Those who have an opportunity to hear the truth, and yet take no pains to hear or understand it, thinking that if they do not hear, they will not be ACCOUNTABLE, will be judged guilty before God the same as if they had heard and rejected. There will be no excuse for those who choose to go in error when they might understand what is truth. (RH 04-25-93; pr:10)
Dear Reader,
Are the abominations for which we are to sigh and cry mere minor issues? We are told that our very sealing is dependent upon whether or not we sigh and cry for ALL the abominations that be done in the church. Is that a serious issue? Ask yourself: Do my detractors sigh and cry for ALL the abominations in the church? Are the serious abominations for which we are to sigh and cry, mere minor errors? Do they require exaggeration, or are they sufficiently abhorrant to God, that according to Ellen White and God, they warrant another LITERAL fulfillment of Ezekiel 9 BEGINNING AT HIS SANCTUARY, the professing Seventh-day Adventist church?
“Maranatha”
“Mark this point with care: Those who receive the pure mark of truth, wrought in them by the power of the Holy Ghost, represented by a mark by the man in linen, are those ‘that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done’ in the church.” {Mar 240.1}
“The class who do not feel grieved over their own spiritual declension, nor mourn over the sins of others, will be left without the seal of God.” . . . {Mar 240.2}
Will those who define the serious apostasies as mere minor errors receive the seal of God? Will the blood of those they thus leaven with error be upon their backs?
“His [Christ’s] days were passed in ministry to the crowds that pressed upon Him, and in unveiling the treacherous sophistry of the rabbis…THOUGHTS FROM THE MOUNT OF BLESSING: pg. 102..
“Manuscript Releases volume 3”
“Unaccustomed to accept God’s Word exactly as it reads, or to allow it to be its own interpreter, they, the priests and instructors of the people read it in the light of their maxims and traditions. So long had they neglected to study and contemplate the Bible, that its pages were to them a mystery. They turned with aversion from the truth of God to the traditions of men.” 3MR:432.
” The Paulson Collection of Ellen G. White Letters”
“There seems to be a burning desire to get up something fictitious and bring it in as new light. Thus men try to weave into the web as important truths a tissue of lies. This fanciful mixture of food that is being prepared for the flock will cause spiritual consumption, decline and death. When those who profess to believe present truth come to their senses, when they accept the Word of the living God just as it reads, and do not try to wrest the Scriptures, then they will build their house upon the eternal Rock, even Christ Jesus.” Paulson:423.
” Manuscript Releases volume 7″
“Those who engage in the work of God’s cause to-day will meet just such trials as Paul endured in his work. By the same boastful and deceptive work Satan will seek to draw converts from the faith. Theories will be brought in that will not be wise for us to handle. Satan is a cunning worker, and he will bring in subtle fallacies to darken and confuse the mind and root out the doctrines of salvation. Those who do not accept the Word of God just as it reads, will be snared in his trap. To-day we need to speak the truth with holy boldness. The testimony borne to the early church by the Lord’s messenger, His people are to hear in this time: “Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8).” 7MR:358.
Here is one of the more serious cherished errors of the SDA church:
“Laodicea is the last and final church, so it will not be ‘spewed out’ but rather will go glorious through to the kingdom.”
FACT: This is the rallying cry of the majority of SDA’s and the belief on which they pin all their hopes and aspirations. But I challenge anyone, would you give me a “Thus saith the Lord,” an “It is written” for this expectation? I challenge you that no such statement exits for two very good reasons, which I will substantiate for you. 1. Laodicea, despite what the SDA Bible commentary may say, is not God’s final church [again, no inspired backing for that concept]; and 2. Laodicea is not God’s true church of the last days. First let us look at the issue of Laodicea being the 7th and final church. We read:
“The messages given to the churches in Asia, portray the state of things existing in the churches of the religious world today. The names of the churches are symbolic of the Christian church in different periods of the Christian era; the number of the churches––seven––indicates completeness and is symbolic of the fact that the messages extend to the end of time, and are enforced today; while the figures used are symbolic of the state of God’s professed people––the wheat developing among the tares; truth standing on its own eternal basis in contrast with error.” MS: 81, 1900, paragraph 56
“Manuscript releases volume 1”
“I wish to emphasize the fact, that the churches to which John was told to send the instruction given him represent all the churches in our world, and that this revelation to him is to be studied and believed and preached by the Seventh-day Adventist Church today.” 1MR: 372.
“Acts of the apostles”
“The names of the seven churches are symbolic of the church in different periods of the Christian era. The number seven indicates completeness, and is symbolic of the fact that the messages extend to the end of time, while the symbols used reveal the condition of the church at different periods in the history of the world.” AA: 585.
In complete harmony with the above quotes that the messages to the seven churches “portray the state of things existing in the religious world today”, nowhere in the SOP will you find that Philadelphia ended in 1844 and only Laodicea exists today. That is solely an invention of the editorial staff or some other insider of the SDA church, as we shall see. On the contrary we read:
“The Spirit of Prophecy Volume Four”
“After the passing of the time of expectation in 1844, Adventists still believed the Saviour’s coming to be very near; they held that they had reached an important crisis, and that the work of Christ as man’s intercessor before God had ceased…But clearer light came with the investigation of the sanctuary question. Now was seen the application of those words of Christ in the Revelation, addressed to the church at this very time: ‘These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth; I know thy works; behold I have before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.” (Rev. 3:7,8 quoted––a direct reference to the church of Philadelphia.) 4SP: 268
Fifteen years after 1844, we read this admonition to the church in 1859: “I was shown that the testimony to the Laodiceans applies to God’s people at the present time..” (“Testimonies for the church volume 1,page 186). You realize of course that there was no such thing as a “Seventh-day Adventist” until the period of 1860-1863.
“Testimonies for the church volume 1”
“Up to the year 1860 there had been no legal or church organization among the Sabbathkeeping Adventists. They had not even adopted a name. They spoke of themselves as the ‘Scattered Flock’, The ‘Little Remnant’, or some variation of such expressions.” 1T: 715
So where and what was the church from the period of 1844-1859? The only sensible answer, as we shall see, is that just as both cities existed simultaneously during John the Revelator’s day, both conditions are obviously going on simultaneously until Christ’s 2nd coming. That Philadelphia continues till the 2nd coming is clearly obvious when we simply compare the description of the 144,000 given in Rev. 14:1:
“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads”
, the description of Philadelphia in Rev. 3:
7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of 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.
10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.”
(the 144,000 according to Rev. 14:1 previously mentioned) , and the way E.G. White puts them both together in EW: 15 where we read: “The 144,000 were all sealed and perfectly united. On their foreheads was written, God, New Jerusalem, and a glorious star containing Jesus’ new name.”
“Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers”
Again we read: “The same angel who visited Sodom is sounding the note of warning, Escape for thy life. The bottles of God’s wrath cannot be poured out to destroy the wicked and their works until all the people of God have been judged, and the cases of the living as well as the dead are decided. And even after the saints are sealed with the seal of the living God, His elect will have trials individually…The indelible mark of God is upon them. God can plead that His own name is written there. The Lord has shut them in. Their destination is inscribed––‘GOD, NEW JERUSALEM.’ They are God’s property, His possession.” TM: 446.
It can clearly be seen from the quotes above that the 144000 represent Philadelphia which will be sealed in the end, will have the name of God and New Jerusalem.
Further, we have an example of both the Laodicean and the Philadelphian condition described as we read these words of inspiration. First we will see the Laodicean condition described:
“Acts of the apostles”
“The church was defective and in need of stern reproof and chastisement, and John was inspired to record messages of warning and entreaty to those who, losing sight of the fundamental principles should imperil their hope of salvation. But always the words of rebuke that God finds it necessary to send are spoken in tender love and with the promise of peace to every penitent believer. ‘Behold I stand at the door, and knock,’ the Lord declares; ‘If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Revelation 3: 20. (And immediately following we see the Philadelphia condition.)”And for those who in the midst of conflict should maintain their faith in God, the prophet was given the words of commendation and promise: ‘I know thy works..” (Revelation 3: verses 8, 10, 2, 11 quoted.) AA: 587-588.
And again we read:
“The great controversy”
“Just before us is ‘the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.’ Revelation 3:10. All whose faith is not firmly established upon the word of God will be deceived and overcome… ‘Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee’ (attributed to Philadelphia) is the Saviour’s promise. He would sooner send every angel out of heaven to protect His people than leave one soul that trusts in Him to be overcome by Satan.” GC: 560.
It is a mystery why the SDA church fixated on the Laodicean condition of 1859 when in Nov. 2, 1886 the warning to the Sardis church was applicable to the SDA church at that time. RH: 11/2/86, Ellen White :
” Review and Herald”
“The warning to the Sardis church is applicable at this time: “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” And to us also the promise is extended, “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” RH November 2, 1886, par. 7
And in (Review and Herald) RH: 2/25/02 the Ephesus condition was “applicable to the Seventh-day Adventist churches in their present condition”:
“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 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.” RH February 25, 1902, par. 1
I am instructed to say that these words are applicable to Seventh – day Adventist churches in their present condition. The love of God has been lost, and this means the absence of love for one another. Self, self, self, is cherished, and is striving for the supremacy. How long is this to continue? Unless there is a reconversion, there will soon be such a lack of godliness that the Church will be represented by the barren fig tree. ”
And these (Sardis and Ephesus) conditions are re-iterated as applying to “us as a people” in (Manuscript) MS: 18, 1903:
“The messages that God gave to the churches of Ephesus and Sardis are applicable to those who in this age have had great light but have not opened the door of the heart to the knock of Christ. The Lord has shown plainly that He has a controversy with His people. The fires that have lately raged in New York and other cities were no accident. It was the hand of omnipotent power. The Spirit of God is withdrawing from the world because the warnings of heaven have not been heeded. We need to beware; for a similar condition of things is coming in amongst us as a people. Ms18-1903.6”
Will the 144,000 be Laodiceans or Philadelphians? Most SDA’s believe and teach that the Laodicean condition is a requirement, when it is a choice! IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO BE A LAODICEAN ANY MORE THAN IT IS NECESSARY TO BE A SINNER! Was Ellen G. White ever a Laodicean? God’s last and final TRUE church on this earth will be those who ‘preserve the faith in it’s purity’ (Testimonies for the church volume 5, 5T: 210); those who will ‘heed the counsel of the True Witness TO the Laodiceans and will exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth’ [EW: 270]; those who will come out of apostate Laodicea and join the church of Philadelphia––God’s true remnant church! [EW:261]:
“Early Writings”.
“I saw that God has honest children among the nominal Adventists and the fallen churches, and before the plagues shall be poured out, ministers and people will be called out from these churches and will gladly receive the truth. Satan knows this; and before the loud cry of the third angel is given, he raises an excitement in these religious bodies, that those who have rejected the truth may think that God is with them. He hopes to deceive the honest and lead them to think that God is still working for the churches. But the light will shine, and all who are honest will leave the fallen churches, and take their stand with the remnant. EW 261.1” (To make things clear, the first edition of this testimony from “Early Writings” was published in 1851.)
Also, a stern warning for those of you who are honestly looking to serve God : “Satan knows this; and before the loud cry of the third angel is given, he raises an excitement in these religious bodies, that those who have rejected the truth may think that God is with them. He hopes to deceive the honest and lead them to think that God is still working for the churches. But the light will shine, and all who are honest will leave the fallen churches, and take their stand with the remnant.” Basically Satan will give you missionary work and try to make it seem that it is from God. God has plans for each and every one of us, we need to let Him lead us according to His plan, let Him do His good deeds through us because our own good deeds are like filthy rags. The devil hopes to keep you so busy that you will not have time to pray, to research all of these things.
In an article published in THE ADVENT REVIEW in September, 1850 by the Publishing Committee under the direction of James White, he stated for the record, just what their position was in regard to the 144,000 and the true church of the last days. As you will see, they wrote: “Now just as sure as the Philadelphia church is the true church of the last days, just so sure the 144,000 are sealed, just before the coming of the Lord.” And nowhere will you ever find that E.G. White ever countermanded this proclamation, although you will find that it was countermanded by the editorial staff of the SDA Bible Commentary! Whom do you choose to believe and follow?
Divine inspiration tells us “The state of the Church represented by the foolish virgins, is also spoken of as the Laodicean state.
“Review and Herald”, RH: 8/19/1890 :
“I am often referred to the parable of the ten virgins, five of whom were wise, and five foolish. This parable has been and will be fulfilled to the very letter, for it has a special application to this time, and, like the third angel’s message, has been fulfilled and will continue to be present truth till the close of time.
…
The state of the Church represented by the foolish virgins, is also spoken of as the Laodicean state. ”
That being the case, how can anyone continue to maintain that “Laodicea..will go through..” when not one of the foolish virgins made it into the kingdom?
Lukewarm and/or Cold Apostate Laodicea no Better Than The Fallen Churches
“If the church becomes lukewarm [let alone apostate], it does not stand in favor with God any more than do the churches that are represented as having fallen and become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Those who have had opportunities to hear and receive the truth, and who have united with the Seventh-day Adventist church, calling themselves the commandment keeping people of God, and yet possess no more vitality and consecration to God than do the nominal churches, will receive the plagues of God just as verily as the churches who oppose the law of God. Only those that are sanctified through the truth will compose the royal family in the heavenly mansions Christ has gone to prepare for those that love him and keep his commandments.” E.G. White, Letter 35, January 1, 1898