"LET THERE BE LIGHT" Ministries
BABYLON: Part 3 - Fruits quotes
1) "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit; neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." Matthew 7:16-20.
2) "Concerning Babylon, the symbol of the apostate church..." Christ's Object Lessons, p 179.
3) “The wine of Babylon is the exalting of the false and spurious sabbath above the Sabbath which the Lord Jehovah hath blessed and sanctified for the use of man, also [it is] the immortality of the soul. These kindred heresies, and the rejection of the truth, convert the church into Babylon.” Selected Messages, book 2, p 68.
4) "What is the Raison D'etre [French word for "reason for existence"] of the Seventh-day Adventist church? In short, it is to proclaim to the entire world the gospel in the setting of God's special threefold message [Revelation 14] and thus prepare a people for the coming of Christ." Adventist Review, August 19, 1982, p 13 (see also Ministry, December, 1992, p 24).
5) "...the truth, as we understand it for this end time, is real, its relevant, its defensible, it will stand the test of scrutiny." Robert Folkenberg, from a taped Question & Answer talk show titled "Issues and Interviews," hosted by Don Snyder (president of Northern California Conference), February 19, 1993 from 8:00-10:00 pm on KCDS (an SDA radio station in Angwin, California).
6) "Seventh-day Adventist publishing houses, built by denominational investment, were instituted not to publish whatever a worker may elect, but to produce the finest literature possible to give our basic message the widest consistent circulation in the most representative fashion.
"Our houses...are partners in a threefold compact--they serve and protect the denomination itself, the denominational publisher, and the denominational author. They have both a denominational name to safeguard, and a publisher's name and reputation to protect. They, therefore, have book committees to read, evaluate, and recommend specific action and improvements on manuscripts. They have boards to make final decision, skilled staffs to check, edit, and correct the copy, and put it into acceptable form....
"When the finished product carries the stamp of a standard publishing house, it bears denominational approval. It is then a denominational, not a private, publication. It has a measure of authority and dignity not otherwise possible." Ministry, December, 1948, p 23, Review and Herald Publishing Association.
7) "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Revelation 14:6-7.
The Everlasting Gospel is the "Good News" about Jesus and the plan of redemption and salvation from sin through faith in Jesus Christ--the connecting link between God and man (John 14:6, Genesis 28:12-
13). This glorious gospel declares that we can be freely justified before God (Isaiah 45:25, Romans 3:28, Galatians 2:16, Romans 3:24, Titus 3:7, 1 Corinthians 6:11, Romans 5:9, 3:4, Matthew 12:37, Romans 2:13, James 3:20-24), obtain grace and strength to stand (Romans 5:1-5, Ephesians 6:10-18, Galatians 5:1), warring against and victoriously overcoming all temptations and sins (Romans 8:1-2) unto righteousness (Romans 6:16, 5:21) and continued sanctification through Christ and His Holy Spirit (Jeremiah 23:6, Isaiah 61:10, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, 2 Thessalonians 2:13) which strengtheneth us (Philippians 4:13). This gospel is not "all faith" or "all grace" which shuts out our efforts, nor is it "all works" which shuts out Jesus. It is the uniting of divinity and humanity--God working and us working for our salvation (Philippians 2:12-13, Revelation 22:14).
–What is the Plan of Redemption or Salvation? It is the "conditional" process (Testimonies, vol 2, p 691, vol 5, p 692, vol 3, p 481, vol 1, p 440; Patriarchs and Prophets, p 431; Bible Commentary, vol 7, p 931) whereby fallen humanity can be reconciled back to God (Patriarchs and Prophets, p 331) by their working participation and union with God (Acts of the Apostles, p 482; Testimonies, vol 6, p 372; Evangelism, p 596; Desire of Ages, p 296-297; Testimonies, vol 4, p 464) in the keeping of His laws (Selected Messages, book 1, p 218, 225; Testimonies, vol 5, p 515), and in the subduing of every sin in their life through the force of their will (Selected Messages, book 1, p 82; Desire of Ages, p 311; Steps to Christ, p 15; Patriarchs and Prophets, p 248; Mount of Blessings, p 61; Testimonies, vol 5, p 513; Matthew 11:12; Bible Commentary, vol 1, p 1095-1096) to reflect God's righteousness and to vindicate His character before all peoples (Patriarchs and Prophets, p 68). Jesus Christ made possible this glorious plan by being born of a virgin, clothing His divinity with, and becoming one with humanity (Desire of Ages, p 363), taking man's fallen sinful nature upon Him (Fundamentals of Christian Education, p 408; Testimonies, vol 5, p 235; Desire of Ages, p 49, 117; Bible Commentary, vol 4, p 1147; Review and Herald, vol 1, p 140, vol 3, p 421; Spirit of Prophecy, vol 2, p 39), and then engaging the strong foe's temptations with the inward pulling and drawing towards sin, but never giving in to this (Testimonies, vol 5, p 177; Bible Commentary, vol 7, p 929; Hebrews 4:15; Signs of the Times, vol 3, p 264). This was necessary in order for Christ to experience and overcome the strong temptations with which Satan tempts fallen humanity, and by Christ completely relying upon His Father for help to overcome the great temptations and to sustain Him in His work (Desire of Ages, p 24, 147, 674-675; Education, p 80; Messages to Young People, p 58), Christ broke Satan's hold upon man (Prophets and Kings, p 586), and provided humanity with a perfect example and pattern of how they can also overcome (Revelation 3:21; Testimonies, vol, p 45, 86; Desire of Ages, p 49; Sons and Daughters of God, p 23; Bible Commentary, vol 7, p 925, vol 5, p 1082; Acts of Apostles, p 531; Ministry of Healing, p 180-181).
This means that Christ had no advantage over humanity, and that we can, by uniting with God through Christ by faith, exercise the same powers which Christ had in order to live a pure spotless life out of love for God (Desire of Ages, p 24, 664). Christ bore, suffered, and died upon the cruel cross, rose the third day, and ascended to heaven to minister as our High Priest before God in securing for humanity the choice to serve God or Satan. Thus the "humanity of Christ means everything to us" (Our High Calling, p 48), because if Christ did not take on Him our fallen sinful nature, but had an unfallen nature like Adam before the fall or of the angels, then He could not have suffered by being tempted, and would not know what you or I are going through when we are tempted. Thus He could not know how to succor or help us out of the temptation! But praise God this is not the case. Christ did have our fallen sinful nature upon Him, and He did suffer by being tempted. Thus He can help us in every time of need (Hebrews 2:10, 16, 18, 5:7-9; Testimonies, vol 5, p 177).
–What is sin? "Sin is the transgression of the law" of God, or the ten commandments (1 John 3:4, 2:7; Exodus 20:1-17).
–What is Justification? Justification is the gift from God of full and complete pardon from passed acknowledged, confessed, and forsaken sins (Proverbs 28:13; 1 John 1:9; Selected Messages, book 1, p 391; Bible Commentary, vol 6, p 1071). Justification is manifested by the transformation of character (Bible Commentary, vol 6, p 1071), and is not given or retained while transgressing God's law (Selected Messages, book 1, p 213, 366; James 2:24). It is not "once justified (saved) always justified (saved)!"
–What is Sanctification? Sanctification is the continual growing in grace (Bible Commentary, vol 7, p 947) by daily studying God's word (1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Timothy 4:5; John 17:19) and daily dying to self by conforming to God's will (Testimonies, col 4, p 299). We must keep God's law to attain and maintain sanctification (Counsels on Health, p 69; Great Controversy, p 467; Testimonies, vol 2, p 472). Thus it means perfect love, perfect obedience, perfect conformity to God's will (Isaiah 5:16; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Acts of Apostles, p 565).
–What does it mean to "fear God"? To fear God means to love (Deuteronomy 10:12), reverence (Psalms 89:7), trust (Psalms 115:11), serve (Joshua 24:14, 1 Samuel 12:14, 24), hope (Psalms 33:18-22, 147:11), keep His commandments (Deuteronomy 31:12-13, 17:19, 5:29; Psalms 112:1), and depart from evil (Proverbs 3:7, 16:6; 2 Chronicles 19:7; Exodus 20:20; Psalms 34:11, 14; Job 28:28; Proverbs 8:13).
–What does it mean to "give glory to Him"? To give glory to God means to reflect His righteous character in your own life and actions (Exodus 33:18-23, 34:5-8; Acts 10:35; 1 Corinthians 15:33-34; Psalms 29:1-2, 86:7-
13).
–What does it mean that "the hour of His judgement is come"? This means that the day of God's judgment had arrived on October 22, 1844 (Evangelism, p 223; Selected Messages, book 1, p 125; Testimonies, vol 5, p 692). Those who have chosen to serve God and continued faithful to Him would be judged worthy of everlasting life (Great Controversy, p 480; Testimonies, vol 4, p 384), but those who choose to reject God and His means of salvation, and to continue in sin, would be judged unworthy of everlasting life (1 Peter 4:17; Romans 2:5-9; Great Controversy, p 482-486; Early Writings, p 280). All our sins are being written down in the record books of heaven for the purpose of the judgment (Daniel 7:9-11; Great Controversy, p 487; Christ’s Object Lessons, p 310), and it starts first with the dead, and then with the living (Great Controversy, p 436; Selected Messages, book 1, p 125). The judgment does not free us from sin, but awakens us to the urgency that time is short, and that we must be delivered through Jesus from sin's prison house before we are individually judged and can stand in the judgment (Great Controversy, p 436), or we will face eternal destruction (Revelation 20:11-15).
–What does it mean to "worship Him"? To worship God means that we honor, serve and obey God and Him alone (Psalms 96:9, 29:2, 5:7; 1 Chronicles 16:29; Matthew 4:10; John 4:23-24), that our spiritual allegiance is to God and Him alone and not to any man or church or government or nation or power (Acts 5:29; Galatians 1:10; Psalms 118:6, 8-9).
8) "...the 'everlasting gospel'...is salvation by faith in Jesus Christ apart from any works of righteousness on our part." Marked!, p 39, by Bob Spangler, Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1981.
"Together my husband and I had made the decision, after attending a series of nightly tent meetings sponsored by the Adventist church, to enter into a covenant relationship with Jesus....I could relax in my new faith, sit back, and let God do the rest." Adventist Review, June 10, 1982, p 10.
"The gospel is not doing something in order to make ourselves better. It is not reforming ourselves, using our will power to stop bad habits...this is not the gospel....Its good news: not that we should do something for God...it is salvation by faith...'Its all of Grace.'" Voice of Prophecy News, February, 1976, p 6, H.M.S. Richards, Sr.
"'If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness' (1 John 1:9). This is the overcoming of sin..." Cornerstone Connections Youth Quarterly, 2nd Quarter, 1994, p 62, Review and Herald Publishing Association.
(Other statements along this same line; Adventist Review, October 27, 1983, p 5, Adventist Review, October 24, 1985, p 5, Adventist Review, June 2, 1988, p 10.)
9) "Is our obedience to God's will (as some assert) composed partly of our efforts and part of God's? No! Such is not the case!" Marked!, p 129.
"So if I find that I am not obeying exactly as Jesus did yet, I don't need to feel alarm." Obedience of Faith, p 43, by Morris L. Venden, Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1983.
"Forgiveness is a gift, salvation is a gift, and obedience is a gift...He [Christ] wants to give us victory and overcoming as gifts." To Know God, p 101, 112, by Morris L. Venden, Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1983.
"He [Christ] gives us rest...from our own attempt to overcome sin and the devil, and from fighting the battles that Jesus has promised to fight for us....Remember that a gift is a gift." Adventist Review, December 24, 1981, p 5.
10) "As Adventists we believe in teaching the gospel, just like most of the churches around us....We are all saved by grace, not by what we do....
"The Seventh-day Adventist church is unique not in its preaching of the gospel, but in the setting in which it is preached." Adventist Review, Sept 13, 1984, p 7.
11) "...the good news about the Seventh-day Adventist Church..." Pacific Union Recorder, September 18, 1989, p 12.
12) "[Matthew 28:19-20 quoted]. The church has one business: The crucified and resurrected Lord commanded us to make disciples of men and women everywhere, and, after making these people faithful disciples, to teach them to become disciple-makers." Adventist Review, April 7, 1988, p 23.
13) "[Jesus] Took Sinless Nature of Adam Before Fall." Movement of Destiny, p 497, by Leroy Edwin Froom, Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1971.
"...Jesus had the absolute, perfect, sinless nature of Adam before He fell." Salvation by Faith and Your Will, p 93, by Morris L. Venden, Southern Publishing Association, 1978.
14) "Man sins because he is sinful. He is not sinful because he sins....You don't have to sin to be sinful; all you have to do is get yourself born!...Jesus is the only one who was born righteous." To Know God, p 22-23.
"Of course Jesus was born different. He had a sinless human nature, the same as Adam before his fall...Therefore it was natural for Jesus to be good. I was born with a sinful nature, and its natural for me to be bad." Salvation by Faith and Your Will, p 86. (Another statement along this same line: Adventist Review, June 28, 1990, p 8).
15) "When Jesus took the liabilities of fallen man, there was one that He did not take--man's sinful nature. He had a spiritual nature from birth...Jesus had no desire for sin. Can you say that about yourself?...
"All of this leads us to a very practical question: Did Jesus have some sort of advantage over us? Yes, He had an advantage over us..." Ministry, May, 1982, p 19.
16) "Because His humanity [nature] was sinless, Jesus could not experience the inner...urgings of sinful humans." Adventist Review, February 1, 1990, p 21.
17) "Sin...is any life that is apart from God." To Know God, p 22.
"You see, to the Father sin is a broken relationship, not a specific bad behavior.” Guide, August 10, 1991, p 23, Review and Herald Publishing Association.
"Many people think of sin as wrongdoing, breaking the law, and so on....Sin means being separated from God." Cornerstone Connections Youth Quarterly, 2nd Quarter, 1994, p 56-57.
"Sin is simply something you want to do but that some authority figure doesn't want you to enjoy..." Signs of the Times, November, 1992, p 5. (Another statement along this same line: Insight, March 12, 1994, p 15).
18) "...there is only one Justification, and it accompanies the believer from the time of faith's inception...all the way into the final judgment..." Adventist Review, August 11, 1983, p 4.
"Justification settles our present account, but is also applies to our future as a covering umbrella from the moment we accept Christ until we meet the Lord." Marked!, p 125.
19) "Salvation is still given people only on the basis of their faith in Jesus Christ, not because of their faithful keeping of God's law or any of its special parts." Adventist Review, April 12, 1984, p 9.
"Can we ever...receive power [God's grace] to overcome our present sinning? The answer is no. Sanctification is as much a gift of God as is Justification." Ministry, January, 1982, p 6.
"He (Christ) completed, once for all, our sanctification and redemption. No one can add to what He has done." Seventh-day Adventists Believe...A Biblical Exposition of 27 Fundamental Doctrines, p 128, by Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988. (Other statements along this same line: Adventist Review, July 28, 1983, p 8; Adventist Review, March 22, 1984, p 4).
20) "God declares us to be justified, or righteous, before our characters are changed. God accepts us as His sons and daughters even before we act like sons and daughters." Marked!, p 105.
"...God took the initiative to forgive and accept them in their sins..." Adventist Review, January 7, 1988, p 14.
21) "...nothing we can ever do will merit the favor of God." Questions On Doctrines, p 108, by Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1957.
"It is wrong for a person to attempt to live the Christian life. We are not asked to do so." Salvation by Faith and Your Will, p 40.
22) "You give God glory by keeping alert for things that show He's 'alive and a-love'--the wiggly, licky affection of a puppy, the aerodynamic miracle that is a bumblebee, the crisp sweetness of ripe watermelon, the damp, sleepy hug of a bedtime child, the steady pulse of life along your neck." Signs of the Times, March, 1993, p 15.
23) "The key question is not how to worship, but whom to worship....Worship means that the eternal gospel extends to all nations, tribes, tongues, and people. Worship means focusing on a God who loves our homelands even more than we do....Worship means embracing the hope of a New Jerusalem while living with Babylon all around us." Adventist Review, December 31, 1992, p 10.
24) "The General Conference, then, is the Seventh-day Adventist Church....The embodiment of the Remnant Church as a Christian Denomination, in a unified world-wide organization to which all baptized Seventh-day Adventists owe spiritual allegiance." Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (US Government) vs Pacific Press Publishing Association (SDA Church), Civ #74-2025 CBR, p 17 (trial proceedings from 1974-75).
25) "Satan has triumphed time and again by getting religious people to believe that when they fall or fail, they are condemned." Faith That Works, p 192.
"...[Adventists] fear of breaking the law and being counted out in the judgment. That is not Christianity." Angry Saints, p 143, by George R. Knight, Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1989.
"...do we need to fear the judgment of God? Is the news that the day of God's judgment has come (see Rev 14:6, 7) bad news or good news?...
"For those of us who have been sitting out our lives in the devil's prison house, beaten and bruised by the enemy while living in this world of sin, it is good news that the judgment is coming soon and that God's justice will be dealt out against sin. It means that our custody is almost over. It is almost time for us to be delivered." Signs of the Times, November, 1986, p 13.
"...God is not keeping a record of our sins up there [in heaven]..." Adventist Review, September 8, 1988, p 10.
26) "...the judgment scene...makes it clear that the basis for evaluating our fitness for the kingdom is the way we relate to those most difficult to relate to: the suffering and the outcast." Adventist Review, January 7, 1988, p 14 (emphasis in original).
27) "The word lost in the New Testament does not mean that someone is damned or doomed." Adventist Review, April 1, 1993, p 21. (NOTE: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible translates the word "lost" (#622) to mean "to destroy, die, lose, mar, perish.")