"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.
"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.
Karl says that his STRAIGHT TESTIMONY rendition of the gospel is what will cause the shaking. First of all, his "straight testimony" of the gospel is not true. It does not stress the born again full surrender to Christ so that one does not commit sin. 1 John 3:4-9. This is what all TRUE REFORMERS stress, and Karl holds them all in disdain. He as much as said that today! He has scorned them on this forum a number of times. He brands them all with the same brush.
Second, one of the CONDITIONS for receiving the seal of God is that one must sigh and cry for all the abominations in the church (Jerusalem) Ezekiel 9. One will not be saved without this seal. One will not be saved without sighing and crying for all the abominations that are so serious the church will eventually be broken in pieces, Isaiah 8:9-20 and Ezekiel 9:2, (see marginal reference for slaughter weapon) and compare with Isaiah 8:9-12, wherein God says that all who ecumenically associate, gird, counsel and confederate with His enemies, the fallen churches, will be broken in pieces. Ellen White says that Ezekiel 9 WILL BE LITERALLY REPEATED:
"Study the 9th chapter of Ezekiel. These words will be literally fulfilled; yet the time is passing, and the people are asleep. They refuse to humble their souls and to be converted. Not a great while longer will the Lord bear with the people who have such great and important truths revealed to them, but who refuse to bring these truths into their individual experience. The time is short. God is calling; will YOU hear? Will YOU receive His message? Will YOU be converted before it is too late? Soon, very soon, every case will be decided for eternity. Letter 106, 1909, pp. 2, 3, 5, 7. (To "The churches in Oakland and Berkeley, September 26, 1909.)" E. G. White Manuscript Releases Volume One, p. 260.
God says that there are important truths that have been revealed to us as Seventh-day Adventists that we REFUSE to bring into our individual experience, and that the truths we refuse will result in a literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 9. This is serious. This is more than imperfections in the church. This involves gross ABOMINATIONS. Karl cited the imperfections such as will be present in any church group until the end of time. God is rather speaking of gross ABOMINATIONS that are so serious we are to fear and shun those who imbibe such abominations:
Fear and Shun "'They that forsake the law praise the wicked.' Proverbs 28:4. When those who are uniting with the world, yet claiming great purity, plead for union with those who have ever been the opposers of the cause of truth, we should fear and shun them as decidedly as did Nehemiah. Such counsel is prompted by the enemy of all good. It is \the speech of timeservers, and should be resisted as resolutely today as then. Whatever influence would tend to unsettle the faith of God' people in His guiding power, should be steadfastly withstood." E.G. White, Prophets and kings, p. 660.
For decades the professing SDA Church has been involved in dialogue (counsel) with the fallen churches. For decades the professing SDA Church has encouraged its pastors in training at Andrews and elsewhere to join Babylon's local Ministerial Associations as soon as they become pastors. For years they have paid annual dues to these Associations which are used to proliferate the teachings of Babylon. A Phd. official at the Canadian Council of Churches, told me that these Ministerial Associations are a local arm of the World Council of Churches. The Reader's Digest has reported on the gross acts of the World Council of Chruches and how it has financed terrorism and genocide in certain countries of the world. Adventists are supporting the World Council of Churches by supporting their more local subsidiaries, National Councils of Churches and more local Ministerial Associations. In certain countries of the world, it is impossible for any church to operate above ground if they do not belong to the National Council of Churches of that country, and its subsidiary, the local Ministerial Association. All National Councils of Churches are MEMBERS of the World Council of Churches, and the SDA Church is a MEMBER of the National Council of Churches in a number of countries of the world. This is a strictly forbidden alliance by way of ASSOCIATION, GIRDING, COUNSEL AND CONFEDERACY, Isaiah 8:9-20.
The professing SDA Church is now engaged in dialogue with Walter Martin's replacement, as well as being in dialog with the Lutherans. The express purpose of these dialogues is to see what compromises we can make in order to become ONE. This is the prime objective of the World Council of Churches. This works counter to everything we stand for as Seventh-day Adventists! This works counter to everything associated with our mission and the three angel's messages, and most importantly, our call to come out of Babylon! The professing SDA Church has held joint Easter Sunrise Services with Babylon! The professing SDA Church has joined the world's Accreditation Boards which determine what will be taught in all its educational facilities. Thus, our schools, colleges and universities teach the same curriculum as the world teaches. Ellen White said that it would be better to close our schools than to imbibe this evil. So why work your soul to death trying to pay for a Christian education for your children when they are being taught the curriculum of the world?
Ellen White said that when the church should become married to the world, it would become the cage of every unclean and hateful bird. This is language strictly applied to Babylon in Revelation 18. How better to marry the world than to teach our youth the curriculum of the world. Were I Satan, I could think of no better way to infiltrate God's church and marry it to the cause of Satan and the world.
Another huge and gross abomination is the modern counterpart to celebrating (partying) on the banks of the Jordan. The SDA Church went to Babylon churches to learn their mode of worship--celebration. This has led to the curse of having many entire churches leaving the fold and beginning their own churches separate from the organized SDA church. Also, the members of such liberal SDA churches have prove to NOT be faithful tithe payers. So the church must major in numbers to compensate for the lack of revenue coming into the church. And to major in numbers, it must compromise principles in order to proselytize numbers. This is a MAJOR ABOMINATION for which we should be sighing and crying and for which the organized, professing SDA Church will be broken in pieces. The moving of the Holy Spirit and the correct mode of worship is not to be found in the Babylonian churches. They are "as a whole" controlled by Satan. Early Writings, p. 273. Ellen White prescribed the correct mode of worship in Testimonies, Vol. 7, pp. 18, 19.
Now what is to be our course when such an ABOMINATIONS accrue?
Fear and Shun--
"'They that forsake the law praise the wicked.' Proverbs 28:4. When those who are uniting with the world, yet claiming great purity, plead for union with those who have ever been the opposers of the cause of truth, we should fear and shun them as decidedly as did Nehemiah. Such counsel is prompted by the enemy of all good. It is the speech of timeservers, and should be resisted as resolutely today as then. Whatever influence would tend to unsettle the faith of God' people in His guiding power, should be steadfastly withstood." E.G. White, Prophets and kings, p. 660.
There is no greater union that marriage and there is no better way to marry the church to the world than to agree to teach the world's (Satan's) curriculum in the church. As a result of this marriage union, about half of the members of the church believe in the literal seven day creation week. Do you see what is happening?! These are the abominations for which we are to be sighing and crying. Friend, if you will not do so, then you will not receive the seal of God, no matter what Karl Wagner says about this! No matter what A. Leroy Moore says about this! No matter what the General Conference President says about this! No matter what your local pastor says about this!
So what will happen because of these gross ABOMINATIONS? Ellen White says that Ezekiel 9 will be literally fulfilled amongst a people who have had great light and truth revealed to them. She was speaking directly of and to professing Seventh-day Adventist. Does this mean the TRUE Seventh-day Adventist Church, comprised of a faithful remnant who flee Jerusalem (the church) Isaiah 37:31, 32, will be destroyed? No! No! No! It means that a small remnant will escape from the professing church militant to become the SDA Church triumphant. Ezekiel 5:1-3 and Isaiah 37:31, 32. The remaining whole church three-thirds, Ezekiel 5:1, 2, will be destroyed--men, maidens and little children perishing together, Testimonies, Vol. 5, 211.
Begin at My Sanctuary -- "Here we see that the church--the Lord's sanctuary--was the first to feel the stroke of the wrath of God. The ancient men, those to whom God had given great light and who had stood as guardians of the spiritual interests of the people, had betrayed their trust. They had taken the position that we need not look for miracles and the marked manifestation of God's power as in former days. Times have changed. These words strengthen their unbelief, and they say: The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil. He is too merciful to visit His people in judgment. Thus 'Peace and safety" is the cry from men who will never again lift up their voice like a trumpet to show God's people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. These dumb dogs that would not bark are the ones who feel the just vengeance of an offended God. Men, maidens, and little children all perish together." E. G. White, Testimonies, Vol. 5, 211.
The entire chapter containing the above statement, begins quoting Ezekiel 9. The dumb dogs and those who admire them and covet their office, will not bark. If and when they do, their plight will be the same as all the followers of Jesus. They left the apostate system even long before Christ's sojourn on earth. Notice:
"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.
Ellen White clearly states in The Great Controversy, p. 25, 1911, edition, that the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. was a PREFIGURE. Prefigure means TYPE, which demands a similar ANTITYPICAL FULFILLMENT. Then she says that another LITERAL FULFILLMENT of Ezekiel 9 will occur. So all we have to do is go back to the TYPE, THE PREFIGURE and see what happened then, and any other interpretation makes Ellen White a false prophet:
1) Who left who then? The good left the Bad.
2) Where were the tares gathered? Into the Midst of Jerusalem, the apostate church, Ezekiel 22:17-31.
3) Was there a primitive revival of the Jewish people? Yes! Where did it take place? Within the apostate Jewish Church, or outside it? Obviously outside it, Desire of Ages, 232, or it would not have been destroyed had the revival occurred inside the Jewish church!
4) Who was True Zion, from whence the sinners was shaken? Was it the apostate Jewish Organization, or was it from the reformer church of Jesus and the disciples?
5) Did the Jewish people leave the apostate Jewish church long before persecution began? Yes, the began to leave when Jesus "gathered out" those who would take the gospel to the world. Desire of Ages, 232, and even before this according to the following statement by Ellen White:
"The recreant priests added licentiousness to the dark catalogue of their crimes; yet they still polluted by thei presence the tabernacle of the Lord, and, laden with sin, dared to come into the presence of a holy God. As the men o 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.
The modern counterpart to the recreant priests of Jeremiah's era, are the dumb-dog watchmen who will not show the house of Jacob (not Babylon) their sins!
Any teaching that contradicts this Ezekiel 9 PREFIGURE SCENARIO, is contradicting Ellen White and SCRIPTURE, because Ezekiel 5:9, proves that Ezekiel 9 is really PRIMARILY FULFILLED at the end-time when God does the worst thing He has ever done or will ever do again.
So where do we go? We do exactly what Jesus and the disciples did. They left the apostate organized church and formed home churches dotting the hills of Judea.
"There is a little hope in one direction: Take the young men and women, and place them where they will come as little in contact with our churches as possible, that the low grade of piety which is current in this day shall not leaven their ideas of what it means to be a Christian." E.G. White, Manuscript Release #995, p. 5.
When the young men and women were kept away from the Alpha of apostasy in the church, what did they do; where did they meet for worship?
"Brother and sister Haskell have rented a house in one of the best parts of the city, and have gathered round them a family of helpers, who day by day go out giving Bible readings, selling our papers, and doing medical missionary work. <B>During the hour of worship, the workers relate their experiences.</B> Bible studies are regularly conducted in the home, and THE YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG WOMEN connected with the mission receive a practical, thorough training in holding Bible readings and in selling our publications. The Lord has blessed their labors, a number have embraced the truth, and many others are deeply interested." Review and Herald, September 7, 1905, Evangelism, p. 108.
The above scenario is the prescribed mode for the worship service of every Seventh-day Adventist church in Testimonies, vol. 7, pp. Notice:
"There are times when it is fitting for our ministers to give on the Sabbath, in our churches, short discourses, full of the life and love of Christ. But the church members are not to expect a sermon every Sabbath....Let the church members, during the week, act their part faithfully, and on the Sabbath relate their experience. The meeting will then be as meat in due season, bringing to all present new life and fresh vigor.. When God's people see the great need of working as Christ worked for the conversion of sinners, the testimonies borne by them in the Sabbath service will be filled with power. With joy the will tell of the precious experience they have gained in working for others." Testimonies, vol. 7, p. 19.
All the prophets and messengers of God gave similar warnings to God's people in every age of the church. Those who heeded the warnings were saved from immenent destruction and will be saved eternally.
Ron Beaulieu