Saturday, February 20, 2021
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Separation of church and state
Not my original work: http://adventmessenger.org/the-adventist-church-the-sda-reformed-churches-the-shepherds-rod-and-the-independent-ministries-received-over-75-million-in-tax-payer-money/
Monday, February 15, 2021
Your house is left to you desolate
There is another typology that we should consider. Back in the disciples day who were God's chosen people? The Israelites. The church leadership was the Sadducees and Pharisees. Because of the apostasy of the leadership Jesus said to them, in Matthew 23:38 KJV "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." https://my.bible.com/bible/1/MAT.23.38 And Paul said, in Acts 18:5 And when Silas and Timothy were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. 6 And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, "Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles." https://my.bible.com/bible/1/ACT.18.KJV Acts 24:14 "But this I confess unto thee, that after The Way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:" https://my.bible.com/bible/1/ACT.24.KJV Again in Acts 28:28 KJV "Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it." https://my.bible.com/bible/1/ACT.28.KJV
The disciples left the established church and formed a group of Christians also called "The Way". The individuals were supported differently than the Levites. The churches that they built supported all of them. continued below:
https://iodtiger.blogspot.com/2021/01/egw-comments.html
EGW comments
That night I dreamed that I was in Battle Creek looking out from the side glass at the door and saw a company marching up to the house, two and two. They looked stern and determined. I knew them well and turned to open the parlor door to receive them, but thought I would look again. The scene was changed. The company now presented the appearance of a Catholic procession. One bore in his hand a cross, another a reed. And as they approached, the one carrying a reed made a circle around the house, saying three times: "This house is proscribed. The goods must be confiscated. They have spoken against our holy order." Terror seized me, and I ran through the house, out of the north door, and found myself in the midst of a company, some of whom I knew, but I dared not speak a word to them for fear of being betrayed. I tried to seek a retired spot where I might weep and pray without meeting eager, inquisitive eyes wherever I turned. I repeated frequently: "If I could only understand this! If they will tell me what I have said or what I have done!"1T 577.2
I wept and prayed much as I saw our goods confiscated. I tried to read sympathy or pity for me in the looks of those around me, and marked the countenances of several whom I thought would speak to me and comfort me if they did not fear that they would be observed by others. I made one attempt to escape from the crowd, but seeing that I was watched, I concealed my intentions. I commenced weeping aloud, and saying: "If they would only tell me what I have done or what I have said!" My husband, who was sleeping in a bed in the same room, heard me weeping aloud and awoke me. My pillow was wet with tears, and a sad depression of spirits was upon me.
https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/116.2678. Hold Distinctive Features Prominent—The religion of Jesus is endangered. It is being mingled with worldliness. Worldly policy is taking the place of the 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 by 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 directly where the enemy, through blinded, unconsecrated men, is leading us.
These things have gone as far as they should without someone protesting against them in plain words. The Lord's time to set things in order has fully come. There are men in positions of trust who have not had an experience in the leading out of this work, and these men should walk with humility and caution. In the night season I was present in several councils, and there I heard words repeated by influential men to the effect that if the American Sentinel would drop the words "Seventh-day Adventist" from its columns, and would say nothing about the Sabbath, the great men of the world would patronize it; it would become popular, and do a larger work. This looked very pleasing. These men could not see why we could not affiliate with unbelievers and non-professors to make the American Sentinel a great success. I saw their countenances brighten, and they began to work on a policy plan to make the Sentinel a popular success.
This policy is the first step in a succession of wrong steps. The principles which have been advocated in the American Sentinel are the very sum and substance of the advocacy of the Sabbath, and when men begin to talk of changing these principles, they are doing a work which it does not belong to them to do. Like Uzzah, they are attempting to steady the ark which belongs to God, and is under His special supervision. Said my Guide to those in these councils, "Who of the men among you have felt the burden of the cause from the first, and have accepted responsibilities under trying circumstances? Who has carried the burden of the work during the years of its existence? Who has practiced self-denial and self-sacrifice? The Lord made a place for His stanch servants, whose voices have been heard in warning. He carried forward His work before any of you put your hands to it, and He can and will find a place for the truth you would suppress. In the American Sentinel has been published the truth for this time. Take heed what you do. "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it."—Manuscript 29, 1890.
To Meet the Sunday-Law Movement—I do hope that the trumpet will give a certain sound in regard to this Sunday-law movement. I think that it would be best if in our papers the subject of the perpetuity of the law of God were made a specialty. Should there not be a paper or a pamphlet issued to take the place of the Sentinel ? I have not been able to think that it was the wise thing to do to let that paper drop. It was a voice that was constantly speaking in defense of religious liberty. The truth should be presented in short articles, in clear, distinct lines, giving special points in regard to the Lord's Sabbath, and showing that those who frame laws to compel the observance of the first day of the week, are disloyal to the Lord of heaven, who placed His sanctity upon the seventh day. Are we doing all we can to exalt the law of Jehovah?
We should now be doing our very best to defeat this Sunday law. The best way to do this will be to lift up the law of God and make it stand forth in all its sacredness. This must be done if the truth triumphs.—Letter 58, 1906. CW 95.3 - CW 98.1
And continued here: https://iodtiger.blogspot.com/2020/02/so-confusedall-of-these-statements-are.html
So confused...all of these statements are in the same book.
I was confirmed in all I had stated in Minneapolis, that a reformation must go through the churches. Reforms must be made, for spiritual weakness and blindness were upon the people who had been blessed with great light and precious opportunities and privileges.
As reformers they had come out of the denominational churches, but they now act a part similar to that which the churches acted. We hoped that there would not be the necessity for another coming out.
Abuse of Power at Church Headquarters
The General Conference is itself becoming corrupted with wrong sentiments and principles....
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....
The high-handed power that has been developed, as though position has made men gods, makes me afraid, and ought to cause fear. It is a curse wherever and by whomsoever it is exercised.—Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 359-361 (1895)
Unwise Leaders Do Not Speak for God
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.—Manuscript Releases 17:185 (1896).
It has been some years since I have considered the General Conference as the voice of God.—Manuscript Releases 17:216 (1898).
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.—The General Conference Bulletin, April 3, 1901, p. 25.
I know that the Lord loves His church. It is not to be disorganized or broken up into independent atoms. There is not the least consistency in this; there is not the least evidence that such a thing will be.—Selected Messages 2:63, 68, 69 (1893).
You will take passages in the Testimonies that speak of the close of probation, of the shaking among God's people, and you will talk of a coming out from this people of a purer, holier people that will arise.
Now all this pleases the enemy.... Should many accept the views you advance, and talk and act upon them, we would see one of the greatest fanatical excitements that has ever been witnessed among Seventh-day Adventists. This is what Satan wants.—Selected Messages 1:179 (1890).
I tell you, my brethren, the Lord has an organized body through whom He will work.... When anyone is drawing apart from the organized body of God's commandment-keeping people, when he begins to weigh the church in his human scales and begins to pronounce judgment against them, then you may know that God is not leading him. He is on the wrong track.—Selected Messages 3:17, 18 (1893).
God Will Set Everything in Order
There is no need to doubt, to be fearful that the work will not succeed. God is at the head of the work, and He will set everything in order. If matters need adjusting at the head of the work God will attend to that, and work to right every wrong. Let us have faith that God is going to carry the noble ship which bears the people of God safely into port.—Selected Messages 2:390 (1892).
Although there are evils existing in the church, and will be until the end of the world, the church in these last days is to be the light of the world that is polluted and demoralized by sin.
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.—Selected Messages 2:390 (1905).
I am instructed to say to Seventh-day Adventists the world over, God has called us as a people to be a peculiar treasure unto Himself. He has appointed that His church on earth shall stand perfectly united in the Spirit and counsel of the Lord of hosts to the end of time.—Selected Messages 2:397 (1908).
At times, when a small group of men entrusted with the general management of the work have, in the name of the General Conference, sought to carry out unwise plans to restrict God's work, I have said that I could no longer regard the voice of the General Conference, represented by these few men, as the voice of God.
But this is not saying that the decisions of a General Conference composed of an assembly of duly appointed, representative men from all parts of the field should not be respected.
God has ordained that the representatives of His church from all parts of the earth, when assembled in a General Conference, shall have authority.
The error that some are in danger of committing is in giving to the mind and judgment of one man, or of a small group of men, the full measure of authority and influence that God has invested in His church in the judgment and voice of the General Conference assembled to plan for the prosperity and advancement of His work.—Testimonies for the Church 9:260, 261 (1909).
God has invested His church with special authority and power which no one can be justified in disregarding and despising, for he who does this despises the voice of God.—The Acts of the Apostles, 164 (1911) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=carmengomez.last.days.events.