Dear Forum, Ellen White says that the gold is SEPARATED from the dross in the church, Testimonies, vol. 5, 81.

"In this time [when the mark of the beast will be urged upon us] the gold will be SEPARATED from the dross in the church." Testimonies, vol. 5, 81.

This agrees with Ezekiel 22:17-31, where the dross is melted in the midst of Jerusalem, the church, per the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem, and the anti-typical literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 9, Ellen White prophesied as yet to come. The context of Testimonies, vol. 5, 81, is the general sense of the word CHURCH, because the opening and closing paragraph connote this by these qualifying words:

"There are precious ones now hidden who have not bowed the knee to Baal. They have not had the light which has been shining in a concentrated blaze upon you" [SDAs obviously].

Last paragraph 5T, 81:

"....then hidden ones will be revealed to view...." These are the "precious ones now hidden" in paragraph one, "who have not bowed the knee to Baal...." and "...have not had the light which has been shining in a concentrated blaze upon you" [ SDAs].

In the process of winnowing wheat, the chaff is attached to the wheat like a husk. The chaff is winnowed from the wheat and blown away. The tares are different yet. They are bound together in the field as faggots for burning. The chaff that is like a husk to the wheat is similar to the daughters of Zion, the bride. She is a pure (bethulah) virgin. The ten-virgins on the other hand are of marriageable age, but may have been concubines. They are not strictly virgin in the sense of the virgin as used in Isaiah 62:5, in reference to Zion, the bride of Christ. The bride is Zion, from which the unfaithful daughter "virgins" are shaken. The tares (insincere believers) or weeds dwell with the wheat until the close of probationary time, when they are burned as bound faggots in a world-wide cataclysmic event prefigured by the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
In Isaiah 5:24, the chaff are those who "....have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the Word of the Holy One of Israel." Therefore, the chaff are open sinning apostates because their casting away of the law of the Lord is a visible, open sin. New Movement Adventism is chaff, because that is precisely what that New Movement has done. And with that they have "removed God," Selected Messages, vol. 1, 205. The chaff are borne away on the wind, so they are like those who leave the true SDA church by joining the professing SDA church to the other churches that "....have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts," and despise the Everlasting Gospel. They are like the open sinning thorns.
The tares, on the other hand, are not visibly open sinning violators. They are insincere believers whose motives we would have to judge in order to deal with them. They dwell with the wheat until the close of probationary time (Christ's Object Lessons, p. 72).

The chaff are blown away from true Adventism (Zion) without necessarily leaving the professing, apostate, SDA Structure Church militant. Both the chaff and tares are burned or destroyed. Ezekiel 22:17-31 tells us that the chaff, dross, tares, are burned in the midst of Jerusalem, the professing church, as in 70 AD. Ellen White is consistent with this interpretation in that she likens the world and the church unto THE FIELD, and chaff and tares are indeed burned in the field, as follows:

"The 'field,' Christ said, 'is the world.' But we must understand this as signifying the church of Christ in the world. The parable is a description of that which pertains to the kingdom of God, His work of salvation of men; and this work is accomplished through the church. True, the Holy Spirit has gone out into all the world; everywhere it is moving upon the hearts of men; but it is in the church that we are to grow and ripen for the garner of God." Christ's Object Lessons.

Can the wheat ripen amidst a "church militant" comprised of open sinning tares and thorns?

"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 is precisely what New Movement Seventh-day Adventists (Selected Messages, vol. 1, 204-205), teach. Thorns are defined by the SDA Bible Commentary (above) as those who teach justification without sanctification, which is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. What happens if the wheat is allowed to stay with a church in which the thorns have become the leadership, which teaches justification without sanctification to the church and to the world? A situation accrues in which it is impossible for the wheat to mature!

We are laboring this matter on tares and thorns dwelling with the wheat, because SDAs simply do not understand when it is proper and an absolute duty to separate and uproot wheat from tares and thorns, and this is a very crucial matter. It meant life or death in A.D. 70; eternal life or death! It meant the same thing in the Protestant Reformation, and in 1844! It involves the same thing today! This is no side issue of little importance.

In every generation since Christ, true reformers have not needed a National Sunday Law as a reason for separation from those who refused light, Desire of Ages, 232. That is the final time during which all wheat is separated from all dross in all professing Christian Churches! That event in no way precludes separation for other reasons before that time! Desire of Ages, 232.

"But the doctrine is now largely taught that the Gospel of Christ has made the Law of God of no effect; that by 'believing' we are released from the necessity of being doers of the word. But this is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which Christ so unsparingly condemned....Those who are teaching this doctrine today have much to say in regard to faith and the righteousness of Christ; but they pervert the truth, and make it serve the cause of error. They declare that we have only to believe on Jesus Christ, and that faith is all-sufficient; that the righteousness of Christ is to be the sinner's credentials; that this imputed righteousness fulfils the law for us, and that we are under no obligation to obey the law of God. This class claim that Christ came to save sinners, and that he has saved them. 'I am saved,' they will repeat over and over again. But are they saved while transgressing the law of Jehovah?--No; for the garments of Christ's righteousness are not a cloak for iniquity: Such teaching is a gross deception, and Christ becomes to these persons a stumbling-block as he did to the Jews,--to the Jews because they would not receive him as their personal Saviour; to these professed believers in Christ, because they separate Christ and the Law, and regard faith as a substitute for obedience. They separate the Father and the Son, the Saviour of the world. Virtually they teach, both by precept and example, that Christ, by his death, saves men in their transgressions." E.G. White, The Signs of the Times, vol. 3, 363, col. 1.

No church that retains open sinners can qualify as a church militant, and that is now the status of New Movement apostate Adventism. The true remnant of Adventism, or Zion, is not defiled with women. Her wise virgin daughters will escape from apostate Adventism to join her procession, Christ Object Lessons, p. 405-6.

Some say that we should PRETEND that the tithe is going to the support of the faithful ministers among New Movement Adventism. This is an oxymoron, because according to God there are no faithful ministers among Omega of Apostasy Adventism, Ezekiel 22:30. Some ministers will BECOME faithful minister by leaving the ranks of apostate Adventism, as will some of her laity, to join the bridal procession. Anyone who says that Ron Beaulieu teaches that all within the professing SDA church are irretrievably fallen are despotic liars. Some will not leave the apostate church until the final call of Matthew 25 is given. However, that does not excuse those who hear the call in the meantime, and refuse to heed it. The call of the bridal procession is cited in Matthew 25, and Christ's Object Lessons, p. 405-6.

When Ellen White mentioned "those who go out from us," she meant out from and of Zion, the church triumphant, the bride of Jesus Christ, Isaiah 62:1-5. She clearly said that sinners would be shaken from Zion, the church triumphant, not the church militant. Obviously, the church that appears as about to fall but does not is the church that triumphs:

"The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners IN ZION will be sifted out--the chaff separated from the precious wheat [AFTER THE CLOSE OF PROBATIONARY TIME--CHRIST'S OBJECT LESSONS 72]. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place. None but those who have been overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true, without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths." E.G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 2, 380.

The problem is with indolent, superficial-conservative class Adventists, who do not know the definition of Zion as being the church triumphant, Heb. 12:22, 23, and the bride of Christ, who is different from the ten virgins, The Great Controversy, 426, 427, as follows:

"The marriage represents the reception by Christ of His kingdom. The Holy City, the New Jerusalem, which is the capital and representative of the kingdom, is called 'the bride, the Lamb's wife.' Said the angel to John: 'Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.' 'He carried me away in the spirit,' says the prophet, 'and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.' Revelation 21:9, 10. Clearly, then, the bride represents the Holy City, and the virgins that go out to meet the bridegroom are a symbol of the church [militant]. In the Revelation the people of God are said to be the guests at the marriage supper. Revelation 19:9. If guests, they cannot be represented also as the bride...He will receive the New Jerusalem, the capital of His kingdom, 'prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.'" E. G. White, The Great Controversy, 426, 427.

Let us analyze the above statement very closely:

The Holy City, the New Jerusalem, which is the CAPITAL and REPRESENTATIVE of the kingdom, is the bride, the Lamb's wife.

The bride REPRESENTS [ambassadors of] the Holy City.

The virgins that go out to meet the bridegroom are a symbol of the church; they are the "people of God;" they are guests at the marriage supper, and if guests, they cannot also be represented as the bride! They cannot be both. Christ receives the NEW JERUSALEM, the CAPITAL and REPRESENTATIVE [ambassadors] of His kingdom, as a bride adorned for her husband."

Therefore, the bride, NEW JERUSALEM," the representatives or earthly ambassadors, the true messengers of the heavenly NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH; the earthly REPRESENTATIVES of the heavenly church called ZION, Hebrews 12: 22, 23, the church triumphant, consisting of men made perfect [verse 23] are the bride of Jesus Christ.

"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar IN THE TEMPLE of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is NEW JERUSALEM, which cometh down out of heaven from my God; and I will write upon him my NEW NAME ." Rev. 3:12.

Will Scripture support Ellen White's view of the matter? Lets explore:

Isaiah 62 tells us who Jesus marries: "For ZION'S SAKE will I no hold my peace, and for [New] Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until THE RIGHTEOUSNESS THEREOF go forth as brightness, and the SALVATION THEREOF as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see THY [ZION'S] RIGHTEOUSNESS, and all kings thy GLORY: and thou shalt be called by A NEW NAME, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. thou [Zion in context] shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate [because it is Zion that appears to fall]: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.For as a young man marrieth a virgin [bethulah in Hebrew], so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence. And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make [NEW] Jerusalem a praise in the earth. . . .
Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones [of stumbling--the errors the stumbling blocks]; lift up a standard [God's Holy Law] for the people [the guests--the body of the church]. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city [church kingdom] not forsaken." Isaiah 62:1-7; 10-12.

What you have just read is a Biblical description of Zion, the Bride of Jesus Christ. She has sons, verse 5, and she has daughters, verse 11. She is the holy mother:

"The people of God, symbolized by a holy woman and her children, were represented as greatly in the minority. In the last days only a remnant still existed. Of these John speaks as they 'which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." E. G. White, Signs of the Times, Nov. 1, 1899, and Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 972.

Zion is the church triumphant which has always existed to come to the aid of any valid church militant in any and every age:

"The members of the church triumphant--the church in heaven--will be permitted to draw near to the members of the church militant, to aid them in their necessity." E. G. White, The Southern Watchman, Sep. 8, 1903.

"The church is God's fortress, his city of refuge, which he holds in a revolted world. Any betrayal of her sacred trust is treachery to him who has bought her with the precious blood of his only begotten Son. In the past, faithful souls have constituted the church on earth, and God has taken them into covenant relation with himself, uniting the church on earth with the church in heaven. He has sent forth his holy angels to minister to his church, and the gates of hell have not been able to prevail against it." E. G. White, Review and Herald , 12-04-1900.

The Church in Heaven is the Church Triumphant of Men Made Perfect

"But ye are come unto mount Sion [Zion], and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and CHURCH OF THE FIRSTBORN, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men MADE PERFECT." Hebrews 12:22, 23.

Further Distinctions Between the Bride and the Ten Virgin Guests--The Ten-Virgins are Awakened by the Voice of the Bride

"Lingering near [not at] the bride's house are ten young women robed in white. Each carries a lighted lamp and a small flagon for oil. All are anxiously watching for the appearance of the bridegroom. But there is a delay [since 1844]. Hour after hour passes; the watchers become weary and fall asleep. At midnight the cry is heard, 'Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.' The sleepers [all ten slept Matt. 25:5], suddenly awaking, spring to their feet. They see the procession moving on, bright with torches and glad with music. They hear the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. The ten maidens seize their lamps and begin to trim them, in haste to go forth, But five have neglected to fill their flasks with oil [character]. They did not anticipate so long a delay, and they have not prepared for the emergence." E. G. White, Christ's Object Lessons, pp. 405, 406.

If the voice of the bride awakens the 10 virgins, then the bride is a separate entity, who is awake before the awakening of the 10 virgins. This is attested to in Isaiah 62:11, where the mother, Zion, says the same thing, in similar other words, to her daughter.

Only Zion, Philadelphia, New Jerusalem, the Bride, the 144,000, the Firstfruits [Firstborn] go into the Temple on Mt. Zion.

"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar IN THE TEMPLE of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is NEW JERUSALEM, which cometh down out of heaven from my God; and I will write upon him my NEW NAME." Rev. 3:12.

Conclusions:

Zion consists of the earthly representatives of the heavenly church of Hebrews 12:22, 23. They are like heavenly messengers who awaken the 10 virgin church militants of guests. Only Zion goes into the Temple on Mt. Zion, as only the priests of the earthly Sanctuary, went into the Temple: (Rev. 3:12--made a pillar--leaders-in the Temple) and:

"And as we were about to enter the holy temple, Jesus raised His lovely voice and said, 'Only the 144,000 enter this place," and we shouted, 'Allleluia." E. G. White, Early Writings, 19.

Sincerely,

Ron Beaulieu