Jerusalem--a
Symbol of the Church and the World
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Dear Reader, What follows is an example of the wanton
ignorance and willingness of some professing New Movement Seventh-day
Adventists to deceive. A person whom I have warned for over three years,
posted on an SDA Internet forum, SDAIssues, the following E.G. White
statements pertaining to what “Jerusalem” symbolizes at the end of time, in
an effort to covey the belief that “Jerusalem” symbolizes ONLY the
world: Christ saw in Jerusalem a symbol of a
world hardened in unbelief and rebellion, and rushing on to meet the
retributive judgments of God. {4SP
22.1} The ruin of Jerusalem was a symbol of the
final ruin that shall overwhelm the world. The prophecies that received a
partial fulfillment in the overthrow of Jerusalem have a more direct
application to the last days. We are now standing on the threshold of great and
solemn events.{MB 120.2} I have explained scores of times to the
person involved that Ellen White indeed says that: ·
The
“field” symbolizes the world and the church. ·
That
the “prefigure” of the destruction of Jerusalem, p. 25, The Great
Controversy, does indeed symbolize the destruction of the world at the
end-time, but that it begins at the church, Jerusalem, the House of Jacob,
His Sanctuary, those who have been privileged with great light. In spite of informing the individual many
times, he still chooses to give only part of the truth of the matter. Here is
the rest of the story: "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,
p. 70. Ellen
White said that only God’s presence can constitute a church. She says in 1SM
204-5 that God would be removed when and if the things specified were
fulfilled. They have been abundantly fulfilled as part of the omega of
apostasy. God has indeed been removed. So now the omega of apostasy New
Movement that we were never to join, does not even qualify as a church, but
is rather the Synagogue of Satan. The SDA church militant is now the home SDA
churches around the world because even the SDA Bible Commentary states that
it is impossible for the wheat to mature among thorns or open sinners and
that the thorns teach justification without sanctification. Tares are
insincere believers whose motives we would have to judge in order to uproot
them, COL, p. 71. Thorny ground hearers are persons who commit and teach open
sin apostasy and that all that is required for salvation is justification
without sanctification, and that sanctification (overcoming of all known sin)
is impossible this side of glorification. "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. 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. The
above was written prior to 1957, when the church still taught the truth that
sanctification is a condition of salvation. And, of course, the cheap grace
teaching of justification only is very popular to those who love sin more
than Jesus. Like
the apostate Jews of old, apostate SDA’s feel indispensable to the cause of
God, and that no matter what they do by way of apostasy, that God is “stuck”
with them to give the gospel to the world. But God will not depend upon an
apostate church that is in liaison with fallen Babylon, and which now teaches
the same false gospel as Babylon, to give the Loud Cry out of Babylon and the
world. She also said that the fallen churches cannot be distinguished from
the world, Early Writings, 273. In
the alpha of apostasy, there was an acknowledged prophet who was the only
person to recognize and “meet” that apostasy. In the omega there has been no
acknowledged prophet to recognize and meet the omega of apostasy. Further, Ellen
White said that the omega would surely come and that it would wax stronger
until Jesus comes. She said that “nothing would be allowed to stand in the
way of the New Movement, 1SM 205. 1Pe
4:17 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? Ezekiel 9:6 slay utterly the old man, the young man and the
virgin, 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
old men that were before the house. If the only thing
symbolized by “Jerusalem” is the world, and God says begin at my Sanctuary,
where does it end? Mars? Jupiter? Saturn?, or some
other planet?! 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. I have shown the
following statement to the person many times as well: "In
the very courts of the temple, scenes will be enacted that few realize.
God's people will be proved and tested, that He may discern 'between him that
serveth God and him that serveth Him not.' Vengeance will be executed against
those who sit in the gate, deciding what the people should have and
what they should not have. These take away the key of knowledge. They
refuse to enter in themselves, and those who would enter in they hinder.
These bear not the seal of the living God. All who now occupy responsible
positions should be solemnly and terribly afraid lest in this time they shall
be found as unfaithful stewards." E.G. White, Manuscript 15, 1886,
Paulson Collection, p. 55. What is the key of
knowledge? Gal
5:6 For in
Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision;
but faith which worketh by love. “It is contrition and
faith and love that enable the soul to receive wisdom from heaven. Faith
working by love is the key of knowledge, and everyone that loveth
"knoweth God." 1 John 4:7. Desire
of Ages, 139. The apostate New
Movement SDA church has corrupted the key of knowledge by stressing that
justification (salvation) is by forensic (legal) pardon only without works,
without sanctification or faith that works by love. Thus, it teaches a false
gospel while a few ministers still teach the true gospel. But teaching the
true gospel admixed with the false, is not approved by God. He said to
accurse any, even an angel who should come with another gospel. Thus, the
individual under discussion in this document, and the New Movement SDA
apostate church which he defends, both teach half truths that are designed by
Satan to mislead to destruction. This is the type of
deception we can expect from the omega of apostasy New Movement SDA church
that has fulfilled all the specifications of Selected Messages, Bk. 1, 204-5. And what is the final result? Another literal
fulfillment of Ezekiel 9, on Jerusalem, beginning with Jerusalem the church,
and then Jerusalem as the world after it has heard and rejected the final
gospel call—the Loud Cry of the third and fourth angel. The person I refer to in
this document as presenting half-truth deception, is forever decrying Robert
Sessler for doing the very thing he is doing himself. But really, friend, as
a good friend of mine always says about such deceivers, “What else can we
expect from Laodicea?” Ellen White said that the Laodicean state of the
church represents the foolish virgins. This is an example of
the teaching of half-truths and half-falsehoods that will be the cause of
another literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 9 as prophesied by Ellen White. Ron P.S. Someone made the
following interesting response to the individual giving the half-truth about what
Jerusalem symbolizes in the Bible and according to Ellen White: OK! Then this puts a whole
different slant on Ezekiel 9. The man with the seal goes throughout the
world. There is no mention of any one in the Sanctuary being
sealed. On the other hand, the men with the slaughter weapons are
in the sanctuary as well as the world. Looks like nobody in the
Sanctuary is getting sealed. Ezekiel 9:4 And Jehovah said unto him, Go
through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem,
and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all
the abominations that are done in the midst thereof. Ezekiel 9:5 And to the others he said in my
hearing, Go ye through the city after him, and smite: let not
your eye spare, neither have ye pity; Ezekiel 9:6 slay
utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, 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 old men that were before the house. This also appears to mean that the
remnant go forth out of the world and not out of the Sanctuary. It kinda looks like the SDA church is in a
lose-lose situation if we are going to take what EGW says
seriously. I also find the last part of Isaiah 37:32 very interesting. Isaiah 37:32 For
out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of mount Zion they
that shall escape. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this. Didn't somebody say the church was
mount Zion? I think it was Bryan. What do you make of Jehovah
saying he will help the *escape* of the remnant out of the church? Curiouser and curiouser. |