Ezekiel 9 Detailed Warning – Who, What Why, When and Where?

16For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed. Isaiah 9:16

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This issue is so infinitely important as a warning to God’s people, that He surely would not leave us in any doubt as to the serious details. God has given me the following instruction to give to His people as a fair warning whether they will hear or forbear.

 

The prophets of Israel gave a similar warning to apostate Israel. It was not given to them by the leaders who were implicated in the apostasy for which reason Ezekiel 9 was literally fulfilled against the apostate Jewish church. So don’t expect this warning from professing SDA leaders, any more than ancient Israel were warned by their culprit leaders.

 

A seasoned Bible student will recognize the fulfillment of Ezekiel 9 in Matthew 22:1-10. Indeed, Ellen White quoted those very verses in Sermons and Talks, Vol. 1, pp. 4-9.

 

The two calls made to the Jews by the servants of God, His disciples, and others ranging between 70 and 120 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciple_(Christianity) were made after the close of the 490 years of Israel’s probation (Daniel 9), which ended in A.D. 34, commensurate with the stoning of Stephen.

 

The parable is the call to the wedding Feast which is elaborated on in Matthew 25. Ellen White said the Midnight Cry warning which sounded in 1844, will be repeated again. Christ’s Object Lessons, pp. 405-406, depict that warning as given by the voice of God and the voice of the bride, which awakens all ten sleeping virgins who are invited as guests to the wedding. Great Controversy, pp. 426-427, says that if guests, they cannot also be the bride. That same reference implies that the people of the church are guests and the bride is the earthly representative of the heavenly kingdom church of Zion. The disciples are referred to as being part of the bride of Christ in Desire of Ages, 179.

 

Isaiah 62 says that Zion is married. That chapter says she has sons and daughters that marry her, but that Christ is her spouse. In Christ’s Object Lessons, pp. 405, 406, the bride awakens the ten virgins who are the people in the church (GC 426-427), who are regarded as her sons and daughters of Jerusalem. We know that the 144,000 form the actual body of Christ, with Him being the Head. We also know that only the 144,000 go into the Temple on Mt. Zion, Early Writings, p. 19, and Revelation 3:10-12, further identifies those who are pillars (leaders) in the Temple in heaven are Philadelphians.

 

Revelation 14:1-5, tells us that the bride is without blame and without guile in her mouth. She deals in pure truth. She is the true reformers, who are representative members of the Heavenly Jerusalem church of Zion (Sion), Hebrews 12:22, 23 and Isaiah 62.

Revelation 14

 1And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.

 2And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:

 3And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

 4These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

 5And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God. Revelation 14:1-5.

 

"Characteristics of True Reformers.--Here are given the characteristics of those who shall be reformers, who will bear the banner of the third angel's message, those who avow themselves God's commandment-keeping people, and who honor God, and are earnestly engaged, in the sight of all the universe, in building up the old waste places. Who is it that calls them, The repairers of the breach, The restorers of paths to dwell in? It is God. Their names are registered [written--Heb. 12:22, 23] in heaven as reformers, restorers, as raising the foundations of many generations." E. G. White, SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 4, 1151.

 

As Jesus personally called the disciples, so God personally calls the true reformers. Like the disciples, they have qualities that He wants in His representatives. They are not perfect when they are called. Like the disciples, they have serious problems to overcome:

 

Serious faults of the disciples

 

"God takes men as they are, with the human elements in their character, and trains them for His service, if they will be disciplined and learn of Him. They are not chosen because they are perfect, but notwithstanding their imperfections, that through the knowledge and practice of the truth, through the grace of Christ, they may become transformed into His image....

All the disciples had serious faults when Jesus called them to His service. Even John, who came into closest association with the meek and lowly One, was not himself naturally meek and yielding. He and his brother were called 'the sons of thunder.' While they were with Jesus, any slight shown to Him aroused their indignation and combativeness. Evil temper, revenge, the spirit of criticism, were all in the beloved disciple. HE was proud, and ambitious to be first in the kingdom of God. But day by day, in contrast with his own violent spirit, he beheld the tenderness and forbearance of Jesus, and heard His lessons of humility and patience. He opened his heart to the divine influence and became not only a hearer but a doer of the Saviour's words. Self was hid in Christ. He learned to wear the yoke of Christ and to bear His burden....

As His representatives among men, Christ does not choose angels who have never fallen, but human beings, men of like passions with those they seek to save." Desire of Ages, 294-5.

 

Weak and Erring -- "As the Elder Brother of our race He (Christ) knows that the messengers whom He sees fit to send are WEAK, ERRING men but to all who give themselves wholly to His service He promises divine aid." E.G. White, Acts of the Apostles, p. 56.

 

Though Christ’s chosen representatives are weak and erring, they are not apostates. They are not defiled with women, which means they have not permitted themselves to be part of any apostate church after learning of the apostasy. They are willing and ready to sever any such connections as soon as they discover such abominable defilements. All who refuse to separate from such defiling influences AFTER LEARNING OF THE DEFILEMENTS, cannot be part of the bride, and all who persist in remaining amongst defiling apostasy after learning of it will find it impossible for them to enter heaven, Word to the Little Flock, p. 14.

 

All who heard and understood the Midnight Cry call of Philadelphia, the bride, in 1844, but, who then or later renounced that call, received a shut door on salvation. All Adventists today who heard and understood that call, but later knowingly violate it to remain joined to a defiled woman (apostate church), find it impossible to get back on the pathway to heaven, ibid. This is extremely serious because it involves unpardonable sin. SDA leaders have imbibed this sin. Many of their patron members have followed their lead into unpardonable sin via the church ecumenical liaison’s with Babylon since the latter 1950’s, and its adoption of Babylon’s Trinity Doctrine since the 1980 General Conference World Session.

 

The calls of Matthew 22:1-10 are integrally linked to the sealing of Ezekiel 9, and the ensuing destruction of all who were not sealed (bound) for the heavenly garner by the disciples of Christ. No Holy Spirit led Bible scholar will deny that Matthew 22:7 was the A.D. 70 Ezekiel 9 destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. Empirically, Ezekiel 9 sealing (the Mark by the Man in Linen) could not begin until the Daniel 9, 490 year covenant between God and Israel during which they were to put away sin.

 

There can be no doubt that being marked by the Man in Linen, involved a positive response to the two calls made by His bride to follow Jesus and His disciples out of an apostate church into home churches. All who responded to those calls were saved. All who did not, were lost in the destruction of Jerusalem. Of course, along with the separation call, there were other conditions such as sighing and crying for all the abominations of the apostate church, as well as putting away sin in the life and in the church.

 

It is the bride who gives the shaking, awakening message. That message is the same message that was given by the disciples of Christ—to come out of defilement and sin to be a separate, peculiar people, a holy convocation unto the Lord Jesus.

 

Let’s study what happened to the servants of God who gave the shaking, sealing message to the Jewish apostate church. In Christ’s Object Lessons, 405, 406, the bridegroom goes to the house of His bride (The synagogue of Satan—her Father—the apostate Jewish church) to bring her to His own house, His true, undefiled house (church), Zion, the heavenly Sion of Hebrews, 12:22, 23, which she enters by faith until she enters there literally at the coming of the bridegroom the second time.

 

We find that when the ten slumbering virgins (they all slumbered and slept, Matt. 25), were called to come out of the apostate church to join the wedding procession of the bride to the bridegrooms house, the heavenly Zion (by faith—Early Writings, 260), THEY WOULD NOT COME, Matt. 22:3.

 

Then the Master sent forth other servants (vs. 4) and they made light of the call as many are doing today. In verse 6, they spitefully entreat His servants and kill them. In verse 8, those who were called but would not separate, were unworthy and they were lost in the Ezekiel 9 destruction of Jerusalem.

 

Then the call goes to the world.

Matthew 22

 1And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,

 2The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,

 3And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

 4Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.

 5But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:

 6And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

 7But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

 8Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.

 9Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.

 10So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.

 

 

Remember that these two calls were to God’s chosen people, His organized church. The calls were to come out of an apostate church into Christ’s reform church. This is substantiated in the following Scriptures:

 

Scripture on Home Churches

 

Act 16:32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

Act 16:34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.

Act 16:40 And they went out of the prison, and entered into [the house of] Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.

Act 18:7 And he departed thence, and entered into a certain [man's] house, named Justus, [one] that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.

Rom 16:5 Likewise [greet] the church that is in their house. Salute my well beloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.

1Cr 1:11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them [which are of the house] of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

1Cr 16:15 I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and [that] they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)

1Cr 16:19 The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.

 

These two calls are integrally tied to Ezekiel 9 and coming out of sin to be bound, sealed as God’s true Seventh-day Adventists who refuse to be defiled by a woman (church) that is in apostasy.

 

Because Ezekiel 9 is intrinsically tied with Matthew 22:1-10, with verse 7 even mentioning the Ezekiel 9 destruction of the murderous city, Jerusalem, we must reconcile this fact with Ellen White’s threefold statements that make everything we are discussing literally repeated at the end-time.  Here are those statements:

 

1.    Ellen White said that Ezekiel 9 will be literally fulfilled at the end-time.

2.    Ellen White said that the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 was a prefigure (type), The Great Controversy, p. 25. She said Jesus’ words to His disciples had a twofold meaning: (a) They foreshadowed the destruction of Jerusalem and (b) prefigured the terrors of the last great day. So the Ezekiel 9 destruction in A.D. 70 was a type of the Ezekiel 9 destruction that Ellen White said would be literally fulfilled at the end time.

3.    Ellen White reapplies Matthew 22:1-10 in Sermons and Talks, Vol. 1, pp. 4-9. Within those pages (4-9) Ellen White specifically quotes Matthew 22:7. She speaks of Matthew 22 in an end-time application. So these three points tie Ezekiel 9 contingently with Matthew 22.

 

Critical Conclusion: If Matthew 22 is contingent with the Ezekiel 9 destruction of Jerusalem, and Ezekiel 9 will be literally fulfilled at the end-time, then Matthew 22:1-10 is the order in which Ezekiel 9 will be fulfilled or Ezekiel 9 would not be literally fulfilled according to the timing sequence of its first literal fulfillment. This means that the murderous city, the apostate SDA church, will be destroyed just before the final call to the world. Here is how God has shown me it will transpire:

 

·       Per Ellen White, the SDA church will instruct is members to keep Sunday sacred.

·       This will enrage Satan and his fallen Babylonian churches. Why?

·       Because in the eyes of the other fallen churches, Adventists will have used the Sabbath issue for 150 years plus as a means to “stealing sheep” from Babylonian churches.

·       Because this will give professing, apostate Adventists even more opportunity to steal sheep when their SDA churches are attracting Sunday keepers every Sunday morning.

·       The SDA church will appear as the world class opportunistic whore she is when she violates what has been one of her prime reasons for being a separate denomination—keeping of the fourth commandment.

·       When the first Sunday death decree comes (there will be two different death decrees), and government officials turn their heads away from even those who anticipate the decree to kill all violators of Sunday, this is when the Ezekiel 9 slaughter of Adventists (as spiritual apostate Jerusalem) will ensue. This is before the final thrust of the Loud Cry and before probation closes. After probation closes, Satan makes one final effort to destroy the saints in one night, GC, 635. That is when God’s saints are delivered. That is the second death decree.

·       There are no martyrs after probation closes says Ellen White.

·       There are many martyrs before probation closes says Ellen White.

·       The Great Controversy, 653-656 is when Ezekiel 9 will be fulfilled upon Babylon and the world. This passage has been misinterpreted by SDA’s and their leaders. Notice the last paragraph on page 653: “Such are the judgments that fall upon Babylon in the day of the visitation of God's wrath. She has filled up the measure of her iniquity; her time has come; she is ripe for destruction.”  These definitive words set the context for the mention of Ezekiel 9 on page 656. Satan and SDA leaders don’t want you to know that. Satan wants to kill as many SDA’s as he can at the Ezekiel 9 slaughter of men, maidens and little children.

·       Ezekiel 5 gives us the sequential time frame of the Ezekiel 9 literal fulfillment upon Jerusalem, where it all begins. It is crucial to remember that Ellen White said the manifestation of Ezekiel 9 was TWOFOLD—involving Jerusalem first and Babylon and the world at the end-time, but since it is literal at the end-time as well, it BEGINS AT HIS SANCTUARY, HIS CHURCH, 5T 211.

·       Here is the manifestation of Ezekiel 9 on Jerusalem FIRST, beginning at the House of God, the House of Jacob. Remember that Ezekiel 5 is just another take on Ezekiel 9 and the reasons for its literal application upon Jerusalem, the apostate SDA church. This application upon Jerusalem is in full sight of all other nations. In other words, the whole world is not going down in Ezekiel 9 destruction in this Ezekiel 5 application—just apostate Jerusalem!

Ezekiel 5

 1And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.

 2Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.

 3Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.

 4Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.

 5Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.

 6And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.

 7Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you;

 8Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.

 9And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations.

 10Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.

 11Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.

 12A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.

 13Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.

 14Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.

 15So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.

Note: There would be no purpose in making an example BY WAY OF AN INSTRUCTION, of apostate Adventists after the close of probation and/or while the whole world is going down together with Babylon in Ezekiel 9 destruction.

 16When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:

 17So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee: and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.

“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 Jerusalem, it prefigured also the terrors of the last great day.” The Great Controversy, p. 25.

 

The world is not called until after verses 9 and 10. If wheat and tares dwell together until the final harvest at the end of the world, what in the world was Jesus and His followers doing separating the wheat from the dross in A.D. 34 and on? Why did they separate themselves from a religion of forms and ceremonies?

 

For the answer to that question, we get a huge hint from Revelation 14:1-5. It says the 144,000 were not defiled by women (churches). So a fallen church can defile. How does a fallen church defile? The Jews demonstrated that defilement in Jeremiah 11:9-15. Let’s see what they did, and remember this is God’s “chosen” doing this:

 

 9And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

 10They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.

Adventists turned back to the iniquities of our forefathers from 1957 and on.

 11Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.

 12Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.

 13For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.

Every abomination is a god we choose over God. Every abomination is an altar of incence uto Baal.

 14Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.

 15What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest [Adventists CELEBRATED]. Jeremiah 11:9-15.

 

Parallels with Apostate, new movement, new organization Adventism which the Lord has shown me in vision:

 

·       In the mid 1950’s a conspiracy was found in the midsts of the inhabitants (members) of spiritual Jerusalem, the professing SDA church. To avoid being called a cult by Walter Martin, the church began to form a new movement organization. It conspired with the Evangelical in a conference with the late Dr. Walter Martin and Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse to change pillar doctrines of Adventism. The doctrines involved were the Godhead and the human nature of Christ. Antichrist positions were adopted on these two doctrines.

·       Adventists professed to be Evangelical, so Dr’s Martin and Barnhouse said okay, if you want to be evangelical, prove it by your fellowship with Evangelicals.

·       Hold joint Easter sunrise services with us.

·       Let us speak in your churches and colleges.

·       Let us speak at your General Conference World Sessions. (Which are supposed to be the voice of God to the church).

·       Join our ecumenical Ministerial Associations, National Councils and Confederacies.

·       Change your books to reflect what we teach on the Godhead and the Human nature of Christ—that He was NOT come in sinful flesh (Ellen White said He did. God said He did—in the likeness of sinful flesh).

·       Adopt our mode of Celebration Worship.

·       Write a book proving your intentions to cooperate with Evangelicals. That book was Answers to Questions on Doctrine, or we will brand you as a cult in Dr. Martins (then) upcoming book: Kingdom of the Cults.

·       Around that same time, the latter 1950’s, the SDA new movement, new organization, joined the Hungarian Council of Free Churches and the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. The Adventist Review admitted membership in the Hungarian council for more than 30 years when the Hungarian protest of about 1400-1500 Hungarians protested that membership.

·       Up to the Hungarian protest, Adventist new movement leadership ardently denied that the church was a member of any such council. They lied.

·       In the latter 1980’s I obtained a Directory of Christian Councils published by the World Council of Churches. In that directory, Adventists were listed as MEMBERS in the following countries:

o   Belize p. 100

o   Hong Kong p. 63

o   Solomon Islands p. 195

o   Cook Islands p. 189

o   Sweden p 158

o   Bahamas p. 99

·       On page 244, the last page, it says: “In addition to the relationships with regional and national councils of churches mentioned above, the WCC is in working relationship with many Christian World Communions, including. . . . Seventh-day Adventists.

·       The first representative from Andrews University to the ecumenical movement was Dr. Earle Hilgert. He later became a Presbyterian Minister.

·       I called the next SDA church representative Dr. B.B. Beach, on the phone and asked him why the church was ecumenically involved when God’s Word expressly forbids such. He denied any involvement whatsoever. I soon after discovered the Directory to Christian Councils, so he outright lied to me. He told me I had better be careful how I spoke to the prophets of God, meaning himself. You see, the Bible says that the “prophets” in Jerusalem divine lies. You cannot trust them. He was using prophet in the broad sense of the word which means someone who claims to represent God.

·       I then called the General Conference Treasurer and asked him how much the church had given to the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. that year. He promptly replied: “I will check the ledger and tell you.” He came back to the phone and stated a sum in excess of $8,000 for that year. Multiply a similar cost for SDA’s belonging to Babylon’s National Councils around the world and that makes a lot of tithe money going to support Babylon’s teachings! Does it matter whether or not the church is teaching all of the errors of Babylon, when it is financing them? But like Israel, it is not necessary to teach all the characteristics of Babylon in order to be classed with Babylon. Ellen White said if the church became and remained Laodicean, in God’s eyes it would be no better than Babylon. It did become and become and remain Laodicean beyond the fourth generation, and that is critical which you will see from the next document I will be presenting. But because the church knew the truth, it is worse than Babylon to descend back into the iniquities of our forefathers.

·       SDA leaders instructed Russian parents to send their children to school on Sabbath. So we are no longer talking the commandment-KEEPING people of God. www.omegaministries.info/inquisitionbauler.htm

·       Are you guilty for such apostasy if you are a member of omega of apostasy new movement Adventism?

·       "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 Israel because of their sins. God holds His people, as a body [corporately], responsible for the sins existing in individuals among them." Testimonies, vol. 3, p. 269.

·       "The names of those who sin and refuse to repent should not be retained on the church books, lest the saints be held accountable for their evil deeds. Those who pursue a course of transgression should be visited and labored with, and if they then refuse to repent, they should be separated from church fellowship, in accordance with the rules laid down in the Word of God." {11MR 208.3}

 

“Traditions and falsehoods are exalted above the Scriptures; reason and science above revelation; human talent above the teachings of the Spirit; forms and ceremonies above the vital power of godliness. We need the divine touch.” (RH March 19, 1895).

{4BC 1142.1}

 

Why Paul left

 

"And as they persisted in their rejection of the gospel the apostle (Paul) went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of 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.

 

The bride, the disciples, had been “gathered out” earlier in A.D. 27, as the first act of Christ’s ministry. His bride, the true reformers, was CALLED BY GOD, Jesus, and then that bride attempted to awaken the sleeping virgins in the Jewish church with a shaking, separation message.

 

"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.

 

Matthew 22 Sermons and Talks, Vol. 1, pp. 4-9

 

Called to the Wedding Feast

 

(Sermon by Ellen G. White In Washington, Township, Iowa, Cir. 1874.)

 

     The words which I have selected as a foundation for a few remarks you will find in the 22nd chapter of Matthew, beginning at the first verse. [Verses 1-10, quoted.] {1SAT 4.1}

 

     The portion of Scripture presented before us, which I have referred to and have presented before your minds, is of intense meaning--much more than I am able to explain. It is of great interest to us, and we should consider it, and let it have due weight upon our minds. We find by perusing God's sacred Word of inspiration that when the promised Messiah, the Son of God, came into the world His own people, even His own nation--the Jews--would not and did not receive Him. As we are told in the first chapter of St. John, "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (John 1:11). {1SAT 4.2}

 

     The provision was made, but they would not receive it. The Father Himself provided a ransom, even a sacrifice. His own dear Son submitted Himself to His Father's requirements, came into this sinful world, became a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. He went about doing good, speaking in tones of tenderness, saying in the deepest and most fervent and sweetest accents ever uttered, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart"; and He assures us we shall find rest to our souls. {1SAT 4.3}

 

     "Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise."

 

 

                                      -5- {1SAT 4.4}

 

     The great King Himself hath made a marriage for His Son. He hath sent forth His servants for many hundreds of years, saying, "Come, for all things are ready." But how little do they [His people]  heed the invitation! They make light of it and go their ways to their worldly pursuits and worldly pleasures, the same as they have done for centuries. But the King sendeth forth His armies and destroys those murderers and burns up their city [church], and we are told in the ninth chapter of Daniel, the 26th verse, that "the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city...; and the end thereof shall be with a flood." {1SAT 5.1}

 

     "Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage." {1SAT 5.2}

 

     In the 14th chapter of Luke, verse 16, we find that there was made a great supper and many were bidden. Servants were sent forth to say to those that were bidden, "Come; for all things are now ready" [verse 17]. But they made excuses. {1SAT 5.3}

 

     The King of the kingdom hath made a marriage supper for His Son. He hath sent forth His servants to say to those which are bidden, "Come to the marriage." The Lord is sending His servants, saying unto all who will hear, "Come, make ready for the great marriage supper of the Lamb; He is soon coming to receive all the faithful to the mansions prepared by Him, to partake of the feast which He hath prepared." He is sending, and hath been sending His servants for some thirty years past to say unto His people, "Come, make ready, put on your wedding garments; clothe yourselves with meekness, humility, and truth, and have yourselves clad in the righteousness of Christ, that you may be

 

 

                                      -6-

 

able to appear before Him, and enter into the guest chamber with those who shall sit with Me at the wedding of My Son." {1SAT 5.4}

 

     All must be clothed with the wedding garment in order to be accepted, lest we be found speechless. {1SAT 6.1}

 

     Is it not of the greatest importance that we be found having on the robe of righteousness, that we be ready when the Bridegroom cometh to enter in to the marriage supper? May we heed the invitation given and make ourselves ready that we may have admittance into the Master's house, that He say not unto us that none which were bidden shall taste of His supper. In the parable, those who were bidden heeded not its invitation, but continued excusing themselves, feasting upon the pleasures of this world as the masses do at the present time. {1SAT 6.2}

 

     The servants of God are inviting and entreating them to come away from the alluring scenes of this vain and fleeting world, to make ready for the marriage supper, but they will not come. We hear them saying, There's no danger; tomorrow shall be as this day and much more abundant; no need of being disturbed. We must needs attend to farms and merchandise and the things of this life, lest we lose worldly interests, and become poor and suffer want. They forget that He who careth for the little sparrows and clotheth the lilies of the field, careth for the humble, trusting soul, and will guide and direct all those who are ready to do His will, and bestow upon His dear children such things as they need. To all who through patience and perseverance overcome, He hath promised to give a crown of never fading glory, a robe of righteousness, and an entrance into the beautiful city of our God. {1SAT 6.3}

 

     This same King is sending forth His servants today. He is inviting His guests, saying, "Come, for all things are now ready." The Lord of the marriage

 

 

                                      -7-

 

is soon coming: behold, He is at the door. Delay not to open the door, lest He turn away from receiving you and you enter not into the marriage feast. Open the door and receive the Master, that you may enter into the mansions of everlasting rest and never fading glory prepared for all those that love Him. Who will make ready for the coming of Him who hath said, "Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give to every man according as his work shall be" [Rev. 22:12]. {1SAT 6.4}

 

     If we neglect our spiritual interests, neglect to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable duty, we become entangled with the trifling cares of this life. If we even once omit our daily duty of calling upon God for His divine aid, His care and protection, we lose one day's enjoyment. We have not the sweet, melting influence of God's Holy Spirit attending us through the day, but we feel cast down and easily discouraged. The enemy of souls is ready to take advantage [of us] and often does, bringing us into captivity and sin. {1SAT 7.1}

 

     We may sometimes be cumbered about much serving, like Martha; but how much more commendable was the act of Mary, who sat and listened to the teachings of Jesus. He says, "Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but . . . . Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:41, 42). {1SAT 7.2}

 

     How many times the things of this vain, deceitful world come between us and our eternal interests! Temporal things spring up within our hearts and choke those things which are spiritual. We permit the enemy of righteousness to persuade us that we should attend to the things of this life. We now and then neglect greater duties lest we suffer want. If we faithfully entreat God to

 

 

                                      -8-

 

give us strength and to perform temporal duties, and at the same time to give us grace and wisdom to overcome evil; if we have our hopes centered above and our conversation in heaven, whence we look for the Son of man who has bidden to the marriage all who will come: who has gone up on high to prepare mansions for all those who love and keep His sayings, and has told us He is coming to receive us, we may enter in to the wedding feast with Him, that where He is there we may be also. If we turn away from those calls and invitations, what will be the consequence? {1SAT 7.3}

 

     In the 13th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, 46th verse, we find that if we put God's work from us, and judge ourselves unworthy of everlasting life, we have no reason to expect an entrance into the kingdom. The 24th verse of the 14th chapter of Luke informs us that "none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." {1SAT 8.1}

 

     The great eternal Father has prepared a marriage feast for His Son. Will we give heed to His servants who have been and are being sent forth to proclaim unto us the solemn invitation? Or shall we make light of it? Oh, why refuse to make ready for the marriage of the Son of God? There is room for all who will accept the invitation. None can say [that] those things were not duly represented. Remember, when the good man returns, those who are ready will go in to the feast and the door will be shut, and there will be no further entrance, for we read that when "the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door" (Luke 13:25), then those who would find admittance will hear the answer, "I know you not. . . ; depart from Me." {1SAT 8.2}

 

     May we heed well the solemn warning and make ready to enter into the wedding, that His house may be filled. God's Word informs us, "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city" (Rev. 22:14). May we be found faithful, and give diligence to our calling, and possess the promised reward of the faithful, is my prayer.--Ms 8, 1874. (MR 900.56) {1SAT 8.3}

 

End of Matthew 22 Parable from Sermon and Talks.

 

Lessons From Israel’s Apostasy

 

“In his study of the causes leading to the Babylonish captivity, Ezra had learned that Israel's apostasy was largely traceable to their mingling with heathen nations. He had seen that if they had obeyed God's command to keep separate from the nations surrounding them, they would have been spared many sad and humiliating experiences. Now when he learned that notwithstanding the lessons of the past, men of prominence had dared transgress the laws given as a safeguard against apostasy, his heart was stirred within him. He thought of God's goodness in again giving His people a foothold in their native land, and he was overwhelmed with righteous indignation and with grief at their ingratitude. "When I heard this thing," he says, "I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.” {PK 620.1}

 

“Elijah addressed Ahab, "Get thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain." While Ahab went up to feast, Elijah went up from the fearful sacrifice to the top of Mount Carmel to pray. His work of slaying the pagan priests did not unfit him for the solemn exercise of prayer. He had performed the will of God. After he had, as God's instrument, done what he could to remove the cause of Israel's apostasy, in slaying the idolatrous priests, he could do no more. He then intercedes in behalf of sinning, apostate Israel. In the most painful position, he bowed with his face between his knees, and most earnestly supplicated God to send rain. Six times successively he sent his servant to see if there was any visible token that God had heard his prayer. He would not become impatient and faithless because the Lord did not immediately give the token that his prayer was heard. He continued in earnest prayer, sending his servant seven times, to see if God had granted any signal. His servant returned the sixth time from his outlook toward the sea, with the discouraging report that there was no sign of clouds forming in the brassy heavens. The seventh time he informed Elijah that there was a small cloud to be seen, about the size of a man's hand. This was enough to satisfy the faith of Elijah. He did not wait for the heavens to gather blackness, to make the matter sure. In that small, rising cloud, his faith hears the sound of abundance of rain. Elijah's works are in accordance with his faith. He sends a message to Ahab by his servant, "Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not." {RH, October 7, 1873 par. 3}

 

Chap. 341 - Where Apostasy Begins

 

     Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. 2 Peter 3:17. {OHC 347.1}

 

     In these last days, when iniquity shall abound, and the love of many shall wax cold, God will have a people to glorify His name, and stand as reprovers of unrighteousness. They are to be a "peculiar people," who will be true to the law of God, when the world shall seek to make void its precepts; and when the converting power of God works through His servants, the hosts of darkness will array themselves in bitter and determined opposition. Satan will work with "all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness." He will employ every device of deception to seduce the souls of men. . . . {OHC 347.2}

 

“The work of apostasy begins in some secret rebellion of the heart against the requirements of God's law. Unholy desires, unlawful ambitions, are cherished and indulged, and unbelief and darkness separate the soul from God. If we do not overcome these evils, they will overcome us. {OHC 347.3}

 

Men who have long been advancing in the path of truth, will be tested with trial and temptation. Those who listen to the suggestions of Satan, and swerve from their integrity, begin the downward path, and some masterful temptation hastens them on in the way of apostasy, till their descent is marked and rapid. Sins that were once most repugnant, become attractive, and are welcomed and practiced by those who have cast off the fear of God and their allegiance to His law. But the most pleasurable beginning in transgression, will end in misery, degradation, and ruin.” {OHC 347.4}

 

“We need to be constantly on our guard, to watch and pray lest we enter into temptation. The indulgence of spiritual pride, of unholy desires, of evil thoughts, of anything that separates us from an intimate and sacred association with Jesus, imperils our souls. We must have living faith in God. . . . If the thought of apostasy is grievous to you, and you do not desire to become the enemies of the truth,... then "abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good." Rom. 12:9. {OHC 347.5}

 

It is reported that the Lord’s Day Alliance has the name and location of every member of the Seventh-day Adventist church. That organization is the one that is working hard for Sunday laws. It is time, friends, to become obscure, for the NOMINAL new movement you were never supposed to join will betray you to the Catholics.

 

 "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.

 

If you can’t see how the omega of apostasy new movement, new organization 1SM 204-205, is NOMINAL (name only), then get on your knees and pray until you can see it!

 

 

—rwb