The
Infinite, Unfathomable Love of God
and
The Everlasting Covenant
Part 2
“The last message of mercy to be given to the world is a revelation of His
character of love. The children of God are to manifest His glory. In their own life and
character they are to reveal what the grace of God has done for them.”—Christ’s Object Lessons, 415, 416
(1900). {LDE 200.4}
“Christ
declared John the Baptist to be one of the greatest of the prophets, and He
showed His hearers that they had had sufficient evidence that John was a
messenger from God. The words of the preacher in the wilderness were with
power. He bore his message unflinchingly, rebuking the sins of priests and
rulers, and enjoining upon them the works of the kingdom of heaven. He pointed
out to them their sinful disregard of their Father's authority in refusing to
do the work appointed them. He made no compromise with sin, and many were
turned from their unrighteousness.” Christ’s
Object Lessons, p. 278.
Rom. 5:5 – “The love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
1Jo 5:18 We know that whosoever is
born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and
that wicked one toucheth him not.
1Jo 5:19 And we know that we are
of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
1Jo 5:20 And we know that the Son
of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that
is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is
the true God, and eternal life.
1Jo 5:2 By this we know that we
love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jo 5:3 For this is the love of
God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
1Jo 5:4 For whatsoever is born of
God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world,
even our faith.
The Everlasting Covenant
The last promise that Christ ever made to His
people before His Incarnation sacrifice, was a promise of restoration of
all that had been lost, lest the earth should be smitten with a curse, to wit: Mal.
4:4 – “Remember
ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all
Israel, with the statutes and judgments.” v. 5, 6 – “Behold I will send you Elijah the
prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he
shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the
children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
Jesus verified this by saying: “Elias truly shall first come, and restore all
things.” – Matt. 17:11. That this promise was not totally fulfilled by John the
Baptist is evident from a comparison of Matt. 17:11-13 with John 1:21.
What
has been lost? What needs to be restored?
The first thing that is mentioned in Mal. 4:4,
is “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in
Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments.” God’s law as delivered
to Moses, has been forgotten. That law is a transcript of His character says
Ellen White. God’s character is directly related to His personality. So His law
tells us a lot about the Godhead and the personality of God and Christ.
The Bible says God is love, so we can conclude
that His law was given out of His love for the very best interest of man and
all creation involved in the balance of nature. It is a disregard for the law
of God, that has led to every ill experienced by man, society, and the
imbalance of nature that is destroying the earth. Scientists are now saying
that an average of 200 species of the animal kingdom are becoming extinct
daily. This constitutes destruction of what God made, and He says that He will
destroy those who destroy the earth. Obedience to God’s law and all the
principles encompassed by that law, would have prevented all the ills that the
earth experiences today.
In order that the kingdom of heaven should
never experience the ills that caused the destruction in this world, God sends
Elijah to not only restore the law of the Everlasting Covenant, but to place it
in the heart of man, so that sin will never break out again. Like David, we
must love God’s law. When we love God and His law, we will also fulfill the
commandment to love one another as God loves us. Though David and his son
Solomon violated God’s law in very grievous ways, they repented and came to
love God’s law, and to see all else as vanity. That is what God’s people must
do in order to be safe to save.
Nowadays, we hear much discussion about how
all we need is a relationship with Christ, and that we don’t need the law. That
is tantamount to saying that we don’t need God and Christ, for His law is a
transcript of His character. It is impossible to have a relationship with
Christ, without obedience to His law, because the test for loving Christ is
that we obey His commandments.
Pretending to have a relationship with Christ,
while omitting obedience to His commandments and all the principles linked to
those commandments, is like pretending to love a spouse while dispensing with
all rules for the relationship. That is exactly what is transpiring with all
too many marriage relationships today, and the result is much unhappiness and
divorce. We prove our love to our spouse by restricting our fidelity to them.
In the same way, we prove our love for God and Christ, by obedience to their
restrictions, which are only for our best welfare. Most men and women would not
be interested in a free for all relationship. Although this type of
relationship does exist, God knows that this is not best for the long-term
welfare and happiness of any and all parties concerned.
Psa 119:97 MEM. O how love I thy law! it is my
meditation all the day.
Psa 119:113 SAMECH. I hate vain thoughts: but
thy law do I love.
Psa 119:163 I hate and abhor lying: but thy
law do I love.
Psa 119:165 Great peace have they which love
thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
Gal 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one
word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Jas 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according
to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
Deu 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God
with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Deu 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD
thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways,
and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all
thy soul,
Deu 11:13 And it shall come to pass, if ye
shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to
love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your
soul,
Deu 13:3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words
of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with
all your heart and with all your soul.
Deu 30:6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise
thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine
heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Jos 22:5 But take diligent heed to do the
commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to
love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his
commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and
with all your soul.
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind.
Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all
thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Luk 10:27 And he answering said, Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
2Co 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.
Amen.
Eph 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which
passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God
1Jo 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God;
for God is love.
1Jo 4:16 And we have known and believed the
love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in
God, and God in him.
Deu 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God,
he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that
love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
Deu 30:20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy
God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him:
for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the
land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob,
to give them.
Ecc 9:1 For all this I considered in my heart
even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works,
are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is
before them.
Mic 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is
good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love
mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Zep 3:17 The LORD thy God in the midst of thee
is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in
his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all
thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Rom 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given
unto us.
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.
1Co 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 8:3 But if any man love God, the same is
known of him.
Eph 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his
great love wherewith he loved us,
Heb 6:10 For God is not unrighteous to forget
your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye
have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
1Jo 2:5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him
verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
1Jo 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for
love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
1Jo 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our
sins.
1Jo 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time. If
we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
1Jo 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth
his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath
seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
1Jo 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we
keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
The
following pages from Christ’s Object
Lessons, are apropos and conditional to anyone who is interested in being
saved:
“John the Baptist came preaching truth, and by
his preaching sinners were convicted and converted. These would go into the
kingdom of heaven before the ones who in self-righteousness resisted the solemn
warning. The publicans and harlots were ignorant, but these learned men knew
the way of truth. Yet they refused to walk in the path which leads to the
Paradise of God. The truth that should have been to them a savor of life unto
life became a savor of death unto death. Open sinners who loathed themselves
had received baptism at the hands of John; but these teachers were hypocrites.
Their own stubborn hearts were the obstacle to their receiving the truth. They
resisted the conviction of the Spirit of God. They refused obedience to God's
commandments.
Christ did not say to them, Ye cannot enter the kingdom
of heaven; but He showed that the obstacle which prevented them from entering
was of their own creating. The door was still open to these Jewish leaders; the
invitation was
still held out. Christ longed to
see them convicted and converted.
The priests and elders of Israel spent their
lives in religious ceremonies, which they regarded as too sacred to be
connected with secular business. Therefore their lives were supposed to be
wholly religious. But they performed their ceremonies to be seen by men that
they might be thought by the world to be pious and devoted. While professing to
obey they refused to render obedience to God. They were not doers of the truth
which they professed to teach.
Christ declared John the Baptist to be one of
the greatest of the prophets, and He showed His hearers that they had had
sufficient evidence that John was a messenger from God. The words of the
preacher in the wilderness were with power. He bore his message unflinchingly, rebuking
the sins of priests and rulers, and enjoining upon them the works of the
kingdom of heaven. He pointed out to them their sinful disregard of their
Father's authority in refusing to do the work appointed them. He made no
compromise with sin, and many were turned from their unrighteousness.
Had the profession of the Jewish leaders been
genuine, they would have received John's testimony and accepted Jesus as the
Messiah. But they did not show the fruits of repentance and righteousness. The
very ones whom they despised were pressing into the kingdom of God before them.
In the parable the son who said, "I go,
sir," represented himself as faithful and obedient; but time proved that
his profession was not real. He had no true love for his father. So the Pharisees
prided themselves on their holiness, but when tested, it was found wanting.
When it was for their interest to do so, they made the requirements of the law
very exacting; but when obedience was required from themselves, by cunning
sophistries they reasoned away the force of God's precepts. Of them Christ
declared, "Do not ye
after their works; for they say,
and do not." Matt. 23:3. They had no true love for God or man. God called
them to be co-workers with Him in blessing the world; but while in profession
they accepted the call, in action they refused obedience. They trusted to self,
and prided themselves on their goodness; but they set the commands of God at
defiance. They refused to do the work which God had appointed them, and because
of their transgression the Lord was about to divorce Himself from the
disobedient nation.
Self-righteousness is not true righteousness,
and those who cling to it will be left to take the consequences of holding a
fatal deception. Many today claim to obey the commandments of God, but they
have not the love of God in their hearts to flow forth to others. Christ calls
them to unite with Him in His work for the saving of the world, but they
content themselves with saying, "I go, sir." They do not go. They do
not co-operate with those who are doing God's service. They are idlers. Like
the unfaithful son, they make false promises to God. In taking upon themselves
the solemn covenant of the church they have pledged themselves to receive and
obey the word of God, to give themselves to God's service, but they do not do
this. In profession they claim to be sons of God, but in life and character
they deny the relationship. They do not surrender the will to God. They are
living a lie.
The promise of obedience they appear to fulfill
when this involves no sacrifice; but when self-denial and self-sacrifice are
required, when they see the cross to be lifted, they draw back. Thus the
conviction of duty wears away, and known transgression of God's commandments
becomes habit. The ear may hear God's word, but the spiritual perceptive powers
have departed. The heart is hardened, the conscience seared.
Do not think that because you do not manifest
decided
hostility to Christ you are
doing Him service. We thus deceive our own souls. By withholding that which God
has given us to use in His service, be it time or means or any other of His
entrusted gifts, we work against Him.
Satan uses the listless, sleepy indolence of
professed Christians to strengthen his forces and win souls to his side. Many,
who think that though they are doing no actual work for Christ, they are yet on
His side, are enabling the enemy to pre-occupy ground and gain advantages. By
their failure to be diligent workers for the Master, by leaving duties undone
and words unspoken, they have allowed Satan to gain control of souls who might
have been won for Christ.
We can never be saved in indolence and
inactivity. There is no such thing as a truly converted person living a
helpless, useless life. It is not possible for us to drift into heaven. No
sluggard can enter there. If we do not strive to gain an entrance into the
kingdom, if we do not seek earnestly to learn what constitutes its laws, we are
not fitted for a part in it. Those who refuse to co-operate with God on earth
would not co-operate with Him in heaven. It would not be safe to take them to
heaven.
There is more hope for publicans and sinners
than for those who know the word of God but refuse to obey it. He who sees
himself a sinner with no cloak for his sin, who knows that he is corrupting
soul, body, and spirit before God, becomes alarmed lest he be eternally
separated from the kingdom of heaven. He realizes his diseased condition, and
seeks healing from the great Physician who has said, "Him that cometh to
Me, I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37. These souls the Lord can use
as workers in His vineyard.
The son who for a time refused obedience to his
father's command was not condemned by Christ; and neither was he commended. The
class who act the part of the first
son in refusing obedience
deserve no credit for holding this position. Their frankness is not to be
regarded as a virtue. Sanctified by truth and holiness, it would make men bold
witnesses for Christ; but used as it is by the sinner, it is insulting and
defiant, and approaches to blasphemy. The fact that a man is not a hypocrite
does not make him any the less really a sinner. When the appeals of the Holy
Spirit come to the heart, our only safety lies in responding to them without
delay. When the call comes, "Go work today in My vineyard," do not
refuse the invitation. "Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your
hearts." Heb. 4:7. It is unsafe to delay obedience. You may never hear the
invitation again.
And let none flatter themselves that sins
cherished for a time can easily be given up by and by. This is not so. Every
sin cherished weakens the character and strengthens habit; and physical,
mental, and moral depravity is the result. You may repent of the wrong you have
done, and set your feet in right paths; but the mold of your mind and your
familiarity with evil will make it difficult for you to distinguish between
right and wrong. Through the wrong habits formed, Satan will assail you again
and again.
In the command, "Go work today in My
vineyard," the test of sincerity is brought to every soul. Will there be
deeds as well as words? Will the one called put to use all the knowledge he
has, working faithfully, disinterestedly, for the Owner of the vineyard?
The apostle Peter instructs us as to the plan on
which we must work. "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you," he
says, "through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as
His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and
godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and
virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises; that by these ye might
be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust.
"And beside this, giving all diligence, add
to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and
to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly
kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity." 2 Peter 1:2-7.
If you cultivate faithfully the vineyard of your
soul, God is making you a laborer together with Himself. And you will have a
work to do not only for yourself, but for others. In representing the church as
the vineyard, Christ does not teach that we are to restrict our sympathies and
labors to our own numbers. The Lord's vineyard is to be enlarged. In all parts
of the earth He desires it to be extended. As we receive the instruction and
grace of God, we should impart to others a knowledge of how to care for the
precious plants. Thus we may extend the vineyard of the Lord. God is watching
for evidence of our faith, love, and patience. He looks to see if we are using
every spiritual advantage to become skillful workers in His vineyard on earth,
that we may enter the Paradise of God, that Eden home from which Adam and Eve
were excluded by transgression.
God stands toward His people in the relation of
a father, and He has a father's claim to our faithful service. Consider the
life of Christ. Standing at the head of humanity, serving His Father, He is an
example of what every son should and may be. The obedience that Christ rendered
God requires from human beings today. He served His Father with love, in willingness
and freedom. "I delight to do Thy will, O My God," He declared;
"yea, Thy law is within My heart." Ps. 40:8. Christ counted no
sacrifice too great, no toil too hard, in order to accomplish the work which He
came to do. At the age of twelve He said, "Wist
ye not that I must be about My
Father's business?" Luke 2:49. He had heard the call, and had taken up the
work. "My meat," He said, "is to do the will of Him that sent
Me, and to finish His work." John 4:34.
Thus we are to serve God. He only serves who
acts up to the highest standard of obedience. All who would be sons and
daughters of God must prove themselves co-workers with God and Christ and the
heavenly angels. This is the test for every soul. Of those who faithfully serve
Him the Lord says, "They shall be Mine. . . in that day when I make up My
jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth
him." Mal. 3:17.
God's great object in the working out of His
providences is to try men, to give them opportunity to develop character. Thus
He proves whether they are obedient or disobedient to His commands. Good works
do not purchase the love of God, but they reveal that we possess that love. If
we surrender the will to God, we shall not work in order to earn God's love.
His love as a free gift will be received into the soul, and from love to Him we
shall delight to obey His commandments.
There are only two classes in the world today,
and only two classes will be recognized in the judgment--those who violate
God's law and those who obey it. Christ gives the test by which to prove our
loyalty or disloyalty. "If ye love Me," He says, "keep My
commandments. . . . He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is
that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will
love him, and will manifest Myself to him. . . . He that loveth Me not keepeth
not My sayings; and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's which
sent Me." "If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love;
even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." John
14:15-24; 15:10. Christ’s Object Lessons,
pp. 277-283.
What
needs to be restored is love for God and Christ, as manifested (proven) by
obedience to all the commandments and the principles associated with those
commandments. Only then can we love one another.
There is
one thing, and one thing alone, that will motivate man to love God and the
brethren as him/herself, and that is the unfathomable love that God and His Son
have shown toward man, even while we have yet been sinners. The love of God is
most powerfully demonstrated by the infinite, immeasurable
sacrifice that the Son of God made for us in order to redeem us from our folly
of sin. And the most heart rending thing about it all, is the fact that Jesus
would have done it all for any ONE of us, as demonstrated by the parable of the
one lost sheep. Friend, when you consider that Jesus emptied Himself of His
divinity forever, to show that you and I can keep His commandments, how can we
sin against Him? What should we be willing to sacrifice for Him?
But what has mainline Christianity done? It has concluded that we cannot keep His commandments and that commandment-keeping is not essential to salvation. That heresy trashes the entire eternal sacrifice Christ made for us, in order to prove man can keep His commandments. Nothing could be more heretical! Nothing could be more speaking against the Holy Ghost of Christ, which the Bible defines as unpardonable sin, if this sin is not repented of.
The everlasting covenant itself promised and
provided the means whereby its purpose would be accomplished; namely,
through a revelation of God’s character of love. Satan misrepresented
God’s character of love as being one of selfishness, and taught that God was
not subject to His own law. The fact that God’s Son, as verily God, had to die
to make the provision for our salvation and to mend the breach in the Law, is
proof that God is love; that God is self-sacrificing, and that God is subject
to His own law of selflessness.
The prime purpose of Elijah’s final message
involving the Everlasting Covenant, is to reveal God’s character of Love, as
evinced by the Incarnation of Jesus into our humanity, to prove that we need
not sin. All who claim that it is impossible to overcome sin, speak
blasphemously against the Holy Spirit, which is the gift of God to us that
empowers us in not sinning.
John 17:26 – “And I have declared unto them thy name (i.e., His character; cf.
Ex. 33:18-23; 34:5, 6), and will declare it; that the love wherewith thou hast
loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
God’s character of love has been misunderstood and misrepresented. A message
for this time is to make known His true Character. The final message to the
world is a revelation of the righteousness of Christ, which is manifest by His
great love for man.
God’s Character
of Love and God’s Righteousness by Faith Are the Last Message to the World
The righteousness of Christ and His character
of love are one and the same thing. They both constitute the last message to a
dying world. His righteousness is measured by His commandments. His love is
measured by His obedience to His own commandments and the price He was willing
to pay to ransom man from his disobedience of God’s commandments.
“The last message of mercy to be given to the world is a revelation of His
character of love. The children of God are to manifest His glory. In their own life and
character they are to reveal what the grace of God has done for them.”—Christ’s Object Lessons, 415, 416
(1900). {LDE 200.4}
"One
interest will prevail, one subject will swallow up every other, Christ and His
righteousness." Review and
Herald, Dec.23, 1892.
On
Sabbath, May 11, 1889, just a few months after the Minneapolis Conference, Mrs.
White, while preaching, asked this question: "Well, then, what is our
position? It must be a position of living faith... That living faith is
essential for our salvation, that we should lay hold upon the MERITS of the
blood of a crucified and risen Saviour, upon Christ our righteousness."
(emphasis mine)
One cannot speak of the righteousness of Christ without mentioning His merits
since it is through His merits that His righteousness is brought into the life.
"We cannot explain this faith that lays right hold upon the merits of
the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour to bring Christ's righteousness into
the life. Clothed with the robe of His righteousness and not your own
righteousness, you will not depend upon what you can do or what you will
do" for "Christ's righteousness accomplishes everything."
Faith and Works, p.64-66.
The merits of Christ’s righteousness includes the gift of
His Holy Spirit Divine Nature, as the highest good, crowning gift that heaven
can bestow, for the purpose of apostleship and obedience.
Rom 1:5 By whom
we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all
nations, for his name:
Rom 1:6 Among
whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:
“I was shown the necessity of those who
believe that we are having the last message of mercy, being
separate from those who are daily imbibing new errors. I
saw that neither young nor old should attend their meetings; for it is wrong to
thus encourage them while they teach error that is a deadly poison to the soul
and teach for doctrines the commandments of men. The influence of such
gatherings is not good. If God has delivered us from such darkness and error,
we should stand fast in the liberty wherewith He has set us free and rejoice in
the truth. God is displeased with us when we go to listen to error, without
being obliged to go; for unless He sends us to those meetings where error is
forced home to the people by the power of the will, He will not keep us. The
angels cease their watchful care over us, and we are left to the buffetings of
the enemy, to be darkened and weakened by him and the power of his evil angels;
and the light around us becomes contaminated with the darkness. {EW
124.3}
"The
same disobedience and failure which were seen in the Jewish church have characterized
in a greater degree the people who have had this great light from heaven in the
last messages of warning" Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 456.
"Confederacies
will increase in number and power as we draw nearer to the end of time. These
confederacies will create opposing influences to the truth, forming new parties
of professed believers who will act out their own delusive theories. The
apostasy will increase. 'Some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to
seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.' Men and women have confederated to
oppose the Lord God of heaven, and the church is only half awake to the
situation. There needs to be much more prayer, much more of earnest effort,
among professed believers." --Review
and Herald, Aug. 5, 1909, (Evangelism
p. 363)
"The
Lord Jesus will always have a chosen people to serve Him. When the Jewish
people rejected Christ, the Prince of life. He took from them the kingdom of
God and gave it unto the Gentiles. God will continue to work on this principle
with every branch of His work. When a church proves unfaithful to the work
of the Lord, whatever their position may be, however high and sacred their
calling, the Lord can no longer work with them. Others are then chosen to bear
important responsibilities. But, if these in turn do not purify their lives
from every wrong action, if they do not establish pure and holy principles in
all their borders, then the Lord will grievously afflict and humble them and,
unless they repent, will remove them from their place and make them a reproach.
God
is not 'worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing' (Acts
17:25). E. G. White, The Upward Look, 131.
“It is the darkness of misapprehension of God
that is enshrouding the world. Men are losing their knowledge of His character.
It has been misunderstood and misinterpreted. At this time (i.e., the last
days; see p. 420 & 421) a message from God is to be proclaimed, a message
illuminating in its influence and saving in its power. His character is to be
made known. Into the darkness of the world is to be shed the light of His
glory, the light of His goodness, mercy, and truth.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 415.
Isa. 60:2 – “Behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the
people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon
thee.”
Rom. 5:5 – “The love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
Rom 1:5
By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the
faith among all nations, for his name:
God raised up His Son Jesus, in order to bless
us by removing man from the curse of the law by providing pardon from sin and
power to enable man to keep God’s law. It is the Holy Spirit of Christ that
turns us from our iniquities, and empowers us to hate and overcome sin by
demonstrating the degradation inherent in all sin.
In summary, the objective of
God’s Everlasting Covenant is:
1.
To repair the breach
man made in God’s Law by providing the means for salvation from sin.
2.
To provide for the
restoration of voluntary allegiance to God, and to the law of His Kingdom,
based on faith in and love for Christ, as manifested in obedience to all His
commandments.
3.
To define the means
by which we overcome, which is the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, lest any man
should boast.
4.
God’s grace is His
gift of His Holy Spirit for pardon as well as power. It is the gift of the
Divine Nature of Christ, given to overcome the lusts of the world.
Act
3:26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you,
in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
Act
3:26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you,
in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
“They must have His grace, the Spirit of Christ,
to help their infirmities, or they cannot form a Christian character. Jesus
loves to have us come to Him, just as we are—sinful, helpless, dependent.” Faith and Works, p. 38.
“There must be a power working from within, a new life from
above, before man can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ. His grace [the Spirit of Christ] alone can quicken the lifeless
faculties of the soul, and attract it to God, to holiness.” (ST, May 28, 1902, par. 3).
It is manifest blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, to say
or teach that we cannot overcome sin this side of glorification, when the very
purpose of the Incarnation sacrifice of the Son of God, was to provide the gift
of His Holy Spirit, not only to pardon past sins, but to empower us to hate and
overcome all known sin. All who persist in the Satanic teaching that we cannot
overcome sin before glorification, imbibe a continuum of speaking against the
Holy Ghost, which is unpardonable sin, and such will not be saved. This is a
most solemn warning that Elijah would extend to God’s people.
It is most significant that the last appeal
which Christ ever made to His people, before relinquishing His former glory and
assuming the garb of humanity at the first advent of Jesus, was an appeal for
allegiance to His law delivered through Moses. If His Everlasting Covenant Law
delivered at Sinai was to be nailed to the cross, why would He tell us to
remember the law of Moses? Why would He tell us that He was going to put that
law in our hearts?
Mal. 4:4 – “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him
in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.”
Heb. 8:10 – “For this is the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put
my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them
a God, and they shall be to me a people.” (Ezekiel 36:25-28)
Jer. 31:33, 34 – “But this shalt be the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel; . . . I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in
their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. . . . I will
forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
“The new covenant was established upon better promises (than the old covenant)
–the promise of forgiveness of sins, and of the grace of God to renew the
heart, and bring it into harmony with the principles of God’s law. . .” Patriarchs and Prophets p. 372.
The same law that was engraved upon the tables of stone is written by the Holy
Spirit upon the tables of the heart. Instead of going about to establish our
own righteousness we accept the righteousness of Christ. His blood atones for
our sins. His obedience is accepted for us. Then the heart renewed by the Holy
Spirit will bring forth “the fruits of the Spirit.” Through the
grace of Christ, we shall live in obedience to the law of God written upon our
hearts. Having the Spirit of Christ, we shall walk even as He walked.
Through the prophet He declared of Himself, “I delight to do Thy will, O My
God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Psalm 40:8. And when among men He said,
“The Father hath not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please
Him.” John 8:29. {PP 372.2}
“The apostle Paul clearly presents the
relation between faith and the law under the new covenant. He says: “Being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” “Do
we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the
law.” “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh”—it
could not justify man, because in his sinful nature he could not keep the
law—“God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be
fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans
5:1; 3:31; 8:3, 4. {PP 373.1}
Let us
ever remember that the purpose of the Everlasting Covenant is to provide the means
for salvation from sin; that is, to provide for complete restoration of
voluntary allegiance to God, which is the law of His kingdom, a transcript of
His character of self-renouncing love, which was proven by the sacrifice of His
Son on the cross. The Father agreed to the voluntary Incarnation sacrifice of
His Son, to prove His character of self-sacrificing, self-renouncing love, and
that God Himself is subject to His law. God expects nothing from us that He
does not expect of Himself, and He gives us His power as enablement.
2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
When we consent to be truly born again, we die
to the old man, and are risen to the new, which partakes of the divine nature
of Christ, which is all powerful in overcoming the corruption (sin) that is in
the world through lust. To believe or teach anything else, is the highest
blasphemy against the gift of the Holy Spirit, and constitutes unpardonable sin
if this belief is persisted in.
How
does the Elijah message turn the hearts of man to love for one another and to
God?
·
It does so by
showing how the character of God has been maligned and misrepresented by Satan
and his agents.
·
It does so by
demonstrating God’s character of love in giving us His only begotten Son, to
pardon our sins, and to empower us by His grace to stop sinning, and to
convince us of the hatefulness of sin so that we would rather die than sin
against God.
· It does so by teaching the prescribed limit of a
sacrifice involved within the Incarnation of and by itself, which is death of
the Testator: "The darkness rolled away from the
Saviour and from the Cross. Christ bowed His head and died. In His Incarnation He
had reached the prescribed limit as a sacrifice, but not as a
redeemer." E.G. White Manuscript Releases Volume Twelve, p. 409.
"The Incarnation of
Christ was an act of self-sacrifice; His life was one of continual self-denial. The highest glory of the love of
God to man was manifested in the sacrifice of His only-begotten Son,
who was the express image of His person. This is the great mystery of
godliness. It is the privilege and the duty of every professed follower of
Christ to have the mind of Christ. Without self-denial and cross bearing we
cannot be His disciples." E.G. White, Selected Messages, Book 2, p. 185.
·
Mainline Christianity
does not teach that Christ is forever human. So how can it teach the highest
glory of the love of God as manifested in the FOREVER Incarnation sacrifice
whereby Christ remains a human priest FOREVER, to wit: Christ as a man and a HIGH PRIEST forever – Hebrews 7:24 “But this [man], because he
continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
·
Elijah comes to
teach these important end-time truths which should convince man of the
unfathomable love of God and His Son Christ Jesus.
·
“Christ ascended to
heaven, bearing a sanctified, holy humanity. He took this humanity with Him
into the heavenly courts, and through the eternal ages He will bear it, as the
One who has redeemed every human being in the city of God.”--The Review and Herald, March 9, 1905.
{7ABC 488.1}
·
“In stooping to take
upon Himself humanity, Christ revealed a character the opposite of the
character of Satan. . . . In taking our nature, the Saviour has bound Himself
to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken. Through the eternal ages He is
linked with us. "God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten
Son." John 3:16. He gave Him not only to bear our sins, and to die as our
sacrifice; He gave Him to the fallen race. To assure us of His immutable
counsel of peace, God gave His only-begotten Son to become one of the human
family, forever to retain His human nature. This is the pledge that God will
fulfill His word. "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the
government shall be upon His shoulder." God
has adopted human nature in the person of His Son, and has carried the same
into the highest heaven.”--Ibid., p. 25. {7ABC
456.4}
·
It does so by
teaching us about the unfathomable love of Christ in His taking upon Himself
our humanity FOREVER, in payment for the penalty of our sins, which is eternal
death. Three days in a tomb would not pay the price of our wages of sin which
is eternal death. It was the Incarnation act, the Testator’s Testament (act) of
divesting Himself from His Divine Nature FOREVER, that constitutes the
continuum of “eternal death of the Testator,” that pays the wages of eternal
death, for while the Testator of the Everlasting Covenant liveth, the Testament
(Covenant) is of no strength.
Heb 9:16
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the
testator.
Heb 9:17 For a testament is of force after
men are dead: otherwise it
is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
·
It does so by
convincing man that sin is so evil that it was necessary for the Son of God to
empty Himself of all the omni’s FOREVER, in order to pay the penalty of man’s
sin which is eternal death. If Jesus was willing to make such an unfathomable
sacrifice for you, what are you willing to sacrifice for Him?
·
It does so by
convincing us that unless we repent and buy
of Him gold tried in the fire, we will be spewed out of His mouth. (Rev.
3:14-19.
·
It does so by
convincing us that the definition of sin is transgression of the law of God;
transgression against His character of love, and that the instruction of
REPENTING AND BUYING OF HIM GOLD TRIED IN THE FIRE, means repenting of sin, and
that if the law was nailed to the cross, there is no definition of sin, and all
men should be saved if there is no law warning them of sin, and repentance of
sin.
Elder J.
Wilfred Johnson, gave a beautiful teaching on the Everlasting Covenant and the
love of God, but God has given me additional insights into the Elijah message
for His people. As far as I know, Mr. Johnson did not deal with the Testator
verses of Hebrews 9:16, 17. He did not deal with the necessity of separating
from the apostate church because it is impossible to unite with the corrupt and
remain pure, to wit:
"It is IMPOSSIBLE for you
to unite with those who are corrupt, and still remain pure. (II Corinthians
6:14-15 quoted). God and Christ and the heavenly host would have men know that
if he unites with the corrupt he will become corrupt." E. G. White, Review and Herald, Vol. 4, p. 137.
QUESTION: Apostates are corrupt.
In fact, we are told that our very sealing is CONDITIONAL to sighing and crying
for all the abominations in the church. So how can we unite with the corrupt
church and remain/become pure? The 144,000 will not be found among the impure,
for they must become/remain pure to be pronounced without fault.
The bride of Christ, the 144,000
of Revelation 14:1-4, are spoken of as being without fault. In Christ’s Object Lessons, pp. 405-406,
"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),
teaches.
“The Lord will not write as wise
those who cannot distinguish between a tree that bears thorn-berries and a tree
that bears olives.” {EGW, RH, September 7, 1897 par. 15}
QUESTIONS: If it is impossible
for the wheat to mature amongst thorns, how would it be possible for the wheat
to mature amongst apostates, when it is impossible to unite with the corrupt
and remain/become pure? Thorns involve a lack of a moral transformation. Apostates
have a lack of a moral transformation. How can we unite with the corrupt who
have a lack of a moral transformation and become/remain pure, if the Holy
Spirit gift to the church, the Spirit of Prophecy, says it is impossible, and
if God’s Word tells us in Luke 8:14, that the thorns choke the wheat and kill
it?
If Jesus believed that it was
possible for the wheat to dwell amongst OPEN SIN apostate tares/thorns, why did
He and His disciples separate from the apostate church Temple of His day?
“Christ
was a protestant. He protested against the formal worship of the Jewish nation,
who rejected the counsel of God against themselves. He told them that they
taught for doctrines the commandments of men, and that they were pretenders and
hypocrites. Like whited sepulchers they were beautiful without, but within full
of impurity and corruption. 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. The Bible is presented to us as a sufficient
guide; but the pope and his workers remove it from the people as if it were a
curse, because it exposes their pretensions and rebukes their idolatry. {RH, June 1, 1886 par. 14}
When a corporate church engages
apostasy and will not put it away and out of the camp, the faithful must leave
or be corporately responsible. This is the reason Christ and His disciples left.
This is why Paul left. This is why Protestants left Rome. This is why
Adventists left the other churches in 1844, when they would not tolerate light.
Paul left
“And he went into the synagogue,
and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the
things concerning the kingdom of God.
9But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that
way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples,
disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.” Acts 19:8, 9.
“Fearing
that the faith of the believers would be endangered by continued association
with these opposers of the truth, Paul separated from them, and gathered the
disciples into a distinct body.” E.G. White, Acts of the Apostles, p.
285, 286.
"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.
We
see from the above statement that as far back as the time of Shiloh, the first
civilized settlement of the Israelites after exiting the Sinai Desert, there
were folk worshipping elsewhere because of the corrupt course of the priest
leaders. This is a most interesting and teaching statement which should be
considered with the following statement that says true reformers IN EVERY SUCCEEDING GENRATION have
left the church of their fathers for ONE STATED REASON: “The religious leaders
would not tolerate the light.” Will they tolerate light today? Absolutely not!
And that is the reason all true reformers will separate from the church of
their fathers today.
"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.
Ellen White’s Call to Come Out
From Apostasy
During
her lifetime, Ellen White was able to put the finger on the apostasy, and keep
it out of the teachings of the church. But she specified our course when
confronted with those who are working on wrong principles. Herecounsel
thus extended to the time at which the church would work on wrong principles:
"Even
though you may not be able to speak a word to those who are working on wrong
principles, leave them.
Your withdrawal and silence may do more than words. Nehemiah refused to
associate with those who were untrue to principle, and he would not permit his
workmen to associate with them. The love and fear of God were his
safeguard--Dare to be a Daniel, Dare to stand alone. Thus as did Moses, you
will endure the seeing of Him who is invisible. But a cowardly and silent reserve before evil
associates, while you listen to their devices makes you one with them. Come out
from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing;
and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons
and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." Review & Herald Vol. 4, p. 42.
The
above statement screams the principle of corporate responsibility:
"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}
But what if those in charge are the ring-leaders in
bringing in apostasy into the church? What if the Spirit of Prophecy and God
Almighty, have labelled such leaders as “dumb-dogs” who will NEVER AGAIN show
the House of Jacob its sins? How can
those who refuse to repent be separated from church fellowship, WHEN IT IS THE
LEADERS WHO HAVE BROUGHT THE APOSTASY INTO THE CHURCH, AND THEY REFUSE TO
REPENT, AND WILL NEVER AGAIN SHOW THE PEOPLE, “THE HOUSE OF JACOB,” THEIR SINS?
"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 [leaders], 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.
My
first publication, The Omega Journal, was published in 1986. In mercy,
the Lord gave the church leaders time from the mid 1950’s on, to repent. What occurred
in the mid 1950’s? The leaders began to teach error on the human nature of
Christ, the Sanctuary Atonement, and the investigative judgment. Then in 1980,
the leaders bull-dozed into the church the Trinity Doctrine, at the General
Conference World Session.
The
truth on the human nature of Christ, and the Godhead, are companion truths
which mean EVERYTHING to us. Those doctrines teach us of the highest good,
crowning sacrifice and gift that heaven can bestow, the gift of the Holy Spirit
via the Incarnation sacrifice of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
"Christ declared that after
his ascension, he would send to his church, as his crowning gift, the
Comforter, who was to take his place. This
Comforter is the Holy Spirit,--the soul of his life, the efficacy of
his church, the light and life of the world. With his Spirit Christ sends a
reconciling influence and a power that takes away sin.
In the gift of the Spirit, Jesus
gave to man the highest good that heaven could bestow....
The Spirit was given as a regenerating
agency, and without this [the gift of His Holy Spirit life and
soul for regeneration[ the sacrifice of Christ [on the cross] would
have been of no avail....
It is by the Spirit that the
heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of
the divine nature. Christ has given his Spirit as a divine power to
overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress his
own character upon the church." E.G. White, Review and Herald Articles, May 19, 1904, vol. 5, p. 42.
In
the mid 1950’s, SDA leaders agreed with Evangelical leaders that Jesus DID NOT
come in our sinful nature. The uptake of this gross error is that Jesus was no
example to us, and we cannot overcome as He did. The leaders taught that Jesus
did not take the nature of Adam before or after the fall. If Jesus did not take
our fallen, sinful nature of Adam after the fall, He would be no example for
us.
In my
Omega Journal, I clearly portrayed that Ellen White teaches that Ezekiel
9 begins at God’s Church, His Sanctuary, 5T 211. I taught that if the bad leave
the church during the shaking, as the church errantly has taught since Ellen
White’s death, why would Ezekiel 9 begin there? I demonstrated from Ezekiel
22:17-31, that in the apostasy of Israel, which Ellen White referred to as a
prefigure of the last days (GC, p. 25), the bad were gathered into the midst of
Jerusalem for burning and melting. In that prefigure, Christ and His disciples
separated, as did Paul and His followers.
The
disciples formed home churches. Why? Because it is impossible to unite with the
corrupt and remain/become pure. Because it is impossible for the wheat to
mature amongst thorns who are open apostates who refuse a moral transformation.
Elder
J. Wilfred Johnson received a copy of my “The Omega Journal,” from a
member of my group. He did not tell Mr. Johnson who wrote it, because he wanted
an unbiased opinion from Mr. Johnson. Later, Mr. Johnson found out that I was
the author, and he sent me a personal handwritten letter shortly before his
death, saying that he had gone through my Journal with a fine-toothed comb, and
concluded that it was “a monumental work” that he could not refute. A most
interesting fact to all of this is the fact that in that Journal I clearly
taught separation from the apostate SDA church.
Mr.
Johnson never left the church. He implied in his letter that he was going to
try another way. He made gigantic efforts to convince the leaders of their
course, and wanted them to accept his message so that the whole church would
accept it. As we know by Ellen White statements, that was never to be. Ellen
White said that nothing
would be allowed to stand in the way of the new movement, new organization,
1 Selected Messages, pp. 204-205.
The
interesting uptake to this entire matter involving Mr. Johnson, is that he
never reproved me for leaving the church and gathering others out of it, when
at that time, I had convinced 42 members to leave with me. And Mr. Johnson was
aware of this, for we lived in the same community.
It is
interesting that Mr. Johnson had never taught the Ezekiel 9 slaughter beginning
at His church, His Sanctuary, until shortly after he had read my first Omega
Journal. Then, while teaching the Sabbath School Lesson at the College Church, a
few weeks after he read my Journal, he said to the class: “Ezekiel 9 begins at
this church, you know.” That is the first time Mr. Johnson had taught that
truth. My first Omega Journal featured this most startling message on
its first page. Elder Johnson had not previously understood the fact that
Ezekiel 9 begins at the SDA church. He had believed as the leaders have taught
since Ellen White’s death, that the bad leave the church. Why would Ezekiel 9
begin at that church if all the bad left it?
"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 [leaders], 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.
Within
Mr. Johnson’s earlier teachings is found the notion that we must remain in the
apostate church in order to receive the sealing of Ezekiel 9, because the
angels are instructed to go through the midsts of Jerusalem and put a mark on
all who are sighing and crying for all the abominations. Unfortunately, Mr.
Johnson did not understand the fact that the disciples and their followers were
NOT sealed in the apostate Temple at Jerusalem. They were sealed on the day of
Pentecost, at which time they were hiding in an upper room of a man’s house,
for fear of the Jews.
Were
the disciples sealed in Jerusalem? Oh yes! They were sealed in True Jerusalem,
into which Jesus had gathered out those who would give the last message to the
world. The headquarters of the disciples’established
home churches was also at Jerusalem. So which was the True Jerusalem in which
they were sealed? Apostate Jerusalem, then, as today, has no virtue or presence
of God to seal anyone. God has been removed from the New Movement, New
Organization, SDA once church, which is now the Synagogue of Satan, just as Jesus
branded the apostate Jewish church.
Unfortunately,
Mr. Johnson died from prostate cancer, before he ever had a chance to apprise
his students of the fact that we are not sealed within the apostate SDA church,
because that church has committed gross apostasy, and thereby has broken all
the commandments of God, and God’s presence is only amongst those who keep His
commandments as the following statement shows:
"God has a church. It is not the great
cathedral, (or the super mega church), neither is it the national
establishment, neither is it the various denominations; it is the people who love God and keep His
commandments. 'Where two or three are gathered together in My name,
there am I in the midst of them.' Where Christ is even among the humble few,
THIS IS CHRIST'S CHURCH, for
the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone
constitute a church." Upward Look, p.
315.
"The church is in the Laodicean
condition. The presence of God in not in her midst." Notebook
Leaflets, p.99. Latter Day Events, p. 49.
"The
state of the Church represented by the foolish virgins, is also spoken of as
the Laodicean state." E.G. White, Review and Herald, 8/19/1890.
SDA leaders say that Laodicea is the last and final
church. If that is true, then the foolish virgins will be saved. My Bible says
that the foolish virgins are found without oil (Holy Spirit) and are lost. So
you must choose between the Bible, the prophetess to the church, and the
dumb-dog leaders whom God defines as being such in Isaiah 56:10-12, and He says
ALL three times.
"To the end of time, the presence of the
Spirit is to abide with the true church." E.G. White, Acts of the Apostles, p. 55.
"The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the
supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day
Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the
pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were
this reformation to take place, what would result? The principles of truth that
God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church, would be discarded. Our
religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the
work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. A NEW ORGANIZATION
would be established. Books of a NEW ORDER would be written. A system of
intellectual philosophy would be introduced. The founders of this system would
go into the cities, and do a wonderful work. The Sabbath of course, would be
lightly regarded, as also the God who created it. Nothing would be allowed to
stand in the way of the NEW MOVEMENT. The leaders would teach that virtue is
better than vice, but GOD
BEING REMOVED, they would place their dependence on human power, which,
without God, is worthless. Their foundation would be built on the sand, and
storm and tempest would sweep away the structure.
Who has authority to begin such a [NEW] movement?
We have our Bibles, we have our experience, attested to by the miraculous
working of the Holy Spirit. We have a truth that admits of no compromise. Shall
we not repudiate everything that is not in harmony with this truth?” E.G. White, Selected Messages,
Vol. 1, 204, 205.
The pillars of our faith that have been given up by
the church, regard the human nature of Christ, and the most fundamental basis
of Christianity, the truth on the Godhead. Some SDA’s are of the very
foolish virgin personal opinion that these pillar, landmarks are not of much
importance. That is like saying that the unfathomable sacrifice of Christ, made
to give us His divine nature, is not of much importance. All such are foolish
virgins who will not be saved, unless they make a complete turnabout face and
repent of their foolish ignorance.
Jesus
called the apostate Jewish Temple the Synagogue of Satan.
Rev 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and
poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they
are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
Rev 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of
Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make
them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Jhn 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the
lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and
abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a
lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
What power or authority was
within the apostate Jewish church to seal anyone? All the faithful were
gathered out of the apostate Jewish organization, and this began with the
disciples, as the first work of Christ’s ministry, to wit:
"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.
How could the disciples have
been sealed within apostate Jerusalem, when they were gathered out by Jesus?
How could their followers have been sealed within apostate Jerusalem when the
gathered out disciples gathered out all the faithful Christians into home
churches, to wit:
Scripture on Home
Churches
Act
16:32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his
house.
Act
16:34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and
rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
Act
16:40 And they went out of the prison, and entered into [the house of] Lydia:
and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.
Act
18:7 And he departed thence, and entered into a certain [man's] house, named Justus,
[one] that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.
Rom
16:5 Likewise [greet] the church that is in their house. Salute my well beloved
Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.
1Cr
1:11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them [which are
of the house] of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
1Cr
16:15 I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the
firstfruits of Achaia, and [that] they have addicted themselves to the ministry
of the saints,)
1Cr
16:19 The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in
the Lord, with the church that is in their house.
When the young men and women were kept away from
the Alpha of apostasy in the church, what did they do and where did they meet
for worship?
Ellen White on Home Churches
in the Alpha of Apostasy
"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.
"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. During the
hour of worship, the workers relate their experiences. 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.
Christ and the Disciples Left
"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.
Paul left
"And
as they persisted in their rejection of the gospel the apostle (Paul) went into
the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and
persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when divers were
hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he
departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school
of one Tyrannus." Acts, 19:8, 9.
"Fearing
that the faith of the believers would be endangered by continued association
with these opposers of the truth, Paul separated from them, and gathered the
disciples into a distinct body." E.G. White, Acts of the Apostles,
p. 286.
How
were all or any of the above sealed within apostate Jerusalem, when it was
called the Synagogue of Satan and was of their father the devil? Did the devil
seal the faithful of Ezekiel 9? Of course not.
Continued
in Part 3