No New
Organization by Dr. John Grosboll and
Marshall Grosboll Click to go to our Home PageThose who do not uphold God’s
law are joining the new organization that was started by Satan. Although the Father and the Son had absolute power
and authority and had a law which governed the entire universe, their rule
was very beneficent and mild. It came to the angels almost as a matter of
surprise that God had a law when Lucifer brought it up as a point of
contention. We know that the organization or government of God
had the following characteristics: (1) Only the service of love was desired— the use of
force is contrary to the principles of God's government (DA 22). (2) God willed to give to both the angels and to man
freedom of will. This is the highest possible level of freedom. (3) Although each is given freedom of will, each is
responsible for the choices made. God's government is moral, that is, it is
based on ethical principles which each citizen must at all times be in
harmony with to remain a subject of the divine government. (4) To prevent the possibility of making a seriously
wrong choice that would bring disaster and suffering on one's self and
others, God had (and still does have) a law that explicitly defines morality
or right and wrong. This law although very brief is comprehensive enough to
maintain peace and order and allow for the fullest development of happiness
by all creatures in the universe and is of such pivotal importance it is the
foundation of God's government. (See GC 493.) In God's government, the truth
is always primary and to communicate anything at all that is not true is to
step outside the perimeter of God's government and start your own independent
organization or government. (5) There was no hierarchy in God's government—
there was only one Lord and only one Father who was all in all. (6) Jesus Christ, being one with the Father from eternity, was exalted over all created intelligences and
was the One who participated in the councils of the deity. (7) Another characteristic of God's government is
the necessity of work and bearing fruit or producing results. (See John 15:
1- 7.) Heaven is a place of intense activity. The Father and the Son are both
constant and earnest workers and so are all the angels. If we are to be
members of God's organization we must be laborers together with God. There
was one who wanted to reorganize the government of God. He wanted to start a
new organization. He did not claim to be doing this. He said that he just
wanted to improve on God's government, but the government of God being
perfect, any change would not be an improvement and God would not consent to
a new organization. THE
ATTEMPT TO START A NEW ORGANIZATION– A NEW GOVERNMENT God Himself had established the order of heaven.
Lucifer decided to dispute the supremacy of Christ. His work to start a new
organization involved an attempt, first of all, to change the law of God—
specifically to effect a change in the first commandment which says, “You
shall have no other Gods before me” Exodus 20: 2. He wanted to be equal with
Christ and this would require a change in the first commandment. It is
important to recognize that whenever there is an attempt to change God's law that
men have entered into a new organization which God has not authorized. Lucifer began to insinuate doubts concerning the
laws of God, intimating that they were not necessary for angels. He claimed
to be loyal to the divine government and to be working for its stability when
actually he was fomenting discord and rebellion. Many of God's loyal, faithful and true Seventh- day
Adventist people today are being accused of separating from “God's faithful
movement” and starting a new organization. The charge has been tossed about
far and near in various printed materials and needs to be carefully examined.
Before you can rightfully accuse someone of separating and starting a new
organization, you must know what it means to stay with the movement and stay
loyal to God's organization. Let us begin by looking at three inspired
statements: “But let it ever be remembered that the work must
move solidly and in complete harmony with God's plan of organization” 1SM
112. God's work is the same in all time, although there
are different degrees of development and different manifestations of His
power to meet the wants of men in the different ages. Beginning with he first gospel promise and coming down through he
patriarchal and Jewish ages and even to the resent time, there has been a
gradual unfolding of the purposes of God in the plan of redemption (PP 373). Christ designs that heaven's order, heaven's plan of
government, heaven's divine harmony, shall be represented in His church on
earth (DA 680). We have already seen a few of the prominent
characteristics of heaven's order and plan of government. We are assured that
God's work is the same in all time so we may know when we are remaining true
to God's organization and when we have stepped off the foundation of God's
organization, even though we may call ourselves by the same name. The church of God must have the same type of
government as in heaven. To attempt to establish a different type of
government is to start a new organization. When a new organization like this
is started, it almost always retains the name of the original organization to
give it legitimacy. But the original organization will always have the same
identifying marks. God's plan of organization for His church today is
no different than His plan for organization in heaven at the beginning of the
great controversy. Our responsibility is to find out what that plan is and
repent and come into harmony with it so that we are not condemned in the
judgment for starting a new organization, which is always apostasy from the
truth. It is very serious to leave God's organization and
start something independently from Him. Following are a few ways that this is
done. 1. “God has a church, and these churches are organized
on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ Himself
being the chief cornerstone” Testimonies
to Southern Africa, 7. If we cease to teach and preach and operate
according to the principles of the New Testament and the Old Testament, we
have stepped off the foundation and started a new organization. This is what
happened to the Roman church in the second century: “Romanists have persisted
in bringing against Protestants the charge of heresy and willful separation
from the true church. But these accusations apply rather to themselves. They
are the ones who laid down the banner of Christ and departed from ‘the faith
which was once delivered unto the saints' Jude 3” GC 51. If you lay down the
banner of Christ and depart from the faith once delivered unto the saints,
you have started a new organization and the only saving way out of that
situation is to repent, confess, make restitution and commit to stand again
on the truth of God's word. If that is not done, all is lost for that organization.
If anyone is accused of starting a new organization, it must first be proved
that they have left God's organization. Paul went all over the world
establishing new churches, but none of these were new organizations— they
were just an enlargement of God's organization, His church. Every home church
or other church established on the foundation of the apostles and the
prophets is likewise an enlargement of God's organization on earth, His
church. “We now need skillful generals to organize into
working companies the Lord's believing children. Nothing must be looked upon
as too great for us to undertake, if the Captain of the Lord's host plans the
work and arranges the battle and leads us forth, ‘terrible as an army with
banners. ' Every movement will be a victory. We need
Jesus as our constant Leader” Testimonies
to Southern Africa, 44. 2. “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice”
John 18: 37. God has given to Seventh- day Adventists the present truth (II
Peter 1: 12). If we leave this present truth, we have left the movement,
God's organization, and are in a new organization, even if we have the same
name. “The burden of the warning now to come to the people of God, nigh and
afar off, is the third angel's message. And those who are seeking to understand
this message will not be led by the Lord to make an application of the Word
that will undermine the foundation and remove the pillars of the faith that
has made Seventh- day Adventists what they are today” 2SM 103. “I saw a
company who stood well guarded and firm, giving no countenance to those who
would unsettle the established faith of the body. God looked upon them with
approbation. I was shown three steps— the first, second, and third angels'
messages. Said my accompanying angel, ‘Woe to him who shall move a block or
stir a pin of these messages. The true understanding of these messages is of
vital importance” ' EW 258. What is this platform? It is the messages in
Revelation 14: 6- 12, and we are forbidden to step off of this platform. The
first angel's message in verses 6 and 7 proclaims that the hour of God's
judgment has come. This message cannot be proclaimed without an understanding
of the sanctuary and the 2300 days prophecy, and the investigative judgment.
Those who have left this historic Adventist teaching have stepped off the
platform and are no longer a part of the organization founded on the prophets
and the apostles. The same is true concerning those who no longer know who
Babylon is (the second angel's message), those who no longer know who
antichrist is (the third angel's message), etc., and also those who believe
that the law cannot be kept perfectly, that a person cannot perfectly
overcome. They no longer believe Revelation 14: 12, which is part of the
third angel's message. All of these people have stepped off the platform of
present truth and have become part of a new organization. God has sent
historic Adventist preachers to these people for years to urge them to get
back on the platform that the church militant stands on. Very soon
opportunity for repentance and reform and getting back on the platform with
the church militant will be over for professed- only Seventh- day Adventists.
“In every age there is given to men their day of light and privilege, a
probationary time in which they may become reconciled to God. But there is a
limit to this grace. Mercy may plead for years and be slighted and rejected;
but there comes a time when mercy makes her last plea. The heart becomes so
hardened that it ceases to respond to the Spirit of God. Then the sweet,
winning voice entreats the sinner no longer, and reproofs and warnings
cease.” DA 587. The awful possibility of the Seventh-day Adventist
church organization starting a new organization independent from God is a
matter of prophecy. Ellen White prophesied that what we are seeing today
could happen. We will look at the 12 main points of the prophecy having to do
with the new organization in Adventism. It was a conditional prophecy in her
day. It is coming to pass in our day. Following are the 12 main points of the prophecy.
Ellen White wrote that the enemy of souls would seek to bring in among us the
supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Adventists. This
reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the
pillars of our faith and engaging in a process of reorganization. Ellen White then said that the result of this
would be: 1. Principles of truth that God...has given to the
remnant church would be discarded—our religion would be changed. 2. The fundamental principles that have sustained
the work in the 19th century would be accounted as error. 3. A new organization would be established. 4. Books of a new order would be written. 5. A system of intellectual philosophy would be
introduced. 6. The founders of this system would go into the
cities to do a wonderful work. 7. The Sabbath would be lightly regarded (as the God
who created it). 8. Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of
the new movement. 9. The leaders would teach that virtue is better
than vice, but God being removed, 10. They would place their dependence on human
power, which, without God, is worthless. 11. Their foundation would be built on the sand. 12. Storm and tempest would sweep away the
structure. Let us look at each of these 12 points briefly. POINT #1: Has our religion been changed? Have our teachings
been changed? The book Apostasy is the Issue by Dr. Larson shows conclusively
that this has occurred. Many authors have substantiated this fact. See also
the booklet Issues: The Real Issue, the Side Issues, and the Pseudo-Issues by
Dr. Larson, which also substantiates this fact. POINT #2: Predicts that fundamental principles would be
changed. What are the fundamental principles? The fundamental principles are
as follows: a. Those doctrines that have made Seventh-day
Adventists what they are: “Messages of every order and kind have been urged
upon Seventh-day Adventists, to take the place of the truth which, point by
point, has been sought out by prayerful study, and testified to by the
miracle-working power of the Lord. But the waymarks
which have made us what we are, are to be preserved,
and they will be preserved, as God has signified through His word and the
testimony of His Spirit. He calls upon us to hold firmly, with the grip of
faith, to the fundamental principles that are based upon unquestionable
authority” Special Testimonies, Series B, no. 2, p. 59 (1904). b. The fundamental principles will not lead a man to
transgress God’s law. (See RH 7/05/92) c. When the fundamental principles are given up,
usually opposition to the visions of Ellen White are an
early manifestation. (See The
Progressive Years, vol. 2, 149.) d. An article by James White in the Signs of the
Times in 1874 briefly explains the fundamental principles of the Seventh-day
Adventist faith. Part of these fundamental principles included the
doctrines included the doctrines of the investigative judgment beginning in
1844 (the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary), and not only a profession but
a demonstration of living according to the counsels of the Spirit of
Prophecy. The same books mentioned above document the fulfillment of point 2
of the prophecy. POINT #3: A new organization would be established. When do you
establish a new organization? When did the Roman church separate from the
true church and establish a new organization? When they laid down the banner
of Christ and departed from the faith once delivered unto the saints (GC 51).
When the above two points have been fulfilled and the organization supports
these changes, then you no longer have the same organization—you have a new
organization established. When the angels in heaven chose to follow Lucifer
instead of Jesus Christ, they had decided to start a new organization. They
claimed that they were only trying to improve or work for the good of the
original organization, but actually they were starting a new organization.
Jesus Christ is still the head of the church today (Ephesians 1:22, 23) as he
has been the Commander and Captain of the Lord’s host from the days of
eternity. If any organization or group of human leaders changes leaders so
that Jesus is not the Head of their organization, then that is a new
organization. Has this ever happened in Adventism and is there any
possibility of it happening today? Inspiration gives the answer in the
following statements: A. “There are some who in the past have had a
correct experience, but who have changed leaders. Not all, but many have been
beguiled. There are leaders who, before God can own and accept them, must
first be converted, and led back to God. The beauty of His holiness is
eclipsed by their unsanctified words and acts. They are strangers to God.
They have no union with Him.” Special Testimonies, Series B, p. 19. B. “Let none suppose that because they have been
used as the Lord’s instrumentalities, they are all-sufficient. The Lord uses
men and honors them by giving them His wisdom, as long as they are true to
Him, and do not gather glory to themselves. Those
who make themselves capable of managing the work,
are not led by His Spirit, but by ‘another spirit.’ Satan steps in, and they
change leaders. Then comes the crookedness and
subtlety of the serpent’s guile. Manuscript 37, May 1, 1903, ‘Directions for
Work’” UL 135. C. If you indulge stubborness
of heart, and through pride and self-righteousness do not confess your faults, you will be left
subject to Satan’s temptations. If when the Lord reveals your errors you do
not repent or make confession, his providence will bring you over the ground
again and again. You will be left to make mistakes of a similar character,
you will continue to lack wisdom, and will call sin righteousness, and
righteousness sin. The multitude of deceptions that will prevail in these
last days will encircle you, and you will change leaders, and not know that
you have done so.” RH 12/6/90. D. I would caution all believers to learn to
maintain a godly jealously over yourselves, lest Satan shall steal your heart
away from God, and you slip unconsciously into work in Satan’s lines, without
perceiving that you have changed leaders, and be found in the treacherous
power of a tyrant.” RH 11/8/56. E. “This is a time when Satan’s deceptive power is
exercised, not only upon the mind of those who are young and inexperienced,
but upon the minds of men and women of mature years and of broad experience.
Men in positions of responsibility are in danger of changing leaders. This I
know; for it has been plainly revealed to me. I have been instructed that the
enemy seeks to link up with men bearing large responsibilities in the Lord’s
work, in order that he may fill their minds with evil devisings. Under his
influence men will suggest many things that are contrary to the mind of God.”
Special Testimonies, Series B, p.
48. F. “Men have broken God’s laws, and despised and
trampled on His Sabbath. Thus they have broken their contract with God, and
He cannot work in their behalf. The Lord tells us in words too plain to be
misapprehended that that metal of the faith of His once chosen people is
corrupted. They have a spurious faith. They have changed leaders, and no
longer bear the King’s sign. They cannot be trusted in time of test or trial,
for they will act the traitor’s part. They do not draw from the Lord’s
foundry.” 15 MR 36. According to these statements, it is possible for
leaders in Adventism to change leaders and not even know it! When this
happens, a new organization has been established because Jesus is the Head of
the church and if His leadership is changed for the leadership of Lucifer, a
new organization has been formed (although as at the beginning, it will be
claimed that only efforts for the good of the original organization are
promoted). POINT #4: Books of a new order would be written. Again, this
has been documented by many others in books such as Questions on Doctrine. POINT #5: A system of intellectual philosophy would be
introduced. If you would like to see if a system of intellectual philosophy
has been introduced, study such books as The Word Made Flesh by Dr. Larson
or, for confirmation, read the book Issues Part II. POINT #6: The founders of this system would go into the cities
and do a wonderful work. The great apostasy in the second century began as a
tremendous campaign to be more successful in evangelism. Here is predicted
large scale evangelistic campaigns, but the result would not be people who
were taught that they could keep all of God’s law—Sabbath-keeping would be
lax among these new converts. Point #6 pinpoints a problem we have had in
Adventism for many years now. POINT #7: The Sabbath would be lightly regarded. Notice that
the prophecy does not say that the Sabbath would be given up but that it
would not be strictly kept. Is this happening where you live? If the church
organization were to condone sending your children to school on Sabbath,
would that fulfill this prophecy? That has been happening for many years in
some parts of the world with the knowing silence of the Seventh-day Adventist
world structure. (See The Kulakov File.) POINT #8: Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the
new movement. This is being fulfilled before our very eyes. Anyone who
protests the apostasy and will not bow to the new theological ideas today
being promoted all over the world is stripped of church office, ostracized
from all church functions (often not allowed to even pray or announce a song
in public service) and then censured and finally disfellowshipped. We have
found this happening in every part of the world where we have traveled, which
includes most of the continents of the world. If the majority of the church stand for historic Adventism, the church is
disbanded and then reorganized without the true and faithful Seventh-day
Adventists. POINT #9: The leaders would teach that virtue is better than
vice—they would give lip service to much theological truth but the truth
would not be lived out—professed but not practiced. POINT #10: They would put their dependence on human rather than
divine power. When a church who is supposed to be the bride of Christ puts
her trust in the arm of the state-either legislative, judicial or executive
powers of the state-have they fulfilled this prophecy? If a church begins to
sue members who do not agree with the leaders who are changing the historic
doctrines of the church, is that church fulfilling this prophecy? POINT #11: Their foundation would be built on the sand. What
does it mean to have your foundation built on the sand? It means that your
life-practice is not in harmony with the teachings of Christ (Matthew
7:24-27). When we step off the foundation of the three angel’s messages and
will no longer preach them but rather want to preach a peace and safety
message, a love and unity message, when we have been called to do a work
similar to Elijah and John the Baptist, we are stepping off the true
foundation and building a foundation on the sand. Have you noticed that
little preaching of the actual three angels’ messages taking place where you
live? Have you noticed that many so-called Adventist preachers are afraid to
preach the three angel’s messages today? What will be the result of this? POINT #12: Storm and tempest sweep away the structure! As of
this writing, this last point in the prophecy has not yet been fulfilled. The
only way to prevent it from being fulfilled is by a thorough repentance
followed by confession and restitution and a stepping back on the true
foundation, the true platform—retracing all the steps of apostasy that we
have taken and following the Lord in simple, humble obedience to all inspired
counsel. It is thought by many that we do not need to concern
ourselves about unsanctified ministers because God will take care of this,
and the Sunday law crisis coming will shake them out—God will correct
anything and everything that is wrong at the head of the work. The shaking will indeed culminate in the Sunday law
crisis, but that is not the beginning of the shaking and sifting which will
separate the wheat and the tares. The shaking begins as a result of the
introduction of false doctrines among God’s people (TM 112), which already
happened decades ago. The second phase of the shaking is the presentation of
the straight testimony (EW 270), which has been in progress in Adventism now
for several years. These two developments separate the church into two
distinct camps. “Divisions will come in the church. Two parties will be
developed” 2SM 114. Then, in the third phase of the shaking, the church will
be sifted by the fiery trials of the Sunday law crisis, which will not start
but finish the shaking and sifting process. The reaction of people to the
shaking process which is now well under-way will, in almost every case,
determine the decision they will make in the great test soon to come: “The
mark of the beast will be urged upon us. Those who have step by step yielded
to worldly demands and conformed to worldly customs will not find it a hard
matter to yield to the powers that be, rather than subject themselves to
derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death.” 5T 81. Whether or not
we are yielding to worldly demands and conforming to worldly customs now
makes all the difference in our eternal destiny. The purpose of the shaking
is to purify the church (2SG 284) and this process began a long time ago. It
is not something that begins and ends in the Sunday law crisis—that is simply
the final end of a process that we have been in for a long time already. The
church is becoming progressively more and more purified by this shaking
process. In most churches, the majority reject the straight
testimony upon which the destiny of the church hangs (EW 270) and finally
cast out the true and faithful, which we see happening around the world at
the present time. When this occurs, that church has gone through the second
phase of the shaking and the true and faithful who are meeting in someone’s
home are the true church; the rest, who have the building, the pastor, the
“organization,” the money, etc. are professed-only church—they still have the
name, the profession, but they have been shaken out of the true church.
Though they maintain all the forms of religion (see GC 378, 614, 615; 5T 210,
682), these forms will be powerless to give them the spiritual strength to
remain true in the Sunday law test. They will then manifest whose synagogue
they are really members of. If we support unsanctified ministers, we will meet
the same fate that they meet: “As there are woes for those who preach the
truth while they are unsanctified in heart and life, so there are woes for
those who receive and maintain the unsanctified in the position which they
cannot fill.” 2T 552. “If the truth has not sanctified, made pure and
clean, the hands and heart of him who ministers in holy things, he is liable
to speak according to his own imperfect experience; and when he speaks of
himself, according to the decisions of his own unsanctified judgment, his
counsel is not then of God, but of Himself. As he that is called of God is
called to be holy, so he that is approved and set apart of men must give
evidence of his holy calling and show forth in his heavenly conversation and
conduct that he is faithful to Him who hath called him” 1T 261. “Just as soon as God’s people are sealed and
prepared for the shaking, it will come. Indeed, it has begun already;...(MS 173, 1902)” 4BC 1161. “As the storm approaches, a large
class who have professed faith in the third angel’s message, but have
not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position
and join the ranks of the opposition. By uniting with the world and partaking
of its spirit, they have come to view matters in nearly the same light; and
when the test is brought, they are prepared to choose the easy, popular side.
Men of talent and pleasing address, who once rejoiced in the truth, employ
their powers to deceive and mislead souls. They become the most
bitter enemies of their former brethren.” GC 608. We see this
happening already. Those who join the ranks of the opposition are presently
still calling themselves Seventh-day Adventists, but they are opposing with
all their might the true and faithful Adventists and trying with all their
power to keep control of the minds of God’s professed people. Around the world there is a giant tidal wave taking
place that many professed Adventist ministers are trying to stop. People are
searching and finding historical Adventism—the same doctrines of the Bible
that electrified our pioneers and made the Seventh-day Adventist church what
it has been. These people are finding out that the present Seventh-day
Adventist churches in their localities no longer believe and practice
historic Adventism so they are assembling in home churches which are not
recognized by “the conference.” It is then claimed that they are not united
with the church. But the question needs again to be asked, Who and what is
the church? Since the remnant of the woman’s seed consists of those who love
God and keep His commandments and have the spirit of prophecy, if you are
united with an organized body of historic Seventh-day Adventist believers,
you are united with the church. (To have a church, you need to have two
historic Seventh-day Adventists who are agreed and unified—see Matthew 18.) Actually, to be truly united with the church, you
must have a mutual spiritual experience. If this spiritual experience is
lacking, we are not united to the church no matter where our physical
membership may be located: “Union is strength, and the Lord desires that this
truth should be ever revealed in all the members of the body of Christ. All
are to be united in
love, in meekness, in lowliness of mind. Organized into a society of
believers, for the purpose of combining and diffusing their influence, they
are to work as Christ worked. They are ever to show courtesy and respect for
one another. Every talent has its place, and is to be kept under the control
of the Holy Spirit.” Testimonies to Southern Africa, 89. WHEN DOES
GOD FORBID US TO GO TO THE “BRETHREN” FOR COUNSEL? “You who are finite,
erring, and unsanctified, have supposed that God’s children were put under
your jurisdiction, for you to plan for them, and bring them to your terms.
The policy you have labored so hard to establish in your connection with the
work is an offense to God. He has never justified an arrangement, through
organization, discipline, or laws, whereby men who have evidenced that they
are not susceptible to the Holy Spirit’s moving shall use their power to
sustain others in a like disregard of the Spirit’s work. But such has been
the arrangement that has prevailed.” 1888 Materials, 1367. THE HOME
CHURCH MOVEMENT BELIEVES IN CHURCH ORGANIZATION One of the most exciting aspects of the worldwide
home church movement among historic Seventh-day Adventists is the fact that
these people are not loners who prefer to act alone and they are not erratic
people who want to pull apart or be disorganized into independent atoms.
These are people who fully believe in church organization and want the unity
for which Christ prayed; but they understand that you can never have the
unity for which Jesus prayed unless you unite on the truth, and the
conference churches they have gone to have made it abundantly clear to them
that they will not stand simply on a plain “thus saith the Lord” in the
writings of Ellen White, and sometimes not even in the Bible. Around the world there are historic Seventh-day
Adventists who want to press together in faith and love (RH 12/6/06) and God
is drawing them together with other historic Adventist believers at the same
time that they are being cast out of conference churches. These true and
faithful believers are coming into line as God ordained that the church
should always be. They are coming into perfect unity with other historic
Adventist believers. At the very time when there is more pluralism and less
harmony in many conference churches than ever before, God is drawing His true
and faithful believers into a harmony and unity with other believers (who are
having victory over sins in their lives) where you worship, you had better go
to your closet and pray—soon your opportunity to be united with God’s true
and faithful believers will be over. “We are to unify, but on a platform of
error.” Battle Creek Letters, 111. PERFECT
UNITY “I am instructed to say to Seventh-day Adventists
the world over, God has called us as a people to be
a peculiar treasure unto Himself. He has appointed that His church on earth
shall stand perfectly united in the Spirit and counsel of the Lord of hosts
to the end of time.—Letter 54, 1908. (Jan. 21, 1908.)” 2SM 397. Notice that
the church is to be perfectly united in the spirit of the Lord and in the
counsel of the Lord. We can never have unity until we are all under the
control of the same Spirit. You cannot go to a church where music is played
that comes from a different spirit and ever become united in unity with the
Holy Spirit (see I Corinthians 10:20, 21). You cannot go to a church where
there is a spirit of unbelief and ever be a united body with the Holy Spirit.
Either the spirit of unbelief and the music with the
wrong spirit will be overcome and cast aside or God will separate the true
and faithful from those who refuse to repent and reform. Neither can we be in unity until we are united in
the counsel of the Lord—until we are willing to submit and obey the Spirit of
Prophecy just as it reads. In spite of the fact that the true and faithful
Seventh-day Adventists all over the world are being harassed and cast out of
conference churches recognized by the general conference, these people are
being led by the same Spirit and are submitting to the entire counsel of
inspired writings—they are willing to follow all the divine directions to be
ready for the soon coming of Christ, and the unity that is becoming more and
more evident at their meetings is awesome to behold and experience. NO NEW
ORGANIZATION Because the true and faithful Adventists have often
been cast out of their churches and in other instances they can no longer
with clear conscience go to their conference churches because of the apostasy
that is being both taught and practiced, they have been forced to raise up
home churches; but this is not a new organization of any kind—rather, it is
the people who are determined to maintain all the old historic beliefs of
Seventh-day Adventists—the people who are part of the original organization
not only in name but in doctrine and spirit. This movement is not independent
of the church—it is an integral part of the church (the true church, not just
the church by profession only), God’s last remnant faithful people, those who
keep the commandments of God and the spirit of prophecy as manifested in the
writings of Ellen G. White. The same situation that was faced by Sutherland
and Magan in educational work at the beginning of the 20th century is now
faced by the home church movement. Just as it was necessary to begin
educational institutions which were independent from the structure now (but
never independent from the Lord). The counsel given then is just as much or
more applicable to the home church movement today: “The Lord does not set
limits about His workers in some lines as men are wont to set. In their work,
Brethren Magan and Sutherland have been hindered unnecessarily. Means have
been withheld from them because in the organization and management of the
Madison school, it was not placed under the control of the conference. But
the reasons why this school was not owned and controlled by the conference
have not been duly considered” The
Madison School, 31, 32. Recent developments among professed Adventist
ministers, such as the video on a lost mine, the denial of basic Adventist
doctrines on television by prominent Adventist ministers and the
heart-sickening immorality by others, have left some Adventists reeling—Where
is the prophesied pure, true sanctified ministry prepared for the latter rain
(3SM 385) going to come from? It is not going to come from Adventist
ministers who just stand by and do nothing and say nothing in such a crisis
of apostasy as we are in today. “Many have tried neutrality in a crisis, but
they have failed in their purpose. No one can maintain a neutral position” RH
4/ 19/ 98. “Preachers and people are in danger of being found upon the side
of the powers of darkness. There is no such thing now as a neutral position.
We are all decidedly for the right or decidedly for the wrong” 3T 328. “If
God abhors one sin above another, of which His people are guilty, it is doing
nothing in case of an emergency. Indifference and neutrality in a religious crises is regarded of God as a grievous
crime and equal to the very worst type of hostility against God.” 3T 281. Where is the pure, true sanctified ministry prepared
for the latter rain going to come from—it is going to come from the faithful
few who are standing in the gap and crying aloud and sparing not, calling on
God’s people to come into line—come into full harmony with inspired counsels,
be the cost what it may, and stand up for the commandments of God and the
faith of Jesus, maintaining the testimony of Jesus. “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. But it may be under
a rough and uninviting exterior the pure brightness of a genuine Christian
character will be revealed” 5T 81. We are in the exciting time when these hidden ones
are beginning to come to view! It is only as we take a bold decided stand for
the truth now that we will be enabled to stand in the soon-coming Sunday law
crisis. The devil is trying by every manner of fanaticism
and attack from professed Adventists to divide and destroy the grass-roots
revival and reformation that is taking place in Adventism. Unfortunately, the
so-called structure is acting the part of one of the most skillful of the
devil’s agents to bring this about. Every manner of smear tactic is being
used. Independent ministers are being accused of being the same as David Koresh in Waco. This is indeed sad when one realizes that
all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and
brimstone (Revelation 21:8). GOSPEL
ORDER AND ACKNOWLEDGED TEACHERS It is a necessity for home churches to not allow any
person into the pulpit, even a conference employee, unless they meet the
criteria in Early Writings on page 100: “I saw that the church should feel
their responsibility at the lives, qualifications, and general course of
those who profess to be teachers. If unmistakable evidence is not given that
God has called them, and that the ‘woe’ is upon them if they heed not this
call, it is the duty of the church to act and let it be known that these
persons are not acknowledged as teachers by the church. This is the only
course the church can take in order to be clear in this matter, for the
burden lies upon them.” Those who are guilty of telling lies, and have not
repented and are in apostasy from the truth, who no longer believe the three
angels’ messages and try to prevent others from fulfilling their God-given
duty of proclaiming them to the world, and who seek to rule with authority
that God has not given them, must not be allowed to speak to God’s people. WHEN THE
SPIRIT OF PROPHECY DOES NOT ENDORSE THE CONFERENCE STRUCTURE There is a time when the regular lines
(the conference structure) is not to be endorsed or cooperated with:
“We have heard much about everything moving in the regular lines. When we see
that the ‘regular lines’ are purified and refined, that they bear the mold of
the God of heaven, then it will be time to endorse these lines. But when we
see that message after message given by God has been received and accepted,
yet no change has been made, we know that new power must be brought into the
regular lines. The management of the regular lines must be entirely changed,
newly organized. There must be a committee, not composed of half a dozen men,
but of representatives from all lines of our work, from our publishing
houses, from our educational institutions, and from our sanitariums, which
have life in them, which are constantly working, constantly broadening” 13MR
193. “The Lord in His wisdom has arranged that by means of the close
relationship that should be maintained by all believers, Christian shall be
united to Christian, and church to church. Thus the human instrumentality
will be enabled to cooperate with the divine. Every agency will be
subordinate to the Holy Spirit, and all the believers will be united in an
organized and well-directed effort to give to the world the glad tidings of
the grace of God” GW 444. Notice that it is not enough to have
representatives from all over to meet in council if these representatives do
not “have life in them”—only those who give evidence of being under the
control of the Holy Spirit can meet in council and have authority over the
church. If the representatives are not under the control of the Holy Spirit,
the conference or council does not have Divine authority. The result of a
council or conference in which the representatives are under the control of
the Holy Spirit is that every agency will be under the control of the Holy
Spirit. There can be no unity between truth and error. We
can unite with those who have been led into deception only when they are
converted. APPENDIX 1 What are the pillars of the faith that were
established by the word of God and by the revelations of His Spirit? 1. “We
are now to understand what the pillars of our faith are,—the truths that have
made us as a people what we are, leading us on step by step.” RH 5/25/05. 2. “For
more than half a century the different points of present truth have been
questioned and opposed. New theories have been advanced as truth, which were
not truth, and the Spirit of God revealed their error. As the great pillars
of our faith have been presented, the Holy Spirit has borne witness to them,
and especially is this so regarding the truths of the sanctuary question.
Over and over again the Holy Spirit has in a marked manner endorsed the
preaching of this doctrine. But today, as in the past, some will be led to
form new theories and to deny the truths upon which the Spirit of God has
placed His approval.” Ev 224. 3.
“Infidelity prevails to an alarming extent, not in the world only, but
in the church. Many have come to deny doctrines which are the very pillars of
the Christian faith. The great facts of Creation as presented by the inspired
writers, the fall of man, the atonement, the perpetuity of the law—these all
are practically rejected by a large share of the professedly Christian
world.” LHU 157. 4.
“There are the main pillars of our faith, subjects which are of vital
interest, the Sabbath, the keeping of the commandments of God.” Counsels to
Writers and Editors, 77. 5. “[The] pillars of truth were revealed,
and we accepted the foundation principles that have made us what we
are—Seventh-day Adventists, keeping the commandments of God and having the
faith of Jesus.” UL 352. 6. “Our
people need to understand the reasons of our faith and our past experiences.
How sad it is that so many of them apparently place unlimited confidence in
men who present theories tending to uproot our past experiences and to remove
the old landmarks! Those who can so easily be led by a false spirit show that
they have been following the wrong captain for some time,—so long that they
do not discern that they are departing from the faith or that they are not
building upon the true foundation . We need to urge all to put on their
spiritual eyeglasses, to have their eyes anointed that they may see clearly
and discern the true pillars of faith. Then they will know that ‘the
foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that
are his.’ We need to revive the old evidences of the faith once delivered to
the saints” The Southern Watchman 4/5/04. 7. “Our
faith in reference to the messages of the first, second, and third angels was
correct. The great waymarks we have passed are
immovable. Although the hosts of hell may try to tear them from their
foundation, and triumph in the thought that they have succeeded, yet they do
not succeed. These pillars of truth stand firm as the eternal hills, unmoved
by all the efforts of men combined with those of Satan and his host. We can
learn much, and should be constantly searching the Scriptures to see if these
things are so.” Maranatha, 247. 8. “The truths that have been substantiated by the manifest working of God are to stand fast. Let no one presume to move a pin or foundation-stone from the structure. Those who attempt to undermine the pillars of our faith are among those of whom the Bible says that ‘in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.’” Bible Training School 3/1/15. [This statement defines what entering into a new organization really is.] |