A Review of Amazing Fact's Pocket Book by Pastor Dennis Priebe: The Church Is it Babylon?

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Dear Reader,

 

Amazing facts has produced a pocket book by Pastor Dennis Priebe, entitled The Church, is it Babylon?  It will prove insightful to investigate all the issues overlooked by Elder Priebe in his article.  A watchman should address all pertinent factors involved in such a serious consideration and it will be seen that Priebe’s considerations on the subject are most exclusively “selected” from Scripture and Ellen White.

 

I will intersperse other pertinent factors below paragraphs by Priebe  within the article in this color.  Priebe’s remarks will be in this color.  Now, Priebe’s article:

 

 

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.

 

Ron’s Commentary:  Sadly, Elder Priebe is remiss in mentioning only “selected” issues involved in the 1970s and 1980s.  There are most serious issues dating back to the 1930s and the 1950s, that involve the Omega of Apostasy committed by SDA church leaders.  Why would Priebe choose to omit those issues?  A bit further into this review it will become all too apparent why Priebe does not deal with such issues.  By Priebe’s reckonings, the SDA church should not have come out of the other churches in 1844, or Rome during the Reformation, because he avoids the issues of harlotry.

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’s Commentary:  The real issue is whether or not the professing SDA church has formed a New Movement—New Organization as prophesied by Ellen G. White, in Selected Messages, Bk. 1, 204, 205, which is tied in to direct context with the Omega of Apostasy of the church.  Here is what Ellen White said about the Omega of Apostasy:

 

 "The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result? The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church, would be discarded. Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. A NEW ORGANIZATION would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced. The founders of this system would go into the cities, and do a wonderful work. The Sabbath of course, would be lightly regarded, as also the God who created it. Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the NEW MOVEMENT. The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice, but God being removed, they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is worthless. Their foundation would be built on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure.

WHO HAS AUTHORITY TO BEGIN SUCH A [NEW] MOVEMENT? We have our Bibles. We have our experience, attested to by the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit. We have a truth that admits of no compromise. Shall we not repudiate everything that is not in harmony with this truth?" E.G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 1, 204-205.

 

Let’s review the major points of the above statement:

 

·       Satan has sought to BRING IN the supposition that a great reformation was to take place AMONG Seventh-day Adventists.

·       The reformation would consist in giving up pillar doctrines and engaging in a process of reorganization.

·       The principles of truth—the three angel’s messages would be discarded.

·       The fundamental principles that had sustained the work for the previous 50 years would be accounted as error.

·       A New Organization would be established.

·       Books of a New Order would be written to sanction the changes.

·       A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced.

·       The founders of the system (celebration movement) would go into the cities and do a a wonderful work [wonderful by way of numbers proselyted].

·       The Sabbath would be lightly regarded AS WOULD THE GOD WHO CREATED IT.

·       Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the NEW MOVEMENT.

·       God would be removed.

·       Dependence placed on human power.

·       Their foundation would be built on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure.

·       WHO HAS AUTHORITY TO BEGIN SUCH A [NEW] MOVEMENT?

·       We have a truth that admits of no compromise.

·       Shall we not repudiate everything that is not in harmony with this truth?

 

Is it CERTAIN that the above apostasy would develop and How long will the Omega apostasy last?

 

 "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).

 

“The omega will follow, and will be received by those who are not willing to heed the warning God has given.”  E.G. White, Selected Messages, Bk. 1, 200.

 

Evidence of the Path of Apostasy—the Fulfillment of All the Specifications of the Above Statement by Ellen White

 

1—Evidence that a great reformation was to take place:  First of all, the minority committee of Ellen White and Jones and Waggoner in 1901, voted that there should be no more General Conference President (King), but rather a 25 man committee.  That was voted in, but within three years, Arthur Daniels was elected as PRESIDENT.  So the reforms of 1901 were discarded by 1903.  The beginnings of a New Movement—a New Organization were then born.

 

2—In 1930, it was voted to accept worldly Accreditation Standards for all SDA educational institutions.  By this standard, Adventists must teach the curriculum of the world, and Ellen White said it would be better to close our schools than do that.  Satan could devise no better method for marrying the church to the world. 

 

3—Worldly Accreditation Standards led to the world’s system of intellectual philosophy being introduced whereby over 50% of the church no longer believes in the literal six-day creation week.

Man’s worldly philosophy has subverted the Word of God.  How did it come about?  SDA educators went to the world for its education and Accreditation and came back into SDA educational center and taught what the world taught them!  Neal C. Wilson, a past General Conference President said that creation took more than 10,000 years!  Is that how the New Movement “removed God.”  Do you think God felt removed when the church leaders began to teach contrary to His Word regarding the six-day creation week?  Is this a change in doctrine?  Is this indicative of a New Movement? 

 

4—As part of the “great reformation,” the central doctrine of the Catholic Church, the Trinity Doctrine was introduced to the SDA church in 1931.  The Omega of apostasy was to be involved with the personality and presence of Christ:

 

“It introduces that which is nought but speculation in regard to the personality of God and where His presence is.  No one on this earth has a right to speculate on this question.”  Selected Messages, Bk. 1, 202.

 

“The spiritualistic theories regarding the personality of God, followed to their logical conclusion, sweep away the whole Christian economy.”  Selected Messages, Bk. 1, 204.

 

It is a spiritualistic theory to say that the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, existed eternally with the Father and Son.  The third person came into being when the Son laid aside his life and soul Holy Spirit at His Incarnation as a bequeathed gift to man.  For more detail on the evils of the trinity doctrine, see the following link:  https://members.tripod.com/omega77/satantrinity1.htm

 

It is a spiritualistic theory to say that God spent over 10,000 years to create the world.  It is a spiritualistic theory to say that the Holy Spirit was a third person before the Incarnation, when Ellen White said that the Holy Spirit is the life and soul of Christ BEFORE the Incarnation, that was bequeathed to us as the greatest good crowning gift that heaven could bestow for overcoming and restoring man to the image of God.

Sabbath lightly regarded.  If one believes that God spent 10,000 years or more creating the world and then rested on the seventh-day after that period of time, what are the implications relative to Sabbath observance?

Another aspect of the supposed great reformation has been the adoption of Babylon’s celebration movement.  If that is not an example of a New Movement coming in “AMONG” Seventh-day Adventists, tell me about it!  That is the movement that would go into the cities and do a “wonderful” work, so described because it would garner numbers of “converts,” but they would not be converted, to wit:

"A new order of things has COME INTO the ministry. There is a desire to pattern after other churches and simplicity and humility are almost unknown. The young ministers seek to be original, and to introduce new ideas and new plans for labor. Some open revival meetings, and by this means call large numbers into the church. But when the excitement is over, where are the converted ones? Repentance and confession of sin are not seen. The sinner is entreated to believe in Christ and accept Him, without regard to his past life of sin and rebellion. The heart is not broken. There is no contrition of soul. The supposed converted ones have not fallen upon the Rock, Christ Jesus." E.G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 2, pp. 18, 19.

 

The above is also an example of Calvinism--believing one is chosen and destined to be saved without being truly converted without true repentance and confession of sin without regard to his past life of sin and rebellion without a broken on the Rock heart without contrition of soul. This is a form of Calvinism of saved by grace regardless of any proper choice (sanctification) on the part of the sinner (predestination).

  • Giving up pillar doctrines.-- Ellen White implies that every truth clusters around the Human Nature of Christ when she says that the human nature of Christ means EVERYTHING to us. The SDA Bible Commentary admits that every truth clusters around the human nature of Christ. Does that make this doctrine a pillar? One would certainly think so! Ellen White said Christ took the nature of Adam AFTER His fall. SDA leaders contradict Ellen White by saying that He took neither the nature of Adam after or before the fall. They have come up with a third option after the philosophy of man.
  • For years, circa 1957, Ministry Magazine, published by the SDA church and sent to ministers of other churches (eventually to over 450,000 of them), said flat out that Christ took the nature of Adam BEFORE the fall. This blatant contradiction of the Spirit of Prophecy gift to the church was never repented of. The serious implications of this major apostasy is that if Christ did not have our nature, then He was no EXAMPLE to us because we cannot overcome as He did because He did not have the fallen nature that we have. All Christ would have proven by taking Adam's nature BEFORE his fall is that Adam need not have sinned. That would not prove that we in the fallen nature can overcome and keep from sinning by Christ's empowerment when we partake of His Divine Nature.
  • Ecumenical involvement-- One of our main pillar doctrines is the three angel's messages. The second angel's message and the Midnight Cry of Matthew 25, called us out of the fallen churches to be a separate and peculiar people. Israel's decline into apostasy was initiated by its alliances with the heathen nations. We are strictly forbidden by God in Isaiah 8:9-20, to associate, take counsel, gird or confederate with those who work at cross purposes to God's law. The SDA church joins Babylon's Ministerial Associations, which are a localized arm of the World Council of Churches and National Councils of Churches, according to a Ph.D.. official at the Canadian Council of Churches. The SDA church is a MEMBER of the National Council of Churches in certain countries of the world where it could not operate "above ground" were it not a member. It is thus a member of the World Council of Churches, because that is how a church becomes a member of the World Council of Churches, by being a member of one or more National Councils of Churches. The SDA Church is a FULL MEMBER of the World Council of Churches in six different countries of the world. For this strictly forbidden practice, it will be "broken in pieces," Isaiah 8:9,10, and Ezekiel 9:2, (see marginal reference for "slaughter weapon," which is "a weapon of His breaking in pieces."
  • Another Gospel—The following link is to a presentation of the true gospel by Elder Priebe.  He describes how the Adventist Review teaches a false gospel, yet his tithe money supports the ministers who teach that false gospel: http://www.egntv.com/player/player-wm.php?Stream=egntv-priebe2

The true gospel is certainly fundamental to any church and the teaching of a false gospel is harlotry.  A harlot is a harlot is a harlot and God says that those who are united to a harlot become one with her:

1Cr 6:16 What? know ye not that he which is joined [by Membership] to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

1Cr 6:15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make [them] the members of an harlot? God forbid.

 

Books of a New Order—

 

Our very Fundamental of Beliefs book is a book of a New Order.  It says that the fallen churches of Babylon are used by God to get the gospel to the world. Is God that desperate that he must rely on fallen Babylon to get the true gospel out?  Does fallen Babylon give the Everlasting Gospel of Revelation 14?

There have been quite a few books after the New Order of George R. Knights books and those of Roy Adams—The Nature of Christ.  Both George and Roy have focused on the differences between our nature and that of Christ, when the real issue is that we can partake of His Divine Nature.  Now compare our situation with Christ’s:

·       As a human in our likeness He took the sins of the world upon Himself without employing His Divinity.

·       We do not have to take the sins of the world upon ourselves, and we can still partake of His Divine Nature for overcoming sin.   Who is at the advantage here!  We are!  Obviously!  But the books of a new order try to convince us that Christ had something  we cannot have by way of empowerment for overcoming sin.  That is satanic!

 

2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

 

SDA leaders are sent to forums to learn Eriksonian Hypnosis in books of a New Order.  They learn how to hypnotize their patron sheep into doing what they say.  Did Ellen White prophesy that SDA leaders would use hypnosis?

 

"The time has come where even in the church and in our institutions, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. But God will keep that which is committed to Him. Let us draw near to Him, that He may draw near to us. Let us bear a plain, clear testimony right to the point, that HYPNOTISM is being used by those who have departed from the faith and that we are not to link up with them. Through those who depart from the faith, the power of the enemy will be exercised to lead other astray." E.G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 3, pp. 411, 412.

 

 

It is obvious in the New Movement church today that one does not have to leave the church to depart from the faith!  The leaders have done a thorough job of proving that!  Here is a list of other books of a New Order:

 

MORE BOOKS OF A NEW ORDER

Spiritual Body Building - Ignatius would be proud of this one!

Connections - Babylon's book re-issued for Adventists.

Bruinsma - Champion of Rome Great Controversy, Chapter 35 VS. Reinder Bruinsma!

Glendale City Church Being Taught Error

Seventh-day Adventism - The Spirit Behind the Church: A Critique of the Jeremiah Films Video: Bob Pickle.

Rick Warren’s Book: The Purpose Driven Life The Book intended to Change your Thinking-- The Book some want to Indoctrinate you on. (also getting SDAs into celebrating Lent)

Replacing the Spirit of Prophecy A New Way to get rid of the Spirit of Prophecy. Also NSL: THE CRUCIAL COMING EVENT

Errors in Our Two Doctrinal Books QUESTIONS ON DOCTRINE – SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS BELIEVE - The most controversial book in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Questions on Doctrine has been reprinted. Therefore, it is urgent that we once again turn our attention to a dark day for our church, which began nearly fifty years ago in the spring of 1955.

Answers to Objections A scholarly reply to the "REVIEW" of the book "OUR AUTHORIZED BIBLE VINDICATED" by B. G. Wilkinson. One of the dark chapters of church history in the twentieth century! How a world renown SDA scholar was discredited and his work discounted publicly and when his irrefutable reply was presented, he was asked "Not to publish it"  while the attackers went right on presenting the refuted attack in SDA colleges and seminaries. You owe it to yourself to KNOW the facts!!

The Teachings of Morris Venden

The Venden Videos An Insidious New Attack is Being Prepaired

Learn the facts from two informative online books!

Special Links!- (not on this site) 1. UNRIGHTEOUSNESS EXPOSED!

                                                             2. UNITY BY COVER-UP!

  Bacchiocchi’s #98 – Christians Should be Ready to Kill

Sex Forever in Heaven: Bacchiocchi's New Theory

  Bacchiocchi’s #94 / Others Speak Up Feb. 2003 

Reply to Bacchiocchi’s #90-92 Attack

 Reply to Bacchiocchi’s # 86-89 Attacks

 The Teachings of Marvin Moore

 The Teachings of Jack Sequeira

 Sequeira - Analysis of Beyond Belief

 The John Carter Story

 'Adventism for a New Generation' 

 Grotheer’s Teaching on the Holy Spirit

 Reply to 'Three Responses to a Testimony'

 Schwisow Condemns the Reformers

 An Anglican Minister Speaks to Adventists

 Richard Wurmbrand and His Letter

The Fat Lady and the Kingdom

Wieland vs. Historic Adventism

Catholic Coercion of Adventist Books

Like the Frogs of Egypt 

Adventists on the Road Less Traveled

3 Angel's Messages 

Bob Spangler— “Marked”

Our New Doctrinal Book —A Comparative Study  Seventh Day-Adventists Believe -27 Fundamental Doctrines

1- Marvin Moore Explains the Future

2- Marvin Moore on Our Message to the World

3- 'Great Controversy' Explains the Future

 The Teachings of Vern Bates

The Teaching of Hyveth Williams 

Hyveth Williams: How to Have Sex with God - Feb. 2 2002

Adventist Nomads 

Nomad Removed from ABCs

The Teachings of Roger Morneau

6—The Principles of Truth Would be Discarded

What if I can show you the three angel’s messages trashed by a General Conference President—Neal C. Wilson?  Well, you might say, he is only ONE MAN in the church—ONE LEADER.  First let’s look at what he said under oath in a federal court in California:

"Although it is true that there was a period in the life of the Seventh-day Adventist Church when the denomination took a distinctly anti-Roman Catholic viewpoint...that attitude on the church's part was nothing more than a manifestation of widespread anti-popery among conservative Protestant denominations in the early part of this century and the latter part of the last, and which has now been consigned to the historical trash heap so far as the Seventh-day Adventist Church is concerned." (Neal C. Wilson, past president of the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference, Court Transcript of United States vs the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vs the Pacific Press Publishing Association and the General Conference, Reply Brief for Defendants, p 4, Civil Case #74-2025 CBR, presided over by Judge Charles B. Renfrew, U.S. District Court, San Francisco, California, 1974-1975.)

 

What you just read is a trashing of the first and second angel’s messages.  Is every leader and every member of the professing SDA church corporately responsible for Wilson’s betrayal of the most sacred trust committed to the church?  Notice:

 

 "The plain straight testimony must live in the church, or the curse of God will rest upon His people as surely as it did upon ancient Israel because of their sins. God holds His people, as a body [corporately], responsible for the sins existing in individuals among them." Testimonies, vol. 3, p. 269.

Also, I have read where many SDA preachers have determined that they will never give the three angel’s messages again because they are unpopular and prevent people from accepting their cheap grace gospel which amounts to the Doctrine of the Nicolaitans, only believe.

A System of Intellectual Philosophy Would be Introduced—You can sit in any Sabbath School class in the world and hear folk saying:  “Well I believe this and I believe that…” and in most cases their personal opinion theology is not in accordance with the Bible and/or the Spirit of Prophecy.  Every time one gives his/her personal opinion that does not agree with Scripture and Ellen White, they are imbibing intellectual philosophy and placing it above the inspired Word of God.

Also, all of the books of a New Order that I list are man’s intellectual philosophy!

Nothing Would be Allowed to Stand in the Way of the New Movement—This statement by Ellen White is profound in its implications, for it means:

·       No true Reformation will stand in the way of the New Movement.

·       Anyone or anything that gets in the way of the “STEAMROLLER” New Organization, will be crushed and/or otherwise be ruled or ruined!

·       This statement coincides with Ellen White’s statement that the Omega would develop and wax stronger until Jesus comes.

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.

Ron’s Commentary:  The above paragraph is a construct of a total straw-man by Priebe.  I was in the church until 1988, lived between all four coasts and in-between, and never knew a person who believed that the visible church militant should consist ONLY OF FAITHFUL, OBEDIENT BELIEVERS!  The simplest of Christians know that the tares dwell with the wheat.  But what Priebe fails to do is distinguish between tares, who are insincere believers, whose motives we would have to judge in order to remove them, and OPEN SINNERS who are thorns that choke out the wheat making it impossible for the wheat to mature.  Notice:

"The thorns of sin will grow in any soil they need no cultivation but grace must be carefully cultivated. The briers and thorns are always ready to spring up, and the work of purification must advance continually....

The thorns that have been cut off but not uprooted grow apace, until the soul [and/or the church] is overspread with them." E.G. White, Christ's Object Lessons, p. 50.

 

This is why we had to leave Rome and her fallen daughter churches, because of thorns—open sinners and apostate doctrines.  As tares dwell with the wheat until the close of probation, if the fallen churches were just tares, we would not have had to leave them.  They are open sinning thorns.

 

"The gospel seed often falls among thorns and noxious weeds and if there is not a moral transformation in the human heart, if old habits and practices and the former life of sin are not left behind, if the attributes of Satan are not expelled from the soul, [andor the church] the wheat crop will be choked. The thorns will come to be the crop, and will kill out the wheat." Christ's Object Lessons, p. 50.

 

"Thorns sprung up.--The thorns made it impossible for the wheat to mature (see Luke 8:14). In the same way secular interest prevent the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23) from reaching maturity. Religion is relegated to the subordinate position of being only one interest among many. For lack of cultivation it withers and eventually dies. That which the thorny-ground hearers lack is a moral transformation (COL 50). To them, justification is the sum and substance of religion, and they fail to realize that the Christian life consists essentially in the process known as sanctification--the process by which evil traits and tendencies are replaced by the perfect life-pattern of Jesus Christ." SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 405.

 

Thorns are OPEN SINNERS. Tares are not OPEN SINNERS. They are insincere types whose motives we would have to judge in order to expel or pull them up from the wheat. But the thorns are quite another issue, and when they spring up, it they are not either reformed or expelled from the church, it

is impossible for the wheat to mature. So what must the wheat do in order

to mature? Leave the thorns. This is precisely what Jesus and His disciples did, Desire of Ages, 232, as follows:

 

"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.

 

Priebe has smoke-screened the real issue with a straw-man lie.  The fact is that we are not to unite with open sinning tares—the corrupt:

 

 "It is impossible for you to unite with those who are corrupt, and still remain pure. (II Corinthians 6:14, 15 quoted). God and Christ and the heavenly host would have men know that if he unites with the corrupt he will become corrupt." E.G. White, Review and Herald, Vol. 4, p. 137.

 

"Christ has plainly taught that those who persist in open sin must be separated from the church..." E. G. White,  Christ's Object Lessons, 71.

 

So what should we do when the church leaders will NEVER AGAIN even shown the House of Jacob its sins, Testimonies, Vol. 5, 211?

 

What did Jesus do when the apostate church of His day would not remove open sinners and apostasy from the church borders?

 

 "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 Christ our example?

 

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.

 

Ron’s Commentary:  Notice the words “The also apply some of the identifying marks of Babylon to the present Adventist church structure.”  This is really a loaded statement insofar as Ellen White herself applies some of the identifying marks of Babylon—indeed THE very terminology appliedto Babylon—to the SDA church in the event it should do certain things which it has now done-- like:

 

"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. (Letter 51, 1886 to Elder Butler) Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, p. 193.

 

Has the licentiousness and unlawful intimacy been curbed in the church.  Has the camp been cleansed when it has the very same divorce percentage rate as the world?

 

"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.

 

Rev. 14:8.

"And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

 

"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 thus 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 also found in Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, 188.

 

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.

Ron’s Commentary:  It is a living fact that thousands are being influenced to form and/or join “home churches.”  That was the course of Christ and His disciples when they left the apostate church.

Act 13:1 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

Rom 16:5 Likewise [greet] the church that is in their house. Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.

Phm 1:2 And to [our] beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, 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,

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:

Ellen White on Home Churches

"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.

 

What would Ellen White instruct in the Omega of Apostasy which is far more comprehensive and pervasive than the Alpha, pervading the world church?

 

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?

 

"Brother and sister Haskell have rented a house in one of the best parts of the city, and have gathered round them a family of helpers, who day by day go out giving Bible readings, selling our papers, and doing medical missionary work. During the hour of worship, the workers relate their experiences. Bible studies are regularly conducted in the home, and THE YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG WOMEN connected with the mission receive a practical, thorough training in holding Bible readings and in selling our publications. The Lord has blessed their labors, a number have embraced the truth, and many others are deeply interested." Review and Herald, September 7, 1905, Evangelism, p. 108.

 

The above scenario is the prescribed mode for the worship service of every Seventh-day Adventist church in Testimonies, vol. 7, pp. Notice:

 

 "There are times when it is fitting for our ministers to give on the Sabbath, in our churches, short discourses, full of the life and love of Christ. But the church members are not to expect a sermon every Sabbath....Let the church members, during the week, act their part faithfully, and on the Sabbath relate their experience. The meeting will then be as meat in due season, bringing to all present new life and fresh vigor.. When God's people see the great need of working as Christ worked for the conversion of sinners, the testimonies borne by them in the Sabbath service will be filled with power. With joy the will tell of the precious experience they have gained in working for others." Testimonies, vol. 7, p. 19.

 

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.

Ron’s Commentary:  The church militant and the church triumphant are respectively the church visible and the church invisible.  Priebe constantly tries to draw the attention to the invisible wheat dwelling with the visible tares, but there is far more to the equation than the wheat and the tares once the leaders imbibe apostate, strictly forbidden acts.  If the wheat and tares are supposed to by joined together in the same church despite any harlot apostasy, then we should all return to Roman Catholicism.

"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.)

Ron’s Commentary:  First of all, the wrong course of some members within the church is one thing.  The wrong apostate course of the leadership of the church is quite another! Ellen White was certainly not saying, as Priebe implies, that no matter what errors are in the church, we are to support it and remain members of it.  This is a classic example of the blind leading the blind and the dumbness of the dumb-dog watchmen, Isaiah 56:10-12, and Testimonies, Vol. 5, 211.

Which faction was the church when Christ and His disciples separated from the apostate church of Israel?

"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.

 

 "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 succeedng 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.

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.

Ron’s Commentary:  Ellen White says that tares are insincere believers whose motives we would have to judge in order to uproot them from the church. That is quite a different matter from open sinning leaders and members who are involved in Omega Apostasy and the teaching of a false gospel.  If uniting with harlot apostates is “…still an important and necessary step,” then we should unite with Rome or any church of our choice.

Apparently Priebe is totally ignorant as to Ellen White’s counsel on thorns and open sinners.  If the church will not reform and/or expel such folk, the church becomes corrupt and there is one course left.  Priebe is either dishonest or blissfully ignorant of any difference between open sinning thorns and tares.  Tares are defined by Ellen White as insincere Christians; those whose motives we would have to judge in order to remove them from the church.  That is totally different than a church whose leadership is in open sin apostasy.

"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.)

Ron’s Commentary:  As stated earlier, in 1901, Ellen White said there should not be a General Conference President, but rather a committee of 25 men.  The church never obeyed that counsel.

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 Commentary:  In the early times of Israel’s experience, the apostates were killed.  Moses had 14,000 killed before he prayed for the rest.  Notice that in Jeremiah’s day, when Israel inhabited Shinar, that the true followers of God worshipped 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.

Why does Ellen White give the above example of the faithful during a time of Israel’s apostasy? That time is depicted in Jeremiah 11:9-15.  Read those verses and the answer to my question will all too apparent to anyone with discernment.

"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.)

Ron’s Commentary:  "But while we are required to be Christlike toward those who are our enemies, we must not, in order to have peace, cover up the faults of those we see in error. Jesus, the world's Redeemer, never purchased peace by covering iniquity, or by anything like compromise. Though His heart was constantly overflowing with love for the whole human race, He was never indulgent to their sins. He was too much their friend to remain silent while they were pursuing a course which would ruin their souls--the souls He had purchased with His own blood. He was a stern reprover of all vice, and His peace was the consciousness of having done the will of His Father, rather than a condition of things that existed as the result of having done His duty." The Upward Look, 220.

 

"To secure peace and unity they [the reformers in context] were ready to make any concession consistent with fidelity to God but they felt that even peace would be too dearly purchased at the sacrifice of principle. If unity could be secured only by the compromise of truth and righteousness, then let there be difference, and even war." E.G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 45, 1911 edition.

Here the visible church is said to contain "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.)

Ron’s Commentary:  Let’s take a close look at how God managed the church in the wilderness under the auspices of Moses and Aaron, and later during the time of Jeremiah and the church’s experience in Shiloh.  First, let’s consider the apostasy of Israel in the golden calf indicent.  Here is what Moses did:

“Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord’s side?  Let him come unto me.  And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.  And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man, his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and evwery man his companion, and every man his neighbor.  And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.   For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bstow upon you a blessing this day….

“And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin; and now I will go up unto the Lord; per-adventure I shall make an atonement for your sin….

Moses supplicated God in behalf of sinning Israel.  E.G. White, The Review and Herald Articles, Vol. 1, p. 131, July 29, 1873.

Before Moses supplicated God, he had all the apostates who would not repent killed by the Sons of Levi.  So the next time an SDA tells you that we must have the attitude of Moses, ask them how they propose to kill the open sinning apostates out of the church BEFORE they pray for those who repented!

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.

Ron’s Commentary:  Question:  When the New Movement SDA Omega of Apostasy church “removes God,” is He still its head?  Why do men like Dennis Priebe never quote the following statement:

 "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.

"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.

Ron’s Commentary:  In his entire article, Dennis Priebe does not say one word about open sinners being prohibited from church membership.  It seems clear that he believes one should retain the privilege of membership no matter what he/she does, and that coincides with Ellen White’s statement that the “dumb-dog” “peace and safety” watchmen will NEVER AGAIN show the house of Jacob their sins.

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.

Ron’s Commentary: What is the gospel being taught by the church nowadays?  That forensic justification is the sum total of any condition for salvation.  Just believe—the doctrine of the Nicolaitans that the mainstream fallen churches teach.  And if anyone tries to argue this with you by saying that there are some faithful pastors, tell them that God says that there is not one.  Isaiah 56:10-12 and Ezekiel 22:30.  Isaiah 56 indicts them ALL.  How many pastors have you heard lately sighing and crying for ALL the abominations in the church, as a condition for receiving the seal of God in Ezekiel 9?  How many members have you heard doing the same thing?  I can assure you that if there are ANY pastors and/or members sighing and crying for ALL the abominations, they would not be pastors and members for long!  And I mean even if they exercised the Spirit of an angel in so doing!

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.

Ron’s Commentary:  Every pastor would have you believe that membership in an apostate church assures you of a place in heaven.  But compare that will the following statement:

 "We ARE NOT saved as a sect no denominational name has any virtue to bring us into favor with God. We are saved individually as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ." E.G. White, Review and Herald Articles, Vol. 2, p. 464.

 

"The Lord would teach man the lesson though united in church capacity, he is not saved until the seal of God is placed upon him." E.G. White Comments, SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 969.

 

"Mark this point with care: Those who receive the pure mark of truth, wrought in them by the power of the Holy Ghost, represented by a mark by the man in linen, are those 'that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the church.' Testimonies, vol. 3, pp. 266-267.

 

"God has a church. It is not the great cathedral, neither is it the national establishment, neither is it the various denominations; it is the people who love God and keep His commandments. 'Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them' (Matt. 18:20). Where Christ is even among the humble few, this is Christ's church, for the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone constitute a church.

Where two or thre are present who love and obey the commandments of God, Jesus there presides, let it be in the desolate place of the earth, in the wilderness, in the city enclosed in prison walls." E.G. White, The Upward Look, 315.

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 revealed 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 continued to apply to His church right down to the present. (emphasis by Ron)

Ron’s Commentary:  Yes indeed, God gave specific order for His church to have no close relationship with Babylon!  We were to come out and be a separate holy and peculiar people.  We were to contact the members of fallen churches in any way BUT joining their associations, councils, girdings and confederacies.  The SDA church has violated that specific order by God.  Here is the order:

9 Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. 10 Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us. 11 For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, 12 Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. 13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

Notice that God repeats the words “broken in pieces” three times.  When God says anything three times, it is serious.  Most SDA’s have not a clue about the seriousness of the church’s ecumenical involvement.  If you would like to know how deeply involved the church is, just write to the following address and ask for all materials on the church’s ecumenical involvement:

PILGRIMS REST

1288 Myerstown Rd.

BEERSHEBA SPRINGS, TN. 37305

 

The owner of that ministry, Vance Ferrell, was a credentialed SDA minister, who resigned his post because he did not feel that he could be an SDA minister and be faithful to principle.  Vance has compiled a literal hord of documented evidence on how the church is ASSOCIATING, TAKING COUNCIL, GIRDING AND CONFEDERATING with the World Council of Churches, its subsidiary National Councils of Churches and more local Ministerial Associations of Babylon. 

 

In 1988, I sent to the World Council of Churches, and bought twelve copies of a book entitled Directory of Christian Councils, now out of print.  I bought them for my church group to prove to them that the SDA church is a FULL MEMBER of the World Council of Churches in the following countries of the world:

 

  • Hong Kong
  • Bahamas
  • Belize
  • Sweden
  • Cook Islands
  • The church also admitted in the Adventist Review circa 1988, that it had been a member of the Council of Free Churches in Hungary, which is the National Council of Churches in Hungary.  When a church joins one or more National Councils of Churches, it is automatically a member of the World Council of Churches.
  • I asked the Conference Treasurer, Butler, in 1988, how much the church gave to the National Council of Churches in the USA for that year.  He looked it up and told me it was $800 and some odd dollars. 
  • Also, SDA ministers are encouraged to become members of their local Ministerial Association.  I asked a PhD. Official at the Canadian Council of Churches if local Ministerial Associations were a more local subsidiary of the World Council of Churches and she said twice: “Yes, yes.”  Ministers pay annual dues to the Ministerial Association also.

 

Ellen White says that Israel began her trek downward into apostasy by joining in confederacy with God’s enemies. 

When God called Israel out of Egypt, He put into operation a plan designed to completely 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.

Ron’s Commentary:  That is what God thinks of apostasy!  That is one way He dealt with it.  In Jeremiah’s time in Shiloh, God used another methodology.  Notice:

Jeremiah 11


1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying, 2 Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 3 And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant, 4 Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God: 5 That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD. 6 Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them. 7 For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. 8 Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do: but they did them not. 9 And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. 11 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them. 12 Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble. 13 For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal. 14 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble. 15 What hath my beloved to do in mine house [Temple Sanctuary], seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh [God] is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest [CELEBRATES].

God is saying that his beloved faithful bride has nothing to do in His (once) house (church) because she formed a confederacy with His enemies and returned to the iniquities of her fathers.  Professing Seventh-day Adventists have followed a similar course of apostasy and returning to the iniquities of their forefathers in Babylon, by adopting their Trinity Doctrine, as well as a Calvinistic gospel.  Dr. Ralph Larson, PhD., and SDA minister says that the church has done this. 

So what did the beloved bride do in Jeremiah’s day do in response to the apostasy in Shiloh?

"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.

Jer 7:12 But go ye now unto my place which [was] in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

Jer 7:14 Therefore will I do unto [this] house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.

Jer 26:6 Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.

Jer 26:9 Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

Jer 41:5 That there came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, [even] fourscore men, having their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring [them] to the house of the LORD.

Elder Dennis Priebe would have you think that even though Israel was apostate, God still accpted them in their apostasy.  That is not true.  The faithful separated and worshipped at home.  The rest will be eternally lost!

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.

Ron’s Commentary:  In effect, the apostates were cut off.  Those who did not sorely repent will be forever lost.  The faithful came out and worshipped at home!  Apparently Priebe is ignorant of this fact.  Remember, Isaiah 56:10-12, says they are ALL ignorant and cannot understand.  I supplicate you to believe God and not man and your own feelings.

"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.

Ron’s Commentary:  Dennis Priebe would have you believe that God tolerated the apostasy of Israel and all came out well in the wash, but that simple is not the truth of the matter.  Jeremiah tells us that God divorced Israel:

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.

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.

Ron’s Commentary:  The apostates of all ages will not be saved, and it is a peace and safety lie to depict is any other way.  God bore long with Israel, yet, except for a small remnant, Israel and Jerusalem were destroyed at least three times and those who were destroyed were eternally lost.  Just because God bears long with His people does not mean that he saves willful apostates.

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.

Ron’s Commentary:  Ellen White made similar appeals to the SDA church before it crossed God’s line in the sand by confederating in ecumenical liaison with Babylon.  But that does not mean He will save those who knowing persist in apostasy.  We can see that from Israel’s example!

"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.

Ron’s Commentary:  The church at Corinth was a Christian church of Christ followers in contradistinction to the apostate church at Jerusalem!  Priebe is here confusing the pure with the profane.

"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 envying, 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.

Ron’s Commentary:  Having heretics among the church for a period of time is far removed from the seriousness of the leaders being the heretics and teaching a false gospel.  Paul’s counsel in such a case is to accurse any, even an angel who should come to you with another gospel:

Gal 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

Gal 1:9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any [man] preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

Heresies may have crept in unawares for a period of time, but by Paul’s standard, it would not have been for long!

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.)

Ron’s Commentary:  I take Priebe’s point but there is no consolation to being destroyed in Jerusalem rather than Babylon!  In fact, Judgment will begin at the House of God, literal SDA sanctuaries around the world because Ellen White says that Ezekiel 9 will be literally fulfilled and that the last fulfillment of that debacle, A.D. 70, was a PREFIGURE, p. 25, The Great Controversy.

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.

Ron’s Commentary:  Priebe has made the great mistake of confusing the SDA church militant (VISIBLE) with the SDA church triumphant invisible church. 

"Those who think that the church militant is the church triumphant make a great mistake." E.G. White, The Upward Look, 152.

 

Sadly, Priebe and most professing SDAs are making that great mistake.

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.

Ron’s Commentary:  Ellen White said that the Ezekiel 9 slaughter of A.D. 70 was a PREFIGURE.  In that TYPE, where were the dross (tares) gathered?  See Ezekiel 22:17-31.  Who left who in that TYPE?  The good left the aposte Temple church and fled to the mountains of Pella in the land of Pareaea.  SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, 74, 75.  If the bad left the apostate New Movement Church, something would stand in the way of the New Movement and Ellen White said that nothing will.

God does not raise up another organized church, but He does take the reins in His own hands and leads His home churches around the world as Christ led them in His time on earth.

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.

Ron’s Commentary:  That is not true friend.  The fallen Protestant churches left Rome, Babylon, and then became her fallen daughters.  Ellen White said that the SDA church could become a sister to fallen Babylon.*****

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.

Ron’s Commentary:  The promise of healing is conditional to repentance and turning around.  Where is the promise of healing in the following statement:

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, Bk. 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.)

Ron’s Commentary:  Is it weighing according to human scales when we weigh according to Isaiah 8:20?  Does every convert to Adventism from any other church have to make this “weiging” decision?

"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.)

Ron’s Commentary:  Up to 1893, the church had never had the message that God would disorganize the church and the term Babylon applied to the Seventh-day Adventist church.  Indeed no true SDA church will ever be any part of Babylon.  But the great question associated with the Omega of Apostasy is this:  Can the SDA church form a new movement organization that removes God, (1SM 204-5), and still be the true SDA church?  Is the following statement true, or just unimportant rhetoric?

 "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.

Elder Priebe follows what the “dumb-dog” watchmen have done for decades now.  He takes a statement that applied to the church in 1893, at which time Ellen White said that the church was keeping the commandments of God (Isaiah 8:9-13) and all, as well as heeding the Laodicean message.  It is totally misinterpreting and misapplying such a statement to try to make it apply to the church forevermore and that is the great mistake Priebe is making.  Ellen White said to always consider time, place and circumstance.  Priebe is not complying with that instruction.

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.

Ron’s Commentary:  God told Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Isaiah about His line in the sand when:

·       He told Jeremiah not to pray for His people after they formed a conspiracy with God’s enemies and returned to the iniquities of their forefathers.

·       God told Isaiah that a faithful remnant would escape the Jerusalem church of Ezekiel 9—Isaiah 37:31, 32.

·       God told Ezekiel in chapter 5:9, that He would do the worst thing to Jerusalem (the church) that He had ever done or would ever do again and that is at the end-time:

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.

Ron’s Commentary: Daniel knew when the time of Israel’s probation was over.  Jeremiah was instructed NOT to pray for God’s people when they crossed the line of confederating with His enemies.  The faithful of Jeremiah’s day sacrificed on their own at home.  Jesus separated and gathered out from the apostate church of his day.

"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.

 Ellen White gathered out in the Alpha—instructing Haskell to take the youth as far away from the church as possible, and the Omega was to be far worse, continuing till Jesus comes.  How could God deliver His promises to the church if the Omega of apostasy continues till He comes?  Why would Ezekiel 9 begin at His Sanctuary, the SDA church if it was purged and purified?  Why will the dross (tares) be shaken into the midsts of Jerusalem, the church, for burning and melting, Ezekiel 22:17-31.

Here is Ellen White’s “hallowed line” concerning the outcome of the professing SDA church militant (visible):

The Prophesied Fall of The Professing Seventh-day Adventist Church

 

"Jesus sends  HIS PEOPLE a message of warning to prepare them for his coming. To the prophet John was made known the closing work in the great plan of man's redemption. He beheld an angel flying 'in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him for the hour of his Judgment is come and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters [Rev. 14:6, 7.].

The angel represented in prophecy as delivering this message,  symbolizes a class of faithful men, who, obedient to the promptings of God's Spirit and the teachings of his word, proclaim this warning to the inhabitants of earth. This message was not to be committed to the religious leaders of the people. They had failed to preserve their connection with God, and had REFUSED THE LIGHT FROM HEAVEN therefore they WERE NOT of the number described by the apostle Paul: 'But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the chilldren of the day we are not of the night nor of darnkess' [1 Thess. 5:4, 5].

 

The watchmen upon the walls of Zion should be the first to catch the tidings of the Saviour's advent, the first to lift their voices to proclaim him near, the first to warn the people to prepare for his coming. But they were at ease, dreaming of peace and safety, while the people were asleep in their sins. Jesus saw HIS CHURCH, like the barren fig-tree, covered with pretentious leaves, yet destitute of precious fruit. There was a boastful observance of the forms of religion, while the spirit of true humilit, penitence and faith--which alone could render the service acceptable to God--was lacking. Instead of the graces of the Spirit, there were manifested pride, formalism, vainglory, selfishness, oppression. A BACKSLIDING CHURCH closed their eyes to the signs of the times. God did nor forsake them, or suffer his faithfulness to fail but they departed from him, and SEPARATED THEMSELVES from his love. As they REFUSED TO COMPLY WITH THE CONDITIONS, his promises were NOT FULFILLED to them."  E.G. White, The Spirit of Prophecy,  vol. 4, pp. 199-200 [The 1884 edition of The Great Controversy, NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH TESTIMONIES, VOL 4].

 

SDA Corporate Church Brought Down to Hell! Is Such a Church THE CHURCH That the Gates of Hell Will not Prevail Against?

 The following statement is presented just as it appears in its reference. All bracketed portions are just as Ellen White inserted them:

 

"And thou, Capernaum [Seventh-day Adventists, who have had great light], which art exalted unto heaven [in point of privilege], shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom IN THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, than for thee." E.G. White, Review and Herald Articles, vol. 3, p. 69, col. 3.

 

The bracketed portions in the above statement are Ellen White’s.  The quote is just as the reference source has it.

 

Notice that Elder Dennis Priebe has not sighed and cried for ALL the abominations in the church in the least.  It is those abominations for which the church experiences another Ezekiel 9 debacle.  How can he be so blind and ignorant?  Isaiah 56:10-12 has the answer.

We ARE NOT saved as a sect no denominational name has any virtue to bring us into favor with God. We are saved individually as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ." E.G. White, Review and Herald Articles, Vol. 2, p. 464.

 

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

 

“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 present showing is sufficient to prove to all who have the true missionary spirit that the regular lines [organization] may prove to be a failure.”  E.G. White, Spaulding-Magan Collection, p. 175.  Written to Brother Daniels, June 28, 1901.

God bless,

Ron Beaulieu