Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to
make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child
of hell than yourselves. Matthew
23:15
Ellen
White put it this way:
Pattern after other churches: "A new order of
things has COME INTO the ministry. There is a desire to pattern after other
churches and simplicity and humility are almost unknown. The young ministers
seek to be original, and to introduce new ideas and new plans for labor. Some
open revival meetings, and by this means call large numbers into the church. But when the excitement is
over, where are the converted ones? Repentance and confession of sin are not
seen. The sinner is entreated to believe in Christ and accept Him, without
regard to his past life of sin and rebellion. The heart is not broken. There is
no contrition of soul. The supposed converted ones have not fallen upon the
Rock, Christ Jesus." E.G. White, Selected Messages, Bk. 2, pp. 18, 19.
Will false conversions be one of the reasons for a
literal manifestation of Ezekiel 9 BEGINNING at His Church, His sanctuary?
"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 time will soon come when the prophecy of
Ezekiel 9 will be fulfilled; that prophecy should be carefully studied, for it will be fulfilled to
the very letter.”— Ellen G.
White 1888 Materials, p. 1303.
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 [leaders], 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.
The first typical
literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 9 was the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. No
literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 9 could have been fulfilled before that time,
because in Daniel 9 Israel was given 490 years probation to put away sin. That
time of probation ended in A.D. 34, commensurate with the stoning of Stephen.
At that time, which was also commensurate with the Day of Pentecost, the
disciples began gathering out faithful Christians from the apostate Jewish
Temple into home churches.
Everything
described in Chapter 1 of The Great Controversy, p. 25, Ezekiel
22:17-31, Matthew 22:1-10, is a depiction of what occurred in the last literal
fulfillment of Ezekiel 9. Matthew 22:7 is the destruction of the Temple and
Jerusalem, before the Loud Cry to the then known world.
The Great Controversy,
p. 25 reference says that Jesus’ words to His disciples on the destructive
events to come, were a prefigure of the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem,
as well as prefiguring the last events involving this world. Notice:
“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.
Josephus
says the corporate destruction BEGAN with the Temple and then spread to the
city proper. This is exactly as Ezekiel prophesied in chapter 9. This was a
LITERAL fulfillment of Ezekiel 9, God’s sealing chapter, which could not be fulfilled
until after the 490 years of Israel’s probation ended in A.D. 34. Ellen White
says this destruction BEGINNING AT GOD’S CHURCH, HIS SANCTUARY, will be
literally fulfilled again TO THE LETTER. We had better ask God to show us ALL
the reasons why this occurs, for our very sealing to be saved depends upon our
sighing and crying for all the abominations committed by God’s church, His
sanctuary, that make this corporate destruction literal again at
the end-time. Here is an in-depth study of the
abominations:
http://omega77.tripod.com/abominationslistof.htm
—rwb