"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 has 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.
----- Original Message -----
From: Paula
To: adventist-fm@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 3:40 AM
Subject: [Adventist-fm] FoodFor Thought
"The churches are fighting one another over theological
debates, when we should be fighting for people who can't read or don't have
enough to eat...I think you can profess the Apostles' Creed until Jesus
returns, but if you don't love somebody, you were never a Christian."
Rich Mullins, the "Awesome God" guy.
"My most painful experiences have been when I've had a
problem and no one loved me enough to tell me about it." Paul Cedar
Ron responds:
-----
Original Message -----
From: Ron Beaulieu
To: Adventist-fm@yahoogroups.com ;
AdventistHotIssues@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 4:02 AM
Subject: [AdventistHotIssues] Re:
[Adventist-fm] FoodFor Thought
Paula wrote: ""The churches are fighting one another
over theological debates, when we should be fighting for people who can't
read or don't have enough to eat...I think you can profess the Apostles'
Creed until Jesus returns, but if you don't love somebody, you were never a
Christian." Rich Mullins, the
"Awesome God" guy.
·
Apparently the church of Christ and His disciples could do
both.
·
Apparently Paul did both.
·
Apparently true reformers of every succeeding generation have
done both.
·
Even apostate Rome has done both by administrating one of the
largest social welfare programs in the world.
·
Protestants who separated from Rome did both.
·
Adventists who separated from Rome and her Protestant
daughters in 1844 and on have done both.
·
True Reformers will do both.
“Christ was a protestant. He protested against the formal
worship of the Jewish nation, who rejected the counsel of God against
themselves. He told them that they taught for doctrines the commandments of
men, and that they were pretenders and hypocrites. Like whited sepulchers
they were beautiful without, but within full of impurity and corruption. 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. The Bible is presented to us as a sufficient guide;
but the pope and his workers remove it from the people as if it were a curse,
because it exposes their pretensions and rebukes their idolatry. {RH, June 1, 1886 par. 14}
When a corporate church engages apostasy and will not put it
away and out of the camp, the faithful must leave or be corporately
responsible. This is the reason Christ and His disciples left. This is why
Paul left. This is why Protestants left Rome. This is why Adventists left the
other churches in 1844, when they would not tolerate light.
Christ left
"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.
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
for 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.
Notice the only reason Paul left: He feared that the faith of his
followers would be endangered by continued association with the opposers of
the truth he taught. This is according to Bible principle. He did not wait
until a Roman Sunday Law. He did not wait until the apostate Jewish church
taught certain Babylonian doctrines! He separated his followers into a
distinct body for ONE REASON, and one reason only: The apostate church of the
day opposed truth. And if you will compare this with the reason given by Ellen
White in Desire of Ages, 232, as to
why all true reformers have left the church of their fathers in every succeeding generation, you
will find that very same ONE REASON: The ecclesiastical leaders would not
tolerate light—they opposed truth! Amazing isn’t it?!
"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.
Shiloh was the first civilized settlement of the Jews after
emerging from forty years in the Sinai. And this is the period Jeremiah
writes about in Jeremiah 11:9-15.
"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.
"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.
"Even though you may not be able to speak a word to those
who are working on wrong principles, leave them. Your withdrawal and silence
may do more than words. Nehemiah refused to associate with those who were
untrue to principle, and he would not permit his workmen to associate with
them. The love and fear of God were his safeguard-Dare to be a Daniel, Dare
to stand alone. Thus as did Moses, you will endure the seeing of Him who is
invisible. But a cowardly and silent reserve before evil associates, while
you listen to their devices makes you one with them. Come out from among them
and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will
receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." Review
& Herald, Vol. 4, p. 42.
----Original Message -----
From: Lynn MacDonald
To: AdventistHotIssues@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 5:23 AM
Subject: Re: [AdventistHotIssues] Re: [Adventist-fm] Food For
Thought
Amen plus, plus............~~ This is a great response to this
question. If someone truly loves you, they will show you the error (life
threatening) you are in. Just like the Paul Cedar quote at the very bottom of
Paula's post!~~ Lynn
Ron responds to Lynn:
Very true Lynn,
God said that the dumb-dog watchmen would never again show His
people [the House of Jaocb] their sins. Much of the theological debates occur
over abominable doctrines for which we are to sigh and cry, which sighing and
crying is even a CONDITION to receiving the seal of God. It is only fitting
that apostates commit at least the following serious acts against God and
truth:
·
Take a stand of indifference and/or neutrality in a crisis
involving apostasy.
·
Take a stand defending an apostate church, contradicting God
by saying the bad will leave.
·
Teach that we can remain/become pure while united to corrupt,
open sin apostates.
·
Teach that tares are corrupt, open sinners whom the wheat must
grow with until the end.
·
Teach contrary to God's Word that the wheat can mature amongst
thorny-ground hearers of the Word, when God says the thorns will choke out
the wheat and kill it.
·
Indifference and Neutrality in a Crisis: "If God abhors
one sin above another, of which HIS PEOPLE are guilty, it is of doing nothing
in a case of emergency. Indifference or neutrality in a religious crisis is
regarded of God as a grievous crime and equal to the very worst type of
hostility against God." E.G. White, Review
and Herald, vol. 1, p. 136. Also, Testimonies,
Vol. 3, p. 281.
"Thorns
sprung up.--The thorns made it impossible for the wheat to mature (see
Luke 8:14). In the same way secular interests prevent the fruits of the
Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23) from reaching maturity. Religion is relegated to the
subordinate position of being only one interest among many. For lack of
cultivation it withers and eventually dies. That which the thorny-ground
hearers lack is a moral transformation [E.G. White, Christ's Object
Lessons, p. 50] To them, justification is the sum and
substance of religion, and they fail to realize that the Christian life
consists essentially in the process known as sanctification--the process by
which evil traits and tendencies are replaced by the perfect life-pattern of
Jesus Christ." Seventh-day
Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 405.
This (above) is precisely what New Movement Seventh-day
Adventists (Selected Messages, vol.
1, 204-205), now teaches in common with Babylon--that justification is the
sum and substance of religion. How does one prove this fact? By the very
fact that they teach how Christ was different from us so that we cannot
overcome as He did, and they teach that there is no LGT or Last Generation
Theology, meaning that there is no last generation remnant that keeps all of
the commandments of God and is blameless, in direct contravention to
Revelation 14:1-4.
"... The Lord will not write as wise those who cannot
distinguish between a tree that bears thorn-berries and a tree that bears
olives." {EGW, RH, September 7, 1897 par. 15}
Most Adventists cannot distinguish between the thorns and the
tares. They maintain that we must dwell with both until the close of
probation. But that is not true. The wheat cannot mature amongt thorn trees
(open sinners who lack a moral transformation), and teach another false
gospel.
"It is IMPOSSIBLE for you to unite with those who are
corrupt, and still remain pure. (II Corinthians 6:14-15 quoted). God and
Christ and the heavenly host would have men know that if he unites with the
corrupt he will become corrupt." E. G. White, Review and Herald, Vol. 4,
p. 137.
Open sin to
be put out of the camp
"Christ has plainly taught that those who persist in open
sin must be separated from the church..." Christ's
Object Lessons, 71.
"This labor of purifying the church is a painful work,
but one that must not be neglected, if the church would have the commendation
of God." E. G. White, Review and
Herald Articles, 06-07-1887,
paragraph 16.
The apostate new movement will never do the painful work of
purifying the church? How do we know that for a fact? There are indisputable proofs, from God's Word and
from Ellen White:
·
"Isa 56:10 His watchmen [are] blind: they are all
ignorant, they [are] all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down,
loving to slumber."
·
"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.
·
“23 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 24 Son of
man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the
day of indignation. Ezekiel 22:23, 24.
·
The dumb dog watchmen feel the just vengeance of an offended
God 10 times worse says Ellen White. But all who are deceived by them, men,
maidens, and little children all
perish together in another literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 9.
In context, Ezekiel 22:23, 24, is speaking of spiritual
modern-day Jerusalem as well as ancient Jerusalem which received the first
fulfillment of Ezekiel 9 in the destruction of Jerusalem, A.D. 70. How do we
know these verses apply to modern-day Jerusalem or spiritual Seventh-day
Adventism? The words "not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation,"
mean no out pouring of the Holy Spirit on an apostate church because it is
not cleansed of sin. It did not do the painful labor of purifying the church, so
it does not receive the commendation of God. It thereby actually forms a new
movement amongst itself that separates from God.
The day of indignation is at the very end of time, Revelation
14:10-12. That is when God pours out His cup of wrath and indignation. So we
know for sure that ALL OF EZEKIEL 22 applies at the end-time. And what is the
context again? It is what happens to modern-day spiritual Jerusalem, the
professing SDA apostate new movement church.
The Serious
Danger of Teaching That the Apostate New Movement Will be Cleansed at the
End-time
Ellen White predicted that after her death there would be
“great changes in the church.” Indeed, it did not take long! In 1923, SDA
leaders compiled carefully selected writings of Ellen White into the book Testimonies to Ministers.
As a requisite to all the abominable “changes” they would soon
introduce into the church, as Ellen White prophesied, they misappropriated
certain statements by Ellen White, using them to intimate that no matter what
they did by way of apostasy, that the church would finally be cleansed of all
apostates. They figured that this lie would convince the members that they
must remain until that cleansing of the bad took place.
The Serious
Danger
God and Ellen White both say that Ezekiel 9 will have another
literal fulfillment BEGINNING AT HIS SANCTUARY, those who have been privileged
with great light, the House of Jacob, Ezekiel 9, Testimonies, Vol. 5, 211, Ezekiel 5:9 cf. Matthew 24:21; and
Ezekiel 22, wherein it says exactly what will befall spiritual “Jerusalem” in
the day of indignation.
The all serious danger of teaching new movement Seventh-day
Adventists that the church will be cleansed of all the bad, is that most of
its members will remain in the church no matter what it does until it is
cleansed, and God says that it is not cleansed in the day of His indignation,
Ezekiel 22. So that is how the leaders will lead the laity to destruction:
16 “For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and
they that are led of them are destroyed.
17 Therefore the LORD shall have no joy in their young men,
neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an
hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his
anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. 18
For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns,
and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like
the lifting up of smoke. 19 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts
is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man
shall spare his brother.” Isaiah 9:16-19.
Which is just another
paraphrase of Ezekiel 9 and 22.
The leaders also misapplied Ellen White’s statements on
Babylon, using her statements to Stanton and Caldwell in 1893, to imply that
the church would never, under any circumstance, become any part of Babylon,
and that it would never fall.
Then they misapplied the seven messages of God to the seven
churches and began to teach that since there is no eighth church, Laodicea is
the final church. This was/is a blatant lie because Ellen White said that all
the messages apply to the end of time, to wit:
“The messages [plural] given to
the churches in Asia, portray the state of things existing in the churches of
the religious world today. The names of the
churches are symbolic of the Christian church in different periods of the
Christian era the number of the churches--SEVEN--indicates completeness and
is symbolic of the fact that the
messages [plural] extend to the end of time, and are enforced today
while the figures used are symbolic of the state of God's professed
people,--the wheat developing among the tares truth; standing on its own
eternal basis in contrast with error.” Ms 81, 1900, pp. 17, 18.
("Solomon's Reign," 1900.) {1MR 372.2}
Ellen White Versus SDA Leaders on
the Definition of Laodicea
SDA
leaders since Ellen White’s death in 1915, have taught that Laodicea is the
church triumphant. How could a lukewarm or a cold apostate church be the
church triumphant? How could a foolish virgins state of the church be the
church triumphant, when the foolish virgins are not saved?
Laodicean Church no More Favored of
God Than the Fallen Churches of Babylon
Did Ellen
White say the church would become part of Babylon if it became and remained
Laodicean? Did the church become Babylon and has it remained Laodicean?
"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.
The
church is not destroyed in another end-time literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 9
and 22 for nothing! In the last literal fulfillment of those chapters, circa
A.D. 70, in the Destruction of Jerusalem, a literal apostate church was
involved and not merely some individuals who left that church or
became backslidden from it. Any future literal fulfillment must be the
same.
"The state of the Church represented by the
foolish virgins, is also spoken of as the Laodicean state." E. G.
White, Review
and Herald Articles,
Vol. 2, 420, 8/19/1890.
“The church is
in the Laodicean state. The presence of God is not in her midst.”--NL 99
(1898). Latter Day Events, p. 49.
“To the end of time, the presence of the Spirit is to
abide with the true church.” E.G. White, Acts
of the Apostles, p. 55.
“The message to the church of the Laodiceans is a startling denunciation, and is applicable to the people of God at
the present time.” {RH, September 16, 1873 par. 1} Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 252.
“What greater deception can
come upon human minds than a confidence that they are right, when they are
all wrong? The message of the True Witness finds the people of God in a
sad deception, yet honest in that deception. They know not that their
condition is deplorable in the sight of God. While those addressed are
flattering themselves that they are in an exalted spiritual condition, the message of the True Witness breaks
their security by the startling denunciation of their true situation of
spiritual blindness, poverty, and wretchedness. The testimony, so cutting and
severe, cannot be a mistake; for it is the True Witness who speaks, and his
testimony must be correct.” {RH, September 16, 1873 par. 5}
"I tell you, in the fear of God, I have been shown
that many of you will fail of everlasting life because you are building your
hopes of heaven on a false foundation." Testimonies, vol 5, p 49.
What happened to the Jewish church and the false
foundation they had built their church and hopes upon?
"They [Jews] followed their own standard, walking
in the light of the sparks of their own kindling, and they perished in
their delusion. They followed the imagination of their own hearts, and
God gave them up to be crushed by their own ambition, destroyed by the
falsehoods and delusions upon which they had built." Review and Herald, May 18,
1897.
This will also happen to the SDA church! After all the
apostasy, rebellion, harlotry, after the giving up of the Everlasting Gospel
and the real three angels' messages, after connecting themselves with
spiritualism, using hypnotism on our people, and with corporate probation
being closed--becoming Babylon fallen, the SDA leaders and ministers have the
gall to teach the lie that the SDA church will go through to heaven--that not
even the gates of hell can stop her!
And What do SDA Leaders Teach About Laodicea?
"...in the case with the [SDA] Laodicean Church,
as a church, is different, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The last church will not be spewed out; it will not be rejected; it will go
through triumphantly." Review, November 9, 1939.
"The Laodicean Church is the translation
church...this is the very church that will be translated into the Kingdom of
God." Review, November 30, 1939. (General Conference president
J.L. McElhany)
"...because the church is under God's grace it
‘may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall.’" Adventist
Review, September 22, 1983, p 14.
"The prophetic scenario assures us of the church's
survival....[It will] go through until the very end....it does not
fall..." Adventist Review, May 4, 1989, p 9.
"The Seventh-day Adventist Church will triumph
gloriously and will go through triumphantly, as a corporate body, to
the sea of glass." The Early and Latter Rain of the Holy Spirit,
p 183, by Gordon W. Collier, Sr., 1973.
The church leaders do not stop here, but even teach
that the SDA church, which we have already discovered will fall, is the same
as the place or city of refuge:
"...[finding the SDA church is] Finding a
Refuge." Adventist Review, November 2, 1989, p 28.
They teach that the SDA church is the same as the
ark--the ship of safety:
"Many times pastors have compared the church to an
ark of safety, and I believe it is....The church is a place to preserve our
lives..." Adventist Review, August 7, 1986, p 23.
"Like the ark, the church will help save God's
people..." Adventist Review, August 9, 1984, p 18.
"Christ's statement is ‘that the gates of hell shall
not prevail against’ the church....Let us stay with the ship. The church...is
going through and will surely drop anchor on the ‘sea of glass’ because a
‘Divine hand is on the wheel’--the hand of Christ." Adventist Review,
July 28, 1983, p 5.
They teach that the SDA church supplies a ticket to
heaven, and hence our walk with God and our salvation is connected to church
membership:
"The local [SDA] church becomes the ‘port of
entry’ to the kingdom of God." Adventist Review, October 1, 1992,
p 23.
"Your walk with God has a great deal to do with
your desire to come back to church....As you return, seek Him. He has
promised that you will find Him....You won't drop out again as long as you
continue to grow in Him." Adventist Review, November 2, 1989, p
27.
"There is some relationship between salvation
and church membership." Adventist Review, August 9, 1984, p
18.
They teach that no matter how bad the church is,
God will purify it, and the corporate body will make it to the sea of glass.
"This church to which we belong will emerge a
victorious company to stand some day on the sea of glass....Adventism
is destined to triumph gloriously....They [God's people] will patiently watch
and pray until God in His own time and in His own way purifies His church...The
church will fulfill its prophetic role and will triumph. Let us stay with the
church so that we can share in that victory." Messenger, October,
1994, p 11.
They also teach that the SDA church will always be the
Remnant church, simply because it knows, but does not follow the truths
necessary to be the Remnant church.
General Conference president, Robert Folkenberg,
states:
"The idea of a remnant does not mean that those
who claim to be part of it are necessarily better than others, that somehow
they are more holy than others. The remnant is identified simply by the
truths that it knows, not even the truths that it believes or that it
practices or that this corporate remnant shares, but simply that it
knows....I affirm that this remnant is the Seventh-day Adventist
Church." Transcript of Robert Folkenberg's address "Movement of
Destiny" at the Scottish Mission Session, Edinburgh, Scotland, June
4, 1994.
In fact, the apostate SDA leadership even teaches that
the SDA church is on a par with God Himself!
"I appeal to all who are outside the fold [SDA
church] just now....If you are not here, He [Christ] misses you....The Father
owns the house. Return to Him. For every good love story should have a
happy ending." Adventist Review, November 2, 1989, p 8.
"...when we backslide from the church, we also
backslide from God." Adventist Review, June 2, 1988, p 9.
But is this true? Is the SDA church, or any
church--even the true church, the city of refuge or the ark of safety for God's
people today? No! Then where is the real "city of refuge" for
sinners? Where is the real "ark of safety" in which we must find
shelter from the coming storm and tempest? This is only found in Jesus Christ
our Lord and Saviour!
Jesus is the city of refuge (Patriarchs and Prophets,
p 516-517; Christ's Object Lessons, p 158; Sons and Daughters of
God, p 79); Jesus is the place for the weary to find rest in (Isaiah
28:12; Sons and Daughters of God, p 298; Desire of Ages, p
328-332; Testimonies, vol 5, p 410; vol 2, p 562-563); Jesus--the
truth--is the ark of safety (Testimonies, vol 5, p 279; Evangelism,
p 397; Medical Ministry, p 317; Review and Herald, vol 2, p
102); and Jesus is the shelter from the storm and tempest soon to come! (Testimonies
to Ministers, p 182; Great Controversy, p 654).
No church--including the true church--can be our city
of refuge or our ark of safety! We must be hid in Jesus and Him only, not in
any group or any church! Jesus is our only hope!
When the SDA church teaches that it is the city of
refuge or the ark of safety, that she will always be the remnant and will
never fall, they are brainwashing our SDA people with pure Catholic
doctrine--that salvation can only be found in the church. The SDA church has
removed Christ from the hearts of our people, and has put the church in His
place. Thus, the SDA church has become god to our people. This is the same
erroneous doctrine which the Jewish church leaders taught their people, and
their church became god to them!
"The Jews worshiped the temple and were filled
with greater indignation at anything spoken against that building than if it
had been spoken against God." Early Writings, p 198.
This false Catholic teaching, that the apostate church
is the city of refuge, the ark of safety, and that it is corporately bound
for heaven, results in the implied or overt threat that if any SDA drops
their membership and leaves the safety of the SDA church, they are lost! How?
The SDA leaders and ministers have replaced Christ with themselves and
replaced God with the church: hence if one separates from the SDA church then
he would believe that he has separated from God and Christ and is lost. Many
Adventists do believe that if they leave the SDA church, they are doomed as
being apostates from Christ until they return back to the church.
In fact, the SDA church states just that!
"Regardless of the pretext, or how righteous the
cause may appear, separation from the visible remnant [the SDA church] is
apostasy from the body of Christ." Messenger, October, 1994,
p 2.
Yet this Catholic teaching is so firmly entrenched in
their minds that even after they have discovered that the SDA church is in
apostasy, and have decided to physically leave the corrupt SDA church, some
still retain their names on the corporate membership roll. They still retain
a foot in the door of the church, still holding on to "Mother's"
apron string, still touching or remaining connected with the corrupt church
just in case the corporate church, with all its listed members, does indeed
make it to heaven in the end!
But is this position acceptable in God's sight? Does
your name on the membership rolls of an apostate church of Babylon, who has
rejected the light from heaven, mean anything?
"My [Ellen White's] brother continued to fail
rapidly. If he felt a cloud shutting Jesus from him, he would not rest until
it was dispelled, and bright hope again cheered him. To all who visited him,
he conversed upon the goodness of God, and would often lift his emaciated
finger, pointing upwards, while a heavenly light rested upon his countenance,
and say, ‘My treasure is laid up on high.’ It was a wonder to all that his
life of suffering was thus protracted. He had a hemorrhage of the lungs, and
was thought to be dying. Then an unfulfilled duty presented itself
to him. He had again connected himself with the Methodist church. He was
expelled in 1843 with the other members of the family, on account of his
faith. He said he could not die in peace until his name was taken from the
church-book, and requested father to go immediately and have it taken off.
"In the morning father visited the minister,
stating my brother's request. He said that he would visit him, and then if it
was still his wish to be considered no longer a member of their church,
his request should be granted. Just before the minister arrived my brother
had a second hemorrhage, and whispered his fears that he should not live to
do this duty. The minister visited him, and he immediately expressed
his desire, and told him he could not die in peace until his name was
taken from the church-book; that he should not have united with them
again if he had been standing in the light....Soon after this my brother fell
asleep in Jesus, in full hope of having a part in the first resurrection."
Spiritual Gifts, vol 2, p 163-164.
There is nothing written in the Bible or the Spirit of
Prophecy that is not for our edification. So this testimony has significance
for us today! Failure to remove our names from the membership rolls of a
church which has apostatized from God, rejected and changed the truths of the
three angels' messages into falsehood, and has become Babylon fallen, is
called "an unfulfilled
DUTY." And this duty was carried out before Ellen White's
brother had "full hope of having a part in the first resurrection"!
Hence, there is a duty to leave any church which has rejected the three
angels' messages. And especially is this the case with the Seventh-day
Adventist church. What other church has had, and has rejected, greater light
than the SDA church? It is true that we are not saved by being members of a
church, but we can be lost by remaining members in a Babylonian one!
The SDA church and its leadership are leading the
entire membership into the deception that the church cannot possibly be
destroyed--no matter how rebellious and corrupt it becomes. But was it any
different with the Jewish church leadership?
"The long-suffering of God toward Jerusalem, only confirmed
the Jews in their stubborn impenitence....The fear of God no longer disturbed
them. Satan was at the head of the nation, and the highest civil and
religious authorities were under his sway.
"Yet in their [Jewish church leadership] blind and
blasphemous presumption the instigators of this hellish work publicly
declared that they had no fear that Jerusalem would be destroyed, for it
was God's own city. To establish their power more firmly, they bribed
false prophets to proclaim, even when the Roman legions were besieging the
temple, that the people were to wait [in Jerusalem] for deliverance from
God." Spirit of Prophecy, vol 4, p 30-31.
Was the church leadership successful in the deception
of their church membership?
"To the last, multitudes held fast to
the belief that the Most High would interpose for the defeat of their
adversaries. But Israel had spurned the divine protection, and now she had no
defense." Spirit of Prophecy, vol 4, p 31.
The Jewish church and its leadership had a form of
being God's church, but they rejected God's Son, His truth, and His power to
work His righteousness among them. This exactly--only in greater
magnitude--has been done by the SDA church and its leadership. They have also
rejected Jesus Christ, (see Testimonies to Ministers, p 97, p 131, p
467-468; 1888 Materials, p 1565-1566; Special Testimonies,
Series A#6, p 19-20, Series B#7, p 15), rejected His truth and His power to
work His righteousness among them (see Testimonies, vol 5, p 71-72,
719-720; Paulson Collection, p 54-55, 60-61; Selected Messages,
book 1, p 234-235; Testimonies to Ministers, p 465, 468, 89-91,
363-364, 366-367, 413; 1888 Materials, p 1565; Review and Herald,
December 23, 1890, August 1, 1893; Manuscript Releases, vol 15, p 292-293,
vol 13, p 122-123, 378-381; Battle Creek Letters, p 55-56; Special
Testimonies, Series B#2, p 22, B#7, p 13).
How does God want His people to respond to a church
that has a form of godliness, but denies the power? Does God want His people
to touch, be connected to, or retain a foot in the door--continuing to hold
on to a corrupt, apostate, unclean, Babylonian church?
"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power
thereof: from such turn away." 2 Timothy 3:5.
"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness, but rather reprove them." Ephesians 5:11.
"Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch
no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean,
that bear the vessels of the Lord." Isaiah 52:11.
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with
unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And
what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with
Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement
hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God;
as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their
God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and
be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I
will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.
One area which is often overlooked is the command to
"touch not the unclean thing." This means that even if you have
left an apostate harlot church, but have not removed your membership from the
roll books, your membership still connects you to that unclean church. Hence
you would be touching the unclean thing by retaining your church membership!
You would be unclean by this touch, and a partaker with the harlot church in
her sins!
When a priest of Israel, who was consecrated and made
holy to minister before God, came in contact with a dead body--even if it was
but the slightest touch of the hem of his garments--his whole person was
contaminated and declared unclean. According to the God-given process of
cleansing found in Numbers 19, the unclean priest had to separate himself
from the camp of Israel, go out into the wilderness, and be cleansed twice.
This cleansing process involved running water being poured through the ashes
of a red heifer which had been sacrificed.
If after being cleansed, the worker of God went back to
the camp of Israel and touched the dead body again, he would become unclean
and would have to go through the whole process once again of separation out
of the camp in order to be cleansed.
The sacrificed red heifer represents Christ--the Word
of God. The running water represents the purifying action of the Holy Spirit
cleansing us through the Word of God. And the dead body represents a
spiritually dead church. So by our connection to and membership in a
spiritually dead church body, even in the slightest way, we are unclean by
this touch and unfit to minister or work for a holy God. And the only
God-given way in which we can become cleansed and accepted back into His
service, is to separate ourselves completely from that unclean church, be
cleansed twice by Christ's sacrifice and the purifying work of the Holy
Spirit through the word of God, and then not reconnect ourselves with that
dead unclean church. We can warn others about where the unclean and dead
church is, and what to do if they are connected to it. But if we want to
serve and witness for a holy God, we dare not touch or reconnect ourselves to
the church.
This same issue can be clearly seen in the illustration
of a mud puddle. While standing in a pool of muddy water, even if we move to its
shallowest edge, we are still contaminated by the mud. We can use all the
soap and pour clean, pure water over our heads, and yet we are not completely
cleansed because our feet are still connected with the mud. We may even
manage to be clean and spotless everywhere else on our body, but while our
feet remain in the mud, we are not fully cleansed or completely spotless. We
can never be fully cleansed or completely spotless until we break all
connection with the muddy pool, get out of the mud, and are again cleansed.
And in order to remain fully clean, we must not touch or reconnect ourselves
with that unclean muddy pool. We can and must warn others about where the
unclean and muddy pool is, and what to do if they are touching it and thus
contaminated. But if we want to remain clean and spotless, we dare not touch
or reconnect ourselves to it again.
"Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes
not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?"
Proverbs 6:27-28.
"Can two walk together, except they be
agreed?" Amos 3:3.
"We are exhorted, ‘touch not the unclean’ [2
Corinthians 6:17]. Those who associate with the impure, themselves
become impure. If we choose the society of the ungodly, we shall be
affected by their ungodliness." Review and Herald, October 23,
1888.
"You are exhorted to touch not the unclean thing;
for in touching this, you will yourself become unclean. It is
impossible for you to unite with those who are corrupt, and still remain pure.
‘What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion
hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial?’ [2
Corinthians 6:14-15] God and Christ and the heavenly host would have man
know that if he unites with the corrupt, he will become corrupt."
E.G. White Comments, SDA Bible
Commentary, vol 6, p 1102.
By our willing choice to remain associated with, or by
retaining our membership in, the corrupt, apostate, Babylonian SDA church, we
are made partakers in the sins of the church--being made corporately
responsible in all the church's wickedness. Thus we are one with this unclean
woman in harlotry, and we will receive the same punishment as the SDA church
does!
"Know ye not that your bodies are the members of
Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of
an harlot? God forbid. What? Know ye not that he which is joined to an
harlot is one body? For two, saith He, shall be one flesh." 1
Corinthians 6:15-16.
"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come
out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye
receive not of her plagues..." Revelation 18:4.
If we choose to remain connected with the apostate
Babylonian SDA church--whether by our presence or by our names on the roll
books, then we choose to be a partaker in all the sins of the church, and
thus we will receive the plagues along with the church we love more than
following the will of God.
The SDA church has chosen to follow--in a greater
degree--the same path that the Jewish church followed in rejecting God and
His will. But because of the leadership's choice to follow their own stubborn
wills, what occurred to the Jewish church?
"For the rejection of Christ, with the results
that followed, they were responsible. A nation's sin and a nation's
ruin were due to the religious leaders." Christ's Object
Lessons, p 304-305.
"All the predictions given by Christ concerning
the destruction of Jerusalem were fulfilled to the letter." Spirit of
Prophecy, vol 4, p 31.
"...the fate of the temple of Jerusalem. That
magnificent structure fell. Angels of God were sent to do the work of
destruction..." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 5, p 1098-99.
As angels of God were involved in the destruction of
the Jewish church, so angels of God will be involved in the destruction of
the Adventist church. About the destruction that will occur to the SDA church
and its people:
"The Lord commissions His messengers [angels], the
men with the slaughtering weapons in their hands: ‘Go ye after him through the
city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: slay utterly
old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near
any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary. Then they
began at the ancient men which were before the house’ [Ezek 9:5-6].
"Here we see that the church--the Lord's
sanctuary--was the first to feel the stroke of the wrath of God. The
ancient men, those to whom God had given great light and who had stood as
guardians of the spiritual interests of the people, had betrayed their
trust....These dumb dogs that would not bark are the ones who feel the
just vengeance of an offended God." Testimonies, vol 5, p 211.
Will this terrible destruction actually occur?
"Study the 9th chapter of Ezekiel. These
words will be literally fulfilled...God is calling; will you hear?
Will you receive His message?...Soon, very soon, every case will be decided
for eternity." Manuscript Releases, vol 1, p 260.
Why did Jerusalem and the entire system of the Jewish
church have to be destroyed?
"They [Jews] robbed God of His glory, and
defrauded the world by a counterfeit of the gospel. They had refused to
surrender themselves to God for the salvation of the world, and they became
agents of Satan for its destruction.
"The people whom God had called to be the
pillar and ground of truth had become representatives of Satan....God
could do no more for man through these channels. The whole system must be
swept away." Desire of Ages, p 36.
Having given up the real three angels' messages, the
entire SDA church is now founded upon a counterfeit gospel. Thus the SDA
church is defrauding its people and the world of the truth. Instead of being
God's obedient representatives, they have become the representatives of
Satan. Hence, God can do no more for man through the channels of the SDA
church, and the whole system must be swept away!
The SDA church and its leadership have verily fulfilled
the following prophecy:
"For the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves
teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from
the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
"And for this cause God shall send them strong
delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who
believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Timothy
4:3-4; 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12.
This destruction of the SDA church will also be
"fulfilled to the letter." And God mercifully reveals, as a
warning, this future destruction of our professed SDA people who choose to
remain within the SDA church:
"Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let
not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both
maids, and little children, and women...and begin at My sanctuary....And
He said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go
ye forth. And they went forth, and slew...And as for Me also, Mine eye shall
not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon
their own head." Ezekiel 9:5-10.
"The time is soon coming when the work of God's
judgments will begin at His sanctuary. God Himself is now drawing the
separating line. He says, ‘As for Me also, Mine eye shall not spare,
neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head’
[Ezekiel 9:10]." Letter 3, January 1, 1900, Last Day Events from the
Letters and Manuscripts of E.G. White, p 90-91.
"Men, maidens, and little children all perished
together." Testimonies, vol 5, p 211.
OH, MY PROFESSED SDA PEOPLE; TURN YE, TURN YE, FROM
YOUR EVIL WAYS AND FROM YOUR FALLEN CHURCH, FOR WHY WILL YE DIE ALONG WITH
HER?
"In the General Conference the counsels of God
have been set aside, and the counsels and wisdom of men have been relied
upon....The General Conference--what is it? What does it comprehend? Is it a
General Conference, or is it something wrapped up and called by that name?
With the exception of a limited number, the people who ought to know are not
intelligent in regard to its workings....and the people at large know
scarcely anything of what is being done at the heart of the work...
"As I was made to understand something of the
management of the work in this great center, it was all that I could bear. My
spirit was pained within me, for I had lost confidence in that which I had
ever presented before the people as the voice of God to His children. It
has not been the voice of God. There has been a lording power exercised
over God's heritage...Their own principles have been counterworking
the principles of truth and righteousness. We cannot therefore present before
the people that the voice of the General Conference in its decisions must
move and control them; for its propositions and decisions cannot be
accepted. They are not in the right line of progress. God is cropped out
of their counsels....
"The men who are guiding and planning, who carry
large responsibilities, have separated themselves from God, and the
righteousness of true principles is not in them; and if their plans are
not counterworked they will cause ruin....
"‘Come out from among them,’ God says, ‘and be
ye separate,...and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and
will be a father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the
Lord Almighty’ [2 Cor. 6:17,18]. We all need a Father with whom to
consult. The Holy Spirit has been refused by men who are puffed up with vain
conceit and believe themselves capable of managing wonderful
responsibilities....
"If our people were not blinded by deception they
would see that these men are walking contrary to God. God has been speaking
to them by His Word, through His testimonies, by His Spirit. Why do they not
take heed? They have closed their eyes that they should not see, and their
ears that they should not hear. They have rushed madly on in their
uncontrollable spirit, unsanctified and separated from God; and yet they
suppose that they can bring God's people to their terms and under their
control....It cannot be done. God will put a voice in the stones to cry out
against it....
"The refuge of lies will fail. God will strike
a blow to deliver His oppressed people....
"I must speak plainly. We are reaching a time when
a just standard of right and wrong, of honor and dishonor, of truth and
error, is becoming a thing of naught. ‘Truth is fallen in the streets, and
equity cannot enter’ [Isaiah 59:14]....The man who sits at the feet of Jesus
and learns His lessons will say as did one of old, ‘Unto their
assembly, mine honor, be not thou united’ [Genesis 49:6]....
"Little by little have the barriers been broken
away, showing that the foundation of the structure is built upon the sand."
Manuscript Releases, vol 17, p 221-234.
"Their foundation would be built on the sand,
and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure." Selected
Messages, book 1, p 205.
"...the foundations shall be discovered, and
it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof..."
Ezekiel 13:14.
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