Is There a Time of “Added Probation” for the SDA Church?

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Dear Reader, 

There are some apparently sincere reformers who believe and teach that 1888 was a Midnight Cry call to professing Seventh-day Adventists, and that there is a time of added probation for the church. That is not true. There are two Midnight Cry calls according to Matthew 25 and Ellen White. After the first call, the 10 virgins ALL slumbered and slept. That slumbering time is called the tarrying time. Then, at midnight, the midnight of apostasy just before Christ comes, there is another repetition of the Midnight Cry.

 

I appreciate many of the observations by Laval Picard. I even include them on my Website. But I cannot let his great error of “added probation” for the SDA church go unanswered.

 

The error being taught primarily by one Laval Picard, is the teaching that probation has not closed on the SDA church because in the prefigure of Israel’s experience, there was a third call in Matthew 22. But Matthew 22 must agree with Matthew 25. There are only two Midnight Cry calls and both of them are “call out” messages, whereas in Matthew 22, the first call by John the Baptist was a call to repentance. It was not a “call out” message. The call out message was not given until the call to repentance was rejected. Likewise, in 1844, the first call by William Miller was a call to repentance and preparation for  Christ’s coming. It was not intended as a call out message at first. As we know, it turned into a call out message with the call to repentance was rejected. 

 

The Prefigure Calls by John the Baptist, Christ, and the Disciples and the 70 

 

In the prefigure example of the calls to Israel, the first call was made by the prophets and John the Baptist, who was the greatest of prophets. The second call was made by Christ and His disciples to the Jews first. The third call was made to the then known world, including individual Jews within apostate Israel. 

 

The first call to modern Israel has been made by the ancient Biblical prophets along with Ellen White in 1844. Ellen White was as a John the Baptist in calling for repentance and preparing a bride for Christ, as John did, Desire of Ages, 179.  That 1844 awakening was a “gathering out” of all who would give the gospel to the world, just as Jesus “gathered out” all who would give the gospel to the world in His day—Desire of Ages, 232.  Indeed, it was a call out message as depicted in Matthew 25, to wit: 

 

Mat 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. 

 

The first call is out of the world and fallen churches. The second Midnight Cry call is for the same purpose, being a call out of the world and all fallen churches, and at the end-time, all formally organized churches, designated by the 7 women of Isaiah 4:1-4, are fallen and doing their own thing.

 

The Midnight Cry Repeated 

Midnight Cry Repeated: "My mind was carried to the FUTURE, when the signal WILL BE GIVEN, 'Behold, the Bridegroom cometh God ye out to meet Him.'" E.G. White, Review and Herald, Vol. 3, p. 331, Feb. 11, 1896. Notice the date, Feb. 11, 1896.

[Rev. 18:1, 2, 4, quoted.] This scripture points forward to a time when the announcement of the fall of Babylon, as made by the second angel of Revelation 14 (verse 8), is to be repeated, with the additional mention of the corruptions which have been entering the various organizations that constitute Babylon, since that message was first given, in the summer of 1844. . . . These announcements, uniting with the third angel's message, constitute the final warning to be given to the inhabitants of the earth. . . . {LDE 199.2}  

What follows is a message from Laval to me.

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

From: Laval Picard

To: DefendEGW@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 12:44 PM

Subject: Re: [DefendEGW] Re: A STRAIGHT AND NARROW PATH (Time of added probation) 

Ron, last night you said that the first call of the parable of Matt. 22 to the Adventists was the midnight cry. Given that there are only two calls to the church, that is, to the bidden ones, it would mean that 1888 was the second and final call. We know that that call was resisted. This means that we now have no other choice but to conclude that the church sealed her rejection of God's mercy when that call ended, most likely in 1901. Therefore, according to this teaching, probation closed for the church in 1901! But if that was the case, the third call of the parable which is the loud cry message to the world would have sounded and the end would have come!

The midnight cry was the call to separate from Babylon. Those who accepted the call joined to make up the Advent Movement. If the Adventists had proclaimed the third angel's message in the power of the Holy Spirit, as we are told in The Great Controversy, p.457, 458, the work would have been finished and Jesus would have returned to the earth. There would have been no need for a call in 1888!

Because the marriage was not consummated in 1844 it was then necessary to call the bidden ones to come to the marriage. The first of these calls came in 1888 and because it was rejected, the Lord sends a second call and that call will be the last call to the church. It will be given in demonstration of the Spirit and power of God and its rejection will be followed by a great persecution and it is this persecution from the bidden ones which will spread the light. "Persecution will spread the light." D.A.354. This is what happened in the days of Christ and this is what will happen in the very near future! "History will be repeated."

“Is it any wonder that there are so many independent ministries and off-shoots in Adventism today? Is it any wonder that there are so many discordant voices in Adventism nowadays? The church has made concessions to Babylon, to the churches that have taken sides with the first great apostate, and since then there has been congenial fellowship with them. The question is, is that "new movement," that "new organization which has been established" still on the path  that leads to the City of God? Is the light Mrs. White saw shining at the beginning of that narrow path still with the "new movement"? From the point of view of the Evangelicals, the answer has to be, No it is not! But to this day the leaders of the church deny that any such concessions have made and  many are inclined to believe them.”

In 1957 the leaders of our beloved Seventh-day Adventist church betrayed sacred trusts. This fact cannot be controverted. In that very action the light which was at the beginning of the narrow path on which Mrs. White had seen the Advent band traveling to the City of God was denied. There was a falling away, a falling off the path! As a result, a new organization has been established. The question is, is that new organization still on the path and in the light? If not, then, as was shown in the vision, it is impossible for this new movement to get on the path again! But there are still honest ones in the "new movement" and they need to be reached. Is the message to them a call-out message? It would seem to make sense if the new organization has fallen off the path and out of the light!

But then, did not the Jewish leaders fall off the path when they put Jesus to death? And yet, individually, though the Jewish organization was doomed,
the leaders of the Jews, at the time of Pentecost, could still accept the offer of pardon and joined those who were bearing the message of mercy. See C.O.L. 308.  We need definite answers. Does the parable of Matt.22 shed light on this subject? I believe so. The parable of Matt.22 tells us that the last call to the church will be resisted and this is what will cause the shaking and the bearers of the message and their converts will be forced out and the message will be extended to the world and it will swell into a loud cry! This is represented by the third call of the parable. See C.O.L. 309.

" However, though the Jewish "organization" had gone beyond the point of no return by crucifying Jesus, "the Lord's care and labor for His people had not lessened but increased." C.O.L. 218. The time following the crucifixion was a time of "added probation" when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples at Pentecost.

Ron responds to the above: I888 was not a Midnight
Cry call to go out of anything! Evidently, Laval believes it was. 1888 was one of the calls to instruction and reform given by Jones and Waggoner and one of the many by Ellen White over the tenure of her ministry, as was the call in 1901. That was not a call out of anything! Midnight Cry calls are OUT OF THE WORLD AND OUT OF THE FALLEN CHURCHES. That was not the nature or the purpose of the 1888 and 1901 messages to the church.

(Note by Ron: In the following message, “forerunner000” is Laval Picard).

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

From: "forerunner000" <forerunner000@yahoo.ca

To: <DefendEGW@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2007 10:33 PM

Subject: [DefendEGW] Re: A STRAIGHT AND NARROW PATH (Time of added probation)

TIME OF ADDED PROBATION

Now we should all be able to appreciate the truth that in spite of the fact that the "new organization" has fallen off the path, that we are living in the time of "added probation.”

This is exactly what happened in the days of Christ. At the time of His crucifixion the entire Jewish structure was off the path and out of the light and was left unto them desolate. "Your house is left unto you desolate."

However, though the Jewish "organization" had gone beyond the point of no return by crucifying Jesus, "the Lord's care and labor for His people had not lessened but increased." C.O.L.218. The time following the crucifixion was a time of "added probation" when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples at Pentecost:  

"This was the message borne to the Jewish people after the crucifixion of Christ; but the nation that claimed to be Christ's peculiar people rejected the gospel brought to them in the power of the Holy Spirit. Many did this is the most scornful manner. Others were so exasperated by the offer of salvation and the offer of pardon for rejecting the Lord of glory, that they turned upon the bearers of the message. There was 'a great persecution.' Acts 8:1. Many both of men and women were thrust into prison, and some of the Lord's messengers, as Stephen and James were put to death. Thus the Jewish people sealed their rejection of God's mercy. The result was foretold in the parable." C.O.L.308, 309.

History is about to be repeated. The latter rain will be another Pentecost and the scenario described above will be fulfilled again to the very letter! If you wish to read more about what is going to take place, turn to THE ADVENT MOVEMENT ILLUSTRATED from Early Writings,  pp. 240, 241 and THE SHAKING from the same book, pp.269-271.  THE END Laval.

Ron’s commentary: Laval Picard is teaching that:

The church has fallen off the Midnight Cry lighted path as did the Jewish church, but there is “added probation for the church—even for the leaders."

Jesus said on the cross: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” There is a difference involving those who do not know and understand the truth and what they do and those who don’t. In Jeremiah 11:9-15, God tells Jeremiah not to even pray for that generation of Jews and verse 15 is a definite call out message.

That there is a time of “added probation” and that probation could not have closed for the SDA church structure because of the Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 218, statement, and the fact that in Matthew 22 there are three calls made. Adventism had many calls to repentance made by Ellen White alone. Then there was the call made by Robert J. Wieland and Donald K. Short in the 1950’s for corporate repentance. All the calls for repentance have been rejected.

Even though some leaders of Israel may have had a second chance at probation because they did not know what they had done in crucifying Christ, this did not preclude a “gathering out” of the apostate organization by Christ and His disciples, and that “gathering out” occurred even before the crucifixion:

"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 for 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.

"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.

"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. 

Parallels with the Prefigure Calls to the Jews and the Then Known World

·       John the Baptist calls for repentance. The call was rejected by most.

·       Jesus made a personal call to the Jews. He was rejected by most. So He and His disciples established home churches and gathered out from the apostate organization of the day.

·       Obviously, Jesus will not make an IN PERSON personal call to SDA’s. He makes His call through His representative messengers.

·       Jesus “gathered out” the disciples and those who would take the gospel to the world.

·       The disciples kept giving the call to the Jews.

·       Two of the three calls were made to the Jews alone. The third was made to the then known world, Matthew 22:9.

Ron’s Commentary on Laval Picard’s Conclusions

To try to imply that probation is still open for the apostate organization is not tenable. Probation will linger for SDA’s who have not known of the apostasy and willingly, knowingly, supported the apostate leaders in their ecumenical violations of the Midnight Cry and the first and second angel’s messages.

It would be the heights of arrogance and ignorance for any SDA to believe that God would withdraw His spirit from those who knowingly, willfully rejected the messages of 1844, and act differently toward SDA’s for in substance doing the very same thing by violations via ecumenical liaisons with Babylon and the world.

There can be no excuse for SDA topmost leaders not knowing the first and second angel’s messages and the Midnight Cry that gave power to those messages. Extending a time of probation for them is a pliant Aaron type peace and safety message of false security. Any “added probation” is for those who have not known and understood the call to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and have not violated it knowingly and willfully.

Laval’s biggest mistake is not factoring Christ’s statement that the Jews who killed Him did not know what they were doing. That does not apply to church leaders who were given the mission and commission to give the three angel’s messages to the world!

In Word to the Little Flock, p. 14, Ellen White says that it is impossible for all who fall off the Midnight Cry lighted path to get back on again. This means that all who do so knowingly and willingly receive a shut door to salvation. Ellen White said that all who rejected the Midnight Cry in 1844 received a “shut door.”

In the following statement Ellen White says that all who knew of and understood the Midnight Cry and the first and second angel’s messages in 1844, and accepted both, but later rejected such, rejected the Spirit of God, and it no longer pleaded with them. 

"I was shown in vision, and I still believe, that there was a shut door in 1844. All who saw the light of the first and second angels' messages and rejected that light were left in darkness. And those who accepted it and received the Holy Spirit which attended the proclamation of the message from heaven, and who afterward renounced their faith and pronounced their experience a delusion, thereby rejected the Spirit of God, and it no longer pleaded with them." {1BIO 260.8}

We should not attempt to judge who amongst SDA has or has not understood the Midnight Cry and the first and second angel’s messages. We should leave that judgment to God. But it is difficult to understand how any SDA leader could become a leader without having understood those messages!  We can safely say that such leaders who knew and understood those messages should have guarded the church against violation of those messages and Isaiah 8:9-14, by the act of ecumenical liaisons with Babylon. The “faithful” leaders should have warned the unfaithful ones and sought to reform them and the church from violation of those messages. 

Without a doubt, we should be willing and ready to minister to fallen SDA’s as well as all in other fallen churches and the world. But that does not preclude the necessity to withdraw from fallen churches WHEN we realize that they are fallen. God’s principle of separation from apostasy far predates Israel’s specific experience. And even in Israel’s case, the following separation is apropos on a generational level. This occurred in Shinar just after the Israelites settled after wandering in the desert for 40 years:

 "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.

The following treatise on Matthew 22 is by Ellen White

Matthew 22 Sermons and Talks 

Called to the Wedding Feast 

(Sermon by Ellen G. White In Washington, Township, Iowa, Cir. 1874.) 

     The words which I have selected as a foundation for a few remarks you will find in the 22nd chapter of Matthew, beginning at the first verse. [Verses 1-10, quoted.] {1SAT 4.1} 

     The portion of Scripture presented before us, which I have referred to and have presented before your minds, is of intense meaning--much more than I am able to explain. It is of great interest to us, and we should consider it, and let it have due weight upon our minds. We find by perusing God's sacred Word of inspiration that when the promised Messiah, the Son of God, came into the world His own people, even His own nation--the Jews--would not and did not receive Him. As we are told in the first chapter of St. John, "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (John 1:11). {1SAT 4.2} 

     The provision was made, but they would not receive it. The Father Himself provided a ransom, even a sacrifice. His own dear Son submitted Himself to His Father's requirements, came into this sinful world, became a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. He went about doing good, speaking in tones of tenderness, saying in the deepest and most fervent and sweetest accents ever uttered, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart"; and He assures us we shall find rest to our souls. {1SAT 4.3} 

     "Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise."  -5- {1SAT 4.4} 

     The great King Himself hath made a marriage for His Son. He hath sent forth His servants for many hundreds of years, saying, "Come, for all things are ready." But how little do the [people of the] world heed the invitation! They make light of it and go their ways to their worldly pursuits and worldly pleasures, the same as they have done for centuries. But the King sendeth forth His armies and destroys those murders and burns up their city, and we are told in the ninth chapter of Daniel, the 26th verse, that "the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city...; and the end thereof shall be with a flood." {1SAT 5.1} 

     "Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage." {1SAT 5.2} 

     In the 14th chapter of Luke, verse 16, we find that there was made a great supper and many were bidden. Servants were sent forth to say to those that were bidden, "Come; for all things are now ready" [verse 17]. But they made excuses. {1SAT 5.3} 

     The King of the kingdom hath made a marriage supper for His Son. He hath sent forth His servants to say to those which are bidden, "Come to the marriage." The Lord is sending His servants, saying unto all who will hear, "Come, make ready for the great marriage supper of the Lamb; He is soon coming to receive all the faithful to the mansions prepared by Him, to partake of the feast which He hath prepared." He is sending, and hath been sending His servants for some thirty years past to say unto His people, "Come, make ready, put on your wedding garments; clothe yourselves with meekness, humility, and truth, and have yourselves clad in the righteousness of Christ, that you may be

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 able to appear before Him, and enter into the guest chamber with those who shall sit with Me at the wedding of My Son." {1SAT 5.4} 

     All must be clothed with the wedding garment in order to be accepted, lest we be found speechless. {1SAT 6.1} 

     Is it not of the greatest importance that we be found having on the robe of righteousness, that we be ready when the Bridegroom cometh to enter in to the marriage supper? May we heed the invitation given and make ourselves ready that we may have admittance into the Master's house, that He say not unto us that none which were bidden shall taste of His supper. In the parable, those who were bidden heeded not its invitation, but continued excusing themselves, feasting upon the pleasures of this world as the masses do at the present time. {1SAT 6.2} 

     The servants of God are inviting and entreating them to come away from the alluring scenes of this vain and fleeting world, to make ready for the marriage supper, but they will not come. We hear them saying, There's no danger; tomorrow shall be as this day and much more abundant; no need of being disturbed. We must needs attend to farms and merchandise and the things of this life, lest we lose worldly interests, and become poor and suffer want. They forget that He who careth for the little sparrows and clotheth the lilies of the field, careth for the humble, trusting soul, and will guide and direct all those who are ready to do His will, and bestow upon His dear children such things as they need. To all who through patience and perseverance overcome, He hath promised to give a crown of never fading glory, a robe of righteousness, and an entrance into the beautiful city of our God. {1SAT 6.3} 

     This same King is sending forth His servants today. He is inviting His guests, saying, "Come, for all things are now ready." The Lord of the marriage

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 is soon coming: behold, He is at the door. Delay not to open the door, lest He turn away from receiving you and you enter not into the marriage feast. Open the door and receive the Master, that you may enter into the mansions of everlasting rest and never fading glory prepared for all those that love Him. Who will make ready for the coming of Him who hath said, "Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give to every man according as his work shall be" [Rev. 22:12]. {1SAT 6.4} 

     If we neglect our spiritual interests, neglect to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable duty, we become entangled with the trifling cares of this life. If we even once omit our daily duty of calling upon God for His divine aid, His care and protection, we lose one day's enjoyment. We have not the sweet, melting influence of God's Holy Spirit attending us through the day, but we feel cast down and easily discouraged. The enemy of souls is ready to take advantage [of us] and often does, bringing us into captivity and sin. {1SAT 7.1} 

     We may sometimes be cumbered about much serving, like Martha; but how much more commendable was the act of Mary, who sat and listened to the teachings of Jesus. He says, "Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but . . . . Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:41, 42). {1SAT 7.2} 

     How many times the things of this vain, deceitful world come between us and our eternal interests! Temporal things spring up within our hearts and choke those things which are spiritual. We permit the enemy of righteousness to persuade us that we should attend to the things of this life. We now and then neglect greater duties lest we suffer want. If we faithfully entreat God to

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give us strength and to perform temporal duties, and at the same time to give us grace and wisdom to overcome evil; if we have our hopes centered above and our conversation in heaven, whence we look for the Son of man who has bidden to the marriage all who will come: who has gone up on high to prepare mansions for all those who love and keep His sayings, and has told us He is coming to receive us, we may enter in to the wedding feast with Him, that where He is there we may be also. If we turn away from those calls and invitations, what will be the consequence? {1SAT 7.3} 

     In the 13th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, 46th verse, we find that if we put God's work from us, and judge ourselves unworthy of everlasting life, we have no reason to expect an entrance into the kingdom. The 24th verse of the 14th chapter of Luke informs us that "none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." {1SAT 8.1} 

     The great eternal Father has prepared a marriage feast for His Son. Will we give heed to His servants who have been and are being sent forth to proclaim unto us the solemn invitation? Or shall we make light of it? Oh, why refuse to make ready for the marriage of the Son of God? There is room for all who will accept the invitation. None can say [that] those things were not duly represented. Remember, when the good man returns, those who are ready will go in to the feast and the door will be shut, and there will be no further entrance, for we read that when "the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door" (Luke 13:25), then those who would find admittance will hear the answer, "I know you not. . . ; depart from Me." {1SAT 8.2} End Matthew 22 Parable from Sermon and Talks

A Personal Past Response to Laval Picard

I made the following personal response to Laval Picard, to which he did not respond:

Laval,

 

Please don't miss this response to COL, p. 218 and 308.

 

Sorry that you missed more than one of my past responses to your reference to COL, 218 and the period of "added probation." I said that Matthew 22 says that the second call went to those who were unworthy. That suggests that it was only to further prove their unworthiness on a national basis, but the call kept going to individuals. The period of added probation was not to the nation of Israel, but to individuals only. The second call occurred after the stoning of Stephen, which closed Israel's probation as a theocratic nation (church). Call number 2 occurred after that close. Again, the period of added probation was on an individual basis. The disciples and Paul gathered out individuals from the apostate theocracy whose probation had closed. It was corporate Israel that was not worthy--the apostate organization. Some individuals were worthy and responded to call number 2. Such is the case with Adventism now. You errantly hold out probation for the apostate corporate structure which has committed unpardonable sin and removed God. That is tantamount to the ultimate peace and safety message. That structure is the COUNTERPART of apostate Israel. It has done everything God indicted Israel for in Jeremiah 11:9-15.

 

Mat 22:8  Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.

 

Page 218

…many centuries ago concerning Israel, "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? . . . I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger. I will not return to destroy Ephraim; for I am God, and not man." Hosea 11:8, 9. The pitying Saviour is saying concerning you, Spare it this year also, till I shall dig about it and dress it.

With what unwearied love did Christ minister to Israel during the period of added probation. Upon the cross He prayed, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23:24. After His ascension the gospel was preached first at Jerusalem. There the Holy Spirit was poured out. There the first gospel church revealed the power of the risen Saviour. There Stephen--"his face as it had been the face of an angel" (Acts 6:15)--bore his testimony and laid down his life. All that heaven itself could give was bestowed. "What could have been done more to My vineyard," Christ said, "that I have not done in it?" Isa. 5:4. So His care and labor for you are not lessened, but increased. [on an individual basis--RB] Still He says, "I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." Isa. 27:3.

"If it bear fruit, well; and if not, then after that"--

The heart that does not respond to divine agencies becomes hardened until it is no longer susceptible to the influence of the Holy Spirit. Then it is that the word is spoken, "Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?"

Today He invites you: "O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God. . . . I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely. . . . I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. . . . They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine. . . . From Me is thy fruit found." Hosea 14:1-8.

When Ellen White penned the above words, the church had not yet committed the unpardonable sin the will get her broken in pieces, Isaiah 8:9-14.

Now, COL, p. 308:

Page 308

…to the king, more than exclusion from his presence and his table is decreed. "He sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city."

In both parables the feast is provided with guests, but the second shows that there is a preparation to be made by all who attend the feast. Those who neglect this preparation are cast out. "The king came in to see the guests," and "saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment; and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

The call to the feast had been given by Christ's disciples. Our Lord had sent out the twelve and afterward the seventy, proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand, and calling upon men to repent and believe the gospel. But the call was not heeded. Those who are bidden to the feast did not come. The servants were sent out later to say, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage." This was the message borne to the Jewish nation after the crucifixion of Christ; but the nation that claimed to be God's peculiar people rejected the gospel brought to them in the power of the Holy Spirit. Many did this in the most scornful manner. Others were so exasperated by the offer of salvation, the offer of pardon for rejecting the Lord of glory, that they turned upon the bearers of the message. There was "a great persecution." Acts 8:1. Many both of men and women were thrust into prison, and some of the Lord's messengers, as Stephen and James, were put to death.

Thus the Jewish people sealed their rejection of God's

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mercy. The result was foretold by Christ in the parable. The king "sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city." The judgment pronounced came upon the Jews in the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the nation.

The third call to the feast represents the giving of the gospel to the Gentiles. The king said, "The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage."

The first call was made by Christ during the first 3 1/2 year period of His ministry. He was teaching the disciples how to do it in the second call made by them and the seventy.

The Son of God Himself was sent to plead with the impenitent city. It was Christ that had brought Israel as a goodly vine out of Egypt. Psalm 80:8. His own hand had cast

20

out the heathen before it. He had planted it "in a very fruitful hill." The Great Controversy, pp. 19, 20.

The second Midnight Cry call of Matthew 25, is made to all fallen churches, including the SDA church, for in Isaiah 4:1-4, we find that 7 women (all formally organized churches) are doing their own thing at the end-time. The Midnight Cry is to all of them to go out of the world and all apostate churches to meet Him. That second call is no more a call of reconciliation to the fallen SDA church than it is to the fallen Babylonian churches when the second call is made. It is a call to go out of all fallen churches and all formally organized churches are fallen at that time. The call is to individuals to go out of all those fallen churches and the world.

Ron

More Correspondences With Laval

Laval,

 

You continue to contradict Ellen White and Scripture. I believe the SOP that Jesus was a separatist. They rejected Christ, so He went to others. Ellen White said that God would continue to work on that principle. You have agreed that the church has proved unfaithful to the work of the Lord, yet, like a pliant Aaron, you are trying everything possible to avoid the pain of the separation duty. It is impossible for the wheat to mature amongst the corrupt. It is impossible to unite with the corrupt and remain pure. But you are going to go down trying. 

 

 "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.

 

 "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 for 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.

 

 "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.

 

The above statement, occurring in the time of Jeremiah’s day, and which correlates with Jeremiah 11:14, 15, proves that a church does not have to fulfill any “stoning of Stephen” condition to close its probation. And what about all of the other fallen churches which fell in 1844? Did they stone anyone? Not that I know of!

 

 "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. 

 

"And as they persisted in their rejection of the gospel the apostle (Paul) went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space for 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.

 

Ron