments of God are now upon the land, to give us warning, that we may know
what is coming (MS 173, 1902). {4BC 1161.6}
Ron Beaulieu |