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Is it possible for the Seventh Day Adventist General Conference Church to become Babylon? – The Testimony of Ellen G. White
“Regarding the testimonies, nothing is ignored; nothing is cast aside; but time an place must be considered. Nothing must be done untimely. Some matters must be withheld because some persons would make an improper use of the light given. Every jot and tittle is essential and must appear at an opportune time. In the past, the testimonies were carefully prepared before they were sent out for publication. And all matter is still carefully studied after the first writing.” {1SM 57.2} Let’s take a look at the quotes that are used to say the church is not Babylon today. “How is it that these pamphlets denouncing the Seventh-day Adventist Church as Babylon [SEE APPENDIX.] were scattered abroad everywhere, at the very time when that church was receiving the outpouring of the Spirit of God? How is it that men can be so deceived as to imagine that the loud cry consists in calling the people of God out from the fellowship of a church that is enjoying a season of refreshing? Oh, may these deceived souls come into the current, and receive the blessing, and be endued with power from on high”{TM 23} There was a time when the church was receiving a season of refreshing. When the conference was God’s commandment keeping church. “For years I have borne my testimony to the effect that when any arise claiming to have great light, and yet advocating the tearing down of that which the Lord through His human agents has been building up, they are greatly deceived, and are not working along the lines where Christ is working. Those who assert that the Seventh-day Adventist churches constitute Babylon, or any part of Babylon, might better stay at home. Let them stop and consider what is the message to be proclaimed at this time. “{TM 36} In 1893 and 1894 the General Conference body of Seventh Day Adventists was not Babylon “at that time”. It’s important to that we consider “time and place” with the testimonies. “There is but one church in the world who are at the present time standing in the breach, and making up the hedge, building up the old waste places; and for any man to call the attention of the world and other churches to this church, denouncing her as Babylon, is to do a work in harmony with him who is the accuser of the brethren. Is it possible that men will arise from among us, who speak perverse things, and give voice to the very sentiments that Satan would have disseminated in the world in regard to those who keep the commandments of God, and have the faith of Jesus?” {TM 50} At the time of 1893 and 1894 the conference was part of God’s commandment keeping church. Times have changed. "My brother, if you are teaching that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is Babylon, you are wrong, God has not given you any such message to bear. Satan will use every mind to which he can attain access, inspiring men to originate false theories or go off on some wrong tangent, that he may create a false excitement, and thus divert souls from the true issue for this time. I presume that some may be deceived by your message, because they are full of curiosity and desire for some new thing.{TM 59} The true issue “for this time” of 1893 and 1894 was not that the conference had become Babylon. There are 2 stages to Babylon. One is that we can go into captivity to Babylon, the second stage is Babylon falls and we are to come out of her. Here is what the pioneers of the Seventh Day Adventist church believed. This is from the First quarter of the 1896 Sabbath School Lesson.
“Regarding the testimonies, nothing is ignored; nothing is cast aside; but time an place must be considered. Nothing must be done untimely. Some matters must be withheld because some persons would make an improper use of the light given. Every jot and tittle is essential and must appear at an opportune time. In the past, the testimonies were carefully prepared before they were sent out for publication. And all matter is still carefully studied after the first writing.” {1SM 57.2} The quote says “nothing is ignored, nothing is cast aside”. Let’s look at some quotes that seem to be cast aside. Perhaps today is a different time and we need to consider all of these quotes in respect to their time and place. “We are in danger of becoming a sister to fallen Babylon, of allowing our churches to become corrupted, and filled with every foul spirit, a cage for every unclean and hateful bird; and will we be clear unless we make decided movements to cure the existing evil?” [Manuscript Releases Volume Twenty-one, page 380, paragraph 1 and quoted in Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 188, paragraph 3] The only place where it is mentioned a “cage of every unclean and hateful bird” is in Revelation 18. Some will object and say “this says sister to fallen Babylon” and they may say the conference church today is “Apostate Israel”. Here is something further we need to consider. When Israel went apostate they actually were taken captive by Babylon. And finally after many years “Babylon fell” and God called a remnant out of Babylon. The night that Babylon fell it was declared that she had been“weighed in the balances and found wanting”(Dan 5:27) “In the balances of the sanctuary the Seventh-day Adventist church is to be weighed. She will be judged by the privileges and advantages that she has had. If her spiritual experience does not correspond to the advantages that Christ, at infinite cost, has bestowed on her, if the blessings conferred have not qualified her to do the work entrusted to her, on her will be pronounced the sentence: ‘Found wanting.’ By the light bestowed, the opportunities given, will she be judged.” [Last Day Events, page 59] So it is possible to be Apostate Israel and also go into Babylon and finally the sentence be pronounced against the Seventh Day Adventist Church “Mene, mene, tekel, Upharsin…weighed in the balances and found wanting”(Dan 5:26, 27). To us today Babylon is a spiritual state of a church in the same sense that Laodicea is also a spiritual place and not a literal place. They are 2 separate places however spiritually they are very alike. "If the church of God becomes lukewarm, it does not stand in favour with God any more than do the churches that are represented as having fallen and become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird." 19MR 176 Laodicea is lukewarm and this is very similar to being a cage of every unclean and hateful bird like Babylon fallen. Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Now is it possible that there may come a time where there is a necessity to come out of the conference churches? “I am instructed to say that we must do all we possibly can for these deceived ones. Their minds must be freed from the delusions of the enemy, and if we fail in our efforts to save these erring ones, we must "come out from among them" and be separate.”--Ms 106, 1905, p. 8. ("A Plea for Loyalty," November 20, 1905.) [Manuscript Releases Volume 7, Page 190, Paragraph 1] It’s very possible. In fact in the time of the loud cry we are told that there could be a time where a “large class” of our own people will view matters in the same way as the Sunday Keeping churches. They may not keep Sunday, but yet they take former brethren to court and they are bitter against those who are God’s people. “As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third message, but have not been sanctified through it, abandon their position, and take refuge under the banner of the powers of darkness. By uniting with the world and partaking of its spirit, they 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 Sabbath-keepers 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.”[4SP 427] There is going to be a time where the conference doors are locked. Jerusalem was divorced from God because she was an unfaithful bride to be. Many promises were given about the throne of David etc. And the clergy were still quoting these promises while watching the temple burn to the ground. God gave her up and she became fallen because of her rejection of the light from heaven. ”When Jerusalem was divorced from God it was because of her sins. She fell from an exalted height that Tyre and Sidon had never reached. And when an angel falls he becomes a fiend. The depth of our ruin is measured by the exalted light to which God has raised us in His great goodness and unspeakable mercy. Oh, what privileges are granted to us as a people! And if God spared not His people that He loved, because they refused to walk in the light, how can He spare the people whom He has blessed with the light of heaven in having opened to them the most exalted truth ever entrusted to mortal man to give to the world?” [Manuscript releases 12, pp. 319,320] So the message can be taken from the church today as much as it could be taken from Jerusalem in their day. “The church cannot measure herself by the world, nor by the opinion of men, nor by what she once was. Her faith and her position in the world as they now are, must be compared with what they would have been if her course had been continually onward and upward. The church will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. If her moral character and spiritual state do not correspond with the benefits and blessings God has conferred upon her, she will be found wanting. The light has been shining clear and definite upon her pathway, and the light of 1882 calls her to an account. If her talents are unimproved, if her fruit is not perfect before God, if her light has become darkness, she is indeed found wanting.” [Ellen G. White, Testimony for the Battle Creek Church (1882), page 66] The General Conference church does not have unconditional promises as many so falsely assume. If it doesn’t walk in the light the promises will be taken from her and given to others who will carry it forward. If the path isn’t “downward and backward” rather than “onward and upward” then she will be “found wanting”. “Jerusalem is a representation of what the church will be if it refuses to walk in the light that God has given. [...] Christ turned from them, saying: ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,’ how can I give thee up? ‘How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!’ Matthew 23:37.” [Testimonies for the Church Volume Eight, page 67] Christ will turn from the church just like he did Jerusalem he will say “Behold your house is left unto you desolate. Then probation is closed on that organization and God uses others to finish the work. “The Lord Jesus will always have a chosen people to serve Him. When the Jewish people rejected Christ, the Prince of life, He took from them the kingdom of God and gave it unto the Gentiles. God will continue to work on this principle with every branch of His work.” [Last Day Events, page 59] God doesn’t have a special branch that can apostatize as much as it wants. “The Sanhedrin had rejected Christ's message and was bent upon His death; therefore Jesus departed from Jerusalem, from the priests, the temple, the religious leaders, the people who had been instructed in the law, and turned to another class to proclaim His message, and to gather out those who should carry the gospel to all nations. This has happened several times and this is not what we want. However there is a time where this a necessity. The question now is. Has this necessity taken place? Has the conference united with the state and become a cage of every unclean and hateful bird? “Romanists have persisted in bringing against Protestants the charge of heresy and willful separation from the true church. But these accusations apply rather to themselves. They are the ones who laid down the banner of Christ and departed from "the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." Jude 3.” {GC 51.2} If they are they are the ones that left the faith delivered to the saints and have followed another God that our fathers knew not “denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ”(Jude 4) and adopted heresy then it’s likely that they are the ones who have left the “true church”. Other misused quotes from the SOP of interest… Appears to fall but does not This quote is referring to the time of trouble if you note the context. And it is referring to believers of that time. The General Conference fell before the time of trouble. So due to timing alone if as i have showed you the General Conference fell before the time of trouble. Then this quote cannot refer to that body. Please see the article “The General Conference a fallen body of Seventh Day Adventists” Independent Atoms That is exactly true. God will not condone such a thing. That is why there is coming a time shortly where the people lay down there differences as happened in Acts 2 and the latter rain will fall in a great outpouring. 'God can produce order out of confusion' EGW. I'm sure you;ve heard that quote before. He does not sanction disorder or confusion. Angels will not work with it. We cannot now enter into any "new organization"; for this would mean apostasy from the truth. This quote is interesting. And there is much to study about this 'New organization'. We could not 'NOW'[at that time](time and place must be considered with regards to the testimonies) do so. Because it would have meant apostasy from the truth. However they have now apostacized from the truth. Possibility of a new organization “What we want now is a reorganization. We want to begin at the foundation, and to build upon a different principle.” [Last Day Events, page 53] These two statements are not contradictory; they simply reflect that there is a time to stay, and then a time to reorganize. Again “Time and place must be considered” Ellen White, of course, never advocated leaving the main body of Adventists; she envisioned the “reorganization” as taking place within the same structure. But what those who therefore stay inside the current Church fail entirely to take into account are the following two thoughts: The church in her day had not “unchurched” themselves" in the precise manner Mrs. White described it as occurring for the Jews as you can read in the article “The fallen body of the General Conference of Seventh Day Adventists”. There is a time, therefore, when the latter statement becomes applicable, and we are not left in the dark regarding when it is. Our leaders are misquoting the writings of the prophets. Is there anything new under the sun? If we do not put our trust in and truly explore all the writings God inspired and actually consider time, place, situation as well as not ignoring one jot or one tittle then we would not be decieved. New Organization Many claim we must stick with the [General Conference] Seventh-day Adventist Church because they feel it is the only [SDA] organization allowed to exist [with God's blessing]. "The Lord has declared that the history of the past shall be rehearsed as we enter upon the closing work. Every truth that He has given for these last days is to be proclaimed to the world. Every pillar that He has established is to be strengthened. We cannot now [1905] step off the foundation that God has established. We cannot now [1905] enter into any new organization; for this would mean apostasy from the truth." Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 390. But, the SOP [Spirit of Prophecy, or Ellen G. White's works], a year earlier [October, 1903], explains the context of what this 'new' organization means. "The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result? The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church, would be discarded. Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced. The founders of this system would go into the cities, and do a wonderful work. The Sabbath of course, would be lightly regarded, as also the God who created it. Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the new movement. The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice, but God being removed, they would place their dependence on human power [such as protecting their corporate wealth with a trademark], which, without God, is worthless. Their foundation would be built on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure.' Selected Messages, vol. 1, pp. 204, 205. This is exactly what the large body [General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists] has done, has it not? This quote was written in regards to John Harvey Kellogg and the Alpha of Deadly Heresies. This foundation has been stepped off. The religion is changed. A new organization has been established. The General Conference today has fulfilled every word of this prophecy. The principle pillar of our faith if you've ever read the old 'principles of faith' while Ellen White was alive. You will quickly notice that they no longer hold to pillar #1 and #2. The General Conference is not the Seventh Day Adventist Church Let Us Make A Name - The Trademark - Babylon Fallen - Seventh Day Adventist General Conference Philadelphia or Laodicea
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This is about whether or not the possibility exists. Many are ingoring a lot of testimonies, not considering time or place with them and ignoring many of the jots and tittles contained in the testimonies. Please read these quotes and consider carefully.