How Should Seventh-day Adventists Be Known?
By Kevin Straub
July 23, 2007
I have noticed in these times that there seems to be an increasing burden upon Adventist leadership to make ourselves “known.” This is troubling to me on several levels. I will talk about three that come immediately to mind, but wish to focus mainly in one area, which I will deal with thirdly, below. I hear the theme oft repeated that “nobody knows who we are,” in answer to objections about our ecumenical tendencies, trends, and outright official involvements. Is this how we should seek to be known?
I. We are mostly Christians only in name
Could it be that we just simply aren’t living our faith in our neighborhoods, at work, and wherever else we rub shoulders with the world? Perhaps we actually haven’t the faith to live. I.e., we aren’t alive in Christ. If you doubt this, go to Revelation 3:14-22 and read it straight from the testimony of Jesus. We have little joy in our Christianity because it really isn’t who we are, inside. Truth be told, most of those “in the church” aren’t converted.
Jesus said it:
“Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not done many wonders in your name?’ but I will say to them, ‘I never knew you.’” Luke 6:22, 23.
The Messenger to the Church said it:
“It is a solemn statement that I make to the church, that not one in twenty whose names are registered upon the church books are prepared to close their earthly history, and would be as verily without God and without hope in the world as the common sinner. They are professedly serving God, but they are more earnestly serving mammon. This half-and-half work is a constant denying of Christ, rather than a confessing of Christ. So many have brought into the church their own unsubdued spirit, unrefined; their spiritual taste is perverted by their own immoral, debasing corruptions, symbolizing the world in spirit, in heart, in purpose, confirming themselves in lustful practices, and are full of deception through and through in their professed Christian life. Living as sinners, claiming to be Christians! Those who claim to be Christians and will confess Christ should come out from among them and touch not the unclean thing, and be separate. . . . {ChS 41.1}
If there were a truly converted majority, the world would know who we are and we wouldn’t be concerned about this question. Furthermore, we would not be very comfortable “being known” if we had the Spirit of God, for we would be suffering rejection and persecution on all sides.
II. Pride
By Kevin Straub
July 23, 2007
I have noticed in these times that there seems to be an increasing burden upon Adventist leadership to make ourselves “known.” This is troubling to me on several levels. I will talk about three that come immediately to mind, but wish to focus mainly in one area, which I will deal with thirdly, below. I hear the theme oft repeated that “nobody knows who we are,” in answer to objections about our ecumenical tendencies, trends, and outright official involvements. Is this how we should seek to be known?
I. We are mostly Christians only in name
Could it be that we just simply aren’t living our faith in our neighborhoods, at work, and wherever else we rub shoulders with the world? Perhaps we actually haven’t the faith to live. I.e., we aren’t alive in Christ. If you doubt this, go to Revelation 3:14-22 and read it straight from the testimony of Jesus. We have little joy in our Christianity because it really isn’t who we are, inside. Truth be told, most of those “in the church” aren’t converted.
Jesus said it:
“Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not done many wonders in your name?’ but I will say to them, ‘I never knew you.’” Luke 6:22, 23.
The Messenger to the Church said it:
“It is a solemn statement that I make to the church, that not one in twenty whose names are registered upon the church books are prepared to close their earthly history, and would be as verily without God and without hope in the world as the common sinner. They are professedly serving God, but they are more earnestly serving mammon. This half-and-half work is a constant denying of Christ, rather than a confessing of Christ. So many have brought into the church their own unsubdued spirit, unrefined; their spiritual taste is perverted by their own immoral, debasing corruptions, symbolizing the world in spirit, in heart, in purpose, confirming themselves in lustful practices, and are full of deception through and through in their professed Christian life. Living as sinners, claiming to be Christians! Those who claim to be Christians and will confess Christ should come out from among them and touch not the unclean thing, and be separate. . . . {ChS 41.1}
If there were a truly converted majority, the world would know who we are and we wouldn’t be concerned about this question. Furthermore, we would not be very comfortable “being known” if we had the Spirit of God, for we would be suffering rejection and persecution on all sides.
II. Pride
Why is it so important that the world “knows who WE are?” This question always strikes me as hearkening back to Babel, where those rebels congregated who sought to build a great city with a tower to “make a name” for themselves. Gen. 11:4. We say that our concern is outreach, but the fact is that we have shied away from giving the straight messages of angels one, two, and three because they make us stand out as peculiar in doctrine and in today’s anti-hate speech environment and legislative movements, they are outright politically incorrect.
Go to the learned rabbis in the religion departments of our institutions of higher learning and ask them to teach you the meaning of 1844 and Christ in the Most Holy Place and see if it lines up with our early Divinely-illuminated understanding of the Scriptures and as given in the Spirit of Prophecy. (You will be in for a shock, if you have learned, believed and come into the faith of historic Adventism. Many will not understand what I am talking about as they have been brought in and/or up on the Evangelical line of theology.)
Or ask former General Conference president Neal C. Wilson, who testified many years ago, in a US Court of law, as the President and First Pastor of the SdA church, that our unfavorable attitude toward the papacy has been committed to the “historical trash heap.” (Reply Brief for Defendants, p. 4, Civil Case #74-2025 CBR, U.S. District Court, San Francisco, California, 1974-1975.)
I bring these items forward not to gratuitously bash the church, but to point out that only by moving more in line with the mainstream can we be accepted by the mainstream.
I have seen that our methods of “getting known” are not in harmony with inspired counsels and directives. (See recent document “Ecumenism and the Elijah Message” by this author.) We are constantly admonished to tread ever so carefully when talking about “other” churches (as if there were more than one) and to always say only praises or, at worst, remain neutral in our mentions. These counsels are nothing but a conditioning of our minds so that we will allow ourselves to be infiltrated by the spirit of antichrist. These sayings are misguided and are a “cloak of false charity” (see quote PK 675.1, below). We need to be unashamed in our preaching about what is the true church, all the while prefacing our statements with the truth that God’s people are yet to be found within all communions that call themselves Christian and yes, even those that are non-Christian. After we have worked with them, however, they must not be allowed to go away feeling comfortable in remaining in these bodies. That is why Adventism was raised up: to CALL THEM OUT!
I ever maintain: If we were to loudly preach our troubling distinctives, decrying/exposing the sins and errors of Babylon, as depicted by the Revelation 18 Angel, we would not be able to continue in the alliances that we have formed with the world and with false Christianity, at all levels of our church organization.
"The world is against us, the popular churches are against us, [this can only be said True Adventism, not Nominal Adventism] the laws of the land will soon be against us. . . . God has committed to us the special truths for this time to make known to the world. The last message of mercy is now going forth. We are dealing with men and women who are judgment bound." 5T 236
“Now and ever we are to stand as a distinct and peculiar people, free from all worldly policy, unembarrassed by confederating with those who have not wisdom to discern the claims of God, so plainly set forth in His law.” Battle Creek Letters, page 52.
Rather than Adventists getting known by the world, isn’t it more important that the world knows who GOD is? The preaching of the message of God’s Character and the living of it in righteousness, under the New Covenant promise, will light the whole earth with His glory, as per the fourth angel. This will be done under the outpouring of the latter rain Holy Spirit, which is the power source that drives the final call of the three angels and gets “the work” done.
Both, the indwelling of the Living Christ in His people AND the incontrovertible truths which they preach will arouse the unholy wrath of both worldlings and false Christianity. There will be no “conversations” or “dialogue” or “presenting a united witness to the world of the Saviour’s love.” These kinds of words and phrases are a smokescreen to cover the truth of what is really happening. This leads to my main concern.
III. Ecumenism under the guise of “being known”
Our General Conference president, Jan Paulsen, wrote an article in the June 2007 issue of Adventist World, entitled Telling the World Who We Are. In this article there are the same old arguments presented to assuage the members’ concerns about our ecumenism, stating that we can enter into “dialogues,” “conversations,” and “cooperative relationships” to “remove misunderstandings and accompanying prejudices.”
Secondly, it is asserted that there is always much we can learn from these “thoughtful conversations” with others. I never could understand that one. True Adventism has a complete gospel as no other. All we learn from the others is how to water down the gospel until we are preaching an incomplete gospel or “another gospel.” But, I shall not go there now, as that is another topic.
Dr. Paulsen, in his short article of ten paragraphs, uses the word “conversations,” or a form of it, no less than fifteen times. He is trying very hard to downplay our ecumenism and really coming up short, in my view.
I am getting a typical image here, of a concerned father admonishing his daughter about spending far too much time on the phone with the bad boy across town and hearing her retort that they are “just having conversation.”
The Ecumenists understand that “dialogue” is intended to create “meeting,” “mutual understanding, respect and trust," and that it is “a medium of authentic witness.” (The Coming United Religions, p. 57.)
“Meeting” means “uniting.” Don’t be fooled by any of this language. Trust? Upon what Biblical or prophetic basis are we to “trust” Babylon? My understanding is that the Great Harlot Woman will ride the Beast. I respect God and His word of Truth, while having no respect for error and lies. How is dialogue a “medium of authentic witness?” Is this talking about presenting a unified front to the world, when it is at last shown that as “God” brings us together, we at last have the True Witness? Upon whose platform do we unite? Can we “unite” upon only those points wherein we agree? This is nonsense, for it would not truly be unity, would it? These baffling words are typical of ecumenispeak, if I may coin the term, made to sound lofty and important to the common person while bypassing the important questions that a critically thinking person might have.
Ecumenispeak promotes the understanding that there is
“no peace among the nations without peace among the religions; no peace among the religions without dialogue between the religions. . .” Dr. Hans Kung, Roman Catholic Theologian of Germany, ibid., p. 16.
All this “dialogue” -- what a chatty bunch we are! We talk all this peace and service to humanity and making a better world through our united presentation of Christian witness. Again, whose platform do we stand on? Hint: Who lays claim to spiritual “primacy” in the world? Make no mistake: There will be no peace but that imposed by the presently coalescing and imminent consolidation of the iron-fisted power of the papacy, in a neo Pax Romana.
Let’s hone in a little further. Pr. Paulsen reassures the church:
“We do not seek union of any sort – we have not joined the ecumenical movement and will not. Our mission is one that cannot be diluted or restricted by ecumenical alliances.”
Immediately he goes on to say, however:
“During the course of a conversation we may explore areas of possible joint endeavor. . . .”
George Orwell says that holding conflicting views in one’s mind and believing both is called doublethink. There is a lot of this going on in this era of Hegelianism, or bringing conflicting sides into proximity, shaking them up together and out of the ensuing reactions forming a synthetic view that serves the controlling purposes of the powerful (puppets of the Archrebel, fallen Lucifer).
It is simply not true to say that we are not united nor uniting with the world. I would not make such a serious allegation if I had not the evidence. I will later introduce just a few examples out of hundreds that could be given to prove this point and show how the Luciferian agenda, in its particular manifestation of the ecumenical movements of recent decades, has indeed entered Adventism.
Please understand that I am a member of this church. I have loved this church as the vessel that received the commission to present the last call to the world; I will continue to love the truths she was given. It was my cradle and True Adventism will be my grave, should I sleep and so long as I remain faithful to Jesus in the apostolic doctrine and the spirit of the reformers. I speak these straight and unpopular words that many who do not understand will be aroused to the times and pray for oil in their lamps, that together we will all be prepared to meet the coming crisis. It is my prayer also that I will not fail to reveal the true Character of God in Jesus, as I go about this work.
“In the work of reform to be carried forward today, there is need of men who, like Ezra and Nehemiah, will not palliate or excuse sin, nor shrink from vindicating the honor of God. Those upon whom rests the burden of this work will not hold their peace when wrong is done, neither will they cover evil with a cloak of false charity. They will remember that God is no respecter of persons, and that severity to a few may prove mercy to many. They will remember also that in the one who rebukes evil the spirit of Christ should ever be revealed.” {PK 675.1}
Our prophet told us that our greatest danger would be from inside the church:
“We have far more to fear from within than from without. The hindrances to strength and success are far greater from the church itself than from the world. . . . how often have the professed advocates of the truth proved the greatest obstacle to its advancement! The unbelief indulged, the doubts expressed, the darkness cherished, encourage the presence of evil angels, and open the way for the accomplishment of Satan's devices.--1SM 122 (1887).
“The work which the church has failed to do in a time of peace and prosperity she will have to do in a terrible crisis under most discouraging, forbidding circumstances. The warnings that worldly conformity has silenced or withheld must be given under the fiercest opposition from enemies of the faith. And at that time the superficial, conservative class, whose influence has steadily retarded the progress of the work, will renounce the faith and take their stand with its avowed enemies, toward whom their sympathies have long been tending. These apostates will then manifest the most bitter enmity, doing all in their power to oppress and malign their former brethren and to excite indignation against them. This day is just before us. The members of the church will individually be tested and proved. They will be placed in circumstances where they will be forced to bear witness for the truth. Many will be called to speak before councils and in courts of justice, perhaps separately and alone. The experience which would have helped them in this emergency they have neglected to obtain, and their souls are burdened with remorse for wasted opportunities and neglected privileges. {5T 463.2}
"I saw the nominal church and nominal Adventists, like Judas, would betray us to the Catholics to obtain their influence to come against the truth. The saints then will be an obscure people, little known to the Catholics; but the churches and nominal Adventists who know of our faith and customs (for they hated us on account of the Sabbath, for they could not refute it) will betray the saints and report them to the Catholics as those who disregard the institutions of the people; that is, that they keep the Sabbath and disregard Sunday." E.G. White, Spalding--Magan Unpublished Testimonies, p. 1.
We are here talking about the Omega of Apostasy, which has been well underway for decades. Most of us have been sleeping through it. I include myself in this; only in recent years have I been truly realizing how very serious and deeply entrenched is this problem in the organization of structural Seventh-day Adventism. We must be aware of this and we must be studying with regard to our special truths and understand how the modern alliances that are being formed are against our future freedom of conscience and liberties of speech, free association and worship. Our worst enemies are now amongst us, speaking smooth things and unless we are taking up the opportunities and privileges we now have to become educated and grounded in the spirit of truth and development of character, we shall not stand in the days ahead.
Okay, it is time to examine some of the evidences: Are we really “not seeking union of any sort” – have we really “not joined the ecumenical movement”, as Paulsen claims?
A. Canadian Foodgrains Bank as ecumenical organization
Let me start with a little local report by ADRA, as given on Page 8 of our July 2007 issue of Red Deer Church News:
“Established in 1983, the Canadian Foodgrains Bank is a Canadian based Christian organization that helps provide food and development assistance to people. The Canadian Foodgrains Bank is owned by 13 Canadian Church Agencies, including ADRA Canada.”
Being very pleased to announce that the number is now 15, as the Catholics and Anglicans have just joined, the report goes on to say:
“Member agencies represent evangelical churches, mainline protestant churches, as well as catholic churches, with over 17,000 congregations and parishes connected to this ecumenical effort to end hunger in developing countries.
“ ‘We’re very excited about this,’ says Rick Fee, Chair of the Board of Directors of Canadian Foodgrains Bank. ‘The Foodgrains Bank is truly a unique ecumenical Christian organization. As Canadians we should be very proud of this joint Christian witness in the world. We should never underestimate or down-play the vital role that the Foodgrains Bank is being called to fulfill in today’s hungry world. We celebrate the inclusion of the Anglicans and Catholics as members of this amazing Christian response to ending hunger.’ ”
Some would not define banding together in humanitarian efforts as “ecumenism.” ADRA seems to differ with this sentiment. Furthermore, they define their work as a united “Christian witness in the world.” If this isn’t an ecumenical sort of idea, then what is it? To think that we can join these bodies for the good they do and somehow be separate from the ongoing ecumenical agenda which is seeking to enlist the powers of civil government to eliminate all dissent is nothing short of delusional.
“Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.” 1 Cor. 15:33
Christian witness? Whose “Christian” witness? These fallen churches aren’t Christian. They are corrupted with pagan thought and practice. The catch-all case-in-point is the avowed “Christian Sabbath,” the venerable Day of the Sun. Is this not antichrist? Please understand that we aren’t speaking of individuals in these organizations who don’t understand what they are into, any more than low level Secret Society members, such as the Freemasons, understand what they are into. They also (who are of American Masonry), believe that they are a “Christian” organization, when in reality they are Luciferian. It’s all part of the endtime conglomerate that will seek to stamp out the faithful.
We are not allowed to give our distinctive witness to the world when we are in these alliances. You may not actively seek to bring people into the third angel’s message when working in these groups. Try being a True Adventist witness within these ecumenical bodies and teaching things like:
the judgment hour message pertaining to Christ’s movement into the Most Holy Place as of 1844 and how that His atoning for sin there is about more than mere forgiveness, but an actual cleansing of it from our present lives, molding our characters like unto His own, in preparation for the last great work of the the Loud Cry of 4th angel to be given by the final generation, the 144,000;
the ensuing close of probation when there will be no more atonement for the sin and characters are sealed for God or marked for destruction;
the Sabbath truth;
the non-immortality of the soul;
the coming persecution under Sunday laws which we have correctly taught as the implementation of the Mark of the Beast;
the expositions of the man of sin and that apostate’s corruptions of the truths of and usurpation of the prerogatives of God
the Spirit of Prophecy as manifest in the ministry and writings of EGW
B. ADRA President full participant in ecumenical worship service
Again, as involving ADRA, we find the president, Charles Sandefur participating officially on behalf of the SDA church in an interfaith prayer and worship service at the Washington National Cathedral on March 16, 2007, as reported by Pastor Ron Spear in The Eternal Gospel Herald, Vol 4. No. 10, pp. 6-8. This was “an ecumenical coalition of churches organized” in an event to promote “Christian Peace Witness for Iraq.” They were praying, singing, and meditating to beseech God to bring in “lasting peace and unity to this nation and to the rest of the world.”
I am wondering if we forgot all about prophecy? We carry on as if it were never written and somehow we are going to do something else and bring about another outcome by spurning the heaven-sent counsel. Instead of preaching the message to come out of Babylon, we are chumming up with the apostates giving the leading prayers in their services, marching in their candlelit processions, applauding their speeches. God help us!
Again, as involving ADRA, we find the president, Charles Sandefur participating officially on behalf of the SDA church in an interfaith prayer and worship service at the Washington National Cathedral on March 16, 2007, as reported by Pastor Ron Spear in The Eternal Gospel Herald, Vol 4. No. 10, pp. 6-8. This was “an ecumenical coalition of churches organized” in an event to promote “Christian Peace Witness for Iraq.” They were praying, singing, and meditating to beseech God to bring in “lasting peace and unity to this nation and to the rest of the world.”
I am wondering if we forgot all about prophecy? We carry on as if it were never written and somehow we are going to do something else and bring about another outcome by spurning the heaven-sent counsel. Instead of preaching the message to come out of Babylon, we are chumming up with the apostates giving the leading prayers in their services, marching in their candlelit processions, applauding their speeches. God help us!
C. Centura Health Corporation a Joint Venture between Adventists and
Catholics
What about our union with the Catholics in Colorado, in our health care systems? Centura Health Corporation is jointly owned and operated by Catholic Health Initiatives and Adventist Health Systems. Was it the purpose of God that the "right arm of the message" be grafted to a Roman Catholic body? If "it is a backsliding church that lessens the distance between itself and the Papacy" (ST, Feb. 19, 1894), then it is a backslidden Church which grafts its "right arm" to a Roman Catholic body!
D. The work of Bert B. Beach
I would be remiss if I did not talk about the career of Bert B. Beach, SdA contact man with the WCC and the Vatican for decades.
He is the one who, in 1973, co-authored a book along with the WCC entitled: So Much In Common. On the back cover it clearly states that this book was written by the "World Council of Churches and Seventh-day Adventist Church."
What about the gold medallion that Beach presented to the pope? In connection with a consultative meeting of secretaries of World Confessional Families held in Rome, B. B. Beach, secretary of the Northern Europe-West Africa Division, one of the 15 participants and the only Adventist in the group, knelt down and presented a medallion to Pope Paul VI on May 18, 1977.
He was in Rome that day as leader of the World Confessional Families (now called Christian World Communions), an interfaith organization of several Protestant denominations, a subsidiary of the WCC, organized by the WCC in 1968.
Ignore this talk that our church does not have a representative at the World Council of Churches! We have had one there for 35 years! Is he voting member? He most assuredly is. He is a voting member of the most important ecumenical and interfaith doctrinal committee of the WCC, representing a broad range of Protestant denominations (The Faith and Order Commission). On that committee has sat a Vatican representative since 1967, the same year that Beach came on board. In fact, Beach has been the chairman of that WCC ecumenical committee for at least two decades!
E. More random evidences and samplings of our ecumenism
We had Vatican representation at the General Conference Session; the two priests manning a Vatican booth at our recent session in St. Louis.
"The Seventh-day Adventist Church does hold voting membership in several of our [National Council of Churches] program units and in addition has non-voting or associate membership in other units." Letter from the National Council of Churches of Christ, January 29, 1960, from Donald F. Landwer, Assistant General Secretary for Finance.
"The National Council of Churches presents a production of the Seventh-day Adventist Church." Adventist Review, December 15, 1994, p 7 (See also TV Guide, December 24-30, 1994, p 55, vol 42, #52, Issue #2178).
The SDA church is also a member of the NCC by way of the local SdA churches belonging to the Ministerial Associations in their communities.
Catholics
What about our union with the Catholics in Colorado, in our health care systems? Centura Health Corporation is jointly owned and operated by Catholic Health Initiatives and Adventist Health Systems. Was it the purpose of God that the "right arm of the message" be grafted to a Roman Catholic body? If "it is a backsliding church that lessens the distance between itself and the Papacy" (ST, Feb. 19, 1894), then it is a backslidden Church which grafts its "right arm" to a Roman Catholic body!
D. The work of Bert B. Beach
I would be remiss if I did not talk about the career of Bert B. Beach, SdA contact man with the WCC and the Vatican for decades.
He is the one who, in 1973, co-authored a book along with the WCC entitled: So Much In Common. On the back cover it clearly states that this book was written by the "World Council of Churches and Seventh-day Adventist Church."
What about the gold medallion that Beach presented to the pope? In connection with a consultative meeting of secretaries of World Confessional Families held in Rome, B. B. Beach, secretary of the Northern Europe-West Africa Division, one of the 15 participants and the only Adventist in the group, knelt down and presented a medallion to Pope Paul VI on May 18, 1977.
He was in Rome that day as leader of the World Confessional Families (now called Christian World Communions), an interfaith organization of several Protestant denominations, a subsidiary of the WCC, organized by the WCC in 1968.
Ignore this talk that our church does not have a representative at the World Council of Churches! We have had one there for 35 years! Is he voting member? He most assuredly is. He is a voting member of the most important ecumenical and interfaith doctrinal committee of the WCC, representing a broad range of Protestant denominations (The Faith and Order Commission). On that committee has sat a Vatican representative since 1967, the same year that Beach came on board. In fact, Beach has been the chairman of that WCC ecumenical committee for at least two decades!
E. More random evidences and samplings of our ecumenism
We had Vatican representation at the General Conference Session; the two priests manning a Vatican booth at our recent session in St. Louis.
"The Seventh-day Adventist Church does hold voting membership in several of our [National Council of Churches] program units and in addition has non-voting or associate membership in other units." Letter from the National Council of Churches of Christ, January 29, 1960, from Donald F. Landwer, Assistant General Secretary for Finance.
"The National Council of Churches presents a production of the Seventh-day Adventist Church." Adventist Review, December 15, 1994, p 7 (See also TV Guide, December 24-30, 1994, p 55, vol 42, #52, Issue #2178).
The SDA church is also a member of the NCC by way of the local SdA churches belonging to the Ministerial Associations in their communities.
The SDA church signed an agreement with the Catholics, in Poland, after 15 years of dialogue, stating that Adventism is not a “new religious movement” nor a “sect.” The document aims for “better understanding of the teachings and practice of the Catholic and the Adventist Churches, as well as improving relations without compromising each other's identity.”
"The time was when Protestants [Adventists] placed a high value upon the liberty of conscience which had been so dearly purchased," says EGW. "They taught their children to abhor popery and held that to seek harmony with Rome would be disloyalty to God. But how widely different are the sentiments now expressed!"
"The defenders of the papacy declare that the church has been maligned, and the Protestant [Adventist] world are inclined to accept the statement," Ellen White stated. "Many urge that it is unjust to judge the church of today by the abominations and absurdities that marked her reign during the centuries of ignorance and darkness. They excuse her horrible cruelty as the result of the barbarism of the times and plead that the influence of modern civilization has changed her sentiments." GC 563.
(Those who would like to receive information on this document, documentation regarding our involvement with the WCC, or other research resources on Adventist ecumenism can contact me at straub@direct.ca).
"The time was when Protestants [Adventists] placed a high value upon the liberty of conscience which had been so dearly purchased," says EGW. "They taught their children to abhor popery and held that to seek harmony with Rome would be disloyalty to God. But how widely different are the sentiments now expressed!"
"The defenders of the papacy declare that the church has been maligned, and the Protestant [Adventist] world are inclined to accept the statement," Ellen White stated. "Many urge that it is unjust to judge the church of today by the abominations and absurdities that marked her reign during the centuries of ignorance and darkness. They excuse her horrible cruelty as the result of the barbarism of the times and plead that the influence of modern civilization has changed her sentiments." GC 563.
(Those who would like to receive information on this document, documentation regarding our involvement with the WCC, or other research resources on Adventist ecumenism can contact me at straub@direct.ca).
I could go on for dozens of pages with the evidence, but I have given enough for now.
“When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near.” {5T 451.1}
Are Seventh-day Adventists reaching across the gulf and clasping hands with the papacy and the Evangelicals? Let the reader decide.
As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angel's message, 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 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 become the most bitter enemies of their former brethren. When Sabbathkeepers are brought before the courts to answer for their faith, these apostates are the most efficient agents of Satan to misrepresent and accuse them, and by false reports and insinuations to stir up the rulers against them. {Mar 196.1}
This work that is being done in exposition of the apostasy in which we are steeped is that of the watchmen on the walls of Zion. Ministers and leaders who will not bear it are given the severest of counsels:
“Unsanctified ministers are arraying themselves against God. They are praising Christ and the god of this world in the same breath. While professedly they receive Christ, they embrace Barabbas. . . .
“Let the son of deceit and false witness be entertained by a church that has had great light, great evidence, and that church will discard the message the Lord has sent, and receive the most unreasonable assertions and false suppositions and false theories. Satan laughs at their folly, for he knows what truth is. {TM 409.2}
“Many will stand in our pulpits with the torch of false prophecy in their hands, kindled from the hellish torch of Satan. If doubts and unbelief are cherished, the faithful ministers will be removed from the people who think they [the ministers] know so much.” {TM 409.3}
Awful is the outcome of the rebellion of the apostate leaders, who have preached smooth things and taken their followers down into union with the endtime persecutor:
“The people turned upon their ministers with bitter hate and reproached them, saying, ‘You have not warned us. You told us that all the world was to be converted, [by presenting a ‘united Christian witness?] and cried, Peace, peace, to quiet every fear that was aroused [we are praying for unity and peace, we are joining with them in healing the sick, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless. . .]. You have not told us of this hour; and those who warned us of it you declared to be fanatics and evil men, who would ruin us.’ But I saw that the ministers did not escape the wrath of God. Their suffering was tenfold greater than that of their people.” {SR 405.1}
I am aware that some will apply the labels of “fanatic” and “evil man” to me for bringing these things forward. Being a messenger is going to have its consequences. Bearing present truth has never been a smooth path. May God sustain me and make me worthy to bear the sufferings that will surely come for this ministry.
Yes, we really did once believe that there was a great danger coming from the ecumenical movement. We still say that, more or less, but we go right on ahead and fornicate with apostate Christendom, precluding our ability to fulfill our mandate and give the call:
"On the basis of Bible prophecy and the writings of Ellen G. White, SDA's anticipate the eventual success of the ecumenical movement both in eliminating the divisions of Protestantism and in reuniting Christendom by bridging the gulf that separates non-Catholic communions from Rome. The ecumenical movement will then become a concerted effort to unite the world and to secure universal peace and security by enlisting the power of the civil government in a universal religio-political crusade to eliminate all dissent. SDA's envision this crusade as the great apostasy to which John the revelator refers as 'Babylon the great.' They understand, also, that God's last message of mercy to the world prior to the return of Christ in power and glory will consist of a warning against this great apostate movement, and a call to all who choose to remain loyal to Him to leave the churches connected with it." SDA Encyclopedia, vol 10 of the Bible Commentary Reference Series, p 410-411.
"It is impossible for you to unite with those who are corrupt, and still remain pure. 'What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial?' God and Christ and the heavenly host would have man know that if he unites with the corrupt, he will become corrupt." SDA Bible Commentary, vol 6, p 1102.
Let Ezra speak:
"Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel; then they came to Zerubbabel and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, LET US BUILD WITH YOU: FOR WE SEEK YOUR GOD,AS YE DO; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither. But Zerubabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, YE HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH US TO BUILD AN HOUSE UNTO OUR GOD; BUT WE OURSELVES TOGETHER WILL BUILD UNTO THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL, as king of Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us" Ezra 4:1-3.
*Highlights added.
.