A
Review of Elder Dennis Priebe's Book "The
Church, Is it Babylon?"
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There is a serious concept
pervading Scripture and the Spirit of Prophecy that nearly every SDA is not
aware of. That serious concept is that
God had dealt specifically with
every generation separately, when
it comes to salvation. It is fact that
God had a timetable for Israel as a
nation, and that probation for that nation closed at the stoning of
Stephen in A.D. 34. But this document
will make it most apparent that God dealt with Israel generationally
and that He will do the same with us. There are serious aspects
of God's dealings with apostate Israel that Elder Dennis Priebe overlooks in
his book entitled "The Church, Is it Babylon[RB1] ?
The bleeding hearts among SDA's, like Dennis Priebe, who would excuse the
prevailing gross apostasy, totally overlook the following facts: 1. Israel was given a bill of
Divorce. Jer
3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel
committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce;
yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot
also. 2. Where were the faithful whenever
Israel was in apostasy? The faithful were sacrificing at home: "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. 3. Israel in Jeremiah's generation
went beyond forgiveness and God instructed Jeremiah not to pray for them and
the Holy Flesh passed from her. Jeremiah 11:9-15. This is of
great importance in apprising the state of current day modern Israel. 4. Ezekiel 9 applied and applies to
every generation since those words were written. Ezekiel 9 does not
apply to the final generation ONLY! 5. Leaders like Dennis Priebe say that
we should adopt the attitude of Moses toward apostate Israel. Okay,
let's take a close look at what Moses did. He asked all who repentant
to form at his right hand. All others, some 3,000 unrepentant apostates
were killed. Then, on the morrow, Moses prayed for all who had repented
and formed at his right hand. Apostasy was killed out of the camp. 6. Jesus did not kill the apostates in
his day. He separated from them. "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. Is not Christ our
example? "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." Desire of Ages, 232. 7. True Reformers have, in every
succeeding generation, left the church of their fathers when the
ecclesiastical leaders apostatized: 8. 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. "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. Home
Churches in Times of Apostasy Act 13:1
Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and
teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called 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. Phm 1:2 And
to [our] beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church
in thy house: 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. Col 4:15
Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which
is in his house. 1
Corinthians 14:26 describes an early church meeting, in which everyone
present shared in providing hymns, instruction, revelation, tongues, or
interpretation. 1Cr 14:26
How is it then, brethren? when
ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a
tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done
unto edifying. Act 14:23 And when they had ordained them elders in every church,
and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
Act 14:27 And when they were come, and had gathered the church
together, they rehearsed all that God had done with
them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. 1Pe 5:13 The [church that is] at Babylon, elected together with
[you], saluteth you; and [so doth] Marcus my son. Rom 16:1 I
commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is
at Cenchrea: Col 4:16
And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the
church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the [epistle] from
Laodicea. 1Cr 1:2
Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in
Christ Jesus, called [to be] saints, with all that in every place call upon
the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: "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. 9. Ellen White on Home Churches in the
Alpha of Apostasy: When the young men and women were kept away from the Alpha
of apostasy in the church, what did they do; where did they meet for
worship? "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. 10.So we find that even amid the
apostasy in Jeremiah's day, faithful Jews worshipped at home.
Jesus did the same. Paul did the same. True reformers in every
succeeding generation have done the same: "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. 11.Ellen White said that God would
continue to work on this plan: "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 tough he needed any thing' (Acts 17:25). E.
G. White, The Upward Look, 131. 12.If we cannot know when a church
proves unfaithful to the work of the Lord, why would Ellen White pen the
above statement? 13.Some say that they are going to
remain and cleanse the camp of Omega Apostasy. Ellen White said that
"nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the New Movement,"
Selected Messages, Bk. 1, 205. 14.Ellen White stood in the way of the
Alpha, but said that nothing would be able to stand in the way of the Omega. 15.How long was the Omega of
Apostasy to continue? Read the following statement in context,
for the context is all about the Omega of Apostasy: "One
thing it is certain is soon to be realized, the great apostasy, which is
developing and increasing and waxing stronger, and will continue to do so
until the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout. We are to hold fast
the first principles of our denominated faith, and go forward from strength
to increased faith. Ever we are to keep the faith that has been substantiated
by the Holy Spirit of God from the earlier events of our experience until the
present time. We need now larger breadth, and deeper, more earnest,
unwavering faith in the leadings of the Holy Spirit. If we needed the
manifest proof of the Holy Spirit's power to confirm truth in the beginning,
after the passing of the time, we need to-day all the evidence in the
confirmation of the truth, when souls are departing from the faith and giving
heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. There must not be any
languishing of soul now." (E.G. White, Special
Testimonies, Series B, No. 7, p. 57). 16.Can the Faithful in Home Churches
Finish the Work? We know there will be 144,000 faithful. Jesus,
the 12, and the 70, carried the gospel to the then known world. The
Holy Spirit will do the same with the 144,000. Laodicea thinks that God
is dependent upon her because she is the seventh church. That is not
true. Ellen White said that all the messages to the seven churches
apply to the end of time. "The
names of the seven churches are symbolic of the church in different periods
of the Christian Era. The number indicates completeness, and is symbolic of
the fact that the messages [plural] extend to the end of time, while the
symbols used reveal the condition of the church [collectively and generally]
at different periods in the history of the world." E.G. White, The Acts
of the Apostles,585. 17.How will the work be
finished? Zec 4:6 Then he answered
and spake unto me, saying, This
[is] the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by
power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of
hosts. "God
is not 'worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing." (Acts 17:25). E. G. White, The
Upward Look, 131. 18.Laodicea think God need her no
matter what she does. She will find out differently. Some are saying that it is a waste of
time to warn SDA's, and that we should rather be giving the gospel to the
world. Where did Jesus and the
disciples go first! To
the Jew, right? Can we exclude
fellow SDA’s from the following admonition of Scripture?: "So far as his opportunities
extend, every one who has received the light of truth is under the same
solemn and fearful responsibility as was the prophet of Israel, to whom the
word of the Lord came, saying: "Son of man, I have set thee a
watchman unto the
house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at
my mouth, and warn them from me. When
I say unto the wicked, O wicked man
surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his
way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require
at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou
warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his
iniquity, but thou has delivered thy soul." Eze 33:7-9 GC pg 391 Eze 3:11 And
go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and
speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they
will forbear. "'They that forsake the law praise
the wicked.' Proverbs 28:4. When those who are uniting with the world, yet
claiming great purity, plead for union with those who have ever been the
opposers of the cause of truth, we should fear and shun them as decidedly as
did Nehemiah. Such counsel is prompted by the enemy of all good. It is the
speech of timeservers, and should be resisted as resolutely today as then.
Whatever influence would tend to unsettle the faith of God' people in His
guiding power, should be steadfastly withstood." E.G.
White, Prophets and kings, p. 660. I pray that you will not go by the
"dumb dogs" that will NEVER AGAIN, show the house of Jacob it's
sins, even one Dennis Priebe, and begin to believe and follow the instruction
of God and Ellen White. Begin at My Sanctuary -- "Here we
see that the church--the Lord's sanctuary--was the first to feel the stroke
of the wrath of God. The ancient men, those to whom God had given great light
and who had stood as guardians of the spiritual interests of the people, had
betrayed their trust. They had taken the position that we need not look for
miracles and the marked manifestation of God's power as in former days. Times
have changed. These words strengthen their unbelief, and they say: The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil. He
is too merciful to visit His people in judgment. Thus 'Peace and safety" is the cry
from men who will never again lift up their voice like a trumpet to show
God's people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. These dumb
dogs that would not bark are the ones who feel the just vengeance of an
offended God. Men, maidens, and little children all perish together." E. G. White, Testimonies, Vol. 5, 211. Isaiah
56
In light of such statements if grieves
me that you would quote Elder Dennis Priebe in lieu of God and Ellen White. Priebe poses the question: “The confrontations over those basic theological issues
laid a foundation for the more vocal battle of the 1990s concerning the
nature of the church. Loud and long has been the dialogue over what
constitutes the church. The strongest disagreements have focused on whether
the organized Seventh-day Adventist church will go through in triumph. Or has
the Adventist church become a part of Babylon? If so, should we separate from
it and call others to join us?” Ron responds: In Priebe’s book,
he totally overlooks Ellen White’s statement as to how the church could
indeed become a sister to fallen Babylon. He gives her statements on Babylon, given to
two men in 1893, to the effect that the church was not Babylon at that time,
and then Priebe applies those statements as thought they applied forever
thereafter. This has been done by SDA
leaders since Ellen White’s demise. This
is not honest dealing with God’s people.
On the other side of the issue of Babylon, Ellen White said: "We
must as a people arouse and cleanse the camp of Israel. Licentiousness,
unlawful intimacy, and unholy practices are coming in among us in a large
degree...We are in danger of becoming a sister to fallen Babylon, of allowing
our churches to become corrupted and filled with every foul spirit, a cage
for every unclean and hateful bird, and will we be clear unless we make
decided movements to cure the existing evil? E. G. White, Manuscript Releases
No. 449, pp. 17, 18. "If
we turn from the testimony of God's word, and accept false doctrines
[Calvinism] because our fathers taught them, we fall under the condemnation
pronounced upon "It
is now the duty of God's commandment--keeping people to watch and pray, to
search the Scriptures diligently, to hide the Word of God in the heart, lest
they sin against Him in idolatrous thoughts and debasing practices, and the
church of God become demoralized like the fallen churches whom prophecy
represents as being filled with every unclean and hateful bird." E. G.
White, Review and Herald, May 17, 1887. "In
the balances of the sanctuary the Seventh-day Adventist church is to be
weighed. She will be judged by the privileges and advantages that she has
had. . . .I saw our Instructor pointing to the garments of so-called
righteousness. Stripping them of, He laid bare he defilement beneath. Then He
said to me: 'Can you not see how they have pretentiously covered up their
defilement and rottenness of character? How is the faithful city become an harlot?" E. G. White, Testimonies, Vol. 8,
pp. 247-250. What
is the Real Meaning of the Following Statements by Ellen White?
Concerning
any Ellen White statement, she said to consider time, place and circumstance
and common sense. We must weigh her
counsel with the Counsel God gave concerning Israel’s apostasy. The two do not disagree if all is considered
as it should be. The church is compared to Israel, which made poor decisions
because it coveted the approval of other men or nations. Clearly this
statement is referring to the organized nation of Israel in a disobedient
state. The "church" here cannot refer to true believers only, but
to an organized body which is disobedient to God. Yet it is still "the
church." Ron’s response: Here
(above) Priebe tries to excuse the church’s apostasy implying that no matter
what it does it is to be compared with the apostasy of Israel and that
probation still lingered for Israel even though it was in a state of
apostasy. But is his conclusion true? Does Priebe make a major boner in
concluding that Israel was not separated from and disowned by God on a
generational basis? Again, I offer
conclusive proof that Israel’s apostates were either killed from the camp
(Under Moses), or God pronounced them as unpardonable sinners, as in the case
of Jeremiah 11:9-15, when they conspired with His enemies and returned to the
errors of their forefathers. Then, He
said not to even pray for them (of that generation); He departed, and they
celebrated—eg. SDA Celebration when they have done evil. And the course of the faithful when the majority of the host of Israel apostatized? Ellen White recorded their stance: "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 Astonishingly Priebe
says: “The organized church of Israel
is to teach lessons of obedience to the organized remnant church until the close
of time. The church of Israel and the church of Adventism are
parallel to each other, and we can learn what the church is today by looking
back at the church of the Old Testament.” Does the above
statement accord with the following by Ellen White? "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 God is not 'worshipped
with men's hands, as tough he needed any thing' (Acts 17:25). E. G. White,
The Upward Look, 131. Did the following
described Jews follow any plan that they were to be obedient to the organized
church of their day until the close of time?
"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 Do the following
statements by Ellen White say that we are to be obedient to the organized
church till the end of time? “So often the same old difficulties arise
and are presented in regard to disturbing the ‘regular lines.’ But God will
work in some way to make His people understand that THE REGULAR LINES HAVE
BECOME FULL OF IRREGULAR PRACTICES…God alone can make men understand that
working on REGULAR LINES has led to IRREGULAR PRACTICES. God alone can make men’s minds as they
should be. The time has come when we
should hear les in favor of the REGULAR LINES. If we can GET AWAY FROM THE REGULAR LINES
into something which, THOUGH IRREGULAR, IS AFTER GOD’S ORDER, it may cut away
something of the IRREGULAR WORKING which has led away from Bible principles.” E.G. White, Manuscript Release, #1450, p.
3, 4, 1901. “When we see the
regular lines are altered and purified and refined, and the God of the
heavens mold is upon the regular lines, then it is our business to establish
the regular lines.” E.G. White,
Spaulding-Magan Collection, p. 162-168. “The regular lines had
need to be broken as a potter’s vessel is broken,
and reconstructed.” Ms. 29, 1903. pp. 1, 3 (General Manuscript, The Southern
Work, undated. “The present showing
is sufficient to prove to all who have the true missionary spirit that the
regular lines [Regular lines organization] may prove to be a failure.” E.G. White, Spaulding-Magan Collection, p.
175. Written to Brother Daniels, June
28, 1901. The regular lines have
proven to be a failure? What
then? Ellen White called the
destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 a prefigure. What happened then? What happened from A.D. 27 to A.D. 66, 3 ½ years
before the church was destroyed in A.D. 70? The good left the apostate church and formed
home churches. That is the course we
are now to pursue. The 144,000 faithful
who are not defiled with women (fallen churches) will finish the work under
the empowerment of the Holy Spirit during the Loud Cry. God does not need numbers! Do you believe Him? His Holy Spirit is now preparing a people
the world over who never heard the name Seventh-day Adventist: "A Firmament of Zec 4:6 Then he answered and
spake unto me, saying, This [is] the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel,
saying, Not by might [NUMBERS], nor by power, but by my spirit, saith
the LORD of hosts. I review Dennis Priebe’s book from another perspective in the following
document: https://omega77.tripod.com/priebereb1.htm God bless those who are digging and
seeking as for hidden treasure, Ron |
[RB1]This is a copy of Priebe’s Book:
Hosea 14:1
No one can deny
the painful divisions which rack the Seventh-day Adventist church today, but
few understand that much of it springs from issues rooted in the 1970s and
1980s. It was during those two decades that the church was assailed with controversy
over the sanctuary, the nature of man and sin, the role of Ellen G. White, the
humanity of Christ, and the possibility of character perfection before the
coming of Christ.
The confrontations over those basic theological issues
laid a foundation for the more vocal battle of the 1990s concerning the nature
of the church. Loud and long has been the dialogue over what constitutes the
church. The strongest disagreements have focused on whether the organized
Seventh-day Adventist church will go through in triumph. Or has the Adventist
church become a part of Babylon? If so, should we separate from it and call
others to join us?
Much of the debate revolves around the terms
"visible" and "invisible." One group contends that the
visible church consists only of faithful, obedient believers and could never
refer to an organization which is not wholly following God. On this basis, they
feel compelled to urge people not to be associated with the organized church
any longer. They also apply some of the identifying marks of Babylon to the
present Adventist church structure.
These are the claims which need to be scrutinized under
the microscope of God's Word. None can ignore the fact that thousands are being
influenced to join "home churches" and to look askance at those who
give support to the historic conference organization. In order to ascertain
whether there is a distinction between the "visible" and
"invisible" church, we shall examine the testimony of Scripture and
Spirit of Prophecy as well as the evidence of church history. Then we will be
in a position to determine our relationship with the organized Seventh-day
Adventist church of today.
Visible and Invisible
Ellen White used the term "visible church" a
number of times, but the term "invisible church" is not commonly used
in her writings, if at all. Apparently, many who have studied her statements
assume that where there is a "visible," there must also be an "invisible."
However, to avoid a controversy based solely on semantics, other words can be
used in place of "invisible church." Ellen White herself drew a clear
distinction between two groups within the church who would be equal in
membership but far apart in their standing before God.
"We should feel an individual responsibility as
members of the visible church and workers in the vineyard of the Lord. The
advancement of the church is often retarded by the wrong course of its members.
Uniting with the church, although an important and necessary step, does not of
itself make one a Christian. If we would secure a title to heaven, our hearts
must be in unison with Christ and His people." (Bible Echo and Signs of
the Times, Sept. 1, 1888.)
Here we find a distinction between being a member of
the visible church and being a Christian. If the visible church was composed
only of faithful and true believers, then being a church member and being a
Christian would be exactly the same thing. But "members of the visible
church and workers in the vineyard of the Lord" can take a "wrong
course" which retards the advancement of the church. This means that
non-Christians (professed, but not true) can be members of the visible church.
Although the visible church has both Christians and non-Christians in its
membership, uniting with it is still "an important and necessary
step." However, a second step is necessary in order to be a Christian and
be saved-namely, a heart-unity with Christ. Both steps, becoming a member of
the visible church, and having a heart unity with Christ, are necessary for
salvation.
"Depending upon men has been the great weakness of
the church. Men have dishonored God by failing to appreciate His sufficiency,
by coveting the influence of men. Thus Israel became weak. The people wanted to
be like the other nations of the world, and they asked for a king." (The
Kress Collection, p. 57.)
The church is compared to Israel, which made poor
decisions because it coveted the approval of other men or nations. Clearly this
statement is referring to the organized nation of Israel in a disobedient
state. The "church" here cannot refer to true believers only, but to
an organized body which is disobedient to God. Yet it is still "the
church."
"We profess to be the depositories of God's law;
we claim to have greater light and to aim at a higher standard than any other
people upon the earth. ... As members of the visible church, and workers in the
vineyard of the Lord, all professed Christians should do their utmost to preserve
peace, harmony, and love in the church. ... Satan is constantly working to
prevent this union and harmony, that unbelievers, by witnessing backsliding,
dissension, and strife among professed Christians, may become disgusted with
religion and be confirmed in their impenitence." (Testimonies for the
Church, Vol. 5, pp. 619, 620.)
Here the visible church is said to con-tain "professed Christians," which is not the
same as true believers or genuine Christians. Those who profess obedience to
God are members of the visible church, but some of them are backsliding and
fighting with each other.
When God led Israel out of Egypt, He gave precise
directions regarding each person's work. "This is an important lesson to
the church. ... The management of that great church in their journeyings in the wilderness symbolizes the management of
the church till the close of earth's history." (That I May Know Him, p.
323.)
The organized church of Israel is to teach lessons of
obedience to the organized remnant church until the close of time. The church
of Israel and the church of Adventism are parallel to each other, and we can
learn what the church is today by looking back at the church of the Old
Testament.
"Notwithstanding our varying types of character,
we are brought into church capacity through the profession of our faith. Christ
is the head of the church; and if those whose names are on the church record do
not belong to Jesus, the invisible Head, they are like the fruitless branch of
the vine, and are taken away. If one is really a fruitful branch, he will make
it manifest by bearing fruit, giving evidence of his absolute allegiance to
Christ. He will have a spiritual connection with God." (Advent Review and
Sabbath Herald, Feb. 23, 1897.)
Note that Christ is the head of the church, which we
enter by our profession of faith, and that we can be fruitless branches while
on the church record. This church with many unfaithful Christians in it is not
a false church, and we are not to leave it to find the true church, because
Christ is still its Head. However, we are reminded that being a church member
is not enough. We must maintain the spiritual connection with God that is
essential to salvation, and we are to take this step within the church of
professed believers.
"There are two kinds of connections between the
branches and the vine stock. One is visible, but superficial. The other is
invisible and vital. So there is an apparent union, a membership with the
church, and a profession of religion which, though in itself good, is too often
unaccompanied by saving faith in Jesus or living obedience to the commandments
of God." (Signs of the Times, July 27, 1888.)
This visible, superficial, apparent, professed
membership in the church is "in itself good." In other words, no one
should be denied the privilege of joining the church, even if their motives and
sincerity may not be fully apparent. But the important point is that church
membership is not the same as saving faith, and the church is not solely a
group of faithful believers. The visible church includes within it more than
obedient Christians.
From the preceding statements, we can see that there
are two distinct categories described in the Spirit of Prophecy. One is the
visible church, and the other is faithful souls. Since both of these categories
can be called "the church," it is only by a careful study of context
that we can determine which church is being referred to in a given statement.
The visible church, which is specified in Testimonies
for the Church, Vol. 4, p. 16, has a special purpose. Though it cannot save
individuals, its function is to be the center of God's government on earth. It
is to reveal God's character and His laws to a rebellious world. It is to be a
center of outreach to those who are deceived by Satan. It includes both saved
and unsaved individuals, because it includes all who make a profession of faith
in Christ. It is to be a teacher of salvation and a guide to salvation.
The "faithful soul" church is described in
Acts of the Apostles, p. 11. It is made up of individuals whose hearts have
responded to God in genuine faith and obedience and who are in a saving
relationship with Christ. Some of these are in the visible church while others,
who are fully surrendered to God but have limited light, are outside the
visible church. It is membership in this spiritual body that assures us a place
in heaven.
To say that the visible church is always equivalent to
the "faithful soul" church is to seriously distort the teachings of
the Spirit of Prophecy and to misunderstand the distinct purpose of these two
groups. One cannot select a preferred definition of the church and then try to
force all other usages of the word to conform to this preferred definition. We
can wrest the Spirit of Prophecy to our own destruction just as surely as we
can wrest the Scriptures.
Two Visible Churches
As we look back through history, we can see two visible
churches in action-one established by God to demonstrate His character and laws
and one established by Satan to counterwork God's plans. Immediately after the
Flood, Satan set his church into motion through the city and tower of Babel.
God soon saw fit to call Abraham out of the society where Satan's principles
were being followed. Abraham became the father of God's visible church, and it
is important to note that although Jacob's 12 sons were not all faithful
believers, they were all part of, and fathers of, God's true visible church on
earth.
Some might ask why God directed Abraham to move into
Canaan, whose inhabi-tants were followers of Satan's
church also. Why should the faithful church move from one center of false
worship into another just as wicked? The answer appears as God re-vealed His ultimate purpose to drive out the pagan tribes
and to establish His own center of worship in the land of Canaan. God gave
specific orders for His church to have no close relationship or intermarriage
with the heathen nations-a principle that He con-tinued
to apply to His church right down to the present.
When God called Israel out of Egypt, He put into
operation a plan designed to com-pletely replace
Satan's church in Canaan with His own visible church. Again it is important to
note that God's true church included a mixed multitude of faithful and
unfaithful souls, a situation which did not improve dramatically even after
they entered Canaan.
After a time, God's true visible church took a major
step in disobedience by asking for a king so it could be more like Satan's
church. God continued to work through Israel's kings as much as possible, but
His plans were severely hampered by increasing apostasy in His visible church.
Satan's church, on the other hand, developed first in Assyria and then in Babylon.
Things got so bad in God's church that He had to allow Assyria to destroy 10 of
the 12 tribes He had laboriously brought out of Egypt.
It has been suggested that when Israel broke God's
covenant they were not the true church. If that had been the case, God would
have been without a true, visible church for most of the history of Israel. We
marvel at the extreme mercy and long suffering of God in dealing with His
backsliding people. It seems to us that God should have cut them off when their
apostasy was so deep and pervasive. In order to understand how long and
patiently He bore with them, read the command of God to His prophet Hosea.
"And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a
wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great
whoredom, departing from the Lord." Hosea 1:2. The church of Israel was in
full apostasy, and God's response was direct. He commanded the prophet to give
names to his children that would bear witness to the whole nation concerning
their spiritual condition. After the birth of his third child, Hosea was told
by God: "Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my
people, and I will not be your God." Hosea 1:9.
This does sound like God was through with Israel as His
visible church, and that He was ready to move on to some other plan for
accomplishing His purposes. But in the very next verse God said, "Yet the
number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot
be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it
was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye
are the sons of the living God." Hosea 1:10.
We must always remember the difference between God's
chastisements and God's rejection, and be able to tell the difference between
the two. Because Israel had broken God's covenant, God had to abandon His
people to their own choices-temporarily. But as long as Israel continued to be
God's church, He would work to secure their repentance and obedience so that He
could once again call them His sons.
"O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou
hast fallen by thine iniquity." "I will heal their backsliding, I
will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him." Hosea
14:1, 4. Although Israel was in full apostasy, God had not yet rejected them
which is not teaching and living the truth is not God's church at all. But let
us look more closely at the church in Corinth to see whether or not this is so.
"Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to
them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in
every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Corinthians
1:2. Everything that follows in this letter is directed to the church of God,
composed of all those who are sanctified [set apart], called, and who call on
Jesus' name.
"And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto
spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. ... For ye are yet
carnal: for whereas there is among you envy-ing, and
strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" 1 Corinthians
3:1, 3. "For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear
that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be
also heresies among you." 1 Corinthians 11:18, 19. In God's visible church
were carnal professed Christians, as well as divisions and heresies. Although
not all of its members were Christians, the Bible says the Corinthian church
was part of the visible church of God.
The next step in the history of the Christian church is
very important, because many people say that the church of the apostles turned
into the Papacy-in other words, that the true church turned into Babylon. To
find out whether or not this is true, perhaps we need to see exactly where the
Papacy originated.
"And the beast which I saw was like unto a
leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of
a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great
authority." Revelation 13:2. The Papacy received its power, its place of
government, and its authority from Satan, who was working at that time through
the Roman empire. From its very beginning, the Papacy was part of Satan's
visible church, in a direct line from Babylon through Rome. The Papacy was
never God's true church at all. Let us review what happened during the first
centuries of the Christian era.
In Alexandria, Egypt, a school of philosophy and
theology had existed from before the time of Christ. In fact, the school at
Alexandria had more than a little to do with the corruption of the Jewish church
through the education of its most promising young men. When Christianity came
on the scene, the Alexandrian school began to study these new teachings,
incorporating them into its philosophical models. The Alexandrian Christian
school combined mysticism, pagan philosophy, and a careless handling and
interpretation of the Scriptures into an apostate form of Christianity almost
from the very start.
Alexandria had great influence on the Western branch of
the Christian church, especially in Rome, Italy. These two Christian centers
were the first to combine Christian teachings with pagan ideas and to discredit
the Bible Sabbath. Thus the Papacy was the direct descendant of Babylon through
Rome and Alexandria.
In the meantime, an entirely different Christian school
was developing in Antioch, Syria. Here the teachers and students were much more
faithful to the authority of Scripture, refusing to mystify and spiritualize
away clear teachings of Scripture. They copied and interpreted Scripture very
faithfully and did their best to pass on the teachings of Christ and the
apostles accurately. This brand of Christianity spread within the Eastern
branch of the church, which remained much more faithful to the truth than did
the Western branch. However, this more faithful Eastern church should not be
confused with the later Orthodox churches in the East, which were closely
patterned in theology and ritual after the Papacy in the West.
Thus, the true church did not turn into Babylon, but
remained vital and growing for centuries, while the false church continued
directly in the line of Babylon. Now it is true that individuals and whole
congregations changed sides occasionally during this formative period-both from
God's church to Satan's church and, more rarely, from Satan's church to God's
church. But this must not obscure the fact that the two churches remained
distinct and separate from each other. (See time line on pp. 16, 17.)
Unfortunately, the Eastern church was not to be left in
prosperity. The Mohammedan invasions took their toll on the Eastern part of the
Roman empire, and Eastern Christianity was gradually swallowed up by these
invasions. The great centers of the Eastern church were eliminated and could no
longer stand in defense of the truth against Western perversions of true
Christianity. The only part of the Roman empire to stand intact was in Rome
itself. The church in Rome became the professed defender of Christianity and,
ultimately, the only form of Christianity recognized during the Dark Ages.
As the Roman church forced the true visible church to
flee into the wilderness for survival, hundreds of years passed by, with God's
true visible church receiving very little recognition from the civilized
Christian world. Reports filtered out of England and Ethiopia confirming the
activities of many faithful Christians. Only later did the Waldenses
in Italy and the Huguenots in France receive notoriety as they suffered intense
persecution by Satan's church.
Then the Reformation broke upon the Christian scene,
and Lutheranism and Presbyterianism carried the torch of God's true visible
church. Next, the Anabaptists and Methodists came into the picture. Satan's
church, meanwhile, received a deadly wound in 1798, from which some thought it
would never recover. During these centuries, there were again individuals and
congregations which crossed from one side to the other; but as before, the two
churches remained distinct. (See time line on pp. 16, 17.) Babylon did not turn
into the true church.
Finally we come to the climactic time period of William
Miller and the giving of the midnight cry. God was challenging all the
Christian bodies who carried the torch of truth to move ahead into the
advancing light, including the Sabbath and the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary.
If they would not move with the light, they would be left in darkness and would
actually become part of the spiritual system of Babylon. For the first time in
history, whole denominations switched from the true church to the false church.
Those who were obedient to the gathering call formed
the Seventh-day Adventist movement to function as the final remnant, God's
visible church, which would ultimately be formed into the 144,000 and give the
loud cry to Babylon. Those who refused to heed the gathering call became the
daughters of Babylon, soon to be fully absorbed into Babylon.
God's plan for the visible church is that it will pass
through a time of shaking and purging, so that unfaithful professors will be
shaken out while the faithful believers go to the world with the final loud
cry. Individuals and congregations will again switch sides at this time, but it
is not God's plan to raise up a new visible church to replace the corporate
Seventh-day Adventist church.
The most important thing to note from this brief review
of history is that God's visible church and Satan's visible church have
remained distinct from the very beginning. Also, God's visible church has
always included faithful believers as well as un-faithful professors.
Adventism and Babylon
In light of this understanding of God's visible church,
what conclusions can we draw regarding the present and future of the
Seventh-day Adventist church? Let us look carefully at God's counsel through
the Spirit of Prophecy.
When the school at Battle Creek began to depart from
God's plan, especially regarding the amusements being provided, Ellen White
quoted the text, "How is the faithful city become an harlot!"
(Special Testimonies on Education, p. 181.) In another context, her divine
Instructor said to Ellen: "How is the faithful city become an harlot! My
Father's house is made a house of merchandise, a place whence the divine
presence and glory have departed! For this cause there is weakness, and
strength is lacking." (Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 8, p. 250.)
Serious charges, indeed! The Seventh-day Adventist
church is a harlot and God's presence has left it? Surely this was a final
judgment against the organized church.
But look again. Her very next words are: "Unless
the church, which is now being leavened with her own backsliding, shall repent
and be converted, she will eat of the fruit of her own doing, until she shall
abhor herself. When she resists the evil and chooses the good, when she seeks
God with all humility and reaches her high calling in Christ, standing on the
platform of eternal truth and by faith laying hold upon the attainments
prepared for her, she will be healed. She will appear in her God-given
simplicity and purity, separate from earthly entanglements, showing that the
truth has made her free indeed. Then her members will indeed be the chosen of
God, His representatives."
What God was saying to the Seventh-day Adventist church
is exactly what He was saying to Israel through Hosea. Rather than a statement
of rejection, this was an appeal for repentance and obedience, and it carried a
promise of healing. God appealed to His visible church to repent before it
might cross a final line.
Ellen White wrote to George Butler, the General
Conference president, in 1886: "We are in danger of becoming a sister to
fallen Babylon, of allowing our churches to become corrupted, and filled with
every foul spirit, a cage for every unclean and hateful bird. ... I tell you
the truth, Elder Butler, that unless there is a cleansing of the soul temple on
the part of many who claim to believe and to preach the truth, God's judgments,
long deferred, will come." (Letter 51, 1886.)
"If most earnest vigilance is not manifested at
the great heart of the work to protect the interests of the cause, the church
will become as corrupt as the churches of other denominations."
(Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 4, p. 513.) "The world must not be
introduced into the church, and married to the church, forming a bond of unity.
Through this means the church will become indeed corrupt, and as stated in
Revelation, 'a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.'" (Testimonies to
Ministers, p. 265.)
These are very, very solemn warnings to God's visible
church. We cannot pretend that they do not exist and that if we do not read
them they will somehow not apply to us. We dare not make the mistake of the
Jews, who believed that because God had called them to be His chosen people it
was impossible for them to fail. We live under the principle of conditional
prophecy just as surely as God's Old Testament church did. This means that both
the beautiful promises of God to this church and His warnings to us are
conditional upon our response to Him. Our obedience or disobedience will
determine what the future holds for us individually or as a church.
Ellen White makes it clear that a church can be
converted into Babylon, but the process is not an easy or simple one.
Disobedience-even over a long period of time, or in a number of different
areas-does not turn the true church into Babylon. God's love for His chosen
people is too deep and strong to allow Him to cast them off for even repeated
failures. God's love for Israel over many disappointing centuries should
instruct us about His attitude toward His remnant church today. Israel crossed
the line of divine patience only after it rejected, openly and defiantly, the
ultimate gift of God's love by sentencing His Son to death. As we understand
from Daniel's prophecy, God's final separation from the Jewish nation did not
take place for another three and a half years after the crucifixion. What long
suffering and mercy!
We are told what steps our church will have to take to
cross the line that Israel crossed. If our church were to adopt, openly and
officially, the errors of Sunday sacredness, the immortality of the soul, and
eternal torment, then we too would become a part of fallen Babylon. (See
Selected Messages,Vol. 2, p.
68 and Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 61, 62.) However, we must remember that
small deviations from truth lead to larger errors. Our compromises over the
last 50 years need to be addressed and reversed, or we could be in real danger
of adopting the major errors of Babylon.
Now that we have examined the warnings God has
delivered to His church, we must also look at what the Spirit of Prophecy has
to say to those who claim that the organized, visible church has already
crossed the line and that the faithful ones should separate themselves from it.
"No advice or sanction is given in the Word of God
to those who believe the third angel's message to lead them to suppose that
they can draw apart. This you may settle with yourselves forever. It is the
devising of unsanctified minds that would encourage a state of disunion. ...
There must be no separating in this great testing time." (Selected
Messages, Vol. 3, p. 21.) Please notice how long we are to avoid drawing apart.
Forever!! Should this not caution those who are saying that things are so much
worse today that her 1893 counsels no longer apply?
"I know that the Lord loves His church. It is not
to be disorganized or broken up into independent atoms. There is not the least
consistency in this; there is not the least evidence that such a thing will
be." (The Remnant Church, p. 53.) "We have never had a message that
the Lord would dis-organize the church." (Advent
Review and Sabbath Herald, vol. 3, p. 86.)
"The Redeemer of the world does not sanction
experience and exercise in religious matters independent of His organized and
acknowledged church, where He has a church.
"Many have the idea that they are responsible to
Christ alone for their light and experience, independent of His acknowledged
followers in the world. But this is condemned by Jesus in His teachings and in
the examples, the facts, which He has given for our instruction."
(Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 3, pp. 432, 433.)
"You will take passages in the Testi-monies
that speak of the close of probation, of the shaking among God's people, and
you will talk of a coming out from this people of a purer, holier people that
will arise. Now all this pleases the enemy ... Should many accept the views you
advance, and talk and act upon them, we should see one of the greatest
fanatical excitements that has ever been witnessed among Seventh-day
Adventists. This is what Satan wants." (Selected Messages, Vol. 1, p.
179.)
"The Lord has not given you a message to call the
Seventh-day Adventists Babylon, and to call the people of God to come out of
her. All the reasons you may present cannot have weight with me on this subject,
because the Lord has given me decided light that is opposed to such a
message." (Selected Messages, Vol. 2, p. 63.)
"I tell you, my brethren, the Lord has an
organized body through whom He will work. ... When anyone is drawing apart from
the organized body of God's commandment-keeping people, when he begins to weigh
the church in his human scales and begins to pronounce judgment against them,
then you may know that God is not leading him. He is on the wrong track."
(Selected Messages, Vol. 3, pp. 17, 18.)
"But we have never had a message that the Lord
would disorganize the church. We have never had the prophecy concerning Babylon
applied to the Seventh-day Adventist church, or been informed that the 'loud
cry' consisted in calling God's people to come out of her; for this is not
God's plan concerning Israel. ... Now can we expect that a message would be
true that would designate as Babylon the people for whom God has done so much?
Hell would triumph should such a message be received, and the world would be
strengthened in iniquity. All the reproaches which Satan has cast upon the
character of God, would appear as truth, and the conclusion would be made that
God has no chosen or organized church in the world. Oh, what a triumph would
this be to Satan and his confederacy of evil!" (Advent Review and Sabbath
Herald, Oct. 3, 1893.)
These statements are much too clear to be
misunderstood. Although the visible church is in crisis, the solution is not in
applying the message for Babylon to it. If we decide that the church is Babylon
or has passed the line of its probationary time, then our only message is
"Come out of her." If we decide that the church is Laodicea, then our
only message is "Repent." Our message will be determined by our view
of the church.
Although God's visible church is not functioning as He
designed that it should, and although there is much disobedience-both
individually and corporately-in God's church, this is the time to look back to
Moses and rebellious Israel. "In the example of Moses pleading for the
children of Israel, is represented the position that we should take in regard
to the people of God, however erring, or weak, or defective they may be."
(Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Oct. 3, 1893.)
In pleading for God's people, we will be following in
the hallowed line of Jeremiah, Daniel, Jesus, and Ellen White. May God help us
to have the shepherd's heart, seeking to heal and restore while the door of
probation for the church is still open.
[RB2]MR
No. 1580 - Admonitions for a Wayward Minister
(Written
September 6, 1886, from Basel, Switzerland, to G. I. Butler. A large portion of
the
letter is phrased as if it
were being addressed directly to J. H Waggoner, the subject of the
letter.)
I am
troubled in regard to Elder [J. H.] Waggoner. He writes me nothing, and I feel
deeply
pained on his account. It
seems sometimes to me that the Lord is testing us to see whether we
will deal faithfully in regard
to sin in one of our honored men. The time is close at hand when
the General Conference will
have to decide the point, whether or not to renew his credentials.
{21MR 378.1}
If the
Conference does this, they will be saying virtually, "We have confidence
in you as a
man whom God recognizes as His
messenger; one to whom He has entrusted the sacred
responsibilities of caring for
the sheep of the Lord's pasture; one who will be in all things a
faithful shepherd, a
representative of Christ." But can we do this? Have we not seen the
workings of an unsanctified
heart? {21MR 378.2}
The
persistency in Elder Waggoner to accept and claim Mrs. Chittenden as his--what
shall I
call it--his affinity? What is
this? Who can name it? Is Elder Waggoner one who has hated the
light God has given him,
showing that his preferences for Mrs. Chittenden's
society and his
intimacy with her, was sinful
as in the light of the Word of God? Or did he accept the message
and act upon it? {21MR 378.3}
Notwithstanding, I went to Elder Waggoner with the testimony given me of
God, yet he did
not reform. His course has
said, "I will do as I please in the matter; there is no sin in it."
He
promised before God what he
would do, but he broke his promise, made to Brother C. H.
Jones, W. C. White, and myself, and his feelings did
not decidedly change; but he seemed to act
like a man bewitched, under
the spell of the devil, who had no power over his own inclinations.
Notwithstanding all the light given, he has evidenced
no real conviction or sense of sin, no
repentance, no reformation.
Hearts have ached sorely over this state of things, but they had no
power to change his heart or
his purposes. {21MR 378.4}
Now, we
should be very grateful for the help of Elder Waggoner in England and in
Switzerland, but what can we decide upon? We must have
evidence that he is clear before God.
We do not want to make a light matter of sin, and say
to the sinner, "It shall be well with thee."
We do not want to connect Elder Waggoner
-379-
with the work here unless he
has a connection with God. We do not want to have the drawback
that would come by connecting
a man with the work who has a blot on his garments. We
cannot pass lightly over this
matter. {21MR 378.5}
The plague
of sin is upon Elder Waggoner, and pain and sorrow are upon the souls of all
who are aware of this chapter
in his experience. Christ is dishonored. A man blessed with
superior light and knowledge,
endowed with great capacity for good, that he may by a life of
obedience and fidelity to God
become equal with angels, [and] his life measure with the life of
God, has perverted his God-given power to administer to
lust, coveting the wife of another.
God finds Elder Waggoner setting at naught the most
costly lessons of experience, violating the
most solemn admonitions of
God, that he may continue in sin. {21MR 379.1}
I have hoped
and prayed that he would restore reason to its right throne and break the
fetters
that for years Satan has been
weaving about him, soul and body, and that the clouds that have
shadowed his pathway be
removed and Christ come to his soul to revive and bless it. Christ will
lift the heavy burden from
weary shoulders, and give rest and peace to those who will wear His
yoke and lift His burdens.
{21MR 379.2}
I will say,
Elder Waggoner, What can be the character of your experience when in the face
of many warnings and reproofs
you continue to pursue a course condemned of God? Can you
think well of yourself? Just
think of Jesus, crowned with thorns and nailed to the cross for our
sins, and let it humble--yes,
let it break--your heart. Look at the meekness of Christ, His
loveliness, and then bow in
the dust with shame and humiliation. {21MR 379.3}
Will you
please think what you would do in case one of our leading men be found in the
position you are in? Could
you, without any greater evidence on his part of the sense of his sin
than you have given, advise
that he have credentials as one of pure and holy purposes before
God? Cannot you see you are placing your fellow
laborers in a very unpleasant and unenviable
position? Will they venture to
become responsible for your character and your influence in the
future in the work and cause
of God? {21MR 379.4}
Your case
has been shown me to be worse than that of Elder Cornell, because you had
greater light, capacity, and
influence; and his course is a beacon to warn you off from following
in his steps. Elder Cornell's
credentials were taken away from him; he is a deeply repenting
man, humbled in the dust.
{21MR 379.5}
Supposing
David should, after being reproved by Nathan, have repeated the same offense,
would the Lord then have had
compassion
-380-
upon him? But he repented
bitterly; he declared his transgression was ever before him. Hear his
humiliating confession, and
listen to his despairing cries. {21MR 379.6}
We must as a
people arouse and cleanse the camp of Israel. Licentiousness, unlawful
intimacy, and unholy practices
are coming in among us in a large degree; and ministers who
are handling sacred things are
guilty of sin in this respect. They are coveting their neighbors'
wives, and the seventh
commandment is broken. We are in danger of becoming a sister to fallen
Babylon, of allowing our churches to become corrupted,
and filled with every foul spirit, a cage
for every unclean and hateful
bird; and will we be clear unless we make decided movements to
cure the existing evil? {21MR
380.1}
Will you
have others follow your example? Will you wish them to pass over the ground you
have traveled, and feel that
they have done no great wrong? Without repentance and
conversion, you are a ruined
man. {21MR 380.2}
I hear you
[Elder Waggoner] are taking treatment at the sanitarium, acting as chaplain,
speaking in the Tabernacle.
Now, this does not look right for you to take such positions, until
you have done all in your
power to correct past evils. {21MR 380.3}
I have felt,
for your sake, restrained from opening the matter of Mrs. Chittenden's
infidelity
to her husband, but I fear I
have neglected my duty. If we had dealt with this matter as if it had
been the case of a lay member
of the church, I believe God would have then sent you
repentance that needed not to
be repented of. {21MR 380.4}
Our pity,
our love, to save you from reproach, has hurt you. My heart is so sad and
agonized
at times for you, I can only
weep. I say, Must he be lost? Must he after suffering for the truth's
sake, after standing in its
defense until he is old and gray-headed, become an idolater, as did
Solomon? Will he, for the love of a woman, trample down
the law of God and look about him
as much as to say, I do no
sin; I am all right? {21MR 380.5}
Will we be
clear to let such things be concealed and sins hidden, with no real evidence of
repentance or reform? Your
leaving California does not give you a new heart. You are out of
sight of the infatuating
influence of your "adorable charmer," but this does not change the
affections or impulses of the
heart. Elder Himes might have finished his course with joy had it
not been for sensual
practices, but he was led away of his own lusts and enticed. The days and
years which might have been his
very best were his worst. {21MR 380.6}
We see in
the character of Solomon intellectual greatness combined with moral
degradation.
He might have gone forward from strength to strength,
but instead of this he went backward
from weakness
-381-
to weakness. After a life of
promise, his history was one of deterioration. {21MR 380.7}
My Brother,
my heart yearns toward you for Christ's sake. You have been attempting what
other ministers have
attempted--to harmonize light with darkness, Christ with Belial, purity
with impurity, good with evil.
The result will be moral ruin unless you can be aroused to see
that you are standing upon the
very brink of the precipice. There are many such cases that I
have to write about. {21MR
381.1}
It alarms me
to see how the sin of licentiousness is coming in upon us. I felt this when I
wrote to Elder Butler upon
this point at the last General Conference, begging him to do all that
he could to fence against what
was coming in upon us. We must elevate the standard and build
up barriers about the soul so
that nothing shall mar its simplicity and purity, and thus defile the
religious character. God has
given men intellect, and let every soul beware how this great gift is
prostituted to the soul's
eternal ruin. {21MR 381.2}
There is no
more hope of you than of any common sinner, nor as much, unless you greatly
humble your soul before God,
repent, and are converted. Take the first steps in the way to
life--repentance, faith, and
baptism. You have tampered with the divine safeguards of your
peace. If you refuse to listen
to the voice of reproof, if you choose your own course, if you will
not allow the grace of Christ
to transform you, your guilt will be as much greater than that of
the common sinner as your
advantages of light and influence have been greater. {21MR
381.3}
Great care
should be exercised in companionship and friendship lest the soul be imperiled,
lest there be even an appearance
of evil which in the eyes of others would lower the standard of
religious principle and sap
the foundation of religious belief. {21MR 381.4}
How many,
even in the ranks of Sabbathkeepers, are forming unsanctified connections. Men
who have wives and women who
have husbands are showing affection and giving undue
attention to each other
[persons of the opposite sex]. How many men of promise there are in our
ranks who no longer have pure
faith and holy trust in God because they have betrayed sacred
trusts. Noble aspirations are
quenched. Their steps are retrograding because they covet another
man's wife or are unduly
familiar with unmarried women. Their frivolous conduct leads them
to break the seventh
commandment. {21MR 381.5}
Of Solomon
the inspired record says, "His wives turned away his heart after other
gods: and
his heart was not perfect with
the Lord his God" [1 Kings 11:4]. {21MR 381.6}
This is no
theme to be treated with a smile. The heart that loves Jesus will not desire
the
unlawful affections
-382-
of another. Every want is
supplied in Christ. This superficial affection is of the same character
as that exalted and enjoyment
which Satan promised Eve. It is coveting that which God has
forbidden. {21MR 381.7}
When it is
too late, hundreds can warn others not to venture upon the precipice.
Intellect,
position, wealth can never,
never take the place of moral qualities. The Lord esteems clean
hands, a pure heart, and
noble, earnest devotion to God and the truth above the golden wedge
of Ophir.
An evil influence has a perpetuating power. I wish I could set this matter
before God's
commandment-keeping people
just as it has been shown me. Let the sad memory of Solomon's
apostasy warn every soul to
shun the same precipice. His weakness and sin are handed down
from generation to generation.
{21MR 382.1}
The greatest
king that ever wielded a scepter, of whom it had been said that he was the
beloved of God, through
misplaced affection became contaminated and was miserably forsaken
of his God. The mightiest
ruler of the earth had failed to rule his own passions. Solomon may
have been saved "as by
fire," yet his repentance could not efface those high places, nor
demolish those stones, which
remained as evidence of his crimes. He dishonored God, choosing
rather to be controlled by
lust than to be a partaker of the divine nature. {21MR 382.2}
What a
legacy Solomon's life has committed to those who would use his example to cover
their own base actions! We
must either transmit a heritage of good or evil. Shall our lives and
our example be a blessing or a
curse? Shall people look at our graves and say, He ruined me,
or, He saved me? {21MR 382.3}
To the youth
we need to give definite, oft-repeated warnings to bring their gifts early to
God
as consecrated offerings. Had
Solomon retained the heavenly gift of wisdom--God's special
endowment--had he with his
ardent temperament been guided aright, his life would have been
illustrious to its very close.
But after a life of greatness and power, he fell because of
uncontrolled passion. Had he
continued to add virtue to his faith and his rich endowments, he
would have stood forth a
grand, noble cedar of Lebanon. But he surrendered to passion; "And
when lust hath conceived, it
bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death"
[James 1:15]. {21MR 382.4}
The lesson
to be learned from the life of Solomon has a special moral bearing upon the
life
of the aged, of those who are
no longer climbing the mountain but are descending and facing
the western sun. We expect to
see defects in the character of youth who are not controlled by
love and faith in Jesus
Christ. We see youth wavering between right and wrong,
-383-
vacillating between fixed
principle and the almost overpowering current of evil that is bearing
them off their feet to ruin.
But of those of mature age, we expect better things. We look for the
character to be established,
for principles to be rooted, and they to be beyond the danger of
pollution. But the case of
Solomon is before us as a beacon of warning. When thou, aged
pilgrim, who hast fought the
battles of life, thinkest that thou standest, take
heed lest thou fall.
{21MR 382.5}
How, in
Solomon's case, was weak, vacillating character--naturally bold, firm, and
determined--shaken like a reed
in the wind under the tempter's power! How has an old, gnarled
cedar of Lebanon, a sturdy oak
of Bashan, bent before the blast of temptation! What a lesson
for all who desire to save
their souls to watch unto prayer continually. What a warning to keep
the grace of Christ ever in
their heart, to battle with inward corruptions and outward
temptations. {21MR 383.1}
Brethren, we
must have genuine faith which is the gold tried in the fire. We must cherish
that faith which works by love
and purifies the soul. Unless our faith has a purifying influence,
it is worthless. Such a faith
leads the soul to God and expands the intellect while it purifies,
ennobles, and sanctifies. Let
those in youth, those in mature age, and the aged, consider that
their cases are soon to pass
in review before God. What will be the record that they shall meet?
{21MR 383.2}
At one time
in Battle Creek, the scenes of the judgment were presented before me. The
books were opened, and all,
both old and young who claimed to be keeping the commandments
of God were gathered about the
throne. In the books were written the thoughts, the words, the
actions of those who had
received much light and enjoyed many opportunities, and yet their
names were not clear, their
life record was blotted and blurred. Great numbers were weighed in
the balances and found wanting
who knew for just what sins they were condemned. It was
because of the lack of a
virtuous character. {21MR 383.3}
Base animal
passions had controlled them. Licentiousness and lust had been carefully
cloaked from human eyes, but
the Lord saw it, and their names were blotted out of the Book of
Life. Many of these men claimed to be teachers of the
truth, but their labor was not marked
with holy endeavor. They had
not confidence and boldness toward God. They could not lift up
holy hands without wrath and
doubting. And the words were pronounced to these sin-polluted
souls, "Depart from Me,
ye workers of iniquity." Now is the time to obtain the white robe of
character. Now is the time to
confess and forsake sin and come to God
-384-
with contrition of soul, that
your sins may be blotted out and your names retained in the Lamb's
Book of Life. {21MR 383.4}
We must do
something to stop this terrible tide of moral impurity. Self-abuse stands as
the
most degrading sin, polluting the
whole character of the man. Unless those who are practicing
this vice break off their sin
and repent before God, they will find no place in the city of God.
There entereth into that city
nothing that defileth or maketh a lie. Such characters are living a
lie continually. We are living
in an age when iniquity abounds, and the special work of God's
delegated servants must be to
suppress this iniquity and to bring in righteousness. But those
who claim to be the Lord's
delegated ministers, and yet corrupt their own ways before Him, are
guilty of great crime. {21MR
384.1}
"And He
shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and
Satan
standing at his right hand to
resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee O
Satan; even the Lord that hast chosen Jerusalem rebuke
thee: is not this a branch plucked out of
the fire? Now Joshua was
clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel" [Zech.
3:1-3]. Joshua here represents the people of God; and
Satan pointing to their filthy garments
claims them as his property
over which he has a right to exercise his cruel power. But these
very ones have improved the
hours of probation to confess their sins with contrition of soul and
put them away, and Jesus has
written pardon against their names. {21MR 384.2}
Those who
have not ceased to sin and who have not repented and sought pardon for their
transgressions are not
represented in this company; for this company vex their souls over the
corruptions and iniquity
abounding around them, and God will recognize those who are sighing
and crying because of the
abominations done in the land. They were not mixed up in these
abominations. They had not
corrupted their ways before God, but had washed their robes of
character and had made them
white in the blood of the Lamb. Satan pointed to their sins which
had not yet been blotted out,
and which he had tempted them to commit, and then reviled them
as being sinners clad with
filthy garments. But Jesus changes their appearance. {21MR 384.3}
He says,
"Take away the filthy garments from him. Behold, I have caused thine
iniquity to
pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair
mitre upon his head. So they
set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments.
And the angel of the Lord stood by. And the angel of
the Lord protested unto Joshua saying,
Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If thou wilt walk in My
ways, and if thou wilt keep My charge,
then thou shalt also judge My
house, and
-385-
shall also keep My courts, and
I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by" [Zech.
3:4-7]. {21MR 384.4}
After the
filthy garments have been removed, the subject changes, showing that this has
its
application in the future. If
the people of God will walk in the ways of the Lord and keep His
charge, which is the ten
commandments, then the promise is that they shall judge His house and
have places to walk among the
angels. {21MR 385.1}
Now the
question is, Will those who profess the truth comply with the conditions? Will
the
characters of those who
profess to believe the truth correspond with its sacredness? Satan's
special efforts are now
directed toward the people who have great light. He would lead them to
become earthly and sensual.
There are men who minister in sacred things whose hearts are
defiled with impure thoughts and
unholy desires. Married men who have children are not
satisfied. They place
themselves where they invite temptation. They take liberties which should
only be taken with their
lawful wives. Thus they fall under the rebuke of God, and in the books
of heaven "Adultery"
is written opposite their names. {21MR 385.2}
There should
be no approach to danger. If the thoughts were where they should be, if they
were stayed upon God, and the
meditations of the soul were upon the truth and the precious
promises of God and the
heavenly reward that awaits the faithful, they would be guarded
against Satan's temptations.
But, by many, vile thoughts are entertained almost constantly.
They are carried into the house of God and even into
the sacred desk. {21MR 385.3}
I tell you
the truth, Elder Butler, that unless there is a cleansing of the soul temple on
the
part of many who claim to
believe and to preach the truth, God's judgments, long deferred, will
come. These debasing sins have
not been handled with firmness and decision. There is
corruption in the soul, and,
unless it is cleansed by the blood of Christ, there will be apostasies
among us that will startle
you. {21MR 385.4}
I ask myself
the question, "How is it possible for men who are opening the Scriptures
to
others--men who have abundance
of light, men who have good ability, men who are living as in
the face of the judgment, upon
the very borders of the eternal world--to give their thoughts and
bodies to unholy
practices?" Well may the words of the apostle be repeated with emphasis:
"Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your
hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and
mourn, and weep: let your
laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble
yourselves in the sight of the
Lord, and He will lift you up" [James 4:8-10]. "Blessed is the man
that endureth
temptation: for when he is
-386-
tried, he shall receive the
crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God:
[Some have argued thus, and
thought that for certain
reasons they have of their own, God would have them take the course
they did.] for
God cannot be tempted of evil, neither tempteth He
any man: but every man is
tempted, when he is drawn away
of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it
bringeth forth sin: and sin,
when it is finished, bringeth forth death" [James 1:12-15]. {21MR
385.5}
The work of
overcoming must be done here in this life. By sincere repentance and forsaking
of every sin, pardon will be
written against your names. The thoughts will be pure if the heart is
pure. If the fountain is
corrupt, the stream will be corrupt. Shall men who are conversant with
the Scriptures and who are
standing in vindication of the fourth commandment be charged in
the books of heaven with
transgressing the seventh? Shall Satan be given occasion to taunt the
angels of God with the filthy
characters of those who claim to be Christians? Will they make
Jesus ashamed to call them brethren? {21MR 386.1}
I address
you who shall have this epistle brought before you, who are leaders, who may be
termed princes among the
people, "Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord" [Isa.
52:11].
Humble your souls before God. Jesus is in the
sanctuary. We are in the great day of atonement,
and if the investigative
judgment has not already commenced for the living, it will soon begin,
and to how many are the words
of the true witness applicable: "I know thy works, that thou
hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the
things which remain
that are ready to die: for I
have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore
how thou hast received and
heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I
will come on thee as a thief,
and thou shalt not know what hour I shall come upon thee" [Rev.
3:1-3.] {21MR 386.2}
The cases of
all will be brought up in the judgment, and if their sins are not confessed
their
names will then be blotted
from the book of life, and their lot will be with the adulterers and the
fornicators, and deceivers,
and those who love and make a lie. "Thou hast a few names even in
Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they
shall walk with Me in white: for they
are worthy. He that
overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot
out his name out of the book
of life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before
His angels" [Rev. 3:4, 5]. {21MR 386.3}
I am alarmed
for our ministers who are hardening their consciences
-387-
by continuing a course of sin.
I fear that they will continue to fall under temptation until the
word shall go forth: "He
that is holy let him be holy still, and he that is filthy let him be filthy
still." I tell you that
there must be a thorough revival among us. There must be a converted
ministry. There must be
confessions, repentance, and conversions. {21MR 386.4}
Many who are
preaching the Word need the transforming grace of Christ in their hearts.
They should let nothing stand in the way of their
making thorough work before it shall be
forever too late. Christ is
coming. His judgments are abroad in the earth. And that God who is
ever present, who was a silent
witness to the godless, sacrilegious feast of Belshazzar, whose
hand traced the characters
upon the wall, is present where you think no eye seeth. {21MR
387.1}
Had you,
Elder Waggoner, an elder of the church, looked up, you would have seen yourself
a spectacle to God and to the
pure angels who veil their faces and turn away from your
pollution of soul and body. My
words seem tame as I pen them when I think of the wonderful
truths we profess and the
great light that shines upon us from the Word of God. The Judge of
all the earth is standing
before the door, and every case must pass in solemn review before Him.
I inquire, How can anyone with this light shining upon
them dare in thought or word to deny
the Lord God who hath bought
them? Make haste, my brother, to cleanse your hands. Jesus is
still pleading as your
Intercessor. Commence the work of forsaking your sins without delay. Do
not rest till you find pardon,
for no soul can enter the paradise of God who has a single spot or
stain in his character. Make
thorough work for eternity.--Letter 51, 1886.
Ellen G. White Estate
Silver Spring, Maryland
April 18, 1991. Entire Letter. {21MR 387.2}
[RB3]http://adventistreview.org/2003-1543/story4.html
Due to pre-marital classes and strict regard for
marriage being a sacrament, Catholics have
America's lowest divorce rate:
http://www.adventistreview.org/2000-1547/story1-1.html
So Mother Babylon has a lower divorce percentage rate
among its members than its daughters.
Do we now know why Ellen White said that SDA's are
worse than Babylon?
"God's professed people are selfish and
self-caring....They are idolaters, and are worse, in the
sight of God, than the
heathen, graven-image worshipers who have had no knowledge of a
better way." Testimonies,
vol. 2, 441-442.
The following quote is taken from Adventist Review:
http://www.adventistreview.org/2000-1547/story1.html
[RB4] "They
that forsake the law praise the wicked.' Proverbs 28:4. When those who are
uniting with the world, yet
claiming great purity, plead for union with those who have ever
been the opposers of the cause
of truth, we should fear and shun them as decidedly as did
Nehemiah. Such counsel is prompted by the enemy of all
good. It is the speech of timeservers,
and should be resisted as
resolutely today as them. Whatever influence would tend to unsettle
the faith of God's people in
His guiding power, should be steadfastly withstood." E.G. White,
Prophets and Kings, p. 661.
I don't know of any greater praise of the wicked than
to give the pope a gold medallion. The
church leaders did that.
I don't know of any greater praise of the wicked than
to hire a graduate of the Jesuit Gregorian
University in Rome and employ him to teach theology at
Andrews University.
I don't know of any greater praise of the wicked than
for the pope to give that graduate of a
Jesuit University a gold medallion and give his imprimatur
to his book, when that Jesuit
graduate professes to be a
Seventh-day Adventist.
I don't know of any greater praise of the wicked than
to invite high placed Catholic leaders to
speak at the General
Conference Sessions, which are supposed to be the voice of God to the
church.
I don't know of any greater praise of the wicked,
fallen Babylon, than to join their Associations,
Councils and Confederacies in violation of God's
strictly forbidden command in Isaiah 8:9-13.
I don't know of any greater act in praising the wicked,
fallen Churches, which Ellen White said
cannot be distinguished from
the world (EW 173), than to violate the first and second angel's
messages by joining Babylon
and giving it large sums of money annually.
I don't know of any greater praise of the wicked than
to finance Babylon's errant doctrines.
The reason I do not pray for individuals who have
knowingly, willfully violated the midnight
Cry and the first and second angel's messages is as
follows.
"While
praying at the family altar, the Holy Ghost fell on me, and I seemed to be
rising higher
and higher, far above the dark
world. I turned to look for the Advent people in the world, but
could not find them--when a
voice said to me, 'Look again, and look a little higher.' At this I
raised my eyes and saw a
straight and narrow path cast up high above the world. On this path
the Advent people were
traveling to the City, which was at the farther end of the path. They had
a bright light set up behind
them at the first end of the path, which an angel told me was the
Midnight Cry. This light shone all along the path, and
gave light for their feet so they might not
stumble. And if they kept
their eyes fixed on Jesus, who was just before them, leading them to
the City, they were safe. But
soon some grew weary, and they said the City was a great way of,
and they expected to have
entered it before. Then Jesus would encourage them by raising his
glorious right arm, and from
his arm came a glorious light which waved over the Advent band,
and they shouted Hallelujah!
Others rashly denied the light behind them, and said that it was
not God that had led them out
so far. The light behind them went out leaving their feet in
perfect darkness, and they
stumbled and got their eyes off the mark and lost sight of Jesus, and
fell off the path down in the
dark and wicked world below. It was just as impossible for them to
get on the path again and go
to the City, as all the wicked world which God had rejected. They
fell all the way along the
path one after another, until we heard the voice of God like many
waters, which gave us the day
and hour of Jesus' coming....
By this time the 144,000 were all sealed and perfectly
united. On their foreheads was written,
God, New Jerusalem, and a glorious Star containing
Jesus' new name." E.G. White, Word to
the Little Flock, p. 14.
[RB5] "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 tough he
needed any thing' (Acts 17:25). E. G.
White, The Upward Look, 131.
[RB6]"One
thing it is certain is soon to be realized, the great apostasy, which is
developing
and increasing and waxing
stronger, and will continue to do so until the Lord shall descend
from heaven with a shout. We
are to hold fast the first principles of our denominated faith, and
go forward from strength to
increased faith. Ever we are to keep the faith that has been
substantiated by the Holy
Spirit of God from the earlier events of our experience until the
present time. We need now
larger breadth, and deeper, more earnest, unwavering faith in the
leadings of the Holy Spirit.
If we needed the manifest proof of the Holy Spirit's power to
confirm truth in the
beginning, after the passing of the time, we need to-day all the evidence in
the confirmation of the truth,
when souls are departing from the faith and giving heed to
seducing spirits and doctrines
of devils. There must not be any languishing of soul now." (E.G.
White, Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 7, p. 57).
[RB3]http://adventistreview.org/2003-1543/story4.html
Due to pre-marital classes and
strict regard for marriage being a sacrament, Catholics have America's lowest
divorce rate:
http://www.adventistreview.org/2000-1547/story1-1.html
So Mother Babylon has a
lower divorce percentage rate among its members than its daughters. Do we now
know why Ellen White said that SDA's are worse than Babylon?
"God's professed
people are selfish and self-caring....They are idolaters, and are worse, in the
sight of God, than the heathen, graven-image worshipers who have had no
knowledge of a better way." Testimonies, vol. 2, 441-442.
The following quote is
taken from Adventist Review:
http://www.adventistreview.org/2000-1547/story1.html
[RB4] "They that
forsake the law praise the wicked.' Proverbs 28:4. When those who are uniting
with the world, yet claiming great purity, plead for union with those who have
ever been the opposers of the cause of truth, we should fear and shun them as
decidedly as did Nehemiah. Such counsel is prompted by the enemy of all good.
It is the speech of timeservers, and should be resisted as resolutely today as
them. Whatever influence would tend to unsettle the faith of God's people in
His guiding power, should be steadfastly withstood." E.G. White, Prophets
and Kings, p. 661.
The reason I
do not pray for individuals who have knowingly, willfully violated the midnight
Cry and the first and second angel's messages is as follows.
"While
praying at the family altar, the Holy Ghost fell on me, and I seemed to be
rising higher and higher, far above the dark world. I turned to look for the
Advent people in the world, but could not find them--when a voice said to me,
'Look again, and look a little higher.' At this I raised my eyes and saw a
straight and narrow path cast up high above the world. On this path the Advent
people were traveling to the City, which was at the farther end of the path.
They had a bright light set up behind them at the first end of the path, which
an angel told me was the Midnight Cry. This light shone all along the path, and
gave light for their feet so they might not stumble. And if they kept their
eyes fixed on Jesus, who was just before them, leading them to the City, they
were safe. But soon some grew weary, and they said the City was a great way of,
and they expected to have entered it before. Then Jesus would encourage them by
raising his glorious right arm, and from his arm came a glorious light which
waved over the Advent band, and they shouted Hallelujah! Others rashly denied
the light behind them, and said that it was not God that had led them out so
far. The light behind them went out leaving their feet in perfect darkness, and
they stumbled and got their eyes off the mark and lost sight of Jesus, and fell
off the path down in the dark and wicked world below. It was just as impossible for them to get on the path again and
go to the City, as all the wicked world which God had rejected. They fell all
the way along the path one after another, until we heard the voice of God like
many waters, which gave us the day and hour of Jesus' coming....
By this time
the 144,000 were all sealed and perfectly united. On their foreheads was
written, God, New Jerusalem, and a glorious Star containing Jesus' new
name." E.G. White, Word to the Little Flock, p. 14.
[RB5] "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
God
is not 'worshipped with men's hands, as tough he needed any thing' (Acts
17:25). E. G. White, The Upward Look, 131.
[RB6]"One thing it is certain is soon to be realized, the great apostasy, which is developing and increasing and waxing stronger, and will continue to do so until the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout. We are to hold fast the first principles of our denominated faith, and go forward from strength to increased faith. Ever we are to keep the faith that has been substantiated by the Holy Spirit of God from the earlier events of our experience until the present time. We need now larger breadth, and deeper, more earnest, unwavering faith in the leadings of the Holy Spirit. If we needed the manifest proof of the Holy Spirit's power to confirm truth in the beginning, after the passing of the time, we need to-day all the evidence in the confirmation of the truth, when souls are departing from the faith and giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. There must not be any languishing of soul now." (E.G. White, Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 7, p. 57).