harlot

The Three Mother Churches

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In this article, we are going to study the three mother churches. If you are a member of a Christian church, one of these three mother churches is, no doubt, your spiritual mother. By the end of this study, you should be able to identify whose child you are.

Babylon—The Mother of Harlots

Revelation 17 tells about the first mother church we will study. Notice the characteristics of this mother church. “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, ‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and the abominations of theearth.” Revelation 17:1–5.

In Bible prophecy, a woman represents a church. (See Jeremiah 6:2; Isaiah 51:15; 2 Corinthians 11:2.) There are whole books of the Bible, such as the Song of Solomon, that are written with this symbolism. In the book of Hosea, and in Ezekiel 23, an unfaithful church is represented as a harlot.

What is spiritual harlotry or adultery? Let me give an example to help us understand. When you get married, a part of your marriage vow is not only that you will cling to your husband or wife, but also that you will forsake all others. What if you do not forsake all others? Then, you commit adultery. It is this simple; if you have only one husband, then it is holy. But, if you have two or three husbands or two or three wives, then it is not holy any more. It is wicked!

When you become part of the church, part of God’s family, you claim to be joined to one husband—Christ. (See 2 Corinthians 11:2.) If you are “espoused to one husband,” and then you take your affection and you pour it out on people, places or things of this world, what have you done? We can read about it in Ezekiel 23:35, 38. “Therefore thus says the Lord God. ‘Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, therefore you shall bear the penalty of your lewdness and your harlotry.’ The Lord also said to me, ‘Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and even sacrificed their sons whom they bore to Me, passing them through the fire to devour them. Moreover they have done this to Me: They have defiled My sanctuary on the same day and profaned My Sabbaths.’”

When you become part of God’s family, you have one Husband and you are to be faithful to Him. You are to obey Him and keep His commandments. But if you disobey His commandments, then you have forsaken Him for others.

Consider again the woman, which we see in Revelation 17. She is a harlot church, or a church that teaches people to break God’s commandments. (In fact, they break God’s commandments as a part of their religion.) We read in Revelation 18:2, that this same apostate power has “become the prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!” The devil is there, and through that system he teaches men to break the commandments. And if you stay there, if you are a part of Babylon, you will sin just by being part of the system. Revelation 18:4 says, “ ‘Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins and lest you receive of her plagues.’” If you stay in Babylon, you are going to share in her sins and then you are also going to partake of her plagues.

A Worldwide Persecuting power

This system of Babylon, described in Revelation, is a worldwide phenomenon. It is not something that just takes place off in an obscure corner of the world. We read in Revelation 18:3, “for all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.” All the nations of the world are involved.

“The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of the bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery, all nations were deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth.” Revelation 18:23, 24.

I remember about thirty years ago, when I first read this and tried to understand what verse 24 meant when it said that Babylon was guilty for the blood of all the saints. However, as I studied, I found that this was not the first time God has made this pronouncement. Jesus told the Jewish leaders: “Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Barechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.” Matthew 23:34, 35.

Here Jesus told the Jews that they would have to give an account for all the righteous blood that is shed upon the earth. How can that be explained? Because they rejected the Messiah. Do you realize that if the Jews had accepted Jesus, all of world history would have been different? (For an interesting study, take these verses in Matthew 23 and read what Ellen White says about them. It is very ominous for Seventh-day Adventists. What happened to the Jews could happen to Adventism if the devil’s plan is followed.)

Just as the Jews will be held accountable for the blood of all the righteous in their day, so God will judge Babylon as guilty for all of the blood of the saints. A careful look at history, behind the scenes, shows the truth of this statement. Very few people really know very much about the true facts of history. But, someday, the curtain will be removed, and it all will be distinctly seen as God has clearly recorded it for every eye to behold when the harlot is judged.

Another proof that Babylon is a worldwide power, is the fact that the Bible says, in Revelation 13:8, that every single person in the world, whose name is not written in the Book of Life, will worship this power for a short time. However, eventually, they will all unite to destroy her when they find out the truth that they are lost. Because God does not desire any to be lost, His message to each person is “Come out.” Those who do not answer this call will meet the same fate as the devil and all of his angels. And so God, in His mercy, wants you to be saved and says, “Come out!”

Have you ever tried to think through what this means when God says, “Come out”? Does coming out of Babylon involve mostly where your body is? Or is it more involved with where your mind is? Does it involve more what church book your name is written on? Or does it involve more where your heart is? Coming out of Babylon is much more involved than some people think. It is much more than just what church book your name is on and where your body is. It has to do with where your mind and your heart are dwelling.

When God called Lot and his family to come out of Sodom, Lot’s wife got her body out but she never got her heart out. Have you ever asked yourself the question, Am I totally out of Babylon? Or am I like Lot’s wife? My body is out of Babylon, but my heart is still there.

From Milk to Solid Food

What we have just studied is an elementary principle of the Bible. But we cannot always feed on the milk if we are going to grow up fully into Christ, and so I want to study, in the rest of this article, some deeper Bible principles which are necessary in order for us to understand the last two mother churches.

We have looked, so far, at the first mother church, Babylon, or the harlot church. The other two mother churches we find described in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In Galatians 1:1, Paul makes it very clear that he is addressing his letter to the churches in Galatia. As Paul wrote this letter, he was in great agony of heart, because the churches were in a state of apostasy as the result of false teachers who had come in among them. Where did these false teachers came from? Did they come from Babylon, the center of the devil’s operation? No. They came from Jerusalem—the General Conference, or the world headquarters for the apostolic church.

In Galatians 4:8–16, Paul describes the apostasy these false teachers from Jerusalem had led the Galatians into. “But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years. [Some people try to use verse 10 against Seventh-day Adventists, but we do not qualify. We do not observe days, we only observe the seventh day Sabbath. Nor do we observe months or seasons or years in Historic Adventism.] I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain. Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?”

The very ones who Paul describes as leading the Galatians back to the “beggarly elements,” were teachers that came from the world headquarters of the apostolic church. The situation was so serious that Ellen White says the apostle Paul had to stand alone in opposition to the twelve disciples of Jesus—the twelve that were with Jesus when He walked among men. Paul even had to openly rebuke Peter because he was Judaizing. (See Galatians 2:11–14; The Acts of the Apostles, 199, 120.)

Can you imagine what a difficult situation it must have been for the Galatians, when leaders from Jerusalem, with the support of the disciples, began teaching that they had to keep the ceremonial law. Many must have thought, “These men must be right because they come from the disciples, the very men who walked and talked with Jesus. The apostle Paul, he must be speaking a dangerous doctrine!”

The situation was still more complicated because Paul was not dealing with the Jews here, he was dealing with Christians from the church at Jerusalem who were still keeping the ceremonial law, even though it had met its complete fulfillment in the death and resurrection of Christ. Paul continued: “They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you. I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.” Galatians 4:17–20.

The Bondwomen and the Free

Now, notice his arguments starting in Verse 21: “Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.” Galatians 4:21–25.

So Hagar, it clearly says, is a mother, for she is still in bondage with her children. So, who then does Paul use to represent the third mother church? “But the Jerusalem above is free. Which is the mother of us all. For it is written: Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear! Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what does the Scripture say, Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.” Galatians 4:26–31; 5:1–6, 11.

“As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast of your flesh. But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.” Galatians 6:12–15.

Let us consider what Paul was facing. Here were these false teachers coming from Jerusalem. But they were not Jews, they were Christians who were speaking the sentiments of the disciples, and they were teaching that the ceremonial law still had to be kept. Why did they believe it still needed to be kept? Ellen White is very specific that they kept the ceremonial law, not so much because they believed in it any more, but because they wanted to avoid persecution. (Have you ever heard anyone say, “It is not time yet to distribute The Great Controversy”? That reflects the same kind of thinking as these early Christians had.)

Children in Bondage

Paul repeats over and over again that Hagar, this mother church, is in bondage with all of her children. What does he mean that they are in bondage? They are in bondage to sin. That is the main difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. In the Old Covenant, a person had to come every year to the Most Holy Place for the Day of Atonement. Why did they have to come every year? Because they had not quit sinning. If you quit sinning, Paul says in Hebrews 10, then you would not have to come anymore.

In the New Covenant there is no Day of Atonement year after year after year. There is just one Day of Atonement period at the end of the world. Why, because a way has been opened that men do not need to keep sinning and confessing and sinning and confessing.

Did you notice that the people who are in Hagar’s church, who have the Old Covenant experience, want to avoid persecution so they are keeping the ceremonial law. But who are they actually persecuting in the process? Notice it says in Galatians 4:29, “He who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit. Even so it is now.” Who were they persecuting? They were persecuting the true church. They professed to be the true church, but Hagar was their mother. They were still in the Old Covenant experience and they still had a yoke of bondage.

What is the yoke of bondage? The yoke of bondage is the law that you cannot keep. Theologians have tried to explain it by saying that the Jews made so many regulations that the people could not keep the law. (And that is true.) Other theologians have looked at the yoke of bondage and have said, “Well, the yoke of bondage is this ceremonial law.” However, when you look at the bottom line, all the evidence points to one thing: The yoke of bondage is a law that you cannot keep. But when you come to Jesus, friend, you are set free and then you can keep this law—the Ten Commandments. You are free. You have been made free and you do not have to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

There is another identifying mark that differentiates between the two mother churches. One is born according to the flesh and the other is born according to the promise or according to the Spirit. All throughout Paul’s writings these two antithesis are presented. For example, Galatians 5:16–18. “I say then: Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

The Children of Promise

We have now looked at Hagar, the second mother church, let us now turn our attention to the third mother church represented by Sarah and by the New Jerusalem. Here are the identifying marks. (You can find all of these right in the book of Galatians.)

This church is born free. The first time we are born, we are all born in sin, and thus sons of the devil. 1 John 3:8. However, Jesus told Nicodemus, If you want to go to the kingdom of heaven, you must be born again. And when you are born again, you are born free, your are born in the Spirit, not according to the flesh. This church is born free, that is, they are born again.

The headquarters of this church is in heaven, it is not in this world. It is not in Jerusalem, not in Takoma Park, not in Hagarstown. It is in heaven. That is what Paul says in Galatians 4:26: “But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.”

The children of the promise do not have an Old Covenant experience, they have a New Covenant experience. In the Old Covenant the conscience is never purged from sins, so you must keep coming back to the Sanctuary every year and have another Day of Atonement, but in the New Covenant you overcome sin and receive the victory over it.

In heaven, Jesus will not be serving as a Mediator or as your High Priest through all of eternity. No, that will all be over because all who go there will have overcome sin and will have no need of a Mediator anymore. In fact, God’s children, that live in this world during the time of trouble, are not going to have a Mediator. They will not need one because they will have overcome all sin. (See The Great Controversy, 425.)

These are the children of the promise, and their future is wonderful. But what will happen to Hagar’s spiritual children? They will be cast out and will not inherit the New Covenant promises. (See Galatians 4:30.) This is very serious. If Hagar is your mother, you are not going to heaven unless you receive the adoption of sons. You would be just as lost as if you were in Babylon.

Stand Up!

What was Paul’s instruction to the Galatian churches who were being brought into bondage? “Stand up in the freedom in which Christ has made you free.” And who were these people? They were just little independent churches scattered all over Asia and Europe. And they must have thought, “But we are just tiny groups and we do not have all the experience that the leaders back in Jerusalem have.” But Paul said, “Stand up! You are free and you must not allow these false teachers to lead you back into bondage again.”

I want to tell you, people have lost freedom in Adventism today. When I was a boy in Adventism, anyone was encouraged to go anywhere they could and start up a church. Now they want to close all the little churches down. They are afraid of anyone starting a church, because they are afraid it might not be under their control. What has happened to people’s thinking? Do you recognize that when people start to talk like that and think like that, they are not part of the church whose headquarters is in the New Jerusalem? Through Christ all are free, and all have been given the commission to take the gospel to every nation, kindred, tribe and people.

The apostle Paul knew that. He said, “We have hope of righteousness.” We expectantly wait for it. What is this righteousness? It is not a righteousness which you work out through certain religious rituals or political games. It is righteousness by faith—a faith that works through love. That is what counts in the sight of God.

What counts in your church, friend? Is it the equivalent of circumcision, religious rituals and political games, or is it faith that works by love? If your mother is the New Jerusalem, it is faith that works by love.

And what will we do if we are filled with this faith that works by love? Paul says, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh…But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the [condemnation] of the law.” Galatians 5:16, 18. If you are walking in the Spirit, overcoming the lusts of the flesh, you will also be bearing the fruits of the Spirit which Paul describes in Galatians 5:22, 23. You will become a new creation.

Who is the Israel of God? The Israel of God is not the children of Hagar who are in bondage to sin. I am not out to judge who is a member of what church but the fruit indicates that the great majority of Seventh-day Adventists, today, are children of Hagar, not Sarah. They are professors of Christianity, but everything in their system is down here in this world. They are in bondage. They have an Old Covenant experience. And not only that, they are persecuting the people who are seeking the New Covenant experience. They disfellowship them and get them out of their way. By the way, if you are persecuting people that do not think like you do on theology, that is absolute proof that your mother is Hagar. Anytime any person or any group of people decides they can disfellowship someone for non-Biblical reasons or stone them or take them to court or put them in jail or beat them up (all of those things have happened), that group of people does not belong to the New Jerusalem church. Hagar is their mother.

But the people, whose mother is the New Jerusalem, are born free. Their headquarters is not down here in this world. They have leaders and are organized, but their headquarters is not really down here. Their headquarters is in heaven. They are children of the promise. They stand in freedom and they hope for righteousness from the Holy Spirit that the Lord will give to them. They live by faith that works through love.

Who is your mother? Is she over in Babylon? Or does she dwell in earthly Jerusalem? Or have you been born free? Are you walking according to the Spirit? Are you a child of the promise? Are you receiving a righteousness that is not woven in any earthly loom? Are you operating on the principle of faith that works by love? Are you manifesting the fruits of the Spirit? Are you a new creation? I invite you to ask the Lord to work out this miracle in your life.

What is a Harlot Church?

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When a church becomes what the Bible describes as a harlot, that church cannot go to the kingdom of heaven. The Lord gives it opportunity, but if that opportunity is not taken, it will be shut out from the kingdom of heaven unless it repents and stops its fornication.

We read the experience of the Jewish church in Jeremiah 3:2, 3. It says, “Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see: Where have you not lain with men? By the road you have sat for them Like an Arabian in the wilderness; And you have polluted the land With your harlotries and your wickedness. Therefore the showers have been withheld, And there has been no latter rain. You have had a harlot’s forehead; You refuse to be ashamed.”

The Jewish church had become a harlot church, but they had not committed the unpardonable sin. They could still return. In verse 14 it says, “ ‘Return, O backsliding children,’ says the Lord; ‘for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.’ ”

What were they to do? They were to return. Verses 12, 13 say, “ ‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you: For I am merciful,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not remain angry forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the Lord your God, And have scattered your charms To alien deities under every green tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the Lord.”

How did the Jewish church become a harlot and how does the Christian church become a harlot today? In James 4:4 it says, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

It is by some type of friendship with the world that the church becomes a harlot or loses her virginity. How does the church become united with the world? Ezekiel 16:15 is talking about Jerusalem which was God’s people in his day. Ezekiel said: “You trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it.

“Moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the traitor, Chaldea; and even then you were not satisfied. ‘How degenerate is your heart!’ says the Lord God, ‘seeing you do all of these things, the deeds of a brazen harlot.’ ” Ezekiel 16:29, 30.

It was by connecting with the Gentile nations that she lost her virginity. Look at Ezekiel 23:19–21: “She multiplied her harlotry In calling to remembrance the days of her youth, When she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. For she lusted for her paramours, Whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys, And whose issue is like the issue of horses. Thus you called to remembrance the lewdness of your youth, When the Egyptians pressed your bosom Because of your youthful breasts.”

By aligning herself and making alliances with the world—by connecting with the world, by using the powers of the world instead of depending on the Lord, she lost her innocence and became a harlot.

Ellen White describes it in The Great Controversy, 381, 382: “The unfaithfulness of the church to Christ in permitting her confidence and affection to be turned from Him, and allowing the love of worldly things to occupy the soul, is likened to the violation of the marriage vow. The sin of Israel in departing from the Lord is presented under this figure; and the wonderful love of God which they thus despised is touchingly portrayed: ‘I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest Mine.’ ‘And thou wast exceeding beautiful and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through My comeliness, which I had put upon thee. … But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown.’ ‘As a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord;’ ‘as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!’ Ezekiel 16:8, 13–15, 32; Jeremiah 3:20.”

In summary, “It was by departure from the Lord, and alliance with the heathen, that the Jewish church became a harlot.” Ibid., 382.

It was by departure from the Lord; the affections were weaned away from the Lord and placed upon the power and things in the world. How does the church use the power of the world? In The Great Controversy, 443, Ellen White says, “When the early church [the true church] became corrupted by departing from the simplicity of the gospel and accepting heathen rites and customs, she lost the Spirit and power of God; and in order to control the consciences of the people, she sought the support of the secular power.”

Notice what happened. By “accepting heathen rites and customs, she lost the Spirit and power of God.” Without the Spirit and power of God, she was powerless.

Concerning Christians in the fourth century, the pagans would say, Why would you want me to be a Christian? I know Christians who have lied to me and I have never lied to anybody. I know a Christian who has stolen goods and I have never stolen from anybody. I know a Christian who has been unfaithful to his matrimonial vow and I have never been unfaithful to my matrimonial vow. Why would the pagans become Christians when they considered the Christians not as good as they were?

Because they had accepted heathen rites and customs and had lost the Spirit and power of God, the early Christian church had no power over their own members and no power to influence the world. What does a church do when it is powerless? “When the early church became corrupted by departing from the simplicity of the gospel and accepting heathen rites and customs, she lost the Spirit and power of God; and in order to control the consciences of the people, she sought the support of the secular power.”

When the church has lost the Spirit and power of God, she does not have any power from within to help the people be good, and she resorts to the power of the state. “It was apostasy that led the early church to seek the aid of the civil government, and this prepared the way for the development of the papacy—the beast.” Ibid.

Apostasy in the church will also prepare the way for the image to the beast. It was apostasy in the church that resulted in the church seeking power from the secular government and the result was the development of the papacy. In a similar way, the image to the beast will be formed. “When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the state to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result.” Ibid, 445.

Notice it says, “shall influence the state”; the church will use the power of the state. “When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the state …” The church uses the state.

It was the church using the power of the state that caused Jesus to be crucified. The Romans would have never crucified Jesus, but it was the church that used the power of the state to kill Him and it was that same church that had the apostle Paul beheaded and the apostle James martyred.

How does a church lose its virginity and become a harlot church?

The first thing that happens for a church to lose its virginity and become a harlot church is that they accept heathen rites or customs and go into apostasy because they have withdrawn their affections from the Lord and begin to love something in the world.

In the 4th century the church could not get the people to attend church so they made a law to help the people to be good. The first Sunday law was passed in 321, but it was not strong enough because it merely required that people not go to work. When the people could not work on Sunday, they went to the circus so a law was then made that would close down the circus so that the people could not go there on Sunday. The people then just stayed home on Sunday. Finally, a whole series of laws were made stating that not only must you stop working or conducting business on Sunday, but you had to go to church as well.

Why did that happen? When heathen rites and customs are accepted into the church it loses the spirit of God and the church has no power. If the church is devoid of power, why would anybody want to go? If nobody wants to go, the church will die. Then the church has to do something to keep it from dying and in order to do that she needs to get some help from the state and pass laws. In this way the Christian church used the state to enforce her teachings. These laws progressively became stricter over the following 100 years.

First the Jewish church, and then the Christian church lost its power by departing from God and relying on the world.

Any time a church begins to use civil power to enforce her laws or her institutions, her will or her teachings, that church has become a harlot church devoid of the Holy Spirit because of her apostasy and cannot go to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Remember that Christ is the High Priest and only a virgin—a pure church—can become His bride.

In this world, once a woman has become a harlot she can never again become a virgin. But Jesus is able to take a sinner, take away all of the guilt and the power of sin so that the person who was a sinner becomes as though he had never sinned. Jesus can take away the sin and recreate a pure person again. That same thing can also happen to a harlot church if she repents. A church can begin to use civil power to enforce her laws and institutions in three ways:

Appealing to the king or the president to enforce her will. This has been done thousands of times in past history.

Using the civil power to enforce her will by going to the legislature—the congress—appealing that specific laws be passed to enforce her teachings.

Ellen White states that when the churches go to the state to enforce her will, they will have made an image to the beast. See The Great Controversy, 445.

Those alive in Nebuchadnezzar’s day could have watched his image being formed, first the feet and then the legs until the whole image was completed. They may have felt very safe and secure watching it go up, but once it was completely finished, the people were commanded to worship it or be killed.

That same thing is happening today. The image to the beast is being formed right now before our eyes. We may be living in America, the land of the free, but when that image to the beast is completed, everyone will be commanded to worship it.

Appealing to the court system

Any time a church goes to the courts to enforce her will, that church has already become a harlot church and will never go to the marriage supper of the Lamb unless there is repentance and her sins are forsaken. That act is religious harlotry. The Seventh-day Adventist church has been doing this now for many decades. To make it plain, the Seventh-day Adventist church is not going to the marriage supper of the Lamb in her present condition, unless there is repentance, and she stops taking people to court.

There is a principle in Revelation 18:4. It says, “I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.’ ” For over 150 years the truth about the Bible Sabbath has been proclaimed and rejected by the Sunday keeping Protestant churches of the world. These churches are referred to in Revelation as Babylon, and the Lord says that you are going to have to get out of there because if you stay in there then you are participating in their sins.

One lady who attended our prophecy seminar said she believed everything we taught, including the Sabbath. She said she was going to keep the Sabbath, but she was also going to continue going to the Baptist church because that was where her friends were. She planned to keep the Sabbath at home without really understanding the principle involved that if you attend the church on Sunday, you are supporting that church in her sin with your presence, your influence and your money. You are participating in the sin by even going there. The Lord says that if you stay there, you are going to receive the seven last plagues. If you do not want to receive the plagues, then you cannot participate in the sin and obey the command to “come out of her My people.”

This principle must apply to any harlot church. I do not want to be misunderstood, and I did not call the Seventh-day Adventist church Babylon. I have never done that, but at the present time it is a harlot church and no harlot church is going to the marriage supper of the Lamb unless that harlotry is confessed, repented of and forsaken.

People have a difficult time getting around this. Some people say that the organization is doing this, but I am not part of it. If you are a member and you are supporting it with your influence, your time and your money, you are a part of it. In the books of heaven you are accounted as part of it. The sins that they are doing, you are part of if you are supporting it. Look at the following example.

“The trades unions and confederacies of the world are a snare. Keep out of them, and away from them, brethren. Have nothing to do with them. …

“We are not to unite with secret societies or with trades unions. …

“These unions are one of the signs of the last days. Men are binding up in bundles ready to be burned.” Notice—they are binding up into a bundle—what is the bundle? It is the trade unions and secret societies. They say, I am not part of it, but when that bundle is burned, they will burn right with it because they are bound up with it. She then says, “They may be church members, but while they belong to these unions, they cannot possibly keep the commandments of God; for to belong to these unions means to disregard the entire Decalogue.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 142, 143.

Then is quoted the following text in Luke 10:27: “So he answered and said, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ” These words sum up the whole duty of man. They mean the consecration of the whole being—body, soul, and spirit—to God’s service. How can men obey these words, and at the same time pledge themselves to support that which deprives their neighbors of freedom of action? You cannot love God with all of your heart, soul and mind and your neighbor as yourself and belong to an organization which is deliberately depriving others of freedom of action. That is impossible, and in the books of heaven you are accounted as a commandment breaker, not as a commandment keeper—even if you call yourself a Seventh-day Adventist.

Somebody can say, Yes I know that I am in an organization that is in open sin, but I am not part of it, so I am all right. People use the parable of the wheat and the tares to excuse it and say they both grow together until the harvest. That is a gross distortion of the words of Jesus. Read the meaning of the wheat and tares in the book, Christ’s Object Lessons. Jesus never taught in the parable of the wheat and tares to just let all the good and the evil to go until the harvest. She explains that a tare is described as a person who appears, by human vision, to be keeping the commandments of God, but their heart is not right. However, when the tare goes to seed (meaning when open sin is involved), Christ taught that they were to be disfellowshipped from the church. You do not allow the wheat and tares to grow together when there is open sin.

I hear people say, “I know there is open sin in the organization, but I am not part of it so I am all right.” No, you are not all right. Do you want to go to the marriage supper?

Those who are serious about going to the marriage supper cannot voluntarily be a member of an organization that is in open sin without being accounted a commandment breaker in heaven.

When God asked Adam and Eve in the garden where they were, He knew exactly where they were, and He knows where you are too. Since God knew already where they were, why did He ask? He wanted Adam to think through the answer to the question just as He wants you to think through the answer to this question: Where are you? You can say, “I am not in Babylon”; then where are you?

If you support with your presence, your influence, your time, your money, a church that is involved in harlotry, you are part of it and you are not going to the marriage supper. Either you will have to persuade whatever church you are in to quit the harlotry business and repent, or you will have to get out if you want to go to the marriage supper.

Jesus is our High Priest and He is not going to unite Himself with a harlot. He will only unite Himself with a church that is pure, that has been made into a virgin.

Where are you? God wants you to figure out where you are. There are a lot of people who do not know where they are but only you can answer the question. The answer depends on where your sympathies and where your affections are. Where your heart is, that is where you are.

“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.” The Great Controversy, 608.

What a tragedy! These people have been in the Seventh-day Adventist church, but their sympathies and affections are in the world. When the test is brought, you will not go where your intellect tells you but you are going to go where your sympathies and affections are. That is why you need to ask yourself the question now. Where are your sympathies? Where are your affections? Wherever your sympathies and affections are right now can indicate where you are going to be in the future.

Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: (316) 788-5559.