Corporate
Repentance
For the time [is come] that judgment must
begin at the house of God: and if [it] first [begin] at us,
what
shall the end [be] of them that obey not the gospel of God? 1st Peter
4:17
Corporate
Repentance
By the Elijah
Messenger
New movement leaders
such as Roy Adams and a host of other leaders and laymen teach that there is no
such thing as "Corporate Repentance." As I have pointed out in the
tract, "the Catholic Infiltration of Adventism"
the Jesuits also deny this doctrine. Adventists too deny corporate
repentance because by confessing this important truth they will have to confess
their evil deeds which they have done in the past and also in the present. This
is one of the testing messages for this time; the test begins with individuals
and then if this proves successful it will work its way up to a corporate
repentance.
Corporate Repentance
Built In the Organizational Structure
Ellen White states
that we are responsible for the leaders we choose. Allow me to quote Mrs. White
addressing the church on this topic.
"Every member of
the church has a voice in choosing officers of the church. The church chooses
the officers of the state conferences. Delegates chosen by the state
conferences choose the officers of the union conferences, and delegates chosen
by the union conferences choose the officers of the General Conference. By this
arrangement every conference, every institution, every church, and every
individual, either directly or through representatives, has a voice in the
election of the men who bear the chief responsibilities in the General
Conference." Testimonies vol. 8, p. 236-237.
Some might say that it
does not work this way today, well if it does not, you are in a new movement.
And if it does then the church should be held corporately responsible for
retaining such corrupt leaders. Again Mrs. White states,
"In our largest
churches the greatest evils exist, because these have had the greatest light.
They have not a true knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ whom he has sent.
The leaven of unbelief is working, and unless these evils which bring the
displeasure of God are corrected in its members, the whole church stands
accountable for them. The deep moving of the Spirit of God are not with them;
the glorious presence of the King of saints, and his power to cleanse from all
moral defilement, are not manifest among them." Review & Herald,
vol. 2, Dec. 23rd, 1890
"The headquarters
of our church, affect the whole body of believers. If the physical heart is
healthy, the blood that is sent from it through the system is also healthy; but
if this fountain is impure, the whole organism becomes diseased by the poison
of the vital fluid. So it is with us. If the heart of the work becomes corrupt,
the whole church, in its various branches and interests, scattered abroad over
the face of the earth, suffers in consequence." Testimonies vol. 4,
p. 210.
Corporate Repentance
Denied by the Leaders
According to Roy
Adams, associate editor of the Adventist Review, in his book, The Nature of
Christ, (which the highest leaders in Seventh-day Adventism endorse) he
blatantly ridicules and denies that the New Testament offers no support for the
teaching of Corporate Repentance.
"Corporate
repentance who demands it of us, I make bold to say it. Not the Lord! And
is there any significance to the fact that the New Testament offers us not a
single authentic example of general corporate confession?" Ibid. 112,104.
New Teachings For a
New Movement
This teaching is
recent in nature, it started with the downhill apostasy, which began in 1956-57
and has no support from the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. The New Testament
Act of the disciples in the upper room experience is a distinct example of
general corporate repentance! The three angel's messages of Revelation chapter
fourteen is a corporate and individual call to repentance. The first angel's
message sounded in 1844 and the corporate church repented not. But God's
people, as few as there were individually repented and left the churches. Ellen
White said,
"when the
churches spurned the counsel of God by rejecting the advent message, the Lord
rejected them. The first angel was followed by a second, proclaiming, "
In Matthew 23: 29-35,
Christ denounced the scribes and the Pharisees on the behalf of their
hypocrisy, rejection of the truth and seeking to kill him. By doing this they
continued in the course of their four-fathers sins. They were corporately
responsible which should have led them to corporately repent. Consider Exodus
20:5 and the following statement from Ellen White.
"Thou shalt not
bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous
God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and
fourth generation of them that hate me."
"It is inevitable
that children should suffer from the consequences of parental wrongdoing, but
they are not punished for the parents' guilt, except as they participate in
their sins." Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 306.
Today the SDA church
has taken the relay stick, which is the false gospel of the Evangelical's, and
the Catholic's and they have almost completed the race to
"Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one
proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell
than." yourselves." Matthew 23:15.
The State of the
Church
"From the sole of
the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and
bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up,
neither mollified with ointment." Isaiah 1:6.
"For the leaders
of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are
destroyed." Isa. 9:6.
"Therefore let us
not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober." I Th. 5:6.
"Lest coming
suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all,
Watch." Mark 13:36,37.
"Shake off your
spiritual lethargy. Work with all your might to save your own souls and the
souls of others. It is no time now to cry, "Peace and safety." It is
not silver-tongued orators that are needed to give this message. The truth in
all its pointed severity must be spoken." E.G. White, Testimonies for
the Church, vol. 5, p. 187.
"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 for the Church, vol.
5, p. 211.
May God bless all that
read this information with a sincere and devout heart!