Who
Will Persecute Whom in the
Time
of Trouble?
Dear Reader,
Some very errant professing SDAs are trying to
maintain that the Reformers will be some of the worst persecutors of the
professing SDA church structure after the Sunday Law.
It would seem reasonable to me to look about
right now to see who is inflicting persecution right now. This might be a
more reliable determinative factor in anticipating just who will persecute
whom in the time of trouble. The professing SDA church is taking many
faithful SDAs to court. Steps to Life Ministries has reported how in
third-world countries the church leaders have been instrumental in getting
the home churches of independent ministries burned or otherwise destroyed.
This, to me, is indicative of who will persecute whom. To date, I know of not
one incident where an independent SDA Reformer has persecuted any professing
Seventh-day Adventist.
In all of history the True Reformers have never
done any persecuting. Rater, they were always the persecuted! Granted, there
will be apostate folk who will leave the professing SDA Church structure and
the principles of Adventism altogether, who will indeed be some of the worst
persecutors of True Reformer, remnant Seventh-day Adventists.
Now Please Notice:
In Light of... the Lawsuit Against Rafael Perez
Part 1 of 5
"Bob Jones University"
Rafael Perez of the Eternal Gospel Church in
Florida has lost to the SDA corporate church the lawsuit over the right to
use the name "Seventh-day Adventist". The Eternal Gospel Church has
been preaching and spreading the three angels' messages, and thus, exposing
the man of sin, through the printed page, on radio, as well as in ads placed
in major newspapers. What does this have to do with Bob Jones University?
This university adheres to the historic Protestant understanding of the
Papacy being Antichrist, and the Pope as the man of sin, and has been very
vocal about this truth.
Many are aware of Senator John McCain's attack
against Governor George Bush for speaking at Bob Jones University. But, what
many do not know is that Democratic Senator Robert Torricelli recently
introduced Concurrent Resolution 85 in the U.S. Senate which condemns Bob
Jones University for racial and religious intolerance. A similar Resolution
was also introduced in the House. Among other things, this Resolution states:
"Whereas officials of Bob Jones University
have likened the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church to a 'possessed demon' and
branded Catholicism as a 'satanic system and religion of the anti-Christ'. .
.
"Resolved, That the Senate- 1) condemns
practices, such as those prevalent at Bob Jones University, that seek to
discriminate against and divide Americans on the basis of race, ethnicity,
and religion; and 2) strongly denounces individuals who seek to subvert the
American ideals of inclusion, equality and social justice."
Not only this, but The Interfaith Alliance, a
liberal Protestant organization dedicated to the separation of Church and
State, recently held a press conference endorsing and supporting this
Resolution. Their spokesman, a Mr. Gaddy, declared
at this press conference: "On behalf of concerned people of faith, I
urge members of the Senate and House to denounce any association of bigotry,
discrimination, and intolerance with religious faith.
"For Bob Jones University to foment bigotry
in the name of Christianity is the height of hypocrisy, if not heresy."
We have liberal Protestants (the Church) urging
Congress (the State) to condemn the historical Protestant truths regarding
Roman Catholicism as being "heresy", and to denounce any
association, organization, or individual who should proclaim these truths as
guilty of spreading "intolerance", "bigotry",
"discrimination", and subverting the ideals of the American public!
Thus, any who choose to spread these truths (which are a major portion of the
three angels' messages) and who publicly declare the truth that Roman
Catholicism (as well as all the apostate Protestant churches) are part of
Satan's kingdom of Babylon the Great, will be viewed as preaching
"intolerance", will be looked upon as being "heretics",
and will soon be guilty of committing a "hate crime"!
Not only this, but the Pope of Catholicism
recently gave a public prayer in which he asked God to forgive the Roman
Catholic church for the sins it committed in all the generations of the past
ages. Even though the Pope kept the prayer very general and non-specific, and
even though he stopped short of defining what sins he was asking God to
forgive the church, this was still an unprecedented step in the process of
unity and brotherhood among the religions of the world!
Satan is zealously working through all of these
events to bind about and stop the preaching of the three angels' messages! He
hates these last messages of mercy, and is doing all he can to quiet those
who are or would herald these precious gems of truth to others! The devil
will use any agent he can (whether a person, group, or church) who will
devote themselves to his service, work to destroy these messages, and silence
those who preach them. It is high time that we spread this precious message
now, while we still have the freedom to do so! If we don't, we will either
have to preach it under the most discouraging circumstances, or we will take
our stand with the apostates, as we have been clearly warned:
"The work which the church has failed to do
in a time of peace and prosperity she will have to do in a terrible crisis
under most discouraging, forbidding circumstances. The warnings that worldly
conformity has silenced or withheld must be given under the fiercest
opposition from enemies of the faith. And at that time the superficial,
conservative class, whose influence has steadily retarded the progress of the
work, will renounce the faith and take their stand with its avowed enemies,
toward whom their sympathies have long been tending. These apostates will
then manifest the most bitter enmity, doing all in
their power to oppress and malign their former brethren and to excite
indignation against them. This day is just before us. The members of the
church will individually be tested and proved. They will be placed in
circumstances where they will be forced to bear witness for the truth. Many
will be called to speak before councils and in courts of justice, perhaps
separately and alone. The experience which would have helped them in this
emergency they have neglected to obtain, and their souls are burdened with
remorse for wasted opportunities and neglected privileges." 5T page 463
In light of the lawsuit against Rafael Perez,
Senator John McCain's attack against Governor George Bush, Concurrent
Resolution 85, The Interfaith Alliance statement, and the Pope's prayer, we
don't have much time, we better get busy!
Jim Snipes snipes@sonic.net
In Light of... the Lawsuit Against Rafael Perez
Part 2 of 5
"The Message Now Given"
In the opening statements of the SDA church at the
trial are plainly revealed what message the church is now giving. Is it
standing up for God and voicing the three angels' messages upon which the
church was originally founded? Or is it plainly showing that they are
apostates, working for Satan, and voicing his message of "intolerance"
towards these truths of God? Is the SDA church in union with God and His true
remnant people, or in union with Catholicism, apostate Protestantism, and
Satan?
Many are aware that the Eternal Gospel Church in
Florida has lost to the SDA corporate church the lawsuit over the right to
use the name "Seventh-day Adventist". What many may not be aware of
is that in the opening statements of the SDA church at the trial are plainly
revealed to all who want to see exactly whom the church is really united with
and working for.
In the opening statements of the SDA church, The
Eternal Gospel church, as well as all its members, are declared to be "a
hate group" who preach "intolerance". The Associated Press
report of the first day of this trial is as follows:
"The national headquarters for Seventh-day
Adventists asked a federal judge on Monday to bar a West Palm Beach church it
considers 'a hate group' from using the denomination's trademark name.
"Newspaper and radio advertising run
nationally by the Eternal Gospel Church of Seventh-day Adventists denounces
Catholics and most Protestants for worshiping on Sunday and likens them to
Satanists and pagans.
"The ads indicate 'intolerance, a hate
group,' [SDA] denomination attorney Jeffrey Tew
said in opening statements. He called it 'a classic case of a breakaway
church trying to use the mother church's name.'
"Church attorney [for Eternal Gospel] Robert Pershes told U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King that
the name 'Seventh-day Adventist', registered as a trademark in 1980, is a
generic term describing the religion.
"'What we have here is the trademark law
being used in a religious context when it was intended to be used
commercially.' Pershes said. 'One particular
religion, even if it's a large segment of the religion, should not be allowed
to get a monopoly.'
"The court fight has attracted worldwide
interest among the denomination's 10 million followers. Dr. Russel Standish. . . plans to
testify on behalf of the church pastor Rafael Perez's right to use the
Adventist name.
"'The issue is vital to religious liberty,'
Standish said outside court. 'It's a generic name.
Anyone who wants to can call themselves a Seventh-day Adventist. . . '
"Pershes drew a
round of 'amen's from spectators, many of whom carried well-worn Bibles and
prayer books, when he said prophet 'Ellen White said the name Seventh-day
Adventist is given to us by God.'. . .
"The trial is expected to last five to seven
days." Sun-Sentinel.com Web Newspaper, web-posted 12:05 a.m. March 14,
2000, titled "Adventists accuse West Palm Beach church of being a 'hate
group'."
Did you catch the importance of what the SDA
church has stated here? The SDA church is publicly declaring that anyone who
preaches the three angels' messages are preaching "intolerance" and
are part of "a hate group"! They are also declaring that they do
not want any connection with those who are preaching these life and death
messages, and they are willing to go to court to prove it! The SDA church is
plainly showing her unity with the other apostate Protestant churches by
voicing the same message of "intolerance" as they are, and has even
gone farther than these other Babylonian churches by declaring those who
stand for and proclaim the message of the loud cry are part of "a hate group"!
The SDA church was originally raised up to
proclaim the three angels' messages, but now they are declaring that they
would be preaching "intolerance" and be part of "a hate
group" if they would live up to their original charter from God! Then what
does this plainly testify the SDA church has done with these heavenly
messages which exposes Catholicism as far as they are concerned? We will let
a past General Conference president answer this pertinent question - in the
Reply Brief for Defendants of the Mary Kay-Silver trial, on page 4, Neil C.
Wilson stated for the SDA church:
"Although it is true that there was a period
in the life of the Seventh-day Adventist Church when the denomination took a
distinctly anti-Roman Catholic viewpoint, and the term 'hierarchy' was used
in a perjoritive sense to refer to the papal form
of church governance, that attitude on the church's part was nothing more
than a manifestation of widespread anti popery among conservative Protestant
denominations in the early part of this century and the latter part of the
last, and which has now been consigned to the historical trash heap so far as
the Seventh-day Adventist Church is concerned." Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission vs the Pacific Press
Publishing Association and SDA Church, civ #74-2025
CBR, 1975.
To many, the opening statements of the SDA church
in the Rafael Perez lawsuit publicly and legally distancing herself from the
messages of Revelation 14 and 18, are startling to
say the least. But this is not the first time the SDA church has officially
taken this blatant course against God and His last saving message of mercy!
In 1991, a similar situation occurred in Australia
in which the SDA church was suing a group of independent SDA brethren for
publishing and distributing a paper called "The Protestant". This
paper contained articles dealing with the fundamental truths upon which the
SDA church was originally founded, Biblically showing that the identity of
the little horn of Daniel 7, the leopard-like beast of Revelation 13, the
anti-Christ and the man of sin all pointed to the Roman Catholic Church and
the pope, as well as the mark of the beast being Sunday worship after it is a
law, and God's seventh-day Sabbath being Saturday.
The reason why the SDA church became involved in
this 1991 lawsuit is also similar because the independent brethren used the
name "Seventh-day Adventist" as being the group responsible for
this Protestant paper. The SDA church stated that they initiated this lawsuit
against these independent brethren because the church "does have a duty
to its members and must take all steps necessary to protect and maintain its
good name and integrity within the community. . . "
Letter to Chris Lewin, December 3, 1991,
from McCarthy, Palethorpe & Blanch (the law
firm representing the SDA church in Australia).
What about the position of the SDA church
regarding the truths of the three angels' messages taught in this paper?
Richard Coombe, the director of the Public Affairs
and Religious Liberty Department of the South Pacific Division of the SDA
Church, makes the following "authorized" statement in behalf of the
church: ". . . 'The Protestant' magazine misrepresents the beliefs of
the Seventh-day Adventist Church. . . Further, the damage being suffered by
the Church is immediate. . . The only effective way to stop the damage is to
stop the publication of 'The Protestant'. . . The damage being suffered will
inevitably adversely affect the public support the Church receives, and the
standing the Church enjoys. . . " January 3,
1992, Affidavit of Raymond Leslie Coombe, pg 5-6.
The SDA church also sought the destruction of all
existing copies of "The Protestant" not yet distributed, as well as
a restraint to be placed upon the defendants barring them from ever
publishing any such material in the future without Conference approval! In
this act, the SDA church was appealing to the State to use its civil power to
stop the spreading of the truth the church once stood for!
It should be plainly obvious to all who want to
see, that the SDA church has given up her beliefs in, and her position upon,
the three angels' messages of Revelation 14 and 18! The church no longer
upholds these precious truths of God, but has cast them away in order to
stand upon a satanic platform of unity with Catholicism and all the rest of
the apostate churches of Babylon. Thus the SDA church has given up the
reason, as well as the foundational basis, for why she was raised up by God
in the first place!
As the church has stepped off this eternal
platform of truth, and thereby becoming the biggest "offshoot"
there is, then what valid basis is there for her claim to still be God's true
remnant church? She is no longer existing to spread the three angels'
messages, nor is she existing to work for God's glory and honor in winning
souls from darkness through these truths. Instead, she is only existing to
try and hinder the spreading of these heavenly messages, and therefore is
working for the Devil's glory and honor in trying to win souls from truth to
darkness!
Since the SDA church has given up the truth and has
publicly and legally disassociated herself from those who are preaching it,
this plainly shows that she has indeed apostatized from God and His truth.
How then can she be a church of God? It is an impossibility.
In light of the lawsuit against Rafael Perez,
Wilson's statement at the Mary Kay-Silver trial, and the lawsuit against the
publishers of "The Protestant", the SDA church is no longer a part
of the true church in any way, shape, or form, but has definitely become a
church of the enemy of Christ - the Synagogue of Satan, or those who say they
are Jews (God's true people) but who are not, because they do lie (see
Revelation 2:9, 3:9).
Ellen White warned all God's people that this
would occur: "You think, that those who worship
before the saint's feet, (Rev. 3:9), will at last be saved. Here I must
differ with you; for God shew me that this class were PROFESSED ADVENTISTS,
who had fallen away, and 'crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh, and
put him to an open shame.'. . . " A Word to the
Little Flock, pg 12.
Jim Snipes snipes@sonic.net
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