Why
the Jews Rejected Christ's Words of Truth
Dear Reader,
I submit to you that
SDA's today reject truth for the same reason the Jews rejected the words of
Jesus: The fear of being turned out of the synagogue:
"Multitudes had heard
His (Christ's) words, and believed them, but they did not have the moral
courage to acknowledge him as their Saviour, lest they should be turned out of
the synagogue." E.G. White, The Signs of the Times, 09-14-89.
Why do folk lack the
moral courage to value truth over homage to an apostate organization? Josephus
portrays that the Jews received great material benefit by being members of the
Synagogue. They received tax relief benefits and many other perks. Thus, they
placed material things over spiritual matters. So-called Christians today do
the same thing. However, the following instruction is Biblical:
Mat 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or
sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's
sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
Mat 10:37 He that
loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth
son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Who breeds the Spirit
of greed?
Isa 56:11 Yea, [they
are] greedy dogs [which] can never have enough, and they [are] shepherds [that]
cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one
for his gain, from his quarter.
Isa 3:12 As for my
people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people,
they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
Isa 9:16 For the
leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are
destroyed.
Pro 1:19 So [are] the
ways of every one that is greedy of gain; [which] taketh away the life of the
owners thereof.
Pro 15:27 He that is
greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that
hateth gifts shall live.
Isa 56:11 Yea, [they
are] greedy dogs [which] can never have enough, and they [are] shepherds [that]
cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one
for his gain, from his quarter.
1Ti 3:3 Not given to
wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not
covetous;
1Ti 3:8 Likewise
[must] the deacons [be] grave, not doubletongued, not
given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;
"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 dessire to look into' (1 Peter 1:12).'" E.G. White,
Selected Messages, vol. 3, p. 338.
Conclusion: Many
so-called Christians are, just like the Jews, ready and willing to forsake
truth in exchange for material and social benefits; to maintain the status quo.
What is the HIGH PRICE of this course? Loss of eternal life.
One of my wife's own sister's told us that she prayed and wept before the Lord
about a correct response to the apostasy in the church, but came to the
conclusion that she could not forsake her family--her other brothers and
sisters who reject the truth. That is a common choice. That is a foolish-virgin
choice. That is choosing eternal damnation over eternal life. Lord have mercy.
Thorns sprung up.--The thorns made it impossible for the wheat to mature.
(Luke 8:4-7).
In the same way,
secular interests often prevent the fruits of the Spirit from reaching
maturity. (Gal. 5:22, 23).
Thorns are OPEN
SINNERS. Tares are not OPEN SINNERS. They are insincere types whose motives we would
have to judge in order to expel or pull them up from
the wheat. But the thorns are quite another issue, and when they spring up, it
they are not either reformed or expelled from the church, it is impossible for
the wheat to mature. So what must the wheat do in
order to mature? Leave the thorns. This is precisely what Jesus and His
disciples did, Desire of Ages, 232, as follows:
"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
Judea has been repeated. When the Reformers preached the word of God, they had
no thought of separating themselves from the established church; but the
religious leaders would not tolerate the light, and those that bore it were
forced to seek another class, who were longing for the truth. In our day few of
the professed followers of the Reformers are actuated by their spirit. Few are
listening for the voice of God, and ready to accept truth in whatever guise it
may be presented. Often those who follow in the steps of the Reformers are
forced to turn away from the churches they love, in order to
declare the plain teaching of the word of God. And many times
those who are seeking for light are by the same teaching obliged to leave the
church of their fathers, that they may render obedience." E.G. White,
Desire of Ages, 232.
"The
recreant priests added licentiousness to the dark catalogue of their crimes;
yet they still polluted by their presence the tabernacle of the Lord, and,
laden with sin, dared to come into the presence of a holy God. As the men of
Israel witnessed the corrupt course of the priests, they thought it safer for
their families not to come up to the appointed place of worship. Many went from
Shiloh with their peace disturbed, their indignation aroused, until they at
last determined to offer their sacrifices themselves, concluding that this
would be fully as acceptable to God, as to sanction in any manner the
abominations practiced in the Sanctuary." E.G. White, The Signs of the
Times, vol. 1, p. 264, col. 3, December 1, 1881.
Ellen White clearly
states in The Great Controversy, p. 25, 1911, edition, that the destruction of
Jerusalem in 70 A.D. was a PREFIGURE. Prefigure means TYPE, which demands a
similar ANTITYPICAL FULFILLMENT. Then she says that another LITERAL FULFILLMENT
of Ezekiel 9 will occur. So all we have to do is go
back to the TYPE, THE PREFIGURE and see what happened then, and any other
interpretation makes Ellen White a false prophet:
1) Who left who then?
The good left the Bad.
2) Where were the tares gathered? Into the Midst of Jerusalem, the apostate
church, Ezekiel 22:17-31.
3) Was there a primitive revival of the Jewish people? Yes! Where did it take
place? Within the apostate Jewish Church, or outside it? Obviously outside it,
Desire of Ages, 232, or it would not have been destroyed had the revival
occurred inside the Jewish church!
4) Who was True Zion, from whence the sinners was shaken? Was it the apostate
Jewish Organization, or was it from the reformer church of Jesus and the
disciples?
5) Did the Jewish people leave the apostate Jewish church long before
persecution began? Yes, the began to leave when Jesus "gathered out"
those who would take the gospel to the world. Desire of Ages, 232, and even
before this according to the following statement by Ellen White:
"The recreant
priests added licentiousness to the dark catalogue of their crimes; yet they
still polluted by their presence the tabernacle of the Lord, and, laden with
sin, dared to come into the presence of a holy God. As the men o Israel
witnessed the corrupt course of the priests, they thought it safer for their
families not to come up to the appointed place of worship. Many went from
Shiloh with their peace disturbed, their indignation aroused, until they at
last determined to offer their sacrifices themselves, concluding that this
would be fully as acceptable to God, as to sanction in any manner the
abominations practiced in the Sanctuary." E.G. White, The Signs of the
Times, vol. 1, p. 264, col. 3, December 1, 1881.
Any teaching that
contradicts this Ezekiel 9 PREFIGURE SCENARIO, is contradicting Ellen White and
SCRIPTURE, because Ezekie 5:9, proves that Ezekiel 9
is really PRIMARILY FULFILLED at the end-time when God
does the worst thing He has ever done or will ever do again. The
end-time interpretations of the current professing SDA New Movement Church,
violate this PREFIGURE SCENARIO stated by Ellen White and backed by Scripture.
Choose ye this day, between Scripture and Ellen White, versus "dumb dog
watchmen," who will NEVER AGAIN show the House of Jacob their sins,
Testimonies, vol. 5, 211, and Isaiah 56:10-12.
"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 take place, what would result? The
principles of truth that God in His wisdom ahs 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. The Sabbath of course, would be lightly regarded, as also the God who
created it. Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the NEW MOVEMENT.
The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice, but GOD BEING REMOVED,
they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is
worthless. Their foundation would be built on the sand, and storm and tempest
would sweep away the structure.
Who has authority to begin such a [NEW] movement? We have our Bibles, we have
our experience, attested to by the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit. We
have a truth that admits of no compromise. Shall we not repudiate everything
that is not in harmony with this truth? E.G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 1,
204, 205.
"The things you
have described as taking place in Indiana, the Lord has shown me would take
place just before the close of probation. Every uncouth thing will be
demonstrated. There will be shouting, with drums, music, and dancing. The
senses of rational beings will become so confused that they cannot be trusted
to make right decisions. And this is called the moving of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit never reveals itself in such methods, in such a bedlam of
noise. This is an invention of Satan to cover up his ingenious methods for
making of none effect the pure, sincere, elevating, ennobling, sanctifying
truth for this time. Better never have the worship of God blended with music
than to use musical instruments to do the work which last January was
represented to me would be brought into our camp meetings. The truth for this
time needs nothing of this kind in its work of converting souls. A bedlam of
noise shocks the senses and pervert that which if conducted aright might be a
blessing. The powers of satanic agencies blend with the din and noise, to have
a carnival, and this is termed the Holy Spirits working." Selected
Messages, vol. 2, p. 36.
"I saw the
nominal church and nominal Adventists, like Judas, would betray us to the
Catholics to obtain their influence to come against the truth. The saints then
will be an obscure [hidden] people, little known to the Catholics; but the
churches and nominal Adventists who know of our faith and customs (for they
hate us on account of the Sabbath, for they could not
refute it) will betray the saints and report them to the Catholics as those who
disregard the institutions of the people; that is, that they keep the Sabbath
and disregard Sunday.
Then the Catholics bid the Protestants to go forward, and
issue a decree that all who will not observe the first day of the week, instead
of the seventh day, shall be slain. And the Catholics, whose numbers are large,
will stand by the Protestants. The Catholics will give their power to the image
of the beast. And the Protestants will work as their mother worked before them
to destroy the saints. But before their decree bring or bear fruit, the saints
will be delivered by the Voice of God. Then I saw that Jesus' work in the
sanctuary will soon be finished. And after His work there is finished, He will
come to the door of the first apartment, and confess
the sins of Israel upon the head of the Scape Goat. Then He will put on the
garments of vengeance. Then the plagues will come upon the wicked, and they do
not come till Jesus puts on that garment, and takes Hs
place upon the great white cloud. Then while the plagues are falling, the Scape
Goat is being led away. He makes a mighty struggle to escape, but he is held
fast by the hand that leads him. If he should effect
his escape, Israel would lose their lives. I saw that it would take time to
lead away the Scape Goat into the land of forgetfulness after the sins were put
on his head.
The great white cloud I saw was not the holy place, but entirely separate from
the holy and most holy place, entirely separate from the sanctuary.
Then the angel repeated these words, and said, 'This is the time spoken of in
Isaiah. He saw that there was not man, and wondered
that there was no intercessor. He had no mediator between God and man, and
these plagues could be withheld no longer, for Jesus had ceased to plead for
Israel, and they were covered with the covering of the Almighty God, and they could
live in the sight of a holy God, and those who were not covered, the plagues
fell upon them, for they had nothing to shelter or protect them from the wrath
of God." E.G. White, Dorchester, Maine, October 23, 1850,
Spalding--Magan's Unpublished Mss. Testimonies, pp. 1, 2.
The Channel of
Communication to the people: "The disciples were the channel of
communication between Christ and the people. This should be a real
encouragement to His disciples today. Christ is the great center, the source of
all strength. His disciples are to receive their supplies from Him. The most
intelligent, the most spiritually minded, can bestow only as they receive. Of
themselves they can supply nothing for the needs of the soul. We can impart
only that which we receive from Christ; and we can receive only as we impart to
others. As we continue imparting, we continue to receive; and the more we
impart, the more we shall receive. Thus we may be
constantly believing, trusting, receiving, and imparting." The Desire of
Ages, 370.
COUNTERPART: "The
Lord commanded one of his ancient servants, 'Pray not thou for this people
[Jer. 7:16 and 11:14], neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; neither make
intercession to me; for I will not hear thee.' The prophet thus describes the sins
which had called forth this fearful denunciation: 'The prophets prophesy
falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have
it so; and what will ye do in the end thereof?' 'From the least of them even
unto the greatest of them, every one is given to
covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest, every one dealeth
falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly,
saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.' The apostles declare that
this state of things will find its COUNTERPART in the last days. Many
have a form of godliness, but in their daily life deny the power thereof. They
have ceased to be convicted of their sins or alarmed at their state. They say
in their hearts, 'The church is flourishing. Peace and spiritual prosperity are
within her borders.' The words of the prophet may well apply to these
self-deceivers, 'They have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in
their abominations. I also will choose their delusions, and
will bring their fears upon them." E. G. White, Second Advent Review
and Sabbath Herald, 11-07-82.
COUNTERPART: "In
the time of the Saviour, the Jews had so covered over the precious jewels of
truth with the rubbish of tradition and fable, that it was impossible to
distinguish the true from the false. The Saviour came to clear away the rubbish
of superstition and long-cherished errors, and to set the jewels of God's word
in the framework of truth. What would the Saviour do if he should come to us
now as he did to the Jews? He would have to do a similar work in clearing away
the rubbish of tradition and ceremony. The Jews were greatly disturbed when he
did this work [As are SDAs today!]. They had lost sight of the original truth
of God, but Christ brought it again to view. It is our work to free the
precious truths of God from superstition and error." E.G. White, Review
and Herald, vol. 2, 308.
There is a modern
COUNTERPART to the ancient apostate "chosen people" of God. That
modern COUNTERPART is the people who claim to be the modern "chosen
people" of God, the remnant, if you will.
There are over 100
statements to the affect that SDAs are repeating the history of ancient Israel.
Here are just a few of them:
"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 he 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 wide 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 worshppers 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 knowing the truth and a 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 has said that 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! However, I
concur with Ellen White that the church could and indeed has become the cage of
every unclean and hateful bird, language that is distinctly applied to Babylon
in Revelation 18, but Ellen White said it and not I. Credit her and not me. I
am agreeing with her.
"If the church of
God becomes LUKEWARM [LAODICEAN] it does not stand in favor with God any more
than do the churches that are represented as having fallen and become the
habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every
unclean and hateful bird. Those who have had opportunities to hear and receive
the truth, and who have united with the Seventh-day Adventist church, calling
themselves the commandment keeping people of God, and yet possess no more
vitality and consecration to God than do the nominal churches, will receive of
the plagues of God just as verily as the churches who oppose the law of
God." E.G. White, Letter 35, 1898.
If Laodicea is not
regarded with any more favor by God than the fallen churches, and the call of
Laodicea is to all churches, then there is no difference between Laodicea and
the fallen churches as far as being in a fallen state is concerned. Different
churches believe different aspects of Babylonian teachings, but Ellen White
equates them all as far as falling from the favor of God is concerned, and as
far as constituting the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit
and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
"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.
"Now it is just
EXACTLY as in the days of the Jews. When a message came in, why all the power
of the leaders [such some leaders on this forum] 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.
God bless,
Ron
Beaulieu