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