Wheat & Tares

This parable is found in Matthew 13:24-30 and 36-43. It is well known to most people, having either studied it or heard it being preached over and over again. It may be so familiar that we think we know it already and may tend to skim through it without trying to search out the hidden truths that are buried beneath the surface.

In fact this parable may be the most misunderstood and misinterpreted one today and is used to bring about more confusion upon our people in the church, self-supporting institutions, and other circles, because of the ready acceptance of the teachings and traditions of the elders, without trying to search out the truth for ourselves.

Desire of Ages (DA), p 140-41: "If Nathanael had trusted to the rabbis for guidance, he would never have found Jesus. It was by seeing and judging for himself that he became a disciple. So in the case of many to-day whom prejudice withholds from good....while they trust to the guidance of human authority, none will come to a saving knowledge of the truth. Like Nathanael, we need to study God's word for ourselves, and pray for the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit."

So we cannot rely on the wisdom of men to lead us into a safe course, but we must prayerfully and diligently search for the truth ourselves. Laying scripture upon scripture, line upon line, testimony upon testimony, here a little and there a little. Then the confusion will blow away and God will let us clearly see His truths, free from the mass of rubbish of custom and tradition. Then we can act upon the truths revealed and know that our foundation standeth sure. In trying to understand this parable of the wheat and tares it is no different. Sister White states immediately after quoting this parable.

Now the opposite of this testimony is also true. That those who do not carefully read this parable and who do not try to do all they can to understand it, will not receive impressions from God's Holy Spirit. They will misinterpret it and spread confusion and error everywhere, this is exactly what has happened and is continuing to occur.

What represents the "kingdom of heaven or of God"? Is Christ speaking here of the dwelling place of God in the literal heaven above or is he trying to represent this in a spiritual setting, or in other words, the dwelling place of God, through His word written within our hearts or minds? Is Christ speaking here in the literal sense or in the spiritual sense?

Luke 17:20-21: "and when he (Christ) was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

So Christ is referring to the spiritual meaning of the kingdom of God, being within our own minds through His word! Oh, don't you see the importance of studying for ourselves, digging into the Bible and the testimonies, eating and drinking the words of God for ourselves? How else are we going to be able to give the reason of the hope that is within us, if it is not there? How else are we going to be able to reflect Christ, to shine as bright stars amidst the darkness of this wicked world, and give Him the honor that is due His holy name? The kingdom of God must be within us.

Who represents the man sowing good seed or wheat? Christ (Matthew 13:37). So who would represent the enemy of Christ who sowed bad seed or tares in Christ's field? Satan (Matthew 13:39). Christ sowed the wheat seed in His field, signifying that Christ had purchased this field with a price.

Who represents the good seed or wheat sown in His field? It would represent two things. Christ says in Matthew 13:38 that the good seed or wheat represents the children of the kingdom or God's true disciples in the church. It also represents God's pure doctrines or truth planted in our hearts or minds.

So who represents the bad seeds or tares sown in His fields? The tares are the children of the devil or Satan's true followers and agents in the church as Christ says in Matthew 13:38. And it also represents Satan's false doctrines or errors planted in our minds.

First, the kingdom of heaven (or salvation obtained by the indwelling of God's word written in our hearts or minds, and we then refuse to use our God-given powers or faculties to sin) is likened unto (or an example of this whole process is similar to) a man (or Christ Jesus) which sowed good seed (or scattered abroad God's pure truths) in His field (or in the minds of His Father's children whom God has purchased with the great price of His dear Son).

But while men slept (or God's people leaving the entrance into their mind unguarded) His enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way (or Satan entered and spread abroad his errors and false doctrines among God's pure truths, mixing them together, and left without being noticed or detected).

But while men slept (or the leaders and caretakers of God's remnant people loosing their zeal and leaving the entrance into the heart of the church unguarded) His enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. (Satan entered and put his people and agents in the midst of the church mixing them together with the remnant and left undetected.

Now, who could represent the field or church? The SDA church. As Christ started with a clean field and a pure and chosen seed, so He began this church in purity with a chosen people, it was truly a remnant people and church. But what happened in the parable? The men, or the caretakers of the field, fell asleep and allowed an enemy to enter, to try and spoil the entire field by spreading and mixing his tares with the wheat.

9T 29: "If every soldier of Christ had done his duty, if every watchman on the walls of Zion had given the trumpet a certain sound, the world might ere this have heard the message of warning. But the work is years behind. While men have slept, Satan has stolen a march upon us."

"Some who occupy the position of watchmen to warn the people of danger, have given up their watch and recline at ease. They are unfaithful sentinels. They remain inactive, while their wily foe enters the fort, and works successfully by their side to tear down what God has commanded to be built up. They see that Satan is deceiving the inexperienced and unsuspecting; yet they take it all quietly, as though they had no special interest, as though these things did not concern them. They apprehend no special danger; they see no cause to raise an alarm....And Satan exults at his success in controlling the minds of so many who profess to be Christians. He has deceived them, benumbed their sensibilities, and planted his hellish banner right in their midst, and they are so completely deceived that they know not it is he....

"Her members have violated their covenant to live for God and him only....and Christ has departed. His Spirit has been quenched in the church. Satan works side by side with professed Christians; yet they are so destitute of spiritual discernment that they do not detect him. They have not the burden of the work. The solemn truths they profess to believe are not a reality to them....I was amazed as I beheld the terrible darkness of many of the members of our churches. The lack of true godliness was such that they were bodies of darkness and death, instead of being the light of the world. Many professed to love God, but in works denied him....Their own vileness will terrify them in that day which is soon to come upon us..."

Truly the leadership and watchmen of the SDA church have fallen asleep and they did allow Satan to come within the church. Satan has masterfully planted his hellish banner and sown his wicked tares among the wheat, and now the precious and the vile are mixed up together within the church.

Now what is a tare? Literally a tare is a bitter seed which causes nausea and vomiting. It is also a strong soporific poison which causes sleep and if enough is contracted, it brings death. So in other words it causes the sleep of death. What condition have I just described? The Laodicean condition, a sleepy Laodicean condition, and if remained in long enough it will cause the sleep of death. Now do lukewarm Laodiceans really represent tares?

6T 408: "The figure of spewing out of His mouth means that He cannot offer up your prayers or your expressions of love to God. He cannot endorse your teaching of His word or your spiritual work in any wise. He cannot present your religious exercises with the request that grace be given you."

SDA Bible Commentary, vol 7 (7BC), p 963, col 2: "To those who do not practice it, the Word of God is a dead letter. Christ says of such, 'I would that thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.' He cannot present their case to the Father. If they realized that they were sinners, He could plead in their behalf, and the Lord would arouse them by His Holy Spirit. But they are worse than dead in trespasses and sins. They hear the Word, but make no application of it to themselves; instead they apply the Word spoken to their neighbors." (see also 7BC 964, col 1).

Selected Messages, book 1 (1SM), p 357-58: "The true witness says of a cold, lifeless, Christless church, 'I know thy works, that thou are neither cold nor hot:...So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth' (Rev. 3:15-16). Mark the following words: 'Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing...Christ cannot take up the names of those who are satisfied in their own self-sufficiency. He cannot importune in behalf of a people who feel no need of His help, who claim to know and possess everything."

What does "importune" mean? It means to answer requests or demands. So as soon as a person or church falls completely into the lukewarm, self-satisfied, Laodicean condition, Christ cannot answer their prayers or requests for blessings, He cannot present their case to the Father, which means that they have already been spewed out of His mouth! Before they can have any chance of being saved, they must repent and get out of this condition. Sister White said that the SDA church was in this wretched condition!

But did God leave the church in this spewed out condition to be lost? No! God sent testing messages of truth which would arouse His people and church, causing them to manifest the true spirit in their heart, or in other words to produce and bear fruit. These testing truths would show who was a wheat or who was a tare by either accepting and acting upon these truths or by refusing to accept and reject these truths or rising up against them.

Can you tell me what these straight and testing truths are upon which the destiny of God's people and church hang in the balance? It is the Laodicean message or the testing truths of stern rebuke. Sister White writes in Early Writings (EW), p 270, that indeed "the destiny of the church hangs" upon the straight testimony of the true witness (Christ) to the Laodiceans.

EW 270: "This will have its effect upon the heart of the receiver, and will lead him to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth....This testimony must work deep repentance; all who truly receive it will obey it and be purified....some will not bear this straight testimony. They will rise up against it, and this is what will cause a shaking among God's people."

3T 260: "The people of God must see their wrongs, and arouse to zealous repentance, and a putting away of those sins which have brought them into such a deplorable condition of poverty, blindness, wretchedness, and fearful deception. I was shown that the pointed testimony must live in the church. This alone will answer to the message to the Laodiceans. Wrongs must be reproved, sin must be called sin, and iniquity must be met promptly and decidedly, and put away from us as a people.

So for 26 years her and James had been bearing the straight testimony of stern rebuke to the church and its members. Now when was this testimony written? 1873! So 1873 minus 26 years would make it about 1846-47 that the message of truth to the Laodiceans began to be preached to this people. Truly the watchmen of the church fell asleep fast, allowing Satan's tares to come in, all this occurred only 2 years after 1844!

When was this written? Jan. 26, 1850. So the shaking had already started before 1850 and this shaking was being caused by the straight testimony of testing truth being poured forth upon God's people by His messengers. So the people were already showing themselves to be open wheat or tares by 1850, by either accepting the stern rebuke, purifying themselves and pouring forth the same message or by rejecting the truth and rising up against it and those who preached it.

Now it is important to realize that Christ began His remnant church in purity, but since the leadership allowed the tares to enter within the church body and organization, and they bear fruits of wickedness, the church body and organization as a whole, ceases to be classified as the "remnant church" because of the tares in it. But the people who continue to produce fruits of righteousness and fulfill the description and conditions of Revelation 12:17 are still considered to be the remnant people. It is just that the term, "the remnant church," cannot be used to describe the whole church body and organization, as it once was in the beginning, because the leadership fell asleep and allowed Satan's agents to enter the church.

But Christ says in vs. 29-30 that they are not to do this, they are not to separate the tares from the wheat, because He has a more perfect way: "Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn."

We have a few more symbols which we need to define and we will begin with the harvest. I believe this is one of the most misinterpreted symbols in this whole parable, and those who thus misinterpret it will not be able to see and discern just what the Lord wants them to do. First of all lets go through the complete harvest process and all the different steps involved, and then we will look at when the period of the harvest is to take place.

We also found out that the beginning of each of these two divisions is referred to as "the harvest." The beginning of the first, or the cutting down of the grain which bears fruit, is called "the harvest." The beginning of the second, or the gathering up of the bound wheat, taking these out of the field is also called "the harvest." Look in your dictionary if you don't believe it. Websters' lists the harvest as meaning two separate events:

They would be lost because they would just sit and remain in the field, and the time of the harvest would pass by and end. Then the storm and tempest would come suddenly upon them and thus they would become rotten and spoiled by the violent rains. Or they would be destroyed by the same fire which burns up the tares. Either way those bundles of wheat would be lost because they remained in the field too long and were not harvested out.

This second harvest, of the bundles of wheat out of the field, is extremely necessary so that the threshing and sifting processes can begin to separate away the chaff from the kernels of wheat. At this stage all the wheat are surrounded with an outer covering or hull called chaff, and are referred to as buds of wheat.

Now just to look at these buds, each has the potential of having a precious kernel of wheat inside. But you could not tell if they all had wheat inside, or if some were just professing to but didn't, because they all look the same on the outside. A bug or worm might have entered into some of them and destroyed the kernel, or perhaps the kernel just did not form at all. So these would just be chaff which the owner of the field has no use for at all.

All the buds of wheat which come to the threshing floor have the potential of having a precious kernel of wheat inside and being saved. But it will not be known just how much yield there was until all the external and worthless chaff is separated far away from being associated with the wheat and then the wheat is taken out of the threshing floor and into the barn where it is protected from the storm and tempest soon to come. But unless the bundled wheat is separated out of the field, the wheat have no chance of being saved in the owner's barn!

The great majority of people today believe and have been taught that the harvest only takes place at the second coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven, and only at this time the separation of the wheat from the tares will occur. So they reason that no one is to separate themselves until Christ comes! Is this true? No! Lets look at what Christ says about the time of the harvest to see if we can clear up some of the confusion.

So putting all these meanings together we find that a complete harvest takes place in the ending or closing of a period of time in which Christ is ministering for His people. Also we find that a complete harvest takes place after the final end of the period of time in which Christ has completely finished ministering for His people forever. The harvest in both periods involves Christ delivering and liberating His people from their bondage and captivity.

In what period of time are we living right now? We are living in the antitypical day of atonement. In the sanctuary service, the day of atonement was the very last ministration performed by the high priest for his people. So today we are living in the ending or closing period of Christ's ministration for His people or the time of the harvest!

Now when did this period start? 1844. So ever since 1844 we have been in the time and process of the harvest. The first part of the harvest process is the cutting down or harvest of the grain bearing fruit, the separating of the wheat from the tares, and the gathering of these into bundles and binding them with a cord. Does Sister White back this up? Yes!

EW 118: "I then saw the third angel. Said my accompanying angel, 'Fearful is his work. Awful is his mission. He is the angel that is to select the wheat from the tares, and seal, or bind, the wheat for the heavenly garner. These things should engross the whole mind, the whole attention.'"

EW 258-59: "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 angel's messages....God had led them along step by step, until He had placed them upon a solid, immovable platform."

So the three angels message's are the firm platform of eternal truth upon which God's true remnant church is built. These messages are the established faith of the body of Christ. If we break away from this anchor, stepping off of the firm platform of truth, becoming independent from the established faith of the body of Christ, by beginning to give up these messages, then we are lost out at sea along with all those who follow us.

Now, how long did it take for all these testing truths to be given to our people? She says in 1SM 206-07: "...two or three years..." So all these truths were given by the years 1846-47 and we found that the church fell asleep around 1846-47! So when it came time to give these truths to the world and finish the work, the church had lost their zeal and its leaders and watchmen had fallen asleep, allowing Satan's true agents to come in and hinder the advancement of the work.

That is why the destiny of the SDA church hangs in the balance on the Laodicean message and repentance. Because if the leaders of the church reject these testing truths, they show themselves to be tares and they would begin to reject the other truths of God, breaking away from the anchor and setting out to sea on their own, independent of the established faith of the body of Christ or the true remnant church, and all would be lost who remained on their ship.

So as soon as fruit is produced the harvest takes place, and then the separating of the wheat from the tares into different groups can occur, and the binding up of each can take place. Remember all this process occurs within the field or church, and it is the job of the third angel to do this.

All these processes are done by our reaction to the present testing truths of the third angel's message. So each one of us is actually deciding for ourselves which group we will be separating into, either to be with the precious wheat by accepting and repenting and willingly obeying and following God and these pure truths, or to be with the vile and corrupt tares by refusing to decide or by rejecting God and these pure truths and rising up against them.

Letter 2, 1851: "I saw that God would separate the precious from the vile. There would be truth, or something from God, to call for a decision, and the corrupt have no disposition to receive that call for a decision, but are separated from the precious by the precious receiving this truth...God will work in mysterious ways to save the true, honest ones."

EW 88-89: "A train of cars was shown me, going with the speed of lightning. The angel bade me look carefully. I fixed my eyes upon the train. It seemed that the whole world was on board; that there could not be one left. Said the angel, 'They are binding in bundles ready to burn:' Then he showed me the conductor, who appeared like a stately, fair person, whom all the passengers looked up to and reverenced. I was perplexed and asked my attending angel who it was. He said, 'It is Satan. He is the conductor in the form of an angel of light. He has taken the world captive. They are given over to strong delusion, to believe a lie, that they may be damned. This agent, the next highest in order to him, is the engineer, and other of his agents are employed in different offices as he may need them,' (So basically what we see here being described is a chain of dependence or a hierarchal structure) 'and they are all going with lightning speed to perdition.' I asked the angel if there were none left. He bade me look in an opposite direction, and I saw a little company traveling a narrow pathway. All seemed to be firmly united, bound together by the truth, in bundles, or companies. Said the angel, 'The third angel is binding or sealing, them in bundles for the heavenly garners.'"

What represents the cord which binds and unites the wheat together into companies? Remember, she wrote "all seemed to be firmly united, bound together by the truth in bundles, or companies." It is the truth of the third angel which binds up the company of wheat into a bundle!

What would represent the cord which would bind the tares together into bundles? Falsehoods and errors. They would be given over to strong delusions, to believe a lie, that they might be damned. Why? 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 says, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

So by the rejection of Christ and His righteousness, which is the third angel's message in verity, we will be bound up in bundles with tares to be consumed. Now the opposite of this is also true. If we accept and act upon this precious message of the righteousness of Christ, then we will be bound up together into bundles, or companies, with other wheat to be taken to the garner.

The binding up of the different bundles, or companies, of either wheat or tares could not take place until the testing truths of the righteousness of Christ was presented by the third angel. The harvest began shortly after 1844, but the binding of the bundles into companies could not take place until the righteousness of Christ was presented.

1RH 501, col 3 (1-27-1885): "Men may reject the truth, but it is truth still. To us is committed the most solemn warning ever given to man; for us who are now upon the stage of action are reserved the most important scenes in this world's history. Many who gave the first and second messages greatly desired to see this day which we see, and saw it not. And not all who now believe will remain to the coming of the Lord; some will sleep for a moment. The master is binding the precious grain in bundles for the heavenly garner, while the wicked are gathering together as fagots for the fires of the last days."

The message of the righteousness of Christ was beginning to become known and God was uniting and binding those who had accepted it into companies so that the work could advance and be finished. But Satan was also permitted to unite and bind his forces together to oppose and hinder the advancement of God's work. She states also in 1885.

5T 384: "Can we not discern the signs of the times? Can we not see how earnestly Satan is at work binding the tares in bundles, uniting the elements of his kingdom, that he may gain control of the world? This work of binding up the tares is going forward far more rapidly than we imagine. Satan is opposing every obstacle to the advancement of the truth....Then let earnest and determined effort be made to beat back the terrible foe. We want on the whole armor of righteousness. Time is passing, and we are fast approaching the close of our probation. Will our names stand registered in the Lamb's book of life, or shall we be found with the unfaithful?"

2RH 231, col 1 (7-24-1888): "The solemn question should come home to every member of our churches, how are we standing before God, as the professed followers of Jesus Christ?...Spiritual death has come upon the people that should be manifesting life and zeal, purity and consecration, by the most earnest devotion to the cause of truth. The facts concerning the real condition of the professed people of God, speak more loudly than their profession, and make it evident that some power has cut the cable that anchored them to the Eternal Rock, and that they are drifting away to sea, without chart or compass."

EW 256-57: "These messages were represented to me as an anchor to the people of God. Those who understand and receive them will be kept from being swept away by the many delusions of Satan....for he knew that those who broke loose from the anchor he could affect by different errors and drive about with divers winds of doctrine."

1SM 206-07: "Many of our people do not realize how firmly the foundation of our faith has been laid....a line of truth extending from that time (1844) to the time when we shall enter the city of God, was made plain to me, and I gave to others the instruction that the Lord had given me."

- Who represents the power which cut the cable? Satan's power. Who does Satan work through? His agents. Who are his agents in the church? Tares. So it is the tares who cut the cable. And where would these tares have to be located, in order to cut the cable and lead the entire SDA church and organizational ship out to sea? These tares would have to be located in the highest leadership positions in the church.

- As the chart is the Bible then what would represent the compass? The Spirit of Prophecy! The chart shows the destination and where all the coral reefs, hidden rocks, and dangerous snares are hidden which would destroy the ship, and the compass shows the direction of where to steer the ship so it can safely reach its destination. Both are vitally necessary to guide the ship safely into harbor.

So putting these meanings all together we see the complete and overall picture of what condition the SDA church was in during this time. We find that Satan's tares or agents were in the highest leadership positions in the SDA church and had cut the line connecting the entire church to their anchor and to Christ. These tares were leading the church body and organization away from their original foundation of truth, away from the 3 angel's messages or the established faith of the remnant church, and were fast becoming independent of these truths or an "offshoot." They were also leading the church away from Christ so that the members would have to look to man, and to trust in man, and expect help from man instead of looking to Jesus for all these things.

They had taken the control of the church away from Christ, into their own finite hands, and were drifting it out to sea refusing to take the Bible or the Spirit of Prophecy with which to steer and guide the church past all the coral reefs and hidden snares which would smash the structure and destroy the ship. What would happen to all those who stayed and remained with this Adventist ship? They would go right down with it and loose their lives.

Satan was seeking to have the entire SDA church and its membership bound up as tares in his bundles, and then to lead them to unite with his other satanic forces in the world. But did the Lord leave the church to continue to drift away from their anchor and from Christ to be bound up as tares and be destroyed? No!

TM 91-93: "The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones. This message was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It presented justification through faith in the Surety (Christ); it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God. Many had lost sight of Jesus. They needed to have their eyes directed to His divine person, His merits, and His changeless love for the human family...

"This is the message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel's message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure....The message of the gospel of His grace was to be given to the church in clear distinct lines,...For years the church has been looking to man and expecting much from man, but not looking to Jesus, in whom our hopes of eternal life are centered. Therefore God gave to His servants a testimony that presented the truth as it is in Jesus, which is the third angel's message, in clear, distinct lines."

2RH 266-67: "The peculiar work of the third angel has not been seen in its importance....the third angel's message comprehends more than many suppose. What interpretation do they give to the passage which says an angel descended from Heaven, and the earth was lightened with his glory?"

Where is this passage found in the Bible? Rev 18. This message is part of the third angel's message. It is this message, proclaiming the fall of Babylon the great and calling all of God's people to come out from everything that has become corrupt and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. It is this message that God wanted our people to accept and give to the world, and it is this message which is represented by the loud cry of the third angel!

God in mercy sent the righteousness of Christ of the third angel to bring the Adventist ship, with all its sleeping members back to their connection with Christ and their anchor on the truth. If this message would be accepted and acted upon, it would bind them into bundles or companies of wheat to advance and finish the work of God. But if refused and rejected by them, it would bind them into bundles or companies of tares and to unite with Satan's corrupting forces in the world, and they would become a cage of every unclean and hateful bird, and hence would hinder the advancement and finishing of God's work.

This harvest message was to separate the bundles of wheat away from everything that was in connection with and corrupted by the world, from everything that was in apostasy from God's truth, and away from everything which had become a cage of every unclean and hateful bird; bringing them solely and completely to Jesus.

In view of all this, what position did the leadership of the church take regarding these messages presented to them at the General Conference session held at Minneapolis in 1888? Did they repent from leading the church away to sea, away from Christ, to come back into being connected with their anchor and their eternal rock? Or did they reject these precious messages, showing themselves to be the tares and agents of the devil in control of the church, and leading them closer and closer to uniting with the world and to strike the rocks before they reach the harbor? Which course did the leadership pursue?

Manuscript 13, 1889 (MR #574, p 15-16): "The men in responsible positions have disappointed Jesus. They have refused precious blessings, and refused to be channels of light, as He wanted them to be. The knowledge they should receive of God...they refuse to accept, and thus became channels of darkness. The Spirit of God is grieved."

TM 468: "The true religion, the only religion of the Bible, that teaches forgiveness only through the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, that advocates righteousness by faith of the Son of God, has been slighted, spoken against, ridiculed, and rejected."

As they rejected the righteousness of Christ, refusing to believe that God's people could overcome all sin in this lifetime before Christ comes (see Acts of Apostles (AA), p 531), what did they do with the Revelation 18 message or the loud cry of the third angel?

"Taking up a Reproach" (published in the Brisbin Book p 10-11 and in "Some History, Some Experience and Some Facts" p 1, by A.T. Jones--NOTE: some reprints of this book do not include this): "In 1888 in the General Conference held at Minneapolis, Minn., the angel of Rev 18 came down to do his work, and was ridiculed, criticized and rejected."

Which was? They crucified Him! So the SDA leadership refused to return the Adventist ship along with all its members back to its connection with their line, their anchor, and to Christ. These tares continued to drift the church with all of its sleepy members on board out to sea, farther and farther away from Christ and the platform of truth. To be blown around by the winds of false doctrine and error, and to sooner or later have its structure destroyed by striking the hidden rocks and snares which they did not see or know about because they refused to take along the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy to guide them. The entire ship with all the members on board would go down into the black depths.

If this course were to continue on, the SDA ship would drift farther and farther away to sea, and away from Christ and salvation. If you were one of the members on board who had just awakened to the startling situation, what would be the only chance that you would have to save your life and maybe the lives of the other members? You would have to leave the doomed ship as quickly as you could, trying to warn as many of the members as you were doing so. Your only safety would be to fix your eyes upon the Eternal Rock and not rest until your feet were planted safely upon its firm foundation.

In other words, if the leaders of the SDA church would continue to manifest the same evil spirit that they did at Minneapolis; if they would continue to reject the third angel's message, then they would be bound up with Satan's tares and led to unite with them in the world, and the doom of the denomination is certain. Then, the only way to save your life would be to completely separate yourself from the church.

TM 467-470: "The prejudices and opinions that prevailed at Minneapolis are not dead by any means; the seeds sown there in some hearts are ready to spring into life and bear a like harvest. The tops have been cut down, but the roots have never been eradicated, and they still bear their unholy fruit to poison the judgment, pervert the perceptions, and blind the understanding of those with whom you connect...There has been a departure from God among us, and the zealous work of repentance and return to our first love essential to restoration to God and regeneration of heart has not yet been done....With many the cry of the heart has been, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.' Baal, Baal, is the choice. The religion of many among us will be the religion of apostate Israel, because they love their own way, and forsake the way of the Lord....The steps now being taken by the few cannot be followed by the remnant people of God. Your course cannot be sustained by the Lord."

What would happen if the remnant people or wheat would choose to follow the suggestions and plans of these tares who where controlling the church? Sister White writes exactly what would happen, after she describes the men who have rejected Christ's grace and righteousness and who would crucify Him again--which is exactly what the leadership of the SDA church did.

TM 89-97: "I inquire of those in responsible positions in Battle Creek (G.C. headquarters), What are you doing? You have turned your back, and not your face, to the Lord....What is the message to be given at this time?--It is the third angel's message. But that light which is to fill the whole earth with its glory, has been despised...I know not but some have even now gone too far to return and to repent....The Spirit of God is departing from among His people. Many have entered into dark, secret paths, and some will never return. They will continue to stumble to their ruin. They have tempted God, they have rejected light. All the evidence that will ever be given them they have received, and have not heeded. They have chosen darkness rather than light, and have defiled their souls....They have interposed themselves between the heaven-sent light and the people. They have trampled upon the word of God, and are doing despite to His Holy Spirit.

"I would speak in warning to those who have stood for years resisting light and cherishing the spirit of opposition. How long will you hate and despise the messengers of God's righteousness?...Let me prophesy unto you: Unless you speedily humble your hearts before God, and confess your sins, which are many, you will, when it is too late, see that you have been fighting against God....no longer unto reformation and pardon...

"Your turning things upside down is known of the Lord. Go on a little longer as you have gone, in rejection of the light from heaven, and you are lost....I have no smooth message to bear to those who have been so long as false guideposts, pointing the wrong way."

Letter 81, May 31, 1896 (Spalding and Magan Collection, p 35): "The same work that has been done in the past will be carried forward under the guise of the General Conference Association....if the people in our churches understood the management of the men who walk in the light of the sparks of their own kindling, would they respect their decisions? I answer no, not for a moment. I have been shown that the people at large do not know that the heart of the work is being diseased and corrupted..."

So the same rejection of Christ and the third angel's message, and the same evil spirit that was manifested in the past at Minneapolis, will continue to occur through the entire General Conference Association to the end of time! The leadership of the church will continue to lead the entire church and organizational ship farther and farther away from their anchor and Christ, and the entire church membership will be in danger of being bound up in bundles with tares and loosing their eternal lives!

TM 409-15: "Unsanctified ministers are arraying themselves against God. They are praising Christ and the god of this world in the same breath....Many will stand in our pulpits with the torch of false prophecy in their hands, kindled from the hellish torch of Satan....O, why will men be hindrances, when they might be helps? Why will they block the wheels, when they might push with marked success? Why will they rob their own souls of good, and deprive others of blessings that might come through them? These rejecters of light will remain barren deserts, where no refreshing, healing waters flow, and their ministration as barren of moisture as were the hills of Gilboa, where there was neither dew nor rain. They are not clothed with divine unction, and convey no blessings to others...

"I address the people of God who to-day are holding fast their confidence, who will not depart from the faith once delivered unto the saints, who stand amid the moral darkness of these days of corruption. The word of the Lord to you is: 'I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people.' Can we not here see the paternal love of God expressed to those who hold fast to the faith in righteousness? The closest relationship exists between God and His people....The Lord rejoices over His people. He delights in them. He is their surety. He will beautify all who are serving Him with a whole heart, with the spirit of holiness. He clothes them with righteousness. He loves those who do His will, who express His image. All who are true and faithful are conformed to the image of His son."

So the leadership of the SDA church have proven themselves to be tares and were being bound up in Satan's bundles. She had tried to awaken our sleepy people to the fact that the tares, or the agents of the devil, would be their very own Adventist ministers, standing in their very own Adventist pulpits, preaching errors and falsehood to their very own Adventist people. Satan was trying to keep the majority of the church to continue on sleeping, while those who were awake he was trying to get to reject the third angel's message.

She also said that out of the entire church of SDA's, God only considers those who hold fast their confidence in His established truths firm to the end, and who do not give up their faith in the 3 angel's messages, to be His people, His true Jerusalem and that He would only clothe these with His righteousness. So the rest of the church, who do not fit this description would be tares and were not considered to be God's people, but were just a deceptive counterfeit of the remnant church.

5RH 341, col 2: "Here are plainly represented two distinct parties, formed from a company that was once united. The members of one of these parties are in resistance to the will of God. They have taken themselves from the side of the loyal and true, and are now resisting the warnings of the Spirit of God."

Since Satan was binding and uniting his tares and forces together in the world, making them corrupt and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird, and the leadership of the SDA church has proven themselves to be tares, did Satan succeed in getting the SDA church to also unite with the world, making them corrupt and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird? She warns the leaders:

TM 265-77: "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.'...The world is the chief enemy of religion. The satanic forces are constantly at work through the world...Be afraid of uniting or binding up in bundles with them...Let us not form unholy bonds of union with the friends of the world; for God has pronounced His curse upon all such unions. Let the people of God take their stand firmly for truth and for righteousness."

So if the church united with the world, they would become corrupt and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Where is this found in the Revelations? Chapter 18, and we found out that Revelation 18 is the harvest message which harvests or separates the bundled wheat out of the field. Who did we find represents the field? The church!

So if the SDA church unites with the world, becoming corrupt and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird, then the harvest message of Revelation 18 would go to the SDA church along with the rest of the churches or the other fields. Since this realization was so extremely important for the leaders and people to understand, she again repeats her testimony a few years later.

8T 118-19: "The line of demarcation between worldings and many professed Christians is almost indistinguishable. Many who once were earnest Adventists are conforming to the world--to its practices, its customs, its selfishness. Instead of leading the world to render obedience to God's law, the church is uniting more and more closely with the world in transgression. Daily the church is being converted to the world." (see also COL 315-16).

TDWG 28: "The central power of the earth is a demon. His throne is in the midst of the world, where should have been seen the throne of God. He has been patronized by the church, for the church has been conformed to the world, and is living in transgression of the Holy Law of God."

6T 242: "They have united to destroy God's image in man, to counterwork the gospel by perverting its principles. They are represented in God's word as being bound in bundles to be burned. Satan is uniting his forces for perdition. The unity of God's people has been terribly shaken."

As the SDA church have united with the world, they have become corrupt and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird, just like the rest of the world. As the Revelation 18 message is to be given to the world to harvest God's wheat out of the churches, so the Rev 18 message is to be given to the SDA church to harvest God's true wheat out also. Does Sister White agree with this, that the Rev 18 message is to be given to the church? Yes!

4RH 109, col 3: "The first, second, and third angel's messages are to be repeated. The call is to be given to the church: '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....come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.'"

Is this true? Because I can just hear the majority of the church and almost all of the self-supporting institutions and people saying today, over and over again, "No way! Why Sister White never in her entire life, nor in any of her writings, ever foresaw the necessity of the coming out of God's people from the SDA church, no matter how corrupted and apostate the church would become."

I can also hear the White Estates quoting this statement from Willie White over and over again stating: "I told (Miss Lida Scott) how mother regarded the experience of the remnant church, and of her positive teaching that God would not permit this denomination to so fully apostatize that there would be the coming out of another church" May 23, 1915, White Estate, W.C. White correspondence file.

So is it true what the White Estates, the church, and the majority of the self-supporting institutions are saying that Sister White never foresaw that there would come a time when there would be the necessity of another coming out of God's true people? Because if she did make such a statement, and it is in her writings, then it would prove the White Estates and the leadership of the church to be liars and deceivers and tares of the devil. It would also prove the majority of the self-supporting institutions and ministries to be either terribly mistaken, or also liars and deceivers or tares of the devil, and if they were honestly mistaken then they would need to publically apologize to all the people for misleading them, and then begin to strongly advocate separation from the church.

Manuscript 30, June, 1889 (MR #895, p 2-5): "The Lord was working (at Minneapolis) and I must be faithful to speak the word given me of God, although I was passing through the most grievous trial of my life, for, from this hour, that confidence which I had hitherto had that God was leading and controlling the minds and hearts of my brethren was not as here to fore....from this time I must look alone to God, for I dare not rely upon the wisdom of my brethren. I see they do not always take God for their counselor, but look in a larger degree to the men that have set before them in the place of God...

"I was confirmed in all I had stated in Minneapolis, that a reformation must go through the churches. Reforms must be made, for spiritual weakness and blindness were upon the people who had been blessed with great light and precious opportunities and privileges. As reformers they had come out of the denominational churches, but they now act a part similar to that which the churches acted. We hoped that there would not be the necessity for another coming out....

"Those who went all through that meeting and left with the same spirit...were carrying on the same line of work they did at the meeting, and...would, unless they were changed in spirit and confessed their mistakes, go into greater deceptions. They would stumble and know not at what they were stumbling. I begged them to stop just were they were.

"Many are ignorant of the deception which palms off falsehood for truth....we will not keep silent. The church must be roused. We will secure halls in the cities and put out handbills and the people shall be enlightened....and yet men in responsible positions will in their blindness keep the key of knowledge, refusing to enter themselves and hindering those who would enter....and Satan is doing his utmost...that those who have accepted unpopular truth, who have had great light and great privileges, shall have the spirit that will pervade the world." (Need copies please write to P.O. Box 328, Rogue River, OR 97537).

So Sister White did foresee the necessity for another coming out of God's people from the church, if the leadership continue on to manifest the same evil spirit as they did at Minneapolis. We found that the leadership did indeed continue on and will continue to do so until the end of time. So if we can see them manifesting the same spirit today, following in the tradition and same rejection of truth that they did in 1888, then there is no question but that separation is a necessity. Are they following today in the same tradition of 1888?

"In 1888 the direction of the Adventist church took an upward turn at the Minneapolis ministerial pre-session....and the church has not been the same since....the 1985 World Ministers Council follows in the tradition of 1888" Ministry Magazine, Nov. 1984 p 22.

The majority of the church along with most all of the self-supporting (or I should say church supporting) institutions and ministries repeat over and over again, "That it is the angels who are the only ones who do the work of separation, so do not let any person try to do the work of separation today." Is this true?

Oh, dear brothers and sisters, in this period of time today, it is not literal angels who do the work of separating the wheat out of all the corrupt churches who have become a cage of every unclean and hateful bird, including the SDA church, but it is people who do this work of separation by accepting the message and raising their voices, proclaiming all the plain, straight present truths. We have been deceived into believing that we had to stay and remain in the midst of all the apostasy and corruption within the church, and wait for the angels to pick us up and carry us out, when all we had to do was to willingly accept and obey the truth and willingly walk out of the church and unite our voices to call other precious wheat out also.

4RH 20, col 1: "With the great truth we have been privileged to receive, we should, and under the Holy Spirit's power we could, become living channels of light. We could then approach the mercy-seat; and seeing the bow of promise, kneel with contrite hearts, and seek the kingdom of heaven with a spiritual violence that would bring its own reward. We would take it by force, as did Jacob. Then our message would be the power of God unto salvation. Our supplications would be full of earnestness, full of a sense of our great need; and we would not be denied. The truth would be expressed by life and character, and by lips touched with the living coal from off God's alter. When this experience is ours, we shall be lifted out of our poor, cheap selves, that we have cherished so tenderly. We shall empty our hearts of the corroding power of selfishness, and shall be filled with praise and gratitude to God. We shall magnify the Lord; the God of all grace, who has magnified Christ. And he will reveal his power through us, making us as sharp sickles in the harvest-field."

God's people are the ones who separate and call out the wheat from the tares which is in perfect and complete harmony with Christ's explicit command to not separate the tares from the wheat, unless open sinning occurs! God's people, by exposing all the corruption and calling for separation, are not separating the tares from the wheat, but are calling out and separating the wheat from all the corrupt and apostate tares!

2RH 48, col 2: "Christ was a protestant. He protested against the formal worship of the Jewish nation, who rejected the counsel of God against themselves. He told them that they taught for doctrines the commandments of men, and that they were pretenders and hypocrites. Like whited sepulchers they were beautiful without, but within were full of impurity and corruption. 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."

In DA 232 she states that "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." She even continues to say that Jesus gathered out as many as He could, so they could learn His truths and then carry them to others. (If you want other testimonies where she says Christ separated from His church read AA 16, TM 35, DA 626, 3SOP 81, 3RH 631, col 1).

Isaiah 28:9: "Whom shall he (God) teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk (or those who go away from obtaining all their substance of knowledge from another human and are able to learn it from God alone--see Hebrews 5:13) and drawn from the breasts" (or those who are separated away from the mother church).

Signs of the Times, vol 1, p 264, col 3 (2BC 1010, col 2): "As the men of Israel witnessed the corrupt course of the priests, they thought it safer for their families not to come 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."

4RH 42, col 1: "Even though you may not feel able to speak a word to those who are working on wrong principles, leave them. Your withdrawal and silence may do more than words. Nehemiah refused to associate with those who were untrue to principle, and he would not permit his workmen to associate with them."

Letter 16F, May 9, 1892 (MR #995, p 5): "There is a little hope in one direction, take the young men and women and place them where they will come as little as possible in contact with our churches, that the low grade of piety which is current in this day shall not leaven their ideal of what it means to be a Christian."

EW 125: "God is displeased with us when we go to listen to error, without being obliged to go; for unless He sends us to those meetings where error is forced home to the people by the power of the will, He will not keep us. The angels cease their watchful care over us, and we are left to the buffetings of the enemy, to be darkened and weakened by him and the power of his evil angels; and the light around us becomes contaminated with the darkness."

God tells us that the only time that we are protected from error and corruption in the church is if He leads us into it to warn the people in person. But when God does not lead us to warn the people in person, then other methods are to be used to warn and awaken them, such as tapes, letters, papers, books, phone calls, etc.

Manuscript #106, Nov. 20, 1905 (MR #454, p 23): "I am instructed to say that we must do all we possibly can for these deceived ones. Their minds must be freed from the delusions of the enemy, and if we fail in our efforts to save these erring ones, we must 'come out from among them' and be separate."

5T 83: "We cannot be half the Lord's and half the world's. We are not God's people unless we are such entirely. Every weight, every besetting sin, must be laid aside. Gods's watchmen will not cry, 'Peace, peace,' when God has not spoken peace. The voice of the faithful watchmen will be heard: 'Go ye out from hence, touch not the unclean. Go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.'"

When will this period of Christ's last ministration end? At the close of the world's probation. After that time the last great final harvest and gathering in of the precious wheat from all the tares in the world will be accomplished by the literal angels of God. Christ will then come to gather His people home.

These 144,000, as Rev 14:4 says are not defiled with women, or churches, so they are not members of any earthly and corrupt church or organization, but they are only connected to and members of the Jerusalem above, or the Heavenly Jerusalem which is the mother of us all (see Galatians 4:26, Hebrews 12:22-23, Psalms 137:6, Isaiah 33:20-22). If we are not connected to and members of this pure church above, with Christ as our only pastor, then we are lost!

The tares at that time will be made up of who? The whole rest of the wicked world who are still alive, especially the synagogue of Satan which are the greatest tares and agents of the devil, because they say they are Jews, or they say that they are the true remnant of God, but they do lie. They are not the remnant church or people at all, but are a deceptive counterfeit.

She writes in EW 124 and 282, about the leaders of this synagogue of Satan, that these false shepherds will not be tormented with just one or two of the 7 last plagues, but they will feel them all, and their suffering through these plagues will be 10 times more severe than that of their doomed people. These vilest of tares will be led to worship at the feet of the saints and will be the last ones of the wicked to die. You see, the greater your profession, the greater your punishment if unfaithful.

Now some will still refuse to accept that the harvest processes, the separation of the wheat from the tares etc. has already begun, and is going on right now, and will continue until probation closes. These will continue to believe and teach the great lie of futurism putting off the harvest and the separation of the wheat from the tares only into the future, and honest souls will continue to be deluded. It is to such as these that I quote this testimony written almost 100 years ago.

Letter 12, Aug. 22, 1892, p 3 (Last Day Events, p 90): "As character develops, men and women will take their positions; for varied circumstances brought to bear upon them will cause them to reveal the spirit which prompts them to action. Everyone will reveal the character of the bundle with which he is binding himself. The wheat is being bound up for the heavenly garner....the true people of God are now pulling apart, and the tares are being bound in bundles to burn, decided positions will be taken."

Please do not believe this great lie of futurism which puts off the harvest and the separation of the wheat from the tares only into the future, because the harvest and the separation of the wheat, or the precious jewels of God, from the midst of the Adventist church is going on right now. We decide ourselves into which bundle we will be binding ourselves; either wheat or tares. She had a vision of this exact time in which we are now living, and writes:

EW 69: "...the Lord showed me that a great work must be done for His people before they could stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. I was pointed to those who claim to be Adventists, but who reject the present truth, and saw that they were crumbling, and that the hand of the Lord was in their midst to divide and scatter them now in the gathering time, so that the precious jewels among them, who have formerly been deceived, may have their eyes opened to see their true state. And now when the truth is presented to them by the Lord's messengers, they are prepared to listen, and see its beauty and harmony, and to leave their former associates and errors, embrace the precious truth, and stand where they can define their position." (see also EW 261 and 3RH 169, col 2).

This is exactly what we are seeing right now. The message of the 3rd angel and the harvest message of Revelation 18 is now being given to the SDA church to ripen the field, separate the tares and the wheat into two groups within the church, and to harvest the bundled wheat or companies of God's people out from their connection to their field or church, so that they have a chance to be saved in the garner of God.

What is going to be your decision? If you choose to remain within the church or within the field, you have sealed your own destiny, to be bound up as tares and to be destroyed. Because it is only the wheat, who are harvested and separated out of their field, who have a chance to be saved.

3T 115: "The trials to which Christians are subjected in sorrow, adversity, and reproach are the means appointed of God to separate the chaff from the wheat. Our pride, selfishness, evil passions, and love of worldly pleasure, must all be overcome; therefore God sends us afflictions to test and prove us, and show us that these evils exist in our characters. We must overcome through his strength and grace, that we may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 'For our light affliction,' says Paul, 'which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.' Afflictions, crosses, temptations, adversity, and our varied trials, are God's workmen to refine us, sanctify us, and fit us for the heavenly garner."

So after you leave the field, Satan will do anything and everything to overthrow you and your faith, to try and keep you from being saved within the barn. While the wheat were in the field, things went pretty smoothly, but as soon as they were separated out, things got rough and many buds of wheat showed themselves to be but empty and worthless chaff, they left the refining process and blew away from the company of wheat. But Sister White admonishes us and says.

Letter 16F, May 9, 1892 (MR #995, p 8-9): "Satan has placed his active agents along the passage to dispute the way of every soul. Christ has encouraged his followers not to be intimidated, press on; urge your way through. 'Strive to enter in at the straight gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.' Darling, cherished idols will have to be given up, and the sins that have been indulged, even if it comes as close as the plucking out of the eye or cutting off the right arm. Agonize! Force your way through the very armies of hell that oppose your passage....every energy of the soul must be aroused to force their passage, and seize the kingdom by force....

"Jesus has provided for every emergency. He, with His experience will create an atmosphere for the soul. He closes the door and brings the soul into seclusion with God, and the needy soul is to forget everyone and everything, but God. Satan will talk with him, but speak aloud to God and He will drive back the hellish shadow of Satan. With humble, subdued, thankful hearts they will come forth saying, 'thy gentleness hath made me great.' The sincere seeker comes forth from the alliance with God, rich in assurance of His love, to go forth to distill a heavenly prayer wherever he goes. He can talk of the righteousness of Christ; he can talk of the love of God with sincerity. He has trusted and he knows the Lord is good."