A Duty of Repudiation

“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.

 

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"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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