Baal-worship and The
Long Delay
 The Long Delay Must End
Babylon has not
yet become what it will be when the loud cry is proclaimed. Its fall is
not yet complete. The truth of the antitypical Day of Atonement is not
understood. The churches of the world "have no knowledge of the way
into the most holy [place]" and so they "can not be benefitted
by the intercession of Jesus there."30
It would seem that this truth is being forgotten by Adventists. The
unique work of the High Priest has been replaced by the counterfeit
supplied by Baal. This self-centered Baal-worship makes our Lord
nauseated. He feels like throwing up (Revelation 3:16, 17). But His
nausea can be cured by our repentance (verse 19). There are many in the
church who also are nauseated—maybe 7000 of them. They see on every
hand the self-centered Baal-worship as it has sneaked into our midst.
They see the vanity, the emptiness of sermons, the praise and flattery
of men and women, the gospel jazz and swooning crooning with screaming
and shouting into the microphones, the joking and jesting, the
egocentric gospel with roots in legalism, plus the material ostentation
of palatial offices and appointments,
along with dramatic entertainments to please every fancy—no wonder our
Lord is nauseated! It is like being on Mt. Carmel and hearing the cry
from "morning even until noon, saying O Baal, hear us. But there
was no voice, nor any that answered" (1 Kings 18:26).
Our spiritual
impotence can be traced to our history. The truths inherent in the 1888
message of Christ’s righteousness are not comprehended by us or by any
segment of Christians who do not understand the two-apartment ministry
of the heavenly High Priest. The "gospel" proclaimed by the
"little horn" power virtually justifies sin and therefore
logically upholds Satan’s rebellion. This is the secret of the
lawlessness that pervades the modern world on all levels. All
churches, indeed, the whole world desperately needs the three angels’
messages in verity.
This message
proclaims a Saviour who "condemned sin in the flesh," offering
the only valid rebuttal of Satan’s charges against God. It effectively
"condemns sin," that is, demonstrates that sin in human nature
is unnecessary and is doomed to extinction. It confirms the truth stated
by Ellen White: "The righteousness of God is absolute. This
righteousness characterizes all His works, all His laws. As God is, so
must His people be."31
This message will cast down every idol of Baal and prepare a people for
the Lord’s return and sin will not arise again because the redeemed
perceive and appreciate the true character of God.
All of this means
that there is nothing in Babylon for Israel. It is indeed "the
habitation of devils, and, the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of
every unclean and hateful bird" (Revelation 18:2). It denies the
perpetuity of the law of God, including the Sabbath; it denies the
mortality of the soul; it denies the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary
and consequently is not able to appreciate Christ’s ministry on the
final Day of Atonement ministry. These "landmarks" of truth32
support the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It is not Babylon. God never
planned that it become Babylon any more than ancient Israel was to
become Babylon. Baal-worship was and still is a disease of the body that
is foreign to it and makes it sick. But healing is possible through
repentance and reformation. The solution is not the destruction of the
church but its spiritual recovery. We have encouragement in this
assurance:
God is leading a people. ... He would
reprove and correct them. The message to the Laodiceans is applicable
to Seventh-day Adventists who have had great light and have not walked
in the light. ... The message to pronounce the Seventh-day Adventist
Church Babylon, and call the people of God out of her, does not come
from any heavenly messenger, or any human agent inspired by the Spirit
of God. ... God...has a work for His church to
do. They are not to be pronounced Babylon, but to be the salt of the
earth, the light of the world ... to proclaim a living message in
these last days.33
Yes, we have
hope! The problem is when pride and self-seeking masquerade as devotion
to Christ, there we have Baal-worship. And it has penetrated all levels
of the church body. Solemnly we are told: "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, the other is the
true prophet of God."34
Christ cannot
come until we fully understand the truth of our history and Baal is
completely unmasked. He has a fixed perpetual smile of indulgence for
his people. He is an idol with a frozen smile. In terrible contrast the
face of the true Christ registers the pain of acute nausea, a divine
sickness of heart with our terrible lukewarmness, our self-love, our
professions of a devotion that we do not really have. But this can
change—it must change—it will change.
The Record is
clear; the Lord has told us the sanctuary shall be cleansed. But more
than this, the work of cleansing is laid bare for the whole universe to
see. After millennia of Baal-worship and after the end-time century when
open defiance of the Lord’s plan was evident, when Baal-worship took
its most subtle defiling forms in all history, then the Lord provides us
the positive cure in a beautiful promise:
"It shall be
at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi [My husband];
and shalt call me no more Baali [My master]. For I will take away the
names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered
by their name. … And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will
betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving
kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in
faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord" (Hosea 2:16, 17, 19,
20).
The long delay is
over. Baal is cast down. The Divine Bridegroom has at last won the heart
of His bride. "That day" can come whenever the Bride says she
is ready to be married. "That day" could be sooner than you
think.
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