The Divinely Appointed Remedies: "Gold"
Chapter 7 (continued — part 10)
But this tragic deception is not limited
to people living in that immediate post-1844 era. Churches which embrace the doctrine of natural
immortality are exposed to the same frightful danger. In this time
when the sanctuary doctrine is being boldly challenged by many within the
Seventh-day Adventist church, we need to see that a rejection of this
unique Seventh-day Adventist sanctuary doctrine entails also a rejection
of the pure New Testament gospel of righteousness by faith:
Many who professed to love Jesus, and who
shed tears as they read the story of the cross, derided the good news of
His (second) coming. … Those who rejected the first angel’s message
could not be benefited by the second; neither were they benefited by the
midnight cry, which was to prepare them to enter with Jesus by faith into
the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. And by rejecting the two
former messages, they have so darkened their understanding that they can
see no light in the third angel’s message, which shows the way into the
most holy place. I saw that as the Jews crucified Jesus, so the nominal
churches had crucified these messages, and therefore they have (note
present tense) no knowledge of the way into the most holy, and they can
not be benefited by the intercession of Jesus there. Like the Jews. who
offered their useless sacrifices, they offer up their useless prayers to
the apartment which Jesus has left; Satan, pleased with the deception,
assumes a religious character, and leads the minds of these professed
Christians to himself, working with his power, his signs and lying
wonders. to fasten them in his snare.. He also comes as an angel of light
and spreads his influence over the land by means of false reformations.
The churches are elated, and consider that God is working marvelously for
them, when it is the work of another spirit (EW 55, 56).
In many of the revivals which have
occurred during the last half century. the same influences have been at
work to a greater or less degree … an emotional excitement, a mingling
of the true with the false, that is well adapted to deceive. (CC 464).
No awareness of the danger of this
counterfeit gospel of the orthodox "popular
ministry" found expression throughout the 1952 Bible Conference.
- In the 1960’s we eagerly adopted
ideas and methods from Campus Crusade for Christ, sending ministers to
their headquarters to learn from them how to present "righteousness
by faith". This can be attested by the wide prominence given to their
Four Spiritual Laws and similar substitutes that we prepared
ourselves from time to time. Some of our men worked with the Campus
Crusade group very closely, but this enthusiasm seemed to be cooled by
Campus Crusade’s reported insistence that all their workers subscribe to
the doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul. This is essential to
their concepts of righteousness by faith.
Campus Crusade’s Four Spiritual Laws
are thoroughly egocentric. The "righteousness by faith" they
present is not parallel to or consistent with the work that Christ is
doing in the Most Holy Apartment Those who have used them and supposed
they accomplished much good with them have not realized that this brand of
"righteousness by faith" is as far from true New Testament
teaching as Sunday is from Sabbath-keeping.
- In the recent decade (the 1970’s)
we have eagerly turned to the message and methods of the famed
"church growth" experts and proponents, hoping to find there
principles of "evangelism explosion" that will work with us as
they do with them. As in all the previous movements for decades, the
concept of love (and consequently the concept of faith) is thoroughly
egocentric. Yet we seek to validate these concepts by searching for Spirit
of Prophecy support for them. The implication is very clear: God has given
to the popular ministry the "gold tried in the fire", and we are
to go "buy" of them. He has entrusted
to them the secret of finishing the work The confusion goes back to the
post-1888 history.
Thus, like Israel of old, we have
wandered in a kind of spiritual wilderness for many decades, not
understanding the message the Lord sent to us. Through "our"
failure to receive the 1888 message for what it truly was, we have been
reading the Spirit of Prophecy with a "veil" over our eyes, the
same one that the Jews had (cf. 2 Cor. 3:15). It is the same
"veil" that hung over the eyes of the brethren who attended the
1888 Conference to whom the Lords servant said, "I have been talking
and pleading with you, but it does not seem to make any difference with
you" (MS. 9, 1888). They had the living presence of the prophet with
them, and it made no difference with them. We have her books with us. But
they too have made no difference because we have unwittingly accepted the
"popular ministry’s" ideas of righteousness by faith in place
of the true. In fact, we quite officially see no distinction between their
doctrine in that respect and that which God has for us (cf. Movement of
Destiny, pp. 255-258, 319-321, 616-628).
So much have we failed to realize and
appreciate the uniqueness of our message of righteousness by faith that we
have moved from our positions on "the remnant church" and the
proclamation of the "everlasting gospel" as being emphatically
and clearly unique. Now we say that some popular evangelical churches and
organizations who keep Sunday and hold to the natural immortality of the
soul, those "poisonous drafts of Babylon" (Ev. 247) are a part
of the true remnant church and are proclaiming the everlasting gospel to
the world. The implication is clear that the "everlasting gospel" of the
three angels’ messages has been entrusted by heaven to "many of the
evangelical churches" whose "whole new missionary zeal" has
significantly postponed the fall of Babylon beginning in the early 19th
century (cf. Mission Possible, by Gottfried Oosterwal, pp. 32-39).
We need to ask a very serious question: Is this "whole new missionary
zeal" indeed a genuine proclamation of "the everlasting
gospel" "in verity"? Or are we being blinded by "an
angel of light" and his "false reformations"?
How can those who hold to the
"poisonous drafts of Babylon", the natural immortality of the
soul and Sunday sacredness and who do not understand the Atonement clearly
give the "everlasting gospel" to the world? True, the great mass
of Gods people are in the popular churches, and they are sincere. We must
respect them and truly "cooperate" with them in every good work.
But is our "mission" virtually a me-too voice proclaiming what
is basically the same gospel? Is there no clearly unique message to call
Gods people "Out"?
Nothing is said here to be critical or
disrespectful toward the brethren of the past ninety years and those
living today who have sincerely assumed that "the popular
ministry" understand the "same truth of righteousness by faith’
the Lord gave us in 1888. Nothing is said here with a fault-finding spirit
We are simply looking at the Laodicean message and inquiring how it can be
true that we do indeed need to buy of our Lord "gold tried in
the fire".
The 1888 message constituted a genuine
revival of the original New Testament idea of agape and its
complementary response, faith. Thus, its concept of justification by faith
was unique and distinct from that of the "popular ministry ".
Freed at last from the confusion of the egocentric idea of the natural
immortality of the soul, the 1888 message was able to restate the
apostolic ideas more clearly. With the sole exception of Luther, who only
partially reached this goal, one searches almost in vain through history
to find another similar breakthrough. Most of the 16th to 18th
century Reformers were still shackled to the pagan-papal idea which had
its origin in Hellenism, Calvin and Wesley for example. They searched for
the breakthrough but could never truly find it.
Is it not time that this confusion
concerning love and faith be resolved in the remnant church? There is such
a thing as the Seventh-day Adventist conscience. Does that conscience
recognize the need that our True Witness says is ours?
If what we have understood and preached
since 1926 or longer is the "same truth" as that
"beginning" of the Latter Rain and the Loud Cry of 1888, will
someone please tell us why the work has not yet been finished, nor the
earth been lightened with the glory of the fourth angel?
The Divinely Appointed
Remedies:
"White Raiment" and "Eyesalve" |
