SDA Church History

Since 1985, many more testimonies have been released by the White Estates and subsequently published--most of these previously unknown to the Adventist laity. Many of these add significant insights as to what was occurring in SDA church history. Also substantially more beneficial and informative documentation of past church actions has become available. This additional information, coupled with the fact that nearly ten years has passed since the first publication, made it obvious that a second edition was definitely needed.

This enlarged, rewritten, and updated second edition still follows the year by year format with the writings of E.G. White to the SDA church up through 1915--or the first half of the book. The second half is largely made up of statements and documents from the SDA church itself, clearly showing how the church leadership have acted out "to the letter" the prophecies and predictions given against them should they refuse to follow God's revealed will.

This writer has no ax to grind against the SDA church, but is only interested that our SDA people are awake to, and knowledgeable about, the history of their church--from its beginning till now. This knowledge is the only way that our people may be able to avoid repeating the errors of the past, and also can know God's will for His people today.

God, at an infinite cost, sent His Son to die for us in order to save our freedom and protect our power to choose whom we are going to follow--Christ or Satan. Christ tells us to count the cost of following Him--in other words to become knowledgeable of what it means and what it takes to follow Him. This book is dedicated to those who choose to count the cost, becoming knowledgeable of what it means and will take to follow God's revealed will today and not to look back.

The phrases--"Abomination of desolation" and "Abomination that maketh desolate" are found in both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament it is found in Daniel 11:31 and 12:11. In the New Testament it is found in Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14. First, let us look at these parallel phrases and their meanings to ascertain what kind of abomination it is that brings the desolation.

In the Old Testament the Hebrew word for "abomination" is "shiqquts," meaning "disgusting, idolatrous or an idol, abominable filth, detestable."(1) In the New Testament the Greek word for "abomination" is "bdelugma," meaning "detestable idolatry."(2) Both these meanings apply to idolatry. But what kind of detestable idolatry is being spoken of? For this we need to look at how these words are used in the Bible, and then we can know what kind of idolatry is meant.

In the New Testament we find "bdelugma" used in Luke 16:15 and Revelation 21:27; stating that this detestable and disgusting "idolatry" is highly esteemed among men, but those who do such work will not enter heaven. In the Old Testament we find "shiqquts" used in 1 Kings 11:5-7 and 2 Kings 23:13 stating that Solomon worshipped Ashtoreth (the abomination of the Zidonians), Milcom (the abomination of the Ammonites), and Chemosh (the abomination of Moab).

Sister Ellen G. White states that God's chosen people today are considered to be His modern Israel.(3) As such we can pose the question: Is there any significance of these gods that Solomon worshipped to God's modern Israel of today--His Seventh-day Adventist people? To find the answer, let us first look at these false gods and what they stood for.

In ancient Babylonian times the sun and the constellation Orion represented Nimrod.(9) The moon, Venus (which was thought to be a star), and the constellation Cancer (the crab)(10) represented Nimrod's wife--Semiramis, who was also known as the "queen of heaven" and the "mother of the gods."(11) And the blazing star, as well as the constellation Aires (the ram) represented Tammuz,(12) the son of Semiramis--which was believed to be Nimrod reincarnated. Tammuz means "the purifying burner."(13) These three were the pagan trinity, and their symbols were also represented in the worship of Baal. The priests of Baal would sacrifice to the sun, moon, and stars.(14) But what did these symbols, especially the sun, symbolize? Lucifer! Nimrod symbolized Lucifer;(15) Tammuz--the son of Semiramis--represented Lucifer;(16) and, in fact, even Semiramis symbolized Lucifer--as Venus "the star of the morning"!(17)

The main symbol of Baal worship is the sun.(20) Sun worship has been around since the origin of Babylon and Nimrod. The main day to worship the sun is Sunday or Baal's day--the day of the sun.(21) We know that Solomon, the king of Israel, worshipped Baal and the sun. He was the wisest king that ever lived on this earth before Christ, and yet Solomon fell into idolatry. But how did he fall into sun worship, and under what circumstances?

"While Solomon exalted the law of heaven, God was with him, and wisdom was given him to rule over Israel with impartiality and mercy....But after a morning of great promise his life was darkened by apostasy....he who had led others to ascribe honor to the God of Israel, turned from the worship of Jehovah to bow before the idols of the heathen....

"In seeking to strengthen his relations with the powerful kingdom lying to the southward of Israel [which was Egypt], Solomon ventured upon forbidden ground....But in forming an alliance with a heathen nation...Solomon rashly disregarded the wise provision that God had made for maintaining the purity of His people....Solomon had begun to lose sight of the Source of his power and glory. As inclination gained the ascendancy over reason, self-confidence increased, and he sought to carry out the Lord's purpose in his own way....he entered into unholy alliance with nation after nation....The commands of Jehovah were set aside for the customs of surrounding peoples....

"So gradual was Solomon's apostasy that before he was aware of it, he had wandered far from God. Almost imperceptibly he began to put confidence in his own strength. Little by little he withheld from God that unswerving obedience which was to make Israel a peculiar people, and he conformed more and more closely to the customs of the surrounding nations....The money which should have been held in sacred trust for the benefit of the worthy poor and for the extension of principles of holy living throughout the world, was selfishly absorbed in ambitious projects....the king overlooked the need of acquiring the beauty and perfection of character....

"More and more the king came to regard luxury, self-indulgence, and the favor of the world as indications of greatness. Beautiful and attractive women were brought from Egypt, Phoenicia, Edom, Moab, and many other places....Their religion was idol worship...His wives exerted a strong influence over him and gradually prevailed on him to unite with them in their worship. Solomon had disregarded the instruction that God had given to serve as a barrier against apostasy, and now he gave himself up to the worship of false gods....

"Solomon's course brought its sure penalty. His separation from God through communication with idolaters was his ruin. As he cast off his allegiance to God, he lost the mastery of himself. His moral efficiency was gone....He mistook license for liberty. He tried--but at what cost!--to unite light with darkness, good with evil, purity with impurity, Christ with Belial....God can do little for men who lose their sense of dependence upon Him.

"During these years of apostasy, the spiritual decline of Israel progressed steadily. How could it be otherwise when their king had united his interests with satanic agencies? Through these agencies the enemy worked to confuse the minds of the Israelites in regard to true and false worship, and they became an easy prey....Refusing to follow the path of obedience, they transferred their allegiance to the enemy of righteousness....the Israelites rapidly lost their abhorrence of idol worship." Prophets and Kings, p 51-59.

"There is a lesson for us in the history of Solomon....He might have gone from strength to strength, from character to character, ever approaching nearer the similitude of the character of God, but how sad his history; he was exalted to most sacred positions of trust, but he proved unfaithful....Association with idolaters corrupted his faith; one false step led to another; there was a breaking down of the barriers which God had erected for the safety of His people; his life was corrupted...and at last he gave himself to the worship of false gods....

"All who occupy positions in our institutions will be tested. If they will make Christ their pattern, He will give them wisdom and knowledge and understanding; they will grow in grace and aptitude in Christ's way; their characters will be molded after His similitude. If they fail of keeping the way of the Lord, another spirit will control the mind and judgment, and they will plan without the Lord and will take their own course and leave the positions they have occupied. The light has been given them; if they depart from it, let no man present a bribe to induce them to remain. They will be a hindrance and a snare." Testimonies, vol 7 p 217-19.

The Hebrew word for "desolate" in Daniel 11:31 and 12:11 is "shamem," meaning "to stun, astonish, destroy, devastate, desolate."(22) The Greek word for "desolation" of Matthew 24:15 is "eremosis," meaning "despoliation, or desolation."(23) Websters states "despoliation" means "to strip, to deprive of something." The word "desolation" of Mark 13:14 is the Hebrew word "shimamah," meaning "devastation, astonishment, desolation."(24)

What were Christ's words to His true followers? "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand); Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains" Matthew 24:15-16. In Mark 13:14 He says; "standing where it ought not." In Luke 21:21 He says; "Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it [Jerusalem] depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance."

By putting these texts together we get a more perfect picture of Christ's words. He states that when the abomination of desolation stands where it ought not, in the holy place, then let His followers which be in Jerusalem and Judea come out and flee into the mountains, and let none return. "For these be the days of vengeance." These are strong words of warning from our Saviour. Yet this warning saved the lives of those Christians that escaped before Jerusalem was destroyed.

The Roman army, under command of general Cestius, surrounded Jerusalem in A.D. 66. But just before it fell, he unexpectedly withdrew his forces and, while retreating, he planted the abomination of desolation--the banner of Rome--in the holy ground. About three years later another Roman general named Titus resumed the assult, keeping up a siege until Jerusalem fell in A.D. 70. Thus there was absolutely no excuse for any of Christ's followers to lose their lives when Jerusalem was destroyed. The only people who did lose their lives were those who chose not to follow Christ's warnings but remained within Jerusalem. And it was only the mercy of God that Jerusalem was not destroyed sooner.

"Christ presented before them an outline of the prominent events to transpire before the close of time. His words were not then fully understood; but their meaning was to be unfolded as His people should need the instruction therein given. The prophecy which He uttered was twofold in its meaning: while foreshadowing the destruction of Jerusalem, it prefigured also the terrors of the last great day.

"Jesus declared to the listening disciples the judgments that were to fall upon apostate Israel, and especially the retributive vengeance that would come upon them for their rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah. Unmistakable signs would precede the awful climax. The dreaded hour would come suddenly and swiftly....When the idolatrous standards of the Romans should be set up in the holy ground, which extended some furlongs outside the city walls, then the followers of Christ were to find safety in flight. When the warning sign should be seen, judgment was to follow so quickly that those who would escape must make no delay. Throughout the land of Judea, as well as in Jerusalem itself, the signal for flight must be immediately obeyed....They must not hesitate a moment, lest they be involved in the general destruction." Great Controversy, p 25-26.

Many scholars believe that the standard or banner of Rome, which was set up in the holy ground of Jerusalem, was a lion-faced sun--its mane pictured as the alternating sun-rays. So the sign for flight was when the idolatrous standard of Rome--the banner of the sun--was set up or exalted in the holy place of Jerusalem. Christ's words of warning are also for us--His modern Israel. Since pagan Rome was replaced with papal Rome, what then is the idolatrous Roman standard of today? The banner of Roman Catholicism is undoubtedly the day of the sun--or Sunday worship. And what would be the abomination of desolation of today? It would be the setting up or the exalting of Sunday worship.

As the abomination of desolation--the banner of the sun--was set up in a holy place of Jerusalem, could it also be set up in a holy place of God's modern Israel--the Seventh-day Adventist church? Could Jerusalem prior to 70 A.D. be a representation of the SDA church today? Could the church repeat the same sins of Jerusalem that brought its destruction?

If the SDA church repeats the same sins of Solomon by disregarding the warnings and counsels of God, then they will also confound idolatry with our religion. And if they repeat the same sins of Jerusalem by refusing to walk in God's truth and rejecting His warnings, then the abomination of desolation, which is the exalting of Sunday worship in the holy place of God's Sabbath, will occur in the Seventh-day Adventist church. This would signify that the SDA church has departed from the worship of the true God, and are worshipping Lucifer instead. If this were to occur, then the sign for all of God's true SDA's to flee would be clearly seen.

"But the Israel of our time have the same temptation to scorn reproof and hate counsel as had ancient Israel....Neglect to repent and obey His word will bring as serious consequences upon God's people today as did the same sin upon ancient Israel. There is a limit beyond which He will no longer delay His judgments. The desolation of Jerusalem stands as a solemn warning before the eyes of modern Israel, that the corrections given through His chosen instruments cannot be disregarded with impunity." Testimonies, vol 4, p 165-67.

"If they will continue to disregard the reproofs He sends them, and act contrary to His declared will, ruin must follow; for God's people are kept in prosperity only by His mercy, through the care of His messengers. He will not uphold and guard a people who disregard his counsels and despise His reproofs." Testimonies, vol 4, p 176.

A serious question must be asked: Is the Seventh-day Adventist church following Christ and His teachings, or are they rejecting the truth and following the same path as did Solomon and Jerusalem--the path to ruin and destruction? The only way to answer this question is to examine the history of the SDA church.

The formal history of the Seventh-day Adventist church began in 1844. After the disappointment, God was leading our people ever closer to Himself and He greatly blessed us by giving us His messenger--Ellen Gould White. God gave, through her, the messages His people needed to hear and obey. Messages of great blessings and promises that all who remained faithful would share in. But there were also messages warning of the deceptive and seductive power of evil, and instruction on how to overcome it.

As the church was growing we kept our eyes firmly fixed on Christ, and we were greatly blessed. The message was extending far and wide, with the truth being presented in its pure, untainted form. God was working for and along with our people and we continued to prosper. There was no church organization or General Conference president, just ministers and people led by God's Holy Spirit. We prospered spiritually as well as physically because we allowed God to lead us and we were following His commandments and His biddings. Had we continued to do this, the whole world would have been warned to prepare and Christ would have come!(26) But we started to murmur. We gradually became less zealous and allowed ourselves to slow down in God's work. This is exactly what the devil was waiting for, so God sent a warning message to the church through Sister White.

"I saw Satan would work more powerfully now than ever he has before. He knows that his time is short...he will now work in every way that he can, and will try his every insinuation to get the saints off their guard and get them asleep on present truth, or doubting it, so as to prevent their being sealed with the seal of the living God...

"I saw that God wanted His people to be separate from the world; for wicked persons were the lawful prey of the enemy, and he would work through them in every way to perplex and destroy the saints, and if we were obliged to be in company with the wicked persons we must pray and watch every moment lest we should partake of their spirit; for they corrupted the atmosphere where they were and their very breath was darkness; and that the wicked would wax worse and worse, and we must cut loose from them and be free and free indeed. God does not want His people to mingle with the wicked more than they are obliged to....

"Could our eyes be opened, we should see forms of wicked angels around us, trying to invent some new and effectual way to annoy and destroy us; for I saw that God's watchful eye was over Israel, and that He would protect and save them, if they would put their trust in Him..." Manuscript 7, August 24, 1850, Last Day Events: from the Letters and Manuscripts of E.G. White, p 36-37. (See Manuscript Releases, vol 6, p 250)

God sent a message warning our people not to allow the devil to catch them off guard by their falling asleep or doubting the present truth which had made them God's people. They were also clearly instructed not to have any union with the world; they were to cut loose and be free from such darkness lest the church should partake of the world's wicked spirit and become corrupted. God also told our people that if they would continue to put their trust in Him only, His eye would be upon them to protect and save.

"...I saw that there was a great lack of faith with the servants of God, as well as with the church. They were too easily discouraged, too ready to doubt God, too willing to believe that they had a hard lot and that God had forsaken them. I saw that this was cruel....When they asked their Father in heaven for things which they thought they needed, and these did not immediately come, their faith wavered, their courage fled, and a murmuring feeling took possession of them. This, I saw, displeased God....

"...I was shown that God's people have been weighed down with clogs, that there have been Achans(27) in the camp. The work of God has progressed but little...God's frown has been brought upon the church on account of individuals with corrupt hearts being in it....Selfishness and exaltation have marked their course....The truth will take effect if the servants of God and the church will devote themselves to Him and His cause." Testimonies, vol 1, p 122 (June, 1855).

"I have seen an angel standing with scales in his hands weighing the thoughts and interest of the people of God...In one scale were the thoughts and interest tending heavenward; in the other were the thoughts and interest tending to earth....Oh, what a solemn moment! The angels of God standing with scales, weighing

the thoughts of His professed children--those who claim to be dead to the world and alive to God. The scale filled with thoughts of earth, vanity, and pride quickly went down, notwithstanding weight after weight rolled from the scale. The one with thoughts and interest tending to heaven went quickly up as the other went down, and oh, how light it was!...Said the angel: `Can such enter heaven? No, no, never. Tell them the hope they now possess is vain, and unless they speedily repent, and obtain salvation, they must perish.'

"A form of godliness will not save any....We are co-workers with Christ, or co-workers with the enemy. We either gather with Christ or scatter abroad. We are decided, wholehearted Christians, or none at all. Says Christ: `I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth' [Revelation 3:15]." Testimonies, vol 1, p 124-126.

"...I was shown in vision some things that concern the church...I was pointed back to the years 1843 and 1844. There was a spirit of consecration then that there is not now. What has come over the professed peculiar people of God? I saw conformity to the world, the unwillingness to suffer for the truth's sake. I saw a great lack of submission to the will of God....

"Jesus is coming; and will He find a people conformed to the world? And will He acknowledge these as His people that He has purified to Himself? Oh, no. None but the pure and holy will He acknowledge as His. Those who have been purified and made white through suffering, and have kept themselves separate, unspotted from the world, He will own as His.

"As I saw the dreadful fact that God's people were conformed to the world, with no distinction, except in name, between many of the professed disciples of the meek and lowly Jesus and unbelievers, my soul felt deep anguish. I saw that Jesus was wounded and put to an open shame. Said the angel, as with sorrow he saw the professed people of God loving the world, partaking of its spirit, and following its fashions: `Cut loose! Cut loose! lest He appoint you your portion with hypocrites and unbelievers outside the city. Your profession will only cause you greater anguish, and your punishment will be greater because ye knew His will, but did it not.'...

"God will have a people separate and distinct from the world. And as soon as any have a desire to imitate...the world, that they do not immediately subdue, just so soon God ceases to acknowledge them as His children. They are the children of the world and of darkness." Testimonies, vol 1, p 127-37 (May 27, 1856).

"...The Lord has shown me in vision some things concerning the church in its present lukewarm state, which I will relate to you. The church was presented before me in vision. Said the angel to the church: `Jesus speaks to thee, "Be zealous and repent."' This work, I saw, should be taken hold of in earnest. There is something to repent of. Worldly-mindedness, selfishness, and covetousness have been eating out the spirituality and life of God's people....

"I was shown that the testimony to the Laodiceans applies to God's people at the present time, and the reason it has not accomplished a greater work is because of hardness of their hearts. But God has given the message time to do its work. The heart must be purified from sins which have so long shut out Jesus. This fearful message will do its work....I saw that this message would not accomplish its work in a few months. It is designed to arouse the people of God, to discover to them their backslidings, and to lead to zealous repentance, that they may be favored with the presence of Jesus,(A) and be fitted for the loud cry of the third angel....

"God will prove His people. Jesus bears patiently with them, and does not spew them out of His mouth in a moment.(B) Said the angel: `God is weighing His people.'(C) If the message had been of as short duration as many of us supposed, there would have been no time for them to develop character....

"Said the angel: `God will bring His work closer and closer to test and prove every one of His people.'...If any will not be purified through obeying the truth, and overcome their selfishness, their pride, and evil passions, the angels of God have their charge: `They are joined to their idols, let them alone,' and they pass on to their work, leaving these with their sinful traits unsubdued, to the control of evil angels.(D) Those who come up to every point, and stand every test, and overcome, be the price what it may, have heeded the counsel of the True Witness, and they will receive the latter rain, and thus be fitted for translation."(E) Testimonies, vol 1, p 186-87.

"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 teachings of His word, or your spiritual work in anywise. He cannot present your religious exercises with the request that grace be given you." Testimonies, vol 6, p 408.

"God is represented as weighing all men, their words, their deeds, their motives, that which determines character....Now read the claims of God upon every man and woman: `Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself' [Luke 10:27]. He will not release one atom of His claim; He will not accept half worship while half the heart is given to some idol....

"I was shown that if the people of God make no effort on their part, but wait for the refreshing to come upon them and remove their wrongs and correct their errors; if they depend upon that to cleanse them from filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and fit them to engage in the loud cry of the third angel, they will be found wanting. The refreshing or power of God comes only on those who have prepared themselves for it by doing the work which God bids them, namely, cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." Testimonies, vol 1, p 619.

"I saw that many were neglecting the preparation so needful, and were looking to the time of `refreshing' and the `latter rain' to fit them to stand in the day of the Lord and to live in His sight. Oh, how many I saw in the time of trouble without a shelter! They had neglected the needful preparation; therefore they could not receive the refreshing that all must have to fit them to live in the sight of a holy God." Early Writings, p 71.

As we can see, the message that the SDA church is Laodicea is to bring repentance and purification. If the church does not accept the truth and repent of her backslidings and lukewarmness, then Christ's presence cannot return to the church. It will be found wanting. Its ministers will be led by Satan and will deceive our people, and they will not receive the latter rain which is to fit them to be part of the 144,000--to be translated to heaven. Truly this was a solemn and fearful message of warning and admonition to the SDA church in 1859.

"How many shrink from the purifying process! They are unwilling to live out the truth, unwilling to appear singular in the eyes of the world.(29) It is this mingling with the world that destroys our spirituality, pureness, and zeal. Satan's power is constantly exercised to stupefy the sensibilities of God's people, that their consciences may not be sensitive to wrong, and that the sign of distinction between them and the world may be destroyed....

"Those who profess to be Christians amid the perils of the last days, and do not imitate the humble, self-denying Pattern, place themselves in the enemy's ranks....The distance is widening between Christ and His people, and lessening between them and the world. The marks of distinction between Christ's professed people and the world have almost disappeared. Like ancient Israel,(30) they follow after the abominations of the nations around them....

"The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself; this consecration to God and separation from the world is plainly and positively enjoined in both the Old and the New Testament. There is a wall of separation which the Lord Himself has established between the things of the world and the things He has chosen out of the world and sanctified unto Himself. The calling and character of God's people are peculiar, their prospects are peculiar, and these peculiarities distinguish them from all other people....

"Those who will be heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ to the immortal inheritance, will be peculiar. Yes, so peculiar that God places a mark upon them as His, wholly His. Think ye that God will receive, honor, and acknowledge a people so mixed up with the world that they differ from them only in name?...It is soon to be known who is on the Lord's side..." Testimonies, vol 1, p 274-87.

"I was shown that a most solemn work is before us. Its importance and magnitude are not realized. As I marked the indifference which was everywhere apparent, I was alarmed for ministers and people. There seemed to be a paralysis upon the cause of present truth. The work of God seemed stayed....In their present state of worldly ambition, with their lack of consecration to God, their devotion to self, they are wholly unfit to receive the latter rain and, having done all, to stand against the wrath of Satan, who by his inventions would cause them to make shipwreck of faith, fastening upon them some pleasing self-deception. They think they are all right when they are all wrong....

"Ministers should be ensamples to the flock of God. But they are not safe from Satan's temptations. They are the very ones whom he will seek to ensnare....Selfishness, hypocrisy, and every species of deception, Satan clothes with a garment of apparent truth and righteousness, and triumphs in his success, even with ministers and people who profess to understand his wiles....

"I saw that before the work of God can make any decided progress, the ministers must be converted....The ministers must be converted before they can strengthen their brethren....A reformation is needed among the people, but it should first begin its purifying work with the ministers. They are watchman upon the walls of Zion, to sound the note of warning to the careless, the unsuspecting; also to portray the fate of the hypocrite in Zion....

"There is a great work to be accomplished for Sabbath-keepers. Their eyes must be opened and they see their true condition, and be zealous and repent, or they will fail of everlasting life. The spirit of the world has taken possession of them, and they are brought into captivity by the powers of darkness." Testimonies, vol 1, p 466-69, 478-79 (December 25, 1865).

"...I was shown the state of God's professed people. Many of them were in great darkness, yet seemed to be insensible to their true condition....Men who stand in very responsible positions at the heart of the work are asleep. Satan has paralyzed them in order that his plans and devices may not be discerned, while he is active to ensnare, deceive, and destroy.

"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,(32) 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. To them everything seems to be going well, and they see no necessity of raising the faithful, trumpet notes of warning which they hear borne by the plain testimonies, to show the people their transgressions and the house of Israel their sins. These reproofs and warnings disturb the quiet of these sleepy, ease-loving sentinels, and they are not pleased....

"These are the true feelings of many of our people. 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 that it is he." Testimonies, vol 2, p 439-40 (October 2, 1868).

Before we continue with the above testimony, let us understand what we have just read. Satan has so deceived the SDA leaders and ministers that they have willingly allowed him to deceive our people! They have also allowed Satan to plant his hellish banner in the midst of the church, where God's banner should be.

Solomon followed after Baal until his candlestick was removed and Israel fell into apostasy. This did not happen all at once, but was a gradual departure from God and from His truth. Will the SDA leadership also follow after Baal, gradually putting custom and tradition above God's wisdom and truth? If they do this, then their candlestick will be removed, and apostasy will prevail. This can only lead to one end--the exalting of Sunday! This will happen only if the SDA leadership continues to depart from God's light and truth, continues to link up with Satan, and unites with the world.

"God's professed people are selfish and self-caring. They love the things of this world, and have fellowship with the works of darkness. They have pleasure in unrighteousness. They have not love toward God nor love for their neighbors. They are idolaters, and are worse, far worse, in the sight of God than heathen, graven-image worshippers who have no knowledge of a better way.(34)...

"Like ancient Israel the church has dishonored her God by departing from the light, neglecting her duties, and abusing her high and exalted privilege of being peculiar and holy in character. Her members have violated their covenant to live for God and Him only. They have joined with the selfish and world-loving. Pride, the love of pleasure, and sin have been cherished, 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....

"But the Lord is dishonored and His cause reproached by His people's being in bondage to the world. They are in friendship with the world, the enemies of God. Their only hope of salvation is to separate from the world and zealously maintain their separate, holy, and peculiar character. Oh! why will not God's people comply with the conditions laid down in His word?...

"I have stated before them that, from what was shown me, but a small number of those now professing to believe the truth would eventually be saved--not because they could not be saved, but because they would not be saved in God's own appointed way. The way marked out by our divine Lord is too narrow and the gate too strait to admit them while grasping the world or while cherishing selfishness or sin of any kind....

"Seventh-day Adventists, who profess to be looking for and loving the appearing of Christ, should not follow the course of worldlings. These are no criterion for commandment keepers....Commandment-keeping Adventists occupy a peculiar, exalted position. John viewed them in holy vision and thus described them: `Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and have the faith of Jesus' [Revelation 14:12]." Testimonies, vol 2, p 440-46, 450.

"Consider, my brethren and sisters, that the Lord has a people, a chosen people, His church, to be His own, His own fortress, which He holds in a sin-stricken, revolted world; and He intended that no authority should be known in it, no laws be acknowledged by it, but His own." Testimonies to Ministers, p 16.

"Christ has a church in every age. Obedience to the commandments of God gives us a right to the privileges of this church. There are those in the church who are made no better by their connection with it. They themselves break the terms of their election. If we comply with the conditions God has made, we shall secure our election to salvation. Perfect obedience to His commandments is the evidence that we love God." Review and Herald, vol 4, p 202.

"God has a church. It is not the great cathedral, neither is it the national establishment, neither is it the various denominations; it is the people who love God and keep His commandments. `Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them' (Matt. 18:20). Where Christ is even among the humble few, this is Christ's church, for the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone constitute a church." Upward Look, p 315.

"In taking upon themselves the solemn covenant of the church they have pledged themselves to receive and obey the word of God, to give themselves to God's service, but they do not do this. In profession they claim to be sons of God, but in life and character they deny(35) the relationship. They do not surrender the will to God. They are living a lie." Christ's Object Lessons, p 279.

"There are many who profess the name of Christ whose hearts are not engaged in His service. They have simply arrayed themselves in a profession of godliness, and by this very act they have made greater their condemnation, and have become more deceptive and more successful agents of Satan in the ruin of souls."(36) Review and Herald, vol 2, p 197.

"Those who profess to be Christians, yet do not act as Christ would were He in their place, greatly injure the cause of God. They misrepresent their Saviour, and are standing under false colors...When Christians do not reveal Christ of what value are they? Are they not like savorless salt, `good for nothing'?" Review and Herald, vol 4, p 343.

We can clearly see that those SDA's who make a profession alone are denying Christ, misrepresenting Him, standing under the false colors of Satan's black banner, living a lie, are good for nothing, and are not God's true people. Nor are they a part of His true church, but are successful agents of Satan in deceiving their brethren.

"Speaking to His church Christ said, `Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them' [Matthew 18:19-20]. The professing Christian who is not a Christian in practice, is not included in this promise." Manuscript 9, February 10, 1908, Manuscript Releases, vol 17, p 164.

"Either the evil angels or the angels of God are controlling the minds of men. Our minds are given to the control of God, or to the control of the powers of darkness; and it will be well for us to inquire where we are standing today--whether under the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel, or under the black banner of the powers of darkness." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 6, p 1120.

"There can be only two classes. Each party is distinctly stamped, either with the seal of the living God, or with the mark of the beast or his image. Each son and daughter of Adam chooses Christ or Barabbas as his general. All who place themselves on the side of the disloyal are under Satan's black banner, and are charged with rejecting and despitefully using Christ. They are charged with deliberately crucifying the Lord of life and glory." Review and Herald, vol 4, p 148.

"Satan has a large confederacy, his church. Christ calls them the synagogue of Satan because the members are the children of sin. The members of Satan's church have been constantly working to cast off the divine law, and confuse the distinction between good and evil. Satan is working with great power in and through the children of disobedience to exalt treason and apostasy as truth and loyalty." Testimonies to Ministers, p 16.

"You think that those who worship at the saint's feet, [`the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie, behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee'] (Rev. 3:9), will at last be saved. Here I must differ with you; for God has shew me that this class were professed Adventists, who had fallen away, and `crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh,(37) and put Him to an open shame' [Hebrews 6:6].(38) And in the hour of temptation, which is yet to come, to show out every one's true character, they will know that they are forever lost; and overwhelmed with anguish of spirit, they will bow at the saint's feet." A Word to the little Flock, p 12 (April, 1847).

Sister White has extremely important testimonies dealing with God's church, and we must be able to distinguish which class that is being referred to--God's true people or those who say they are Adventists, and are not, but they do lie. Also remember that God's true church are those whose only authority is God. They keep His law, and have the faith of Jesus; while Satan's church are those professed SDA's who are the children of sin and disobedience, who confuse good and evil, and exalt treason and apostasy.

"I have waited anxiously, hoping that God would put His Spirit upon some and use them as instruments of righteousness to awaken and set in order His church. I have almost despaired as I have seen, year after year, a greater departure from that simplicity which God has shown me should characterize the life of His followers....

"But very few have an experimental knowledge of the sanctifying influence of the truths which they profess. Their obedience and devotion have not been in accordance with their light and privileges. They have no real sense of the obligation resting upon them to walk as children of the light, and not as children of darkness. If the light that has been given to these had been given to Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes, and would have escaped the signal wrath of God. It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for those who have been privileged with the clear light, and have had a vast amount of labor, but have not profited by it. They have neglected the great salvation which God in mercy was willing to bestow. They were so blinded by the devil that they verily thought themselves rich in the favor of God, when the True Witness declares them to be wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Testimonies, vol 2, p 483-84, 488-89.

"I have been shown that the greatest reason why the people of God are now found in this state of spiritual blindness is that they will not receive correction. Many have despised the reproofs and warnings given them. The True Witness condemns the lukewarm condition of the people of God, which gives Satan great power over them in this waiting, watching time....

"Those who are reproved by the Spirit of God should not rise up against the humble instrument. It is God, and not an erring mortal, who has spoken to save them from ruin. Those who despise the warning will be left in blindness to become self-deceived. But those who will heed it, and zealously go about the work of separating their sins from them in order to have the needed graces, will be opening the door of their hearts that the dear Saviour may come in and dwell with them. This class you will ever find in perfect harmony with the testimony of the Spirit of God....

"Some, in their tempted condition, charge the difficulties and perplexities of the people of God to the testimonies of reproof that we have given them. They think the trouble is with the ones who bear the message of warning, who point out the sins of the people and correct their errors. Many are deceived by the adversary of souls....They are doing the work of Satan, but think they have a zeal for God....They think that the people of God are not in need of plain dealing and of reproof,(41) but that God is with them. These tempted ones, whose souls have ever been at war with the faithful reproving of sin, would cry: Speak unto us smooth things....

"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." Testimonies, vol 3, p 254-60.

God's mercy is great towards the SDA people. SDA leaders, ministers, and people refused the warnings to repent from their sins, and still God did not send His judgments against them. In love He continues to send warnings. But how long can the professed church continue to refuse Christ and His warnings without consequences? As sins continued to grow, the testimonies became more pointed and blunt.

"The great heart of the work is at ______; and as the human heart throws its living current of blood into all parts of the body, so does the management at this place, the headquarters of our church, affect the whole body of believers. If the physical heart is healthy, the blood that is sent from it through the system is also healthy; but if this fountain is impure, the whole organism becomes diseased by the poison of the vital fluid. So it is with us. If the heart of the work becomes corrupt, the whole church, in its various branches and interests, scattered abroad over the face of the earth, suffers in consequence.

"Satan's chief work is at the headquarters of our faith. He spares no pains to corrupt men in responsible positions and to persuade them to be unfaithful to their several trusts....Satan is doing his utmost to deceive and allure them, that they may not only be destroyed themselves, but may influence others to do wrong and to injure the great work. He seeks by all the means in his power to shake the confidence of God's people in the voice of warning and reproof through which God designs to purify the church and prosper His cause.

"It is Satan's plan to weaken the faith of God's people in the Testimonies.(42) Next follows skepticism in regard to the vital points of our faith, the pillars of our positions,(43) then doubt as to the Holy Scriptures,(44) and then the downward march to perdition. When the Testimonies, which were once believed, are doubted and given up, Satan knows the deceived ones will not stop at this; and he redoubles his efforts till he launches them into open rebellion, which becomes incurable(45) and ends in destruction." Testimonies, vol 4, p 210-11 (January 5, 1875).

God has graciously warned His people about the future. If the heart of the work, the headquarters of the SDA church--or the General Conference, becomes corrupt then everything connected with the General Conference throughout the whole world will also be affected with the corruption. Not only this, but if this occurs, then the testimonies will be disbelieved, the pillars of our faith will be given up, the Holy Scriptures doubted, then incurable rebellion follows, bringing destruction upon the SDA church.

"God does not send judgments upon His people without first warning them to repent.(46) He uses every means to bring them back to obedience and does not visit their iniquity with judgments until He has given them ample opportunity to repent....To defy the words of the Lord, spoken through His chosen instruments, will only provoke His anger and eventually bring certain ruin upon the offender.(47) Indignation often kindles in the heart of the sinner against the agent whom God chooses to deliver His reproofs. It has ever been thus, and the same spirit exists today that persecuted and imprisoned Jeremiah for obeying the word of the Lord....

"There are many false prophets in these days, to whom sin does not appear specially repulsive. They complain that the peace of the people is unnecessarily disturbed by the reproofs and warnings of God's messengers. As for them, they lull the souls of sinners into a fatal ease by smooth and deceitful teachings. Ancient Israel was thus charmed by the flattering messages of the corrupt priests. Their prediction of prosperity was more pleasing than the message of the true prophet, who counseled repentance and submission....

"Those who seek to cloak sin and make it appear less aggravating to the mind of the offender are doing the work of the false prophets and may expect the retributive wrath of God to follow such a course. The Lord will never accommodate His ways to the wishes of corrupt men." Testimonies, vol 4, p 179-85.

"A sin-hating God calls upon those who profess to keep His law to depart from all iniquity. Neglect to repent and obey His word will bring as serious consequences upon God's people today as did the same sin upon ancient Israel.(48) There is a limit beyond which He will no longer delay His judgments. The desolation of Jerusalem stands as a solemn warning before the eyes of modern Israel, that the corrections given through His chosen instruments cannot be disregarded with impunity." Testimonies, vol 4, p 166-67.

"The religious life of the Jewish nation had become a pretense....The truth that should have been to them a savor of life unto life became a savor of death unto death....Their own stubborn hearts were the obstacle to their receiving the truth. They resisted the conviction of the Spirit of God....While professing to obey they refused to render obedience to God. They were not doers of the truth which they professed to teach....

"God called them to be co-workers with Him in blessing the world; but while in profession they accepted the call, in action they refused obedience....They refused to do the work which God had appointed them, and because of their transgression the Lord was about to divorce Himself from the disobedient nation....

"The warning was not heeded by the Jewish people. They forgot God, and lost sight of their high privilege as His representatives. The blessings they had received brought no blessing to the world. All their advantages were appropriated for their own glorification....The priests and teachers were not faithful instructors of the people....

"The guilt of these leaders in Israel was not like the guilt of the ordinary sinner. These men stood under the most solemn obligation to God....But the priests and teachers did not perform the work of their sacred office as if they were handling the property of God. They were systematically robbing Him of the means and facilities entrusted to them for the advancement of His work....

"The Jewish people cherished the idea that they were the favorites of heaven, and that they were always to be exalted as the church of God....But by lives of unfaithfulness they were preparing for the condemnation of heaven and for separation from God....They rejected the Light of the world, and thenceforth their lives were surrounded with darkness as the darkness of midnight. The doom foretold came upon the Jewish nation....Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple laid in ruins, and its site plowed like a field."(49) Christ's Object Lessons, p 276-96.

"In the Jewish nation it was the priests and teachers who, by misleading the people, had robbed God of the service which He claimed. It was they who turned the nation away from Christ....They had set human teaching above God's word,(50) and had turned the people away from His precepts. They would not give up their man-made commandments in order to obey the requirements of the word of God....When Christ came, presenting to the nation the claims of God, the priests and elders denied His right to interpose between them and the people....

"I plead with our brethren and sisters to make the most of their God-given opportunities. Christ, when weeping over Jerusalem, exclaimed, `If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes' [Luke 19:42]. Jerusalem's sin was in abusing past privileges, and she was sealing her doom in rejecting present mercies and warnings. The weak faith of our people today shows that past warnings and reproofs have not been heeded, and hardness of heart, and indifference, and unbelief are the result....

"The hour of probation is fast passing; the cup of God's indignation is fast filling. Will those who profess to be waiting for the appearing of their Lord from heaven be found wanting...? Must the fast westering sun of merciful probation set, and the sentence be pronounced, `but now they are hid from thine eyes'?...

"All such professed Christians are represented by the man who built his house upon the sand; while the hearers and doers of the Word are represented by the man who built his house upon the Rock, and amid tempest, storm, and flood, it remained unmoved. Thus the true foundation for every soul is represented by those who not only hear the truth but practice it." Review and Herald, vol 1, p 208-09 (July 10, 1879).

"Dishonesty is practiced all through our ranks, and this is the cause of lukewarmness on the part of many who profess to believe the truth. They are not connected with Christ and are deceiving their own souls. I am pained to make the statement that there is an alarming lack of honesty even among Sabbathkeepers....

"The Bible condemns in the strongest terms all falsehood, false dealing, and dishonesty.(51) Right and wrong are plainly stated. But I was shown that God's people have placed themselves on the enemy's ground; they have yielded to his temptations and followed his devices until their sensibilities have become fearfully blunted....The least departure from truthfulness and rectitude is a transgression of the law of God." Testimonies, vol 4, p 310-12.

"I saw that the very spirit of perjury, that would turn truth into falsehood, good into evil,(52) and innocence into crime, is now active, doing a work which savors of hell rather than of heaven. Satan exults over the condition of God's professed people." Special Testimony, p 80, July, 1881, Testimonies, vol 5, p 94-95.

As we have seen, SDA leaders and ministers did reject God's warnings. They were deceived and were leading God's people into Satan's trap. Faithfully Sister White gave repeated warnings from God to the church. Nevertheless, the truth continued to be turned into falsehood! How much longer could this continue before a crisis occurs?

"I knew that a crisis must come. God has given this people plain and pointed testimonies to prevent this state of things. Had they obeyed the voice of the Holy Spirit in warning, counsel, and entreaty, they would now enjoy unity and peace. But these testimonies have not been heeded by those who profess to believe them, and as a result there has been a wide departure from God, and the withdrawal of His blessing....Without Christ you can have nothing but a delusive hope, for He Himself declares: `If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned' [John 15:6].(53)...

"I tell you, in the fear of God, I have been shown that many of you will fail of everlasting life because you are building your hopes of heaven on a false foundation. God is leaving you to yourselves, `To humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart.' You have neglected the Scriptures. You despise and reject the testimonies because they reprove your darling sins and disturb your self-complacency....

"I had thought to remain silent and let you go on until you should see and abhor the sinfulness of your course; but backsliding from God produces hardness of heart and blindness of mind, and there is less and less perception of the true condition, until the grace of God is finally withdrawn, as from the Jewish nation....

"The class of professed Sabbathkeepers who try to form a union between Christ and Belial, who take hold of the truth with one hand and of the world with the other, have surrounded their children and clouded the church with an atmosphere entirely foreign to religion and the Spirit of Christ. They dared not openly oppose the claims of truth. They dared not take a bold stand and say they did not believe the testimonies; but, when nominally believing both, they have obeyed neither....This class are all professed Christians....

"God has given us, as a people, warnings, reproofs, and cautions, on the right hand and on the left, to lead us away from worldly customs and worldly policy. He requires us to be peculiar in faith and in character, to meet a standard far in advance of worldlings....The Lord is looking into every heart. He weighs our motives. He will try every soul. Who will bear the test?" Testimonies, vol 5, p 46-62 (March 28, 1882).

"Christ longs to work mightily by His Spirit for the conviction and conversion of sinners. But, according to His divine plan, the work must be performed through the instrumentality of His church; and her members have so far departed from Him that He cannot accomplish His will through them....Only those who trust wholly in God are safe now. We must not follow any human example or lean upon any human support. Many are constantly taking wrong positions and making wrong moves; if we trust to their guidance we shall be misled....

"The rebuke of the Lord is upon His people for their pride and unbelief. He will not restore unto them the joys of His salvation while they are departing from the instructions of His Word and His Spirit.(54) He will give grace to those who fear Him and walk in the truth, and He will withdraw His blessings from all that assimilate to the world. Mercy and truth are promised to the humble and penitent, and judgments are denounced against the rebellious....

"I counsel this church to give heed to the Saviour's admonition: `Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent' [Revelation 2:5]." Testimonies, vol 5, p 189-91.

"My heart aches day after day and night after night for our churches. Many are progressing, but in the back track. `The path of the just...shineth more and more unto the perfect day.' Their march is onward and upward. They progress from strength to strength, from grace to grace, and from glory to glory. This is the privilege of all our churches. But, oh, how different has it been with them! They need divine illumination. They must face square about. I know what I say. Unless they shall become Christians indeed,(55) they will go from weakness to weakness, divisions will increase, and many souls will be led to perdition....

If the professed SDA leadership continues to reject God's testimonies of warning and reproof, they will become just like the leaders of ancient Israel. They will be unsanctified in heart and life. They will lead our SDA people into error, deception, and finally, destruction. Did they continue to reject the testimonies?

"The minds of many have been so darkened and confused by worldly customs, worldly practices, and worldly influences that all power to discriminate between light and darkness, truth and error, seems destroyed. I had little hope that my words would be understood; but when the Lord moved upon me so decidedly, I could not resist His Spirit. Knowing that you were involving yourselves in the snares of Satan, I felt that the danger was too great for me to keep silent....

"That God who knows their spiritual condition declares: They have cherished evil and separated from Me. They have gone astray, every one of them. Not one is guiltless. They have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living waters, and have hewed out to them broken cisterns that can hold no water....And they will not heed the testimony that I send them. They will not see their perverse ways and be converted, that I should heal them....

"While standing over the dying bed of my husband, I knew that had the church heeded the testimony given them, he would have been spared. Had others borne their part of the burdens, he might have lived. I then pleaded, with agony of soul, that those present might no longer grieve the Spirit of God by their hardness of heart....

"What voice will you acknowledge as the voice of God? What power has the Lord in reserve to correct your errors, and show you your course as it is? What power to work in the church? You have, by your own course, closed every avenue whereby the Lord would reach you. Will He raise one from the dead to speak to you?

"If you refuse to believe until every shadow of uncertainty, and every possibility of doubt is removed(58) you will never believe. The doubt that demands perfect knowledge, will never yield to faith....We must resist and conquer inclination, and obey the voice of conscience without parleying or compromise, lest its promptings cease, and will and impulse control. The word of the Lord comes to us all who have not resisted His Spirit by determining not to hear and obey. This voice is heard in warnings, in counsels, in reproof.(59) It is the Lord's message of light to His people. If we wait for louder calls or better opportunities, the light may be withdrawn, and we left in darkness....

"It pains me to say to you in Battle Creek that your sinful neglect to walk in the light, has enshrouded you in darkness....I can but exclaim, how could you do just what the voice of God forbade you doing? The Lord is testing and proving you. He has warned and counseled, admonished and entreated. All these solemn admonitions will either make the church better or decidedly worse....

"I have been shown that the spirit of the world is fast leavening the church. You are following the same path as did ancient Israel.(62)...Your neglect to follow the light will place you in a more unfavorable position than the Jews upon whom Christ pronounced a woe....But few know what our churches are to experience. I saw that at present we are under divine forbearance, but no one can say how long this will continue. No one knows how great the mercy that has been exercised towards us....

"I seldom weep, but now I find my eyes blinded with tears; they are falling upon my paper as I write. It may be that ere long all prophesyings among us will be at an end, and the voice which has stirred the people may no longer disturb their carnal slumbers....when holy hands bear the ark no longer, woe will be upon the people. Oh, that thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace. Oh, that our people may, as did Nineveh, repent with all their might and believe with all their heart, that God may turn away His fierce anger from them....

"What can I say to arouse our people? I tell you not a few ministers who stand before the people to explain the Scriptures are defiled. Their hearts are corrupt, their hands unclean.(64) Yet many are crying, `Peace, peace' [Jeremiah 6:14]; and the workers of iniquity are not alarmed. The Lord's hand is not shortened that He cannot hear; but it is our sins that have separated us from God. The church is corrupt because of her members who defile their bodies and pollute their souls.

"If all of those who come together for meetings of edification and prayer, could be regarded as true worshippers, then we might have hope, though much would still remain to be done for us. But it is vain to deceive ourselves....The prevailing spirit of our time is that of infidelity(65) and apostasy(66)...There is a spirit of idolatrous exaltation of mere human reason above the revealed wisdom of God.(67)

"God has promised that where the shepherds are not true He will take charge of the flock Himself.(70) God has never made the flock wholly dependent upon human instrumentalities. But the days of purification of the church are hastening on apace.(71) God will have a people pure and true. In the mighty sifting soon to take place, we shall be better able to measure the strength of Israel. The signs reveal that the time is near when the Lord will manifest that His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor....

"The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. The mark of the beast will be urged upon us. Those who have step by step yielded to worldly demands, and conformed to worldly customs, will not find it a hard matter to yield to the powers that be, rather that subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death. The contest is between the commandments of God and the commandments of men. In this time the gold will be separated from the dross in the church....

"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. God's watchmen will not cry, `Peace, peace,' when God has not spoken peace. The voice of the faithful watchman will be heard; `Go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her;(73) be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord' [Isaiah 52:11].

"The church cannot measure herself by the world, nor by the opinion of men, nor by what she once was. Her faith and her position in the world as they now are, must be compared with what they would have been if her course had been continually onward and upward. The church will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. If her moral character and spiritual state do not correspond with the benefits and blessings God has conferred upon her, she will be found wanting. The light has been shining clear and definite upon her pathway, and the light of 1882 calls her to an account. If her talents are unimproved, if her fruit is not perfect before God, if her light becomes darkness, she is indeed found wanting.(74) The knowledge of our state as God views it, seems to be hidden from us....We profess to know God, and to believe the truth; but in works deny Him. Our deeds are directly adverse to the principles of truth and righteousness, by which we profess to be governed." Special Testimony, p 41-66, June 20, 1882. (Edited version in Testimonies, vol 5, p 62-84)(75)

What a testimony of warning and a look into the future from our blessed Lord! We were clearly told that SDA's were following in the same path as did Israel--proving that Satan was leading the SDA church.(76) The SDA church was "corrupt," the heart of the work--the headquarters of the church--had a spiritual "contagious disease," her ministers were "defiled" and "corrupt," and "apostasy" was fast becoming prevalent.

If this wickedness would continue, the church would "be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary," would be "found wanting," and probation would close upon the corporate body--exactly like what happened with the Jewish church. Then God would have to purify His church by separating "the gold" from the "dross in the church," by having His faithful watchmen giving the message "Go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord."

"We have enjoyed great light and many privileges. Shall we turn away from all these blessings, and sacrifice the peculiar, holy character which should distinguish us as children of God? If we thus slight the mercy of God, the judgments against Capernaum will surely fall upon us. Our punishment will be heavier than if we had not enjoyed so great light. Thus the warnings, reproofs, and counsels, which, accepted and obeyed, would bring us untold blessings, become a curse when they are rejected....

"Can Christ say of His professed followers, These are peculiar people; I gave Myself for them, to redeem them from all iniquity, that they should show forth My praise, who have called them out from darkness into My marvelous light. Would not the Lord say, rather, How is the beautiful city become a harlot,(77) and My Father's house a place of merchandise. Because of your unbelief, I cannot do many mighty works among you. Review and Herald, vol 1, p 337-38 (November 7, 1882).

"Many are holding the truth only with the tips of their fingers.(81) They have had great light and many privileges. Like Capernaum they have been exalted to heaven in this respect. In the time of test and trial that is approaching, they will become apostates(82) unless they put away their pride and self-confidence, unless they have an entire transformation of character."(83) Letter 5, 1883, Selected Messages, book 3, p 414-15.

The SDA church is to be weighed and will be found wanting if the whole church structure and people do not wholly accept these warnings and truthfully repent! If this repentance does not take place, then rebellion, corruption, and apostasy will build up until the professed SDA church receives the same condemnation of God that fell upon Capernaum. God will be forced to denounce the SDA church as a harlot--or a sister to fallen Babylon, and eventually the whole false apostate structure would fall.

God in His mercy has revealed this startling possibility to His SDA people: if the church continues to follow the devil's plans of uniting with the world and repeating Jewish history of apostasy, then the SDA church will be denounced as a harlot--a sister to fallen Babylon, with the same harlot mother Rome! God would then be compelled to separate His true people from the apostate and corrupt SDA church in order to save them from destruction.

"Many of our people are backsliding from God....They are in danger of becoming like the Jewish nation, who know not the Scriptures nor the power of God....When Jesus wept over Jerusalem, his tears were for all who abuse present privileges. He wept that so many who profess His name fail to become what God designed them to be; that they continue in sin and weakness, while He is willing and able to save them if they will but come to Him. The Saviour says, `What more could I have done that I have not done in it' [Isaiah

5:4]? He has dealt with His people as a loving father with a wayward and rebellious child. But He sees grace resisted, privileges abused, opportunities slighted. Where He had a right to expect earnest, vital piety, He sees insincerity, hollow formalism, and Pharisaic pride.(85)...Vengeance will surely be visited on those who have had so great light, yet are so cold and unimpressible that no light shines from them to the world....

"The eye of Jesus, looking down the ages, was fixed upon our time when He said, `If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace' [Luke 19:42]! It is still thy day, O church of God, whom He has made the depositary of His law. This day of trust and probation is fast drawing to a close. The sun is fast westering. Can it be that it will set and thou not know the things that belong unto thy peace? Must the irrevocable sentence be passed, `But now they are hid from thine eyes'?...

"If ye are destroyed, it is yourselves alone that are responsible. Ye will not come to Me that ye might have life. `O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not' [Matthew 23:37]. I desired to save you, but ye would not be doers of My Word. The arm strong to save, is also strong to punish....unless there is in our churches a general arousing, and putting away sin...the words of Christ may at any moment be applicable to them: `Now they are hid from thine eyes.'

"Will our churches humble themselves before the Lord in this day of atonement?...The present is our day of visitation....but there is a point beyond which His forbearance will not reach. Shall the words be written over the doomed doorway, `Ephraim is joined to his idols: let him alone' [Hosea 4:17]?" Review and Herald, vol 2, p 89 (November 2, 1886).

"I have not been able to sleep for weeks after half-past three o'clock. My mind is deeply exercised in regard to our condition as a people....When we do practice the truth we are then following Jesus, who is the light of the world; and if we as a people are not constantly elevating, becoming more and more spiritually minded, we are becoming like the Pharisees--self-righteous--while we do not the will of God....

"I think of His great sorrow as He wept over Jerusalem, exclaiming, `O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent to thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not' [Matthew 23:37]! God forbid that these words shall apply to those who have great light and blessings. In the rejecting of Jerusalem it was because great privileges were abused which brings the denunciation upon all who lightly regarded the great opportunities and precious light that were entrusted to their keeping....Christ said, `Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe to thee, Bethsaida!(86) for if the mighty works which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes' [Luke 10:13].

"When Jerusalem was divorced from God(87) it was because of her sins. She fell from an exalted height that Tyre and Sidon had never reached. And when an angel falls he becomes a fiend.(88) The depths of our ruin is measured by the exalted light to which God has raised us in His great goodness and unspeakable mercy. Oh, what privileges are granted to us as a people! And if God spared not His people that He loved because they refused to walk in the light, how can He spare the people whom He has blessed with the light of heaven in having opened to them the most exalted truth ever entrusted to mortal man to give to the world?

"We are far from being the people God would have us to be...`Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people' [Proverbs 14:34]. Sin is a disorganizer wherever it is cherished--in households, in the church, in the individual heart--there is disorder, strife, variance, enmity, envy, jealousy, because the enemy of man and of God has the controlling power over the mind....

There would be neglect to bring purity and truth into practice that will grieve the Spirit of God and weaken them because God is not in their midst to bless.(89) Internal corruption will bring the denunciations of God upon this people as it did upon Jerusalem. Oh, let pleading voices, let earnest prayer be heard, that those who preach to others shall not themselves be castaways. My brethren, we know not what is before us, and our only safety is in following the Light of the world. God will work with us and for us if the sins which brought His wrath upon the old world,(90) upon Sodom and Gomorrah(91) and upon ancient Jerusalem,(92) do not become our crime.

"All the policy in the world(94) cannot save us from a terrible sifting, and all the efforts made with high authorities will not lift from us the scourging of God just because sin is cherished. If as a people we do not keep ourselves in the faith and not only advocate with pen and voice the commandments of God, but keep them every one, not violating a single precept knowingly, then weakness and ruin will come upon us....

"Satan will work his miracles to deceive, he will set up his power as supreme. The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains,(95) while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out--the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place. None but those who have been overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true, without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths. The remnant that purify their souls by obeying the truth gather strength from the trying process,(96) exhibiting the beauty of holiness amid the surrounding apostasy.(97)...Many of the ministers are half-paralyzed by their own defects of character....

"Salvation is not to be baptized, not to have our names upon the church books, not to preach the truth. But it is a living union with Jesus Christ to be renewed in heart, doing the works of Christ in faith and labor of love, in patience, meekness, and hope....Some have entered the work with a human commission rather than the divine. They have educated themselves as debaters and the churches under their care show the character of their work. They were not ready, they were not fitted for the work. Their hearts are not right with God. In short, they have a theory but not true conversion and sanctification through the truth.(98) The great issue so near at hand will weed out those whom God has not appointed and He will have a pure, true, sanctified ministry(99) prepared for the latter rain....

"I want to speak to the ears of our people in America in every church. Awake from the dead, and Christ will give you life....I tell you, a new life is proceeding from satanic agencies to work with a power we have not hitherto realized.(100) And shall not a new power from above take possession of God's people? The truth, sanctifying in its influence, must be urged upon the people....We must know, by the evidence of God's word for ourselves, whether we are in the faith, going to heaven or not. The moral standard of character is God's law. Do we meet its requirements?" Letter 55, December 8, 1886 (unedited version), Last Day Events: from the Letters and Manuscripts of E.G. White, p 143-47.(101)

Why does the church appear to fall? Remember there are two distinct classes of SDA's. God's true church consists of faithful souls, commandment-keeping SDA's, who stand upon the firm platform of eternal truth--the rock Jesus Christ. Those who cling to the truth as it is in Jesus will make up His true church, and this will never fall, because the truth will go through to heaven. The sinners are sifted out of this church of truth, as the chaff is separated from the wheat.

"This is an age of signal rejection of the grace God has purposed to bestow upon His people, that in the perils of the last days they may not be overcome by the prevailing iniquity and unite with the hostility of the world against God's remnant people. Under the cloak of Christianity and sanctification, far-spreading and manifest ungodliness will prevail to a terrible degree and will continue until Christ comes to be glorified in all them that believe. In the very courts of the temple, scenes will be enacted that few realize. God's people will be proved and tested, that He may discern `Between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.'

"Vengeance will be executed against those who sit in the gate, deciding what the people should have and what they should not have.(102)...They refuse to enter in themselves, and those who would enter they hinder. These bear not the seal of the living God. All who now occupy responsible positions should be solemnly and terribly afraid lest in this time they shall be found as unfaithful stewards." Manuscript 15, 1886, Paulson Collection, p 54-55.

"Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof....Slay utterly old and young...but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary." Ezekiel 9:4-6.

The only people to receive the seal or mark of God, and to escape the destruction of their church, are those who open their mouths and cry aloud--exposing all the abominations being committed in the sanctuary. The leaders of the people are the first to feel the wrath of God, and then the destruction continues with those who followed these 25 men in their rebellion against God and His Sabbath. But can this have any significance to us today?

"Each of the ancient prophets spoke less for their own time than for ours, so that their prophesying is in force for us....All the great events and solemn transactions of Old Testament history have been, and are, repeating themselves in the church in these last days." Selected Messages, book 3, p 338-39.

"These sighing, crying ones had been holding forth the words of life; they had reproved, counseled, and entreated....But the glory of the Lord had departed from Israel; although many still continued the forms of religion, His power and presence were lacking.(103)...They mourn before God to see religion despised in the very homes of those who have had great light. They lament and afflict their souls because pride, avarice, selfishness, and deception of almost every kind are in the church." Testimonies, vol 5, p 210-11.

"Here we see that the church--the Lord's sanctuary--was the first to feel the stroke of the wrath of God. The ancient men, those to whom God had given great light and who had stood as guardians of the spiritual interests of the people, had betrayed their trust....they say: The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil. He is too merciful to visit His people in judgment. Thus `Peace and safety' is the cry from men who will never again lift up their voice like a trumpet to show God's people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. These dumb dogs that would not bark(104) are the ones who feel the just vengeance of an offended God....They were once faithful servants, favored with His presence and guidance; but they departed from Him and led others into error, and therefore are brought under the divine displeasure." Testimonies, vol 5, p 211-12.

The very heart of the work, with its leading men, were refusing God and His warnings. The professed SDA church was conforming to the world and following their own course--building upon their own foundation. Apostasy was increasing. The church was in danger of having her candlestick removed, becoming a harlot and sister to fallen Babylon! The end result of their continued rebellion would be corporate probation closing, separation of God's true people from the corrupt church, and finally the total ruin and destruction of the church.

"Let us confess and forsake every sin, that the way of the Lord may be prepared...We cannot prepare the way by gaining the friendship of the world, which is enmity with God; but by His help we can break its seductive influence upon ourselves and upon others....There can be and must be a withdrawal from conformity to the world, a shunning of all appearance of evil....

"There is nothing that Satan fears so much as that the people of God shall clear the way by removing every hindrance, so that the Lord can pour out His Spirit upon a languishing church and an impenitent congregation. If Satan had his way, there would never be another awakening, great or small, to the end of time....

"We are in the great day of Atonement, when our sins are, by confession and repentance, to go beforehand to judgment. God does not now accept a tame, spiritless testimony from His ministers. Such a testimony would not be present truth. The message for this time must be meat in due season to feed the church of God. But Satan has been seeking gradually to rob this message of its power, that the people may not be prepared to stand in the day of the Lord....

"Let the church arise, and repent of her backslidings before God. Let the watchman awake, and give the trumpet a certain sound.(106) It is a definite warning that we have to proclaim. God commands His servants, `Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins' [Isaiah 58:1]. The attention of the people must be gained; unless this can be done, all effort is useless; though an angel from heaven should come down and speak to them, his words would do no more good than if he were speaking into the cold ear of death....

God has stated that the whole church could never be revived, and that it is now an individual effort. The hindrance to success was from inside the church, not outside! SDA ministers were preaching a tame, spiritless testimony and not preparing our people to stand in the day of the Lord. Our people must be awakened. Yet were told that even if an angel should come down from heaven to the SDA church, he would be rejected. And this is exactly what happened!

"Now, it has been Satan's determined purpose to eclipse the view of Jesus and lead men to look to man, and trust to man, and be educated to expect help from man. 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." Testimonies to Ministers, p 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;(108) it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ,(109) 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." Testimonies to Ministers, p 91-92.

"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." Review and Herald, vol 2, p 231 (July 24, 1888).

This most precious message of the Righteousness of Christ of the third angel was presented to the delegate body at the General Conference Session held at Minneapolis, Minnesota, from October 17 to November 4 of 1888. Ellen White warned during this assembly that this precious message, so vitally important for the SDA church to accept in order to come back to Christ and escape being lost, must not be stopped or hindered in any way.

"What interpretation do they give to the passage which says `An angel descended from heaven, and the earth was lightened with his glory' [Revelation 18:1]?(110) This is not a time when we can be excused for inactivity. If this work, which was so essential, had been taken up by our ministers, there would be today a far different state of things in all our churches." Review and Herald, vol 2, p 266-67 (December 11, 1888).

"In 1888 in the General Conference held at Minneapolis, Minn., the angel of Revelation 18 came down to do his work, and was ridiculed, criticized and rejected.(111) And when the message He brings again, swells into a loud cry, it will again be ridiculed, spoken against and be rejected by the majority." Ellen G. White in "Taking up a reproach."(112)

"An unwillingness to yield up preconceived opinions, and to accept this truth, lay at the foundation of a large share of the opposition manifested at Minneapolis against the Lord's message through brethren {E.J} Waggoner and {A.T.} Jones. By exciting that opposition Satan succeeded in shutting away from our people, in a great measure, the special power of the Holy Spirit that God longed to impart to them.(113) The enemy prevented them from obtaining that efficiency which might have been theirs in carrying the truth to the world, as the apostles proclaimed it after the day of Pentecost. The light that is to lighten the whole earth with its glory was resisted, and by the action of our own brethren has been in a great degree kept away from the world." Selected Messages, book 1, p 234-35.

This, sadly, actually occurred. Christ had everything all ready to pour out His Holy Spirit and finish His work--just waiting for the SDA church to accept this message, obtain the power to live it and to share it. Yet Satan accomplished his evil purposes through the General Conference leadership. They refused to accept, or to awaken our people to this extremely important message. And by this action they RESISTED THE LATTER RAIN which was to usher in our dear Saviour's second coming!

At that very time in 1888, a great push for Sunday observance was seen through the National Reform Movement. The third angel's message was to fit up and seal the people of God, through His Holy Spirit, so they could stand through the time of trouble. Once sealed, Christ would finish His work in the most holy place and come to redeem His people. By keeping this precious truth from our people, they could not be prepared for what was coming; their great test would soon be over, probation would close upon them and they would not be sealed--but lost!

"We as a people have not accomplished the work which God has committed to us. We are not ready for the issue to which the enforcement of the Sunday law will bring us. It is our duty, as we see the signs of approaching peril, to arouse to action....They are not awake to the situation and do not realize the threatened danger. They should feel now, as never before, their need of vigilance and concerted action.

"My brethren, do you realize that your own salvation, as well as the destiny of other souls, depends upon the preparation you now make for the trial before us?...The prophet saw `four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree' [Revelation 7:1]. Another angel, ascending from the east, cried to them, saying: `Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads' [Revelation 7:3]. This points out the work we have now to do." Testimonies, vol 5, p 713-17.

"Satan is now using every device in this sealing time, to keep the minds of God's people from the present, sealing truth; to cause them to waver. I saw a covering that God was drawing over His people, to protect them in the time of trouble; and every soul that was decided on the truth, and was pure in heart, was to be covered with the covering of Almighty God....

"I saw that Satan was at work in these ways to distract, deceive, and draw away God's people, just now in this sealing time. I saw some who were not standing stiffly for present truth. Their knees were trembling, and their feet were sliding; because they were not firmly planted on the truth, and the covering of Almighty God could not be drawn over them while they were thus trembling.

"I saw four angels who had a work to do on the earth, and were on their way to accomplish it. Jesus was clothed with priestly garments. He gazed in pity on the remnant, then raised His hands upward, and with a voice of deep pity cried--`MY BLOOD, FATHER, MY BLOOD, MY BLOOD, MY BLOOD.' Then I saw an exceeding bright light come from God, who sat upon the great white throne, and was shed all about Jesus. Then I saw an angel with a commission from Jesus, swiftly flying to the four angels who had a work to do on the earth, and waving something up and down in his hand, and crying with a loud voice--`HOLD! HOLD! HOLD! HOLD! until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads.' I asked my accompanying angel the meaning of what I heard, and what the four angels were about to do. He shewed me that it was God that restrained the powers, and that He gave His angels charge over things on the earth, and the four angels had power from God to hold the four winds, and they were about to let the four winds go, and while they had started on their mission to let them go, the merciful eye of Jesus gazed on the remnant that were not all sealed, then He raised His hands to the Father and plead with Him that He had spilled His blood for them.--Then another angel was commissioned to fly swiftly to the four angels, and bid them hold until the servants of God were sealed with the seal of the living God in their foreheads." Review and Herald, vol 1, p 9-10 (August, 1849). (see also Early Writings, p 42-45, 36-38)

God forestalled(115) the time of trouble, the seven last plagues, and even the second coming, because His people were not ready. The light of the Righteousness of Christ that was to prepare them for the final conflict was not fully given nor received, but was rejected by the professed SDA leadership--thus God's people were not warned and prepared.(116)

"The rebuke of God is upon us because of our neglect of solemn responsibilities. His blessings have been withdrawn because the testimonies He has given have not been heeded by those who profess to believe them. Oh, for a religious awakening! The angels of God are going from church to church, doing their duty; and Christ is knocking at the door of your hearts for entrance. But the means that God has devised to awaken the church to a sense of their spiritual destitution have not been regarded. The voice of the True Witness has been heard in reproof, but has not been obeyed. Men have chosen to follow their own way instead of God's way because self was not crucified in them. Thus the light has had little effect upon minds and hearts.

"If you wait for light to come in a way that will please everyone, you will wait in vain. If you wait for louder calls or better opportunities, the light will be withdrawn, and you will be left in darkness. Accept every ray of light that God sends. Men who neglect to heed the calls of the Spirit and word of God, because obedience involves a cross, will lose their souls." Testimonies, vol 5, p 719-20.

"The enemy of God and man is not willing that this truth should be clearly presented; for he knows that if the people receive it fully, his power will be broken....Unless divine power is brought into the experience of the people of God, false theories and erroneous ideas will take minds captive, Christ and His righteousness will be dropped out of the experience of many, and their faith will be without power of life." Review and Herald, vol 2, p 330-31 (September 3, 1889).

"Satan takes the control of every mind that is not decidedly under the control of the Spirit of God. Some have been cultivating hatred against the men whom God has commissioned to bear a special message to the world. They began this satanic work at Minneapolis. Afterward, when they saw and felt the demonstration of the Holy Spirit testifying that the message was of God, they hated it more, because it was a testimony against them. They would not humble their hearts to repent, to give God the glory, and vindicate the right. They went on in their own spirit, filled with envy, jealousy, and evil surmisings, as did the Jews.(119) They opened their hearts to the enemy of God and man. Yet these men have been holding positions of trust, and have been molding the work after their own similitude,(120) as far as they possibly could....those who handle sacred responsibilities are ministers of darkness, blind leaders of the blind. `Clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots' [Jude 12]." Testimonies to Ministers, p 79-81.

Sister White wrote that this satanic work began in Minneapolis by those who were holding positions of trust, who handled sacred responsibilities, and who were molding and shaping the work after their own satanic similitude. Who exactly were these leaders of the SDA church? She stated earlier; "in 1888 in the General Conference held at Minneapolis..." (see p 40). It is our "own brethren" (see p 40). These deceiving leaders are the General Conference leadership.

"We want to understand the time in which we live. We do not half understand it. We do not half take it in. My heart trembles in me when I think of what a foe we have to meet, and how poorly we are prepared to meet him. The trials of the children of Israel, and their attitude just before the first coming of Christ, have been presented before me again and again to illustrate the position of the people of God in their experience before the second coming of Christ--how the enemy sought every occasion to take control of the minds of God's servants, that they may not be able to discern the precious truth....

"As Christ sought to place truth before the people in its proper relation to their salvation, Satan worked through the Jewish leaders,(121) and inspired them with enmity against the Redeemer of the world. They determined to do all in their power to prevent Him from making an impression upon the people.(122)

"After the truth has been proclaimed as a witness to all nations, at a time when every conceivable power of evil is set in operation...and there is a removing of the landmarks,(124) and an attempt to tear down the pillars of our faith--then a more decided effort is made to exalt the false sabbath, and to cast contempt upon God Himself by supplanting the day He has blessed and sanctified." Letter 1f, 1890, Selected Messages, book 3, p 405-06.

"I am bidden to warn you that deceptive sentiments are entertained, a false modesty and caution, a disposition to withhold the profession of our faith. In the night season, matters have been presented before me that have greatly troubled my mind. I have seemed to be in meetings for counsel where these subjects were discussed, and written documents were presented, advocating concessions. Brethren, shall we permit the world to shape the message that God has given us to bear to them?...

"While engaged in earnest prayer, I was lost to everything around me; the room was filled with light, and I was bearing a message to an assembly that seemed to be the General Conference. I was moved by the Spirit of God to make a most earnest appeal; for I was impressed that great danger was before us at the heart of the work....

"In the weakness of human judgment, men were gathering into their hands the lines of control,(125) while God's will, God's way and counsel, were not sought as indispensable.(126) Men of stubborn, ironlike will,(127) both in and out of the office, were confederating together,(128) determined to drive certain measures through in accordance with their own judgment.(129)

"I said to them: `You cannot to this. The control of these large interests cannot be vested wholly in those who make it manifest that they have little experience in the things of God, and have not spiritual discernment. The people of God throughout our ranks must not, because of mismanagement on the part of erring men, have their confidence shaken in the important interests at the great heart of the work, which have decided influence upon our churches in the United States and in foreign lands.'...

"Those employed in any department of the work whereby the world may be transformed, must not enter into alliance with those who know not the truth....We are not to hear the counsel or follow the plans suggested by unbelievers....By accepting such suggestions, the counsel of Christ is set at nought....

"I was shown that the follies of Israel in the days of Samuel will be repeated among the people of God today(131) unless there is greater humility, less confidence in self, and more trust in the Lord God of Israel, the Ruler of the people. It is only as divine power is combined with human effort that the work will abide the test....

"In a vision in 1880 I asked, `Where is the security for the people of God in these last days of peril?' The answer was, `Jesus maketh intercession for His people, though Satan standeth at His right hand to resist Him.' `And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire' [Zechariah 3:2]? As man's Intercessor and Advocate, Jesus will lead all who are willing to be led, saying, `Follow Me upward, step by step, where the clear light of the Sun of Righteousness shines.'(133)

"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 judgment, pervert the perceptions, and blind the understanding...

"Infidelity has been making its inroads into our ranks; for it is the fashion to depart from Christ, and give place to skepticism. 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,(135) because they love their own way, and forsake the way of the Lord. 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 the faith of the Son of God, has been slighted, spoken against, ridiculed, and rejected....

"The light which God has given should be respected, not only for your safety, but also for the safety of the church of God. 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....We are not to make less prominent the special truths that have separated us from the world, and made us what we are; for they are fraught with eternal interests....

"The religion of Jesus is endangered. It is being mingled with worldliness. Worldly policy is taking the place of true piety and wisdom that comes from above, and God will remove His prospering hand from the conference. Shall the Ark of the Covenant be removed from this people? Shall idols be smuggled in? Shall false principles and false precepts be brought into the sanctuary? Shall antichrist be respected? Shall the true doctrines and principles given us of God, which have made us what we are, be ignored? Shall God's instrumentality, the publishing house, become a mere political, worldly institution? This is exactly where the enemy, through blinded, unconsecrated men, is leading us.

"Those who have a hold of the truth theoretically, with their fingertips(137) as it were, who have not brought its principles into the inner sanctuary of the soul, but have kept the vital truth in the outer court, will see nothing sacred in the past history of this people which has made them what they are...They will accept that which pleases their ideas, and will begin to manufacture another foundation than that which is laid. They will flatter their own vanity and esteem, thinking that they are capable of removing the pillars of our faith, and replacing them with pillars they have devised.

Sister White stated that the SDA church leaders were working to keep the truth away from our people so that no impression could be made upon them. At the great heart of the work, men were already taking the control away from God and confederating together with the world. The same evil spirit seen at Minneapolis was still active in the leadership. Infidelity and skepticism was in the church, and the religion of many Adventists would be apostate! Christ is not wanted, only Baal; and what did we discover Baal represented? The sun, and Lucifer! (see p 5).

Will Satan operate through the SDA leadership to destroy confidence in the foundational pillars of historic Adventism? If this occurs, our pillars would be replaced with false doctrines. The SDA leaders would begin to build a new foundation, and this devious work would continue on "as long as time shall last"!

"You will be left to make mistakes...you will continue to lack wisdom, and will call sin righteousness and righteousness sin. The multitude of deceptions that will prevail in these last days will encircle you, and you will change leaders, and not know that you have done so." Review and Herald, vol 2, p 448-49 (December 16, 1890).

"The Lord has seen our backslidings, and He has a controversy with His people. Their pride, their selfishness, their opening of the mind to doubt and unbelief, are manifest in His sight, and grieve His heart of love. Many gather darkness about their souls as a garment, and virtually say, `We want not a knowledge of Thy way, O God; we choose our own way.'...There is in the soul of man an obstacle which he holds there with stubborn persistency, and which interposes between his soul and God. It is unbelief. God gives sufficient evidence, but man, with his unsanctified will, refuses to receive evidence unless it comes in his own way, to favor his own ideas. With a spirit of bravado he cries, `Proof, proof, is what we want,' and turns away from the evidence that God gives.(138)

"Why is it that men do not believe upon sufficient evidence?--Because they do not want to be convinced. They have no disposition to give up their own will for God's will. They are unwilling to acknowledge that they have cherished sinful unbelief in resisting the light God has given them. They have been hunting for doubts, for pegs upon which to hang their unbelief....

"The displeasure and judgments of God are against those who persist in walking in their own ways, loving self, loving the praise of men. They will certainly be swept into the satanic delusions of these last days, because they received not the love of the truth....The professed people of God have this charge against them, `...remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.'...

"The displeasure of the Lord is against His people. In their present condition it is impossible for them to represent the character of Christ. And when the True Witness has sent them counsel, reproof, and warnings because He loves them, they have refused to receive the message; they have refused to come to the light,(140)

"In our largest churches the greatest evils exist, because these have had the greatest light. They have not a true knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ whom he has sent. The leaven of unbelief is working, and unless these evils which bring the displeasure of God are corrected in its members, the whole church stands accountable for them. The deep movings of the Spirit of God are not with them; the glorious presence of the King of saints, and His power to cleanse from all moral defilement, are not manifest among them....

"The Holy Spirit strives to make apparent the claims of God, but men pay heed only for a moment, and turn their minds to other things. Satan catches away the seeds of truth; the gracious influence of the Spirit of God is effectually resisted. Thus many are grieving away the Holy Spirit for the last time, and they know it not....

"The words spoken by Christ of Jerusalem are, `Your house is left unto you desolate' [Matthew 23:38]. What anguish of soul did Jesus feel when all His appeals, His warnings and reproof, were resisted!...Pride of heart prevented His hearers from humbling themselves before God, and confessing their sin in resisting His Holy Spirit, and reluctantly it left them.(143) On the crest of Olivet, as He beheld the city, He wept over it, saying, `If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!' Here He paused; He was loath to utter the irrevocable sentence. O that Jerusalem would repent! When the fast westering sun should pass out of sight, her day of mercy would be ended. Jesus closed His sentence, `But now they are hid from thine eyes.' On another occasion He lamented the impenitence of the chosen city: `O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.' The Lord forbid that this scene should now be repeated in the experience of God's professed people! `My Spirit,' He says, `shall not always strive with man.' The time will come when it must be said of the impenitent, `Ephraim is joined to his idols; let him alone.'(144)

"Will the church see where she has fallen?...A severity, an overbearing spirit, such as existed among the Pharisees, exists in our churches, and especially in those entrusted with sacred responsibilities. They are lifted up in self-esteem and self-assurance....Satan is watching, preparing his delusions to ensnare those who are filled with self-importance while they are spiritually destitute....He [Christ] declares, `I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent' [Revelation 2:5]. How long shall this warning be resisted? How long shall it be slighted?...

"Spirituality deadened, humility and childlike simplicity gone, a mechanical, formal profession of faith has taken the place of love and devotion. Is this mournful condition of things to continue? Is the lamp of God's love to go out in darkness? The Saviour calls; listen to His voice: `Be zealous and repent' [Revelation 3:19]. Repent, confess your sins, and you will be forgiven. `Turn ye, turn ye; for why will ye die' [Ezekiel 33:11]? Why will you try to rekindle a mere fitful fire, and walk in the sparks of your own kindling?(145)...

"The church is like the unproductive tree which, receiving the dew and rain and sunshine, should have produced an abundance of fruit, but on which the divine search discovers nothing but leaves. Solemn thought for our churches!(146) Solemn, indeed, for every individual! Marvelous is the patience and forbearance of God; but `except thou repent,' it will be exhausted; the churches, our institutions, will go from weakness to weakness, from cold formality to deadness,(147) while they are saying, `I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.' The True Witness says, `And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.' Will they ever see clearly their true condition?"

God, through Sister White, stated that the professed SDA church has fallen; and in 1886 we were told that when one falls they become a fiend (see p 32)! It was stated 4 times in the complete testimony that the candlestick would be removed from the SDA church unless repentance takes place. Surely they cannot remain impenitent for much longer without God's light being removed totally from the SDA structure and all of its churches.

The SDA church and its professed people are represented by the foolish virgins! Please read Matthew 25. The wise virgins--God's true people--are accepted by Christ into the wedding hall and are saved, while the foolish virgins are rejected by Christ, the door of probation shuts, and they are lost for eternity! Truly, the destiny of the SDA church hangs on the Laodicean message and repentance. But the professed leaders are rejecting repentance and the warnings of God.

"I saw that Jones and Waggoner had their counter part in Joshua and Caleb. As the children of Israel stoned the spies with literal stones, you have stoned these brethren with stones of sarcasm and ridicule. I saw that you willfully rejected what you knew to be the truth. Just because it was too humiliating to your dignity. I saw some of you in your tents mimicking and making all manner of fun of these two brethren. I also saw that if you had accepted their message, we would have been in the kingdom two years from that date, but now we have to go back into the wilderness and stay forty years." Written from Melbourne, Australia, May 9, 1892.

So we could have been in heaven sometime around 1890! But the SDA leadership rejected the message from heaven--Christ our Righteousness. They will continue to reject this precious message and along with it the latter rain, as long as they refuse to repent. No wonder Sister White stated: "Will they ever see clearly their true condition?"

Can this really be true? Could the SDA church really become Babylon? We were warned back in 1886 that there was a possibility of this occurring (see p 31)! But Sister White has statements about not calling the SDA church Babylon. Do these statements conflict with her other testimonies stating the possibility of the SDA church becoming Babylon? Is there a contradiction in her writings? NO! We must understand her definition of what constituted the SDA church not Babylon.

So we can clearly see that God's true SDA people--His true church--will not and cannot constitute Babylon. But the other group of SDA's who profess to be God's true church but who refuse to walk in God's light, who reject God's rule over them, and who unite completely with the world, will constitute Babylon!

"Through association with the world our institutions will become unsubstantial, unreliable; because these worldly elements, introduced and placed in positions of trust, are looked up to as teachers to be respected in their educating, directing, and official position, and they are sure to be worked upon by the spirit and power of darkness; so that the demarcation becomes not distinguished between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not....

"The world is the chief enemy of religion. The satanic forces are constantly at work through the world, and those who are professed Christians, yet associated with the world in close fellowship, are so much one in spirit, aims, and principles of working, that they cannot discern between him who serveth God and him who serveth the world....

"Elder Haskell, our testimony must be clear cut--there must be no daubing with untempered mortar. Sins of a grave character are cherished in our borders, and unless there is an awakening such as we have not seen for some time, which will convict and convert professed Sabbath keepers, they will die in their sins. The punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah will be light in comparison with that of those who have had great light and precious opportunities, and have been earthly minded, corrupt in thoughts and practices, and have not purified their souls by obeying the truth....

"Now, those who have had years in this same experience, know not God nor Jesus Christ whom He has sent, and should such go forth as representatives of Jesus Christ? These men will never give the right mold to other minds; they have not grown up to the full stature of men and women in Christ. They simply have the name of Christians but are not fitted for the work of God, and never will be until they are born again, and learn the A.B.C. in true religion of Jesus Christ. There is a little hope in one direction: Take the young men and women, and place them where they will come as little in contact with our churches as possible, that the low grade of piety which is current in this day shall not leaven their ideas of what it means to be a Christian." Letter 16f, May 9, 1892, Manuscript Releases, vol 12, p 332-33.

"The Lord will soon come. There must be a refining, winnowing process in every church, for there are among us wicked men who do not love the truth or honor God. There is need of a transformation of character. Will the church arise and put on her beautiful garments, the righteousness of Christ? Soon it is to be seen who are the vessels unto honor.

"`And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird' [Revelation 18:1-2].

"Here are plainly brought to view those who will be vessels unto honor, for they will receive the latter rain. Every soul who, in the light now shining upon our pathway, continues in sin will be blinded and will accept the delusions that come from Satan. We are now nearing the close of this earth's history. Where are the faithful watchmen on the walls of Zion who will not slumber but faithfully declare the time of night?...How painful it is to contemplate that the Lord Jesus is being kept in the background!...

"The history of the rebellion of Dathan and Abiram...will be repeated till the close of time. Who will be on the Lord's side? Who will be deceived, and in turn become deceivers? Everything is to be shaken that can be shaken, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain." Letter 15, June 25, 1892, Last Day Events from the Letters and Manuscripts of E.G. White, p 61. (See Manuscript Releases, vol 1, p 176; Review and Herald, vol 3, p 239)

"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....

"To say, `Peace, peace' [Jeremiah 6:14], to these souls who have long resisted the voice of the True Shepherd, who have contended long against Omnipotence, is to quiet their consciences to [the] sleep of death. Will man in his pride forsake his own interests by cherishing thoughts or doing deeds opposed to the mind and spirit of God? God has been pleased to show me that men [who] ought to know the voice of the True Shepherd will be more ready to accept the voice of a stranger and follow in unsafe, forbidden paths because of the stubbornness of their human nature.

"Dark hours of trial are before the church because they have not obeyed the warnings and reproofs and counsel of God. What a bewitching power comes upon human minds to do contrary to the oft repeated will of God, and close the eyes and stop the ears, when Jesus is calling to them to hear His voice. He says, `My sheep hear My voice' [John 10:27]....

"Before the great trouble such as has never been since there was a nation shall come upon the world, those who have faltered, and who would ignorantly lead in unsafe paths, will reveal this before the real vital test, the last proving comes, so that whatsoever they may say will not be regarded as voicing the True Shepherd." Letter 12, August 22, 1892, 1888 Materials, p 995-1003.

"The only hope for our churches today is to repent and do their first work. The name of Jesus does not kindle the heart with love. A mechanical, formal orthodoxy has taken the place of deep, fervent charity and tenderness to one another. Will any give heed to the solemn admonition, `Turn ye, turn ye; for why will ye die' [Ezekiel 33:11]?...Well may the people fear and tremble under these words: `Except thou repent, I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place' [Revelation 2:5]. What then? `If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness' [Matthew 6:23]!...

"Shall the candle that once burned brightly, sending its light amid the moral darkness of error, gradually go out, until it is quenched in darkness?...If ever a people needed true and faithful watchmen, who will not hold their peace, who will cry day and night, sounding the warnings God has given, it is Seventh-day Adventists. Those who have had great light, blessed opportunities, who, like Capernaum, have been exalted to heaven in point of privilege, shall they by non-improvement be left to darkness corresponding to the greatness of the light given?...

"The flock of God is in need of help from Heaven, and the sheep and lambs are perishing for food. But let those who would have a deep and living experience in the things of God, cease to depend upon men, even upon their own pastors and teachers, and put their trust wholly upon God using their God-given ability to His glory....

"If the rays of light which shone at Minneapolis were permitted to exert their convincing power upon those who took their stand against light, if all had yielded their ways, and submitted their wills to the Spirit of God at that time, they would have received the richest blessing, disappointed the enemy, and stood as faithful men, true to their convictions....But self said, No....In the books of heaven they are registered as wanting...

"The time will come when many will be willing to do anything and everything possible in order to have a chance of hearing the call which they rejected at Minneapolis. God moved upon hearts, but many yielded to another spirit....The sin committed in what took place at Minneapolis remains on the record books of heaven..." Letter 19d, September 1, 1892, Manuscript Releases, vol 16, p 102-113.

God has mercifully promised His people that those who obey the great and precious light that fills the earth with the glory of God, will become vessels unto honor--wheat--children of the Kingdom of righteousness, showing forth fruits of righteousness, and will receive the latter rain. But those who continue to disobey and reject this most precious message will become blinded, and will accept Satan's strong delusions to believe a lie. Thus they will become vessels unto dishonor--tares--children of the kingdom of Babylon, showing forth fruits of unrighteousness.

So the SDA church was plainly being told that she can accept the message of the Righteousness of Christ and arise and shine for God, receive the latter rain and be an instrument in proclaiming the loud cry of the third angel; or she can continue to resist and finally totally reject this message, be in league with the devil, become a cage of every unclean and hateful bird--or Babylon, and lose her candlestick. Then the message of the loud cry of the third angel would come against the SDA church!

Truly the shaking was taking place. And the shaking refers to the truth--not to church membership! To be shaken out does not mean that you have left the church, but that you have left the truth. Thus this message of the Righteousness of Christ will enable us to "discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God, and him that serveth Him not."

But these extremely plain warnings were not all. Because of the SDA church's continued rejection of this precious third angel's message, which began at Minneapolis, the true people of God were beginning to "pull apart" from those SDA churches whose ministers and leaders had rejected this most precious message.

In fact God, through Ellen White, directed His SDA people to keep their children and young adults "as far away from our churches as possible," so that their spiritual life would not become contaminated with the lack of Christianity revealed within the church. And this was called "a little hope in one direction." But this "one direction" was separation from the SDA church! Though limited in scope, it was still a warning of what the future would hold if the church continued on in rebellion. This warning was not just predicted, but was being acted out before their eyes!

Did the professed SDA leadership realize these severe warnings that were being given to the people? Did they even realize the solemn warnings of the past? Did they repent and turn back to God who alone could save them? Or did they corrupt their ways even further and cause even greater and more fearful testimonies to be given against them?

Several SDA churches had whole-heartedly accepted the message of the Righteousness of Christ, and were receiving a limited outpouring of God's Holy Spirit--enjoying a season of refreshing from the Lord.(154) A movement of righteousness, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, was beginning to move through various SDA churches and having great effect with the local membership. This Satan could not stand for, because if it would spread throughout the whole church, his power would be broken.

The devil then called for some of his agents--a brother Stanton and others--to rise up and proclaim that the whole SDA church had gone too far, and had become Babylon fallen. This forced God through Sister White to meet this error head on, and expose these agents of Satan as being deceived and deceiving others.

Sister White wrote in this year of 1893 that no one was to call the SDA church Babylon, or any part of Babylon. But did these statements say that the SDA church would "never become Babylon"? Was it a guarantee that the SDA church could never become Babylon no matter how far into apostasy and corruption she chose to go? No.

Sister White wrote during this year that the SDA church was "at the present time" not to be called Babylon.(155) This statement is definitely present tense terminology and not unconditional. Hence, are all these 1893 statements to be interpreted as unconditional promises of God's eternal favor to the SDA church? No, because God has never given any unconditional promises of His eternal favor to any group of people!

The Jews were told by God that as long as the sun, moon, and stars were in the sky, that they would be His church and chosen people (see Jeremiah 31:35-37, 33:20-22). Yet the sun, moon and stars are still in the sky; but the Jewish temple was destroyed, and the Jews are no longer His chosen people! It was not the promise of God that was at fault; the Jews refused to obey God and His truth, and hence the promise could not be granted them. They forgot the "IF." If the Jews would obey God, then they would be His people, but if they continued in disobedience, then God would be obliged to set them aside and choose others to take their place and crown--which sadly is exactly what happened. The same with the SDA church and people!

"...why is it that the judgment of God fell upon them [Jews] in so signal a manner? It was because they rejected the great light which had been given them from the time of their delivery from Egyptian bondage. It was because the Lord had revealed to them, through His prophets, and through holy men of old, His will, and they chose to walk in their own ways, and to follow their own will. Calamity overtook the Jews because they failed to keep the commandments of God. God had told them if they did not keep His commandments, He could not fulfill His covenant of promise, for this covenant was to be fulfilled only upon condition of obedience. The history of Israel should be to us a most solemn warning of the calamities that will overtake us if we are disobedient to God's commandments." Signs of the Times, vol 3, p 182.

Hence, these testimonies against calling the SDA church Babylon are conditional, not unconditional. As long as the SDA church would fulfill her part of the covenant promise with God, then she would never become Babylon. But if she would refuse to fulfill her covenant promise with God, and chose to unite herself with the world, if she continued to reject the message of righteousness, then there would be nothing to stop her from becoming corrupt, a cage of every unclean and hateful bird, and Babylon.

"The devotion and experience of the professed people of God are not in harmony with the light and privileges that God has given them. They are to be children of the light, children of the day, and yet many who have had exalted privileges fail to manifest corresponding faith and works. Jesus says to them as He said to the city wherein He had done mighty works, and they failed to appreciate the light and to conform their life to it, `Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida!(156) for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.'...

"Of those who boast of their light, and yet fail to walk in it, Christ says, `But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum [Seventh-day Adventists, who have had great light], which art exalted unto heaven [in point of privilege], shall be brought down to hell:(157) for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.' At that time Jesus answered and said, `I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent [in their own estimation], and hast revealed them unto babes' [Matthew 11:21-25].

"`And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not; therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto this place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.(158) And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim' [Jeremiah 7:13-15]....

"Shall the Lord be compelled to say, `Pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to Me: for I will not hear thee' [Jeremiah 7:16]? `Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain....Wilt thou not from this time cry unto Me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth' [Jeremiah 3:3-4]?...

What more can God do? He has given the SDA church all the light, warnings, and reproofs necessary to draw them back to Him. Unfortunately the SDA leadership has rejected Him, along with His light, warnings, and reproofs. Because of this, THERE HAS BEEN NO LATTER RAIN! They rejected the LATTER RAIN in 1888 (see p 39-40), and are still rejecting it now!

God had even warned the SDA church that the judgments against Capernaum would fall on them, and now they surely will. God has again, graciously shown His professed SDA people the future of their course. They will be brought down to hell, because they refuse to repent. Their house--the whole professed SDA church structure and organization--in which they trust, will fall and become utterly ruined, as Shiloh if they continue on in defiance to God's will.

"America, and especially Battle Creek [then General Conference headquarters], where the greatest light from heaven has been shining upon the people, can become the place of greatest peril and darkness because the people do not continue to practice the truth and walk in the light. What was the meaning of the movement last winter?...The present manifestation is strikingly inconsistent with that movement...May the Lord help His representative men to turn their influence into channels which He can approve....

"The more nearly we approach the closing scenes of this earth's history, the more pronounced will be the work of Satan; every species of deception will take the lead to divert the mind from God through Satan's devices....If at the great heart of the work the pulse beats are violent and erratic, the peril to spiritual life affect the whole body.

"It is time that there was a different order of things in Battle Creek, else the judgments of God will surely fall upon this people....When the church has had great light, then is her peril if she does not walk in the light, and put on her beautiful garments, and arise and shine; darkness will becloud the vision, so that light will be regarded as darkness, and darkness as light." Letter 23c, July 20, 1894, Pamphlet #84, p 2-5. (See Last Day Events from the Letters and Manuscripts of E.G. White, p 40-42; Selected Messages, book 3, p 387)

With the movement of righteousness (that was taking place within some SDA churches) quenched to a great degree, the eyes of our people were not being directed upward to Jesus for their help and the place for them to find rest. Then where were our SDA people being pointed and directed to for help and rest?

"How can the truth be laid out before our people that they will everyone arouse from the lethargy which has been upon them, and come to a realization of the times in which we are living?(161)...the testimony of the True Witness applies to our cases its rebuke, `And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked' [Revelation 3:17]....

"What is it that constitutes the wretchedness, the nakedness of those who feel rich and increased with goods?--It is the want of the righteousness of Christ. In their own righteousness they are represented as clothed with filthy rags, and yet in this condition they flatter themselves that they are clothed upon with Christ's righteousness. Could deception be greater? As is represented by the prophet, they may be crying, `The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we' [Jeremiah 7:4], while their hearts are filled with unholy traffic and unrighteous barter....Discernment seems to have departed, and they have no power to discriminate between the light which God sends them and the darkness that comes from the enemy of their souls....

"The people of God have educated themselves in such a way that they have come to look to those in positions of trust as guardians of truth, and have placed men where God should be.(162)...Christ has sounded the invitation, `Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest' [Matthew 11:28]; but instead of carrying their perplexities and difficulties to Jesus, as He has told them to do, they have laid their burdens upon human souls, and they have received accordingly; for God removes His wisdom from men who are looked up to be as God....Men must not be educated to look to men as to God. While it is necessary that there be a counseling together and a unity of action among the laborers, one man's mind and one man's judgment must not be the controlling power.(163)...

"The president of the conference is not to do the thinking for all the people. He has not an immortal brain, but has capabilities and powers like any other man. And to every man God has given his work. When men place the president of the conference in the place of God...they are doing that which is exactly opposite to what Christ has told them to do....Is not this the one reason that the people of God are destitute of the fruits of the Holy Spirit? Is not this the one reason why their religious experience is of so dwarfed a character?(164)

"Spirituality will wane under an influence of this kind, and the knowledge of God's will, will become more and more indistinct, while the sayings of men become of more and more importance in the eyes of the people. In this way God is dishonored, and spiritual discernment is lost. The sacred and the common become intermingled, until nothing is looked upon as sacred. God is not exalted, but is put in the shade by human inventions and by those who may be so deceived as to think that they are doing God service....

What did our people expect would happen since a majority of their leaders and ministers were continuing to reject the message of the Righteousness of Christ? We read earlier that it was Satan's purpose to lead men to look to man instead of to Jesus (see p 38). This was the very reason why God sent this precious message to our people in the first place--to get their eyes off of man and onto Christ! But since the majority of SDA leaders were continuing to reject this message and Jesus, the only other area where they could look for all their help, was to man and their SDA Temple. And the SDA leadership was beginning to teach this to our people!

Sister White warned that men were beginning to "place the president of the Conference in the place of God." For the SDA president to be the "god" of our people, to have all institutions, churches, and people follow his directions and plans, we would be greatly backslidden from God, and would be following in the path of Rome! Yet God had already warned us of this very thing earlier in this year:

"The fact that a man has been selected to be the president of a conference does not mean that he shall have authority to rule over his fellow workmen. This is after the practice of Rome, and it cannot be tolerated, for it restricts religious liberty, and the man is led to place himself where God alone should be....

But in order for the president of the SDA church to rule as a god or pope, all SDA institutions must be brought together under the control of one institution--the General Conference--which was in Battle Creek in this year. Was the SDA leadership really trying to consolidate all SDA interests under the control of one central governing body--to make the General Conference the great head of the work, thus enabling the SDA president to rule as a pope?

"The present is a time of special peril. In 1890 and 1891 there was presented to me a view of dangers that would threaten the work...Propositions which to their authors appeared very wise would be introduced, looking to the formation of a confederacy that would make Battle Creek, like Rome, the great head of the work...This is not God's wisdom, but human wisdom." Letter 71, 1894, Pamphlet #149, p 22.

With the SDA church and leadership growing in rebellion against God and lessening the distance between the church and Rome--especially in trying to make the General Conference president the "god" or pope of the SDA church and people, and with a confederacy being formed to make the General Conference the great head of the work, God again warns His people about being under probationary time.

"God has given us probationary time in order that it may be made manifest whether we will be loyal, obedient children, rendering obedience to His commandments, His statutes, and His laws, or whether we will persist in following a course of disobedience, and prove ourselves unworthy of eternal life....

"God has waited long, and He is waiting still, to have the beings that are His by both creation and redemption, listen to His voice, and obey Him as loving, submissive children, whose desire is to be near His side, and to have the light of His countenance shining upon them." Review and Herald, vol 3, p 191 (October 9, 1894).

So the SDA church is not guaranteed heaven as her home, and the SDA people are not granted salvation by having their names on the role books of their church: both are granted "probationary time" to see who they will give obedience to--either God or the devil. If they choose to obey God till the end, then salvation is theirs in God's kingdom of righteousness; but if they choose to disobey God, then destruction will be theirs in Satan's kingdom of Babylon.

"It was the world that crucified the Lord of life and glory. Jesus was put to death to gratify the malice of the Jews, who were filled with the spirit and principles of the world. They hated the spotless Son of God, because the principles He presented did not harmonize with their ideas." Review and Herald, vol 3, p 233 (February 26, 1895).

"Just as soon as a man separates from God so that his heart is not under the subduing power of the Holy Spirit, the attributes of Satan will be revealed, and he will begin to oppress his fellowmen. An influence goes forth from him that is contrary to truth and justice and righteousness. This disposition is manifested in our institutions, not only in the relation of workers to one another, but the desire shown by one institution to control all others. Men who are entrusted with weighty responsibilities, but who have no living connection with God, have been doing despite to the Holy Spirit. They are indulging the very same spirit as did Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and as did the Jews in the days of Christ. (see Matt. 12:22-29; 31:37). Warnings have come from God again and again for these men, but they have cast them aside and ventured on in the same course....

"Jesus said, `Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city' [Matthew 23:34]. This prophecy was literally fulfilled by the Jews in their treatment of Christ and of the messengers whom God sent to them. Will men in these last days follow the example of those whom Christ condemned?

"These terrible predictions they have not as yet carried out to the full; but if God spares their lives, and they nourish the same spirit that marked their course of action both before and after the Minneapolis meeting, they will fill up to the full the deeds of those whom Christ condemned when He was upon the earth.

"The perils of the last days are upon us. Satan takes the control of every mind that is not decidedly under the control of the Spirit of God. Some have been cultivating hatred against the men whom God has commissioned to bear a special message to the world. They began this work at Minneapolis. Afterward, when they saw and felt the demonstration of the Holy Spirit testifying that the message was of God, they hated it the more...They opened their hearts to the enemy of God and man. Yet these men have been holding positions of trust, and have been molding the work after their own similitude, as far as they possibly could....It is time that there was a change....

"But unless the truth is enthroned in the heart, and a thorough transition takes place from darkness to light, those who handle sacred responsibilities are ministers of darkness, blind leaders of the blind. `Clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots' [Jude 12]....

"I inquire of those in responsible positions in Battle Creek, 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 the light which is to fill the whole earth with its glory has been despised by some who claim to believe the present truth....I know not but some have even now gone too far to return and to repent....

"The Spirit of God is departing from many 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....These men are parties to the ruin of 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 call upon God's people to open their eyes. When you sanction or carry out the decisions of men who, as you know, are not in harmony with truth and righteousness, you weaken your own faith and lose your relish for communion with God....`There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel.' `Neither will I be with you anymore, except ye destroy the accursed from among you' [Joshua 7:13, 12]....

"What does God say in regard to His people? `But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses; they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, restore' [Isaiah 42:22]. These are prophecies that will be fulfilled.

"I would speak in warning to those who have stood for years resisting light and cherishing the spirit of opposition....There is salvation for you, but only through the merits of Jesus Christ. The grace of the Holy Spirit has been offered you again and again. Light and power from on high has been shed abundantly in the midst of you. 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. Through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, no longer unto reformation and pardon, you will see that men whom you have spoken against have been a sign in the world, as witnesses for God. Then you would give the whole world if you could redeem the past, and be just such zealous men, moved by the Spirit of God to lift your voice in solemn warning to the world; and like them, to be in principle firm as a rock.(166) Your turning things upside down is known of the Lord. Go on a little longer as you have gone in rejection of light from heaven, and you are lost. `The man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation' [Numbers 19:20].

"I have no smooth message to bear to those who have been so long as false guideposts, pointing the wrong way. If you reject Christ's delegated messengers you reject Christ. Neglect this great salvation, kept before you for years, despise this glorious offer of justification, through the blood of Christ, and sanctification through the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit, and there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation." Letter 57, May 1, 1895, Manuscript Releases, vol 14, p 116-134. (Edited version, Testimonies to Ministers, p 77-97)

What a powerful testimony! If the SDA leadership would continue in rejecting the third angel's message, they would then be blind leaders of the blind. Also, they would begin to persecute those who accepted this precious message, because these would refuse to follow them in rebellion against God and His truth.

"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 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." Review and Herald, vol 2, p 48.

"The Sanhedrin had rejected Christ's message and was bent upon His death; therefore Jesus departed from Jerusalem, from the priests, the temple, the religious leaders, the people who had been instructed in the law, and turned to another class to proclaim His message, and to gather out those who should carry the gospel to all nations." Desire of Ages, p 232.

"But O sad picture! Those who do not submit to the influence of the Holy Spirit soon lose the blessings received when they acknowledged the truth as from Heaven. They fall into a cold, spiritless formality; they lose their interest in perishing souls: they have `left their first love.' And Christ says unto them, `Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent' [Revelation 2:5]. He will take His Holy Spirit from the church, and give it to others who will appreciate it.

"There is no greater evidence that those who have received great light do not appreciate that light, than is given by their refusal to let their light shine upon those who are in darkness, and devoting their time and energies in celebrating forms and ceremonies. Thoughts of the inner work, the necessary purity of heart, are not entertained. The absence of harmony with God becomes apparent. The light grows dim, goes out; the candlestick has been removed. There is much exercising of man-made authority by those to whom God has not given His wisdom because they did not feel the need of the wisdom from above....

"The Spirit is poured out upon all who will yield to its promptings, and, casting off all man's machinery, his binding rules and cautious methods, they will declare the truth with the might of the Spirit's power. Multitudes will receive the faith and join the armies of the Lord....The safeguards which false shepherds have thrown around their flocks will become as naught; thousands will step out into the light, and work to spread the light." Review and Herald, vol 3, p 272-75 (July 16 & 23, 1895).

Did the SDA leadership listen to the warning, accept the rebuke, and change? Or did they reject this also, and continue on in their rejection of God and His light? Are they truly lessening the distance between themselves and Rome, and bringing all SDA institutions and churches under the control of the General Conference and its god-president? The following two testimonies in the same month, spell it out clearly.

"For years a spirit of oppression has been coming into Battle Creek. The human agents are lifting up themselves unto selfishness and domination....And when every institution is merged into the one that is greatest--that is, measured by her power of control--that one will be the ruling power, and if the principles of action in the most powerful institution are corrupted, as is now the case, and as has been in the history of the past, every other institution must follow the same path...

"There must be a cleansing of the institutions similar to Christ's cleansing of the temple of old. `It is written,' saith the Lord, `My house shall be called a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves' [Mark 11:27]. There are in our institutions today transactions similar to those that took place in the temple court in Christ's time; and all heaven is looking on....

"It has not been after God's order to center so much in Battle Creek. The state of things now exists that was presented before me as a warning. The Lord gave warnings to prevent this demoralizing condition of things, but they have not been heeded. `Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men' [Matthew 5:13].

"I appeal to my brethren to wake up. Unless a change takes place speedily, I must give the facts to the people; for this state of things must change; unconverted men must no longer be managers and directors in so important and sacred work. With David we are forced to say, `It is time for Thee, Lord, to work; for they have made void Thy law' [Psalms 119:126]." Letter 4, September, 1895, Paulson Collection, p 410-16. (see also The Publishing Ministry, p 133)

"I think we will institute, at least once a day, a season of prayer for the Lord to set things in order at the center of the work. Matters are being shaped so that every other institution is following in the same course.(167) And the General Conference is itself becoming corrupted with wrong sentiments and principles....

"I have been shown that the Jewish nation were not brought suddenly into their condition of thought and practice.(168) From generation to generation they were working on false theories, carrying out principles opposed to the truth, and combining with their religion, thoughts and plans that were the product of human minds. Human inventions were made supreme.

"So it is today...and it is time to call a halt....The holy principles God has given are represented by the sacred fire: but common fire has been used in the place of the sacred.(169) False propositions have been assumed as truth and righteousness, and everything has been managed in such a way as to carry out these propositions, which are a misrepresentation of God's character. Plans contrary to truth and righteousness are introduced in a subtle manner(170) on the plea that this must be done, and that must be done, `because it is for the advancement of the cause of God.' Men have taken unfair advantage of those whom they supposed to be under their jurisdiction. They were determined to bring the individuals to their terms; they would rule or ruin. This devising leads to oppression, injustice, and wickedness....There will be no material change for the better until a decided change is made to bring in a different state of things....

"If man resists the warnings the Lord sends them they become even leaders in evil practices; such men assume to exercise the prerogatives of God--they presume to do that which God Himself will not do in seeking to control the minds of men. They introduce their own methods and plans...They weaken the faith of others in the truth, and bring in false principles that will work like leaven to taint and corrupt our institutions and churches....

"The spirit of domination is extending to the presidents of our conferences. But if a man is sanguine of his own powers, and seeks to exercise dominion over his brethren, feeling that he is invested with authority to make his will the ruling power, the best and only safe course is to remove him, lest great harm be done and he lose his own soul and imperil the souls of others....

"A man's position does not make him one jot or tittle greater in the sight of God; it is character alone that God values....The high-handed power that has been developed, as though position made men gods, makes me afraid, and ought to cause fear. It is a curse wherever, and by whomsoever [it is] exercised....When men who profess to serve God, ignore His parental character, and depart from honor and righteousness in dealing with their fellowmen, Satan exults; for he has inspired them with his attributes. They are following in the track of Romanism. Those who are enjoined to represent the attributes of the Lord's character, step from the Bible platform, and in their own human judgment devise rules and resolutions to force the will of others....Rule, rule, has been their course of action: and Satan has had an opportunity to represent himself through them....

"Satan's methods tend to one end,--to make men the slaves of men....Age after age Jesus has been delivering His goods to the church. At the time of the first advent of Christ to our world, the men who composed the Sanhedrin exercised their authority in controlling men according to their will....but when men are separated from God, and their own wisdom is made a controlling power, the souls for whom Christ has given His life to free from the bondage of Satan, are brought under bondage to him in another form....

"The words of Christ are spoken just as verily to presidents of conferences, elders of churches, and those occupying responsible positions in our churches, `Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God' [John 3:3]." Letter 55, September 19, 1895, Pamphlet #80, p 25-45. (Altered version, Testimonies to Ministers, p 359-73)

"We cannot be safe in trusting to any other word except `It is written.' We cannot float with the current; we cannot build our faith on any human theory, lest we come under condemnation as did the Jews. `Ye teach for doctrine the commandments of men' [Mark 7:7], said Christ to them. And this statement is made decidedly plain to us in these last days.

"In Sunday observance the commandments of men are made supreme. Human authority and church pretensions are made as the word of God, to which all must bow.(171) Should we do this, we would be laborers together with the man of sin, who thought to change times and laws, and who exalted himself above God and all that is written in the word of God." Letter 8, 1895, Manuscript Releases, vol 13, p 22-23.

If the SDA leaders make their wisdom supreme, instead of God's wisdom, requiring the obedience of all SDA's, then a union would be formed with Satan who exalts Sunday in place of God's Sabbath. As this was already being accomplished, Sister White warns that the voice coming from the General Conference is not from God!

Will the SDA leaders continue on this sure road to destruction and risk being denounced as an harlot of Babylon? Are they still continuing to cherish the spirit of rebellion which began at Minneapolis? Are they still rejecting the message of the Righteousness of Christ, and thereby rejecting Him; while all the time claiming to be the remnant people of God? Are they still trying to stop our people from accepting this precious message? Are they still trying to control the minds of our people, and set themselves up as lords over the flock?

"The Lord has a controversy with you....The lifting up of the soul and speaking vanity, and the lifting up of men to manage their fellow-men, body and soul, is all open before God, with whom we have to do. There is no man or set of men that can manage men. `All ye are brethren' [Matthew 23:8]. The Holy Spirit of God alone can do this....Truth, honor, and integrity have been compromised to gain certain advantages. Justice hath fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

"Religious principles have been corrupted. We will either make more pure, noble, and holy the principles held by God's heritage, or else we will mislead by false proposition, unholy schemes, saying, `The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we' [Jeremiah 7:4]. The work and cause of the Lord is sacred. There is to be no mingling of human, common, unholy fire with God's offering. This has been and is still being done....The question is, Shall those who are called from place to place act a part in the sacred work of God, use the fire of God's own kindling, or shall they use the common fire, of which not one spark should be used, to kindle the incense upon the censors which are offered to God?...

"...the Lord's holy purpose has been grieved. Heaven has manifested its purpose to impart power to those who believe; and the Holy Spirit has been revealed....The Comforter is to reveal Himself, not in any specified, precise way that man may mark out, but in the order of God; in unexpected times and ways that will honor His own name. Those who are unbelievers do not receive the richest endowment of grace...God cannot do His mighty works for them because of their unbelief.

"Now, just now is our day of mercy and salvation. The Lord God...sees every soul that shows contempt for the manifestations of His Holy Spirit. God has revealed Himself again and again in a most marked manner in Battle Creek. He has given a large measure of His Holy Spirit to the believers there....This blessing extended to large numbers, but why was not this sweet, holy working continued upon hearts and minds? Some felt annoyed at this out-pouring, and their own natural dispositions were manifested. They said, This is only excitement; it is not the Holy Spirit, not showers from heaven of the latter rain....

"On many occasions the Holy Spirit did work, but those who resisted the Spirit of God at Minneapolis were waiting for a chance to travel over the same ground again, because their spirit was the same....They stood like a rock, the waves of mercy flowing upon and around them, but beaten back by their hard and wicked hearts, which resisted the Holy Spirit's working. Had this been received, it would have made them wise unto salvation; holier men, prepared to do the work of God with sanctified ability. But all the universe of heaven witnessed the disgraceful treatment of Jesus Christ, represented by the Holy Spirit. Had Christ been before them, they would have treated Him in a manner similar to that in which the Jews treated Christ....

"There is much that needs to be set in order in every institution that is in operation in our world. Finite men are not to make themselves lords, and seek to govern men's minds and principles, when their own minds, and their own principles, are very shaky. This uncertainty is being communicated to the churches by men in prominent positions. Unbelief goes in the very atmosphere. Everything is to be shaken that can be shaken, that those things that cannot be shaken may remain....

"Let the oppression of human minds forever cease, and let the Holy Spirit have a chance to work....This lording over God's heritage as though the endowment of the talents of the mind, the soul, the principles of men, are to be under the jurisdiction of men, is permeating our churches with a spirit after the same order....

"Who will now understand these things that I write?...The Lord is coming, but those who ventured to resist the light that God gave in rich measure at Minneapolis, who have not humbled their hearts before God, will follow on in the path of resistance, saying, `Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?' [Exodus 5:2]. The banner all will bear who voice the message of the third angel, is being covered with another color that virtually kills it. This is being done. Will our people now hold fast to the truth?" Letter 6, January 16, 1896, 1888 Materials, vol 4, p 1476-86.

The church leaders were virtually killing this message of the third angel by coloring it with another color. And what was this color? Men were controlling their fellow-men, lording it over God's heritage, oppressing other minds, seeking to govern the minds, souls, and bodies of our people, and seeking to take the place of God to our people--just like the pope of Catholicism. They were seeking to form the General Conference into the great central controlling institution of all SDA interests--just like the Vatican is to Catholicism. They were continuing to place men between the working of the Holy Spirit and our SDA people, and will continue on in this same path of resistance.

"That men should keep alive the spirit which ran riot at Minneapolis is an offense to God.(173)...He will visit for these things. A voice has been heard pointing out the errors and, in the name of the Lord, pleading for a decided change. But who have followed the instruction given? Who have humbled their hearts to put from them every vestige of their wicked, oppressive spirit? I have been greatly burdened to set these matters before the people as they are. I know they will see them. I know that those who read this matter will be convicted." Letter 38, May 30, 1896, Testimonies to Ministers, p 76-77.

"The enemy has been given an opportunity to control men, and to manage the work which God has shown should be kept pure and sacred...When men entrusted with responsibilities, neglect to cherish that which is sacred, and use common fire in God's service, God will despise their offering to Him. This has been, and is still being done.

"For years a degree of Phariseeism has been springing up amongst us...Much pride and loftiness and a spirit which desires to rule has been manifested...Human inventions(174) and human plans are eclipsing sacred things, and excluding divine instruction.(175) Men are taking the place of God by seeking to assume authority over their fellow-men. But they rule with a vestige of the authority of God...and others are becoming leavened by this wrong influence....`Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees' [Mark 8:15], Christ said, guard against the influence which they exert....

"I shall never, I think, be called to stand under the direction of the Holy Spirit as I stood at Minneapolis. The presence of Jesus was with me....The manifestations of the Holy Spirit were attributed to fanaticism....The scenes which took place at this meeting made the God of heaven ashamed to call those who took part in them, His brethren....He who rejects the light and evidence God has been liberally bestowing upon us, rejects Christ; and for him there is no other Saviour....

"The same work that has been done in the past will be carried forward under the guise of the General Conference Association. The sacred character of this association is fast disappearing. Who will then be respected as pure, holy and undefiled? Will there be any voice that God's people can respect as a voice to be respected? There certainly is nothing now that bears the divine credentials....

"As things now exist in Battle Creek, the work of God cannot be carried forward on a correct basis....The enslaving of the souls of men by their fellow-men is deepening the darkness which already envelops them. Who can now feel sure that they are safe in respecting the voice 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,(176) would they respect their decisions? I answer, no, not for a moment.(177) I have been shown that the people at large do not know that the heart of the work is being diseased and corrupted at Battle Creek. Many of the people are in a lethargic, listless, apathetic condition, and assent to plans which they do not understand. Where is the voice, from whence will it come, to whom the people may listen, knowing that it comes from the True Shepherd? I am called upon by the Spirit of God to present these things before you, and they are correct to the life...

"If those connected with the work of God will not hear His voice and do His will, they should be separated entirely from the work. God does not need the influence of such men. I speak plainly; for it is time that things were called by their right name....those who have separated their souls from God, should themselves be separated from the work of God, which is so solemn and so important." Letter 81, May 31, 1896, 1888 Materials, p 1558-73.

God, through Sister White, has warned that the General Conference Association is being diseased and corrupted, and will continue to bear the same evil spirit that was manifested at Minneapolis. The divine credentials were no longer with the leaders, they were not safe to trust, and should be removed from office. But they were not.

"The sacred character of the cause of God is no longer realized at the center of the work. The voice from Battle Creek, which has been regarded as authority in counseling how the work should be done, is no longer the voice of God; but it is the voice of--whom? From whence does it come, and where is its vital power? This state of things is maintained by men who should have been disconnected from the work long ago. These men do not scruple to quote the word of God as their authority, but the god who is leading them is a false god....

"A great crisis is coming upon us. If men still yield to men, as they have been doing for the last fifteen years, they will lose their own souls, and their example will lead others astray. God's soldiers must put on the whole armor of God. We are not required to put on human armor, but to gird ourselves with God's strength....

"Your religion cannot be in any other man's keeping. Honor the cross of Christ, and the cross will honor you. Let every man stand in God, not to be bought, not to be sold, but to reveal a Christian fortitude. Serve no man through fear of what that man can do to you that is disagreeable. Christians you cannot be if you depend on any other man's conscience. Christ died to give men moral independence, freedom to exercise their God-given ability....

"God has given us all that we possess. It all belongs to Him, and we are not to sit at the footstool of any man to obey his orders, for God has made us free moral agents. He requires us to preserve our moral independence, and not be bound about by any man. Our consciences are to be controlled by no power on earth....

"God's servants are to resist sternly any deviation from righteous principles. Nehemiah took his stand decidedly against the first encroachment of man's rights. He had his own brother officers to meet, but he separated himself from them, and rebuked their plans to obtain control of everything. He stood as a reprover, frowning down their course which was contrary to the Bible standard of righteousness. When urged to confederate with them in their course of injustice, he gave a decided testimony. `So did not I, because of the fear of the Lord' [Nehemiah 5:15]." Letter 4, July 1, 1896, Manuscript Releases, vol 17, p 184-94.

God sent a plain warning that the leadership were not the voice of God, that they were not to try and consolidate all the interests of the work under one institution--the General Conference. And if they continued on in their plans, then just like Nehemiah, a separation of God's faithful from the reaches of the Conference would have to take place.

Just a few days later, God sent a warning to our SDA state conferences and churches, telling them not to allow the General Conference to control them: it could not, must not, become the center of the work. He also revealed to them, especially through Bible texts, what would be the end result of allowing the General Conference to be a controlling power, and thus allowing the General Conference president to be the "god" or pope of the SDA people.

"State conferences may depend upon the General Conference for light and knowledge and wisdom; but is it safe for them to do this? Battle Creek is not to be the center of God's work. God alone can fill this place....The Lord is the only One upon whom we can safely depend, and He is accessible in every place and to every church in the Union. To place men where God should be placed does not honor or glorify God. Is the president of the General Conference to be the god of the people?...`Cease ye from man' [Isaiah 2:22].

"The Lord has a controversy(178) with His people over this matter....Mercy and love and wisdom are to be found in God; but many who profess to know Him have turned from the One in whom our hope of eternal life is centered, and have educated themselves to depend upon their erring and fallible fellowmen....Just as soon as man is placed where God should be, he loses his purity, his vigor, his confidence in God's power. Moral confusion results, because his powers become unsanctified and perverted. He feels competent to judge his fellowmen, and he strives unlawfully to be a god over them.(179)

"`Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever: that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppressions and perverseness, and stay thereon: therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.'

"`Whom shall He teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: for with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people. To whom He said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall overflow the hiding place.'

"`Thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.' `And in that day shall the deaf hear the words out of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off: that make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought. Therefore thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale. But when he seeth his children, the work of Mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify My name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel. They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine' [Isaiah 30:8-13, 28:9-17, 30:15, 29:18-24].

"Will these warnings be passed by as of no account? The Lord calls upon every teacher, every minister, everyone who has received the light of His truth, to mark well his spiritual standing. They have had great light, and if they would secure eternal life, they must no longer make finite men their dependence, but build upon the sure foundation.

"No council of men can with safety remove God's principles, and set up their own; for the word of God declares, `Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.'" Testimonies to Ministers, p 375-84 (July 5, 1896).

"...what did the brethren in that fearful position in which they stood, reject at Minneapolis? They rejected the latter rain, the loud cry of the third angel's message....the Spirit of the Lord was there to tell them that they were doing it, was it not? But when they were rejecting the loud cry, the teaching of righteousness; and then the Spirit of the Lord, by His prophet, stood there and told us what they were doing, what then? Oh! Then they simply set this prophet aside with all the rest." 1893 General Conference Bulletin, p 183.

So if the SDA leadership would continue in their rebellious plans, then the only SDA people that God will be able to teach His knowledge and doctrine to would be those who would fulfill these two conditions: those SDA's that would wean themselves from receiving all their knowledge and doctrine from human sources, are able to do their own study and thinking for themselves (relying upon God to enlighten their minds through the Holy Spirit as to what is truth), and those SDA's who are drawn from, or separate from, the SDA church! Those who would obey God and fulfill these conditions, would no longer be deaf, but would hear and understand God's word of truth, and would no longer be blinded by the obscurity and darkness of the church, but would see clearly.

"The prophet Isaiah brings to view the fearful deception which will come upon the wicked, causing them to count themselves secure from the judgments of God: [Isaiah 28:15 quoted]. In this class here described are included those who in their stubborn impenitence comfort themselves with the assurance that there is to be no punishment for the sinner; that all mankind, it matters not how corrupt, are to be exalted to Heaven to become as the angels of God. But still more emphatically are those making a covenant with death and an agreement with hell, who renounce the truths which Heaven has provided as a defense for the righteous in the day of trouble, and accept the refuge of lies offered by Satan in its stead--the delusive pretensions of Spiritualism." Spirit of Prophecy, vol 4, p 377-78. (also Great Controversy, p 560-61)

"But as God has left him [king Saul], he seeks a woman with a familiar spirit, who is in communion with Satan. He has forsaken God, and at length seeks one who has made a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell, for knowledge. The witch of Endor had made agreement with Satan to follow his directions in all things; and he would perform wonders and miracles for her...

"Saul knew that in this last act, of consulting the witch of Endor, he cut the last shred which held him to God. He knew that if he had not before willfully separated himself from God, this act sealed that separation, and made it final. He had made an agreement with death, and a covenant with hell. The cup of his iniquity was full." Spirit of Prophecy, vol 1, p 375-77.

As utterly impossible as this may sound, God has revealed to His people that if the SDA church and its leadership continue on in their plans of rebellion and rejection of God and His precious message of righteousness; if they renounce the truths from heaven as being error, and accept the doctrines of Spiritualism; if they seek after and unite themselves with other women (or churches) who are in league with the devil, then they will have made a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell, and their cup of iniquity will be full. Their separation from God will be final--and probation will have closed upon the corporate church!

The SDA church and its followers would go, and fall backward, be broken, snared, and taken. The breaking of their wall, or structure, would come suddenly and at an instant. The judgment of plagues would come against them with the hail overflowing their hiding place. They and their church would be brought to naught, be consumed, and cut off from God's mercy!

God forbid: but if the SDA leadership would continue on, then Ellen White and the testimonies will continue to be set aside and rejected, the truths from heaven will be accounted as error and given up. They will seek to be united with the other fallen women or churches, and probation will close upon them and their church. God will then be obligated to separate His true SDA people out of the church, and in the end the SDA church and those who continue in her will be destroyed by the plagues.

"The Sabbath is God's memorial to His creative work, and it is a sign that is to be kept before the world.(180) There is to be no compromise with those who are worshipping an idol sabbath.(181)...I was told that men will employ every policy to make less prominent the difference between the faith of Seventh-day Adventists and those who observe the first day of the week....

"A company was presented before me under the name of Seventh-day Adventists, who were advising that the banner or sign which makes us a distinctive people should not be held out so strikingly; for they claimed it was not the best policy(182) in securing success to our institutions. This distinctive banner is to be borne through the world to the close of probation.(183)...I saw some reaching out their hands to remove the banner, and to obscure its significance....

"The figures on the side of iniquity are rapidly reaching the sum of corruption which was reached by the Amorites, and by the Jewish nation, once the elect of God. In the days of Christ they made void the law of God, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, and this led them to reject the Son of God. When the people accept and exalt a spurious sabbath, and turn souls away from obedience and loyalty to God, they will reach the point that was reached by the people in the days of Christ....Then the commandments of men will be clothed with sacred garments, and will be pronounced holy.

"When the law of God is being made void, when His name is dishonored, when it is considered disloyal to the laws of the land to keep the seventh day as the Sabbath, when wolves in sheep's clothing,(185) through blindness of mind(186) and hardness of heart, are seeking to compel the conscience, shall we give up our loyalty to God? No, no....The zeal of those who obey the Lord will be increased as the world and the church unite in making void the law." Manuscript 15, 1896, Manuscript Releases, vol 13, p 69-71.

"Says the great deceiver: `We must watch those who are calling the attention of the people to the Sabbath of Jehovah; they will lead many to see the claims of the law of God; and the same light which reveals the true Sabbath, reveals also the ministration of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, and shows that the last work for man's salvation is now going forward.'...

"`The people accept their ministers' explanations of Scripture, and do not investigate for themselves.(187) Therefore by working through the ministers,(188) I can control the people according to my will....We will thus lead them to conclude that the requirements of Christ are less strict(189) than they once believed...Thus they will separate from Christ; then they will have no strength to resist our power'....

"`I will have upon the ground, as my agents,(190) men holding false doctrines mingled with just enough truth to deceive souls. I will also have unbelieving ones present, who will express doubts in regard to the Lord's messages of warning to His church. Should the people read and believe these admonitions, we could have little hope of overcoming them....If we can keep souls deceived for a time, God's mercy will be withdrawn, and He will give them up to our full control.'" Spirit of Prophecy, vol 4, p 337-40.

God has mercifully shown Satan's plans to His people. If the SDA church follows Satan and not Christ, then they will unite with the world and exalt Sunday as the Sabbath. They will also repeat the history of the Jewish nation, and will occupy the same positions as did the Jews. Thus through blindness of mind, wolves in sheep's clothing (false SDA ministers) will seek to compel minds to worship on Sunday.

"The people of God who understand our position in this world's history, are with ears open and hearts softened and subdued pressing together in unity--one with Jesus Christ. Those who will not practice the lessons of Christ, but keep themselves in hand, to mold themselves, find in Antichrist the center of their union." Letter 73, October 12, 1896, Manuscript Releases, vol 20, p 113.

"My soul is made very sad to see how quickly some who have had light and truth will accept the deceptions of Satan, and be charmed with a spurious holiness. When men turn away from the landmarks the Lord has established that we may understand our position as marked out in prophecy, they are going they know not whither.

"I question whether genuine rebellion is ever curable. Study in Patriarchs and Prophets the rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. This rebellion was extended, including more than two men. It was led by two-hundred and fifty princes of the congregation, men of renown. Call rebellion by its right name and apostasy by its right name, and then consider that the experience of the ancient people of God with all its objectionable features was faithfully chronicled to pass into history. The Scripture declares, `These things...are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come' [1 Corinthians 10:11]. And if men and women who have the knowledge of the truth are so far separated from their Great Leader that they will take the great leader of apostasy and name him Christ our Righteousness, it is because they have not sunk deep into the mines of the truth. They are not able to distinguish the precious ore from the base material....

"Is not Satan the life and soul of every species of rebellion which he has instigated?...`By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned...thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick' [Ezekiel 28:16, 18]. In this place `traffick' is the emblem of corrupt administration." Letter 156, April 8, 1897. (see Manuscript Releases, vol 7, p 178; SDA Bible Commentary, vol 7A, p 47, 173-74)

"Satan is moving with intensity from beneath and is bringing all his forces to bear to unsettle those who have once been established in the truth which they have once advocated, [these] can do the greatest harm to the cause of God. Quite a large number will enter this path because the truth they once believed has not been brought into their life-practice. But those who depart from the faith and refuse to give the last message of warning to the world will walk in paths in which the Lord does not lead. Satan goes before them as an angel of light. They will follow on in false paths until they shall discern what is comprehended in the wrath of the lamb." Letter 98a, April 9, 1897, Last Day Events from the Letters and Manuscripts of E.G. White, p 52.

"In our experience we have seen some who although they apparently believed the truth, were not in the truth, and the truth was not in them. Some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, and when once they open the heart to unbelief, Satan comes in to possess the soul....

"Unsanctified ministers are arraying themselves against God. They are praising Christ and the god of this world in the same breath. While professedly they receive Christ, they embrace Barabbas,(193) and by their actions say, `Not this Man, but Barabbas' [John 18:40].(194)...Let the son of deceit and false witness be entertained by a church that has had great light, great evidence, and that church will discard the message the Lord has sent, and receive the most unreasonable assertions and false suppositions and false theories. Satan laughs at their folly; for he knows what truth is.

"Many will stand in our pulpits with the torch of false prophecy in their hands, kindled from the hellish torch of Satan. If doubts and unbeliefs are cherished, the faithful ministers will be removed from the people who think they know so much. `If thou hadst known,' said Christ, `even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes' [Luke 19:42]....

"God gives men counsel and reproof for their good. He sent His message telling them what was needed for the time--1897. Did you accept the message? Did you heed the appeal? He gave you opportunity to come up armed and equipped to the help of the Lord. And having done all, He told you to stand. But did you make ready? Did you say, `Here am I; send me' [Isaiah 6:8]? You sat still, and did nothing. You let the word of the Lord fall unheeded to the ground...

"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 blessing to others." Manuscript 92, August 12, 1897. (see Testimonies to Ministers, p 409-13)(195)

God forbid that all the faithful ministers shall be removed from the pulpits of SDA churches. But if doubts and unbeliefs are cherished, then eventually the only ministers that will be left in SDA churches will be those who are unsanctified, who reject God and His pure truth, who will be stumbling blocks to those who want to follow God. These "barren deserts" will hold in their hands false prophecies and satanic doctrines kindled from Lucifer's torch with which to deceive our people.

"We are living in the last days of this earth's history, and we may be surprised at nothing in the line of apostasies and denials of the truth.(196) Unbelief has now come to be a fine art which men work at to the destruction of their souls. There is constant danger of there being shams in the pulpit preachers, whose lives contradict the words they speak; but the voice of warning and of admonition will be heard as long as time shall last; and those who are guilty of transactions that should never be entered into, when reproved or counseled through the Lord's appointed agencies, will resist the message and refuse to be corrected....The Lord's word will come to them; but if they choose not to hear it, the Lord will make them responsible for their own ruin.

"The voice of John was lifted up like a trumpet. His commission was, `Show My people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins' [Isaiah 58:1]....To the Pharisees and Sadducees he said, Flee from the wrath to come....You turn from God's requirements and follow your own perverted ideas...He reproved the Pharisees of the Sanhedrin because their religion consisted in forms and not in righteousness of pure, willing obedience....

"The message we bear must be as direct as the message of John....The Lord will not leave His church without reproofs and warnings. Sins have become fashionable; but they are none the less aggravating in the sight of God. They are glossed over, palliated, and excused; the right hand of fellowship is given to the very men who are bringing in false theories and false sentiments, confusing the minds of the people of God, deadening their sensibilities as to what constitutes right principles. Conscience(197) has thus become insensible to the counsels and the reproofs which have been given. The light given, calling to repentance, has been extinguished in the clouds of unbelief and opposition brought in by human plans and human inventions....

"When men endanger the work and cause of God by their own wrong course of action, shall they hear no voice of reproof?...God requires that the warning be as broad as the injury done. The testimonies will not be hindered. The words of rebuke and warning, the plain `Thus saith the Lord,' will come from God's appointed agencies; for the words do not originate with the human instrument; they are from God, who appointed them their work....

"Many have tried neutrality in a crisis, but they have failed in their purpose. No one can maintain a neutral ground.(199) Those who endeavor to do this will fulfill Christ's words, `No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon' [Matthew 6:24]. Those who begin their christian life by being half and half, whatever may be their intentions, will at last be found enlisted on the enemy's side.

"Doubleminded men and women are Satan's best allies. Whatever favorable opinion they may have of themselves, they are dissemblers. All who are loyal to God and the truth must stand firmly for the right because it is right. To yoke up with those who are unconsecrated and yet be loyal to the truth, is simply an impossibility. We cannot unite with those who are serving themselves, who are working on worldly plans, and not lose our connection with the heavenly Counselor....

"When a man loses the shield of a good conscience, he knows that he has lost the cooperation of heavenly angels. God is not working in him. Another spirit inspires him. And to be an apostate, a traitor to the cause of God, is much more serious than death, it means the loss of eternal life." Manuscript 87, August 19, 1897, This Day With God, p 240.

"Christ shows that without the controlling power of the Spirit of God humanity is a terrible power for evil. Unbelief, the hatred of reproof, will stir up Satanic influences. Principalities and powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places, will unite in a desperate companionship. They will be leagued against God in the person of His saints. By misrepresentation and falsehood they will demoralize both men and women who to all appearances believe the truth. False witnesses will not be wanting in this terrible work.

"As men throw off all restraint, make void His law themselves, as they establish their own perverted law, and try to force the consciences of those who honor God and keep His commandments to trample the law under their feet, they will find that the tenderness which they have mocked will be exhausted."(201) Manuscript 40, 1897, Selected Messages, book 3, p 416-17.

"If the people of God had walked in His counsel, the work of God would have advanced, the messages of truth would have been borne to all people that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Had the people of God believed Him and been doers of His Word, had they kept His commandments, the angel would not have come flying through heaven with the message to the four angels...crying, `Hold, hold the four winds, that they blow not upon the earth, until we have sealed the servants of God in their foreheads' [Revelation 7:3]. But because the people are disobedient, unthankful, unholy, as were ancient Israel, time is prolonged that all may hear the last message of mercy proclaimed with a loud voice. The Lord's work has been hindered, the sealing time delayed." Letter 106, May 14, 1897, Manuscript Releases, vol 15, p 292-93.

God has told His people that if they had chosen to obey God and had done the work given them to do, then the work would have been finished, Christ would have already come, and we could have been in Heaven! But instead rebellion was increasing, and unbelief and apostasy were beginning to take hold of our people. This rebellion and apostasy was not yet out in the open for all to see what was really going on behind the scenes in the SDA church. But God had allowed it to enter into the midst of the church so that His people would learn not to depend upon man, but to look only to Him.

The General Conference was becoming corrupted, and strange methods and principles were being brought into the work. If this would continue, SDA ministers would become unsanctified, they would begin to preach doctrines of devils from SDA pulpits, and those SDA ministers who would remain faithful to God and His truths would be searched out and removed from their churches. The removal of these faithful SDA ministers would be through a variety of methods: which would surely include being placed on probation until they change their beliefs; being sent back to seminary to re-educate them; or being totally removed from the ministry.

If the rebellion and apostasy continues to grow, then the SDA leadership will begin voicing the words of the dragon, will make void God's law--believing that the Sabbath does not amount to much, and will exalt Sunday and lead our people into Sunday worship. Satan would be exalted in the place of "Christ our righteousness." The irrevocable sentence would be pronounced "now they are hid from thine eyes"--thus closing corporate probation. The SDA church would become Babylon fallen, and this great apostasy would continue on until the plagues begin to fall upon them and their apostate church!

The Jewish church leadership believed that their church could never become Babylon the harlot, yet, because of their continued rebellion against God and His will, they did (see Isaiah 1:21)! They had forgot the "IF." If they would be obedient to God they would never become Babylon; but if they refused to obey God, then God would choose others through whom to work and would not prevent the church from falling and being cast away.

"Jerusalem is a representation of what the church will be if it refuses to walk in the light that God has given. Jerusalem was favored of God as the depositary of sacred trusts. But her people perverted the truth, and despised all entreaties and warnings. They would not respect His counsels....Christ turned from them, saying: `O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,' how can I give thee up? `How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!' Matthew 23:37.

"So Christ sorrows and weeps over our churches, over our institutions of learning, that have failed to meet the demand of God. He comes to investigate in Battle Creek, which has been moving in the same track as Jerusalem....The publishing house has been turned into desecrated shrines, into a place of unholy merchandise and traffic.(202)...

"When Christ looked down from the crest of Olivet, He saw this state of things existing in every church. The warnings come down to all that are following in the tread of the people of Jerusalem, who had such great light. This people is before us as a warning. By rejecting God's warnings in this our day, men are repeating the sin of Jerusalem. The Lord sees what the human agent does not see and will not see--the outcome of all the human devising in Battle Creek. He has done all that a God could do. He has flashed light before the eyes of the people, that their sins might not reach the boundary where repentance cannot be felt. But by a long process of departure from just and righteous principles, men have placed themselves where light and truth, justice and mercy, are not discerned....

"Those who receive Christ by faith as their personal Saviour cannot be in harmony with the world. There are two distinct classes: One is loyal to God, keeping His commandments, while the other talks and acts like the world, casting away the word of God, which is truth, and accepting the words of the apostate, who rejected Jesus.

"On whose side are we?...We must all think candidly. Will you have this man Christ Jesus to rule over you, or will you have Barabbas?...Shall we receive a `Thus saith the Lord,' for the `Thus saith' of man? The papal power, the man of sin, decides that the Roman Catholic Church has changed the law of God. In the place of the seventh day, they have baptized and presented to the world a child of the papacy, the first day of the week, to be observed as a holy day of rest. The Protestant world has received this child of the papacy, has cradled it, and given to it the honor that God has placed on the seventh-day....

"Will you turn from a plain `Thus saith the Lord' after reading the history of Adam's sin and fall? He fell because he discarded the words of the Lord, and heeded the words of Satan. Will it pay to transgress?...By the transgression of God's commandments man will lose heaven, and an eternity of bliss. These are no idle tales, but truth. Again I ask: On which side are you standing? `If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him' [1 Kings 18:21]." Letter 31, January 12, 1898, Pamphlet #86, p 25-40. (see Notebook Leaflets, p 19-20; Testimonies, vol 8, p 67-68; Testimonies to Ministers, p 131-41)

"The Lord reveals to men their danger, and warns them to put away all selfishness, that they may have that faith which works by love and purifies the soul. Yet, notwithstanding this, Satan works upon human minds to do as Judas did....Those who sympathized with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in their apostasy, brought blight and death upon themselves. So it will be in these last days. The cause of Christ will be betrayed. Those who have had the light of truth and have enjoyed its blessings, but have turned away from it, will fight down the Spirit of God. Inspired with a spirit from beneath, they will tear down that which they once built up, and show to all reasonable, God-fearing souls that they can not be trusted. They may lay claim to truth and righteousness, but their spirit and works will testify that they are betrayers of their Lord. The attributes of Satan they call the movings of the Holy Spirit." Review and Herald, vol 3, p 571 (May 24, 1898).

God had already warned the various SDA institutions in 1896 that they were to remain independent of the General Conference, and not allow it to control them. Now, God plainly tells them to come out and away from all control of the men in the General Conference! God was, in essence, trying to short circuit the papal plans of the leadership!

"In the General Conference the counsels of God have been set aside, and the counsels and wisdom of men have been relied upon. God has seen this, and He is displeased. The General Conference--what is it? What does it comprehend? Is it a General Conference, or is it something wrapped up and called by that name? With the exception of a limited number, the people who ought to know are not intelligent in regard to its workings....and the people at large know scarcely anything of what is being done at the heart of the work...

"As I was made to understand something of the management of the work in this great center, it was all that I could bear. My spirit was pained within me, for I had lost confidence in that which I had ever presented before the people as the voice of God to His children. It has not been the voice of God. There has been a lording power exercised over God's heritage...Their own principles have been counterworking the principles of truth and righteousness. We cannot therefore present before the people that the voice of the General Conference in its decisions must move and control them; for its propositions and decisions cannot be accepted. They are not in the right line of progress. God is cropped out of their counsels....

"The men who are guiding and planning, who carry large responsibilities, have separated themselves from God, and the righteousness of true principles is not in them; and if their plans are not counterworked they will cause ruin....at this stage of the work objectionable influences have come in to counterwork the work of God. The work of God has not been done according to His purpose....

"The man who magnifies his own office in working in any line to bind about the conscience of another, be he president of the General Conference, president of a smaller conference, or the elder or deacon or lay member of a church, he is out of God's line....God desires that men shall stand in their own individual responsibility, and while they are consecrated to Him there will be unity in diversity, as branches of the true Vine. But in the present condition of things, if one stands fast to his integrity, he is by some scorned, scouted, criticized, and dropped out if it can be brought about....

"Men who have been standing in stubborn resistance of the teachings of the Spirit of God have been honored as chosen men, as men qualified to run the work of God and to decide questions involving the highest responsibilities. They have been sent from place to place to give judgment in regard to matters which affect the future history of the work. But how can God look upon such a presentation as is now given at the great center of the work?...

"In your conference meetings there were heard pleasant presentations in regard to the consolidation of the Pacific Publishing House with the publishing interests at Battle Creek. This, it was proposed, should not interfere with their independence and rights, but that the General Conference should be to the interests on the Pacific Coast what fathers and mothers are to their children. These were very pleasant presentations; but I was carried into the future and was shown those who sanctioned these principles laying plans to control the work on the Pacific Coast....

"`Come out from among them,' God says, `and be ye separate,...and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty' [2 Cor. 6:17,18]. We all need a Father with whom to consult. The Holy Spirit has been refused by men who are puffed up with vain conceit and believe themselves capable of managing wonderful responsibilities....

"If our people were not blinded by deception they would see that these men are walking contrary to God. God has been speaking to them by His Word, through His testimonies, by His Spirit. Why do they not take heed? They have closed their eyes that they should not see, and their ears that they should not hear. They have rushed madly on in their uncontrollable spirit, unsanctified and separated from God; and yet they suppose that they can bring God's people to their terms and under their control....

"When the consolidation was first devised, it was represented as altogether another thing. But the enemy saw that this was his chance to work under human minds. He prepared a confederation that the Battle Creek institutions might be the power to bring under its control all other lines of work. It cannot be done. God will put a voice in the stones to cry out against it....

"The refuge of lies will fail. God will strike a blow to deliver His oppressed people....The Lord will not be slow to punish those who have had great light and yet have betrayed Him....Shall not God judge for these things? Is prosperity to come to God's institutions and work by building upon the ruins of truth, of righteousness, of justice, and all that is pure and holy?...

"I must speak plainly. We are reaching a time when a just standard of right and wrong, of honor and dishonor, of truth and error, is becoming a thing of naught. `Truth is fallen in the streets, and equity cannot enter' [Isaiah 59:14]....The man who sits at the feet of Jesus and learns His lessons will say as did one of old, `Unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united' [Genesis 49:6]....

God instructed all the institutions of the church--especially the publishing interests--to separate from, and remain separate from, the control of the General Conference. And if the General Conference continues to gain control over our people and the interests of the church, then God would have to strike a blow against this building up of a new papal structure. And if these unrighteous plans of man continued past this blow, then God will be obligated to deliver His people from all union with the SDA church because its foundation would be built upon the sand, the refuge of lies will fail, and the church would be destroyed along with all who remained within.

"The enemy knows that if the church can be controlled by political enactments,(203) if she can be led to unite with the world, she virtually acknowledges him as her head. Then the authority of man-made commandments will work to oppose the rule of the government of heaven. Under the leadership of Satan, men will dispense with the righteous, holy enactments of God concerning the Sabbath, the observance of which is to be a sign between God and His people forever....

"Those who disregard a plain `Thus saith the Lord,' are casting off their allegiance to God, and exalting human power in His stead. By placing themselves in opposition to the God of heaven, men are failing to receive the mark, or sign, by which the people of the world are to know God's true followers. There is no justification for those who, having the light, close their eyes and their ears to a plain `Thus saith the Lord.' They have taken up the weapons of their warfare against God, and their guilt is made manifest." Signs of the Times, vol 4, p 77 (November 22, 1899).

"We have come to a time when God's sacred work is represented by the feet of the image in which the iron was mixed with the miry clay....The mingling of churchcraft and statecraft is represented by the iron and the clay. This union is weakening all the power of the churches. This investing the church with the power of the state will bring evil results. Men have almost passed the point of God's forbearance. They have invested their strength in politics, and have united with the papacy." Manuscript 63, 1899, SDA Bible Commentary, vol 4, p 1168-69.

If the SDA church and its leadership would indeed continue on, then the end result would be probation closing upon the corporate church, and the judgments of God would follow without pity. This possibility was already spoken about (see p 5, 10, 21, 22, 24, 29, 31, 32, 37, 38, 49, 50, 51, 59, 61, 63, 74, 76, 77). But on the very first day of this year, God more forcibly stated:

"The time is soon coming when the work of God's judgments will begin at His sanctuary. God Himself is now drawing the separating line. He says, `As for Me also, Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head' [Ezekiel 9:10]." Letter 3, January 1, 1900, Last Day Events from the Letters and Manuscripts of E.G. White, p 90-91.

The possibility of a separation of God's people from the SDA church had already been clearly revealed (see p 27, 29, 30, 31, 37, 55, 56, 57, 66, 73, 76, 88). God Himself was already beginning to draw a separating line between His true followers and Satan's followers within the SDA church. The General Conference leadership were trying to centralize the entire work of God after the pattern of Rome--taking the control of the work away from God and putting it into their own hands, so that the people would look up to them instead of God.

"When man has taken the lines in his own hands to guide and drive, he will be rewarded, for the work of God will reveal terrible mistakes. Reason becomes blinded, even with the greatness of light, unless that agency is under the yoke of Christ. Every day some plan will be devised when Satan thinks he can lend a hand to sow his tares among the wheat. Vice is not to be commingled with virtue, and the cry may have to go forth in no measured tones, even now while missionary work is being done, `Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you' (2 Cor. 6:17). God is now working for His people, but how many do not recognize the work of God from a strange work." Letter 171, January 9, 1900, Upward Look, p 23.

"The professed followers of Christ are no longer a separate and peculiar people. The line of demarcation is indistinct. The people are subordinating themselves to the world, to its practices, its customs, its selfishness. The church has gone over to the world in transgression of the law, when the world should have come over to the church in obedience to the law. Daily the church is being converted to the world." Christ's Object Lessons, p 315-16 (1900).

"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." Letter 78, January 20, 1900, This Day With God, p 28.

"The church has taken the world into her fellowship, and has given her affections to the enemies of holiness. The church and the world are standing on the same ground in transgression of the law of God. The church prefers to assimilate to the world rather than separate from its customs and vanities." Manuscript 44, p 19, 1900, Last Day Events from the Lettes and Manuscripts of E.G. White, p 55. (see Signs of the Times, vol 3, p 102)

"It is a solemn and terrible truth that many who have been zealous in proclaiming the third angel's message are now becoming listless and indifferent! The line of demarcation between worldlings 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 becoming converted to the world." Testimonies, vol 8, p 118-19.

With unutterable sorrow God declared that the SDA church and its leadership had united with politics, with the papacy, and with the world. And so none of our people could have the excuse that they had no knowledge that these things were occurring in the General Conference leadership, God spelled it out clearly.

"In His dealing with ancient Israel God has given us an illustration of the result that will follow an unrighteous, disobedient course. He will punish all who make His glory to be reproached, even as He punished the children of Israel. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, even as Jerusalem, by her own course of action, was humiliated and brought low. Her people chose Barabbas, and God left them to their choice. They would not submit to God's way, and He permitted them to have their own way, and to carry out the purposes of their unsanctified hearts....

"When Christ saw in the Jewish people a nation divorced from God, He saw also a professed Christian church united to the world and the papacy....Will He be obliged to say to those who have had great light and great knowledge, as He said to the Jews, `O that thou hadst known, even thou in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace. But now they are hid from thine eyes' [Luke 19:42]?" Letter 98, July 10, 1900, The Kress Collection, p 153.

But how was the SDA church breaking the seventh commandment and committing adultery by just uniting with the world? The SDA church is supposed to be married to Christ. And if a married woman departs from her husband, and chooses to unite herself with other lovers, she commits adultery and harlotry. For the SDA church to depart from Christ her husband, choosing to unite herself with the world, and thereby uniting herself with the kings of the world, including Satan--Christ's enemy--she has committed adultery and become a harlot!

The SDA church and its leadership chose to unite with the world. Thus they have fulfilled the necessary conditions to be described as a cage of every unclean and hateful bird--or Babylon the harlot! But as God, in His great mercy, did not denounce the SDA church as being Laodicea until 1859 (see p 10), though two years earlier they had already fit the description, so God now gives the SDA church precious time to reconsider, and to thoroughly repent; dropping all connection with the world, before He is obligated to denounce them as a harlot of Babylon.

The SDA church is following the apostasy of Solomon! Re-read the story of his apostasy at the beginning of this book. We were informed that it was through Solomon's apostasy, that the "money which should have been held in sacred trust for the benefit of the worthy poor and for the extension of principles of holy living throughout the world, was selfishly absorbed in ambitious projects" (see p 2-3). Are the SDA leadership doing the same?

"The churches must arouse. The members must awake out of sleep and begin to inquire, `How is the money that we put into the treasury being used?' The Lord desires that a close search be made. Are all satisfied with the history of the work for the past fifteen years? Where is the evidence of the co-working with God? Where has been heard throughout the churches the prayer for the help of the Holy Spirit? Dissatisfied and disheartened we turn from the scene.

"The children of Israel beheld the awful semblance of God's presence in the mount; but before Moses had been forty days away from them, they substituted a golden calf for Jehovah. Things similar to this have been done among us as a people. Let us now return to God in penitence and contrition. Let us trust in Him, not in man." Manuscript 34, 1900, The Kress Collection, p 120.

"Christ speaks of the church over which Satan presides as the synagogue of Satan. Its members are the children of disobedience. They are those who choose to sin, who labor to make void the holy law of God. It is Satan's work to mingle evil with good, and to remove the distinction between good and evil." Review and Herald, vol 4, p 243 (December 4, 1900).

Will the SDA General Conference and its leadership have their candlestick removed? Will they cease to receive God's light and wisdom to give to our SDA people? If their candlestick is removed, if their voice to our people is no longer as the voice of God, then truly their light has become darkness. They will accept false theories and doctrines, confound idolatry with our religion, and urge and eventually compel our SDA people to follow Baal's day or Sunday!

"Yet we hear that the voice of the Conference is the voice of God. Every time I have heard this, I have thought it was almost blasphemy. The voice of the Conference ought to be the voice of God, but it is not, because some in connection with it are not men of faith and prayer, they are not men of elevated principle. There is not a seeking of God with the whole heart; there is not a realization of the terrible responsibility that rests upon those in this institution to mold and fashion the minds after the divine similitude.

"These things have kept my soul in great distress....I was referred to Achan. The entire congregation of Israel was affected by Achan's sin. Because of it God could not help them, and when they went out to battle they were beaten by their enemies. Joshua prostrated himself before the Lord and asked, `What does it mean that the children of Israel flee before their enemies?' God told him that there was an accursed thing in the camp...and that His blessing could not rest on the people till these things were cleansed from them....

"We have reached the time when the work cannot advance while wrong principles are cherished....In every field God has men of capability. He does not mean that these men, when they wish to take advance steps, shall send to Battle Creek [General Conference headquarters] in order to find out the best way in which to move. The Lord says, I will break up this plan of working. I will sever these connections. Every field shall bear its own responsibility." Manuscript 37, April, 1901, Sermons and Talks, vol 2, p 159-62.

God told His people that the voice coming from the General Conference is not the voice of God. It is accursed, and the entire congregation of SDA's are being affected by it. And because of this, God wanted all connections with the General Conference severed so that many of the institutions and fields of work of the SDA church would be independent of the Conference. But this was not anything new: God already warned of this.

The SDA leadership were taking a course directly opposite to what God had chosen for them to follow, and were betraying the cause of God into the hands of Satan. The leaders were tearing down the work of God--which they had once built up, and building up the cause of the devil--which they had once torn down (see p 87). Will God be obligated to remove the candlestick from the General Conference, or will they yet repent and follow the light and warnings that God has given?

In the General Conference Session of 1901, God sent a voice of decided and unmistakable protest trying to turn things around. This voice clearly and unflinchingly rebuked, and called for the removal of, the leaders who were following in the track of the papacy and molding the SDA church and its organization into the same image.

"God gave them clear light as to what they should do, and what they should not do, but they departed from that light, and it is a marvel to me that we stand in as much prosperity as we do today. It is because of the great mercy of our God, not because of our righteousness, but that His name should not be dishonored in the world....

"O, my very soul in drawn out in these things....That these men should stand in a sacred place to be as the voice of God to the people, as we once believed the General Conference to be,--that is past.(207) What we want now is a reorganization. We want to begin at the foundation, and to build upon a different principle.

"A line of distinction must be drawn between those who serve God, and those who serve Him not....The men that have long stood in positions of trust while disregarding the light that God has given, are not to be depended upon. God wants them to be removed....The Great General of armies, the Captain of the Lord's host, is our leader....

God had placed the candlestick in the hands of SDA leaders to hold God's light and truth out to our people, but they withheld it and put darkness in its place. For years the warnings have come that the candlestick would be removed unless they repented. But they chose to remain impenitent and to reject the warnings, and their voice is no longer as the voice of God--that time is past!

Out of mercy to God's true SDA people, He removed the candlestick from the General Conference. The candlestick now belongs, and will always belong, to those who look to God alone for leadership and guidance, who keep all His commands, who have the faith of Jesus, who exalt the standard of righteousness, who walk in the truth, and whose foundation is built on the platform of eternal truth!

"Let me tell you that the Lord will work in this last work in a manner very much out of the common order of things, and in a way that will be contrary to any human planning....God will use ways and means by which it will be seen that He is taking the reins in His own hands. The workers will be surprised by the simple means that He will use to bring about and perfect His work of righteousness." Testimonies to Ministers, p 300.

Since God was urging His people to look away from the General Conference and to begin to work independently of its control and leadership, was God still recommending that all the tithe and offerings should remain under their jurisdiction, or that it should be diverted from the control of the General Conference and used in building up the independent work?

"In the past one set of men have tried to keep in their own hands the control of all the means coming from the churches...They have taken upon themselves the grave responsibility of retarding the work where the work should have advanced. It has been left to a few supposed kindly minds to say what fields should be worked and what fields should be left unworked. A few men have kept the truth in circumscribed channels....

"God calls for a revival and a reformation. The `regular lines' have not done the work which God desires to see accomplished. Let revival and reformation make constant changes. Something has been done in this line, but let not the work stop here. No! Let every yoke be broken. Let men awaken to the realization that they have an individual responsibility.

"The present showing is sufficient to prove to all who have the true missionary spirit that the `regular lines' may prove a failure and a snare. God helping His people, the circle of kings who dared to take such great responsibilities shall never again exercise their unsanctified power in the so-called `regular lines.'...

"Shall the `regular lines', which say that every mind shall be controlled...at Battle Creek, continue to bear sway? The Macedonian cry is coming from every quarter. Shall men go to the `regular lines' to see whether they will be permitted to labor, or shall they go out and work as best they can, depending on their own abilities and on the help of the Lord...

"God grant that the voices which have been so quickly raised to say that all the money invested in the work must go through the appointed channel at Battle Creek, shall not be heard. The people to whom God has given His means are amenable to Him alone. It is their privilege to give direct aid and assistance to missions." Letter 60, June 28, 1901, Spalding-Magan Unpublished Testimonies, p 174-77.

This clear call was for a revival and a reformation away from the control of the General Conference. It was also a call for a reorganization of its structure--to build upon a new foundation based on biblical principles of righteousness, and to break away from any kind of a papal supremacy over our people. Did the SDA leadership heed this heavenly call, or did they reject it like they have done in the past?

But not all were satisfied with the progress of these reforms. Not all of the past wrongs were being corrected. Sister White had to counsel her son Edson to be patient, also not to use certain of her testimonies written prior to the 1901 Conference as applying after the Conference. Only two months after the General Conference Session, she wrote:

"Your course would have been the course to be pursued if no change had been made in the General Conference....It hurts me to think that you are using words which I wrote prior to the conference. Since the conference great changes have been made....I know that reforms are to be made....in pity to His people God has brought about changes....

"The course of action which before the conference might have been a necessity is no longer necessary, for the Lord Himself interposed to set things in order. He has given His Holy Spirit. I am confident that He will set in order the matters that seem to be moving wrong....Let them do what they will. We hope that they will so repent of the past that the Lord can blot it out of His book." Letter 54, June, 1901, Manuscript Releases, vol 19, p 146-50.

Sister White was elated that the General Conference was beginning to change. The SDA church was moving away from becoming the synagogue of Satan; it was moving away from becoming a harlot of Babylon; the danger of separation of God's people out of the SDA church was not as great; and God's judgments of the seven last plagues falling on the church and its members was not inevitable;--AS LONG AS CHANGES CONTINUED TO BE MADE, AND REFORMS CONTINUED TO OCCUR.

"...the backsliding of those who have been placed at the head of the work--the very men who through communications have been informed that they were out of place and in error in representing the voice of the General Conference president as being the voice of God. For many years it has not been thus, and it is not thus now; nor will it ever be thus again, unless there is a thorough reformation." Manuscript 124, December 9, 1901, Manuscript Releases, vol 17, p 240.

Although Sister White was delighted that the SDA leadership were beginning to reform the General Conference, she did not allow her joy to be as blinders to the past actions of the General Conference leadership. By her June testimony to her son Edson, "Let them do what they will. We hope that they will so repent of the past," she was telling him to wait and see if the Conference leadership would continue to reform, or if they would revert back to the wrong and wicked actions of the past. And in the December testimony, she was saying that the General Conference would never be the voice of God again UNTIL there was a "thorough reformation." Clearly, if the SDA leadership did return back to their past evils, then the course which Edson had followed would be the necessary course of action to pursue--meaning all the warnings of what the SDA church would become, what the course of God's true SDA's should be to the church, and what would happen to the church, would again apply.

On February 18, 1902, the Battle Creek Sanitarium burned down to the ground. God had warned earlier that He would soon send judgments against the church if the leadership continued on in their rebellion (see p 5, 21, 24, 31, 49, 59, 60, 61, 71). But did this judgment bring corporate repentance? Or was there the necessity of another judgment against the church? Was the SDA leadership, elected at 1901 General Conference Session, continuing in the same pathway of wickedness as the previous leadership? Were the same papal plans of centralizing the work under the head of the General Conference, and placing the yoke of man upon our people, still being nurtured and carried out? Were the righteous principles of our pure faith still being put out of sight?

"It is time for us to think soberly. Taking all things into consideration, we should read the providence of God in His movements. Was the Battle Creek Sanitarium consumed by fire in order that the plans might be enlarged, greater building erected, and more display made?...`There should have been more of an equalizing of facilities. The institutions in one place are not to embrace the whole land, swallowing up the means required for other places....God does not make such plans, and He can not endorse them. He has reproved and rebuked many for errors that they have made.'...

"We have been greatly humiliated as a people by the course that some of our brethren in responsible positions have taken in departing from the old landmarks. There are those who in order to carry out their plans have by their words denied their faith.(209) This shows how little dependence can be placed on human wisdom and human judgment. Now, as never before, we need to see the danger of being led unguardedly away from loyalty to God's commands....Let our people beware of belittling the importance of the Sabbath, in order to link up with unbelievers. Let them beware of departing from the principles of our faith making it appear that it is not wrong to conform to the world. Let them be afraid of heeding any man's counsel, whatever his position may be, who works counter to that which God has wrought in order to keep His people from the world.

"I pray that my brethren may realize that the third angel's message means much to us and that the observance of the true Sabbath is to be the sign that distinguishes those who serve God from those who serve Him not. Let those who have become sleepy and indifferent awake. We are called to be holy, and we should carefully avoid giving the impression that it is of little consequence whether or not we retain the peculiar features of our faith....The line of demarcation between those who keep the commandments of God and those who do not, is to be revealed with unmistakable clearness....To give the impression that our faith, our religion is not a dominating power in our lives, is greatly to dishonor God. Thus we turn from His commandments, which are our life, denying that He is our God and we His people." Letter 128, July 6, 1902, Battle Creek Letters, p 48-54.

Why is Sister White warning our professed people to beware of belittling the Sabbath, and to beware of departing from the principles of our true SDA faith? Is it because the SDA leadership have again rejected the Spirit of God which He sent in 1901? Is it because the new General Conference leadership were again working to do away with God's principles of truth as the previous leadership were? Is the General Conference leadership still cherishing the same evil spirit that was revealed at Minneapolis when the latter rain was rejected?

"Had thorough work been done during the last General Conference at Battle Creek; had there been as God designed there should be, a breaking up of the fallow ground of the heart, by the men who had been bearing responsibilities; had they in humility of soul, led out in the work of confession and consecration; had they given evidence that they received the counsels and warnings sent by the Lord to correct their mistakes, there would have been one of the greatest revivals that there has been since the day of Pentecost.

"What a wonderful work could have been done for the vast company gathered in Battle Creek at the General Conference of 1901, if the leaders of our work had taken themselves in hand. But the work that all heaven was waiting to do as soon as men prepared the way, was not done; for the leaders closed and bolted the door against the Spirit's entrance. There was a stopping short of entire surrender to God. And hearts that might have been purified from all error were strengthened in wrong doing. The doors were barred against the heavenly current that would have swept away all evil. Men left their sins unconfessed. They built themselves up in wrong doing, and said to the Spirit of God, `Go thy way for this time; when I have a more convenient season, I will call for thee' [Acts 24:25]." Letter 123, August 5, 1902, Battle Creek Letters, p 55-56.

The SDA General Conference and church leadership had repeated their Minneapolis rejection of the Holy Spirit; only this time in a more deceptive fashion--by giving the pretense of following Him. They had not only rejected the Holy Spirit this time, but they had closed, bolted, and barred the door of the church so that the Spirit could not enter in. If they would have whole-heartedly followed the Spirit's guidance, and given in to His influence, the Spirit's power would have been poured out and Pentecost would have occurred! But this did not happen. This means that the SDA church and its leadership have REJECTED THE LATTER RAIN A SECOND TIME!!

"My soul is drawn out in the consideration of matters relating to the carrying forward of God's work....We are to enter into no confederacy with those who do not love or fear God. Those who are unable to endure the seeing of Him who is invisible, are surrounded with spiritual darkness that is as the darkness of midnight....

"The Lord calls upon men and women to unite with Christ by wearing His yoke. But He tells them that they are to refuse the yoke which human hands would place on them;(211) for this yoke would be galling and oppressive. There are those who refuse to wear the yoke of Christ, and yet would place upon others a yoke of human manufacture. What a terrible deception!...

"These words were spoken by our Instructor: `Some are reckless, insensible of the results of sin, heedless of warning. Soon the handwriting on the wall, now unintelligible to them, will be read. But it will then be too late for them to repent. Like Belshazzar, they seem unable to see their peril. A straight testimony must be borne to our churches and institutions, to arouse the sleeping ones.'...

"The cause of Christ will be betrayed. Those who have had the light of truth and have enjoyed its blessings, but have turned away from it, will fight down the Spirit of God. Inspired with a spirit from beneath, they will tear down that which they once built up, and show to all reasonable God-fearing souls that they cannot be trusted." (see p 87)

On December 30, 1902, the Review and Herald publishing house burned down to the ground! So in less than a year, two of the most important SDA institutions located at the General Conference headquarters of Battle Creek, were removed from the people who thought they knew more than God about how to run the church.

"Today I received a letter from Elder Daniells regarding the destruction of the Review office by fire. I feel very sad as I consider the great loss to the cause....But I was not surprised by the sad news, for in the visions of the night I have seen an angel standing with a sword as of fire stretched over Battle Creek. Once, in the daytime, while my pen was in my hand, I lost consciousness, and it seemed as if this sword of flame were turning first in one direction and then in another. Disaster seemed to follow disaster because God was dishonored by the devising of men to exalt and glorify themselves....God said: `My word has been despised; and I will turn and overturn.'

"At the General Conference, held in Battle Creek in 1901, the Lord gave His people evidence that He was calling for reformation. Minds were convicted, and hearts were touched; but thorough work was not done. If stubborn hearts had then broken in penitence before God, there would have been seen one of the greatest manifestations of the power of God that has ever been seen. But God was not honored. The testimonies of His Spirit were not heeded. Men did not separate from the practices that were in decided opposition to the principles of truth and righteousness, which should ever be maintained in the Lord's work." Testimonies, vol 8, p 97-98 (January 5, 1903).

"The results of the last General Conference [1901] has been the greatest, the most terrible sorrow of my life. No change was made....The spirit that should have been brought into the whole work as the result of that meeting was not brought in because men did not receive the testimonies of the Spirit of God. As they went to their several fields of labor, they did not walk in the light that the Lord had flashed upon their pathway, but carried into their work the wrong principles that had been prevailing in the work at Battle Creek.

"The Lord has marked every movement made by the leading men in our institutions and conferences. It is a perilous thing to reject the light that God sends. To Chorazin and Bethsaida heaven's richest blessings had been freely offered. Day after day the Prince of life had gone in and out among them. The Glory of God, which prophets and kings had longed to see, had shone upon them. But they refused the heavenly Gift, and of them the Saviour said: `Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you.'

"To-day God is watching His people. We should seek to find out what He means when He sweeps away our sanitarium and our publishing house. Let us not move along as if there were nothing wrong....God wants us to come to our senses. He wants us to seek for the meaning of the calamities that have overtaken us, that we may not tread in the footsteps of Israel, and say, `The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord are we' [Jeremiah 7:4], when we are not this at all. When we reach the mark of our high calling in Christ, the protecting arm of God will be with us." 1903 General Conference Bulletin, p 30-31 (printed April 1, 1903).

On April 3--just 4 days after Sister White spoke the above words, plans were introduced for a new constitution. These were contrary to the reformatory plans made and adopted during the 1901 General Conference Session, and were debated throughout much of the remaining Session, gaining the support of a majority of the church leaders present. But God raised up several strong voices of protest to these plans, delineating the outcome should they be adopted.

"It may be stated there is nothing wrong in this new constitution which is not abundantly safeguarded by the provisions of it; but I want to say to you that any man who has ever read Neander's History of the Christian Church, Mosheim's, or any other of the great church historians...can come to no other conclusion but that the principles which are brought in through this proposed constitution, and in the way in which they are brought in, are the same principles, and introduced in precisely the same way, as they were hundreds of years ago when the papacy was made." 1903 General Conference Bulletin, p 150 (printed April 10, 1903).

Sadly, the 1903 delegate body voted the proposed new constitution in, although with barely a 3/4 majority. Now the beginning of a new foundation was laid--different than the one God had helped them to form in 1901. A new organization was taking shape--one which God had nothing to do with. This new foundation would gradually form the General Conference into another Vatican--the head of the entire SDA church! This new organization would also gradually form the governing structure of the General Conference into a pattern of Rome--a hierarchy; thus the General Conference president would eventually become the pope of the SDA church!

Our blessed Saviour has tried to prepare the way for His second coming TWICE--in 1888 and 1901, and each time it was the General Conference leadership that REJECTED His blessed offer and thus TWICE hindered His second coming! And now the SDA leadership have decided to continue on in their plans to gradually form the SDA church structure into an image of the beast or Roman Catholicism. They would thus completely shut God out of the work, and continue to bring men under the control of man.

What more could our blessed Lord have done that He has not already done? He mercifully sent light, truth, warnings, reproofs, rebukes, and judgments to the church and its leadership. He plainly exposed and laid open their secret wicked plans so none of His people need be deceived. He even showed the leaders what the future would be for the SDA church and its members should they continue on in their plans. But they utterly refused to listen. They rebelled against Him, united with the world and its king (the enemy of God), and continued to follow their own wicked plans.

"We are far from where we should have been had our Christian experience been in harmony with the light and opportunities given us, had we from the beginning constantly pressed onward and upward. Had we walked in the light that has been given us, had we followed on to know the Lord, our path would have grown brighter and brighter. But many of those who have had special light are so conformed to the world that they can scarcely be distinguished from worldlings. They do not stand forth as God's peculiar people, chosen and precious. It is difficult to discern between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.

"In the balances of the sanctuary the Seventh-day Adventist church is to be weighed. She will be judged by the privileges and advantages that she has had. If her spiritual experience does not correspond to the advantages that Christ, at infinite cost, has bestowed on her, if the blessings conferred have not qualified her to do the work entrusted to her, on her will be pronounced the sentence: `Found wanting' [Daniel 5:27]. By the light bestowed, the opportunities given, will she be judged....

"Why is there so dim a perception of the true spiritual condition of the church? Has not blindness fallen upon the watchmen standing on the walls of Zion? Are not many of God's servants unconcerned and well satisfied, as if the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night rested upon the sanctuary? Are there not those in positions of responsibility, professing to know God, who in life and character deny Him? Are not many of those who count themselves as His chosen, peculiar people satisfied to live without the evidence that of a truth God is among them to save them from Satan's snares and attacks?...

"One who sees beneath the surface, who reads the hearts of all men, says of those who have had great light: `They are not afflicted and astonished because of their moral and spiritual condition.' `Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before Mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.' `God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie,' `because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved,' `but had pleasure in unrighteousness.' Isaiah 66:3,4; 2 Thessalonians 2:11,10,12.

"Who can truthfully say: `Our gold is tried in the fire; our garments are unspotted by the world'? I saw our Instructor pointing to the garments of so-called righteousness. Stripping them off, He laid bare the defilement beneath.(214) Then He said to me:`Can you not see how they have pretentiously covered up their defilement and rottenness of character? `How is the faithful city become an harlot' [Isa 1:21]! My Father's house is made a house of merchandise, a place whence the divine presence and glory have departed!...

God Himself, in His own unfailing wisdom and infallible judgment, has unerringly declared the SDA church to be a harlot of Babylon,(215) and that His divine presence and glory has departed from the harlot SDA church. But God did not pronounce the SDA church to be Babylon fallen at this time. You must first become Babylon, before you can become Babylon fallen!

"Jesus saw His church, like the barren fig-tree, covered with pretentious leaves, yet destitute of precious fruit....A backsliding church closed their eyes to the signs of the times. God did not forsake them, or suffer His faithfulness to fail; but they departed from Him, and separated themselves from His love. As they refused to comply with the conditions, His promises were not fulfilled to them." Spirit of Prophecy, vol 4, p 194-200.

"Babylon is also charged with the sin of unlawful connection with `the kings of the earth' [Revelation 17:2]. It was by departure from the Lord, and alliance with the heathen, that the Jewish church became a harlot; and Rome; corrupting herself in like manner by seeking the support of worldly powers, receives a like condemnation." Great Controversy, p 382.

The Protestant churches chose to unite themselves with the world, and had already become an harlot of Babylon before "the proclamation of the first angel's message," which began somewhere between 1833-1840. But these churches were not declared to be Babylon fallen until the summer of 1844. So for a number of years, these churches of God were already Babylon before they became Babylon fallen.

The first angel's message was given to these Babylonian Protestant churches to "separate the church of Christ from the corrupting influence of the world."(216) These churches had departed from the side of Christ, their first love, and had united or married themselves to the world--thus committing harlotry and becoming a harlot of Babylon. But God, in His infinite mercy, did not cast them off. Even though His presence and glory was not with them because of their harlotry, He sent them warnings and messages and gave them a period of time to repent of their great sin and come back to His side as His faithful bride once again. But they refused to repent, refused to break off their harlotrous love affair with the world, refused to obey the message from heaven, refused to come back to the side of Christ, and continued on in rebellion and apostasy. By the summer of 1844, their period of probationary time ran out. Corporate probation closed upon the Protestant churches, they were denounced as Babylon fallen, and God was obliged to call all of His faithful people to separate from them.

Did a literal angel come down from heaven and tell God's people that their Protestant churches, who were once the chosen church and people of God, were now Babylon fallen? No. Did the people have a plain and clear "Thus saith the Lord" that said in these words; "The Methodist church is Babylon fallen, come out?" or "The Lutheran church is Babylon fallen, come out?" etc. No. Then how did God's people know that their churches had fallen, and that God wanted them to separate?

God's people, through hours of prayer, study, and the enlightenment of God's Holy Spirit, examined the fruits being produced by their church. They then realized that their church had rejected the message from heaven, and, instead of the fruits of the Spirit, apostasy and corruption were growing within her.

They compared the fruits of their apostate church with the fruits which Babylon fallen produces, and realized that the fruits were exactly the same. They then were compelled by God's Spirit to raise the cry that their apostate and corrupt church had become Babylon fallen--the fruits proved it, and that it was now time for all of God's true and honest people to come out and separate from their churches.

In like manner, the SDA church has refused to follow God. She has departed from Him and united herself with the world. And now God Himself has declared the SDA church to be a harlot of Babylon, and that His divine presence and glory has departed from them. But God did not pronounce the SDA church to be Babylon fallen at this time. God still mercifully gave His church a period of time to repent of this great sin, and to come back to Him as His faithful bride once again.

God told His church that there was still a chance that she could "repent and be converted." But He also warned that if the SDA church and its leadership continued in their rebellion and apostasy, refusing to repent and be converted, that the church would be "found wanting," and that "she will eat of the fruit of her own doing, until she shall abhor herself." In other words, she would continue in her rebellion and apostasy, corporate probation would close, the SDA church would become Babylon fallen, and the fruits "of her own doing" would prove it. God has already clearly warned the SDA church of the possibility of her becoming Babylon fallen if she continued on in her rebellion (see p 31, 37, 53, 54, 55, 63, 64, 86, 90, 91, 92, 104).

"Then I was shown a company who were howling in agony. On their garments was written in large characters, `Thou are weighed in the balance, and found wanting' [Daniel 5:27]. I asked who this company were. The angel said, `These are they who have once kept the Sabbath and have given it up.'...I saw that they had drunk of the deep waters, and fouled the residue with their feet--trodden the Sabbath underfoot--and that was why they were weighed in the balance and found wanting." Early Writings, p 37.

"God gives men the light, but many are filled with a self-sufficient, masterly spirit; and they strive by carrying out their own ideas to reach a height where they will be as God. They place their mind first, as if God must serve them. Herein lies the danger in this: Unless God shall in some way make these men understand that He is God, and that they are to serve Him, human inventions will be brought in that will lead away from Bible truth, notwithstanding all the cautions that have been given.

"The Lord Jesus will always have a chosen people to serve Him. When the Jewish people rejected Christ, the Prince of life, He took from them the kingdom of God and gave it unto the Gentiles. God will continue to work on this principle with every branch of His work. When a church proves unfaithful to the work of the Lord, whatever their position may be, however high and sacred their calling, the Lord can no longer work with them. Others are then chosen to bear important responsibilities. But, if these in turn do not purify their lives from every wrong action, if they do not establish pure and holy principles in all their borders, then the Lord will grievously afflict and humble them and, unless they repent, will remove them from their place and make them a reproach." Manuscript 33, April 27, 1903, Upward Look, p 131.

"The Lord, He is God, and beside Him there is none else. When Satan can bring his craftiness to bear on human minds, deceptive influences are received [as] from heaven. If his deceptions are allowed to enter, many souls will be ensnared by them, before it is seen that they are not from God, but from the enemy of all righteousness.

"I assure you that it will be one of our perplexities to distinguish the genuine from the spurious. Deception steals in unawares, just as it stole into the heavenly courts. Satan sought to undermine the confidence of the angels in God's government. He desired the place occupied by Christ, having it in his mind, that if he gained this position, to make an effort to take the place of God....

"Those who take themselves out of the Lord's hands, and think themselves capable of managing the work, are not led by His Spirit, but by `another spirit.' Satan steps in, and they change leaders. Then comes the crookedness and subtlety of the serpent's guile." Manuscript 37, May 1, 1903, Upward Look, p 135.

"...among the men of Babel there were living some God-fearing men who had been deceived by the pretensions of the ungodly, and drawn into their wicked schemes. These men would not join this confederacy to thwart the purposes of God. They refused to be deceived by the wonderful representations and the grand outlook. For the sake of these faithful ones, the Lord delayed His judgments, and gave the people time to reveal their true character. They heeded not the counsel of the Lord, but carried out their own purposes. The great majority were fully united in their heaven-daring undertaking....

"This confederacy was born of rebellion against God. The dwellers on the plains of Shinar established their kingdom for self exaltation, and not for the glory of God. Had they succeeded, a mighty power would have borne sway, banishing righteousness, and inaugurating a new religion....Determined men, inspired by the first great rebel, would have [been] urged on by him, and would have permitted nothing to interfere with their plans, or to stop them in their evil course. In the place of the divine precepts they would have substituted laws framed in accordance with the desires of their selfish hearts in order that they might carry out their own purposes....He (God) defeated the purpose of the tower builders, and overthrew the memorial of their rebellion....

"False theories will be mingled with every phase of experience, and advocated with satanic earnestness, in order to captivate the mind of every soul who is not rooted and grounded in a full knowledge of the sacred principles of the Word. In the very midst of us will arise false teachers, giving heed to seducing spirits whose doctrine is of satanic origin....working upon false principles in a most specious, covert, deceptive manner, having endeavored to deceive, if possible, the very elect. They bind themselves up in their own fallacies. If they do not succeed, because their way becomes hedged by warnings from God, they will change somewhat the features of their work, and the representations they have made, and bring out their plans again under a false showing. They refuse to confess, repent, and believe. Confession may be made, but no real reformation takes place, and erroneous theories bring ruin upon unsuspecting souls, because these souls believe and rely upon the men advocating these theories." Manuscript 94, August 27, 1903, The Kress Collection, p 1-6.

"I am instructed that those who follow on in a wrong course, regardless of the lessons taught by the burning of the Sanitarium and the Review and Herald Office, are revealing the stubbornness of Pharaoh. They are refusing to be admonished by the judgments of heaven, and are pressing on without realizing that these things call them to search their hearts closely, and humble themselves before God. Unless they repent, the Lord will surely repeat His judgments, as He repeated them to the king of Egypt. God bears long with the perversity of men. He sends them decided reproofs and clear light, but if they will not receive the warnings of God, if they persist in following their own will, their own impulses, the Lord will send His judgments, and will not pardon their persistent determination to be like the people of the world....

"I am sorry, so sorry, that men will be willfully obstinate, as was Pharaoh the king of Egypt and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon; but so it is. Let all be warned by the messages sent from heaven, that when any man shall exalt his own ways and his own judgment as supreme, he will come under Satan's jurisdiction, and will be led blindfold by him, until his spirit and his methods will conform to the arch-deceiver, little by little, until his whole mind is under the influence of the spell. The serpent keeps its eye fixed upon a man, to charm him, until he has no power to go from the snare.

"I have a decided message to bear. Let all take warning. The enemy desires to have his controversy kept up in his way and after his plan, until the harvest is past and the summer ended, and the souls of those who have been leaders under him, lost, with those who have been deceived by him. God calls upon His people to take heed, and come out of this deceptive controversy....They are to separate from all that bears not the mark of the strictest justice and judgment....

"I call upon those who would have eternal life to break every yoke. The enlightening of the understanding must become a part of the experience. Sin has darkened the reasoning powers, and hell is triumphing. O, will not men cease to trust in human beings?" Special Testimonies, Series B#7, p 19-22 (August, 1903).

The SDA church voted for a new foundation and a new organization. This would eventually allow the church to usurp the place of God--just like the Golden Calf replaced God to the ancient Israelites (which we were already warned about--see p 92). This would make the General Conference president a god or a pope having authority over all the SDA people! God sent a warning that this was not to be.

"Perilous times are before us. Every one who has a knowledge of the truth should be awake, and place himself, body, soul, and spirit, under the discipline of God. Wake up, brethren, wake up. The enemy is on our track. We must be wide awake, on our guard against him. We must put on the armor of God. We must follow the directions given in the Spirit of Prophecy. We must love and obey the truth for this time. This will save us from accepting strong delusions. God has spoken to us through His Word. He has spoken to us through the Testimonies to the church, and through the books that have helped to make plain our present duty and the position that we should now occupy. The warnings that have been given, line upon line, precept upon precept, should be heeded. If we disregard them, what excuse shall we offer?...

"The pope claims authority over the practice of many who do not recognize Christ as our only Authority. He places himself in a position of God, and the weak and uninformed are kept from the knowledge that would reveal to them their privilege as children of God. We are to have no kings, no rulers, no popes among us. It is time for us diligently to heed the messages that have brought us out from the world." Letter 212, September 23, 1903, Spalding and Magan Collection, p 324-25.

The SDA leadership were warned in 1895 that unless they repented speedily, some of them would lose eternal life (see p 65, 69). Since that time they have not repented of their evil ways, but have united with politics and the papacy (see p 89), and the world (see p 91-92). They have put on a pretense of reform, while rejecting the latter rain (see p 98-102), and told God's Holy Spirit to go away (see p 100). They have also voted to begin a new foundation and a new organization which would eventually form the church into another Catholic organization.

"Today Christ is looking with sadness upon those whose characters He must at last refuse to acknowledge. Inflated with self-sufficiency, they hope that it will be well with their souls. But in the last great day the mirror of detection reveals to them the evils that their hearts have practiced, and shows to them at the same time the impossibility of reform. Every effort was made to bring them to repentance. But they refused to humble their hearts. Now the bitter lamentation is heard, `The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and my soul is not saved' [Jeremiah 8:20]....

"But Christ says, `Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity [Matthew 7:23]. If you had been faithful to the warnings of the Word; if you had dismissed Satan, instead of linking your arm in his; if you had preserved untarnished the principles of right; if you had obeyed the commandments, broken with ungodly advisors, scorned their impious bribes, and followed Jesus in His self-denial, I could have welcomed you into My presence. But you have not cared for My society, and now you have no power to go from the snares.

"`I offered you My saving grace but you refused it, and chose the side of the enemy, even as the priests and rulers did. You refused My dying agony on the cross, and mocked at My humiliation. So will I refuse to acknowledge you. I weep for your future, but you have not cared to weep for yourselves. I was pledged to bear you and care for you, even as a father beareth and loveth his own son that serveth him. But you would not harmonize with Me.'...

"`You have caused many to follow your sinful ways, and now your punishment has come. You will receive as your works have been. You must lose everlasting life. You have chosen your own ways, such sentiments, such characters, you could not enter the gates of the Holy City.'" Manuscript 121, October 1, 1903, Pamphlet #58, p 1-4.

God also stated in the April 21 testimony that many will depart from the historic SDA faith and apostatize, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, and will begin to build another foundation of truth other than the one that God has already laid. And in doing this, they would actually believe that God is leading them, when in reality Satan is leading them. When will this apostasy be seen? Just six months after this was written:

"The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation(219) would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith,(220) and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result?--The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church would be discarded. Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced. The founders of this system would go into the cities and do a wonderful work. The Sabbath, of course, would be lightly regarded, as also the God who created it. Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the new movement. The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice, but God being removed, they would place their dependence on human power, which without God, is worthless. Their foundation would be built upon the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure.

"I am instructed to say that those who would tear down the foundation that God has laid(222) are not to be accepted as the teachers and leaders of His people.(223) We are to hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end....Those who turn from human foolishness and frailty, from man's seductive arts, from Satan's planning, to Christ, the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, will stand upon the platform of eternal truth." Letter 242, October, 1903, Special Testimonies, Series B#7, p 36-42.

"Satan has laid his plans to undermine our faith in the history of the cause and work of God. I am deeply in earnest as I write this. Satan is working with men in prominent positions to sweep away the foundations of our faith. Shall we allow this to be done, brethren?" Manuscript 125, 1903, Review and Herald, vol 4, p 578 (November 19, 1903).

"I am receiving instruction regarding the dependence that is to be placed in God. We are to depend far more on Him and far less on men, who, if they had opportunity and were left to themselves, would lead the flock of God into strange pastures. I am charged with a message to be given at different assemblies, because satanic agencies are linking arms with men who should stand free from all seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. The commission given me is, `Meet it, not always by being present in person, but with the written message....There is no time to be lost.'...

"My mind is sad beyond expression because the enemy has obtained victories over the minds and hearts and wills of those whom the Lord has been admonishing, saying, `This is the way, walk ye in it' [Isaiah 30:21]. God has been warning them for years, but they would not receive His words and take heed to them; they would not make their works perfect before Him....They determined to follow their own will and way, and they have been led by the enemy of all righteousness....He has blinded the spiritual eyesight, and deceptive, delusive imaginings are taking the place of the word of life and truth.(224) Some in exalted positions of responsibility are sustaining error in the place of truth. Satan makes his delusions most attractive, clothing error in the garments of truth, so that it seems the most desirable thing to possess. The minds of many whom we would naturally suppose would see things clearly are blinded as with a bewitching sophistry of error. If the terribly bewitching, fascinating story is not interrupted, those who are listening to it will become infidels in their belief. There is no safety in their present experience. They need to be convicted and converted by eating the word of God, believing it just as it reads, interpreting it correctly, not weaving the messages sent by God to save His people, into their own sophistries, making them speak in favor of fables that undermine the foundation established by the Lord for His commandment-keeping people.

"Satan will continue to bring in his erroneous theories and to claim that his sentiments are true. Seducing spirits are at work....God has spared my life that I may present the testimonies given me, to vindicate that which God vindicates,(225) and to denounce every vestige of Satan's sophistry. One thing will follow another in spiritual sophistry, to deceive if possible the very elect."(226) Special Testimonies, Series B#7, p 3-6 (November 27, 1903).

"There may be a necessity of doing the very work that the Lord has in the past inspired His messengers to do, in order to save the largest number of souls from the satanic influences that would lead them astray. The world's opinion will oppose the very work that must be done in order that the safety of the flock of God shall not be imperiled....The delusive influences working upon human minds are of a character to unsettle the faith of the people of God in the testimonies the Lord has given His people.

"In His Word the Lord declares what He would do for Israel if they would obey His voice. But the leaders of the people yielded to the temptations of Satan, and God could not give them the blessings He designed them to have, because they did not obey His voice, but listened to the voice and policy of Lucifer. This experience will be repeated in the last years of the history of the people of God, who have been established by His grace and power. Men whom He has greatly honored will, in the closing scenes of this earth's history, pattern after ancient Israel, because they are converting the truth of God into a falsehood. And many heresies will come from Lucifer that will bewilder, if possible, the very elect....

"Bear this in mind, history is being repeated. The perils that God's people encountered in past ages they will encounter again, intensified. Satan has obtained influence over men whom God has honored above all human intelligence....A departure from the great principles Christ has laid down in His teachings, a working out [of] human projects, using the Scriptures to justify a wrong course of action under the perverse working of Lucifer, will confirm men in misunderstanding, and the truth that they need to keep them from wrong practices will leak out of the soul like water from a leaky vessel." Manuscript 5, January 20, 1904, Manuscript Releases, vol 13, p 378-81.

"If, after men in positions of responsibility have been warned and reproved by the Lord, they continue to follow their own way, affliction will come upon them. God chastens them, giving them opportunity after opportunity to repent. If they refuse to repent, and are determined to listen to the sophistries of the enemy, they are left to their own course of action, and will surely perish in their sins; for God will not be trifled with. Sufficient light and evidence will be given to every soul. If men are overcome by the enemy, it will be because they have hardened their hearts, refusing to listen to the voice of God....

"I have been instructed that there are in Battle Creek men who are or have been connected with our institutions, who have rejected light, and chosen their own perverse way. Unless these men are converted, they will become Satan's decoys, to lead souls away from the truth. At times they will work to undermine the confidence of those in whose minds they can plant the seeds of doubt and questioning. They hate the testimonies of reproof sent them, and refuse to follow the light given by God to direct their feet in the right way.

"The enemy will devise many plans to occupy minds, and to divert attention from the message that is to be proclaimed....representations of things existing at the present time have passed before me. I have seen men who have been placed in positions of trust as watchmen, molding and fashioning the work in our conferences and institutions in accordance with worldly policy,(228) which God condemns." Special Testimonies, Series B#2, p 19-24 (June, 1904).

As some of the SDA leadership were giving heed to doctrines of devils, there would be a temptation to use satanic mind-control techniques to drive these spurious doctrines into the minds of fellow workers and our sleepy people. Were these techniques being used? One month later Ellen White warns our people of this very danger:

"I feel very sad over the conditions of things in Battle Creek...but we must stand as firm as a rock for the truth. We are not to be at the beck and call of those who try to draw us away from the work that God has given us. Satan has come down with great power, to work through men who, though they have been given a knowledge of the truth, have not kept the faith once delivered to the saints, and have become active agencies in impeding the progress of God's cause....

"At this crisis all are called upon to take their position. We must stand apart from those who are determined to make shipwreck of faith. We must not sell our Lord at any price. We are to refuse to listen to the sophistries that have been brought in to make of none effect the truth for this time. Not a stone is to be moved in the foundation of this truth--not a pillar moved....

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

But this should not surprise us, because God had already warned us of this possibility (see p 76, 112)! Nor will the use of satanic mind-control techniques, such as hypnotism, diminish, but will continue to grow so long as the apostasy of the SDA church and its leadership continues. God did not want His true SDA people to be unaware of what their course of action should be regarding this apostasy, so the following testimonies were given:

"Satan and his angels are making every effort to obtain control of minds, that men may be swayed by falsehood and pleasing fables....Is it not time that we asked ourselves, Shall we allow the adversary to lead us to give up the work of proclaiming the truth? Shall we allow him to keep us from being channels through which the blessings of the gospel, as a current of life, shall flow to the world?...

"My message to you is: No longer consent to listen without protest to the perversion of truth. Unmask the pretentious sophistries which, if received, will lead ministers and physicians and medical missionary workers to ignore the truth. Every one is now to stand on his guard. God calls upon men and women to take their stand under the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel. I have been instructed to warn our people; for many are in danger of receiving theories and sophistries that undermine the foundation pillars of the faith....

"There is not, and cannot be, a natural enmity between fallen angels and fallen men. Both are evil. Through apostasy, both cherish evil sentiments. Wicked angels and wicked men are leagued in a desperate confederacy against the good....Those who are truly loyal will show that their mind and heart are fully with the Lord Jesus. They will discern the specious sentiments of Satan, and will refuse to endorse actions that God condemns....

"Satan will use every advantage that he can obtain to cause souls to become beclouded and perplexed in regard to the work of the church, in regard to the word of God, and in regard to the words of warning which He has given through the testimonies of His Spirit,(229) to guard His little flock from the subtleties of the enemy.(230)

"When men stand out in defiance against the counsel of God, they are warring against God. Is it right for those connected with such ones to treat them as if they were in perfect harmony with them, making no difference between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not? Though they be ministers or medical missionaries, they have dishonored Christ before the forces of the loyal and the disloyal. Open rebuke is necessary, to prevent others from being ensnared.

"It should now be clearly understood that we are not really helping those who are determined to do evil, when we show them respect, and keep our words of reproof for those with whom the disaffected one is at enmity.(231) A grave mistake has been made and is being made over this matter....Those who feel so peaceable in regard to the works of the men who are spoiling the faith of the people of God, are guided by a delusive sentiment....

"Those who are enlightened by the Holy Spirit's power are to strive with every power of their being to snatch the prey from the seductive influences of men who refuse to obey the word of God, whether they be in high places or in low. Christ's property is not to pass out of His control into the control of the children of darkness." Special Testimonies, Series B#2, p 5-11 (July 25, 1904).

"The enemy has worked upon the minds of some, and has led them to do violence to our past experience by mingling with the truth erroneous and false theories. He has led ministers and teachers to weave into their doctrines some pleasing figures of his own invention. Every deviation from the truth as we have advocated it in the past is a departure from truth that has been witnessed by the Holy Spirit, and upon which God has placed His seal.

"Truth must stand in its own order, linked only with truth. Unbelief disturbs the balance of the system of truth, and tends to destroy the whole. The mind that cherishes sentiments that tend to destroy the foundation of the faith that has made us what we are becomes confused, and cannot discern between truth and error.

"The truths that have been substantiated by the manifest working of God are to stand fast. Let no one presume to move a pin or a foundation stone from the structure. Those who attempt to undermine the pillars of our faith are among those of whom the Bible says that `in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils' [1 Timothy 4:1]....Those following in a path of error lose from the heart the genuine peace of Christ, and become like a troubled sea, dashing up mire and dirt." Letter 87, February 25, 1905, Manuscript Releases, vol 7, p 189-90.

"There is soon to be a tremendous crisis. It is making its way with mighty strides, while the men who ought to be catching the life-giving message from the Word of Life, and sounding the last warning to a fallen world, have put out their spiritual eyesight and placed themselves with the deceivers. `And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues' [Revelation 18:1-4]." Manuscript 53, May 11, 1905, Last Day Events from the Letters and Manuscripts of E.G. White, p 81.

"I am bidden to repeat to you this message:...`Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, they are gone away backward.

"`Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the soul of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire' [Isaiah 1:2-7]....

"The burning of these two institutions was verily a judgment from God. And yet men who have been given wonderful advantages and opportunities, and who are capable of understanding the dealings of God with His people of old, have stood up to defy, as it were, the Holy One of Israel, and to make of none effect the working of God's providence in His dealings with His people....Some are filled with a wicked spirit of resistance and opposition, and this spirit they will continue to cherish till the bitter, bitter end...they have kept up a continual defiance against God, and warfare against the testimonies of reproof that He has sent.

"Much has been done to hinder the advancement of the great work that God has committed to His people,--the proclamation of the last gospel message to all nations and kindreds and tongues and peoples....But the time is drawing nigh when the judgments of God will be more signally seen in Battle Creek. Many claiming to be believers have dishonored the truth of God. They have diverted His money into wrong channels, to carry out worldly plans. But because of the righteous who are among them the Lord has waited and shown patience....Saith the Lord, When I visit them for their iniquity, I will punish them for all their greed, and their worldliness, as the Gentiles. I will not spare, unless they repent....

"Many will never, never have eternal life unless they see the sinfulness of their course of action, and realize how greatly it has dishonored God. They are not servants of Christ, because they do not do His works. The Lord says, Proclaim My message; say to those who have professed to be followers of Jesus, but have dishonored their profession by making false paths for their feet and the feet of others, Repent; for your souls' sake, repent and be converted....Many have become corrupted in faith, corrupted in principle. Many have dishonored God, and sold themselves to sin, and in word and deed have helped others on in the strange paths they have chosen, until they do not know what pure religion is.(232) They have sacrificed faith for worldly favor, and are leavened with that which is opposed to righteousness. At first they felt some compunction of conscience,(233) but they refused to turn back, and now hardness of heart is preparing them for hopeless apostasy, and the judgments of God.(234) The appeals of their Saviour have been resisted, His mercy abused, His provisions of redeeming love, made by infinite sacrifice, rejected....

"There is a great overturning and overturning to take place in Battle Creek. That which has been done there since the General Conference held at Oakland in 1903 will result in the loss of many souls. Men who might have stood in clear light, doing valiant service as ministers of the gospel and medical missionaries, have been accepting false theories and sophistries; which originated with the father of lies, and yet they do not realize that they have changed.

"`Whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it' [Matthew 7:24-27].

"I am bidden to give this message to you at Battle Creek....Your souls are in peril. The world must know where you are standing and where Seventh-day Adventists are standing. God calls for all who have accepted these soul-destroying delusions no longer to halt between two opinions. If the Lord be God, follow Him.

"Satan, with all his host is on the battle-field. Christ's soldiers are now to rally round the blood-stained banner of Emmanuel. In the name of the Lord, leave the black banner of the prince of darkness, and take your position with the Prince of heaven....The time is near when the deceptive powers of satanic agencies will be fully developed....

"Satan is striving continually to bring in fanciful suppositions in regard to the sanctuary, degrading the wonderful representations of God and the ministry of Christ for our salvation into something that suits the carnal mind. He removes its presiding power from the hearts of believers, and supplies its place with fantastic theories invented to make void the truths of the atonement, and destroy our confidence in the doctrines which we have held sacred since the third angel's message was first given. Thus he would rob us of our faith in the very message that has made us a separate people, and has given character and power to our work....blindness hath happened unto Israel, unto teachers and unto those who are taught." Special Testimonies, Series B#7, p 8-17 (November 20, 1905).

God has clearly warned His people that with the decisions made during the 1903 General Conference Session, the head of the work became sick, and the whole church was being held responsible for it. The SDA church was represented as a body full of wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores. Those at the head of the work, who professed to serve God, were corrupted and were encouraging others along the same path; and souls were being lost because of it! Their refusal to repent could only take them straight into hopeless apostasy that would be cherished till the bitter, bitter end! And great would be the fall of the SDA church!

We were also told that some of the SDA leadership were so determined to continue in their wicked plans, that if Christ were personally among them trying to stop their plans, these hidden traitors would cry, "Crucify Him, crucify Him." God called for an end to lukewarmness--thus no more Laodicea. Either rally around Christ's banner, or apostatize fully to Satan's banner; but no longer halt between two opinions.

"I am so sorry that sensible men do not discern the trail of the serpent. I call it thus; for thus the Lord pronounces it. Wherein are those who are designated as departing from the faith and giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, departing from the faith which they have held sacred for the past fifty years. I leave that for the ones to answer who sustain those who develop such acuteness in their plans for spoiling and hindering the work of God....

"I write this because any moment my life may be ended.(235) Unless there is a breaking away from the influence that Satan has prepared, and a reviving of the testimonies that God has given, souls will perish in their delusion. They will accept fallacy after fallacy, and will thus keep up a disunion that will always exist until those who have been deceived take their stand on the right platform....

"The fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah contains instruction for today. `Cry aloud, spare not, lift up they voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins' [Isaiah 58:1]....I am now giving the message God has given me, to give to all who claim to believe the truth: `Come out from among them, and be ye separate' [2 Corinthians 6:17], else their sin in justifying wrongs and framing deceits will continue to be the ruin of souls. We cannot afford to be on the wrong side." Special Testimonies, Series B#7, p 60-64 (November, 1905).

This testimony was written primarily regarding Dr. Kellogg and his spiritualistic theories which were infiltrating the ranks of Adventists. Not only were these theories affecting our people; Kellogg was also denying that Sister White was a prophet of God by certain statements made when reproved by her, such as "Who has told Sister White these things?" "She would never have known these things unless somebody told her," etc.(236)

Kellogg's evil influence was not limited to the medical workers, but was also affecting SDA teachers, leaders, workers, and ministers--and thus those SDA churches which they ministered to.(237) That is why the above testimony was to come out and separate from among "them" and not just from "him" (Dr. Kellogg).

God in His great mercy sent this message to His true SDA people. They were to come out and separate from those SDA leaders and churches who were giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, and those denying the Spirit of Prophecy. God's people were no longer to remain under the black banner of the prince of darkness, wherever it would be found--even if it was within an SDA church. And this separation must continue until the SDA leaders stop teaching error and accept truth.

"Some who have received warning and instruction from God have deliberately turned from the messages sent them. They have, as it were, walked blindfolded into Satan's prepared snares. Satan is playing the game of life for their souls. And some who might be in a position to help these ensnared souls have themselves become ensnared as captives to the archdeceiver....

"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' [2 Corinthians 6:17] and be separate....For years the backward tendencies of many have greatly hindered the work of God.

"Now, just now, the Lord's people are to show their loyalty. The time has come when the Lord would have all who will honor Him take their stand firmly on the side of truth and righteousness. No longer are we to be a mixed multitude." Manuscript 106, November 20, 1905. (see also Manuscript Releases, vol 3, p 226)

God's true SDA people are to separate from those SDA churches and leaders who are teaching errors and falsehoods! God forbid that the whole SDA structure, its leadership, and its churches, shall apostatize from God's truth to follow error and false doctrines. But is this apostasy growing? If so, is there any chance of stopping it?

"One thing it is certain is soon to be realized,--the great apostasy, which is developing and increasing and waxing stronger, and will continue to do so until the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout. We are to hold fast the first principles of our denominated faith, and go forward from strength to increased faith. Ever we are to keep the faith that has been substantiated by the Holy Spirit of God from the earlier events of our experience until the present time....

"Not a word is changed or denied. That which the Holy Spirit testified to as truth after the passing of the time, in our great disappointment, is the solid foundation of truth. Pillars of truth were revealed, and we accepted the foundation principles that have made us what we are--Seventh-day Adventists, keeping the commandments of God and having the faith of Jesus." Letter 326, December 4, 1905, Special Testimonies, Series B#7, p 56-57.

"The Lord declares that the history of the past shall be rehearsed as we enter upon the closing work. Every truth that He has given for these last days is to be proclaimed to the world. Every pillar that He has established is to be strengthened. We cannot now step off the foundation that God has established. We cannot now enter into any new organization; for this would mean apostasy from the truth." Manuscript 129, 1905, Selected Messages, book 2, p 390.

The SDA church and its leadership chose in 1903 to discard the 1901 re-organizational improvements, and to enter into a new organization--one which would pattern the SDA church after Catholicism. In 1905 they had not yet fully organized the church under such a structure, and God sent a faithful warning that if they continued with their plans to do so, it would mean apostasy from the truth. And this apostasy would continue until Christ would come in the clouds of heaven! Thus there would be no chance for the SDA church to turn around once they started to follow this apostasy--meaning corporate probation would be closed.

"We have a testing message to give, and I am instructed to say to our people, `Unify, unify.' But we are not to unify with those who are departing from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. With our hearts sweet and kind and true, we are to go forth to proclaim the message, giving no heed to those who lead away from the truth." Manuscript 31, April 2, 1906. (see Selected Messages, book 3, p 412)

"The message must in no case be changed from that which has been. As has been foretold in the Scriptures, there will be seducing spirits and doctrines of devils in the midst of the church, and these evil influences will increase, but hold fast the beginning of your confidence firm unto the end." Manuscript 61, June 3, 1906, Upward Look, p 168.

"`Wherefore thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! Bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it. For her blood is in the midst of her....Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great. Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned....She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire. In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shall not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused My fury to rest upon thee. I the Lord have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back; neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways and according to thy doings shall they judge thee, saith the Lord God.

"`Also the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, behold I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke; yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down. Forbear to cry; make no mourning for the dead....So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died: and I did in the morning what I was commanded.

"`And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so? Then I answered them, The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will profane My sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword. And ye shall do as I have done; ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet; ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another. Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do; and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord God.'[Ezekiel 24:6-24].

"I am instructed to present these words before those who have had light and evidence, but who have walked directly contrary to the light. The Lord will make the punishment of those who will not receive His admonitions and warnings, as broad as the wrong has been. The purposes of those who have tried to cover up their wrong, while they have secretly worked against the purposes of God, will be fully revealed. Truth will be vindicated. God will make manifest that He is God.

"There is a spirit of wickedness at work in the church, that is striving at every opportunity, to make void the law of God, while the Lord may not punish unto death, those who have carried their rebellion to such great lengths, the light will never again shine with such convincing power upon the stubborn opposers of truth. Sufficient evidence is given to every soul regarding what is truth and what is error, but the deceptive power of evil upon some is so great, that they will not receive the evidence and respond to it by repentance.

"A long-continued resistance of truth will harden the most impressionable heart. Those who reject the Spirit of truth place themselves under the control of a spirit that is opposed to the word and work of God. For a time they may continue to teach some phases of truth, but their refusal to accept all the light that God sends, will, after a time, place them where they will do the work of a false watchman....

"God is speaking to His people today as He spoke to Israel through Moses, saying, `Who is on the Lord's side?' My brethren, take your position where God bids you....With the word of God as your message, stand on the platform of truth and proclaim the soon coming of Christ. Truth, eternal truth, will prevail.

"For more than half a century the different points of present truth have been questioned and opposed. New theories have been advanced as truth, which were not truth, and the Spirit of God revealed their error. As the great pillars of our faith have been presented, the Holy Spirit has borne witness to them, and especially is this so regarding the truths of the sanctuary question. Over and over again the Holy Spirit has in a marked manner endorsed the preaching of this doctrine. But today, as in the past, some will be led to form new theories and to deny the truths upon which the Spirit of God has placed His approval.

"Any man who seeks to present the theories which would lead us from the light that has come to us on the ministration in the heavenly sanctuary, should not be accepted as a teacher. A true understanding of the sanctuary question means much to us as a people....men will seek to bring in new theories, and will try to prove that those theories are scriptural, whereas they are error which if allowed a place will undermine faith in the truth. We are not to accept these suppositions and pass them along as truth. No, no; we must not move from the platform of truth on which we have been established. Manuscript 125, July 4, 1906, Paulson Collection, p 59-61.

Rebellion against God and the Spirit of Prophecy was increasing, instead of decreasing. Apostasy was taking hold among a greater number of the SDA leadership. Warnings of God's judgments again visiting the church, sent to awaken the brethren to the serious consequences of what they were doing, were ignored and rejected. Finally the time came when, in mercy, God sent further judgments against the church.

"Some who have been leaders in the work of God are seeking to make of none effect the work that God has placed in the world to educate His people, and to prepare them to stand the test of the miracle-working powers that would make void the precious facts of faith that have for the last sixty years been given under the power of the Holy Spirit....

"In the representations the Lord has given me, I have seen those who follow their own desires, misrepresenting the truth, oppressing their brethren, and placing difficulties before them. Characters are now being developed, and men are taking sides, some on the side of the Lord Jesus Christ, some on the side of Satan and his angels. The Lord calls for all who will be true and obedient to His law to come out of and away from all connection with those who have placed themselves on the side of the enemy." Letter 256, August 1, 1906, Last Day Events from the Letters and Manuscripts of E.G. White, p 94. (see This Day With God, p 222)

God truly used Sister White to warn our people and the SDA leaders during this year! God told His people that they were not to unify with those who were departing from the faith--even though these might be the leaders in the work. God continued to state that His people were to come out and away from all connection with those who were on the enemy's side--thus breaking all connection with them and their evil influence.

In warning the leaders of the SDA church, God stated in plain language that He would profane the SDA church--which was the idol or golden calf that more and more of our people were looking upon as their god--if the leaders continued on with their apostate plans. Thus all the SDA people who would continue to remain within the church, would be destroyed!

This was truly an urgent and serious warning coming to the SDA church and people during this year. It was necessary because a spirit of wickedness was already at work in the midst of the SDA church that was striving to make void the law of God. Not only was this wicked spirit working through the leaders to make void God's law, but especially was it attacking the doctrine of the sanctuary.

God clearly told His people to stand firmly upon the platform of truth, and not to move off of it regardless of what the SDA leaders did to try and change these truths. Those who continued to stand upon this platform of truth would remain God's true people, while those who stepped off this platform of truth, giving up any or all of the original doctrines or pillars of Adventism, would become off-shoots from these messages. Thus if the SDA church would apostatize and give up these precious truths as they were already warned might occur--thus stepping off this platform--they would become the off-shoots. Meanwhile those true SDA's, who must completely separate from the SDA church should she do such a thing, would continue to remain God's true people and true church because they continue standing upon the platform of truth.

Even if the devil would twist this truth around and say that those who chose to follow God's will and be completely separate from the apostate SDA church would be the off-shoots, still it is only by standing firmly upon the truth--the rock Christ Jesus--that we can be God's true people. It is only as we cling to Jesus and His truth that we can know for a surety that we are safely hid in Him, away from the storm and tempest which will destroy and sweep away the structure and members of the apostate SDA church, if she continues on with her wicked plans.

Since God's true SDA people are called to come out and separate from their professed, but false, SDA leadership and those SDA churches which are teaching error and/or not following the Spirit of Prophecy, this means that there would be two groups of SDA's! One group would be God's true people, and the other group would be those who profess to be but are not. And God even warned His people about this!

"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....The ruin of this class is certain." Review and Herald, vol 5, p 341 (July 18, 1907).

"Some are acting the part of Aaron, to help on the work of apostasy. They have been weighed in the balances, and have been found wanting. Men are spoiling their record, and are proving that they are not to be trusted, but that they will betray the interests of the cause of God, making them the sport of sinners. The messages of heavenly origin that God has sent to His people, to prepare them to stand in the last days, they have sneered at and scorned. But the evidence we have had for the past fifty years of the presence of the Spirit God with us as a people, will stand the test of those who are now arraying themselves on the side of the enemy and bracing themselves against the message of God." Letter 356, October 24, 1907, Paulson Collection, p 139. (see also Selected Messages, book 2, p 397)

"`Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils' (1 Tim. 4:1). The time of this apostasy is here. Every conceivable effort will be made to throw doubt upon the positions that we have occupied for over half a century....

"It is stated in the Word that the enemy will work through his agents who have departed from the faith, and they will seemingly work miracles, even to the bringing down of fire out of heaven in the sight of men. By means of `lying wonders' [2 Thessalonians 2:9] Satan would deceive, if possible, the very elect." Letter 410, 1907, Selected Messages, book 3, p 408-09.

Since apostasy has now taken place and established itself, mainly with SDA leaders and the various administrative areas they had influence over, yet apostasy was not limited to these areas alone, but was extending to SDA institutions, churches, and to our people. Thus Sister White's warnings become extremely pointed.

"`Wherefore hear the work of the Lord, ye scornful man, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place' [Isaiah 28:9-17].

"`Who among us,' he asks, `shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty: they shall see the land that is very far off' [Isaiah 33:14-17].

"The prophet continues: `Look unto Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us. Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey...' [Isaiah 33:20-24].

"Speaking to His church, Christ said, `And I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them' [Matthew 18:19-20]. The professed Christian who is not a Christian in practice, is not included in this promise. It is only when the voice of the church becomes the voice of Christ, that the promise can be received in its fullness.

"The upbuilding of the kingdom of God is retarded or urged forward according to the unfaithfulness or fidelity of human agencies. The work is hindered by the failure of the human to co-operate with the divine. Men may pray, `Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven' [Matthew 6:10]; but if they fail of acting out this prayer in their lives, their petitions will be fruitless." Manuscript 9, February 10, 1908. (see Review and Herald, vol 5, p 401-02, March 19, 1908)

God again repeats that should the SDA leadership continue in their rebellious plans, then the only SDA people that God will be able to teach His knowledge and doctrine to, would be those who would wean themselves from receiving all their knowledge and doctrine from human sources, who are able to do their own study, and think for themselves (relying upon God to enlighten their minds through the Holy Spirit as to what is truth), and those SDA's who are drawn from, or separate from, their "Mother" SDA church!

Besides this, God again reiterated that if the SDA church and its leadership continued in their plans of rebellion and rejection of God and His precious message of righteousness and renounced the truths from heaven as being error, then they would seek after the doctrines of spiritualism. They would unite with other women or churches who are in league with the devil, thus making a covenant with death and an agreement with hell. Their cup of iniquity would then be full--their separation from God would be final--signaling that probation would be closed upon the corporate church!

What is the "land that is very far off;" or "Zion, the city of our solemnities;" or Jerusalem "a quiet habitation"? These have reference to the city of God in heaven--the new Jerusalem. And what is meant by the "broad rivers and streams"? These have reference to salvation--being found only in God, the source of the waters of life. Then what is meant by the ships--a "galley with oars" and a "gallant ship"? These have reference to churches! No "galley with oars"--no man powered church--will ever obtain salvation and sail into the harbor of heaven, and no "gallant ship"--no proud and exalted church of Laodicea--will ever obtain salvation and go through to heaven either! And even though some would continue to cling to the ship, believing with all their heart that they could be saved if they just continued to cling to it and worked hard enough to ready it for the voyage, yet "they could not well strengthen their mast" and "they could not spread the sail." Thus the ship--the SDA church--will not go through to heaven, but will be destroyed.

"A battle is continually going on between the forces of good and the forces of evil, between the angels of God and the fallen angels. We are beset before and behind, on the right hand and on the left. The conflict that we are passing through is the last that we shall have in this world. We are now in the midst of it. Two parties are striving for the supremacy. In this conflict we cannot be neutral. We must stand either on one side or on the other....In this important period of earth's history, we cannot afford to leave anyone in uncertainty as to whose side we are on." Manuscript 35, March 7, 1908, Last Day Events from the Letters and Manuscripts of E.G. White, p 48.

This important truth (that separation was necessary from those who had chosen to apostatize, with the distinct possibility that a total and complete separation of God's people from the SDA church would also be necessary if she continues in apostasy, coupled with the fact that God's people could not remain neutral in this issue) was more forcibly impressed upon our people just four months later.

"Satan knows that his time is short, and he is putting forth every effort in his power to destroy our faith in God and in His Word. His agencies are following us constantly, seeking to induce us to follow his plans, and to take a wrong course in word and deed. But if we will grasp the power that Christ offers, seeking the Lord diligently, and watching unto prayer, we shall have all power and wisdom to meet the attacks of the enemy.

"`In vision I saw two armies in terrible conflict. One army was led by banners bearing the world's insignia; the other was led by the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel. Standard after standard was left to trail in the dust, as company after company of the Lord's army joined the foe, and tribe after tribe from the ranks of the enemy united with the commandment-keeping people of God. An angel flying in the midst of heaven put the standard of Emmanuel into many hands, while a mighty general cried out with a loud voice: "Come into line. Let those that are loyal to the commandments of God and the testimony of Christ now take their position. Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean, and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and you shall be My sons and daughters. Let all who will come up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.

"`The battle raged. Victory alternated from side to side. Now the soldiers of the cross gave way, "as when a standard-bearer fainteth." Isa. 10:18. But their apparent retreat was but to gain a more advantageous position. Shouts of joy were heard. A song of praise to God went up, and angels' voices united in the song, as Christ's soldiers planted His banner on the walls of fortresses till then held by the enemy. The Captain of our salvation was ordering the battle, and sending support to His soldiers. His power was mightily displayed, encouraging them to press the battle to the gates. He taught them terrible things in righteousness, as He led them on step by step, conquering and to conquer.

"`At last the victory was gained. The army following the banner with the inscription, "The commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus," was gloriously triumphant. The soldiers of Christ were close beside the gates of the city, and with joy the city received her King. The kingdom of peace and joy and everlasting righteousness was established.'" Review and Herald, vol 5, p 433 (July 16, 1908).

God was telling the professed SDA people that they could be part of only one army--either God's army of righteousness, or Satan's army of apostasy. They could only fight for truth or for apostasy. Those SDA's who choose to fight for truth and for Christ must leave and separate from their brethren who have chosen to fight for apostasy.

God revealed this battle to Sister White, and she saw it continuing to escalate within the SDA church, thus forcing our people to chose sides--either to be with Christ and His truth, or with Satan and apostasy. The conflict grew fierce and terrible--God's people were fighting to rid their church of rebellion and apostasy, while Satan's people were fighting to spread rebellion and apostasy.

Victory alternated from side to side, until Satan finally gained the control over the SDA church, and the soldiers of Christ gave way to the march of apostasy within her. These true followers of God were forced to withdraw or retreat from the church, separating themselves totally from her. But even though Satan won the victory over the entire SDA church, this retreat of God's people was only so that they could rally more fully around the banner of Christ, receive further orders from their great General, and thus receive the strength and grace needed to cry more loudly.

Christ Himself had taken the reins of control out of the hands of the apostate church, as we were already warned would occur (see p 96). The message of His righteousness spread around the world, and the victory was gained in glorious triumph, while those who chose apostasy lost eternal life and were left outside of the city of God.

There was the possibility that our people would not accept the above warning, nor any of the warnings of the past. Thus further testimonies telling the people to separate from their SDA brethren and sisters who have chosen to apostatize from the historic faith, but who are still within the SDA church and its administrative departments, continued to be given throughout the rest of this year.

"Of those who are constantly working to undermine faith in the message God is sending to His people, I am instructed to say, `Come out from among them, and be ye separate' [2 Corinthians 6:17]. Come into light, brethren, and lead others to the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Those who in faith accept the leadings of the Spirit of God will see where their dangers lie, and will make decided moves in the right direction." Review and Herald, vol 5, p 435 (July 23, 1908).

"We shall be called to meet those who, notwithstanding definite reproof and warning through the Testimonies have gone on in an evil course. We are bidden of God to hold ourselves separate and distinct from these men who have not given heed to His warnings....For they will deceive, if possible, the very elect." Letter 330, November 11, 1908, Manuscript Releases, vol 7, p 196.

The SDA leadership was now beginning to follow the decisions made at the 1903 General Conference Session, which would lead into a new organization and apostasy from the truth. This new organization was based upon the principles of Romanism, and thus our people would be led to place more and more of their trust in men--believing that their church leaders were as God. Not only this, but our people would also begin to believe that their SDA church was as God to them. Thus the leaders were forming the SDA church into another golden calf--an image of the beast! And God was being shut out of His own church and from His own people by wicked leaders in rebellion and apostasy.

"We shall not at this time follow the immediate results of Satan's rebellion and his expulsion from heaven, but let us consider how his deceptive work is being continued to-day among those who profess to be the loyal people of God....The artful foe has found a place in many hearts that should have no room for the selfish, ambitious principles that are being promulgated. For years the enemy has been seeking to bring false theories into the churches; and God alone can help us to meet his work successfully.

"Satan sought to produce the same results among the people of Israel as they journeyed from Egypt to Canaan. God took Israel from the bondage of slavery, and under His own guidance brought them into the promised land. Moses, their visible leader, received instruction for them directly from God. But in spite of the wonderful evidences the people received that God was working in their behalf, they continually murmured and rebelled. God gave positive evidence that He ruled in the heavens; again and again rebellion was punished with death....

"To-day Satan is using the same devising to introduce the same evils, and his efforts are followed by the same results that in the days of Israel laid so many in their graves. Let us study the record of how Israel, in the sight of the mount on which they had shortly before seen so wonderful a display of God's power, were led into idolatry. While Moses was in the mount with God, receiving the sacred oracles, the people, in Aaron's charge, were worshiping the golden calf, while their leading men proclaimed the sacrilegious message, `These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'...

"From this record we may learn how little dependence can be placed in men who trust in men, and do not make God their reliance. Those who are living in these last days are in the greatest danger of placing their confidence in men rather than in the true and living God. The Lord has given instruction that the history of the apostasy of Israel is now to be presented, because men who in the past have had great light have become self-sufficient, and are looking to men, trusting in human leaders, who are themselves practicing evil. Men who ought to stand as firm as a rock to principle are treading in the same path that the Israelites followed. `Some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils' [1 Timothy 4:1]. This is the snare that has come into our ranks....There are men who are acting the part of Aaron at the very time when every soul should be working to seal the law among God's disciples. They are building up the very things that God has specified should not be built up.

"A great deal of time and labor and anxiety are required to counterwork the ingenuity of satanic agencies that are pressing their way among those who are ready to accept wrong philosophy, to cause confusion and division. Every jot of influence is needed to discern the great evils of Satan's devisings, and to keep souls from being drawn into the net of the modern Aarons who are saying, `These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt' [Exodus 32:4]....

"All the people had the opportunity of demonstrating their repentance, and thus saving their lives. `Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him' [Exodus 32:26]. All were given the opportunity to be loyal to God. All who humbled themselves before Him, and placed themselves on His side, showing that they desired to obey Him, would be pardoned, while those who would not yield would condemn themselves as rebels. There would be no excuse for them. All were given the opportunity of repudiating their past idolatrous conduct, and of showing their determination to be true. But in the very presence of God many refused to repent. They were stubborn in their rebellion....

"The Israelites had been guilty of treason, and that against a King who had loaded them with benefits, and whose authority they had voluntarily pledged themselves to obey. That the divine government might be maintained, justice must be visited upon the traitors. Yet even here God's mercy was displayed. While He maintained His law, He granted freedom of choice and opportunity for repentance for all. Only those were cut off who persisted in rebellion....

"In this our day, when many, even among those who claim to be numbered among God's people, are not fully decided as to the right course, the Lord is calling for men who will move steadfastly in the path that He has marked out, and with unshaken determination carry out His purposes. Those who occupy positions of responsibility should know what saith the Lord." Review and Herald, vol 5, p 493-96 (February 4 & 11, 1909).

Thus the SDA leaders were forming the General Conference, and therefore the SDA church, into another golden calf--an image of the beast! God was being shut out of His own church and from His own people by wicked leaders in rebellion and apostasy. If this continued on, then God would be obliged to test the loyalty of all of His people by calling for total and complete separation from the SDA (golden calf) church and its apostate General Conference leadership. The call "Who is on the Lord's side, let him come unto me," would have to be heralded to all SDA's.

Those SDA's who would choose to willingly separate from the church would prove that they were willing to follow God's will regardless of the consequences, and these would be saved from destruction. While those who chose to stay within the apostasy of the SDA church, refusing to separate from this modern golden calf, would show that they love their corrupt church more than God, thus proving their disloyalty to Him, and they would be cut off and destroyed along with the apostate and rebellious church.

The apostasy was growing, and man was being uplifted in the place of God to our people. The church and its leadership were not so much fighting against the works of darkness, as they were trying to covertly bring about their plans without raising many eyebrows. The SDA church was losing her militancy against Satan, and was in danger of no longer being the church militant.

"The fact that our names are on the church books will not secure for us an entrance into the kingdom of heaven....The works that should characterize the church militant and the works of the church that has had the light of truth for this time, do not correspond." Review and Herald, vol 5, p 517 (April 22, 1909).

"A strange thing has come into our churches. Men who are placed in positions of responsibility that they may be wise helpers to their fellow workers have come to suppose that they were set as kings and rulers in the churches, to say to one brother, Do this; to another, Do that; and to another, Be sure to labor in such and such a way.(239) There have been places where the workers have been told that if they did not follow the instruction of these men of responsibility, their pay from the conference would be withheld....

"For years there has been growing tendency for men placed in positions of responsibility to lord over God's heritage, thus removing from church members their keen sense of the need of divine instruction and an appreciation of the privilege to counsel with God regarding their duty. This order of things must be changed....

"In my earlier experiences in the message, I was called upon to meet this evil. During my labors in Europe [1880's] and Australia [1890's], and more recently at the San Jose camp meeting in 1905, I had to bear my testimony of warning against it, because souls were looking to man for wisdom, instead of looking to God, who is our wisdom, our sanctification, and our righteousness. And now the same message has again been given me, more definite and decisive, because there has been a deeper offense to the Spirit of God....

"To conference presidents, and men in responsible places, I bear this message: Break the bands and fetters(240) that have been placed upon God's people. To you the word is spoken, `Break every yoke' [Isaiah 58:6]. Unless you cease the work of making man amenable to man, unless you become humble in heart, and yourselves learn the way of the Lord as little children, the Lord will divorce you from His work....

"God declares, `I will be glorified in My people;' but the self-confident management of men has resulted in putting God aside, and accepting the devisings of men. If you allow this to continue, your faith will soon become extinct....He [God] wants His people to be molded and fashioned, not after man's ideas, but after the similitude of God." Testimonies to Ministers, p 477-81 (1909).

The General Conference of SDA's and its leadership had put God aside to follow the devisings and ways of Satan. They did not repent, but were still molding the work and the church after their own evil imaginations which they started in Minneapolis. They rejected God and His truth then, and were still rejecting them in 1909, 21 years later!

In 1888, the General Conference and its professed SDA leaders REJECTED THE LATTER RAIN (see p 38-41). Since 1888, they have continued to reject God and His warnings; united with the papacy (1899 see p 87); united with the world (1900 see p 91-92); and REJECTED THE LATTER RAIN THE SECOND TIME! (1901 see p 99-101). They then chose to put on a pretense of following God, while they were really continuing on in their evil work. In 1903 they decided to bring forth their wicked plans of forming the SDA church, through the General Conference, into another image of Catholicism. They were then denounced by God as a harlot of Babylon with the chance of repentance (1903 see p 104-106), and yet they have chosen to further apostatize from the historic SDA faith (1907 see p 124).

Not all the SDA leaders and ministers chose to apostatize at this time. But if the apostasy continues, and they choose to remain in denominational employ, the seducing doctrines of devils and apostasy from the original truths of Adventism would definitely begin to affect these faithful ones, until all the faithful SDA leaders and ministers would be removed from the church. We were even warned of this distinct possibility (see p 83).

Since apostasy had started, and was continuing to grow, did the SDA leadership decide to follow the reformation of the devil, did they decide to follow the Series of Apostasy which would lead them and the SDA church step by step downward until storm and tempest would sweep away the structure and all its SDA membership to destruction?

"The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would be the result?--The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church would be discarded.(1) Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error.(2) A new organization would be established.(3) Books of a new order would be written.(4) A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced.(5) The founders of this system would go into the cities and do a wonderful work.(6) The Sabbath, of course, would be lightly regarded, as also the God who created it.(7) Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the new movement.(8) The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice, but God being removed, they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is worthless.(9) Their foundation would be built on the sand,(10) and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure."(11) Letter 242, October, 1903, Special Testimonies, Series B#7, p 39-40. (see also Selected Messages, book 1, p 204-05)

In order for the SDA leadership to get our people to allow these events to happen they must first teach them to look away from God and His wisdom, and look to man and human wisdom. They had been doing this for many years prior to this time. But how long after they chose apostasy can we see the first event taking place?

Throughout Sister White's writings, God tells His people that if the SDA church departs from His principles of truth, they would be dishonoring Christ and putting Him to an open shame.(242) God would forsake them, and His power, Holy Spirit, and glory would also depart.(243) They would be serving Satan as their leader.(244) And it would also lead them to deny our historic SDA faith, depart from God's law, break God's Sabbath (which leads to idolatry), and pronounce God's principles of truth as being heresy.(245) Thus man and self will be exalted and human will becomes paramount.(246) And if this departure from God's principles of truth would continue, the SDA church leadership would not be humbled or corrected(247) but they would continue on till the very end, found wanting would be written in the books of heaven, heaven and eternal life would be lost, retribution would come and all their wicked works of rebellion would come to an end!(248)

"In the false experience that has been coming in, a decided influence is at work to exalt human agencies, and to lead some to depend on human judgment, and to follow the control of human minds. This influence is diverting the mind from God, and God forbids that any such experience should deepen and grow in our ranks as Seventh-day Adventists....God does not confine Himself to one place and person." Manuscript 73, August 15, 1907, Paulson Collection, p 279. (see also Testimonies to Ministers, p 484)

"Principles have been perverted. Men have been departing from right principles, for the promulgation of which these institutions were established. They have failed of doing the very work God ordained should be done to prepare a people to `build the old waste places,' and to stand in the breach, as is represented in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah." Southern Union Worker, October 16, 1913.

After Ellen White's death on July 16, 1915, the apostasy began to gain momentum. It is definitely much easier to secretly implement apostasy without a living prophet of God around! Hence after Sister White's death, the SDA leadership found that they could continue in their plans with ease, making the necessary changes in church structure and fundamental truths to bring men under the control of man, without anyone warning the people about this conspiracy.

"And the Lord said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear My words; and went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers." Jeremiah 11:6-10.

"There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls...Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned Mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them." Ezekiel 22:25-26.

"For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy [conspiracy], to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. And He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken." Isaiah 8:11-15.

This conspiracy of the SDA leadership to change our religion and account the fundamental principles of Adventism as error, was an area where the greatest stealth and deception had to be practiced in order to bring their plans to fruition. The great changes, both doctrinally and organizationally, had to be brought about gradually so as not to arouse or awaken the majority of the sleepy church members as to what was really going on.

The church members had already been, and were continuing to be, educated to look to man, and trust in man, and expect help from man instead of looking to Jesus (see p 38). They had already been trained to look to and follow the rules and decisions of the General Conference as the voice of God to them. So if the leaders could just keep the people, and especially the young, believing this, then it would mean the success of their plans. And if any questions were to arise about the nature of these plans being brought in, why the leaders would declare that these changes were necessary for the "advancement of the cause of God" (see p 68).

But there were still too many staunch and true historic Adventists during the early decades of the 1900's who were not afraid to sound the alarm and awaken their people if they detected the end result of the plans being enacted. And amazingly, these plans of conspiracy were revealed by some of the leadership themselves!

Arthur G. Daniels, General Conference president from 1901-1922, revealed in 1930 that they could not yet bring about the changes they wanted, but would have to wait until the majority of their "serious problems" and the "certain difficulties that would confront" their plans would die down. He knew "time would be required for certain theological wounds to heal, and for attitudes to modify on the part of some" and "possibly it would be necessary to wait until certain individuals had dropped out of action" before major changes could "wisely be brought forth."(250)

One of the first major or great changes was brought forth nearly 20 years later--in the 1950's. During this time the SDA leadership were having several "assigned" meetings and conferences with the Evangelicals.(251) A man named Walter R. Martin--a Southern Baptist Evangelical minister--contacted the SDA leadership in 1955, asking if he could interview them. Their response was "immediate and enthusiastic."

"...the Adventists had a definite theological platform [by 1847], which through the years has varied little, but which in comparatively recent years has undergone a very definite evolution toward a more forthright declaration concerning the principles of the historic Christian faith, especially as they are embodied in the tenets of orthodox [Evangelical] Christian theology." Eternity Magazine, October, 1956.

"Seventh-day Adventism in 1956 is a far cry from the Adventism...[of the past]....many of the earlier...positions in Adventism have either been reversed or revised in line with the convictions of the leadership of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination that advancing light and progressive truth make necessary clarification and adherence to the cardinal [or evangelically held] truths of the gospel." Eternity Magazine, November, 1956.

2. The truth that we must overcome sin by uniting with divinity and then perfectly keeping God's law in order to be saved, was changed to "salvation which they and we [Evangelicals] confess to be by Christ alone on the basis of His expiatory death on Calvary."(253) That salvation is "by grace alone through the blood of Jesus Christ, apart from any works of the law."(254)

3. The truth that Christ literally left the first apartment and for the first time entered the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary on October 22, 1844, was changed. Barnhouse states: "Mr. Martin and I heard the Adventists leaders say, flatly, that they repudiate all such extremes [of literal interpretation]. This they have said in no uncertain terms."(255) And Martin states: "Contemporary [modern] Seventh-day Adventist theology accepts the doctrine [of the sanctuary] in the figurative sense [not literally two apartments] as great heavenly realities..."(256)

4. The truth that Christ's atoning work was not completed on Calvary. But since 1844, He has been carrying on a second ministering work on the antitypical day of atonement, was "also totally repudiated. They now believe that since His ascension Christ has been ministering the benefits of the atonement which He completed on Calvary....completion of the atonement which Adventists [now] believe Christ alone vicariously made on Golgotha."(257) "...according to Adventist theology....The already completed atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ....[which] `Christ did completely and perfectly and once-for-all on Golgotha.'...[This is the current SDA teaching] that they have rested, and do now rest, all hope for their salvation."(258)

5. The truth that it was the same Holy Spirit which inspired the Testimonies as well as the Bible, was changed to "the writings of Ellen G. White...are not on a parity with Scripture....they admit her writings are not infallible."(259) That all SDA "interpretations of prophecy were all established before Mrs White spoke or wrote thereon," and SDA's "do not consider Ellen G. White to be in the category of the writers of the canon of Scripture."(260)

But these repudiations and written concessions of our true pillars of Adventism by the SDA leadership should not have caught our people by surprise, because God had already warned about this way back in 1890! He stated that there would be counsel meetings held "where these subjects were discussed, and written documents were presented, advocating concessions" (see p 45)!

"As a people, we are to stand firm(262) on the platform of eternal truth that has withstood test and trial. We are to hold to the sure pillars of our faith. The principles of truth that God has revealed to us are our only true foundation.(263) They have made us what we are. The lapse of time has not lessened their value. It is the constant work of the enemy to remove these truths from their setting, and to put in their place spurious theories. He will bring in everything that he possibly can to carry out his deceptive designs."(264) Special Testimonies, Series B#2, p 51.

These three angels' messages were the original reason for God bringing the Adventist people into existence. God raised up the SDA church out of the great disappointment of October 22, 1844, to live and preach the three angels' messages to the whole world prior to the second advent. This means that the sole foundational basis of existence for the SDA church would be the three angels' messages, and its sole mission in these last days would be the proclamation of these heavenly messages!

"What is the Raison D'etre [French 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 Magazine, December, 1992, p 24).

Since the sole foundational basis of existence for the SDA church is the three angels' messages, then, if the SDA church would change the original teachings of these foundational messages into something completely different, it would not be the same church which God raised up, but a counterfeit of God's true church.

If this occurs, then the sole foundational basis for the existence of the SDA church in these last days would be the counterfeit three unclean spirits' messages of satanic doctrine, and its sole mission would be the proclamation of these spurious doctrines! As such, the SDA church would be no different from all the other churches which have given up the light of heaven. Hence our response to her must be the same as our response to the other churches of Babylon.

"...the truth, as we understand it for this end time, is real, it's relevant, it's 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 (SDA radio station in Angwin, Calif).

Let us then examine and apply the "test of scrutiny" to the beliefs and teachings of the church since the 1960's to see if they "understand" them to be the same as the original foundational beliefs upon which our religion was first built. Or if they "understand" them to be different and have changed our religion (and the three angels' messages) into a satanic counterfeit religion of Babylon?

In showing whether the SDA church has changed its position from the original understanding of the three angels' messages, we will be quoting mainly from SDA church magazines, church papers, and taped statements of well known church leaders. Our quotes come not just from individuals, but from the corporate church herself.

Specifically, these church papers are stated to speak for the SDA church: The Voice of Prophecy programs (hence its Voice of Prophecy News paper), and The Signs of the Times. These are "presentations of the Seventh-day Adventist church."(265) Also, and especially, the Adventist Review, which is called "The voice of the church, for the church."(266) The chairman of their board is the General Conference president,(267) and so the Review "has become inseparable from the church. Through the years it has told the story of the church, and continues to do so."(268) Besides, the Review was called "The official organ of the Seventh-day Adventist church."(269)

It will be mainly from these three church papers that we will determine if the SDA church has changed its position on the three angels' messages and our historic fundamental beliefs. We will first state the original foundational beliefs established by the pioneers and upheld throughout the writings of Ellen G. White, and then compare these with contemporary statements to see if the church still adheres only to the historic beliefs, or if she has changed them into satanic messages.

"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.(270) This glorious gospel declares that we can be freely justified before God,(271) obtain grace and strength to stand,(272) warring against and victoriously overcoming all temptations and sins(273) unto righteousness(274) and continued sanctification through Christ and His Holy Spirit(275) which strengtheneth us.(276) 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.(277)

What is the Plan of Redemption or Salvation? It is the "conditional" process(278) whereby fallen humanity can be reconciled back to God.(279) This is accomplished by our working participation and union with God(280) in the keeping of His laws,(281) and in the subduing of every sin in our life through the force of our will(282) which enables us to reflect God's righteousness and vindicate His character before all peoples.(283) Jesus Christ made possible this glorious plan by being born of a virgin, clothing His divinity with, and becoming one with, humanity,(284) taking man's fallen sinful nature upon Him,(285) and then engaging the strong foe's temptations with the inward pulling and drawing towards sin, but never giving in to this.(286) This was necessary in order for Christ to experience and overcome the strong temptations with which Satan tempts fallen humanity. Thus Christ broke Satan's hold upon man,(287) and provided humanity with a perfect example and pattern of how we can also overcome.(288)

Christ never once used His own divine power while on earth,(289) not even for others (angels did all the miracles),(290) but completely worked with and relied upon His Father for help to overcome the great temptations and to sustain Him in His work.(291) Thus Christ had no advantage over humanity, and 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.(292) 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 to secure for humanity the choice to serve God or Satan.

Thus the "humanity of Christ means everything to us,"(293) 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.(294)

What is Justification? Justification is the gift from God of full and complete pardon from past, acknowledged, confessed, and forsaken sins.(296) Justification is manifested by the transformation of character,(297) and is not given or retained while transgressing God's law.(298) It is not "once justified (saved) always justified (saved)!"

What is Sanctification? Sanctification is the continual growing in grace(299) by daily studying God's word(300) and daily dying to self by conforming to God's will.(301) We must keep God's law to attain and maintain sanctification.(302) Thus it means perfect love, perfect obedience, perfect conformity to God's will.(303)

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.(312) Those who had chosen to serve God and continued faithful to Him would be judged worthy of everlasting life,(313) but those who choose to reject God and His means of salvation, and continued in sin, would be judged unworthy of everlasting life.(314) All our sins are being written down in the record books of heaven for the purpose of the judgment,(315) and it starts first with the dead, and then proceeds to the living.(316) 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 before we are individually judged--being able to stand in the judgment,(317) or we will face eternal destruction.(318)

These are some of the principles of truth contained in the first angel's message upon which the SDA church was raised up and founded upon. But are these truths still only adhered to by the SDA church? Are these truths the only messages being held out to the people, or has the SDA church changed these precious truths of the first angel into an unclean message?

"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....It's good news: not that we should do something for God...it is salvation by faith...`It's all of Grace.'" Voice of Prophecy News, February, 1976, p 6 (H.M.S. Richards, Sr).

This "all of grace" "nothing else" doctrine (that Christ has done it all for us so there is no necessity to keep God's law perfectly; that we are saved by "faith alone," just "let God do the rest," and that Jesus will obey for us and give us all things necessary for salvation as "gifts") is the same doctrine which the Nicolaitans taught,(321) and which God hates!

What does the SDA church believe about Christ taking the nature of Adam after the fall--or taking fallen, sinful human nature upon Him, and not having a different nature than humanity? We have already seen that the SDA church has repudiated the truth, and now advocates that Christ took the unfallen nature of Adam, and thus had to have a nature different than humanity (see p 138). Here is another church statement made to our people.

"To a degree, perhaps inexplicable this side of eternity, His [Christ's] substitution necessitated [using] His divinity...[at end of article in the footnotes section]...Christ is portrayed...as using His own divine attributes...He could use His own divine powers..." Adventist Review, February 1, 1990, p 21-22.

If Jesus really was born with a sinless human nature, used His divine powers, and had an advantage over fallen humanity, then He cannot be a perfect example and pattern or a Saviour from our sins. He would not know what we were inwardly going through when tempted, nor how to succor and help us overcome sin with fallen natures upon us; He would only know how to comfort and help those who have unfallen sinless natures! Thus Christ as our Saviour from sin would be effectively stolen from us, and we could never overcome sin! Hence we would be lost if this is true.

"Now, if you go back to define sin in terms of relationship--sin in terms of living a life apart from God--you don't need to have a Saviour exactly as you are....Allowing a difference between our nature and Christ's nature prevents us from getting bogged down in perfectionism..." Insight, May 15, 1979, p 9-10.

"However, this view [perfection being possible] has serious shortcomings. First it leaves justification and faith behind(323)...faith taking hold of the righteousness of God is the foundation of right relations with God in all time--past, present, and future...[it is] by faith, that we await `the hope of righteousness' (meaning the hoped-for-righteousness). In other words, faith grasps the future righteousness of God as well as its present manifestation....justification by faith leads us to glory." Adventist Review, August 11, 1983, p 7.

"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.

"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.

What does the SDA church teach about the hour of God's judgment has come against sin? Does she teach that we must be delivered from the prison house of sin before we are individually judged; that all of our sins are being written down in the record books of heaven, and if unforsaken sin is found upon us, then we will be judged unworthy of everlasting life and thus will be condemned in our sins to destruction?

"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.

The SDA church now teaches that the judgment is to come and deliver us from sin's prison house, but not to condemn us for continued sinning. Thus people believe that there is no need to rid themselves of personal sin before being judged, because the judgment would get rid of their personal sins for them! Our people are also told that there is no record keeping of our sins in the books in heaven. Hence people believe that personal unforsaken sins cannot be a basis for judging us unworthy of heaven and eternal life!

The SDA church has changed the Everlasting Gospel, into the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which God hates! They teach that Christ had advantages over humanity with regards to overcoming sin, thus they have changed Christ from a personal Saviour saving us from sin into a Saviour saving us in sin. They have changed "fear God" and keep His commandments of righteousness, into fear satan and keep his commandments of sin! They have changed "give glory to God" by reflecting His character of righteousness, into give glory to Satan by reflecting his character of unrighteousness! They have changed "worship God" alone and give Him your spiritual allegiance, into worship other things and give your spiritual allegiance to the SDA church and its leadership! And they have changed God's judgment against sin, into delivering us from personal sin--thus no one is really doomed to die in a lost condition, but all will be saved in sin!

The Roman Catholic church had already become Babylon many centuries before 1844, and God had chosen the Protestant churches to reveal His truths to the world. But they had, as a corporate body, chosen to depart from the side of Christ--her Husband, and to unite themselves with the world. God mercifully sent the first angel's message to break their harlotrous love affair with the world, and to bring them back to His side as a faithful bride once again. But they refused, and thus became Babylon fallen.(327) And the wine of Babylon is her false doctrines which she is founded upon--namely Sunday observance and the immortality of the soul.(328)

"The ideology of continued world progress--that man has the solutions to the besetting problems of our age; that given a little more time, he can, without divine intervention, produce a better world--is the intoxicating wine that Babylon has dispensed to the entire world." Adventist Review, September 7, 1989, p 26.

According to the SDA church, Babylon fallen is anything but an apostate corrupt church! No longer do people need to separate themselves from the Roman Catholic Church, or the Protestant Churches, or any apostate and corrupt church; but from wicked cities, evil influences, the archenemy, falsehoods, certain mind-sets and attitudes, spiritual compromise, working for our own salvation, racism, child abuse, death squads, loneliness, crack, torture, separation, death, and the Soviet Union. And Babylon's wine is not Sunday observance, but the idea that man can make the world better!

We can clearly see that the SDA church has changed the truth of the second angel's message into extreme vagueness and falsehood, and are keeping people in bondage to the real Babylon. So the SDA church has rejected the truth of the second angel's message, and has replaced it with, and adopted, the second unclean spirit's message!

"And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, if any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name....

"And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities." Revelation 14:9-11, 18:1-5.

The true church of God, being founded on Christ and His truth only,(353) having the marks of the true church listed in Revelation 12:17 and 14:12; which "keep the commandments of God," the "faith of Jesus," and the "testimony of Jesus Christ"(354) which is "the spirit of prophecy" (Revelation 19:10) or the writings of Ellen G. White.(355) Hence these writings have their continuing purpose, and are still to be followed today!(356)

The precious conditional gift of the Righteousness of Christ(357) being imputed by faith to every repentant sinner,(358) and enabling us to be accepted by God,(359) and to receive His grace.(360) This grace enables us to overcome all sin, perfecting holiness in the fear of God before Christ's second coming.(361) We must use our will power to take the first step in obedience to God before His grace comes to help us overcome(362) and Christ's righteousness is imparted to us.(363) The law of God is still binding upon the Christian today, and Christ's keeping of it does not free us from having to keep it also.(364) Perfection is not instantaneous,(365) but is progressive throughout the lifetime of one striving and advancing upward on the straight and narrow pathway to heaven.(366) Thus while we are on the earth, no one is saved, or can they say or feel that they are saved until they are in heaven.(367) Christ's robe of righteousness will not cover any unrighteousness nor even one unconfessed sin. Hence no one can find salvation in Jesus while continuing in sin.(368)

"Included in such discussions have been related theological concepts such as the nature of Christ, the nature of man, the nature of sin, perfection, and the question as to whether it is possible for a Christian to live a sinless life. In our judgment these complex theological and biblical issues need not be settled in detail in order to rejoice in the gracious provision of salvation through faith in Christ...We are requesting that we refrain from involving ourselves in public presentations of the fine points and the controversial aspects of the theology of righteousness by faith....

"It is our responsibility to study the Scriptures for ourselves, to ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to submit our understandings to those in the church who are able to judge our findings, and then to abide by the decisions of the church..." Adult Sabbath School Quarterly, Lesson 13, March 28, 1987, p 92.

"The third angel of Revelation 14 warns that in the end the wrath of God, unmixed with mercy, will be poured out on the heads of unrepentant sinners....God gives up such people and turns them over to the results of their rebelliousness....Since faith and love cannot be forced, what else can God do but sadly give up those who reject Him?

"In Christ's life of perfect obedience to God's will, His suffering, death, and resurrection, God provided the only means of atonement for human sin, so that those who by faith accept this atonement may have eternal life....those who accept the atonement assures their final victory over sin and death." Adventist Review, November 6, 1986, p 18.

"We see here that his [Aaron's] principle responsibility was to act as mediator, as a link between the holy and profane, between God and man....In like manner the minister of the Gospel today is the high priest....Today we [SDA ministers] are the high priests....What a tremendous responsibility to act as mediators between God and man!" Ministry Magazine, December, 1961, p 27, 29.

"The four classical marks of the Biblical church apply to Seventh-day Adventists: its holiness (in Jesus Christ), its catholicity (universality), its apostolicity (in harmony with the witness of the apostles/founders), its unity (one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism)." Adventist Review, October 1, 1992, p 27 (parentheses and emphasis in original).

So the SDA church proves its authenticity for being a true biblical church of God today, not by keeping the commandments or by following the Spirit of Prophecy, but by being holy, catholic or universal, apostolic, and one or united. Why is this significant? Because for hundreds of years the Roman Catholic Church has claimed the exact same four marks as to why they are the true biblical church of God!

"The woman and her offspring represent `those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus' (verse 17 [of Revelation 12]). Those are God's people. Christians! Catholics and Protestants and, yes, if I read my Bible correctly, people from all religions..." Signs of the Times, January, 1995, p 8.

"...[the 9 Volumes of the Testimonies For the Church, which was made up of individual Testimonies] was a particular message to that individual that did not apply to everybody....So you can't take the Testimonies and make that a general application to everybody....[So when] God spoke to her...that didn't apply to everybody." Kenneth Cox, WTGL TV interview, February 8, 1993.

"God has already overcome the power of sin. We do not need to strive again and again to overcome sin.(383) This is because Jesus has already done this, once for all on the cross....Is it presumptuous of us to try to overcome sin `again' in our lives?...Sin is much too big and powerful for us to delude ourselves like that....

"...perfection [in Christ]...is relative, or vicarious, in-as-much as it depends on a right relationship to Christ. It is attained instantly(385) by an intelligent act of the will accepting Christ's imputed and imparted righteousness, and is retained throughout life unless a person repudiates his relationship to Christ...He is accounted perfect in heaven, not because he never makes mistakes, but because, despite his mistakes, God credits him with Christ's perfect righteousness. Unconditional dedication to the goal, and uncompromising pursuit of it, are God's only requirements." Review, June 10, 1965, p 12.

"Do you wonder if you are saved?...Do you believe that Jesus is your Saviour? Have you confessed your sins? Have you given yourself over to Him? Then, regardless of how you feel--whether or not you feel `right'--you are saved....Only saved people...are conscious of how short they fall of God's ideal....[Anyone] who loves Jesus knows and can know that he or she is saved." Signs of the Times, June, 1989, p 12-14 (emphasis in original).

"`But,' you say, `I'm not "without blemish,"'...Yes, the blemishes and the blame are still there (as they are for the vast billions of humans everywhere); but nonetheless Christ's sacrifice in our behalf gives Him the astounding right to `present' us before the Father and His universe as `holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.'" Signs of the Times, May, 1986, p 27 (Robert Wieland). (parenthesis in original)

"If completeness stems from the Complete Man [Christ], how can we achieve it?...the robe of righteousness offered and received at the moment of accepting Christ....Worn continuously, it permeates the life until its complete suitability is seen...saving despite sin..." Adventist Review, October 27, 1983, p 6-7.

So the SDA church has changed Religious Liberty, or the God-given right to study, stand by, proclaim His truth, and expose error, into the necessity of seeking SDA church approval. They have changed the Beast being Roman Catholicism into vaguely being the false lord or self-worship. They have changed the meaning of Anti-christ being the Pope and Catholicism into a mind-set. They have changed the Lamb-like Beast being the United States of America into vaguely being an idol-making power, or the antispirit. They have changed the Image of the Beast being the Protestant Churches (including the WCC) into being an idol or image that we worship, including ourselves, or the combination of belief in God and putting forth efforts to obey Him.

The SDA church has changed the non-immortality of the soul, with the gift of immortality only at Christ's second coming, into being the soul that sins, it shall live, with eternal immortal life in our possession now with new holy natures or holy flesh. They have changed the sanctuary in heaven with two apartments into being a non-specific sanctuary without apparent division.

The SDA church has changed the Head or first Minister of the church from Christ our high priest and mediator between God and man, into being the SDA ministers and leaders as high priests and mediators between God and man. They have changed the identifying characteristics of the true church of God founded only on Christ and His truth, with the marks of the church listed in Revelation 12:17 and 14:12, into being the four marks of the Roman Catholic church.

The SDA church has changed the necessity of following the writings of Ellen G. White today into a requirement necessary only in the past. They have changed the Righteousness of Christ which enables us to be accepted back by God and receive His grace to help us overcome all sin before Christ's second coming into Christ having done it all for us, so we just sit back and slide into heaven. They have changed salvation without sin through Christ's righteousness and personal effort into salvation in sin through Christ's righteousness instantaneously sanctifying and perfecting us because we cannot overcome sin. And they have changed Christ's robe of righteousness not covering any unrighteousness nor one unconfessed sin into Christ's robe of righteousness covering our continued sinning.

We can see with very little trouble that the SDA church has taken all three angels' messages and transmuted them into another form from their original biblical and God-endorsed meanings. So the SDA church has rejected all three angels' messages and replaced these principles of God's truth with the three unclean spirits' messages of satanic falsehood.

Hence, the foundational basis for the existence of the SDA church today is not the real three angels' messages found in Revelation 14 as it was in the beginning, but it is the three unclean spirits' messages found in Revelation 16! The SDA church is not doing the work which God commissioned, but the work which Satan commissioned; it is not preaching the gospel of God, but the gospel of Satan; and it is not fulfilling the mission of God, but the mission of Satan. So when you hear the SDA church talk about doing God's work, fulfilling God's mission, and spreading God's gospel, remember it has nothing to do with God at all, but is all for the devil. And if you support the SDA church with your tithe and offerings, then you are supporting the work and mission of the devil and the spreading of satanic falsehood!

The SDA church has not only rejected and changed these three precious messages, our religion, and accounted our fundamental principles of truth to be error, but they have also replaced the true SDA leaders and ministers, who refused to give up these truths, with new leaders and ministers who preach satanic falsehood from the hellish torch of Satan! Yet, we have already been warned that such a terrible thing would happen (see p 83)!

"Not until some voices ceased, and a new leadership came to the fore in certain sections, could certain tenets of truth come into their own in general, unhandicapped acceptance. Pockets of resistance had to die out, with a new generation coming to the fore uninhibited by past impediments and circumstances. That took time. The change has now taken place. A new generation of workers and laity are upon the stage of action....We are now united upon a sound platform of Fundamental Beliefs. We are now ready for the great final phase of the Advent Movement--the final, rapid movements that have been depicted." Eternal Verities Triumphant, p 50, 52, by LeRoy Froom. (This is a Syllabus preceding publication of Movement of Destiny)

Clearly, the SDA church has rejected all three angels' messages, and has replaced them with the counterfeit three spirits' messages. But what does the church say? Do they admit changing the three angels' messages? Do they acknowledge they no longer believe or teach only the historical messages, and that they have adulterated, mutilated, and transmuted them into something completely contrary to God's word? Or do they blatantly lie to our SDA people, making believe that nothing has changed and all is just like it should be? What are they telling the people, lies or the truth? Let's ask the SDA General Conference President--Robert Folkenberg:

"The Seventh-day Adventist church is privileged, I believe, to have a treasure in our understanding of the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, and particularly the message of Revelation...the three angels' messages. And the good news is that the proclamation of the gospel message and the three angels' messages...is our highest priority by every means possible: through the spoken word from the pulpit of our churches; through the medium of public evangelism; by means of the airways and the media; through our institutional program, our publishing program; and through every avenue that's available to us. That is our highest objective, and it is the standard against which we measure our accomplishment....

"But take it clearly from me, there is no adulteration or undermining of any of the fundamental beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist church. Take it as a simple statement of fact....Please take my word for it. The General Conference and the Seventh-day Adventist church stand behind our historic Adventist beliefs unequivocally. We preach them, we preach them clearly and fervently and compassionately." Robert Folkenberg, "Issues and Interviews" on SDA radio station--KCDS, February 19, 1993.

The highest leader of the SDA church stoops from all honesty and makes Satan his father by blatantly lying to and deceiving our people in this issue! The only evidence he gives to back up his specious falsehood is "Please take my word for it." Will you, dear reader, take his word for it? Or will you allow the evidence presented in this book to convince you that there has been severe adulteration and undermining of the original fundamental beliefs of historical Adventism? And if the highest leader of the SDA church is doing this, then surely it is throughout the whole church structure. But the only people who will believe him, against all the evidence, are those who would be cursed--by making flesh their arm (Jeremiah 17:5).

It is clear from all the evidence that the SDA church has definitely given up our historic SDA beliefs, and they have no desire to return back to them. The SDA church and its leadership intend to install this "new theology" into the minds of our people. They even esoterically call this new theology "present truth," but this does not mean the historic doctrines which our pioneers taught, but the new and "present" doctrines which the SDA church is teaching today.

"`Historic Adventism.' Some [historic Adventist's] talk about `historic Adventism'. They claim that the organized Church has somehow slipped away [from following it]...Beware of so-called historic Adventists!" Robert Folkenberg's Address at the Scottish Mission Session, in Edinburgh, Scotland, June 4, 1994, titled "Movement of Destiny."

Truly, the SDA church has "changed" "our religion" and have "accounted as error" "the fundamental principles that have sustained the work" of God since its beginning! We do not need to beware of historic Adventists, but what we need to beware of is the church and its leadership! It is not the same SDA church that God founded to do His work by spreading His truth, but it has become a counterfeit of God's true church, founded upon the same principles that Babylon is, and our response to her must be the same as it would be to Babylon!

Since our SDA religion has been officially changed, and the fundamental principles that sustained the work have been accounted as error, the organization of the SDA church--that was once founded upon these principles--would also need to be changed. This brings us to the third event in the Series of Apostasy.

-- Warning that the conference president does not "have authority to rule over his fellow workman. This is after the practice of Rome...and the man is led to place himself where God alone should be....men are pursuing a similar course to that of the Roman Catholics who center in the pope every power of the church."(388)

From these warnings, it can be seen that the SDA leadership were heading towards forming the church structure into another Catholic organization--a hierarchy. After the death of Ellen White, the church has increasingly gained control over all the interests and institutions of the world-wide SDA church. But it was not until the 1970's that this was clearly documented on paper.

In 1974-75 the United States instigated a lawsuit against the SDA General Conference allegedly for a violation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act by the Pacific Press Publishing Association regarding the salary of Merikay Silver and others. In this trial, presided over by Judge Charles B. Renfrew, in U.S. District Court, in San Francisco, California, the SDA leadership made some startling documented statements about their church's organizational arrangement and principles.

"Although it is true that there was a period in the life of the Seventh-day Adventist Church when the denomination took a distinctly anti-Roman Catholic viewpoint, and the term `hierarchy' was used in a pejorative sense to refer to the papal form of church governance, that attitude on the church's part was nothing more than a manifestation of widespread anti-popery among conservative Protestant denominations in the early part of this century and the latter part of the last, and which has now been consigned to the historical trash heap so far as the Seventh-day Adventist Church is concerned." EEOC vs PPPA and GC, Civil Case #74-2025 CBR (1975).

So the aversion of the SDA church to the Catholic form of church governance, or a hierarchy, has now been consigned by the General Conference leadership to the trash heap! A hierarchy is a man controlled system which effectively shuts Jesus out from the church and allows man to rule over man. But why did the SDA church leadership's stance change regarding a hierarchical system of Roman Catholicism? Is it because the organization of the SDA church has itself been formed to image the Roman Catholic hierarchy--with the General Conference as another Vatican, and the General Conference president as another pope?

It is important for us to differentiate between the SDA church and the General Conference. The church is a body or fellowship of believers controlled by the Lord; and the General Conference is intended to be the vehicle for these members to use and control in furthering the spread of truth. The General Conference is thus to be subordinate to the church membership. But the General Conference apostasy includes an attempt to reverse this process, making the church membership subordinate to the authority of the General Conference. If this occurs, another Vatican would be formed--the General Conference becoming the voice of, and spokesman for, the SDA church world-wide. Also, with the organizational structure of the church being hierarchical, the highest leader in the organization would become the ruler or pope over all the church body.

God warned that the General Conference was already corrupt over 95 years ago (see p 67, 70, 72), and it has only increased in corruption especially after the death of Ellen White. God also warned the General Conference leadership that if they "enter into any new organization...it would mean apostasy from the truth" (see p 120-21). This they began to do with the organizational changes adopted in 1903.

But if the SDA leadership actually forms the General Conference into another Vatican, forms the organizational structure of the church into another Roman Catholic hierarchy, and makes the General Conference president into another pope, it would clearly signal that the SDA church has apostatized completely from the truth. Hence, all of God's SDA people would be held captive within a Roman Catholic system with the name "Seventh-day Adventist" deceptively covering it!

"In the Seventh-day Adventist denomination the term `church' has a very comprehensive and broad meaning. It is used to apply to the general organization and headquarters for Seventh-day Adventists under the name of General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists." EEOC vs PPPA and GC, Civil Case #74-2025 CBR (November 27, 1974).

"From an ecclesiastical-historical standpoint, there are numerous forms of church organization, which are described variously as Presbyterian (which connotes governance by the priesthood), or Episcopal (which connotes governance by the bishops of the church), or papal (which connotes governance by a sole chief bishop), or congregational (which connotes governance by individual local church groups).

"The plain and undeniable fact is that the Seventh-day Adventist church is most assuredly not a `congregational' one (although it contains elements of congregationalism) but is clearly of the `representative' or `hierarchical' variety." EEOC vs PPPA and GC, Civil Case #74-2025 CBR (parentheses in original).

"...the church governs by a method of organization which in Seventh-day Adventist terminology is `representative', and which embraces exactly, from a legal standpoint, the same kind of organization (in opposition to `congregationalism') as is embraced by the term `hierarchical.'" EEOC vs PPPA and GC, Civil Case #74-2025 CBR (parenthesis in original).

So the organizational structure of the SDA church is hierarchical and not representative. But since "in Seventh-day Adventist terminology," the word "hierarchical" is replaced with the word "representative," then the SDA leadership can say to their membership that the organization of their church is not a hierarchy, when it really is! What a deception.

But just how closely does the SDA church image the Roman Catholic church in organizational structure as compared to the rest of the churches of Protestantism? In 1984 an article was published in Spectrum comparing Catholicism with twelve major Protestant denominations, which were: Seventh-day Adventist, Episcopal, Nazarene, Lutheran/Missouri Synod, American Lutheran, Lutheran Church in America, United Presbyterian, United Methodist, Assemblies of God, Southern Baptist, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and Congregational.

"At the local conference level the Seventh-day Adventist church has a representative form of government, above that level the polity of the Seventh-day Adventist is hierarchical: authority flows downward and members in local congregations have virtually no voice....the Seventh-day Adventist church is a closed, self-operating, and self-perpetuating system, similar to the Roman Catholic church, in which those in authority are not responsible to lower echelons. Above the local conference level, those in authority are not elected by, representative of, or administratively accountable to, local congregations or the membership at large." Spectrum, vol 14, #4, March, 1984, p 42.

Since 1984, and especially at the 1985 and 1990 General Conference Sessions, policy changes and restructuring has been done so that supreme power and authority over the entire worldwide SDA church and membership is so well established and so well centralized within the hierarchy of the General Conference, that it is exactly like Catholicism. In fact, so much so, that a Federal Judge of the United States says that it is!

During the year of 1986, Derrick Proctor filed a lawsuit against the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists allegedly for unfair business practices. On October 29, 1986, an opinion was handed down by Judge William T. Hart of the U.S. District Court, North District of Illinois, East Division, in favor of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist. Judge Hart declares:

"Church documents that prescribe the church's structure and governance confirm that all parts of the church are parts of a single entity. Next to the Roman Catholic church, the Adventist church is the most centralized of all the major Christian denominations in this country. The General Conference, as the world wide governing body of the Adventist denomination, is the church's highest legislative, judicial and ecclesiastical authority." DP vs GCoSDA, Case #81 C 4938, Findings of Fact, Section B, Church Objective and Structures, p 22.

A non-Adventist can clearly see that the SDA church operates under a hierarchy; why can't the SDA people? The SDA leadership have already admitted that they operate under a hierarchical structure, and these statements are not just limited to affidavits and court transcripts. Although it took them a while to do so, they finally openly admitted to our SDA people in official church magazines and papers!

"The Seventh-day Adventist Church follows a model of organizational order in the church which is modified from the orders of Roman Catholicism, but it retains the same notions of clerical order which separates the members of the Church into two classes--clergy and laity." Messenger, December, 1993, p 2.

Is there even the slightest possibility that the SDA leadership will realize that God will not work with a church which operates under a man-controlled and man-powered hierarchical church structure? Will they change the structure back to God's decentralized plan? Or will they continue to cling to, strengthen, and refine the hierarchical organization?

In 1985, president Neal C. Wilson made a revealing Commission Report to the General Conference Committee regarding the "Role and Function of Denominational Organizations." The Committee voted to "accept the full report." In this report, he very clearly revealed the present and future attitude of SDA leadership towards the hierarchical organization of the church.

"The General Conference is the highest authority and the sum of all the parts, not only philosophically, but also (1) organizationally, (2) legislatively, (3) administratively, (4) judicially, (5) in terms of policy and (6) Church standards. This being the case, it seems that it should be the desire of the conferences, unions, and any other organizations to do everything possible to weld the whole family together and strengthen the hands of the General Conference....

"It would be folly to do anything or say anything that would in any way weaken the influences and limit the leadership capabilities of the General Conference....To do anything that would encourage congregational government would be a move in the direction of disintegration, and the inability to achieve our divine mission....

With all that SDA leaders have revealed, it becomes very clear that the structure of the SDA church has indeed been formed into another Catholic hierarchy to control "all parts" of the SDA church, especially the membership. Every SDA whose name is on the church books is now legally recognized as subject to, and subordinate to, the supreme hierarchical authority of the General Conference--the Adventist Vatican! Your name on the roll books signifies that you have agreed to be a loyal member of the General Conference, which is the SDA church. You remain under their authority so long as you remain a part of that church! This is part of the "legal consequences" of which Neal Wilson mentioned in the court transcript of the EEOC vs PPPA (see p 168).

The Catholic Vatican and the pope also claim supreme spiritual authority over all their church membership, and we see the Adventist Vatican doing the same. But will the SDA General Conference president actually try to follow in the footsteps of the bishop of Rome, becoming another pope--the pope of Adventism?

The Seventh-day Adventist General Conference president has not only placed himself in a position of supreme authority over our people which belongs to Christ alone, but he is also ascribing to himself a title which belongs to Christ alone.(398) Hence, the General Conference president is literally making himself and claiming to be a god over all the SDA church membership! This is no different from the pope--who claims himself to be the "supreme pastor" and god over all the Roman Catholic membership.(399)

God in His mercy even warned His people that this seemingly impossible thing could occur! He stated: "We are to have no kings, no rulers, no popes among us" (see p 109). This was written in September, 1903, just a few months after the SDA church threw out God's plan of organization, and adopted another plan of organization, which 70 years later was admitted to be an hierarchical image of Roman Catholicism--the beast!

The SDA leadership have succeeded in forming the General Conference into another Vatican--making it the voice of, and spokesman for, the entire SDA church. They have also succeeded in forming the organizational structure of the SDA church into another Roman Catholic hierarchy, and have succeeded in making the General Conference president into another pope--the "first minister" "spiritual leader" "shepherd, guardian, guide and captain" of all church members.

This clearly signals that the SDA church has completely apostatized from the truth by establishing a new organization; a very stealthy but rapid progress in establishing another papal power system. And man is indeed efficiently and effectively ruling over man, but without the presence, help and guidance from the Father, Christ, or the Holy Spirit. God--the Father, God--the Son, and God--the Holy Spirit are no where to be found within the SDA church; just as They are no where to be found within the Roman Catholic church--because it operates under the same corrupt and apostate Babylonish system.

The SDA leadership have indeed followed the third step in Satan's reformation by establishing "a new organization," and all of God's SDA people are being held captive within a Roman Catholic system that has assumed the name Seventh-day Adventist! And this was even admitted by the General Conference president.

"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....

So as we examine different books of a new order which have been printed from standard SDA presses, these books are a "denominational, not a private, publication," and hence speak for the SDA church. This would also hold true for the various church papers and magazines, which are also printed by the denomination's presses.

"God, in Christ, condemned sin, not by pronouncing against it merely as a judge sitting on the judgment seat, but by coming and living in the flesh, in sinful flesh, and yet without sinning. In Christ, He demonstrated that it is possible, by his grace and power to resist temptation, overcome sin, and live a sinless life in sinful flesh." Bible Readings for the Home Circle, p 174.

"God, in Christ, condemned sin, not by pronouncing against it merely as a judge sitting on the judgment seat, but by coming and living in the flesh, [omission] and yet without sinning. In Christ, He demonstrated that it was possible, by His grace and power, to resist temptation, overcome sin, and live a sinless life in the [alteration] flesh." Bible Readings for the Home Circle, p 174.

As we can see, the SDA leadership were changing their position from the truth of God to a doctrine of the devil on the nature of Christ. They now believed that Christ could not have had man's sinful nature, with all its liabilities and passions, and yet remain sinless. But the correct position of God's true SDA people is as follows, for God states:

"Letters have been coming in to me, affirming that Christ could not have had the same nature as man, for if He had, He would have fallen under similar temptations. If He did not have man's nature, he could not be our example. If He was not a partaker of our nature, He could not have been tempted as man has been. If it were not possible for Him to yield to temptations,(402) He could not be our Helper. It is a solemn reality that Christ came to fight the battles as man, in man's behalf. His temptation and victory tell us that humanity must copy the pattern." Selected Messages, book 1, p 408.

As the result of the concessions and denials of our true SDA faith by the SDA leadership with the Evangelicals, another book of a new order was published. This book was Questions on Doctrines, which was published by the Review and Herald Publishing Association in 1957. This book documents the new and official standpoints on certain doctrines by the SDA church; such as:

The SDA church leadership now accepts that Jesus had obtained man's complete redemption, and that His work of atonement was completed, at the cross.(403) Are they following the truth of God, and the historic teachings of the SDA church in this area? If so, then why does God, through the Spirit of Prophecy, state something completely contrary to their above quote and new position?

"...before Christ's work for the redemption of men is completed there is a work of atonement for the removal of sin from the sanctuary. This is the service which began when the 2300 days ended....at the termination of the 2300 days in 1844, Christ then entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary to perform the closing work of atonement preparatory to His coming....Christ had only completed one part of His work as our Intercessor, to enter upon another portion of the work, and he still pleaded His blood before the Father in behalf of sinners." Great Controversy, p 421-22, 429.

"...Christ Jesus is represented as continually standing at the altar, momentarily offering up the sacrifice for the sins of the world....a mediator is essential because of the continual commission of sin....Jesus presents the oblation for every offence and every short coming of the sinner." Selected Messages, book 1, p 343-44.

But since the SDA leadership have assumed a defiant position against God and the Spirit of Prophecy, they see no need to harmonize with God's truth! Remember we were told in 1890 that Satan, through his agents, will set everything in operation to uproot the confidence of the believers in the pillars of our faith (see p 47). This is now happening!

"When, therefore, one hears an Adventist say, or reads in Adventist literature--even in the writings of Ellen G. White--that Christ is making atonement now, it should be understood that we mean simply that Christ is now making application of the benefits of the sacrificial atonement He made on the cross..." Questions on Doctrines, p 354-55.

"It is better to see and study the great realities of the sacrifice and priestly ministry of Christ than to dwell too much upon the details of the typical service, which gave but an inadequate portrayal of the sacrifice and ministry of Christ. Far better to interpret the earthly tabernacle in the light of the heavenly, rather than to circumscribe the antitypical realities by the limitations of too close an application of the type....

"`The sacrifice was made and completed on the Cross, as the victims were slain in the outer court. But it was through the blood of those victims that the high-priest had authority to enter the holiest place; and when he had entered, he must sprinkle the warm blood, and so present the sacrifice to God. Similarly Christ must enter a sanctuary in order to present the sacrifice slain on Calvary." Questions on Doctrines, p 379-82.

The SDA leadership are beginning to change, not just the truth on the atonement, but also the truth of the ministration of Christ! No longer was Christ only in the holy place from His ascension until 1844, but now at ascension He entered the "holy places" and the "holiest place" in order to present His sacrifice in the presence of God. This, in essence, takes away the division of the two apartments, making it appear as a one-roomed sanctuary. And the leadership were very careful not to say that Christ would minister in two different apartments of the heavenly sanctuary, but that there would be "two phases of our Lord's ministry as High Priest."(404)

These concessions by the SDA church with the Evangelicals were definitely allowing Satan to steal away a great portion of God's established truth from our Adventist people! But those Adventists who will not believe that their SDA leadership really gave up a lot of God's truth in this book Questions on Doctrines unless the leadership themselves admit it, are in for a surprise because the SDA leadership did indeed admit it--although it took them over 30 years to do so!

"Now He is about to do it again [healing the sick], on a global scale. His coming invasion of the world will have a similar miraculous result. Hospitals and convalescent homes will be emptied, their one-time occupants bursting with new life and vigor...Thousands upon thousands [of insane in mental homes] will rejoice at His touch upon their poor, confused brains....

"In the not far distant future He will take over the government of our world and set up His own kingdom of righteousness and peace...all those who are accepted as citizens of His kingdom have to experience a radical change in their minds, so radical indeed that it will be as though they had started all over again, like being born anew. They will have to think differently, and act differently...They will have to stop acting like rebels and take their stand with the loyalists....

"Come, O man the world needs most! Come and bring an end to all strife and conflict! Come and make wars cease to the ends of the earth! Come and make all sick people well again! Come and restore the crippled and handicapped! Come and raise the dead! Come and take over the government of mankind! Come and commence Your reign of righteousness and peace! Come and bring in the glorious years of eternity!

Truly this is a book of a new "world" order! Just as the SDA leadership made concessions with the Evangelicals, which necessitated the giving up and changing our historic religion for the doctrines of devils which Babylon holds dear, so we see the SDA leadership also making concessions with the spiritualistic New Age Movement. This necessitated the SDA leadership giving up and changing our true biblical beliefs of Christ and His second advent, for the doctrines of devils which spiritualists hold dear. So who is the Adventist church setting up her people and the world to accept as Jesus Christ returned to earth? Lucifer--the "new world leader." For more information on how Lucifer will become the New World leader, write for the book To Be God of One World at the address given in front of this book.

In fact, on the front cover of the August, 1990 issue of the SDA Ministry Magazine, was a picture of one whom the Adventist church calls Jesus Christ coming to earth again (see Appendix A). But the picture is in reality the Cosmic Christ of the New Age! This picture is permeated with occultic symbols, and is even entitled "The Return of the Cosmic Christ"!

On the right side of this false Christ are some portrayed in light rising up out of the blue water--signifying being born into the Age of Aquarius, or becoming a part of this New World Order. While those on the left hand are portrayed in darkness who will be destroyed out of this New World Order--being those who will not go along with, and become one with, Lucifer; which are the true Christians of God.

"But when Adam was assailed by the tempter, none of the effects of sin were upon him. He stood in the strength of perfect manhood, possessing the full vigor of mind and body....It was not thus with Jesus when he entered the wilderness to cope with Satan. For four-thousand years the race had been decreasing in physical strength, in mental power, and in moral worth; and Christ took upon Him the infirmities of degenerate humanity. Only thus could He rescue man from the lowest depths of his degradation....

"If we have in any sense a more trying conflict than had Christ, then He would not be able to succor us.(406) But our Saviour took humanity, with all its liabilities. He took the nature of man, with the possibility of yielding to temptation.(407) We have nothing to bear which He has not endured." Desire of Ages, p 117.

"Those who claim that it was not possible for Christ to sin, cannot believe that He really took upon Himself human nature. But was not Christ actually tempted, not only by Satan in the wilderness, but all through His life, from childhood to manhood? In all points He was tempted as we are, and because He successfully resisted temptation under every form, He gave man the perfect example, and through the ample provision Christ has made, we may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 7, p 929.

"The Son of God humbled Himself and took man's nature after the race had wandered four-thousand years from Eden, and from their original state of purity and uprightness. Sin had been making its terrible marks upon the race for ages; and physical, mental, and moral degeneracy prevailed throughout the human family....

"It was in the order of God that Christ should take upon Himself the form and nature of fallen man that He might be made perfect through suffering, and Himself endure the strength of Satan's fierce temptations, that He might understand how to succor those who should be tempted." Spirit of Prophecy, vol 2, p 39.

"Christ did in reality unite the offending nature of man with His own sinless nature, because by this act of condescension He would be enabled to pour out His blessings in behalf of the fallen race. Thus He has made it possible for us to partake of His nature." Review and Herald, vol 4, p 201.

"The epochal Minneapolis session stands out like a mountain peak, towering above all sessions in uniqueness and importance. It was a distinct turning point. Nothing like it had occurred before, and none since has been comparable to it. It definitely introduced a new epoch.... Movement of Destiny, p 187.

Froom is trying to whitewash SDA rebellion. But God had clearly revealed that the light from heaven, sent to the 1888 General Conference Session in Minneapolis, was not accepted; it was instead rejected by "our own brethren." They did not receive this great outpouring, but instead REJECTED THE LATTER RAIN (see p 38-41)! So the "distinct turning point" and the "new epoch," that Froom describes at the 1888 Minneapolis Session is that the SDA leadership took a defiant stand against God and His testimonies, rejected Christ and His Holy Spirit, and accepted satanic delusions. And this is exactly what they have done ever since 1888.

And it is! In the General Conference Session of 1901, the SDA leadership REJECTED THE LATTER RAIN the second time!! But this time they closed and bolted the door against the Spirit's entrance, telling Him to go away (see p 100)! Christ has tried to prepare the way for His second coming by the outpouring of His Spirit twice, and it has been the church leadership that have rejected Him both times. And they will continue to do the same thing! Oh, why will not our people open their eyes and see what is going on?

The whole SDA structure, its institutions and its churches, is destitute of the presence of Christ and of His Spirit! In 1859, Christ's presence began to be withdrawn from the church (see p 10). In 1868, Christ withdrew His presence for a time (see p 14). In 1888, the church leadership rejected the Latter Rain (see p 38-41). In 1890, Christ withdrew His light and the Holy Spirit (see p 49). In 1901, Christ tried to give them His Holy Spirit again, and they rejected Him and told Him to go away (see p 100)! In 1903, the presence and glory of God and Christ departed from the SDA church (see p 104). And it has never returned, because they have never turned back to God since the death of Ellen White; and they never will turn back (see p 71, 120).

As God's Holy Spirit is no longer with the SDA church structure, nor any of its institutions, the truth of God is no longer precious to them. That is why they make concessions with the Evangelicals on true fundamental historic SDA doctrines! And this all began with their rebellion against God and His revealed truth in 1888.

In fact, the SDA church admits that the reason why they have given up historic Adventism (especially in the area of salvation) for the "new theology" of today, was because of what took place in 1888. The church refers to this new theology as "the new soteriology" or "the theological shift" from historically held beliefs.(408)

The SDA leadership have indeed changed the official church position on the nature of Christ and the atonement held in the past in order to teach the same as the Evangelicals on these doctrines. Will the SDA church continue to make concessions of God's pure truths with the other Evangelical churches? Will they continue growing in apostasy?

"The heavy, sometimes bellicose, emphasis on the law and the Sabbath in times past undoubtedly struck more raw nerves...in contrast today, with a clear assert of the denomination's evangelical heritage...a new era of evangelistic emphasis and membership growth..." Ministry Magazine, June, 1966, p 18-21.

"...there has been for years, in churches of the Protestant faith, a strong and growing sentiment in favor of a union based upon common points of doctrine. To secure such a union,(409) the discussion of subjects upon which all were not agreed--however important they might be from a Bible standpoint--must necessarily be waived." Great Controversy, p 444.

But the SDA leadership have not taken the warning! So the SDA church has lost her spiritual life, and the power of God is no longer upholding her. The church and its leadership are growing fast in deeper apostasy, and are preaching damnable heresy for the truth. They are eagerly seeking to unify with the other churches, and in doing so, are waiving the historic doctrines of our true SDA faith that do not agree with the commonly held beliefs and teachings of the other Babylonian churches.

But this book goes beyond the repudiation of the historic SDA doctrines which the previous books of a new order attempted to accomplish, and attacks other pillars. It directly assaults the doctrine of the necessity of overcoming temptation and sin through a union with Christ, claiming that all which is necessary for salvation is a relationship with Christ--letting Him overcome sin for us.

"Of course, Jesus was born different. He had a sinless human nature, the same as Adam had before his fall...Therefore it was natural for Jesus to be good. I was born with a sinful nature, and it's natural for me to be bad...Jesus had the absolute, perfect, sinless nature of Adam before he fell....Jesus never had to go through the sinner's struggle [of overcoming temptation and sin]..."(411) Salvation by Faith and Your Will, p 86, 93, 96.

And if we believe this false doctrine taught above, we will never be like Jesus in character--thus necessitating Him overcoming sin for us. Obedience then becomes by faith alone, coming as a gift from God. Christ would then not save us from sin, as the Bible teaches,(413) but would save us in sin! But what does this SDA book teach?

"If we are sinners, and cannot produce genuine obedience apart from God, then all we can do regarding ourselves is to surrender ourselves--give up on the idea that we can ever produce genuine obedience....We will never be just like Jesus....Jesus must do all of this [overcome our sins, obey God, and produce righteousness] for us."(414) Faith That Works, p 168-72.

"Obedience can come only by faith, first of all, because of the nature of mankind. We are sinners. We will be sinners until Jesus comes, and sinners cannot produce obedience. Second, obedience can come only by faith...all we can do is give up ever hoping to produce any real obedience." Faith That Works, p 175.

"I must run the risk of wearying you by repeating that salvation is God's work, not man's! This is why it is termed salvation through faith alone(417) in Jesus Christ....by His perfect life settling forever the immutability of heaven's precepts and completely fulfilling the law's requirements on man's behalf." Marked!, p 88-89.

"Praise God for the second angel's message...Connected with the appeal of Revelation 18:4--`Come out of her, my people,'--it [second angel's message] is a wonderful promise of assurance that when we are willing to set aside our natural self-sufficiency and pride to give our wills to God, our lives will be `lightened with his glory'..." Marked!, p 83-85.

Why are so many books of a new order being written by the SDA church which center their attacks on the doctrine of overcoming sin? Because the devil knows that if we cling to sin, instead of freeing ourselves from committing sin though Christ's grace and power, then we will die in our sins(423) and the devil will not have to suffer for them!

Another book of a new order is What I Like About...The Lutherans, The Baptists, The Methodists, The Charismatics, The Catholics, Our Jewish Friends, The Adventists; Rescuers of Neglected Truth, by George Vandeman, and published by the Pacific Press Publishing Association in 1986. It was also the Missionary Book of the Year for 1987.

The reason why the SDA church likes all of these other denominations so much, is twofold: first they state: "We want to build bridges"(425) because "whether Christians or Jewish, we are all God's family together;"(426) and secondly, of course, the SDA church is teaching the very same Babylonian doctrines! Doctrines such as:

"The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail. The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men to this satanic captivity was amazing. Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power. It is the Spirit that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world's Redeemer. It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church." Desire of Ages, p 671.

"The last generation will meet the standard and achieve the goal in the same way all previous generations did....God will save them, not on the basis of their unprecedented spiritual achievements, but because the Mediator removes their filthy garments--the partial and imperfect righteousness they developed in their own lives--and covers them with the robe of His all-sufficient righteousness. Thus Christ presents them to the Father as perfectly righteous in Him by faith." Perfect in Christ, p 95.

"Every thought and word and deed of our lives will meet us again. What we make of ourselves in probationary time, that we must remain to all eternity. Death brings dissolution to the body, but makes no change in the character. The coming of Christ does not change out characters; it only fixes them forever beyond all change." Testimonies, vol 5, p 466.

"...the character you bear in probationary time will be the character you will have at the coming of Christ. If you would be a saint in heaven, you must first be a saint on earth. The traits of character you cherish in life will not be changed by death or by the resurrection....Jesus does not change the character at His coming. The work of transformation must be done now. Our daily lives are determining our destiny." Adventist Home, p 16.

"Thus, under the guise of enticing an apparently commendable object of partaking of the divine nature and achieving sinless perfection--just like Jesus...religious people...end up attempting salvation through a method that has no access to God's forgiveness, the saving righteousness of Christ, the enabling power of the Spirit, and any other of the gifts....

"By comparison, the new deception introduces a change in the plan God devised for human redemption. Representing a level that is higher than and different from what God has established in Scripture, the deception seeks to achieve spiritual equality with the God-man, Jesus Christ....they want to experience an inner transformation that somehow will enable them to transcend their sinful condition and to become perfectly faultless, righteous, and holy in themselves, even as Christ is....

The truth of the matter is that Ellen White wrote truth directly from the throne of God which is completely contrary to the teachings found in their book. But the book does correctly state that "the position of the Adventist Church" is indeed NOT one in which a believer in Christ can overcome all sin before He comes. This sad fact has already been proven, even before Perfect in Christ was written!

"Satan had declared that it was impossible for the sons and daughters of Adam to keep the law of God, and thus charged upon God a lack of wisdom and love. If they could not keep the law, then there was fault with the Lawgiver. Men who are under the control of Satan repeat these accusations against God, in asserting that men can not keep the law of God." Signs of the Times, vol 3, p 264.

The SDA church has deceptively stated both positions in this issue of Christ's human nature--that He had a fallen and unfallen human nature--in one statement! This was probably done in order to please both groups of tithe-paying membership in the church. Those who believe that Christ had man's fallen sinful nature would be pleased with the first part of the statement, while those who believe that Christ did not have man's fallen sinful nature would be pleased with the last part of that statement. Thus the SDA church is speaking with a "forked-tongue," becoming double minded, and hence, "unstable in all [her] ways" James 1:8.

This again destroys the truth of sanctification--the uniting of divinity with humanity, divine power united with human effort, in order to overcome sin and perfect a life by obedience to God's established will and laws. Hence the SDA church again brings forth a doctrine of devils to replace the doctrine of sanctification.

"The Holy Spirit brings the `It is finished' of Calvary within, applying the only experience of God's acceptance of humanity to us. This `It is finished' of the cross calls in question all other human attempts to gain acceptance. In bringing the Crucified within, the Spirit brings the only ground of our acceptance with God, providing the only genuine title to and fitness for salvation available to us." Seventh-day Adventists Believe, p 130-31.

On the subject of the heavenly sanctuary, this book does not bring out that there are two apartments, but leads the reader to believe that there are no divisions, just one big room.(433) Nor does the SDA church bring out the fact that on October 22, 1844, Christ entered the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary to begin the work of the investigative judgment--first for the dead, and then for the living. But the church states:

This SDA church book also leads the readers to conclude that the whole heavenly sanctuary represents the most holy place, which "was to be anointed to consecrate it for Christ's intercessory ministry." And that "With His ascension soon after His death...Christ began His ministry as our high priest and intercessor."(434)

So then Ballenger (in the 1900's), Desmond Ford (in the 1970's-80's), and others who introduced "new theology" are finally judged correct by the SDA church. This would then mean that all of our SDA pioneers--including Ellen White--were in error to believe and teach the sanctuary doctrine as they did, and thus Sister White would be a false prophet!

"In a representation which passed before me, I saw a certain work being done...The foundation of our faith, which was established by so much prayer, such earnest searching of the Scriptures, was being taken down, pillar by pillar. Our faith was to have nothing to rest upon--the sanctuary was gone, the atonement was gone." Manuscript 46, May 18, 1904, Upward Look, p 152.

"In the future, deception of every kind is to arise, and we want solid ground for our feet. We want solid pillars for the building. Not one pin is to be removed from that which the Lord has established. The enemy will bring in false theories, such as the doctrine that there is no sanctuary. This is one of the points on which there will be a departing from the faith. Where shall we find safety unless it be in the truths that the Lord has been giving for the last fifty years?" Review and Herald, vol 5, p 137.

"I know that the sanctuary question stands in righteousness and truth, just as we have held it for so many years. It is the enemy that leads minds off on sidetracks. He is pleased when those who know the truth become engrossed in collecting Scriptures to pile around erroneous theories, which have no foundation in truth. The Scriptures thus used are misapplied; they were not given to substantiate error, but to strengthen truth." Counsels to Writers and Editors, p 54.

This book is another attack on the truth that faith and works combined are necessary for the process of sanctification, righteousness, and salvation. Its focal point is the 1888 experience. But it counters those who advocate obedience to God's law as necessary for salvation, against those who advocate salvation "by faith alone." The first group is called "traditionalist," or what most would term "historic Adventists," and are negatively looked upon--even to the point of trying to rewrite history by stating:

For those who may find themselves agreeing with the above falsehood (that Ellen White was against those who advocated the historic position of the necessity of obedience to God's law), just read Steps to Christ, which was first published in 1892, and tells us clearly what positions she took between these two opposite beliefs.

On pages 130-31 this SDA book lists several important men who sought to lead the SDA church onto the "correct" track: such men as Donald Barnhouse, Walter Martin, LeRoy Froom, and the men of the General Conference Ministerial Association who were responsible for the book Questions On Doctrines. Knight then upholds the one point found in that book which was especially important:

For the SDA church to believe and teach this great error of original sin is only the natural outcome of adopting and teaching other doctrines of devils: errors such as the atonement being completed and finished on the cross; no one can keep God's law perfectly in this life before Christ comes; Christ's robe of righteousness covering our lack of obedience; Christ taking man's unfallen nature; etc.

"Included in such discussions have been related theological concepts such as the nature of Christ, the nature of man, the nature of sin, perfection, and the question as to whether it is possible for a Christian to live a sinless life. In our judgment these complex theological and Biblical issues need not be settled in detail in order to rejoice in the gracious provision of salvation through faith in Christ, which includes justification, sanctification, and glorification." Adventist Review, May 24, 1979, p 4.

For Adventists to believe the above statements, and accept the counsel of their SDA leaders, would mean that they would lose eternal life, because they would be led to continue living in sin--not fully realizing that Christ came to save them "from their sins." But they could have realized this and possibly escaped destruction if they would have studied for themselves.

"Not at all. That would make my character now compete with what I've already accomplished 2,000 years ago in Christ....we fulfilled the law `in Christ.' Through Him we have already `fulfilled all righteousness.' Today we can only accept or reject that righteous record--we don't compete with it....Christ fulfilled all righteousness for us on the cross....

The final book of a new order that we will examine (but certainly not the last to appear) is We Still Believe: after 150 years of waiting, watching, and hoping, by the General Conference president--Robert S. Folkenberg, and published by the Pacific Press Publishing Association in 1994. This book is also registered with the Library of Congress as teaching Seventh-day Adventist doctrine.(437)

"But neither democracy nor communism nor socialism is God's system. His eternal kingdom is built on different principles and will supersede all earthly governments and powers...and the next great event in the world history will happen when God sets up His kingdom that will last forever." We Still Believe, p 23, 28-29, 118-19.

"We don't earn a place in God's wonderful new world. There will not be one person there who deserves to be there. Everyone will be there as a free gift of God's grace....Our `right' to the tree of life and all the happiness of God's new world depends, not on our efforts, but entirely on the grace of God...the invitation is given to everyone. It's for me! It's for you!

"It [our relationship with Jesus] simply places the `burden' [of our obedience to God's law] on the shoulders of our Lord. We live in Christ. We obey in Christ. Our assurance of salvation is based on His performance, not our own....we allow Him to work out His righteousness in us." We Still Believe, p 43-44.

"...our assurance of salvation is based on God's grace by faith, not on our behavior or character development. Each sin we may commit does not turn off salvation in our lives....That is why the gospel is unconditional good news. Our assurance of salvation is based, not on our behavior, but on Christ's. Our assurance of salvation is based, not on reaching some level of character development, but on our relationship with Jesus....we don't find ourselves in and out of God's family each time we sin." We Still Believe, p 40-41.

"Yes, there are questions that can be raised about Ellen White and her work...Ellen White was a human being with faults...she sometimes misunderstood God's communications to her...she sometimes used uninspired sources to help her convey her message from God....her writings contain discrepancies." We Still Believe, p 101.

These above stated SDA church doctrines, found in We Still Believe, are not what our pioneers taught, nor what God has clearly outlined in His word--the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. Yet Robert Folkenberg--the current General Conference president--has lied to all the SDA people in that he asks them to believe that the false doctrines in his book are really what the pioneers believed!

These books of a new order are not limited to merely giving up and changing the historic beliefs of Adventism. There are other SDA books of a new order which deal with standards. Such as the following book: We've Only Just Begun: A Guide to Successful Courtship, by Nancy Van Pelt, and published by the Review and Herald Publishing Association in 1985.

These few books mentioned in this chapter are not the only books of a new order which the SDA church has published--proving that they have indeed departed from the original SDA faith. Nor was every area of departure contained in these books brought forth and exposed. But there will continue to be other books of a new order published, as the SDA church continues on in hopeless apostasy till the "bitter, bitter end" (see p 117).

"...the basis of the whole theory of Greek education [mastered by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle], both in science and philosophy, was `doubt,'--`a profound and consistent skepticism.' Indeed, the principal idea of that philosophy is expressed in the word `doubt.' The history of philosophy is but the history of doubt." The Place of the Bible in Education, by Alonzo T. Jones, p 15.

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: Rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of man, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." Colossians 2:6-8.

"...Satan's power will be more and more manifest. The knowledge that he had through being in connection with God, as a covering cherub, he will now use to subordinate his subjects who fell from their high estate. He will use every power of his exalted intellect to misrepresent God and to instigate rebellion against Jesus Christ, the Commander of heaven. In the synagogue of Satan he brings under his scepter, and into his counsels, those agents whom he can use to promote his worship. It is not a strange matter to find a species of refinement, and a manifestation of intellectual greatness, in the lives and characters of those who

To cite one example: No administrator or school teacher--from kindergarten to university--can teach today within SDA schools without the proper credentials and diplomas earned from years of scholastic study. Thus only those individuals who have been educated in this "intellectual philosophy," and who no longer hold to the original doctrines of truth, will be accepted as teachers and administrators within SDA schools. This educational system would even shut Jesus out from teaching because He--the greatest educator the world has ever seen--would not have the proper worldly credentials! And the SDA church admits this to our people!

Thus, the entire SDA educational system is operating upon a foundation which shuts Christ out of the minds of the students. That is why the study of Babylonian writers who uphold the same false theories of intellectual philosophy is replacing and substituting the study of the Bible. And as of old, God passes by those educated individuals who learn such corrupted doctrines, and instead chooses to use "unlearned fishermen" to spread His true gospel.(446)

Already we have seen some of this intellectual philosophy being taught to our SDA people. These include the false theories that Christ had the nature of Adam before the fall; that Christ's work of atonement was already completed at the cross; that no one can overcome sin and become perfect; that no one can keep God's law; that all you need is faith alone or grace alone for salvation; that Christ kept the law for us, so we do not have to; that we are born sinners, and hence Christ must save us in our sins; etc.

But remember, this system of human reasoning that produces doubt, corrupts, confuses the original SDA doctrines of truth, and changes the beliefs and outlook of life, would be introduced through the use of the mind. And what better way to bring about this doctrinal change in the minds of our SDA people, than through the satanic science of mind-control.

Some SDA's may strongly object to even the thought that their SDA church leadership would be involved in using any type of spiritualistic mind-control or hypnotism upon our people, even if the church did give up God's truth. But is this a true position to take? Remember, God already warned us that those SDA's who apostatize from His truth, would use hypnotism to try and corrupt others (see p 114, 126). Then, is there any evidence that the SDA church leadership are indeed involved in using hypnotism and mind-control techniques to alter the thinking of our SDA people and lead them away from believing God's established truths?

One of the more modern forms of hypnotism is Neuro-Linguistic Programming or NLP. "Neuro" means nerve, "Linguistic" means verbal speech, and "Programming" means coded instruction. It is one of the most dangerous forms of hypnotism. The minds of individuals can be manipulated or hypnotised, without them even being aware of it, by the combinations of words used in talking with them--both individually, or in groups.

NLP hypnosis is being utilized in church-member outreach seminars called by various names, such as "Calling and Caring" or "Caring and Sharing." These hypnosis religious seminar outreach programs were developed by Dr. John S. Savage, who is a United Methodist minister, a certified Psychotherapist, and president of L.E.A.D. Consultants--his NLP hypnosis organization. These seminars are divided into two main programs called Lab 1, and Lab 2. Lab 1 teaches people how to use NLP hypnosis techniques on others, and Lab 2 teaches Lab 1 graduates how to teach and train others in NLP hypnosis.

These NLP hypnosis seminars are enthusiastically sponsored by these churches: Baptist, Methodist, Adventist, Presbyterian, Latter Day Saints (Mormon), Lutheran, Church of Christ, Catholic, as well as many other churches. Their purpose is seeking greater control of their congregations, and bringing inactive members back into church fellowship.(447)

The SDA church has indeed become involved in this satanic and spiritualistic hypnosis training program of NLP. The evidence to substantiate the above statement can be found in the following church papers: Visitor, June 15, 1985, p 6; Adventist Review, July 2, 1987, p 23; May 4, 1989, p 21; October 5, 1989, p 5.

"...that every pastor in the North American Division complete the 40-hour Lab School in Parish Visitation Skills (Lab 1), and that selected pastors complete the additional 50-hour Instructor's Training (Lab 2)." North American Division of Seventh-day Adventist Church, Strategy Plans for Evangelism, #307-88n, Homecoming Emphasis During Year of Evangelism (1989), p 2, Section 3d.

During the year of 1989, the Florida Conference of SDA's held a Lab 2 training course for all of its leaders and ministers from March 19-24.(448) Also the Potomac Conference of SDA's, where the General Conference headquarters is located, held a Lab 2 training course for all of its leaders and ministers from August 27-September 1,(449) and again from May 5-10, 1991.(450)

Since the year 1989, at least 200 Adventists have been training other SDA's--especially ministers, leaders, and teachers--in spiritualistic techniques of hypnosis. What purpose can this serve other than keeping our people locked into an apostate church, or attempting to bring back those who have left? And this is viewed as being for the glory of God and the SDA church!(451) Since when do God's professed people run to the devil for help, and then use his tactics for the glory of God? This could only occur if these "professed people" have already rejected God and His truth, and have become Satan's synagogue!

"Some professed Adventists who had rejected present truth, while preaching praying or in private conversation used mesmerism [hypnotism] to gain adherents...And even those that used it [hypnotism], were so far in the darkness and deception of the devil, that they thought it was the power of God, given them to exercise. They had made God altogether such an one as themselves; and had valued His power as a thing of naught." Review and Herald, vol 1, p 9.

The true figure today is not "hundreds" but "thousands"! Hence, at any SDA church you can expect to have hypnosis coming from the pulpit. The hypnosis is not just for the purpose of trying to keep SDA's comfortable with attending church, and to keep them from ever separating from it, but it is also to fix this new theology of erroneous doctrines in their minds.

"God lies within us....It is necessary, therefore, for us to know how to make contact with our subconscious minds in order to contact the God which is within us....[and without question to accept] the good suggestions which come from the Godlike portion of the subconscious..." Religious Aspects of Hypnotism, p 64, by James Braid.

So the philosophy behind hypnosis is pure spiritualism, and in learning and using the techniques of hypnotism, you become directly involved in spiritualism and are under the devil's power! Thus the SDA General Conference has accepted and allowed spiritualism to enter the SDA church, and they are encouraging SDA ministers, leaders, and laymembers to join them!

But not only is NLP Hypnosis being taught to the SDA ministers and leaders, but it is also being taught to the students in SDA schools! At Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California, a continuing education course called "Balancing Behavioral and Technical Dentistry" was taught at the beginning of the 1990 school year. The 66 page syllabus was written by Carl Jepsen, and it states this in the forward:

But this is not the end of it. In many SDA college campuses around the country, there is a course taught from a book called Becoming a Master Student. This book teaches students how to hypnotize, how to do self-hypnosis, how to practice transcendental meditation, and other spiritualistic New Age beliefs and practices!(452)

NLP Hypnosis is used not only within the Adventist church and school systems. It is also within a number of other religious school systems--such as Princeton Theological Seminary of New Jersey; Toronto School of Theology of Ontario, Canada; Episcopal Theological Seminary of Kentucky; and Methodist Theological Seminary of Ohio.(453) They also find it useful in controlling and manipulating their congregations into accepting the same false Luciferic doctrines, and thus erase any barriers preventing religious unity!

Dr. William Loveless, who is a well known pastor currently serving at the University SDA church in Loma Linda, California, guided a group of his fellow SDA ministers into imagery, visualization, and meditation. After he did this, he then taught them how to use the same spiritualistic techniques on their entire SDA congregations during the church service!

"I would suggest you take your glasses off...We're going to see some things, but we're not going to see them with our glasses. I like to sit rather than lie when I meditate. Now pews are awful, but they're the best we have....We need to teach our people [ministers and leaders] how to do what I am doing with you now in church. If I can do it in the University church with 3500 people sitting there jammed together elbow-to-elbow, you can do it in your church regularly....We need to teach them [ministers] how to work with them [laity], and the only time we have them at our command [in church] in a sense we're going to hypnotize them..." Tape of Dr. William Loveless giving a "Pastor's Workshop" to Seventh-day Adventist ministers, on August 14, 1989.

Loveless then teaches the SDA ministers how to breathe, the correct posture to use, and how to relax their muscles beginning from the head to the feet. He then tells them to "visualize or image or picture" Jesus coming and talking with them, and eating lunch before leaving them. Loveless then adds about this visualized picture that "it's a good children's story for church, this will lead them into meditation." He continues:

"The God of history, the God of the Bible, is One who carries us in Her arms after carrying us in Her womb...God-with-us is the Word-made-flesh, steadfast love, mother-love, love incarnate, the love one has for a child in the womb, in whom we live and move and have our being, the Holy and wholly Other....

"I picture God as an old white man: muscular, serious, awesome, and reigning on a big white throne. But what if She stretches out on the stars and jokes with the angels, with skin as rich as Mississippi mud, and hair flowing down Her back..." Insight Magazine, January 15, 1994, p 11. (This poem won first prize in the 1993 student poetry category at Southern College of SDA's in Collegedale, Tennessee).

Clearly the SDA church has chosen the spiritualistic Mysteries of ancient Babylon. But this is not the full extent of Adventist involvement in the New Age spiritualism of Lucifer--occultic and spiritualistic symbolism is common throughout SDA church papers! For more information please write to: Last Warning Ministry, PO Box 15, Ladysmith, Wisc 54848, and ask for the video "The Alchemist." But we should not be surprised that the SDA church is believing, teaching, and indoctrinating our SDA people with spiritualistic doctrines from Lucifer, because we have already been warned! (see p 76, 112, 114, 126).

Given that hypnosis--or the power of one's mind and will being used as a controlling force over another--is permeating all SDA churches, in addition to spiritualistic doctrines of devils being taught to our unsuspecting people, what does God want His people to do? Does He want them to stay in their SDA churches and run the risk of being hypnotized? Or is it His will that His true people separate themselves from this grave danger? What will happen to our SDA people if they choose to continue attending their SDA church knowing the truth about hypnosis and spiritualistic doctrines coming at them from the pulpit? What is God's will in this matter?

"I was shown the necessity of those who believe that we are having the last message of mercy, being separate from those who are daily imbibing new errors. I saw that neither young nor old should attend their meetings; for it is wrong to thus encourage them while they teach error that is a deadly poison to the soul and teach for doctrines the commandments of men. The influence of such gatherings is not good. If God has delivered us from such darkness and error, we should stand fast in the liberty wherewith He has set us free and rejoice in the truth. 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." Early Writings, p 124-25.

As we can clearly see, the SDA leadership are indeed using "intellectual philosophy" upon our unwary people, and they are being deceived and led to also rebel against God.(456) God's holy truth has been laid aside, our true historic SDA pillars and principles have been accounted as error so that the SDA church may teach in common with other churches. And hypnotism is being used to keep our SDA people from leaving this apostate church and cement these new theology doctrines--which the church calls "Biblical Adventism"--in their minds.

So the SDA church is not going to return back to the historical Biblical truths which God gave to our people, and upon which the SDA church was founded upon. The church leadership will continue on leading our people farther and farther away from historical Adventism, teaching the satanic doctrines of new theology, and using hypnotism to cement these spurious doctrines in their minds. Hence most of our people would never think of abandoning the Adventist ship, no matter how corrupt she is. Besides hypnotism, spiritualism has been embraced by the SDA leadership, and has indeed made significant inroads into the entire SDA church.

Since this is the sixth step in the Series of Apostasy, the principles of God's truth have already been discarded; the SDA religion has already been changed; a new organization has already been established, books of a new order have already been written; a corrupt system of intellectual philosophy has already been introduced, and hypnotism is being used to cement all the above changes in the minds of our people; the SDA church is not separate from the other churches in doctrine or position, but are united with them. With all of the above being true, there remains no difference between the SDA church and the rest of Babylon.

Thus multitudes of worldlings would feel completely comfortable and would be welcome in this new SDA church. And if just the right program of invitation to join the church could be developed, then the membership of the SDA church would grow rapidly. Predictably, church-growth programs began to be developed.

In order for 1,000,000 new members to be baptized into the church in 1000 days, you must have the Holy Spirit's power as was given in Pentecost--or the latter rain. But the SDA leadership had already REJECTED THE LATTER RAIN TWICE BEFORE!! (see p 39-41, 99-100). And God stated that they would continue to do the same thing! (see p 71, 120). So in order to get 1,000,000 new members into the church, without the Holy Spirit's power, and at the same time convince our people that God had really blessed this apostate church with the latter rain, it was necessary for our original true SDA doctrines and standards to be lowered into the dust.

"A company was presented before me under the name of Seventh-day Adventists, who were advising that the banner, or sign, which makes us a distinct people should not be held out so strikingly,(457) for they claimed that this was not the best policy in order to secure success to our institutions....While efforts should be increased to advance in different localities, there must be no cloaking of our faith to secure

At the end of the 1000 Days of Reaping, the General Conference held its 54th World Conference at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was held to celebrate the baptisms of 1,171,390 new members into the apostate church. This celebration and rejoicing cost the SDA membership over $6,164,000.(459) It should not have been a time of rejoicing. It should have been a time of "weeping" at the giving up of the true pillars of our faith!

When the pure truths of God's word was held to and faithfully preached by God's people, accepting members into the SDA church was a slow process--because a full commitment to follow only God's pure truth is never popular. But the Lord is not so much interested in quantity, as He is with quality. Even though the membership rolls would grow slowly, it is better to remain faithful to and cling to the truth, because in doing this, one would be remaining faithful to and clinging to Jesus--who is the truth. But when the SDA church gave up the truth--especially since 1956, its membership grew, and continues to grow rapidly: but to do this, the church gave up and departed from Christ!

It took over 100 years, from 1844 until 1955, for the membership of the SDA church to reach 1,000,000. But with all the changes which have taken place in the church since 1955, it only took 15 years for the membership of the SDA church to pass 2,000,000 by 1970. Eight years later, in 1978, the membership passed 3,000,000; and in just five more years the membership was 4,000,000.(462) But by the year of 1994, the SDA church had added 4,000,000 new members: about 1,000,000 every 2 years! Today the membership of the SDA church is 8,000,000, with 2000 new members being added to the rolls every day.(463)

But are these millions of new members of the apostate SDA church really a cause of rejoicing and celebration? How many of these new members would have joined the SDA church had they been taught the historic doctrinal truths which God brought His people? By lowering our high standards, the SDA church has allowed half-converted worldlings to mingle with and corrupt the faith of the membership. Is there really any cause for rejoicing and celebrating?

"To lower the standard in order to secure popularity and increase in numbers, and then to make this increase a cause of rejoicing, shows great blindness. If numbers were an evidence of success, Satan might claim the pre-eminence; for in this world his followers are largely in the majority." Testimonies, vol 6, p 143.

"Satan therefore laid his plans to war more successfully against the government of God by planting his banner in the Christian church. If the followers of Christ could be deceived and led to displease God, then their strength, fortitude, and firmness would fail, and they would fall an easy prey....

"Idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith, while they rejected other essential truths. They professed to accept Jesus as the Son of God and to believe in His death and resurrection, but they had no conviction of sin and felt no need of repentance or of a change of heart. With some concessions on their part they proposed that Christians should make concessions, that all might unite on the platform of belief in Christ....

"Some of the Christians stood firm, declaring that they could make no compromise. Others reasoned that if they should yield or modify some features of their faith, and unite with those who had accepted a part of Christianity, it might be the means of their full conversion....Under a cloak of pretended Christianity, Satan was insinuating himself into the church, to corrupt their faith and turn their minds from the word of truth.

"At last the larger portion of the Christian company lowered their standard, and a union was formed...the Christian religion became corrupted, and the church lost her purity and power. There were some, however, who were not misled by these delusions. They still maintained their fidelity to the Author of truth, and worshipped God alone.

"But there is no union between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness, and there can be no union between their followers. When Christians consented to unite with those who were but half converted...they entered upon a path which led farther and farther from the truth. Satan exulted in that he had succeeded in deceiving so large a number of the followers of Christ. He then brought his power to bear more fully upon them, and inspired them to persecute those who remained true to God." Spirit of Prophecy, vol 4, p 42-45.

This same history has been repeated in the SDA church. Satan has already planted his hellish banner within the church (see p 13). Since then, the church has definitely given up, rejected, modified, compromised, lowered, and made concessions with the essential truths which God gave her, and have formed a union with Babylon and its followers.

"Let the son of deceit and false witness be entertained by a church that has had great light, great evidence, and that church will discard the message the Lord has sent, and receive the most unreasonable assertions and false suppositions and false theories. Satan laughs at their folly, for he knows what truth is." (see p 82-83)

"After a long and severe conflict, the faithful few(464) decided to dissolve all union with the apostate church if she still refused to free herself from falsehood and idolatry. They saw that separation was an absolute necessity if they would obey the Word of God. They dared not tolerate errors fatal to their souls,(465) and set an example which would imperil the faith of their children and children's children. To secure peace and unity they were ready to make any concession consistent with fidelity to God; but they felt that even peace would be too dearly purchased at the sacrifice of principle. If unity could be secured only by compromise of truth and righteousness, then let there be difference, and even war." Spirit of Prophecy, vol 4, p 46.

"We are all to unify on the proper basis of unity. God has pointed out the results of certain actions that can never be sanctioned by His servants; and notwithstanding these plain messages of warning and entreaty, the same acts of wrong-doing have been persistently repeated." Special Testimonies, Series B#7, p 55.

The true people of God--the faithful few--must separate from their SDA churches which are teaching error and false theories. They are to come out and unite with those brethren who love and exalt God's truth outside of the SDA church. This is the only way that they can have the upper room experience as the disciples had.

Did our Saviour or His disciples unify with those who did not love or teach the truth? NO! They unified with their true brethren who loved and exalted the truth, and who were separate from the corrupt Jewish church. And when we do the same, we will be more prepared to receive the outpouring of God's Spirit--the latter rain. Then the work will be finished so our blessed Saviour can come again.

"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 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 did not invent the reformed religion. He simply accepted it as presented by Christ and the apostles." Review and Herald, vol 2, p 48.

The apostate SDA church and its leadership will not prepare the way for God's Holy Spirit to be poured out. They have rejected God's warnings, refused to repent, and have followed conspiratorial plans of their own devising. They have taken God's pure truths and turned them into errors to entice more worldly people to unite with them, thus increasing membership and enlarging their financial and political power base. They can not prepare the way for the Lord to come. It now devolves upon us--God's faithful people--to finish His work outside of the apostate church.

"The time has come when things must be called by their right names. The truth is to triumph gloriously, and those who have long been halting between two opinions must take their stand decidedly for or against the law of God. Some will take up with theories that misinterpret the Word of God, and undermine the foundation of the truth that has been firmly established, point by point, and sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit. The old truths are to be revived, in order that the false theories that have been brought in by the enemy may be intelligently met. There can be no unity between truth and error. We can unite with those who have been led into deception only when they are converted....

With the SDA church giving up God's truths, with concessions being made on those doctrines which have not yet been completely given up, and with the acceptance of millions of worldly individuals into church membership, surely the truth about the seventh day being the true and only Sabbath of the Lord can not escape attack. Thus we come to the next event in the Series of Apostasy.

Some of our people believe that the Seventh-day Adventist church could never "lightly regard" the Sabbath. They reason that since the very name of the church contains the words "Seventh-day," the church can never belittle the Sabbath until they would change their name. Others believe that the Seventh-day Adventist church will be true to the Sabbath until the Sunday law is enforced, and then overnight they will choose to disregard it.

Both of these beliefs can only be seen as an excuse to remain in willing ignorance and/or denial of what is occurring in the SDA church in regards to the Sabbath. Perhaps these individuals also have come to lightly regard it, since there is an unwillingness to investigate. There is an evident reluctance or fear of having to take a decided position against the church and its growing apostasy.

The SDA church has in many ways already chosen to unite with the other churches who keep Sunday as their Sabbath. Obviously, the strongest point of conflict between the SDA church and the other churches, is the seventh-day Sabbath of the Lord--or Saturday. God forbid, but is there any evidence that the SDA church is indeed "lightly regarding" the Sabbath, and hence the Lord of the Sabbath also? Is there any evidence that the SDA church and its leadership are losing respect for God's Sabbath, and exalting Sunday?

"God is glad for us to go to church both days [Saturday and Sunday]. He wants us to worship Him both days....Anybody who takes a whole day out of every week to spend with God will have more of God's power in his life, and God can do more through him and in him." Signs of the Times, March, 1990, p 22-23.

"While the Sabbath commandment has a distinct practical value, the specific day, in and of itself, doesn't. Thus...keeping any other day could `work'..." A Pause For Peace: What God's Gift of the Sabbath Can Mean for You, p 114, by Clifford Goldstein, published by the Pacific Press Publishing Association in 1992. (catalogued as Seventh-day Adventist Doctrine)

"If the question [of God's true Sabbath] is merely a matter of choice between two days, it hardly seems significant enough to become the dividing line between the saved and the lost at the end of time...Just to be able to prove from the Bible that we are right doesn't seem a point important enough to die for....

The president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists states that God's seventh-day Sabbath--His 4th commandment--is not important enough to die for! That the real issue in the end time will not be Saturday verses Sunday! And this book is catalogued as teaching SDA church doctrine! Folkenberg shows that he is not an historic SDA, nor does he really believe the Spirit of Prophecy, because God is too plain and clear to be misunderstood.

"The decree will go forth that they [God's commandment-keeping people] must disregard the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and honor the first day, or lose their lives; but they will not yield, and trample under their feet the Sabbath of the Lord, and honor an institution of [the] papacy."(473) Testimonies, vol 1, p 353-54.

"In the warfare to be waged in the last days there will be united, in opposition to God's people, all the corrupt powers that have apostatized from allegiance to the law of Jehovah. In this warfare the Sabbath of the fourth commandment will be the great point at issue; for in the Sabbath commandment the great Lawgiver identifies Himself as the Creator of the heavens and the earth."(474) SDA Bible Commentary, vol 7, p 983.

It becomes very clear that the SDA church and its apostate leadership have indeed lost their respect for the seventh-day Sabbath of the Lord. They are indeed "lightly regarding" it, trying to confuse the different areas of Sabbath truth with falsehoods, and are even placing it on the same level as Sunday worship. In fact, the president of the SDA General Conference even calls the Sabbath a "symbol."(476)

"No other institution which was committed to the Jews tended so fully to distinguish them from surrounding nations as did the Sabbath. God designed that its observance should designate them as His worshipers. It was to be a token of their separation from idolatry, and their connection with the true God. But in order to keep the Sabbath holy, men must themselves be holy. Through faith they must be partakers of the righteousness of Christ. When the command was given to Israel, `Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,' the Lord said also to them, `Ye shall be holy men unto Me.' Ex. 20:8; 22:31. Only thus could the Sabbath distinguish Israel as the worshipers of God.

As history reveals, this giving up and making concessions of our true doctrines by the SDA church and its leadership--especially with the devaluating of the Sabbath, and the addition of millions of half-converted members--the way has opened for varying degrees of persecution towards God's true people by their professed brethren! Thus the next event in this Series of Apostasy can take place.

The structure of the SDA church is definitely hierarchical (see p 165-170). A hierarchy is not responsible to the wants and wishes of its membership, but is only interested in unquestioning loyalty and support. All directions are passed from the highest leadership down the ladder through the various levels of church government until they reach the membership. As such, any resistance manifested is regarded as insubordination, and will not be tolerated. Even if the commands of the leadership are completely against Christ, their commands must still be followed, or one is looked upon as a trouble-maker who must be dealt with. And the SDA church is not afraid to say this!

Edson had started in this Southern work in the 1890's and continued working until the early 1900's. This work was mainly gospel outreach and education for the Black people in the South. Edson started the Southern Missionary Society, established his own small publishing facilities, trained teachers, and established over 40 schools with about 1800 students attending--all this was, of course, not under the control of the General Conference. But this was not permitted to last for long.

The General Conference made a move to exclude Edson from the work of the Southern field by placing the Southern Missionary Society under the control of the General Conference. This, sadly, was successful. The General Conference then removed Edson from his position as member of the Southern Union Conference Committee, and turned over the Southern work to the Southern Union Conference. Within just two years, the Southern work was dismantled.

"Elders Haysmer and McVagh went through the field like a forest fire. With few exceptions the entire line of schools was closed. The teachers whom it had required years to educate and train were turned adrift....there was no desire of the General Conference to assimilate or cooperate with us. Then I broke down and sobbed like a child." Letter from Elder J.E. White to Elder A.G. Daniels, April 21, 1921, p 26-27, 32.

"At this time, even though we stand on the platform of the Holy Scriptures and do our best to bring the principles of Christianity into our lives and thus observe the day of rest given by God - Saturday and avoid any work on this day, we none the less consider ourselves obligated at the present militarily serious time and under these circumstances to defend our fatherland with weapons in hand even on the Sabbath....

"We have communicated this fundamental rule [1 Peter 2:13-17] to all of our members, and, moreover, have requested all churches to designate special prayer meetings to pray to God for the victory of our German weapons." Letter from G.F. Schubert, President of the Eastern German Union of SDA, to The Minister of Military Affairs at the Prussian Military Ministry of War in Berlin, Charlottenburg, August 4, 1914.

"At the beginning of the war the leaders of Adventists in Germany urged their members who are obligated to military service in the entire country that in view of the current disastrous condition of the fatherland that, based on the Scriptures, they honorably fulfill their civil duties even on the Sabbath just as others do on Sunday. As proof of this we present a copy of the deposition to the praiseworthy Prussian Ministry of War of the 4th of August 1914. We confirm this our position taken several years ago and most humbly affix our signatures:

Needless to say, most SDA members chose the position endorsed by their apostate leadership. But praise God that not all of our Adventist brethren were willing to participate in this sell-out of God and His Sabbath. Yet, the numbers of these true SDA's were quite small. How many of the German Adventist church members chose to follow these directions, and what happened to those "faithful few" SDA's who chose not to follow but to obey God instead?

"At the beginning of the war our [SDA church] community split into two parties. At that time when 98% of our members, on the basis of Bible study, held the view that it is a conscientious duty to defend the Fatherland with weapons and even on the Sabbath, 2% did not agree with the general position, and it finally became necessary to disfellowship them on the basis of unchristian conduct.(477) They deceitfully call themselves Adventists and preachers. They are not such, but are deceivers....Our leadership has turned over the surplus of funds of our society as a loan to the military...It is obvious that our members everywhere are fulfilling their duty and helping the Fatherland with indispensable means. Almost all Adventist men are serving in the Army as a fulfillment of their duty and...are anticipating a righteous opinion of themselves upon their return." Dresden Evening News newspaper, April 12, 1918, titled "Adventist Preachers and the Fatherland."

Here in America during the 1950's, a former SDA conference president named M.L. Andreasen, saw the great denials and changes of our historic SDA doctrines by the church leadership in the book Questions on Doctrines, and strongly objected. He wrote six pamphlets titled, Letters to the Churches, and sent these out to warn our people what was really happening.

Also during this time, those who refused to follow the directions of the General Conference which conflicted with truth were looked upon as being independent of the SDA church, and were considered rebellious. Verbal persecution began. The SDA church referred to these faithful few independents by various derogatory names, such as the "lunatic fringe," "wide-eyed irresponsibles," "offshoots," etc. Today the labels used for those who are independent of the control of the apostate General Conference and SDA church have become more forceful and intense, specifically "fundamental terrorists," "parasites," "subversive groups," "egomaniacs," "wolves," etc.(479) This is not the full extent of the persecution however.

In 1983, about 1300 Hungarian SDA's were disfellowshipped and pronounced dissidents because they protested against the membership of the SDA church in the Hungarian Council of Free Churches--which is a member of the World Council of Churches.(480) The General Conference considers these protesters to be dissidents even though their position was based on truth, and confirmed as truth by the church's own SDA Encyclopedia!(481)

"Five Seventh-day Adventists were arrested on the pedestrian ramp leading from the Superdome to the Hyatt Regency Hotel Thursday night while protesting...the protesters all were attending the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference Session in New Orleans...[and] sought a forum at the convention to express their opposition...but have been denied by Neal Wilson, of Washington, D.C., president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist." The Times--Picayune newspaper of Louisiana, July 5, 1985, p A-25.

But this is not the last incident of a union between the SDA church and the State. The Seventh-day Adventist leadership of the South Kenya SDA Conference called upon the government and the local civil authorities of Kenya to stop certain SDA "dissident" groups from holding unauthorized meetings and from spreading their doctrine. The civil authorities obeyed, and with the names of the "dissident" members turned over to them, over 200 were arrested and sentenced up to 4 months in jail.

"In this part we are also facing astonishing persecution from our [South Kenya] Conference of the SDA church....brothers and sisters...have been handed over by our conference leader, and to date, [began on October 13, 1986] over 200 of our brothers and sisters have been turned in while others have been jailed for periods ranging from six weeks to four months. It is a pity that it is our spiritual leaders who have turned informers and are telling the police who to pick up.

"Secondly, our conference leaders have issued a directive that no meetings should be held in the name of the SDA church except on Sabbath between 9 AM and 12 noon. No meetings are allowed in the Conference churches past that time or during weekdays. We are also forbidden to have any visitors in our church pulpits who are not cleared by the Conference leaders. Government informers are often among worshippers in our churches and some of our brothers and sisters have been picked up after expressing their beliefs in church.

"Over 1000 Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church believers assembled at their headquarters in Nyanachwa in Kisii and called on the authorities to probe two dissident church groups which are involved in heretical teachings, the executive director of the SDA church's South Kenya Conference, Pastor Nathan Ogeto, said yesterday.

In 1981 the SDA leadership decided to trademark the names "Adventist" and "Seventh-day Adventist."(482) They did this to gain legal control over the usage of these names, and to prosecute through the civil courts any who used these names without permission from the General Conference. Of course, only those who are obedient to the SDA church are given permission; those who expose the apostasy and refuse to follow the dictates of the hierarchy are refused.

Over 150 different individuals were threatened with civil court action if they did not sign an 8-page "settlement agreement" written by Ramik. This settlement agreement states that to avoid prosecution, one would have to agree to "destroy all signs, advertisements, books, publications, periodicals, newsletters or the like which contain the name `Seventh-day Adventist'..."(484)

Whoever signed this agreement would be required by law to destroy all books, magazines, etc., which have the name SDA in them. This would include all of Sister White's books, plus the Review and Herald and the Signs of the Times articles. These would have to be destroyed by law! And before this "settlement agreement" can become legal--the president of the General Conference must place his signature upon it.

On December 8, 1987, a federal court order was made in favor of the General Conference, "prohibiting the defendants [the 12 member church and their pastor, John Marik] from using the name "Seventh-day Adventist," and enjoining them to remove the sign, and hand over to federal agents all of their personal books, magazines, and other property that contained the name "Seventh-day Adventist."(485)

This has led to a $500 per day fine and a bench warrant for the arrest of John Marik, the pastor of the little separated church. On December 16, 1989, he was arrested, manacled with wrist, waist, and leg chains, and eventually taken to a Los Angeles prison, with an accrued fine of nearly $300,000 resting upon him. All this occurred because he refused to bow to the authority and demands of the SDA church!

Anyone who pays God's tithe money into the SDA church also becomes responsible for what the church is doing, because the church paid for Ramik's services with your tithe money! (Nearly all direct General Conference maintenance and new activities are funded from a percentage of the tithe received by each local conference!(486))

The following suit against SDA members was initiated because independent brethren were printing and passing out the fundamental truths of the three angels upon which the SDA church was first founded. This suit was filed on behalf of the entire SDA church membership! Thus all members of the SDA church were involved in a lawsuit against their own brethren for spreading the messages of God!

The case number is #VG 407 of 1991, and was tried in the Federal Court of Australia, Victoria District Registry, General Division. This case was initiated December 20, 1991 by "THE PRESIDENT, OFFICE HOLDERS AND MEMBERS OF THE SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH" and "THE AUSTRALASIAN CONFERENCE ASSOCIATION (ACA) LIMITED," who is the legal "corporate identity of the Seventh-day Adventist Church" in Australia.

There were 9 entities sued by the SDA church, its membership, and its corporate identity. Eight were individuals (five of whom were members of the church), and the ninth was a mailing company. These were being sued because of their involvement in spreading about 400,000 copies of The Protestant throughout the 16 million inhabitants of Australia.

The Protestant contained articles identifying the Little Horn of Daniel 7 (Roman Catholicism or the Papacy); the Leopard-like Beast (Papacy); the Lamb-like Beast (USA); the Image to the Beast (Apostate Protestantism); the Anti-Christ and the Man of Sin; the Mark of the Beast and the worshiping on the Sunday-sabbath after it is law versus God's seventh-day Sabbath of the Bible and the seal of the living God; the three angels' messages; exposing the activities of the Jesuits; etc.

The lawsuit was initiated because the SDA church "does have a duty to its members and must take all steps necessary to protect and maintain its good name and integrity within the community."(487) The SDA church also made many apologies to their angry ecumenical partners, as noted in several Australian papers.(488)

But what about the fundamental historic truths contained in The Protestant? Did the SDA church--representing the entire SDA membership--also distance themselves from these truths? The Director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty for the South Pacific Division of the SDA church makes the following "authorized" statement in court in behalf of the Church:

"...`The Protestant' magazine misrepresents the beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church...Further, the damage being suffered by the Church is immediate....The only effective way to stop the damage [to the Church's good name in the public community] is to stop the publication of `The Protestant'...The damage being suffered will inevitably adversely affect the public support the Church receives, and the standing the Church enjoys..." Affidavit of Raymond Leslie Coombe, January 3, 1992, p 5-6.

All these reports show that the leaders of the SDA church are indeed allowing nothing to stand in the way of their conspiratorial plans, using varying degrees of persecution against those who refuse to blindly follow their directions. The SDA church has even called upon, appealed to, and is having and helping the civil authorities punish and persecute those independent SDA's who refuse to obey, bow down to, and worship the SDA church! This plainly shows that the SDA church has united with various State Governments around the world, and is using the strong arm of civil power to enforce their decrees! And what does it signify when a church unites with the State Government? It shows that church to be Babylon!(489)

"Finally the situation of the Seventh-day Adventist must be mentioned. Their leadership, hand-picked by the state authorities, carried out the measures designed to destroy the autonomy of the Church . In their case...the methods of intimidation were often more blatant than those applied against larger groups such as the Catholics. Nonetheless, these are all familiar to those who have studied totalitarian systems. They are always selected in such a way as to make documentation difficult if not impossible. Reminiscent of the intimidation known in the U.S. to those who are familiar with the ways of organized crime...

"The inevitable results of the state's manipulations was a split between the leadership and a group of preachers and faithful who chose an independent path. Their goal...was to return the church to its earlier, autonomous state. They seek a return to the original principles of their religion..." Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, Ninety-Eighth Congress, Second Session, June 12, 1984, p 264-65.

"Through the leading agency of a number of preachers of the Seventh-day Adventists in Tula [Russia] the re-election of the senior church official of the Central Region was passed. As a result of this action [KGB] agent `Svetlov' will again be placed in this office." Translated from the Reports of the Fourth Department of the Fifth Directorate of the KGB of the USSR, November, 1986.

Who was the KGB agent that was re-elected as the SDA church leader in the Central Region of Russia? "Mikhail P. Kulakov." This man is currently the SDA Division president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also its Ministerial Association Secretary! But that is not the extent of Kulakov's administration positions. He is also one of the eleven SDA vice-presidents of the General Conference!(491)

"Elder Kulakov wanted to retire at the time of the [1990] General Conference Session when the [Russian] Division was organized. I asked him to continue for some time longer [as its president] if he'd be willing to. He wanted to retire then...[but] he agreed to stay on..." Robert Folkenberg, "Issues and Interviews" on SDA radio station--KCDS, February 19, 1993.

In 1954, the SDA church made an agreement with the U.S. Government to provide SDA volunteers for the Military's medical experimentation and research code-named Project Whitecoat. The stated objective of this research was for the SDA service-men to be exposed to various infectious diseases. Then in bringing them back to health, "the development of suitable methods of prevention and treatment of infectious diseases" could be obtained. This information would then be released to the medical profession of the United States, and "thus all citizens benefit from the program, not only members of the armed forces."(492)

Thus the General Conference covenanted with the Government of the United States to encourage and provide their own SDA members for research into offensive chemical and biological warfare, and these SDA members were lied to about it, and deceived into volunteering! The SDA church offered up or "sacrificed" its own members as "guinea pigs" to the god of offensive biological warfare! And many of those SDA's who volunteered for Project Whitecoat have never fully recovered their health.

"Using human volunteers to test new chemical and biological agents in not without risk....The American volunteers are recruited from the penitentiaries and the armed forces. Many of the human guinea pigs...have been young Seventh Day Adventists." Maclean's Canada's National Magazine, April 21, 1962, p 41-42.

"In 1981 the State Department's Bureau of Refugee Programs signed one such [funding] contract giving the Seventh Day Adventist World Service Organization (SAWSO) $750,000 for work among refugees along the Thai-Cambodian border. There was a clear secular--though political--objective shared by the State Department and SAWSO: strengthening access and services to forces loyal to Son Sann, one of three factions of the anti-Vietnamese coalition of Cambodian refugees living in the border camps (the other two were headed by Prince Sihanouk and Pol Pot)....

"In the camps, the Adventists were also known for an aggressive brand of evangelism...Therefore, the contract the Adventists signed contained wording that incorporated the `no proselytism' language advanced in contractual guidelines in Washington that same year..." The Uneasy Alliance: Religion, Refugee Work, and U.S. Foreign Policy, p 195, by J. Bruce Nichols.

With the SDA church in union with, and working with, the various State Governments around the world, and even using these civil powers to persecute those "independents" who refuse to obey their decrees, persecution will soon intensify. Yet, this should not take any of us by surprise, because God has already warned His people of this!

"Jesus said, `Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city.' This prophecy was literally fulfilled by the Jews in their treatment of Christ and of the messengers whom God sent to them. Will men in these last days follow the example of those whom Christ condemned?

"These terrible predictions they have not as yet carried out to the full; but if God spares their lives, and they nourish the same spirit that marked their course of action both before and after the Minneapolis meeting, they will fill up to the full the deeds of those whom Christ condemned when He was upon the earth.

"The perils of the last days are upon us.(494) Satan takes the control of every mind that is not decidedly under the control of the Spirit of God. Some have been cultivating hatred against the men whom God has commissioned to bear a special message to the world. They began this satanic work at Minneapolis. Afterward, when they saw and felt the demonstration of the Holy Spirit testifying that the message was of God, they hated it the more, because it was a testimony against them. They would not humble their hearts to repent, to give God the glory, and vindicate the right. They went on in their own spirit, filled with envy, jealousy, and evil surmisings, as did the Jews.(495) They opened their hearts to the enemy of God and man. Yet these men have been holding positions of trust, and have been molding the work after their own similitude, as far as they possibly could." Testimonies to Ministers, p 79-80.

These special messages will be hated by the SDA leadership because it is "a testimony against them." The church refuses to repent, its leadership refuses to obey the first angel's message to give God the glory, vindicate the right and obey a "thus saith the Lord." They refuse to hold to the historic beliefs of Adventism, but instead they "have opened their hearts" to Satan, and will persecute--at first verbally, but then even to blood--God's true people!

"Those who have turned away from a plain, `Thus saith the Lord,' will be blinded in a superstitious faith in every kind of apostasy, and will be led into that terrible iniquity which God's word represents as being drunken with the blood of the saints." [see Revelation 17:6] Review and Herald, vol 3, p 495.

Will the SDA church leadership really "fill up to the full the deeds of those whom Christ condemned when He was upon the earth"? Will they kill, scourge, and persecute God's true people from city to city? We were told that if they nourish the same evil spirit from Minneapolis, then they will persecute their true SDA brethren. Can we still see the SDA leadership cherishing the same evil spirit which was manifested at Minneapolis?

"As Christ sought to place truth before the people in its proper relation to their salvation, Satan worked through the Jewish leaders, and inspired them with enmity against the Redeemer of the world. They determined to do all in their power to prevent Him from making an impression upon the people." Selected Messages, book 1, p 407.

"`Because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God' [John 12:42]. How pitiful is this statement! The maintenance of their dignity(496) was of greater weight with them than the performance of their duty to exert an influence on the side of truth and righteousness." Review and Herald, vol 4, p 238.

"The people had been deeply moved by the words of Christ. The divine beauty of the principles of truth attracted them; and Christ's solemn warnings had come to them as the voice of the heart-searching God. His words had struck at the very root of their former ideas and opinions; to obey His teachings would require a change in all their habits of thought and action. It would bring them into collision with their religious teachers; for it would involve the overthrow of the whole structure which for generations the rabbis had been rearing. Therefore, while the hearts of the people responded to His words, few were ready to accept them as the guide of life." Mount of Blessings, p 147.

But what principles could cause the overthrow of the whole Jewish structure? First it was founded on error and not on truth, so God's blessings and protection could not be given. Second, if the people would realize that errors and deceptions were being taught to them by their church, then they would understand that they could not give their tithes and offerings to support this structure and its teachers of deceit and error. Their tithes and offerings would go instead to support Christ and His true followers who presented and upheld God's truth unmixed with error. The same holds true for today.

"His [God's] gifts are committed to men as individuals. Every man has been made a steward of sacred trusts; each is to discharge his trust according to the direction of the Giver; and by each an account of his stewardship must be rendered to God. We are responsible to invest this means ourselves." Testimonies, vol 7, p 176-77.

Also, when our SDA people learn that the SDA church is playing the Stock Market with millions of dollars of tithes sent in,(497) and tithe monies have been lost throughout the many years the church has been involved in this speculative gambling,(498) our people will wake up and send God's tithe monies elsewhere--to those standing for and spreading God's truths unmixed with error!

But as the plain and clear truth continues to go out more and more boldly exposing the errors and the falsehoods being taught to our people by their SDA church and leadership, persecution will continue to grow and the leadership will definitely "fill up to the full the deeds of those whom Christ condemned when He was upon the earth."

"Depending on men has been the great weakness of the church. Men have dishonored God by failing to appreciate His sufficiency, by coveting the influence of men. Thus Israel became weak....They desired to be guided by human power which they could see, rather than by the divine, invisible power that till that time had led and guided them, and had given them victory in battle.(499) They had made their choice, and the result was seen in the destruction of Jerusalem..." Testimonies, vol 6, p 249-50.

"The experience of Israel will be the experience of all who go to the world for strength, turning away from the living God. Those who forsake the mighty One, the source of all strength, and affiliate with worldlings, placing on them their dependence, become weak in moral power, as are those in whom they trust....

The SDA church has already left the side of God, and He has departed from them (see p 104). The SDA church even told the Holy Spirit to go away, and the General Conference leadership closed and bolted the door shut so that the Holy Spirit could not come back! (see p 100). So the SDA church and leadership have removed God from their midst, and are placing their dependence upon man--as their hierarchical church organization proves; thus the way is prepared for them to seek unity with the other churches around them. And this is exactly what the SDA church has done!

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is made up of various branch organizations controlled by the WCC--including the National Council of Churches (NCC), and lesser branches--such as the Ministerial Associations in various communities.(500) Thus all the different churches which are members, or member-units, in these various branches are technically members of the WCC. Yet WCC policy states that no church is a member of it, but only the various branches. Thus, the leaders of the various churches can technically tell their membership that their church is not a member of the WCC, when it really is through connection to the various branches! Especially is this union and membership of the SDA church in the WCC vehemently denied by the SDA leadership, yet the documents speak more loudly than their words!

In the year 1959, the SDA church sent a total of $6,700 for the support of the National Council of Churches.(501) In 1969 they gave a total of $5,950 for their support.(502) And in 1984, the SDA church admittedly gave about $8,000 to the World and National Councils of Churches, and then stated: "This is apparently what it has been running for the last few years."(503)

The SDA church was listed as associate members and cooperating members of the National Council of Churches in 1959.(504 ) They were listed as one of the member-units of the National Council of Churches in 1964.(505) And the SDA church had General Conference representatives as members on three Commissions and more than four Committees of the National Council of Churches in 1984.(506)

The SDA church is also a member of the NCC by way of the local SDA churches belonging to the Ministerial Associations in their communities. (A Ministerial Association is composed of different churches within a local community.) The SDA church is in connection with at least (but not limited to) the following Ministerial Associations and related organizations: Pajaro Valley, California;(507) Paradise, California;(508) Riverside, California;(509) Ukiah, California;(510) Verdugo, California;(511) Honolulu, Hawaii;(512) Garfield County, Montana;(513) Morganton, North Carolina;(514) and Zephyrhills, Washington.(515 ) This partnership is not just within the USA, but also within other countries such as the communities of Bunbury(516) and Ringwood(517) in Australia. And for those who will still refuse to admit that the SDA church is in union with the NCC, and hence the WCC as well, the following should stun them out of their sleepy denial.

During the week before Christmas of 1994, the SDA church and the NCC joined together to nationally televise the Christmas Eve Special "A New Noel"!(518) This broadcast was video-taped at a Sunday church service on December 4 in the Pioneer Memorial SDA church at Andrews University, and the devotional message was presented by SDA minister Dwight Nelson.(519) It was nationally televised on Christmas eve (11:30pm till 12:30am) through the ABC-TV network, and the SDA church placed a paid advertisement in 14,000,000 copies of the TV Guide.(520) The paid advertisement of this event, as well as the televised opening credits for the program, stated:

In 1985, the WCC published Directory Christian Councils, which is a directory listing all of its member-unit churches throughout the world--including those churches found within the NCC and various other branches. The following is a listing of SDA church union, membership, and participation with the WCC throughout the world:

This is not to mention those branch organizations which are full members of the WCC, in which the SDA church are also members, such as the Hungarian Council of Free Churches.(522) This membership was even admitted by the SDA church,(523) and by Neal C. Wilson--then president of the General Conference!(524) Also the SDA church is a member of the organization of the Church of Christ in Zaire, Africa; and this was also admitted by the SDA church!

"The Seventh-day Adventists were one of the first denominations to become reformed and to join the Communist Church. Other denominations followed before long, but not all. These were the Evangelical Church and the Chinese Orthodox Church, the former under the leadership of Rev. Wang, and the latter under the leadership of Rev. Watchman Nee." Haagse Courant [Dutch newspaper], January 27, 1962.

"In addition to the relationships with regional and national councils of churches mentioned above, the WCC is in working relationship with many Christian World Communions, including the Anglican Consultative Council, Baptist World Alliance, Disciples Ecumenical Consultative Council, Friends World Committee for Consultation, General Conference of Seventh Day Adventists, Lutheran World Federation, Mennonite World Conference, Old Catholic International Organization, Reformed Ecumenical Synod, Salvation Army, World Alliance of Reformed Churches, World Convention of Churches of Christ, World Evangelical Fellowship, and World Methodist Council." Directory Christian Councils, p 244.

The SDA church is also listed as full members of the World Council of Church's principal theological body, the Commission on Faith and Order, since 1968.(526) And they even invited an official representative of the WCC as an observer-guest to the 1990 General Conference Session at Indianapolis, Indiana, to deliver a message to the delegate body! Joan Campbell, Director of the United States office of the World Council of Churches, stated:

"It is my pleasure to be with you again...I bring you the warmest of greetings from the World Council of Churches and from all our member churches around the world....When I was at your worship service yesterday, it seemed as though it was my own time of worship, as well as yours. And it said to me that there are many things that we hold in common...

"The Seventh-day Adventist church is not, has not been, will not be a member of the World Council of Churches. I don't care what evidence you have printed to the contrary. It is simply a fabrication; it is not true; it is a lie; it is a distortion. I want to make sure you understand it. There is NO: there is no membership or intention of becoming a member....We are not and will not be. I hope you can take that to the bank as a statement of categorical, undeniable truth. And anything that you receive printed to the contrary, tear it up, throw it in the waste paper basket; its simply not the truth!" Robert Folkenberg, "Issues and Interviews" on SDA radio station--KCDS, February 19, 1993.

Not only is the SDA church in union with the WCC, but they are also a part of the Ecumenical movement--the movement recognizing all churches as part of the body of Christ, and working towards the uniting of all churches together into one! This is clearly seen by the willingness of the SDA church to work together with other denominations--including the Catholic church! And what better source of documented evidence of this, than from the SDA church's own mouth!

"On October 29, 1966, a further step was taken toward religious freedom in Columbia, with the foundation of the Religious Liberty Association of Colombia....A Seventh-day Adventist, Raimundo Pardo Suarez, was chosen as president. The vice president is the Reverend Noel Olaya, a Catholic priest and a relative of several of Colombia's past presidents. H. Niemann, pastor of the central church of Bogota, was elected secretary, and Fernando Tapias, an Adventist businessman, treasurer. Dr. Carlos Didacio Alvarez, a Catholic lawyer and staunch defender of religious liberty, was appointed auditor. The rest of the directorate was chosen from among leaders of various religious persuasions." Review and Herald, March 9, 1967.

"Those gathering together to praise the Lord in song were from the following churches: Raymond Blackford, Bethel Lutheran; Dr. William Early, Cicero Methodist; Rev. Stephen Bard, Cicero Wesleyan; Father Duane Craycraft, Sacred Heart Catholic Church; Rev. Don Paden, Cicero Christian; and Pastor Randal Murphy, Cicero SDA Church." Review and Herald, March 9, 1967.

"What we like about this going concern is that it has cut across denominational boundaries. At the recent election of officers at the annual general meeting [of the Asian Aid Organization], a new committee was elected. It consists of two Catholics, one Presbyterian, one Anglican, one Pentecostal, and four Australian-Chinese Adventists." Record, September 3, 1973.

"Robert Hunter, pastor of the [SDA church at] Morganton, North Carolina, district, and a member of the local ministerial association, joined in Pulpit Exchange Day, exchanging pulpits with Thomas Burke of St. Charles Roman Catholic Church. The theme of the city-wide program was `Blest Be the Tie.'" Southern Tidings, April, 1975.

"Rome - Staff members of more than a dozen Christian World Communions (CWC's, world organizations for the various Christian traditions) held their annual conference of secretaries (here, 20-23 October). It included separate sessions with the pope, and leaders of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy....

"The conference chose Pierre Duprey, secretary of the Vatican Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, as its chairperson, succeeding Joe Hale, general secretary of the World Methodist Council. B.B. Beach, director of the public affairs and religious liberty department of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, continues as the group's secretary....

"He [Hale] said that though most communions are strong enough to function alone, `for the sake of the world...we need to do more, to be more, as one church together, and press beyond simply being strong links in a chain of separate communions. He proposed a `calculated step, a small step' in that direction, including defining and claiming publicly `an even more formal unity than we now admit'....

"Besides those already mentioned, CWCs include the Lutheran World Federation, Anglican Consultative Council, Baptist World Alliance, Salvation Army, Friends [Quaker] World Committee for Consultation, World Evangelical Fellowship, Mennonite World Conference, World Convention of Churches of Christ, Reformed Ecumenical Synod, World Alliance of Reformed Churches, Ecumenical [Eastern Orthodox] Patriarchate, Moscow [Eastern Orthodox] Patriarchate, Church of the Brethren, and International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference. Staff from the World Council of Churches also participated." Ecumenical Press Service, October, 1986 (86.10.126).

"Over one hundred theologians met in Lima, Peru, in January 1982, and recommended unanimously to transmit this agree statement--the Lima text--for the common study and official response of the churches. They represented virtually all the major church traditions: Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Reformed, Methodist, United, Disciples, Baptist, Adventist and Pentecostal.

The SDA church no longer considers the eucharist as a "most blasphemous" and "heaven-insulting heresy,"(529) but now considers it a close and sacred part of the beliefs of the church! But it is one thing to declare this to the other member churches of the WCC; would the SDA leadership really tell our SDA people these new positions regarding this Catholic heresy?

This union with the other Babylonian churches is clearly revealed in the book, What I Like About...The Lutherans, The Baptists, The Methodists, The Charismatics, The Catholics, Our Jewish Friends, The Adventists; Rescuers of Neglected Truth, by George Vandeman, and published by the Pacific Press Publishing Association in 1986. It was also the Missionary Book of the Year for 1987.

All the denominations mentioned in that book are already part of Babylon, yet the book uplifts them all, stating that they all have contributed to the gospel truth about Jesus Christ. It even proselytizes for these Babylonian churches by directing its readers to contact any of the denominations mentioned, and then gives them the different denominational addresses!(530)

The reason the SDA church can say they like all of these other denominations so much is twofold: First, they state: "We want to build bridges"(531) because "whether Christians or Jewish, we are all God's family together."(532) And secondly, of course, the SDA church agrees with and is teaching the very same Babylonian doctrines!

In 1993, representatives of the world's religions met in Chicago, Illinois at the World Parliament of Religions. This meeting was established to finalize plans for a One World Church. Their September 5th declaration for the global ethic was signed, "calling for the merger of all the religions of earth--the world religions to become one."(533) And which churches were represented as being in attendance?

"The Dalai Lama was there who believes that he is a man god. Joan Campbell, the feminist and director of the Marxist-slanted National Council of Churches, was there. The Lucius Trust representatives of the New Age religion were there. Voodoo, high priests, and wicka groups, and witchcraft were all there. High free Masons attended. The Seventh Day Adventist church was represented. Serpent charmers and druids and Satan worshippers, liberal Baptists, Zoroastrians to Zen Buddhists were all represented. The World Council of churches and the powerful church of Rome were highly represented. They met to celebrate `unity in Diversity.'" The World's Last Dictator, p 97-98.

The SDA church has undoubtedly rejected the original truths of Adventism and replaced those true SDA ministers and leaders, with error-believing and preaching hirelings as we were warned would happen (see p 83). The SDA church and people are no longer God's peculiar church and people; they have placed their dependence upon, and are united and in harmony with, the NCC, the WCC, the Ecumenical family, and the various State Governments around the world! But in doing these things, the SDA church has not only rejected the foundational truths and doctrines upon which the church was established upon, they have also rejected Someone else. They have rejected the precious Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!

Christ spent 18 centuries preparing for the SDA church to come into existence, making sure all was ready. Unceasingly He worked for His church, opening the eyes of His people to the precious truth which would polarize the world and prepare the way for His second coming and the end of sin. Constantly He called His people to reflect His image and thus to vindicate God's character to the whole universe, proving Satan's accusations false. And then to have His chosen people and church spurn His immense love, turn their backs and faces from Him, reject and replace His precious messages of truth with Satan's counterfeit unclean messages of error, uniting themselves with Satan as his harlotrous Babylonian bride and church, and working to keep people away from ever knowing Christ or His power to free them from sin: HOW MUST THIS MAKE CHRIST FEEL?

How many tears has Jesus shed over this? How much pain has he felt? How much more agony must He endure? What must He be thinking to see His professed people asleep believing that all is right with their SDA church? Oh, may our people awaken and see more fully what Christ is going through because a once-chosen people and church have rejected Him, apostatized from His truth, united in harlotry with His avowed enemy, and are working against Him with all the power and subtlety of the devil!

Since the SDA church has rejected God's truths, including all three angels' messages, which was the reason why God raised them up in the first place (see p 139, 161-163), can it still be God's true church anymore? NO! It cannot be anything but a counterfeit of God's true church! And if it is not God's church anymore, then whose church is it? Satan's! And what is another name listed in the Bible for Satan's church? Babylon!

The SDA church operates under a hierarchy, and closely images the harlot mother--Roman Catholic church--which is Babylon (see p 168-173). The SDA church is united with the harlot daughter Protestant churches, the NCC, and the WCC--which are Babylon. And she is so closely and ecumenically united with the fallen Babylon Protestant churches that she is like a sister to them. Thus she is a sister to fallen Babylon! In fact, Sister White warned the SDA church of this very possibility.

"Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. Thou art thy mother's daughter, that loatheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which loathed their husbands and their children." Ezekiel 16:44-45.

Now there are many Adventists who argue against the possibility of the SDA church being Babylon. They will say: "The SDA church can never be Babylon, no matter if she has given up the three angels' messages, no matter if she is in harlotry with the devil and his followers, and no matter if she is ecumenically united with Rome, Protestantism, the NCC, the WCC, and the whole world; because the SDA church can never be Babylon."

Although there are no promises of God given without the condition of obedience(535) (see p 58-59), and despite the fact that Ellen White wrote that the SDA church could be converted into Babylon if they did not meet God's conditions(536), there are some who will not concede. But this next point should settle this question forever.

"On the basis of Bible prophecy and the writings of Ellen G. White, SDA's anticipate the eventual success of the ecumenical movement both in eliminating the divisions of Protestantism and in reuniting Christendom by bridging the gulf that separates non-Catholic communions from Rome. The ecumenical movement will then become a concerted effort to unite the world and to secure universal peace and security by enlisting the power of the civil government in a universal religio-political crusade to eliminate all dissent. SDA's envision this crusade as the great apostasy to which John the revelator refers as `Babylon the great.' They understand, also, that God's last message of mercy to the world prior to the return of Christ in power and glory will consist of a warning against this great apostate movement, and a call to all who choose to remain loyal to Him to leave the churches connected with it." SDA Encyclopedia, vol 10 of the Bible Commentary Reference Series, p 410-411.

What did the SDA church just state to all her members? That any church connected with the ecumenical movement and united with the WCC becomes part of Babylon the great, and that all who choose to serve God must separate themselves from that church. The SDA church has definitely joined the ecumenical movement, and is united with the WCC. So the SDA church has declared herself to be part of Babylon, and told all her members to separate themselves from her!

We have clearly seen that the SDA church and its General Conference leadership have rejected the truths upon which the church was founded. Thus the SDA church's foundation, upon which the whole structure of the church rests upon, can not now be resting upon the firm Rock--Christ Jesus, but upon unstable, shifting sand!

The SDA church and its leadership have already removed the landmarks of our true SDA faith, and they have indeed been working, with all their energies, to tear down the pillars of our true SDA faith. But what was prophesied to take place next? Then "a more decided effort is made to exalt the false sabbath."

Hence, the abominations continue until their cup is full, and God declares that probation's door is closed upon the corporate SDA church. Though the SDA leaders and people then cry to God to spare the church and give them one more chance, He will "not hear them," He will "not spare" them, but will deal with the church and those within her "in fury."

The Executive Committee is the power behind the General Conference, "carrying forward its work between the [General Conference] sessions,"(537) even advising the General Conference president how to "labor in the general interests of the Conference."(538) So the Executive Committee, made up of 25 individuals, is the real power behind the throne of the SDA church!

The 1903 General Conference Session did not change the 1901 plan, but indicated who would make up this Executive Committee.(539) And from 1903 until after 1959, the members of the Executive Committee was "not to exceed 25 in number."(540) But sometime after 1959, the General Conference Executive Committee was enlarged beyond the limit of 25 members; and today the number of members is over 300.

Some people point to the significant increase in the number of members in this General Conference Committee as proof that the group of 25 men listed in the prophecy of Ezekiel 8:16 cannot possibly apply to the SDA church today. But is this Committee still the only power behind the throne of the SDA church? Or, since it was enlarged, was there another Committee formed that controls the General Conference Committee--making this new Committee the real power behind the throne?

Obviously, only the General Conference would know; so I wrote to them requesting information on its inner administrative structure, and praying all the time that God would allow whoever answered my letter to be very informative. Praise God for answering our prayers, and revealing secrets! The following is the very informative response that I received:

"Here at the General Conference, the highest decision-making committee, of course, is the General Conference Committee. There is a committee that we term `General Conference Officers' which is made up of about twenty-five or twenty-six individuals--president, secretaries, and treasurers, with a few other invited individuals. This committee is a screening committee that determines the items that need to go to the General Conference Committee." Letter from the Office of the President of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, B.E. Jacobs--Administrative Assistant to the President, November 1, 1990. (This letter contains the watermark "SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS" with 3 wavy lines crossing the "A")

Since this General Conference Officers Committee controls the items which come before the General Conference Committee, they are in fact the real power behind the Conference Committee, and also of the SDA church! And how many members make up this Officers Committee? "About twenty-five or twenty-six individuals." This is exactly the same language which Ezekiel uses--"about 25"!

Hence, there still is a group of "about 25" individuals which controls the entire SDA church. From 1903 through 1959, it was the Executive Committee of "about 25" individuals. But when it became necessary to enlarge this Committee, then the SDA church simply formed another Committee, and kept it limited to "about 25" individuals.

This number is not a coincidence, but is one of the significant identifying marks clearly showing that the prophecy of the abominations of Ezekiel 8 applies to none other than the SDA church, and the 25 church leaders of Ezekiel 8:16, which turn their backs on the Lord and worship the sun, applies to the General Conference leadership!

Our merciful God is plainly revealing to His true people that the SDA General Conference and its leadership will first give up God's Sabbath themselves for Sunday worship--planting the abomination of desolation in the midst of the church! They will then devise a way to urge our SDA people to follow them into worshipping on Sunday!

Remember, when Solomon apostatized, he forgot God, united with the heathen, and worshipped Baal--the sun god; and Baal's day is Sunday! Solomon, the king of Israel, then led his entire nation into the worship of the sun. And the same will happen today. In fact, God has already warned His people of this possibility!

"The enemy knows that if the church can be controlled by political enactments, if she can be led to unite with the world, she virtually acknowledges him as her head. Then the authority of man made commandments will work to oppose the rule of the government of heaven. Under the leadership of Satan, men will dispense with the righteous, holy enactments of God concerning the Sabbath." (see p 89)

As we have already seen, the SDA church leadership united with politics in 1899 (see p 89), and the church united with the world in 1900 (see p 91-92). They are repeating Solomon's apostasy, are fulfilling the above prophecy, and also the prophecy in Ezekiel 8. It is then clear that the SDA General Conference leadership will give up God's Sabbath, they will worship the sun on its day--Sunday--thus planting the abomination of desolation in the church, and then they will indeed try to lead our SDA people to do the same!

"The Lord has a controversy with His professed people in these last days. In this controversy men in responsible positions will take a course directly opposite to that pursued by Nehemiah. They will not only ignore and despise the Sabbath themselves, but they will try to keep it from others by burying it beneath the rubbish of custom and tradition. In churches and in large gatherings in the open air, ministers will urge upon the people the necessity of keeping the first day of the week." Review and Herald, vol 1, p 405.

Please keep in mind that most of the religious people of this world already worship on Sunday. So it can not be Sunday-keeping ministers who are urging their Sunday-keeping people to keep Sunday. It is the "professed people" of God--the SDA church leadership--who will urge the necessity of keeping Sunday holy to our SDA people from SDA pulpits and camp-meetings!

The SDA church leadership have already given up their aversion to Roman Catholicism (see p 166). Hence the way is also open for them to begin losing interest in the sacredness of the Sabbath of the Lord, and feel more and more comfortable with Sunday--the day of Roman Catholicism. The SDA church leadership have already been "lightly regarding" the seventh-day Sabbath for some time now (see p 217-220). But will they also begin to exalt the false sabbath of the devil as the Lord's day!

History reveals that when the Sabbath-keeping leadership of the early Christian church apostatized, they united with the pagans. The church became corrupted and Roman Catholicism was born.(541) The apostate church leaders gradually lost their respect for the true Sabbath, decided to give it up themselves, and then implemented two major steps calculated to lead their Sabbath-keeping membership into also losing respect for the Sabbath, and begin worshipping on Sunday. And it is in infinite love and mercy for His people in these last days, that God reveals what these two steps were!

"In the first centuries the true Sabbath had been kept by all Christians. They were jealous for the honor of God, and, believing that His law is immutable, they zealously guarded the sacredness of its precepts. But with great subtlety, Satan worked through his agents to bring about his object. That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held upon it...

Is this same history being repeated today? Is the SDA church leadership implementing these same two steps within the church today? And if so, is there any documentation to prove it? Because if these same two steps are occurring within the SDA church, it is proof positive that the church leadership have themselves already decided to worship the sun, and now are trying to lead the membership of the church to do likewise! Are these same two steps being followed by the SDA leadership today? YES!

"Good Adventist news for Easter--For the first time in denominational history a television network--CBS--will broadcast an Easter Sunday service from a SDA church. The program, `Festival of Hope,' will originate from the Camarillo Adventist Church in California. The speaker will be Elder Roger Bothwell, pastor of the College Church at Pacific Union College. WCBS, New York City, will carry the service this Sunday [April 22] at 11 a.m (8 a.m. Camarillo time) as will CBS affiliates in Roanoke, Boston, Tampa, Bismark, Minot, Madison, Williston, Cincinnati, Champaign, San Antonio, Columbus, Huntsville, St. Louis, La Crosse and Tuscaloosa. Some 20 other affiliated stations will carry the program on a delayed basis. Unfortunately, the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C., WDVM, will not carry the program." General Conference Weekly Press Relations Newsletter, Spring, 1984. (see also Adventist Review, March 29, 1984, p 31)

"Bob Hunter, pastor of the Stone Mountain, Georgia, [SDA] church, delivered the Easter message at the sunrise service atop Georgia's Stone Mountain. The Service was attended by some 4,000 people and was covered by three of the local Atlanta television stations. The service was videotaped and aired on Stone Mountain church's television program, `Discovery.'" Southern Tidings, August, 1985, p 19.

But these were not the only televised Easter Sunday Sunrise service which SDA's were involved in. More recently in 1992, several Southern California SDA churches joined together, and provided musical entertainment at the "72nd annual Easter Sunrise Service at the Hollywood Bowl." This Sunday Sunrise Service was "televised internationally by the Trinity Broadcasting Network, and was carried by the Armed Forces Radio and Television Network."(542)

And each year more SDA churches follow suit! Clearly the SDA leadership and ministers are implementing and following the first step in exalting Sunday, and leading the SDA membership into open Sunday worship. But what about the second step? Are the SDA leadership and ministers involved in teaching our SDA people that Sunday is the Lord's day, when clearly the seventh-day Sabbath is the Lord's Day?(543) Would the SDA leadership really allow the false sabbath of the devil and the man of sin, to be called the Lord's day? YES!

Samuele Bacchiocchi, who was until recently a Professor of Church History and Theology at Andrews University, is a professed SDA, and is the only Protestant to have graduated from the highest Catholic Jesuit training school--The Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He graduated with the highest honors in his class, and it is there that he wrote a book titled: From Sabbath To Sunday. This book is highly praised by SDA leadership and ministers, and is sold in SDA Book and Bible Centers.

This book is published by the Pontifical Gregorian University Press in 1977. But if From Sabbath to Sunday contains only the truth of God and no Catholic error, then why does the pope give his approval for its publishing, and why does it contain the "IMPRIMATUR"--which is given only to those books teaching Catholic doctrine, being a "sign of safety" for all Catholics to read?(544) Pope Paul VI even gave Bacchiocchi a gold medal!(545) When have you ever heard of the pope blessing a heretic?

This alone should warn our people to beware, but this is not all. The SDA church leadership exalts this book and allows Bacchiocchi to hold "Lord's day seminars" throughout SDA churches to promote and sell his book. Since this book is so popular with the SDA church leadership, let us examine some of what it teaches.

In reference to Revelation 1:10--"I [John] was in the Spirit on the Lord's day"--Bacchiocchi argues that the "Lord's day" is one of three things: either it refers to a weekly Sunday, or an Easter Sunday, or it refers to the time of Christ's second coming--the parousia, but not to the seventh-day Sabbath.(546)

"`I [John] was in the Spirit on the Lord's day...' The Lord's day is the seventh-day, the Sabbath of creation. On the day that God sanctified and blessed, Christ signified `By His angel unto His servant John' things that must come to pass before the close of the world's history..." Testimonies, vol 6, p 128.

Bacchiocchi also calls the keeping of the moral Sabbath "Jewish tradition,"(548) a "Jewish religious institution,"(549) and states that "the eighth day" of creation, or Sunday (being the day after the Sabbath), "far surpassed the seventh day."(550) He also states that Paul was warning against those who would promote Seventh-day Sabbath keeping "as indispensable aids to Christian perfection."(551)

In the first edition of From Sabbath To Sunday, Bacchiocchi states on page 6 that his view points "differ radically from the traditional position of my [SDA] Church." But in the 1979 edition on page 6, he states that his viewpoints "differ somewhat from the traditional position of my Church." Bacchiocchi's arguments did not change one bit in the text of the second edition, so it must have been the traditional position of the SDA church that changed.

Truly, the SDA church and its leadership have changed their position on the Lord's day mentioned in Revelation 1:10. To them the Lord's day no longer means, unquestionably and only, the Seventh-day Sabbath, but now it could mean Easter! Undeniably, the SDA church and its leadership have lost their respect for the Sabbath of the Lord, are indeed working to exalt Sunday as the Lord's day, and are leading our SDA people to do the same!

Why is the SDA leadership allowing Bacchiocchi the freedom to promote this book in SDA churches? Why did they allow him to remain a professor at Andrews University, teaching future SDA ministers these errors for so many years--until he decided to retire? Why are they continuing to invite him to give "Lord's Day Seminars" and deceive our SDA people? Because the SDA leadership have apostatized from God and His truth, have lost their respect for the Sabbath, are now giving it up and exalting Sunday. Thus Bacchiocchi is teaching exactly what they believe!

The vice-president of the British Union Conference of SDA's, has given "Adventist support" to the Sunday law in England! W. John Arthur wrote two letters, one to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (dated March 27, 1986), and the other to the General Secretary of the Evangelical Alliance, Clive R. Calver (dated February 27, 1986).

In New Zealand, the SDA church held a Sunday worship church service, and it was not being held in honor of Easter! Neither was it kept in secret, but was televised nationwide! Who do you suppose was the speaker at this Sunday service, which allowed the SDA church to hold a Sunday worship church service and have it televised nationwide? The highest leader of the SDA church--the General Conference president in 1985--Neal C. Wilson!

"ON SUNDAY, MAY 19, our oldest church in New Zealand, Ponsonby, has been chosen as the venue for a nationwide televised church service--one of only six such services in NZ in 1985. This will be the occasion of Pastor Neal Wilson's visit, and plans for the music and youth scripture reading are under way--not to mention working bees on the church!" Record, April 13, 1985, p 16.

In Watsonville, California, the SDA church held a Sunday church service on January 12, 1986, in which nine other Sunday-keeping churches participated in an ecumenical worship service. The other Sunday-keeping churches were: the First Christian, United Presbyterian, Freedom United Methodist, Episcopal, All Saints Episcopal, Westview Presbyterian, La Salva Beach Community, Watsonville Parish, and the Catholic Social Services.(552)

This could never have occurred in early Adventism. But given the current mind-set of many of the SDA ministers today it should not surprise us. I have a copy of a two-page open letter from the pastor of the Diamond Lake SDA church in Washington state, in which he was going to invite all the "residents in the Diamond Lake area" to come to his SDA church for Sunday morning worship services throughout the entire year!

"Another service I would be happy to provide [as one of your local Community pastors] is a Sunday morning worship service....I am hereby formally inviting you to come to our Sunday morning services at 11:00 o'clock....Easter Sunday would be our first service. March 30th....as Christians we have so much in common...

Many other services are being held on Sunday by SDA churches, and the excuses used to justify such abominable and blasphemous practices are as varied as the color of a chameleon. Sunday exaltation and worship is becoming more and more common place and less and less of an abomination in the eyes of our people.

Truly the leadership of the SDA church have turned their backs on the Lord (which they began to do in the 1890's (see p 64). They have chosen to give up God's Sabbath themselves and to worship the sun in the east, and are far into the process of exalting Sunday worship and leading our SDA people to do the same. In fact, the SDA church leadership are not afraid to tell the entire SDA membership that they have decided to worship the sun in the east!

"There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls...Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned Mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them." Ezekiel 22:25-26.

The apostate SDA church is leading our people into Sunday worship, and those who follow the church in this will receive the mark of the Beast! Some church supporters will blindly argue that the apostate SDA church and its leadership could never lead their SDA brethren directly into receiving the mark of the Beast. But God has already warned His people that such an amazing thing will occur!

"An apostate church will unite with the powers of earth and hell to place upon the forehead or in the hand, the mark of the beast, and prevail upon the children of God to worship the beast and his image. They will seek to compel them to renounce their allegiance to God's law, and yield homage to the papacy." Review and Herald, vol 2, p 609.

All these things plainly show us that the abomination of desolation--Sunday worship--has indeed been planted within the SDA church, indicating that corporate probation has closed upon the SDA church! This closing of probation is NOT upon the SDA membership, but only upon the corporate church. The SDA church can never again be used by God in spreading His pure truths! What truths are left that the SDA church has not yet given up?

Yet many are waiting for the Sunday law to come, or waiting for the whole SDA church to give up the Sabbath, before they will admit that the abomination of desolation has been planted, or admit that probation is closed for the SDA church. But what these dear people have overlooked, is the fact that Ezekiel 8:16 reveals that the abomination of desolation occurs when the 25 men decide to worship the sun, not when the whole SDA church worships it! And it is clear that these 25 leaders of the SDA church have already decided to worship the sun, because the same two main steps have been implemented and established within the church.

"But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judea flee into the mountains...and let them which are in the midst of it [Jerusalem] depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance..." Mark 13:14 & Luke 21:21-22.

"Jesus declared to the listening disciples the judgments that were to fall upon apostate Israel...And the Saviour warned His followers: `When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth let him understand) then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains.'...When the warning sign should be seen, judgment was to follow so quickly that those who would escape must make no delay....They must not hesitate a moment, lest they be involved in the general destruction." Spirit of Prophecy, vol 4, p 26-27.

We have already discovered that the above command of Jesus for His true followers to separate from Jerusalem, as well as any of its synagogues throughout the Judean land, applies also to our day and to the SDA church including any of its institutions around the world (see p 3-6, 20). But anciently, how did Christ's true followers escape?

"Before the destruction of Sodom, God sent a message to Lot, `Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed' [Genesis 19:17]. The same voice of warning was heard by the disciples of Christ before the destruction of Jerusalem: `...Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains.' They must not tarry to secure anything from their possessions, but must make the most of the opportunity to escape.

"There was a coming out, a decided separation from the wicked, an escape for life. So it was in the days of Noah; so with Lot; so with the disciples prior to the destruction of Jerusalem; and so it will be in the last days. Again the voice of God is heard in a message of warning, bidding His people separate themselves from the prevailing iniquity." Patriarchs and Prophets, p 166.

The SDA church and its leadership have also continued on in their plans of rebellion and rejection of God and His precious message of righteousness, they have renounced the truths from heaven as being error, accepted doctrines of spiritualism, and have united with other women (or churches) who are in league with the devil. These facts plainly reveal that the SDA church has made a covenant with death and an agreement with hell, and her cup of iniquity is full. Her separation from God is final--and probation is closed upon the corporate church! The church and her leadership were fully warned of this possibility (see p 76, 126), yet she has "a whore's forehead, and refusedst to be ashamed" Jeremiah 3:3.

Again, some will doubt that the SDA church has become Babylon. But the church has given up everything that could have kept her from becoming Babylon fallen! The SDA leadership have united the SDA church with the world, with the State, brought in spiritualism and allowed it to make its soul-destructive inroads among our people, formed the church's organizational structure into another papal power hierarchical system by stealthy but rapid progress. They have also united with the NCC, the WCC, the Ecumenical Movement, and the New Age Movement, and have definitely given up God's truths and embraced the doctrines of devils--even giving up the one truth which kept them separate from all the other fallen churches--the seventh-day Sabbath! WHAT ELSE COULD SHE BE BUT BABYLON FALLEN!

"As the time comes for the loud cry to be given, the Lord will work through humble instruments, leading the minds of those who consecrate themselves to His service. The laborers will be qualified rather by the unction of His Spirit than by the training of literary institutions. Men of faith and prayer will be constrained to go forth with holy zeal, declaring the words which God gives them. The sins of Babylon will be laid open. The fearful results of a union of Church and State, the inroads of Spiritualism, the stealthy but rapid progress of the papal power,--all will be unmasked. By these solemn warnings the people will be stirred. Thousands upon thousands have never listened to words like these. In amazement they hear the testimony that Babylon is the church, fallen because of her errors and sins, because of her rejection of the truth sent to her from Heaven." Spirit of Prophecy, vol 4, p 424.

"1888 therefore came to mark the beginning of a new note and new day, the significance of which was not fully sensed at the time....It was the beginning of decades of clarification and advance--despite struggles and setbacks. It eventuated at last in a unified platform of `Fundamental Beliefs,' preparatory to the grand climax of the Movement, assuredly destined to come." Movement of Destiny, p 187.

1888 was the beginning of more than ten decades--not "of clarification and advance"--but of giving up the established truths of God and retrograding into apostasy. And the "`Fundamental Beliefs,' preparatory to the grand climax of the Movement" are not the historic fundamental beliefs, but they are the doctrines of devils which will lead to complete destruction of the SDA church--truly the "grand climax of the [apostate] Movement."

"Those who claim to have the light of truth have not met the conditions on which the fulfillment of the promises is suspended,(554) neither have they been worthy of the grace of Christ. The character and service of the church are required to be according to the talents received. Her faith and obedience should be equal to the amount which a faithful improvement of her light and opportunities would have gained for her in moral and spiritual elevation.

"But many--not a few, but many--have been losing their spiritual zeal and consecration, and turning away from the light that has been constantly growing brighter and brighter, and have refused to walk in the truth because its sanctifying power upon the soul was not what they desired. They might have been renewed in holiness and have reached the elevated standard that God's word demands; but condemnation is upon them." Testimonies to Ministers, p 449.

God also sent other warnings--especially after the 1903 General Conference Session--clearly stating that the SDA church would be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, and if she was found in apostasy, then she would be "found wanting" (see p 29, 104, 106). Thus probation would close upon her, and God would be obliged to call His faithful few out--choosing others to entrust with His gospel truth (see p 58, 86, 106-107, 204)!

Thus the abomination of desolation has been planted within the SDA church--forever closing her corporate probation. The SDA church has become Babylon fallen. The foundation of the entire worldwide SDA church is not built on Christ or truth, but is built completely on error and it cannot stand. The SDA church will fall and be destroyed with a sore destruction!

"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken them unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a Rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." Matthew 7:24-27.

"Of those who boast of their light, and yet fail to walk in it, Christ says, `But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum [Seventh-day Adventists, who have had great light], which art exalted unto heaven [in point of privilege], shall be brought down to hell...therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by My name, wherein ye trust, and unto this place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of My sight..." (see p 59-60, brackets by Sister White)

So the SDA corporate ship is not going through to the port of heaven, but will be destroyed before she reaches that harbor! Thus all on board the SDA ship, who refuse to separate from her, will go down into the black depths of death. Yet many SDA's have been brainwashed to believe otherwise, and some may even now be saying, "The ship will go through."

"Those who are destitute of heavenly wisdom, destitute of living power with God, are not competent to steer the gospel ship amid icebergs and tempests. The church is passing through severe conflicts, but in her peril many would trust her to hands that will surely wreck her." Testimonies, vol 5, p 104-05.

The SDA church leadership have definitely cast Christ out of the church (see p 10, 65, 104), and also shut, locked, bolted, and barred the door so that the Holy Spirit can not enter either (see p 100). Thus this Christ-less man-powered SDA corporate ship is destined to go down to destruction, and all who refuse to separate from this deceptive and spurious ship will go down with her (see p 25, 30, 31, 36, 63, 64, 77, 89, 90, 123, 124, 129, 131, 133, 233, 256). But the only ship that will go through safely into the harbor of heaven, will be truth--the gospel ship--in which Christ is the only Captain. If we are connected with the truth, then we are connected with Christ. If we are faithful to the truth (refusing to get off this gospel ship no matter how hard the sailing), then we will make it to heaven's port.

"...I had an impressive dream last night. I thought that you were on a strong vessel, sailing on very rough waters. Sometimes the waves beat over the top, and you were drenched with water. You said: `I shall get off; this vessel is going down.' `No,' said one who appeared to be the captain, `this vessel sails into the harbor. She will never go down.' But you answered: `I shall be washed overboard. As I am neither captain or mate, who cares? I shall take my chances on that vessel you see yonder.' Said the captain: `I shall not let you go there, for I know that vessel will strike the rocks before she reaches the harbor.' You straightened yourself up, and said with great positiveness: `This vessel will become a wreck; I can see it just as plain as can be.' The captain looked upon you with piercing eye, and said firmly: `I shall not permit you to lose your life by taking that boat. The timbers of her framework are worm-eaten, and she is a deceptive craft. If you had more knowledge you could discern between the spurious and the genuine, the holy and that appointed to utter ruin." Testimonies, vol 5, p 571-72.

The only ship which makes it safely into the heavenly harbor is the ship with Christ as its only Captain--the holy ship of genuine truth. Hence, the Laodicean SDA corporate ship, which is Christ-less and has given up the truth, will strike the rocks and sink. Her timbers and structure are worm-eaten with the doctrines of devils, being a deceptive craft with hypnotism and spiritualism on board, and is thus "appointed to utter ruin."

The shaking had already started in 1850, and it would continue to increase. But there was no SDA church organization until 1863! So what could the people have been shaken out of? They were shaken out of the truth, if they did not take a bold and unyielding stand for it! It is the truth that the people are shaken out of, not a church!

If you accept God's truth it will make you firm as a rock, nothing wavering,(555) and you cannot possibly be shaken out of the true SDA faith. You may be compelled to willingly separate yourself from the apostate SDA church, but this does not mean that one has been shaken out of the truth, or that one has become an offshoot.

God's true people are "faithful souls" who are purified by the truths that God has given (see p 15-16). But there are also those people who profess to be God's true people, yet do not live up to the precious light and truths that God has given. Being part of the latter group will doom you for eternal destruction, but belonging to the truth will seal you for heaven.(556)

The SDA church has completely rejected, given up, and changed God's truth into falsehoods. This means that the SDA church has been shaken out of the truth, and she is an offshoot! The SDA church is the biggest offshoot ever because she has rejected the greatest light this world has ever seen! And the leadership are building the entire SDA structure upon a false foundation; yet they claim that the SDA church will go through to heaven. But God has already warned the church:

"They [Jews] followed their own standard, walking in the light of the sparks of their own kindling, and they perished in their delusion. They followed the imagination of their own hearts, and God gave them up to be crushed by their own ambition, destroyed by the falsehoods and delusions upon which they had built." Review and Herald, vol 3, p 466.

This will also happen to the SDA church! After all the apostasy, rebellion, harlotry, after the giving up of the Everlasting Gospel and the real three angels' messages, after connecting themselves with spiritualism, using hypnotism on our people, and with corporate probation being closed--becoming Babylon fallen, the SDA leaders and ministers have the gall to teach the lie that the SDA church will go through to heaven--that not even the gates of hell can stop her!

"This church to which we belong will emerge a victorious company to stand some day on the sea of glass....Adventism is destined to triumph gloriously....They [God's people] will patiently watch and pray until God in His own time and in His own way purifies His church...The church will fulfill its prophetic role and will triumph. Let us stay with the church so that we can share in that victory." Messenger, October, 1994, p 11.

"The idea of a remnant does not mean that those who claim to be part of it are necessarily better than others, that somehow they are more holy than others. The remnant is identified simply by the truths that it knows, not even the truths that it believes or that it practices or that this corporate remnant shares, but simply that it knows....I affirm that this remnant is the Seventh-day Adventist Church." Transcript of Robert Folkenberg's address "Movement of Destiny" at the Scottish Mission Session, Edinburgh, Scotland, June 4, 1994.

But is this true? Is the SDA church, or any church--even the true church--the city of refuge or the ark of safety for God's people today? Where is the real "city of refuge" for sinners? And where is the real "ark of safety" in which we must find shelter from the coming storm and tempest? In Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour!

Jesus is the city of refuge;(557) Jesus is the place for the weary to find rest in;(558) Jesus--the truth--is the ark of safety;(559) and Jesus is the shelter from the storm and tempest soon to come!(560) No church--including the true church--can be our city of refuge or our ark of safety! We must be hid in Jesus and Him only, not in any group or any church! Jesus is our only hope!

When the SDA church teaches that it is the city of refuge or the ark of safety, that she will always be the remnant and will never fall, they are brainwashing our SDA people with pure Catholic doctrine--that salvation can only be found in the church. The SDA church has removed Christ from the hearts of our people, and has put the church in His place. Thus, the SDA church has become god to our people. This is the same erroneous doctrine which the Jewish church leaders taught their people, and their church became god to them!

This false Catholic teaching that the apostate SDA church is the city of refuge, the ark of safety, and that it is corporately bound for heaven results in the implied or overt threat that if any SDA drops their membership and leaves the safety of the SDA church, they are lost! How? The SDA leaders and ministers have replaced Christ with themselves and replaced God with the church: hence if one separates from the SDA church then he would believe that he has separated from God and Christ and is lost. Many Adventists do believe that if they leave the (apostate) SDA church, they are doomed as being apostates from Christ until they return back to the church.

Yet this Catholic teaching is so firmly entrenched that even after they have discovered that the SDA church is in apostasy, and have decided to physically leave the corrupt SDA church, some still retain their names on the corporate membership roll. They still retain a foot in the door of the church, still holding on to "Mother's" apron string, still touching or remaining connected with the corrupt church just in case the corporate church, with all its listed members, does indeed make it to heaven in the end!

"My [Ellen White's] brother continued to fail rapidly. If he felt a cloud shutting Jesus from him, he would not rest until it was dispelled, and bright hope again cheered him. To all who visited him, he conversed upon the goodness of God, and would often lift his emaciated finger, pointing upwards, while a heavenly light rested upon his countenance, and say, `My treasure is laid up on high.' It was a wonder to all that his life of suffering was thus protracted. He had a hemorrhage of the lungs, and was thought to be dying. Then an unfulfilled duty presented itself to him. He had again connected himself with the Methodist church. He was expelled in 1843 with the other members of the family, on account of his faith. He said he could not die in peace until his name was taken from the church-book, and requested father to go immediately and have it taken off.

"In the morning father visited the minister, stating my brother's request. He said that he would visit him, and then if it was still his wish to be considered no longer a member of their church, his request should be granted. Just before the minister arrived my brother had a second hemorrhage, and whispered his fears that he should not live to do this duty. The minister visited him, and he immediately expressed his desire, and told him he could not die in peace until his name was taken from the church-book; that he should not have united with them again if he had been standing in the light....Soon after this my brother fell asleep in Jesus, in full hope of having a part in the first resurrection." Spiritual Gifts, vol 2, p 163-64.

There is nothing written in the Bible or the Spirit of Prophecy that is not for our edification. So this testimony has significance for us today! Removing our names from the membership rolls of a church which has apostatized from God, rejected and changed the truths of the three angels' messages into falsehood, and has become Babylon fallen, is called "an unfulfilled DUTY." And this duty was carried out before Ellen White's brother had "full hope of having a part in the first resurrection"! Hence, there is a duty to leave any church which has rejected the three angels' messages. And especially is this the case with the Seventh-day Adventist church. What other church has had, and has rejected, greater light than the SDA church? It is true that we are not saved by being members of a church, but we can be lost by remaining members of a Babylonian one!

"Yet in their [Jewish church leadership] blind and blasphemous presumption the instigators of this hellish work publicly declared that they had no fear that Jerusalem would be destroyed, for it was God's own city. To establish their power more firmly, they bribed false prophets to proclaim, even when the Roman legions were besieging the temple, that the people were to wait [in Jerusalem] for deliverance from God." Spirit of Prophecy, vol 4, p 30-31.

The Jewish church and its leadership had a form of being God's church, but they rejected God's Son, His truth, and His power to work His righteousness among them. This exactly--only in greater magnitude--has been done by the SDA church and its leadership. They have also rejected Jesus Christ (see p 17, 22, 65, 71, 77, 82, 84, 85, 87, 118, 131), rejected His truth, and have rejected His power to work His righteousness among them (see p 14, 24-29, 35, 40-42, 46-47, 49, 51, 56, 60, 65, 68, 71, 83, 85-86, 100, 102, 104, 113, 118, 122, 131, 143-150, 153-163, 173-202).

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

One area which is often overlooked is the command to "touch not the unclean thing." This means that even if you have left an apostate harlot church, but have not removed your membership from the roll books, your membership still connects you to that unclean church. Hence you would be touching the unclean thing by retaining your church membership! You would be unclean by this touch, and a partaker with the harlot church in her sins!

When a priest of Israel, who was consecrated and made holy to minister before God, came in contact with a dead body--even if it was but the slightest touch of the hem of his garments--his whole person was contaminated and declared unclean. According to the God-given process of cleansing found in Numbers 19, the unclean priest had to separate himself from the camp of Israel, go out into the wilderness, and be cleansed twice. This cleansing process involved running water being poured through the ashes of a red heifer which had been sacrificed.

The sacrificed red heifer represents Christ--the Word of God. The running water represents the purifying action of the Holy Spirit cleansing us through the Word of God. And the dead body represents a spiritually dead church. So by our connection to and membership in a spiritually dead church body, even in the slightest way, we are unclean by this touch and unfit to minister or work for a holy God. And the only God-given way in which we can become cleansed and accepted back into His service, is to separate ourselves completely from that unclean church, be cleansed twice by Christ's sacrifice and the purifying work of the Holy Spirit through the word of God, and then not reconnect ourselves with that dead unclean church. We can warn others about where the unclean and dead church is, and what to do if they are connected to it. But if we want to serve and witness for a holy God, we dare not touch or reconnect ourselves to the church.

This same issue can be clearly seen in the illustration of a mud puddle. While standing in a pool of muddy water, even if we move to its shallowest edge, we are still contaminated by the mud. We can use all the soap and pour clean, pure water over our heads, and yet we are not completely cleansed because our feet are still connected with the mud. We may even manage to be clean and spotless everywhere else on our body, but while our feet remain in the mud, we are not fully cleansed or completely spotless. We can never be fully cleansed or completely spotless until we break all connections with the muddy pool, get out of the mud, and are again cleansed. And in order to remain fully clean, we must not touch or reconnect ourselves with that unclean muddy pool. We can and must warn others about where the unclean and muddy pool is, and what to do if they are touching it and thus contaminated. But if we want to remain clean and spotless, we dare not touch or reconnect ourselves to it again.

"You are exhorted to touch not the unclean thing; for in touching this, you will yourself become unclean. It is impossible for you to unite with those who are corrupt, and still remain pure. `What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial?' [2 Corinthians 6:14-15] God and Christ and the heavenly host would have man know that if he unites with the corrupt, he will become corrupt." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 6, p 1102.

By our willing choice to remain associated with, or by retaining our membership in, the corrupt, apostate, Babylonian SDA church, we are made partakers in the sins of the church--being made corporately responsible in all the church's wickedness. Thus we are one with this unclean woman in harlotry, and we will receive the same punishment as the SDA church does!

If we choose to remain connected with the apostate Babylonian SDA church--whether by our presence or by our names on the church roll books, then we choose to be a partaker in all the sins of the church, and thus we will receive the plagues along with the church we love more than we love to obey the will of God.

"The Lord commissions His messengers [angels], the men with the slaughtering weapons in their hands: `Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house' [Ezek 9:5-6].

"Here we see that the church--the Lord's sanctuary--was the first to feel the stroke of the wrath of God. The ancient men, those to whom God had given great light and who had stood as guardians of the spiritual interests of the people, had betrayed their trust....These dumb dogs that would not bark are the ones who feel the just vengeance of an offended God."(561) Testimonies, vol 5, p 211.

Having given up the real three angels' messages, the entire SDA church is now founded upon a counterfeit gospel. Thus the SDA church is defrauding its people and the world of the truth. Instead of being God's obedient representatives, they have become the representatives of Satan. Hence, God can do no more for man through the channels of the SDA church, and the whole system must be swept away!

"Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women...and begin at My sanctuary....And He said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew...And as for Me also, Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their own head." Ezekiel 9:5-10.

The "25 men" of the SDA church have already turned their backs on the Lord, His Sabbath, and have planted the abomination of desolation in the midst of the church as God has prophesied in Ezekiel 8:16. Corporate probation for the SDA church is now closed, and the sealing of individuals in Ezekiel 9 is already beginning.

As this is true, where are those who will sigh and cry for all the abominations? Where are those who will be obedient to the Lord and separate from the abominable SDA church, and will not stubbornly follow this false church and its religious system posing as the true church? Who is going to leave this synagogue of Satan, that is compromising God's holy Sabbath in order to exalt Sunday, and which is now openly leading our people to worship on Sunday? Our people are being led to the slaughter and who will warn them by word and example?

We can not remain in the corrupt and apostate SDA church waiting for them to kick us out--thinking that we are obeying Christ by doing so. There is not one "Thus saith the Lord" or "It is written" telling God's people to stay in the midst of an apostate church. Babylon has no right to tell us when to leave! If we follow this foolish line of human reasoning, then we are not under the yoke of Christ but are under the yoke of man! We are waiting for man to tell us that it is now O.K. to obey Christ's command to separate. But God does not accept forced obedience to His commands; He will only accept our willing obedience.

Neither should we follow the example of that man of Jerusalem, who, despite seeing the abomination of desolation planted in the church, would not obey his Lord and refused to flee Jerusalem.(562) He reasoned that he would stay and try to warn more people of what was going on. So he remained in the church and continued to warn the people about the abominations and the woes to come. It is very interesting that the historian, Josephus, reveals that this man's name was Jesus.(563)

But all the church members had a choice of following either the example and command of the real Jesus Christ--by willingly separating themselves from their apostate church, or by choosing to follow the example of this false Jesus by remaining in the church to warn about all the abominations going on within it.

What happened to this false christ and those who chose to follow his example by disobeying the real Christ and remaining in the doomed apostate church? They were destroyed right along with the apostate church. And not one Christian perished in this destruction, because these had already obeyed the real Christ and separated from the doomed church to a place of safety outside Jerusalem.(564)

Did this false-christ ever realize that because he chose to disobey God and refused to separate himself from the church, that he was lost along with all the rest of those who followed His example? This false christ blindly continued to proclaim the abominations and woes of the church, until the very end when he did finally wake up to the fact that he was going to lose his eternal life in its destruction!

"...for seven years and five months he continued his wail, his voice did not weaken, nor did he grow weary until, during the siege, when he beheld his prophecies come true, his voice was stopped. For then, as he was making his rounds on the wall, crying in a piercing voice, `Woe, woe once more, to the city, to the people, and to the Temple,' and this time adding, `Woe, woe to myself also,' he was struck by a stone shot from the ballista and killed on the spot, his dying lips still uttering the same portentous words." Jerusalem and Rome: The Writings of Josephus, p 162 (War VI, 5:3).

This man lost both his temporal and eternal life because he disobeyed Christ's command and refused to separate from the apostate church, and not one single soul was reported to have been saved by his choice to remain inside the church and warn the people from within! So by his refusal to separate from the church and by his example of disobedience (even though he continued to cry about all the abominations) he showed that he was a false christ. Thus he died in vain along with all who refused to leave the church in order to be with Christ and His true followers on the outside.

He should have obeyed the Lord and separated from the doomed church, showing by his example of obedience the way of life. Thus others might have taken notice of his example, and saved their own lives. Nevertheless, all were given ample opportunity to escape, and all made their decisions to leave or stay. And those who lost their lives for eternity can only blame it upon their own choice to disobey Christ's command to separate!

This same exact scenario is being repeated today! There is no way that the SDA church can corporately escape the doom awaiting her--probation for the church has closed. And there will be no way that any individual will escape destruction should they choose to remain connected with and a part of the church. The only way to escape God's judgments on the church is to completely separate yourself (including your membership) from the entire SDA corporate church.

Those only who keep all of God's commandments--especially the Sabbath, who bear the fruits of righteousness, who have Christ's perfect character in themselves without spot or wrinkle, who sigh and cry for all the wickedness and abominations done in the church or land, and who are completely separate from sin and sinners, will receive the seal of God, and possibly become a part of the 144,000. But those who refuse to separate themselves from the SDA church will not even have a chance to be a part of the 144,000--even if they had overcome all personal sin!

It is not just being free from all personal sin, but also being free from all corporate sin, that qualifies us for the seal of God and a possible a place among the 144,000! But if we refuse to separate from the SDA church to be with Christ, or neglect to remove our membership from the church books, then we will have no chance at all for either the seal of God or a place among the 144,000. Hence we are lost. Then:

Christ does not want His people--whom He has graven upon the palms of His hands--to be destroyed along with their apostate churches. So He is calling all to come out and completely away from their Babylonian churches, and to join Him and His true people outside of all the churches before the plagues fall.

We cannot hold on to a corrupt church with one hand, and to Jesus with the other! It is either the corrupt, apostate, harlot church, or the pure, spotless and loving Saviour Jesus Christ. No matter how hard this struggle is, no matter how many friends we lose, or how many sneers or how much verbal abuse we have to endure, is not Jesus worth it? Any hardship that we encounter, or the loss of anything or everything we hold dear, is nothing if we may be held in the strong and loving arms of our Saviour!

There is a heaven to win and a hell to shun. And the SDA church is going to hell and not to heaven (see p 59)! God does not want any to be brought down to hell along with the SDA church, but He cannot force us to leave the church. It is a free and willing choice on our part either to leave and join Christ, or to stay in league with the devil and his synagogue. To remain neutral, or to refuse to choose, automatically places us with the devil by default. Either we follow the commandments and sayings of God and gain eternal life, or we follow the commandments and sayings of men and are lost.(570) Either we make God our trust and are blessed,(571) or we make flesh our arm and are cursed.(572) Either we follow God's will in bearing the cross of separation "out of the camp,"(573) or we follow our own will in walking "in the sparks" of our own kindling.(574)

This is exactly what God is also requiring of His honest and faithful people today! And believe me, there are people who know that the SDA church is apostate, but attend it anyway because they are lonely and in need of fellowship. If they knew of a separated home church that was following God's truth, then they would gladly attend it in an instant.

But these home churches of the early Christian era, which were scattered throughout the different countries, were not just isolated independent atoms from each other. They were connected in a Gospel Order form of simple organization for the purpose of fulfilling Christ's prayer of John 17, and for the furtherance of the gospel of God.

This is exactly what God wants His true separated people to do today--unite with Him and with each other and fulfill Christ's prayer of John 17 in a simple Gospel Order form of organization. This organization is not a hierarchy like the churches of Babylon, but Gospel Order under the directions of the Lord.

"The Lord has shown me that gospel order has been too much neglected and feared. That formality should be shunned; but in doing so, order should not be neglected. There is order in heaven. There was order in the church when Christ was upon the earth; and after His departure, order was strictly observed among His apostles. And now in these last days, while God is bringing His children into the unity of faith, there is more real need of order than ever before; for, as God unites His children, Satan and his evil angels are very busy to prevent this unity and to destroy it." Early Writings, p 97.

For further information on Gospel Order, please write to the address given in the front of this book and request our booklet and/or video on this important subject. But if we who have completely separated from all corporate churches and now fellowship in home churches do not unite together in Christ and with each other, in order to finish the work of spreading the gospel, then God will pass us by (just like He has passed by the apostate SDA church and all the rest of the churches of Babylon), and will choose others. May we rise to the occasion and fulfill the work which God is calling us to do so that we do not lose our crowns to others!

But not one of us will be able to fulfill the work God is waiting for us to begin, until we study for ourselves and see that the SDA church is indeed Babylon fallen, and then leave it completely. It is far past the time to ride the fence--being half in and half out of the church! It is no longer time to be hypocrites by crying about all the abominations going on, and yet remaining in all these abominations by keeping our membership in the apostate church. It is time to stand up for God, show ourselves men and women in Christ, and "touch not the unclean" church. Then God can receive us, and be a Father to us, and we can be His sons and daughters.(575) But God will not be our Father, and we cannot be His children, until we fulfill the conditions and break all connection with the unclean Babylonian SDA church!

Thus the abomination of desolation has been planted within the SDA church, and corporate probation is closed: the SDA church has become Babylon fallen. This shows all who will open their eyes to see, and all who will allow their ears to hear, that the foundation, which the entire worldwide SDA church is established upon, is not built on the Rock--Christ Jesus, or the truth, but on error. Thus this Christ-less, Laodicean, corrupt, apostate, Babylonian, SDA church cannot possibly stand, but it will fall suddenly and be destroyed with a sore destruction!

Is the apostate SDA church more precious to you than Jesus? Is the loss of eternal life along with the corrupt SDA church of more value to you than the prospect of eternal life with God outside of the church? The apostate SDA church is destined for destruction and the seven last plagues (see p 77, 86, 90, 98, 117, 119, 266). Will you be among those who lose eternal life by clinging to a harlot church? Or will you choose to completely separate yourself and come into the waiting arms of Jesus outside of the church, making the line of distinction plain and clear between yourself and sin and sinners?

"Here and there an individual member of a family is true to the convictions of his conscience, and is compelled to stand alone in his family or in the church to which he belongs, and is finally compelled, because of the course of those with whom he associates, to separate himself from their companionship. The line of demarkation is made distinct. One stands upon the word of God, the others upon the traditions and sayings of men." Review and Herald, vol 3, p 169.

1868-- Church leaders declared to be asleep and paralyzed by Satan. Ministers declared unfaithful. Allowed Satan to plant his hellish banner in midst. Church has departed from light like ancient Israel. Christ and His Spirit are quenched. Two classes of SDA's--commandment keepers and those who only profess to be (p 13-18).

1890-- Satan to work through leadership. Church confederating with world. Reproof rejected. Same evil spirit from Minneapolis active. Baal is the choice of many. Sacred trust betrayed. Lack of moral and spiritual power throughout conferences. Greatest evils in largest churches. Church has fallen, is likened to foolish virgins. If leadership accepted 1888 message could have been in heaven by now. Warning that antichrist will be respected by leadership. Historic doctrines to be ignored and another foundation manufactured. Historic pillars will be removed and replaced with falsehoods (p 44-51).

1894-- Distance to papacy lessened. God's truth misrepresented. People asleep. God is dishonored. General Conference can become place of greatest peril and darkness. Warning to return to God or judgments will fall. General Conference president being placed where God alone should be and becoming similar to pope (p 61-64).

1895-- Warning that soon many to lose eternal life. General Conference to control all institutions, is already becoming corrupt and following in the track of Romanism. Church making void God's law, and warned not to exalt Sunday. Church working to make humanity as God. Warning again of becoming Babylon of Revelation 18:2 if church unites with world. Possibility of separation from church warned about. Holy Spirit to be taken from church and given to others (p 64-69).

1896-- Declared that the General Conference Session delegates would have crucified Christ if possible. Leadership killing message of Christ's Righteousness of the third angel. General Conference bears no divine credentials, its voice is not to be respected, and is not to be as God to people. Scheme of consolidation being enacted. Evil spirit of Minneapolis still cherished and will always be. Warning not to lower the importance of Sabbath. History of Jewish nation to be repeated in church. Warning about the possibility of separation being necessary (p 70-80).

1897-- Many to stand in SDA pulpits with the hellish torch of Satan. Faithful ministers to be removed. Many will give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Rebellion and apostasy in very midst. True SDA's to denounce as such. Those who apostatize voice words of the dragon. Unbelief is established. God wants General Conference leaders to be removed from office. None can maintain neutral ground. Lord's work is being hindered and sealing process is being delayed. Warning that Jerusalem became Babylon (p 81- 86).

1898-- If continue disobedience, then Jerusalem represents church. Christ weeps. Cause of Christ to be betrayed. Faithful SDA ministers being dropped out of service. General Conference becoming parent over entire church interests. Warning to SDA institutions and conferences to remain separate from General Conference control. Soon God will be obliged to strike a blow to deliver His people. Church beginning to be built on sand (p 86-89).

1901-- General Conference no longer as voice of God to our people. REJECTED LATTER RAIN AGAIN! Told God's Spirit to go away until they call for him. Call to let every yoke of General Conference control be broken, and to cease to send all tithes and offerings through the "regular lines" of the church (p 95-98).

1903-- 1901 General Conference Session was greatest sorrow to Sister White--NO CHANGE WAS MADE! Woe of heaven pronounced against some. Delegates chose to reform church structure and organization after pattern of papacy. Warning that no kings, popes, or rulers are to be in church. Church not the temple of the Lord, but similar to tower of Babel. Church denounced as harlot of Babylon, but not Babylon fallen. Satan to reform church through Series of Apostasy. If apostasy occurs, church will be set aside and others chosen to carry on God's work. Very elect to be deceived if possible, and God's people must separate from all that is not godly in justice and judgment (p 101-112).

1904-- God's work is being hindered. Some leadership under guidance of evil angels, and God condemns them. True SDA's not to follow leadership, but must speak out and expose deceptions. Testimonies being rejected for wisdom of men who follow Lucifer. Call to stand apart from all who follow downward path and not heed heavenly instructions (p 113-116).

1905-- Traitors among membership. Church structure and organization voted in 1903 will result in loss of many souls. Some are departing from faith, but remaining in church and undermining historic pillars. Will cherish rebellion to bitter, bitter end. Christ calls God's true people to come out and leave the camp of Satan and join the camp of God--no longer be a mixed-multitude. If accept false theories, apostasy from truth occurs, which will continue till Christ comes, and great will be the fall of the church (p 116-121).

1906-- Spirit of wickedness in church to make void the law of God. Call to not unify with those departing from the historic faith. God will profane the SDA church, and all left within her wickedness will be destroyed. Must separate away from those who place themselves on the side of the enemy (p 121-124).

--The church leadership have turn their backs on the Lord, given up God's Seventh-day Sabbath themselves and are leading our SDA people to do the same. Sunday is being exalted. SDA churches are worshipping on Sunday. Sunday is called the Lord's day. The Abomination of Desolation has been planted in the church--which is the last sign for all of God's true people to flee without delay (p 245-256).

26. "Had Adventists, after the great disappointment in 1844, held fast their faith and followed on unitedly in the opening providence of God, receiving the message of the third angel, and in the power of the Holy Spirit proclaiming it to the world, they would have seen the salvation of God. The Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts. The work would have been completed and Christ would have come, ere this, to receive His people to their reward. But in the period of doubt and uncertainty that followed the great disappointment, many of the advent believers yielded up their faith....Thus the work was hindered and the world was left in darkness." Evangelism, p 695.

"If all who had labored unitedly in the work in 1844 had received the third angel's message, and proclaimed it in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts. A flood of light would have been shed upon the world. Years ago the inhabitance of the earth would have been warned, the closing work completed, and Christ would have come for the redemption of His people." Spirit of Prophecy, vol 4, p 291.

27. "The history of Achan teaches the solemn lesson that for one man's sin the displeasure of God will rest upon a people or a nation till the transgression is searched out and punished. Sin is corrupting in its nature. One man infected with its deadly leprosy may communicate the taint to thousands. Those who occupy responsible positions as guardians of the people are false to their trust if they do not faithfully search out and reprove sin." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 2, p 996.

30. "Satan is working that the history of the Jewish nation may be repeated in the experience of those who claim to believe present truth." Selected Messages, book 2, p 111. (NOTE--By this important testimony anyone can see if the church is following Christ or Satan. If the church is repeating the history of the Jews, then Satan is their leader. They will repeat the same errors, and will end up the same way--being destroyed!)

"Men of experience have seen stealthy hands slipping the bolts that Satan might enter; yet they have held their peace with apparent indifference as to the results.(A)...These persons do not realize that God holds them responsible for every advantage gained by the foe who is admitted to the fort. The desolation and ruin following lie at the door of the unfaithful sentinels, who, by their neglect, become agents in the hands of the adversary to win souls to destruction." Testimonies, vol 4, p 211-12.

33. "What constitutes the faith of Jesus...Jesus becoming our sin-bearer that He might become our sin-pardoning Saviour. He took our sins that we might take His righteousness. And faith in the ability of Christ to save us amply and fully and entirely is the faith of Jesus." Selected Messages, book 3, p 172.

35. "A spirit contrary to the spirit of Christ would deny Him, whatever the profession. Men may deny Christ by evilspeaking, by foolish talking, by words that are untruthful or unkind. They may deny Him by shunning life's burdens, by the pursuit of sinful pleasure. They may deny Him by conforming to the world, by uncourteous behavior, by the love of their own opinions, by justifying self, by cherishing doubt, borrowing trouble, and dwelling in darkness. In all these ways they declare that Christ is not in them. And `Whosoever shall deny Me before men,' He says, `him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.'" Desire of Ages, p 357.

"If those to whom the light of heaven is presented reject it, they reject Christ. They reject the only provision whereby they may be cleansed from pollution. They crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame. To them it will be said, `I never knew you: depart from Me.' God will assuredly avenge the death of His Son." Review and Herald, vol 4, p 148-49.

39. "The evil servant says in his heart, `My Lord delayeth His coming.' He does not say that Christ will not come. He does not scoff at the idea of His second coming. But in his heart and by his actions and words he declares that the Lord's coming is delayed. He banishes from the minds of others the conviction that the Lord is coming quickly. His influence leads men to presumptuous, careless delay. They are confirmed in their worldliness and stupor. Earthly passions, corrupt thoughts, take possession of the mind....He mingles with the world. Like grows with like in transgression. It is a fearful assimilation. With the world he is taken in the snare. `The Lord of that servant shall come...in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites.'" Desire of Ages, p 635.

"The advent of Christ will surprise the false teachers. They are saying, `Peace and safety.' Like the priests and teachers before the fall of Jerusalem, they look for the church to enjoy earthly prosperity and glory. The signs of the times they interpret as foreshadowing this. But what saith the Word of Inspiration? `Sudden destruction cometh upon them.'" Desire of Ages, p 635.

"There will be a hatred kindled against the testimonies which is satanic. The workings of Satan will be to unsettle the faith of the churches in them, for this reason: Satan cannot have so clear a track to bring in his deceptions and bind up souls in his delusions if the warnings and reproofs and counsels of the Spirit of God are heeded." Selected Messages, book 1, p 48.

"The enemy will set everything in operation to uproot the confidence of the believers in the pillars of our faith in the messages of the past, which have placed us upon the elevated platform of eternal truth, and which have established and given character to the work. The Lord God of Israel has led out His people, unfolding to them truth of heavenly origin....

"The truth for this time is precious, but those whose hearts have not been broken by falling on the Rock Christ Jesus, will not see and understand what is truth. They will accept that which pleases their ideas, and will begin to manufacture another foundation than that which is laid. They will flatter their own vanity and esteem, thinking that they are capable of removing pillars of our faith, and replacing them with pillars they have devised. Notebook Leaflets, p 61-62.

46. "In every age there is given to men their day of light and privilege, a probationary time in which they may become reconciled to God. But there is a limit to this grace. Mercy may plead for years and be slighted and rejected; but there comes a time when mercy makes her last plea. The heart becomes so hardened that it ceases to respond to the Spirit of God. Then the sweet, winning voice entreats the sinner no longer, and reproofs and warnings cease." Desire of Ages, p 587.

48. "What a lesson is this to men holding positions of responsibility today in the church of God! What a solemn warning to deal faithfully with wrongs that bring dishonor to the cause of truth! Let none who claim to be the depositaries of God's law flatter themselves that the regard they may outwardly show toward the commandments will preserve them from the exercise of divine justice. Let none refuse to be reproved for evil, nor charge the servants of God with being too zealous in endeavoring to cleanse the camp from evildoing....A neglect to repent and to render willing obedience will bring men and women today as serious consequences as came upon ancient Israel." Prophets and Kings, p 416-17.

51. "God has a controversy with all who practice the least injustice; for in so doing they reject the authority of God and imperil their interest in the atonement, the redemption which Christ has undertaken for every son and daughter of Adam. Will it pay to take a course abhorrent to God?" Testimonies to Ministers, p 373.

53. "What was Christ's grief to see the Jews fixing their own destiny beyond redemption! He alone could comprehend the significance of their rejection, betrayal, and condemnation of the Son of God. His last hope for the Jewish nation was gone. Nothing could avert her doom. By the representatives of the nation God was denied as their ruler....Henceforth the Jewish nation, as a nation, was as a branch severed from the vine--a dead fruitless branch, to be gathered up and burned...dead--dead in trespasses and sins--without a Saviour." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 5, p 1149.

"The Christian life is constantly an onward march. Jesus sits as a refiner and purifier of His people; and when His image is perfectly reflected in them, they are perfect and holy, and prepared for translation. A great work is required of the Christian. We are exhorted to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." Testimonies, vol 1, p 340.

58. "Satan has the ability to suggest doubt and to devise objections to the pointed testimony that God sends, and many think it a virtue, a mark of intelligence in them, to be unbelieving and to question and quibble. Those who desire to doubt will have plenty of room. God does not propose to remove all occasion for unbelief. He gives evidence, which must be carefully investigated with a humble mind and a teachable spirit, and all should decide from the weight of evidence. God gives sufficient evidence for the candid mind to believe; but he who turns from the weight of evidence because there are a few things which he cannot make plain to finite understanding will be left in the cold, chilling atmosphere of unbelief and questioning doubts, and will make shipwreck of faith." Testimonies, vol 5, p 675-76.

63. "Obedience is required; and unless you obey you will stand on worse than neutral ground. Unless you are favored with the blessings of God you have His curse. He requires you to be willing and obedient, and says that you shall eat the good of the land. A bitter curse is pronounced on those who come not up to the help of the Lord. `Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.' Satan and his angels are in the field to oppose every advance step that God's people take, therefore the help of everyone is required." Testimonies, vol 2, p 166.

"Christ foresaw that the undue assumption of authority practiced by the scribes and Pharisees would not cease with the dispersion of the Jews....His fearful denunciations of the scribes and Pharisees, and His warnings to the people not to follow these blind leaders, were placed on record as an admonition to future generations. With the many warnings against false teachers, why are the people so ready to commit the keeping of their souls to the clergy?" Spirit of Prophecy, vol 4, p 414-15.

"Multitudes, trusting implicitly to their pastors, refused to listen to the warning;(A) and others, though convinced of the truth, dared not confess it, lest they should be `Put out of the synagogue.' The message which God had sent for the testing and purification of the church revealed all too surely how great was the number who had set their affections on this world rather than upon Christ." Great Controversy, p 380.

"Since the great facts of faith, connected with the history of holy men of old, have been opened to me in vision; also the important fact that God has nowhere lightly regarded the sin of the apostate, I have been more than ever convinced that ignorance as to these facts, and the wily advantage taken of this ignorance by some who know better, are the grand bulwarks of infidelity." Selected Messages, book 3, p 101.

66. "Only obedience to the requirements of heaven will keep man from apostasy. God has bestowed upon man great light and many blessings; but unless this light and these blessings are accepted, they are no security against disobedience and apostasy. When those whom God has exalted to positions of high trust turn from Him to human wisdom, their light becomes darkness." Prophets and Kings, p 83.

"No superiority of rank, dignity, or worldly wisdom, no position in sacred office, will preserve men from sacrificing principle when left to their own deceitful hearts. Those who have been regarded as worthy and righteous prove to be ringleaders in apostasy and examples in indifference and in abuse of God's mercies....

"It is with reluctance that the Lord withdraws His presence from those who have been blessed with great light and who have felt the power of the Word in ministering to others. They were once His faithful servants, favored with His presence and guidance; but they departed from Him and led others into error, and therefore are brought under the divine displeasure." Testimonies, vol 5, p 212.

67. "The apostasy prevailing today is similar to that which in the prophet's day overspread Israel. In the exaltation of the human above the divine, in the praise of popular leaders, in the worship of mammon, and in the placing of the teachings of science above the truths of revelation, multitudes today are following after Baal." Prophets and Kings, p 170.

69. "The mastermind in the confederacy of evil is ever working to keep out of sight the words of God and to bring into full view the opinions of men. He means that we shall not hear the voice of God saying: `This is the way, walk ye in it.' Through educational processes he is doing all in his power to obscure heaven's light." Testimonies, vol 8, p 305.

70. "If God has any new light to communicate, He will let His chosen and beloved understand it, without their going to have their minds enlightened by hearing those who are in darkness and error....I saw that neither young nor old should attend their meetings; for it is wrong to thus encourage them while they teach error that is a deadly poison to the soul and teach for doctrines the commandments of men." Early Writings, p 124.

"Every honest soul that may be deceived by these disaffected ones, will have the true light in regard to them, if every angel from heaven has to visit them, to enlighten their minds....As we near the judgment, all will manifest their true character, and it will be made clear to what company they belong. The sieve is moving. Let us not say: Stay Thy hand, O God. The church must be purged, and it will be." Testimonies, vol 1, p 99-100.

72. "The same masterful mind that plotted against the faithful in ages past is still seeking to rid the earth of those who fear God and obey His law. Satan will excite indignation against the humble minority who conscientiously refuse to accept popular customs and traditions....Persecuting rulers, ministers, and church members will conspire against them. With voice and pen, by boasts, threats, and ridicule, they will seek to overthrow their faith. By false representations and angry appeals they will stir up the passions of the people." Testimonies, vol 5, p 450.

"After a long and severe conflict, the faithful few decided to dissolve all union with the apostate church if she refused to free herself from falsehood and idolatry. They saw that separation was an absolute necessity if they would obey the word of God. They dared not tolerate errors fatal to their own souls, and set an example which would imperil the faith of their children and children's children." Spirit of Prophecy, vol 4, p 46.

"I was shown the necessity of those who believe that we are having the last message of mercy, being separate from those who are daily imbibing new errors....If God has delivered us from such darkness and error, we should stand fast in the liberty wherewith He has set us free and rejoice in the truth. 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....

74. "Satan and his angels were busily engaged in seeking to attract the minds of as many as possible from the light. The company who rejected it were left in darkness...and many were weighed in the balance and found wanting. They loudly claimed to be Christians, yet in almost every particular failed to follow Christ. Satan exulted at the state of the professed followers of Jesus. He had them in his snare. He led the majority to leave the straight path, and they were trying to climb up to heaven some other way." Early Writings, p 246-47.

79. "Satan has many in his employ, but is most successful when he can use professed Christians for his satanic work. And the greater their influence, the more elevated their position, the more knowledge they profess of God and His service, the more successfully can he use them. Whosoever entices to sin is his agent." Testimonies, vol 5, p 137.

81. "Those who have a hold of the truth theoretically, with their fingertips as it were, who have not brought its principles into the inner sanctuary of the soul, but have kept the vital truth in the outer court, will see nothing sacred in the past history of this people which has made them what they are..." Notebook Leaflets, p 61-62.

82. "Many stumble and fall, apostatizing from the faith they once advocated. Those who apostatize in time of trial will, to secure their safety, bear false witness, and betray their brethren. Christ has warned us of this, that we may not be surprised at the unnatural, cruel course of those who reject the light." Desire of Ages, p 630.

83. "Character cannot be changed when Christ comes, nor just as a man is about to die. Character building must be done in this life. We fear that repentance will come to the self-indulgent, tainted soul all too late. A few resolves, a few tears, will never reverse a guilty past life nor blot out of the books of heaven the transgressions, the willful, knowing sins(A) of those who have had the precious light of truth, and can explain the Scriptures to others, while sin and iniquity are drunk up like the stolen waters. As though written with an iron pen, they may be found lead in the rock forever." Testimonies to Ministers, p 430.

88. "The forces of darkness will unite with human agents who have given themselves into the control of Satan, and the same scenes that were exhibited at the trial, rejection and crucifixion of Christ will be revived. Through yielding to satanic influences, men will be transformed into fiends; and those who were created in the image of God, who were formed to honor and glorify their Creator, will become the habitation of dragons, and Satan will see in an apostate race his masterpiece of evil--men who reflect his own image." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 7, p 974.

"In Abraham's day the people of Sodom openly defied God and His law; and there followed the same wickedness, the same corruption, the same unbridled indulgence, that had marked the antediluvian world. The inhabitants of Sodom passed the limits of forbearance, and there was kindled against them the fire of God's vengeance." Prophets and Kings, p 297.

92. "Jerusalem is a representation of what the church will be if it refuses to walk in the light that God has given. Jerusalem was favored of God as the depositary of sacred trusts. But her people perverted the truth, and despised all entreaties and warnings. They would not respect His counsels. The temple courts were polluted with merchandise and robbery. Selfishness and love of mammon, envy and strife, were cherished. Everyone sought for gain from his quarter....By rejecting God's warnings in this our day, men are repeating the sin of Jerusalem." Testimonies, vol 8, p 67-68.

"If we do not heed these warnings, the evils that ruined Jerusalem will come upon us. Pride, self-exaltation, neglect of the poor, and partiality to the wealthy--these were the sins of Jerusalem....We shall be tempted to be covetous, to be avaricious, to cultivate an insatiable desire for more. If we yield to this temptation, it will bring upon us the same perils that fell upon ancient Jerusalem." Testimonies, vol 8, p 133-34.

94. "Honesty and policy will not work together in the same mind. In time, either policy will be expelled, and truth and honesty reign supreme, or, if policy is cherished, honesty will be forgotten. They are never in agreement; they have nothing in common. One is the prophet of Baal, and the other is the true prophet of God." Testimonies, vol 5, p 96.

"Those who are controlled by policy rather than by principle are not to be trusted. They will pervert the truth, conceal facts, and construe the words of others to mean that which was never intended. They will employ flattering words, while the poison of asps is under their tongue. He who does not earnestly seek the divine guidance will be deceived by their smooth words and their artful plans." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 2, p 1005.

"God has a church. It is not the great cathedral, neither is it the national establishment, neither is it the various denominations; it is the people who love God and keep His commandments. `Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them' (Matt. 18:20). Where Christ is even among the humble few, this is Christ's church, for the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone constitute a church....They that will be doers of the Word are building securely, and the tempest and storm of persecution will not shake their foundation, because their souls are rooted to the Eternal Rock." Upward Look, p 315.

96. "Those who love and keep the commandments of God are most obnoxious to the synagogue of Satan,(A) and the powers of evil will manifest their hatred toward them to the fullest extent possible....John foresaw the conflict, and said, `The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.'" SDA Bible Commentary, vol 7, p 974.

97. "Through the long centuries that have passed since Elijah's time, the record of his lifework has brought inspiration and courage to those who have been called to stand for the right in the midst of apostasy. And for us, `Upon whom the ends of the world are come,' it has special significance. History is being repeated....`How long halt ye between two opinions?' Elijah cried; `if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him.'" Prophets and Kings, p 177, 188.

98. "Some enter the ministry without deep love to God or to their fellow men. Selfishness and self-indulgence will be manifested in the lives of such; and while these unconsecrated, unfaithful watchmen are serving themselves instead of feeding the flock and attending to their pastoral duties, the people perish for want of proper instruction." Testimonies, vol 4, p 396.

"Without the Spirit of God a knowledge of His Word is of no avail. The theory of truth, unaccompanied by the Holy Spirit, cannot quicken the soul and sanctify the heart....Without the enlightenment of the Spirit, men will not be able to distinguish truth from error, and they will fall under the masterful temptations of Satan." Christ's Object Lessons, p 408-09.

100. "His [Satan's] plans are laid deeper, and more covered with a religious garment to hide their deformity. The power of Satan now to tempt and deceive is ten-fold greater than it was in the days of the apostles. His power has increased, and it will increase, until it is taken away. His wrath and hate grow stronger as his time to work draws near its close." Spiritual Gifts, vol 2, p 277.

101. The complete unedited version is only found in Last Day Events from the Letters and Manuscripts of E.G. White. Portions of the edited letter can be found scattered throughout different books, such as; Upward Look, p 356; SDA Bible Commentary, vol 7, p 911; Selected Messages, book 2, p 334-35, 377-82; book 3, p 384-85; Evangelism, p 218, 235-36, 319.

107. "When a person once neglects to heed the invitations, reproofs, and warnings of the Spirit of God, his conscience becomes seared, and the next time he is admonished, it will be more difficult to yield obedience than before. And thus with every repetition. Conscience is the voice of God, heard amid the conflict of human passions; when it is resisted, the Spirit of God is grieved." Testimonies, vol 5, p 120.

111. "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 the faith of the Son of God, [the third angel's message] has been slighted, spoken against, ridiculed, and rejected." Testimonies to Ministers, p 468.

112. This testimony is found in the reprint of Some History, Some Experience and Some Facts, p 1, by A.T. Jones. Also in Are Seventh-day Adventists Doing God's Will? p 10-11, by W.L. Brisbin. This testimony is denied to exist by the White Estates, yet this writer has personally talked with a dear sister who said she had seen and examined this pamphlet herself. Besides, there are other testimonies which say almost as much in the same words.

113. "We offer insult to the Prince of life, and put Him to shame before the synagogue of Satan and before the heavenly universe when we refuse to listen to His delegated messengers, and instead listen to the agents of Satan, who would draw the soul away from Christ. So long as one does this, he can find no hope or pardon, and he will finally lose all desire to be reconciled to God." Desire of Ages, p 325.

114. "...unless the truth is enthroned in the heart, and a thorough transition takes place from darkness to light, those who handle sacred responsibilities are ministers of darkness, blind leaders of the blind. `Clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots.'" Testimonies to Ministers, p 81.

119. "Under the demonstration of the Holy Spirit's power, the Jews saw their guilt in refusing the evidence that God had sent; but they would not yield their wicked resistance. Their obstinacy became more and more determined, and worked the ruin of their souls. It was not that they could not yield, for they could, yet would not. It was not alone that they had been guilty, and deserving of wrath, but that they armed themselves with the attributes of Satan, and determinedly continued to be opposed to God. Every day, in their refusal to repent, they took up their rebellion afresh. They were preparing to reap that which they had sown. The wrath of God is not declared against men merely because of the sins which they committed, but for choosing to continue in a state of resistance, and, although they have light and knowledge, repeating their sins of the past. If they would submit, they would be pardoned; but they are determined not to yield. They defy God by their obstinacy. These souls have given themselves to Satan, and he controls them according to his will." Testimonies to Ministers, p 74-75.

120. "If men resist the warnings the Lord sends them, they become even leaders in evil practices; such men assume to exercise the prerogatives of God--they presume to do that which God Himself will not do in seeking to control the minds of men. They introduce their own methods and plans, and through their misconceptions of God they weaken the faith of others in the truth, and bring in false principles that will work like leaven to taint and corrupt our institutions and churches." Testimonies to Ministers, p 366.

121. "In the days of Christ the leaders and teachers of Israel were powerless to resist the work of Satan. They were neglecting the only means by which they could have withstood evil spirits. It was by the word of God that Christ overcame the wicked one. The leaders of Israel professed to be the expositors of God's word, but they had studied it only to sustain their traditions, and enforce their man-made observances....Thus infidelity was sown broadcast. God's word was robbed of its power, and evil spirits worked their will." Desire of Ages, p 257.

122. "He [Christ] placed in their [Christ's followers] possession truths of which they little suspected the value. He had been with them a long time, giving them lessons in divine truth; but their previous religious education, the erroneous interpretation which they had heard the Jewish teachers place on the Scriptures, kept their minds clouded." Testimonies, vol 6, p 248.

123. "The same evil spirit that tempted Christ in the wilderness, and that possessed the maniac of Capernaum, controlled the unbelieving Jews. But with them he assumed an air of piety, seeking to deceive them as to their motives in rejecting the Saviour. Their condition was more helpless than that of the demoniac, for they felt no need of Christ and were therefore held fast under the power of Satan." Desire of Ages, p 257.

124. "It is impossible to estimate the evil results of removing one of the landmarks fixed by the word of God. Few who venture to do this stop with the rejection of a single truth. The majority continue to set aside one after another of the principles of truth, until they become actual infidels. And this is the object which Satan seeks to accomplish." Spirit of Prophecy, vol 4, p 349.

--A "When a man takes the position that when he has once made a decision he must stand by it, and never to alter his decision, he is on the same ground as was Lucifer when he rebelled against God....Those who hold the position that their views are unchangeable can not be helped; for they place themselves where they are not willing to receive counsel and admonition from their brethren." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 3, p 1161.

128. "Men may seek to strengthen their forces by confederating together, making, as they suppose, strong societies to carry out the plans they have formed....but the One mighty in counsel does not plan with them. Their unbelief in His purposes and work, and their confidence in man, will not permit them to receive the messages He sends." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 4, p 1138.

129. "As soon as man begins to make an iron rule for other men, as soon as he begins to harness up and drive men according to his own mind, he dishonors God and imperils his own soul and the souls of his brethren....We are warned not to trust man, nor to make flesh our arm. A curse is pronounced upon all who do this." Testimonies to Ministers, p 367.

130. "Where the truth is rejected, it opens up a way where false waymarks will be set up, and perils will arise on all sides. Through neglect of seeking the earnest counsel of God, men will be connected with the office, who will form themselves into a ring, to echo the sentiments of him whom they think the most influential...In every branch of the work, men have been departing from the principles laid down by the Lord Jehovah to control the working of His cause. Inexperienced hands and unsanctified minds have been placing their mold upon the work, and self has been woven into it in every branch." Paulson Collection, p 386-87 (November 25, 1890).

"The same danger exists today among the people who profess to be the depositaries of God's law. They are too apt to flatter themselves that the regard in which they hold the commandments will preserve them from the power of divine justice. They refuse to be reproved for evil, and charge God's servants with being too zealous in putting sin out of the camp. A sin-hating God calls upon those who profess to keep His law to depart from all iniquity. Neglect to repent and obey His word will bring as serious consequences upon God's people today as did the same sin upon ancient Israel." Testimonies, vol 4, p 166-67.

132. "The great danger with our people has been that of depending upon men and making flesh their arm. Those who have not been in the habit of searching the Bible for themselves, or weighing evidence, have confidence in the leading men and accept the decisions they make; and thus many will reject the very message God sends to His people, if these leading brethren do not accept them." Testimonies to Ministers, p 106-07.

133. "God wants us to depend upon Him, and not upon man. He desires us to have a new heart; He would give us revealings of light from the throne of God. We should wrestle with every difficulty, but when one controverted point is presented, are you to go to man to find out his opinion, and then to shape your conclusions from his? No, go to God. Tell Him what you want! Take your Bibles and search as for hidden treasures....God can teach you more in one moment by His Holy Spirit, than you can learn from all the great men of earth." Selected Messages, book 1, p 415.

135. "`How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him.'...What astonishing deception and fearful blindness had, like a dark cloud, covered Israel! This blindness and apostasy had not closed about them suddenly; it had come upon them gradually as they had not heeded the word of reproof and warning which the Lord had sent to them because of their pride and their sins." Testimonies, vol 3, p 280-81.

137. "Many are holding the truth with the tips of their fingers. They have had great light and many privileges. Like Capernaum they have been exalted to heaven in this respect. In the time of test and trial that is approaching, they will become apostates unless they put away their pride and self-confidence, unless they have an entire transformation of character." Selected Messages, book 3, p 415.

142. "In churches which have departed from truth and righteousness, is being revealed what human nature will be and do when the love of God is not an abiding principle in the soul. We need not be surprised at anything that may take place now. We need not marvel at any developments of horror." Selected Messages, book 3, p 416.

144. "Individuals are tested and proved a length of time to see if they will sacrifice their idols and heed the counsel of the True Witness. If any will not be purified through obeying the truth, and overcome their selfishness, their pride, and evil passions, the angels of God have their charge: `They are joined to their idols, let them alone,' and they pass on to their work, leaving these with their sinful traits unsubdued, to the control of evil angels." Testimonies, vol 1, p 187.

145. "They walk in the sparks of their own kindling. By their specious reasoning, they confuse the distinction that God designs to have drawn between good and evil. The sacred is brought down on a level with common things. Avarice and selfishness are called by false names; they are called prudence. Their rising up in independence and rebellion, their revenge and stubbornness, in their eyes are proofs of dignity, evidences of a noble mind. They act as though ignorance of divine things were not dangerous and even fatal to the soul; and they prefer their own reasoning to divine revelation, their own plans and human wisdom to the admonitions and commands of God. The piety and conscientiousness of others are called fanaticism, and those who practice truth and holiness are watched and criticized. They deride those who teach and believe the mystery of godliness, `Christ in you, the hope of glory.' The principles underlying these things are not discerned by them; and they go on in wrong-doing, leaving the bars open for Satan to find ready access to the soul." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 4, p 1138.

146. "And when He [Christ] saw a fig tree in the way, He came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, `Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth for ever.' And presently the fig tree withered away....And in the morning, as they passed by they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots." Matthew 21:19, Mark 11:20.

149. "The world is the chief enemy of religion. The satanic forces are constantly at work through the world, and those who are professed Christians, yet associated with the world in close friendship, are so much one in spirit, aims, and principles of working, that they cannot discern between him who serveth God and him who serveth the world." Testimonies to Ministers, p 270.

150. "The duty of the church to the world is not to come down to their ideas and accept their opinions, their suggestions, but to heed the words of Christ through His servant Paul, (II Cor. 6:14-15 quoted). This means in a special sense marriage with unbelievers, but it covers more ground than this: it means in our instrumentalities ordained of God, in our institutions for health, in our colleges, in our publishing houses." Testimonies to Ministers, p 271.

152. "It is impossible for you to unite with those who are corrupt, and still remain pure. 'What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? (2 Corinthians 6:14-15). God and Christ and the heavenly host would have man know that if he unites with the corrupt he will become corrupt." Review and Herald, vol 4, p 137.

"That day had come to Jerusalem. Jesus wept in anguish over the doomed city, but He could not deliver her. He had exhausted every resource. In rejecting the warnings of God's Spirit, Israel had rejected the only means of help. There was no other power by which they could be delivered." Desire of Ages, p 587.

159. "The church will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. If her moral character and spiritual state do not correspond with the benefits and blessings God has conferred upon her, she will be found wanting....If her talents are unimproved, if her fruit is not perfect before God, if her light has become darkness, she is indeed found wanting." Testimonies, vol 5, p 83-84.

163. "Our most responsible men have made some unwise plans, and have carried them out because they thought their plans were perfect....What folly it is to trust a great mission in the hands of one man, so that he shall mold and fashion it in accordance with his mind, and after his own diseased imagination!...Those who desire to control the work think that none can do it perfectly but themselves, and the cause bears the marks of their defects." Testimonies to Ministers, p 304 (1885).

167. "Just as soon as man separates from God so that his heart is not under the subduing power of the Holy Spirit, the attributes of Satan will be revealed, and he will begin to oppress his fellow men. An influence goes forth from him that is contrary to truth and justice and righteousness. This disposition is manifest in our institutions, not only in the relation of the workers to one another, but in the desire shown by one institution to control all others." Testimonies to Ministers, p 78 (1895).

176. "They [Jews] followed their own standard, walking in the light of the sparks of their own kindling, and they perished in their delusion. They followed the imagination of their own hearts, and God gave them up to be crushed by their own ambition, destroyed by the falsehoods and delusions upon which they had built." Review and Herald, vol 3, p 466.

177. "But the heart of the work, the great center, has been enfeebled by the mismanagement of men who have not kept pace with their leader. Satan has diverted their money and their capabilities into wrong channels....The whole body is sick because of mismanagement and miscalculation. The people to whom God has entrusted eternal interests...the keepers of light that is to illuminate the whole world, have lost their bearings." Testimonies to Ministers, p 397.

178. "Whenever men choose their own way, they place themselves in controversy with God. They will have no place in the kingdom of heaven, for they are at war with the very principles of heaven. In disregarding the will of God, they are placing themselves on the side of Satan, the enemy of God and man." Mount of Blessings, p 52.

179. "...when men in any line of God's work seek to bring the minds and talents of the Lord's agents under their control, they have assumed a jurisdiction over their fellowmen that they cannot maintain without injustice and iniquity. The Lord has placed no man as judge, either of the pen or the voice of God's workman." Testimonies to Ministers, p 293.

"When the law of God is most derided and brought into the most contempt, then it is time for every true follower of Christ, for those whose hearts have been given to God, and who are fixed to obey God, to stand unflinchingly for the faith once delivered to the saints." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 7, p 981-82.

185. "Christ calls them workers of iniquity, because they are deceivers, having on the garments of righteousness to hide the deformity of their characters, the inward wickedness of their unholy hearts....The Lord tells us if it were possible they would deceive the very elect. The sheep's clothing seems so real, so genuine, the wolf cannot be discerned only as we go to God's great moral standard and there find that they are transgressors of the law of Jehovah." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 5, p 1087-88.

186. "The men whom he [Satan] makes his instruments in doing this work are blinded and do not see what they are doing until they are so deeply involved in guilt that they think it would be useless to try to recover themselves,(A) and they risk all and continue their course of transgression to the bitter end." Testimonies, vol 5, p 295.

188. "I greatly fear for the church. As Paul expressed it: `I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.' Paul then explains that it is by means of corrupt teachers that the enemy will assail the faith of the church. `For such are false apostles,' he says, `deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness.'" Testimonies, vol 5, p 297.

189. "We are required to obey the law of God, and are not only instructed as to the penalty of disobedience, but we have narrated for our benefit and warning the history of Adam and Eve in paradise....Their example is given us as a warning against disobedience, that we may be sure that the wages of sin is death, that God's retributive justice never fails, and that He exacts from His creatures a strict regard for His commandments." Testimonies, vol 4, p 11.

191. "If there are wrongs in the church, they should receive immediate attention. Some may have to be sharply rebuked. This is not doing the erring one any wrong. The faithful physician of the soul cuts deep, that no pestilent matter may be left to burst forth again. After the reproof has been given, then comes repentance and confession, and God will freely pardon and heal. He always pardons when confession is made." Review and Herald, vol 4, p 245.

192. "It is a solemn statement that I make to the church, that not one in twenty whose names are registered upon the church books are prepared to close their earthly history, and would be as verily without God and without hope in the world as the common sinner....This half-and-half work is a constant denying of Christ, rather than a confessing of Christ." Christian Service, p 41.

"Half-hearted Christians are worse than infidels; for their deceptive words and noncommittal position lead many astray. The infidel shows his colors. The lukewarm Christian deceives both parties. He is neither a good worldling nor a good Christian. Satan uses him to do a work that no one else can do." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 7, p 963.

"Today men are choosing Barabbas, and saying, crucify Christ....They will go over the same ground as the Jewish priests and rulers did in their treatment of Christ. He, the Son of God, and an innocent man, was murdered because He told men truths that it did not please them to hear." Testimonies to Ministers, p 131.

"Something comes to test them, and they are overthrown....Let every soul, whatever may be his sphere of action, make sure that the truth is implanted in the heart by the power of the Spirit of God. Unless this is made certain, those who preach the Word will betray holy trust." Selected Messages, book 3, p 411.

200. "The delusions of the archenemy of God and man will have great power. Those who have given their affections to any leader but Christ will find themselves under the control, body, soul, and spirit of an infatuation that is so entrancing that under its power souls turn away from hearing the truth to believe a lie. They are ensnared and taken, and by their every action, they cry, `Release unto us Barabbas, but crucify Christ.'" Manuscript 40, 1897 (Selected Messages, book 3, p 416).

203. "The Lord would have His people bury political questions. On these themes silence is eloquence. Christ calls upon His followers to come into unity on the pure gospel principles which are plainly revealed in the word of God. We cannot with safety vote for political parties; for we do not know whom we are voting for. We cannot with safety take part in any political schemes....The people of God are not to vote to place such men in office; for when they do this, they are partakers with them of the sins which they commit while in office....It is a mistake for you to link your interests with any political party, to cast your vote with them or for them....

207. "There is no greater evidence that those who have received great light do not appreciate that light, than is given by their refusal to let their light shine upon those in darkness, and devoting their time and energies in celebrating forms and ceremonies. Thoughts of the inner work, the necessary purity of heart, are not entertained. The absence of harmony with God becomes apparent. The light grows dim, goes out; the candlestick has been removed. There is much exercising of man-made authority by those to whom God has not given His wisdom because they did not feel the need of the wisdom from above." Review and Herald, vol 3, p 273.

210. "All who occupy positions in our institutions will be tested. If they will make Christ their pattern, He will give them wisdom and knowledge and understanding...If they fail of keeping the way of the Lord, another spirit will control the mind and judgment....They will be a hindrance and a snare. The time has come when everything is to be shaken that can be shaken, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Every case is coming in review before God; He is measuring the temple and the worshipers therein." Testimonies, vol 7, p 219.

211. "...[many are] trained to think that they must not give expression to sentiments that differ from those of their chief. O that they had broken the yoke! O that they had called sin by its right name! Then they would not be regarded in the heavenly courts as men who, though bearing weighty responsibilities, have failed of speaking the truth in reproof of that which has been in disobedience to God's word....they have seen wrong transactions and heard wrong words spoken, and seen wrong principles followed, and have not spoken reproof, for fear that they would be repulsed.

213. "Those who are controlled by policy rather than principle are not to be trusted. They will pervert the truth, conceal facts, and construe the words of others to mean that which was never intended. They will employ flattering words, while the poison of asps is under their tongue. He who does not earnestly seek the divine guidance will be deceived by their smooth words and their artful plans." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 2, p 1005.

214. "I saw that if the false covering had been torn off from the members of the churches, there would have been revealed such iniquity, vileness, and corruption that the most diffident child of God would have had no hesitancy in calling these professed Christians by their right name, children of their father, the devil; for his works they did." Early Writings, p 228.

217. "The enemy is seeking to divert the minds of our brethren and sisters from the work of preparing a people to stand in these last days. His sophistries are designed to lead minds away from the perils and duties of the hour. They estimate as nothing the light that Christ came from heaven to give to John for His people. They teach that the scenes just before us are not of sufficient importance to receive special attention. They make of no effect the truth of heavenly origin and rob the people of God of their past experience, giving them instead a false science." Testimonies, vol 8, p 296.

218. "Balaam knew that the prosperity of Israel depended upon their obedience to God, and that there was no way to cause their overthrow but by seducing them into sin....The plan proposed by Balaam was to separate them from God by enticing them into idolatry. If they could be led to engage in the licentious worship of Baal...their omnipotent Protector would become their enemy...

220. "The passing of the time of 1844 was a period of great events, opening to our astonished eyes the cleansing of the sanctuary transpiring in heaven, and having decided relation to God's people upon the earth, the first and second angels' messages and the third, unfurling the banner on which was inscribed, `The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.' One of the landmarks under this message was the temple of God, seen by His truth-loving people in heaven, and the ark containing the law of God. The light of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment flashed its strong rays in the pathway of the transgressors of God's law. The non-immortality of the wicked is an old landmark. I can call to mind nothing more that can come under the head of the old landmarks." Counsels to Writers and Editors, p 30-31.

222. "Let none seek to tear away the foundations of our faith--the foundations that were laid at the beginning of our work by prayerful study of the Word and by revelation. Upon these foundations we have been building for the last fifty years. Men may suppose that they have found a new way and that they can lay a stronger foundation than that which has been laid. Other foundation can no man lay than that which has been laid." Testimonies, vol 8, p 297.

223. "The Lord commands His people, `Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him.' Here faithful dealing with the sins of those who claim to be children of God is enjoined. Be they men in the most humble condition, or men entrusted with power and responsibility, no partiality is to be shown to those in the wrong, no hypocrisy is to be practiced in dealing with them. If a man's position involves sacred interests, God's watchmen are to be the more earnest and faithful in dealing with him. Not one evil principle will pass uncorrected. If those in the wrong refuse to repent, and to correct their errors, let them be separated from the Lord's work; for the corrupting principles of evil will leaven all with whom they are connected." Review and Herald, vol 3, p 417.

226. "The experience of the past will be repeated. In the future, Satan's superstitions will assume new forms. Errors will be presented in a pleasing and flattering manner. False theories, clothed with garments of light, will be presented to God's people. Thus Satan will try to deceive, if possible, the very elect. Most seducing influences will be exerted, minds will be hypnotized." Testimonies, vol 8, p 293.

227. "Many who profess to be the ministers of Christ have mistaken their Master. They claim to be serving Christ and are not aware that it is Satan's banner under which they are rallying. They may be worldly wise and eager for strife and vainglory, making a show of doing a great work; but God has no use for them." Testimonies, vol 4, p 377.

228. "There is a prospect before us of a continued struggle, at the risk of imprisonment, loss of property, and even of life itself, to defend the law of God, which is made void by the laws of men. In this situation worldly policy will urge an outward compliance with the laws of the land, for the sake of peace and harmony." Testimonies, vol 5, p 712.

"The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God. `Where there is no vision, the people perish.' Satan will work ingeniously, in different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the confidence of God's remnant people in the true testimony." Selected Messages, book 1, p 48.

"Through His Holy Spirit the voice of God has come to us continually in warning and instruction, to confirm the faith of the believers in the spirit of prophecy. Repeatedly the word has come, Write the things that I have given you to confirm the faith of My people in the position they have taken. Time and trial have not made void the instruction given....Those who are indifferent to this light and instruction must not expect to escape the snares which we have been plainly told will cause the rejecters of light to stumble, and fall, and be snared, and be taken." Review and Herald, vol 5, p 341-42.

"Those who stand in defense of the honor of God and maintain the purity of truth at any cost will have manifold trials, as did our Saviour in the wilderness of temptation. While those who have yielding temperaments, who have not courage to condemn wrong, but keep silent when their influence is needed to stand in defense of the right against the pressure, may avoid many heartaches and escape many perplexities, they will also lose a very rich reward, if not their own souls." Testimonies, vol 3, p 302.

239. "The church is built upon Christ as its foundation; it is to obey Christ as its head. It is not to depend upon man, or be controlled by man. Many claim that a position of trust in the church gives them authority to dictate what other men shall believe and what they shall do. This claim God does not sanction." Desire of Ages, p 414.

240. "There are those who, though thought to be serving God, are fast becoming girded about with infidelity. To them crooked paths seem straight; they are living in continual violation of God's truth; corrupt principles are interwoven into their life practice, and wherever they go they sow seeds of evil. In the place of leading others to Christ their influence causes them to question and doubt. They unsettle minds in the truth by entering into speculative theories which draw them away from the truth. They help to forge the fetters of doubt and unbelief, faultfinding and accusing; and souls stumble over them to perdition." Testimonies to Ministers, p 281.

262. "The truth that God has given for His people in these last days should keep them firm when there come into the church those who present false theories. The truth that has stood firm against the attacks of the enemy for more than half a century must still be the confidence and comfort of God's people." Testimonies, vol 9, p 69-70.

263. "Our people need to understand the reasons of our faith and our past experiences. How sad it is that so many of them apparently place unlimited confidence in men who present theories tending to uproot our past experiences and to remove the old landmarks! Those who can so easily be led by a false spirit show that they have been following the wrong captain for some time--so long that they do not discern that they are departing from the faith, or that they are not building upon the true foundation." Selected Messages, book 2, p 25.

264. "The enemy will set everything in operation to uproot the confidence of the believers in the pillars of our faith in the messages of the past, which have placed us upon the elevated platform of eternal truth, and which have established and given character to the work."(A) Selected Messages, book 2, p 388.

323. "Genuine faith will be manifested in good works; for good works are the fruits of faith....Every sin must be renounced as the hateful thing that crucified the Lord of life and glory, and the believer must have a progressive experience by continually doing the works of Christ. It is by continual surrender of the will, by continual obedience that the blessing of justification is retained....Those who are justified by faith must have a heart to keep the way of the Lord." Selected Messages, book 1, p 397.

324. "The soul that lives by faith on Christ desires no other nor greater good than to know and to do the will of God. It is God's will that faith in Christ shall be made perfect by works; He connects the salvation and eternal life of those who believe, with these works, and through them provides for the light of truth to go to all countries and peoples. This is the fruit of the working of God's Spirit." Testimonies, vol 5, p 644.

372. "God cannot use men who, in time of peril, when the strength, courage, and influence of all are needed, are afraid to take a firm stand for the right. He calls for men who will do faithful battle against the wrong, warring against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. It is to such as these that He will speak the words: 'Well done, good and faithful servant...enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.'" Prophets and Kings, p 142.

379. "It is true that spiritualism is now changing its form and, veiling some of its more objectionable features, is assuming a Christian guise....Love is dwelt upon as the chief attribute of God, but it is degraded to a weak sentimentalism, making little distinction between good and evil. God's justice, His denunciations of sin, the requirements of His holy law, are all kept out of sight." Great Controversy, p 557-58.

385. "Its advocates teach that sanctification is an instantaneous work, by which, through faith alone, they attain to perfect holiness. `Only believe,' say they, `and the blessing is yours.'...The testimony of the word of God is against this ensnaring doctrine of faith without works. It is not faith that claims the favor of heaven without complying with the conditions upon which mercy is to be granted, it is presumption..." Great Controversy, p 471-72.

402. "In taking upon Himself man's nature in its fallen condition, Christ did not in the least participate in its sin....Could Satan in the least particular have tempted Christ to sin, he would have bruised the Saviour's head. As it was, he could only touch His heel. Had the head of Christ been touched, the hope of the human race would have perished. Divine wrath would have come upon Christ as it came upon Adam. Christ and the church would have been without hope." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 5, p 1131.

403. "No where does the Bible teach that the atonement of Christ is yet to be completed! This particular doctrine is drawn from the early writings of Seventh-day Adventists....It is to the credit of Adventists that their organization has officially repudiated this position, maintaining that the atonement has already been completed." Martin Speaks Out on the Cults, p 152, by Walter Martin.

405. "Satan is striving continually to bring in fanciful suppositions in regard to the sanctuary, degrading the wonderful representations of God and the ministry of Christ for our salvation into something that suits the carnal mind. He removes its presiding power from the hearts of believers, and supplies its place with fantastic theories invented to make void the truths of the atonement, and destroy our confidence in the doctrines which we have held sacred since the third angel's message was first given. Thus he would rob us of our faith in the very message that has made us a separate people, and has given character and power to our work." Special Testimonies, Series B#7, p 17.

"As the Son of man, He gave us an example of obedience, as the Son of God, He gives us power to obey....He was condemned for our sins, in which he had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. `With His stripes we are healed.'" Desire of Ages, p 24.

409. "May the Lord bless His people with spiritual eye-sight, to see that the children of God and the world can never be in co-partnership. Whosoever will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God....Let us not form unholy bonds of union with the friends of the world, for God has pronounced His curse upon all such unions." Testimonies to Ministers, p 276-77.

410. "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." Review and Herald, vol 4, p 42.

411. "God calls upon us to reach the standard of perfection, and places before us the example of Christ's character. In His humanity, perfected by a life of constant resistance to evil, the Saviour showed that through cooperation with divinity, human beings may in this life attain to perfection of character. This is God's assurance to us that we too may obtain complete victory." Acts of the Apostles, p 531.

412. "Satan is constantly seeking to deceive the followers of Christ with his fatal sophistry that their defective traits of character render it impossible for them to overcome....Let none...regard their defects as incurable. God will give faith and grace to overcome them." Spirit of Prophecy, vol 4, p 314.

414. "He who has the love of God in his heart has no enmity against the law of God, but renders willing obedience to all His commandments, and this constitutes Christianity....Love is the fulfilling of the law; and it is the duty of every child of God to render obedience to His commandments." Sons and Daughters of God, p 51.

416. "Many at the present day say, `Believe, only believe, and live.' Faith and works go together, believing and doing are blended. The Lord requires no less of the soul now, than He required of Adam in paradise before he fell--perfect obedience, unblemished righteousness." Selected Messages, book 1, p 373.

418. "Sanctification means perfect love, perfect obedience, entire conformity to the will of God. If our lives are conformed to the life of Christ through the sanctification of mind, soul, and body, our example will have a powerful influence on the world....we shall never enter the gates of the city of God until we perfect a Christlike character. If we, with trust in God, strive for sanctification, we shall receive it." Upward Look, p 99.

"The work of sanctification is the work of a lifetime; it must go on continually; but this work cannot go on in the heart while the light on any part of the truth is rejected or neglected. The sanctified soul will not be content to remain in ignorance, but will desire to walk in the light and to seek for greater light." Selected Messages, book 1, p 317.

"In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ has given a definition of true sanctification. He lived a life of holiness. He was an object lesson of what His followers are to be....Sanctification is the progressive work of a lifetime. The Lord declares, `This is the will of God, even your sanctification' (1 Thess. 4:3). Is it your will that your desires and inclinations shall be brought into conformity to the divine will?" Upward Look, p 284.

420. "Since the fall of Adam, men in every age have excused themselves for sinning, charging God with their sin, saying that they could not keep His commandments. This is the insinuation Satan cast at God in heaven. But the plea, `I cannot keep the commandments,' need never be presented to God; for before Him stands the Saviour, the marks of the crucifixion upon His body, a living witness that the law can be kept. It is not that men cannot keep the law, but that they will not." Review and Herald, vol 4, p 303.

421. "Only for those who return to their allegiance to God, only for those who obey the law, that they have violated, will the blood of Christ avail....Christ bears the penalty of man's past transgressions, and by imparting to man His righteousness, makes it possible for man to keep God's holy law." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 6, p 1092.

422. "Christ came to the world to counteract Satan's falsehood that God had made a law which men could not keep. Taking humanity upon Himself, he came to this earth and by a life of obedience, showed that it is possible for man perfectly to obey the law. Those who accept Christ as their Saviour, becoming partakers of His divine nature, are enabled to follow His example, living in obedience to every precept of the law. Through the merits of Christ, man is to show by his obedience that he could be trusted in heaven, that he would not rebel." The Faith I Live By, p 114.

"When the reasoning of philosophy has banished the fear of God's judgments; when religious teachers are pointing forward to long ages of peace and prosperity, and the world are absorbed in their rounds of business and pleasure, planting and building, feasting and merry-making, rejecting God's warnings and mocking His messengers,--then it is that sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape." Patriarchs and Prophets, p 104.

441. "Angels were all about us as we marched over the sea of glass to the gate of the city [of heaven]. Jesus raised His mighty, glorious arm, laid hold of the pearly gate, swung it back on its glittering hinges, and said to us, `You have washed your robes in My blood, stood stiffly for My truth, enter in.' We all marched in and felt that we had a perfect right in the city." Early Writings, p 17.

442. "Through all ages and in every nation those who believe that Jesus can and will save them personally from sin, are the elect and chosen of God; they are His peculiar treasure. They obey His call, and come out from the world and separate themselves from every unclean thought and unholy practice." Review and Herald, vol 3, p 69.

443. "Sanctification means perfect love, perfect obedience, entire conformity to the will of God. If our lives are conformed to the life of Christ through the sanctification of mind, soul, and body, our example will have a powerful influence on the world....we shall never enter the gates of the city of God until we perfect a Christlike character. If we, with trust in God, strive for sanctification, we shall receive it." Upward Look, p 99.

458. "The work of the enemy is not abrupt, it is not sudden and startling; it is a secret undermining of the strongholds of principle. It commences in small things,--the neglect to be true to God and to rely upon Him wholly, the disposition to concede to the demands of the world for the sake of gaining numbers on the church-book.(A) But soon a wide gulf is opened between the position of the shepherd of the flock and the plain truths of the word of God." Review and Herald, vol 1, p 451-52.

--A "Those who place their names on the church book should do so with a full and intelligent understanding of what this action involves. It means that you have solemnly pledged yourself to serve God. It means that you have made a full surrender of self to Him, in order that Christ may reign where self once reigned. It means that you have given up your pet ideas and policies, and have yielded your mind to the mind of Christ. It means that your fixed purpose is to be one with God, one with His people; that you will exercise self-denial and self-sacrifice to advance the interests of His kingdom; that you will strive to overcome everything that hinders growth in grace." Upward Look, p 143.

465. "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." Early Writings, p 125.

"The Holy Spirit will not compel men to take a certain course of action. We are free moral agents; and when sufficient evidence has been given to us as to our duty, it is left with us to decide our course....If you would know the mystery of godliness, you must follow the plain word of truth, feeling or no feeling, emotion or no emotion. Obedience must be rendered from a sense of principle, and must be pursued under all circumstances." Review and Herald, vol 2, p 229.

477. The disfellowshipped German SDA's decided to form a counter SDA church and organization which became known as the Reformed SDA church. It is not recommended that any consider joining this Reform Movement and church. For one thing, they have adopted a hierarchical church structure, and thus their whole system is Christ-less!

494. "The history of Judas is given as a representation of the history of some who will be in the church till the close of this earth's history. There are more than one Judas among the professed followers of Christ....They have been given light, but they have refused to walk in it, and the light has become darkness to them. That which they once loved and upheld, they now hate and tear down. Filled with rage, they treat as poison what once was light and joy to them." Review and Herald, vol 4, p 208.

495. "There are many today who feel indignant and aggrieved that any voice should be raised presenting ideas that differ from their own in regard to points of religious belief. Have they not long advocated their ideas as truth? So the priests and rabbis reasoned...They have no right to meddle with the fundamental principles of our faith....

"And then these leaders, in the blindness of their minds, give full sway to what is supposed to be righteous indignation against the ones who have set aside their cherished fables. They act like men who have lost their reason...They will not open their eyes to discern the fact that they have misinterpreted and misapplied the Scriptures, and have built up false theories, calling them fundamental doctrines of the faith." Testimonies to Ministers, p 69-70.

554. "How shamefully they have injured the cause of God! How fully they have separated themselves from Him by following their own corrupt hearts, their own souls may answer! But the day of God will reveal the true cause for all our disappointments in man. God is not at fault. He gave them encouraging promises upon conditions, but they did not comply with these conditions." Testimonies, vol 3, p 470.

"Are we standing with all our God-given powers to reach the measure of the stature of men and women in Christ? Are we seeking for His fullness, ever reaching higher and higher, trying to attain to the perfection of His character? When God's servants reach this point, they will be sealed in their foreheads." Selected Messages, book 3, p 427.

567. "I was shown God's people waiting for some change to take place--a compelling power to take hold of them. But they will be disappointed, for they are wrong. They must act, they must take hold of the work themselves and earnestly cry to God for a true knowledge of themselves." Testimonies, vol 1, p 261.

"I was shown that if God's people make no efforts on their part, but wait for the refreshing to come upon them and remove their wrongs and correct their errors; if they depend upon that to cleanse them from filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and fit them to engage in the loud cry of the third angel, they will be found wanting. The refreshing or power of God comes only on those who have prepared themselves for it by doing the work which God bids them, namely, cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." Testimonies, vol 1, p 619.