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Often, when I am considering a subject for our studies, I ask myself, “What are the needs of the Church?” After all, that is the purpose of the teachers, prophets, and messengers. It is to edify the Church, and to provide the saints with the tools they need to perfect the Christ-like character.
One of the ways that the Church can indicate a subject for necessary discussion is by its need to explain something to others... by its needs as relevant to evangelism. What the world needs to hear from us may be something we understand, something we accept as true, but that perhaps hasn’t been put into a clear, easily accessible way before. Therefore, what we need to understand and explain more clearly is often revealed through our interaction with others. That is what leads us to today.
Last week I was having two conversations on Facebook simultaneously, with two different people, about the Seventh-day Adventist trademarked name, and the lawsuits that this trademark has allowed. One of these individuals was in the General Conference church, and the other was not.
The one in the Conference organization disagreed with the importance I was placing on the Church-state union. This might come as a surprise, since from the very beginning Adventists have taught that a union of Church and state is the very creation of an image to papal Rome. Nevertheless, in recent years the force of this message has been undercut by the “Not my Church” syndrome. “What is true for other Churches, those Sunday-keepers over there, doesn’t apply to us.” And yet, when Israel sinned in the Old Testament, Yahweh was not inclined to show them mercy because He had chosen them as His people. No, they were accountable for far more than the pagan nations around them, because He had chosen them as His people, and their judgment was often greater. Yahweh has shown mercy in that He has chosen us, and taught us His righteousness… but those who reject His knowledge cannot benefit from His mercy, and they choose destruction to a far greater degree than those in the world.
It is written, “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, ‘Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.’” (Rev 18:4) We often stop there, when speaking of the Fourth Angel, but the next two verses are just as important: “‘For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works; in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.’” (Rev 18:5, 6)
As any educated Adventist can tell you, this is a calling-out from a Church that was formerly faithful, but has divorced Christ and married itself to the world. When people are called out of such a body, the body that is left behind and those in it have a fearsome woe pronounced upon them. These are not light matters, and in fact they are a necessary and important part of the Gospel message we are commissioned to speak.
So one of the two individuals, because he was loyal to the Conference above all, rejected good, old-fashioned Adventist doctrine, and concluded that unions of Church and state might not be so bad after all.
The other, a member of an independent ministry, made an equally unfortunate conclusion. He said that while the trademark and its lawsuits were bad, there were worse things that the General Conference has done… and he had a list of false doctrines ready at hand. And so it’s almost an opposite error; because he is entirely disloyal to the Conference, his view of it is so negative that the image of the Beast is lost among the many complaints he has against them, and he sees no need to warn people about that particular thing, which is to be the very test of the Churches. Inspiration has told us what the Beast and its image are, and those who deny this will not be effective co-laborers with Christ, whose voice is in that fourth angel.
We must be able to explain the Trademark in terms of its relationship to the Gospel, so that it can be understood as the Mark of The Beast. We do that already; we have many wonderful studies that demonstrate this beyond any possibility of controversy once we stand on the platform of Pioneer Adventism. The problem is, or has become, that many modern Adventists have no idea what the Pioneers taught. They think that they were Trinitarian, or that they were so anti-Trinitarian that they made it a test of fellowship. Both positions are demonstrably wrong. And so when we talk about the trademark as the result of the only remaining Protestant Church in the world (Seventh-Day Adventism) that rejects Sunday-sacredness and the Roman Catholic view of the Godhead, and its unity with the world’s most prominent state super-power (the United States), it does not have the impact that it should.
It is seen as just another pet doctrine by some small insignificant group, when in fact it is the only current fulfillment of what has been set forth for our salvation, as history’s most serious warning, in the writings of our spiritual forefathers.
This is a need of the Church, to be able to explain the Trademark’s relationship to the Gospel, so that it is understood as the same and very Mark described in the Book of Revelation, a mark to regulate trade – buying and selling – in the spiritual merchandise of the Gospel work. Most of us here do understand that, understand how it fulfills the same principles as the Sunday Law, and is in fact the only law today that can really test the Sabbath and what it was intended for, to teach us rest, to trust entirely in Christ, as individuals and as a united Body.
Remember that the Scripture says this of the beginning of the Three Angels’ Message: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the Everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people…” (Rev 14:6) When all three messages are accepted, then we see the 144,000 appear. We must explain, clearly, that all three messages are a part of the Good News, which prepares souls for Heaven.
Victory over sin, purity of doctrine, and unity of the saints in protest of the Beast and its image… these are all the same message, the Everlasting Gospel. Repentance from sin, the faith of Yahshua, and baptism into the Church of Christ, His visible Body on earth, these are all the same message, the Everlasting Gospel. It does not matter how they are expressed; these three messages appear in various forms, but they all, always, mean the same thing. When we speak of victory over sin, we are talking about the Good News. When we talk about the blessing we receive from observing the appointed times, we are not talking about rules, and laws, and bondage, we are talking about the Good News. When we talk about Church membership, which is what baptism is for, we are not talking about authority, and hierarchy, and giving up control to another human being… no, we are talking about the Good News.
That we know the Trademark is an image to the Papacy is good news. It allows us to reject it and reaffirm our loyalty to the Creator, and the acceptance of His Sabbath in letter and spirit. That we teach about the great importance of Church membership is good news. It reveals the answer to the prayer of Christ in John 17, a place of love and unity as we help each other to grow toward Heaven, to take advantage of those gifts of Ephesians 4, to go on to the perfection of character while probation lingers on the earth.
But we must be able to do so in a way that cuts through all the nonsense… all the misunderstanding of Adventist teachings, all the bad feelings that come from being burned by membership in a fallen Body, all the resentment and suspicion and fear of being led captive to yet another charismatic man’s delusions. No. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18) This is what we teach. Even the fear of being misled, the fear of being wrong, is dissolved away when we find a people who teach the death of sin in the heart, a perfect hatred for the transgression of Yahweh’s Law of Love. It is possible to know. It is possible to find Yahshua’s people, and to rest in His covenant, which contains all of His promises.
So, how do we do it? How do we teach people about the Church, and membership, and when to join, when to remain, when to leave, when to look for the Bride, and what does the Trademark mean for Seventh-day Adventists? And... what is the absolute simplest way we could explain these things to someone who is sincerely seeking the truth?
It’s really quite simple, the significance of this Trademark. Christ Himself, the greatest Teacher, actually explained it already, IF you understand the symbols of Biblical language, and I know that everyone here among us today does understand these things. We know that the Church is a woman, the Bride of Christ. We know that baptism symbolizes death, rebirth, and the marriage to Christ. Once we understand the marriage covenant as a symbol of the Savior’s relationship to His people, then consider this passage, which really tells the entire story:
When speaking of divorce, “He saith unto them, ‘Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery; and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.’” (Mat 19:8, 9)
“Except it be for fornication.” That is the answer. That is when a Church falls, and when it is time to search for the Bride of Christ elsewhere. It is when a Church chooses, and consummates with, another Husband than Christ, that it is not, and can never again be, the bride of Yahshua.
We read of the High Priest, “A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take, but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.” (Lev 21:14) The wife of the High Priest must be pure, and even if her previous marriage ended legitimately, through death, she is still not the match that the Father has chosen for His Son. What shall we say, then, about a woman who has proven to be unfaithful? A Church that has fallen into apostasy, and in that state united with the world, can never be reformed.
And do you know, Yahweh Himself abides by these rules? That is how absolute it is. If the Creator makes a covenant with an individual, or with a people, even if those people misbehave terribly, He does not break His promises to them. He says, instead, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” (Isa 49:15, 16)
So that seems pretty absolute, doesn’t it? Yahweh, once He has made a covenant, a commitment, that is eternal, and unbreakable. This is a true doctrine, a true saying… “except for fornication.”
We read, “And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.” (Zec 11:10) Why did this happen? Why did Yahweh break His covenant with Israel? We read the reason in the chapter before, “Ask ye of Yahweh rain in the time of the latter rain; so Yahweh shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain; therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.” (Zec 10:1, 2)
Understand the significance of this well, and see how history has repeated itself. In a time of Latter Rain, the crops were dry, and the people received no rain. Yahweh was about to fulfill His part, to pour out His glory upon His people according to His Promise, according to His Covenant, but the people did not ask for His rain, for His Spirit. They rejected the gift that He was offering, His victory, and turned instead to idols. They turned instead to creatures of their own making; therefore, there was no Shepherd to lead them. There was no water to purify them from their transgression, and they remained in their filthy garments. They were unfaithful, and because they broke the covenant through their spiritual fornication, which is what idolatry is, Yahweh therefore broke His covenant, and sought out another.
We see this story repeated over and over again in the Bible. Yahweh and a people make a commitment. The people turn away, and Yahweh calls another. We see this in the relationship between Artaxerxes and his wives Vashti and then Esther. We see this in the parable of the Vineyard. When the wicked servants kill their Master’s Son, the Master takes the vineyard from them. “Therefore say I unto you, ‘The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.’” (Mat 21:43)
The Nation of Israel ultimately did that when they crucified the Messiah and chose Caesar instead for their God. Caesar, like the Pope, considered himself divinity. How can one mortal man, in sinful flesh, call another mortal man, in sinful flesh, “Your Holiness?” Rome and Catholicism have this in common, making an idol of their own humanity, and Israel bowed before this idol when it said, “We have no king but Caesar.” (John 19:15) When they said this, according to inspired commentary, they “Unchurched” themselves.
When Seventh Day Adventists, in the person of their General Conference, their elected Sanhedrin, went to the United States government and said of other Sabbath-keeping Christians, “Crucify them, put them in jail. You protect us, because our God won’t do it.” Our God won’t do it, so you have to. You have to be our husband.” When they said this, they unchurched themselves, and it is the Gospel, it is the Good News, that the Spirit has revealed this idolatry. Now, when Yahweh has broken His covenant with the covenant-breakers, we are warned, we are given knowledge, to flee… because their reward shall be according to their works; and double, because they had been chosen by, but rejected, the mercy of God.
It is time to seek out the Bride of Christ outside of His previously chosen people. And why? Because of fornication. Because of spiritual adultery. Because the Church has been unfaithful in its confusion, it has made of itself an adulteress, even though it says it is the Bride. It has made of itself a Widow, because the Beast is a doomed animal, yet she says, “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” (Rev 18:7) She says this. Her people say this to me, when I warn them of the destruction to come.
I say, “Christ taught that a marriage falls apart for, and only for, fornication, and in going to the world and forming a union with them for the enforcement of its dogmas, the SDA Church has committed fornication with the kings of the earth.” No honest person can deny that they have done this. They have imprisoned Christians! That is not the work of Christ, nor of His Bride with whom He is One. They can only deny its significance, but to do so they must reject Scripture and its clear, repeated precedent. Take wisdom from this; it is Good News that you have come to know this, for it is Gospel, and a part of the Three Angels’ Message.
The only legitimate reason to break a covenant is if the other party is first unfaithful. That’s it. If you understand that simple truth, you understand everything that Creation Seventh Day Adventists have been teaching about the Mark of The Beast, Conditional Prophecy, and the Trademark. It’s really just that.
If you understand going to the world as spiritual fornication for a Church, and a wealth of inspired sources describe it in exactly those terms, then you understand the principle behind being called out, and into the Ecclesia, the Church, which is literally “the called-out ones.”
Now, some might say, “It is true that fornication is the only legitimate reason to break a marriage, which symbolizes the Church covenant. But it doesn’t say you HAVE to leave an adulterous marriage.”
That’s a good observation. Some may use that as an excuse to stay in the General Conference. They might say, “Yes, they’ve done terrible things, and I admit they have joined themselves to the world, but aren’t we supposed to forgive? Aren’t we supposed to be ‘repairers of the Breach,’ and fix things from the inside? I can warn the people. I can take this up with the leaders. I can try to reform it from within.”
We have certainly had people who agreed with our position say such things, but it is pride in their own abilities, or spiritual lethargy, rather than loyalty to Yahweh that has motivated their decision to remain. None have been blessed in their efforts to do so, and have either been lulled back to sleep, or become discouraged and vanished into the pit of solitary worship.
The difference here is, Yahweh wants to be married to us. He does not want us to be alone, trapped in a loveless marriage to a fallen woman. He wants us to be His; therefore, He calls us to Himself. This is what the spirit behind the independent SDA ministries consistently rejects… the love of Yahweh that calls us to Himself, and to His people. None will enter Heaven unless they are in a covenant marriage with the Creator, and this is facilitated, this is accomplished in the normal course of events, through the Church. I say, “In the normal course of events,” because of course there are exceptions such as the thief on the cross who was crucified with Yahshua… but which person, that calls himself a saint, will aspire to be such an exception? Which of us would aspire to be the thief on the cross, to die in pain, alone, when we could walk to the Heavenly City together, trough tribulation, yes, but arm in arm as a family? Yahweh wants us to be married to Him, and to be united with one another in an organized, effective, sanctifying way. His mercy is infinite, yes, but His ways are perfect, and those who seek out a better way than that which He has provided do themselves great harm.
Yahweh desires to be united with a united people. That is the purpose of His Spirit’s work, and the prayer of His Only Begotten Son. Moreover, Yahweh’s justice must visit judgment on the unfaithful Woman; therefore, He calls His people out before the judgment falls. To say, “I see that it is fallen, but I don’t see the need to leave,” is to place one’s self under a condemnation that is meant for the fallen angels, and it is not necessary. The only reason to choose such a fate would be due to a delusion of Satan, who promises pain, disappointment, embarrassment, and loss, to those who dare to seek a place with the Bride. Some say, many say, actually, “I am done with all churches, because of what I have been through. They are all corrupt, or will eventually be corrupted.” That is pain speaking, not Christ, and it indicates a soul that is bleeding to death from its wounds.
We know this principle applies, in this exact same way, in this exact same context, between Church membership and marriage. It is not a light thing. It is not a casual thing. It is not a social thing. Church membership is a covenant with Yahweh in the Person of His people. It is a promise to be of one Spirit, the shared Holy Spirit, with a group of human beings that are also similarly tied to Him, and in defiance of the Beast and its image. To break Church membership is a major life change. It is not shopping around for a congregation that fits you. This is the ecumenical mindset... that there are many, valid places of fellowship, so find one that makes you comfortable, that supports your feelings.
The truth is, the little flock is where the truth is taught. Even if that truth is uncomfortable, and chastening. This is the flock that does not tolerate sin within itself, and that seeks to help those who discover it to be clean, healthy, and joyful. This is the flock that feeds the people of Yahweh with spiritual food. These are a people who speak the truth, as lovingly as possible, but willing to offend those who will be offended. And certainly, all of us here have come in with baggage, with things to be burned away, cut away, and stripped away, with misunderstandings about Yahweh and about themselves. That is okay.
We are standing in the light of judgment, as the Adventist Church was always intended to do. We are being purged of our sins, and our defects of character, as the Adventist Church was always intended to do. If someone is in a Church that makes them feel comfortable, that doesn’t challenge them to re-evaluate their lives and their thoughts, that Church is not preparing them to perceive and reject Satan’s final deceptions. That Church is not teaching the Way, the Truth and the Life. That Church is a social group with a religious aroma, not a nation of priests and kings, putting away all sin, and readying itself for the coming of the Son of Yahweh.
Differences in doctrine, these may exist. Look at how Yahshua dealt with the Churches down through the various ages in John’s vision in Revelation. He rebukes their errors, and he encourages their faith, but He does not depart from them. As we look through history, we find this pattern is consistent. When a Church unites with the world, it is then that another generation of believers is called to continue the work. When people fail to understand this, they see any difference in doctrine or personality as a personal call from God to them, to start a new movement, a reform movement, a separate ministry, to work independently from the Bride. We know that such as this are agents of the Enemy, as sincere and well-spoken as they may be. If they are not seeking to fulfill Christ’s prayer in John 17, they are not of Him, and we must not be shy to say this to their faces, for this too is a part of the Gospel.
So then, finally, is Church membership a salvation issue? I have said it is the will of Yahweh, because He is a God of order, and One who desires to be united with us in Covenant…. That is what Church membership is. But are those who reject it lost? It is a legitimate question, and one often asked. Answer lies in the balance between faith and works. I recall on Facebook, in one of our groups, the question was asked, “Is the Sabbath a salvation issue?” The answer is the same for this and for that. The reason it is the same is because of the relationship between faith and works, between the acts of the body and the mind that directs that body.
What is your motive? Once we understand Church membership as a marriage between you and Christ in the Person of His saints, a lot of these questions receive answers that are very clear. And let us not mistake it, Church membership is the marriage covenant. Some may ask, “Isn’t baptism the marriage covenant?”
It is, but many have a wrong idea of baptism. They see it as baptism into Christ – an individual-only event. It is not, for Christ Himself was baptized. He was not baptized into Himself, but to set an example for others to join the Covenant. We read, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one Body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” (1Cor 12:13) Yahshua was baptized into the Body, of which He is the Head, but not the entirety. The Body is not one giant Head, but consists of many members, and if one is baptized into anything other than this, they may wish to consider the nature of their commitment, if they had ceased to sin before attempting to unite with the Body, and if they truly understood what they were doing when they went to the water.
So then, if we understand that the covenant with Christ involves membership in His Body, and the apostles certainly taught this when there was only one entity in the world calling itself “the Church,” we have to ask, what would keep Christ from His Bride? What would keep Christ in you, the hope of glory, Christ who IS your born-again life, from fellowship with others who are of like Spirit? The answer is simple - nothing good. You may begin to see how this is a Sabbath-like issue. What would keep a Christian from observing the Sabbath commandment? Nothing good.
This is where the issue of whether or not it is a salvation issue comes into focus. It is not so much about what you do, or do not do, but about the spirit that motivates it, the reason why. We have indications that non-Sabbath keepers will be in the Kingdom of Heaven. They will be there, not because they rejected the Sabbath, but in spite of it. Perhaps they were genuinely unaware of the commandment. Perhaps, like William Miller, they legitimately could not understand its importance. Clearly, because they rejected a necessary gift, they did not develop as they were intended, and will need to be educated in the world to come regarding what they missed. WE, in this generation, are called to the 144,000, and none of us should be willing to tolerate the least bit of ignorance within ourselves regarding the righteousness of Yahweh.
We would therefore say the same regarding Church membership. There will certainly be some in the Kingdom who were never a member of any Church, much less the CSDA Church of the last generation, but they are saved in spite of it, because the Bible tells us quite plainly that the Church is the archive and repository of the tools for perfecting character, and withstanding the slings and arrows of the Enemy of Souls. Some may stand in the battlefield without armor and be miraculously spared a fatal injury, but who would sign up for such an experiment? Not every thief on a cross will be in Paradise. Those who love their neighbor as themselves will call the hearers to safety, and that is the Gospel of our evangelism, that here, within the judgment of Yahweh, within the very warning of the First Angel’s Message, here is safety.
What are the motives, then, why someone would stand apart from the covenant? I can’t think of any good ones. Some may be acceptable, some may allow salvation despite their presence, but I would not call them “good.” Here are what it could be, very briefly:
1) Fear – As I said earlier, some have a fear of being controlled, misled, or deceived. If there are legitimate concerns over false doctrines, I can understand. But they should not be content there, but be compelled by their own consciences to reason together. If the fear causes separation, or an unwillingness to discuss, then that is not merely fear, that is cowardice, and that is a fatal character flaw. (Rev 21:8)
2) Ignorance – Some just do not understand the importance, the Biblical teaching of the importance of a Covenant. It can be hard to judge the motive here. If they are deceived, but otherwise following the will of Yahweh, we cannot say this person is being rebellious. We pray for such souls as this, so that they receive the blessings they need to become Christ-like. The tools are here waiting for them.
3) Insensitivity – Some may see the importance, but not really care. Many are trained to think in this way. They see the unity before them; they see the Bible examples, they understand the precedent and what we are saying, but they don’t think they need it. Some members of this class believe they are prophets, or otherwise inspired with “the truth,” which is always something other than the First Angel’s message. They get caught up on doctrine, reject Biblical unity, and misunderstand the tests of fellowship.
4) Uncertainty – This is another one difficult to evaluate. Where does the uncertainty come from? Is it from fear? Is it from lack of time and familiarity? We have hope for such people that they will eventually join the fold. Again, we pray they make the time, and study their motives and our teachings. We pray they ask questions, and commit to righteousness by faith. This is not a sustainable state, however, and eventually, they all decide one way or another.
Ultimately, there is a veil of misunderstanding over the eyes of those who do not want these things to be true. They prefer their opinions over the Word of Yahweh, and even the simplest argument, even the most obvious illustrations, such as the presence of fornication as the only way to legitimately break a covenant, will not soften their hearts. Let us pray for the Harvest instead. Let us pray to find those who are willing to see and, when they see it, are courageous to act… to join themselves to Christ and His people in the Two-Fold Covenant, and to prepare for the life to come that we shall soon inherit from the Prince of Life. Next week, I will speak a bit further of Beauty and Bands, that Two-Fold Covenant, but for now, there is plenty for us to prayerfully consider.
David.
An Enduring Witness
“Virtually Caiaphas was no high priest. He wore the priestly robes, but he had no vital connection with God. He was uncircumcised in heart. With the other priests he instructed the people to choose Barabbas instead of Christ. They cried out for the crucifixion of Christ and, as representatives of the Jewish nation, placed themselves under the Roman jurisdiction, which they despised, by saying, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ When they said this, they unchurched themselves.” [Manuscript Releases, Vol. 12, 388]
“When the early church departed from God and imbibed pagan errors, she became Babylon. When she united with the state, she fell, and, as an organization, was the body of Christ no longer.” [1986 Sabbath School Lesson, First Quarter, Lesson IX, February 29, 1896, p. 33]
“Very close and sacred is the relation between Christ and His church, – He the bridegroom, and the church the bride; He the head, and the church the body. Connection with Christ, then, involves connection with His church.” [Education, p. 268]