LETTERS - C2

CRITICAL?

(Compiler Unknown)

ARE THE FAITHFUL INDEPENDENT MINISTRIES BEING CRITICAL, OR CALLING FOR PURITY?

The conference says the independent ministries are criticizing the conference and preventing unity.  By making such statements, the conference is attempting to draw attention away from their apostasy and cast blame on the truth-supporting organizations who only desire obedience to God.  The conference wishes to maintain its apostasy while stomping out those who dare question their authority to do as they please.

"Sins exist in the church that God hates, but they are scarcely touched for fear of making enemies.  Opposition has risen in the church to the plain testimony. Some will not bear it.  They wish smooth things spoken unto them.  And if the wrongs of individuals are touched, they complain of severity, and sympathize with those in the wrong." SG vol 2 283   "God calls for men of decided fidelity.  He has no use in an emergency for two-sided men.  He wants man who will lay their hand upon a wrong work and say, 'This is not according to the will of God.'" 2SM 152,153

IS THE CONFERENCE THE VOICE OF GOD?

Some Adventists believe the conference will always be the voice of God.  In the early years Mrs. White described the opinions handed down by the conference in session as "the voice of God."  If we look at later statements by her, we will find she changed her opinion over time as the conference changed and became less obedient to God.  If the conference was a faithful organization, making Bible-based decisions, not popularity-based decisions, not following the world, we would be able to consider it to be the voice of God:

1899 "Let those in America who suppose the voice of the General Conference to be the voice of God, become one with God before they utter their opinions." Testimony to Elder S.N. Haskell 11-16-99

1899 "It has been some years since I have considered the General Conference as the voice of God." GCD 2-24-99

1901 "That these men should stand in a sacred place to be the voice of God to the people as we once believed the General Conference to be, that is past." GC Bulletin 1901, 25

1901 "It is working upon wrong principles that has brought the cause of God into its present embarrassment.  The people have lost confidence in those who have the management of the work.  Yet we hear that the voice of the Conference is the Voice of God.  Every time I have heard this, I have thought that it was almost blasphemy....We have reached the time when the work cannot advance while wrong principles are cherished." Man. 37, 1901

1901 "Year after year the same acknowledgment was made, but the principles which exalt a people were not woven into the work.  God gave them clear light as to what they should 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." GC Bulletin, 1901, 23

1909 "Every individual soul has a responsibility before God, and he is not to be arbitrarily instructed by men as to what he shall do, and what he shall say, and where he shall go.  We are not to put confidence in the counsel of men and assent to all they say unless we have evidence that they are under the influence of the Spirit of God." RH 7-1-09

We know the conference has become more rebellious since Mrs. White's day, so we can be assured they still are not the voice of God today. 

Just as Mrs. White said repeatedly, we are repeating the history of ancient Israel in our rebellion.  Why would we think the conference has a license to commit this sin and ancient Israel did not?

SATAN TOLD US HIS PLAN OF ACTION

In Testimonies to Ministers the "Snares of Satan" chapter, Mrs. White gives us a direct quote from Satan, planning his attack while speaking to his angels:

"...I will influence popular ministers to turn the attention of their hearers from the commandments of God.  That which the Scriptures declare to be a perfect law of liberty shall be represented as a yoke of bondage.  The people accept their ministers explanations of Scripture and do not investigate for themselves.  Therefore, by working through the ministers, I can control the people according to my will.

"But our principal concern is to silence this sect of Sabbath keepers....When death shall be made the penalty of violating our Sabbath, then many who are now ranked with commandment keepers will come over to our side.

"But before proceeding to these extreme measures, we must exert all our wisdom and subtlety to deceive and ensnare those who honor the true Sabbath....

"...Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God will be our most effective helpers.  Those of this class who are apt and intelligent will serve as decoys to draw others into our snares.  Many will not fear their influence, because they profess the same faith.  We will thus lead them to conclude that the requirements of Christ are less strict than they once believed, and that by conformity to the world they would exert a greater influence with worldlings.  Thus they will separate from Christ; then they will have no strength to resist our powers, and erelong they will be ready to ridicule their former zeal and devotion." TM 472-474

A HOSTILE TAKEOVER

The conference has been taken over by some leaders who are not true spiritual Adventists.  They say they are Adventists, they profess to be Adventists, they attend Adventist churches, but the doctrine preached and the truth ignored, proves they hate the Adventist faith.  They have made calculated decisions to ignore the Spirit of Prophecy, the Bible and the three angels' messages.  It is these "non-Adventists" whom the laity are blindly following with their attendance and financial contributions.  These leaders promote error and denounce those faithful "independent" ministries or individuals which promote the truth, thus aligning themselves with darkness.

"We can see from this scripture [Rev. 12:17] that it is not the true church of God that makes war with those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.  It is the people who make void the law who place themselves on the side of the dragon, and persecute those who vindicate God's precepts." ST 4/22/89

"Romanists have persisted in bringing against protestants the charge of heresy and willful separation from the true church.  But these accusations apply rather to themselves.  They are the ones who laid down the banner of Christ and departed from 'the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.'" GC 51

"We are not to spend our time in controversy with those who know the truth, and upon whom the light of truth has been shining, when they turn away their ear from the truth to turn to fables.  I was told that men will employ every policy to make less prominent the differences between the faith of Seventh-day Adventists and those who observe the first day of the week. In this controversy the whole world will be engaged, and the time is short.  This is no time to haul down our colors.   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 in securing success to our institutions....I saw some reaching out their hands to remove the banner, and obscure its significance." 2SM 385

REPENTANCE BY THE CONFERENCE OR A LITERAL SLAUGHTER OF LEADERS?

Some Adventists believe the conference will repent eventually, so we should continue to support their apostasy until that happens.  If the conference is to repent, then why does the Bible say there will be a slaughter of the leaders and laity where almost every Adventist will soon be killed by God's destroying angel after the close of probation.  The slaughter is brought about because of the abominations of Israel or Adventists as noted in Ezekiel chapter eight. Mrs. White tells us the slaughter of Ezekiel chapter nine will be a literal slaughter of professed Adventists.  Ezekiel sees the slaughter beginning with the leadership, and he frightfully watches the destruction and asks the destroying angel if all Israel or Adventists will be killed.

"Study the 9th chapter of Ezekiel.  These words will be literally fulfilled; yet the time is passing and the people are sleep.  They refuse to humble their souls and to be converted. Not a great while longer will the Lord bear with the people who have such great and important truths revealed to them, but who refuse to bring these truths into their individual experience.  The time is short. God is calling; will you hear?" Letter 106, 1909

This slaughter will begin with the leadership and then proceed to the laity.  Ezekiel saw virtually every Adventist killed.  There will be a remnant of the remnant as stated in the ninth chapter.  Notice in chapter eight, there are abominations committed by Adventists which cause the slaughter in the next chapter.  Those abominations are taking place this very moment.  They "hold the branch to their nose," meaning they are mocking God. [with Pagan practices] Who is openly committing the abominations in Adventism and refusing to obey God?  The largest AND most apostatizing ministry is the conference.

Please read the "Seal of God" chapter in the fifth volume of the Testimonies, p 207.  The slaughter of Adventists and the abominations in Adventism are outlined.  Only those who are "sighing and crying for the abominations in the church" will receive the Seal of God.  The size of this faithful group is termed a "little company."

REPENTANCE BY CONFERENCE OR EMBRACE SUNDAY WORSHIP?

If the conference is to repent, then why will it promote Sunday worship in the Little Time of Trouble as Mrs. White prophesied?  The conference will continue in its apostasy and will embrace sun worship.  There are some conference churches that have Easter Sunday sunrise services, which is not denounced by the leadership.  The following quote predicts virtually every Adventist will follow the leadership in sun worship.  This means the vast majority of Adventists will receive the mark of the beast:

"The Lord has a controversy with His professed people in these last days.  In this controversy men in responsible positions [leaders] 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.  There are calamities on sea and land: and these calamities will increase, one disaster following close upon another; and the little band of conscientious Sabbath-keepers will be pointed out as the ones who are bringing the wrath of God upon the world by their disregard of Sunday." RH 3-18-84

Notice in the previous quote, that only a little band in Adventism will remain faithful to the Sabbath amidst the threat of death, amidst the encouragement of sun worship from the Adventist ministers.  A terrible sentence will be declared:  "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.'  I asked who this company were.  The angel said, 'These are they who have once kept the Sabbath and have given it up." RH 8/1/49

In Ezekiel chapter 8, the apostasy of the conference is outlined, with the final apostasy being sun worship.  You may say that Sunday worship is not possible in the conference, but it has already begun.  The Pacific Union Recorder of February 2000, reported in an upbeat fashion, the Sunday morning worship service sponsored by an Adventist church in Las Vegas.  The Sunday church is named Higher Ground Community church and utilizes a school auditorium and contemporary band.  Pilgrims Rest covered this topic in their March 2000 newsletter, "Our largest union paper boldly published and praised the fact that one of our local congregations is doing it [Sunday worship]!  This adds greatly to the significance!  Some of our high-placed church leaders do not see anything wrong with our holding Sunday morning worship services!...  There is one special prohibition [for Sunday]:  We are not to attend Sunday morning worship services!  Read the Spirit of prophecy writings....  This Pacific Union Recorder article is extremely significant--and in nine ways:  We are told of at least one local Adventist congregation which is now beginning to hold Sunday morning worship services.  We are told that it is being done at Andrews University, to train our young ministers to do it when they go out into the field.  We are told that it is a good thing to do, since other churches in Las Vegas are also doing it.  Adventists are inviting non-Adventists to attend their Sunday services(!), thinking that is a good thing to do.  What a way to 'teach the truth!'  Our largest union paper has published an article on it, praising the activity and recommending it to other local congregations in Pacific Union Conference territory....  This Sunday-keeping congregation has repudiated the name, 'Seventh-day Adventist.'  On their church sign, they call themselves the 'Higher Ground Community Church.'  They declare that attending regular church services is like 'a sentence to prison.'  they divide the worship service between a song service with drums and mike-amplified guitars, followed by a sermon.  This strange 'Adventist Sunday Church' is another sampler of the 'church planting program,' which our North American Division is urging our people to conduct in every conference in America."  The fact that the conference leadership has not rebuked this practice is evidence that the leadership approves of this "worship."

Why is the conference ashamed of the name Seventh-day Adventist when describing the church?  They are eager to instead use the term Adventist to describe the church to non-Adventists.  They are routinely dropping Seventh-day when speaking to non-Adventists because they are not proud of the day on which we worship.  They feel it will make us appear to be different if we use the title Seventh-day, and they don't want to be different from the world.  At an evangelist meeting for a local Seventy-day Adventist church, they told all the SDA attendees to only describe themselves as Adventist, not Seventh-day Adventists, so the visitors would not question our unique day of worship.   Friend, why are we so timid to tell the truth to the world?  God gave us this church name and we should not be ashamed of it.

Mrs. White says that the conference leaders of the last days will be following the voice of Lucifer:  "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 [SDA's] 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.  Many heresies will come from Lucifer, that will bewilder if possible the very elect." MS 5, Jan. 20, 1904

The vast majority of Adventists will join the world in the last days:  "As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angel's message [SDA's], but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position, and join the ranks of the opposition.  By uniting with the world and partaking of its spirit, they [SDA's] have come to view matters in nearly the same light; and when the test is brought, they are prepared to choose the easy, popular side.  Men of talent and pleasing address, who once rejoiced in the truth, employ their powers to deceive and mislead souls.  They [SDA's] become the most bitter enemies of their former brethren." GC 608

"Our greatest trials will come from those who profess Godliness.  It was so with the world's redeemer; it will be so with His followers....  The opposition which Christ received came from His own nation who would have been greatly blessed had they accepted Him.  In like manner the remnant church [the faithful] receive opposition from those who profess to be their brethren." RH 8-28-83