Is Sighing and Crying for the Abominations

Just Feeling Sad and Praying for Those Who

Commit Them?

For many decades I have heard SDA’s say that sighing and crying should be done in the closet, or some other personal opinion of their own that contradicted the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. A former SDA minister no less, Laval Picard, who now professes to be a reformer wrote the following on an Adventist Internet forum:

--- In DefendEGW@yahoogroups.com, Laval Picard forerunner000@ wrote:

Sunray, you're welcome! :) For a long time now I have come to see "corporate responsibility" as being perfectly demonstrated in the lives of the prophets, especially Moses and Daniel. I am sure you know what I am talking about. Daniel did not wait for the church to repent. He repented for the church. He repented for those who could not repent for themselves. He fully identified himself with apostate Israel. He confessed the sins of Israel as though he were guilty of them before God pleading for Him to forgive and to listen and to act! Daniel 9:4-19.. That is what I believe corporate responsibility is about. Jesus identified Himself with us, with our sins, and pleaded for us, and still is. Moses did the same and so did all the prophets. Are we not to do the same? Are we not to confess the sins and apostasies of Modern Israel as though they were our own and plead before God to forgive, to listen and to act? The Lord is long suffering and He will give a last opportunity for His light to shine upon His professed people one last time before the last message of mercy swells into a loud cry to the world! Do you agree? :)

Laval Picard

Ron’s response: Let’s see how Laval’s personal opinion holds up to the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. First an email to me from a friend in Brazil:

----- Original Message -----

From: Confidential

To: Ron Beaulieu

Sent: Monday, April 02, 2012 10:10 AM

Subject: SIGH AND CRY

Dear Brother Ron,

Do you know any verse of the Bible or any statement of the Spirit of Prophecy that defines the term sigh and cry in agreement with you said:

“I was emphatically told that these words apply to every person who has ever had the privilege of hearing the truth. I was told that this process is part and parcel of the duty to sigh and cry for all the abominations in the church:

¹⁸When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

¹⁹Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

²⁰Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

²¹Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.”

Ezekiel 3:18-21

A relative of mine is telling me that sigh and cry is only to be sad with the abominations and sins inside the church. I know what sigh and cry means but I'd like to show him a clear statement of the true meaning.

Blessings,

Signed PA

----- Original Message -----

From: Ron Beaulieu

To: PA Monday, April 02, 2012 1:00 PM

Subject: Re: SIGH AND CRY

Dear Brother P,

I'm sending this to the forum because others probably have the same question.

Thank you for your important question. Yes, there is data from both the Bible and the SOP that will help you. Ellen White said that all of the chapter of Isaiah 58 is our work. This verse surely involves more than just being sad! But foolish virgin "do nothings" in times of crisis emergency like the notion that we are just to be sad for all the abominations. Isaiah 58:

· Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins Isaiah 58:1

· Then there is Ezekiel 3 on warning our brothers and sisters and that their blood will be upon our backs if we don't!

· In 5T 211, Ellen White refers to the watchmen as "dumb dogs that will NEVER AGAIN BARK" to show the House of Jacob its sins. She is referring to the leaders, but we all have the duty to be faithful watchmen.

· Ellen White said that we all have the same responsibility as Ezekiel, to wit:

· We are corporately responsible for the sins of our leaders and the members if we condone, and don't SPEAK OUT about such sins, and SEPARATE if the sins are not dealt with because they corrupt and defile. It is impossible to unite with the corrupt and become/remain pure says God.

“So far as his opportunities extend, every one who has received the light of truth is under the same solemn and fearful responsibility as was the prophet of Israel, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying: "Son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou has delivered thy soul.” Eze 33:7-9. The Great Controversy, p. 459.

"The plain straight testimony must live in the church, or the curse of God will rest upon His people as surely as it did upon ancient Israel because of their sins. God holds His people, as a body [corporately], responsible for the sins existing in individuals among them." Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 269.

"The names of those who sin and refuse to repent should not be retained on the church books, lest the saints be held accountable for their evil deeds. Those who pursue a course of transgression should be visited and labored with, and if they then refuse to repent, they should be separated from church fellowship, in accordance with the rules laid down in the Word of God." {11MR 208.3}

How could one just be sad about the sins existing in INDIVIDUALS among them and not say a word when we are corporately responsible for them?

"Any connection with infidels and UNBELIEVERS which would identify us with them is FORBIDDEN by the word. We are to come out from them and be separate. in no case are we to link ourselves with them in their plans or work." E. G. White, Fundamentals of Christian Education, 482.

So it becomes all too apparent that the personal opinion of one Laval Picard falls far short of God’s Word and the Spirit of Prophecy. And Laval professes to be a John the Baptist forerunner to God’s people. We know that John the Baptist certainly did more than pray for the sinners. He called sin by its right name. He called the leaders a generation of vipers!

All blessings,

Ron