Godsloveandlaw's Blog

As many within our church, are learning the great light of the Lord’s Elijah message, often there is a sober consequence to obeying it. Our eyes are made wide open and we start to view sin as the Lord views sin. No longer are we care-free and inattentive. What we behold does start to matter.

Inspiration spells it out clearly —“The true people of God, who have the spirit of the work of the Lord and the salvation of souls at heart, will ever view sin in its real, sinful character. They will always be on the side of faithful and plain dealing with sins which easily beset the people of God. Especially in the closing work for the church, in the sealing time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand who are to stand without fault before the throne of God, will they feel most deeply the wrongs of God’s professed people.” (Testimonies, vol. 3, p.266)

As shown above, those who are now dedicating themselves to the Lord’s work, walking daily in His Commandments, committed to helping  souls within their reach in our church and across the land via today’s communications, “feel most deeply the wrongs of God’s professed people.”

Recently a close sister of mine (in the faith) let me know that the numerous unholy acts and sites of the Sabbath service where she attends was becoming unbearable. She was indeed “sighing and crying” for the sins done in the midst. (Ezek. 9 and Testimonies, vol.3, p.267). Passionately she said, “I think I’ve had enough”. Meaning she was contemplating leaving the church because of the lack of honor due the Lord in the service and on the Sabbath by His “professed” people.

The site of ladies, many of them young, wearing short skirts, high heels, pendants, flashy ornaments of all kinds, commercial trucks pulling up to the church to transact worldly business on the Sabbath, excessive talking in the sanctuary, cell phones and smart phones being used in the sanctuary for business and worldly pleasure , money-raising goals discussed on the Sabbath from the pulpit, and the list goes on and on.

And then there’s  the endless sermons of  “baby’s milk”, meaning teaching old truths that are still truth but many times take the place of present truth.

“Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those weaned from milk, and those drawn from the breast. “(Isaiah 28:9)

Yes, the mentioned dis-honoring of the Lord is often  hard to take, and I am speaking as someone who also often shares her sadness , disappointment and disgust. Where once I was blissfully blind to the dis-honoring of the Lord within His sanctuary, now I am keenly aware of it all. But having said all this, we logically come to a very important question.

So we ask — Should we get out of the church, no longer attend a service that is so degraded and leaves us shaking our heads many times?  The Lord’s word is beyond clear — NO WE SHOULD NOT.

“Who are standing in the counsel of God at this time? Is it those who virtually excuse wrongs among the professed people of God and who murmur in their hearts, if not openly, against those who would reprove sin? Is it those who take their stand against them and sympathize with those who commit wrong? No, indeed! (Testimonies, vol. 3, p.267)

How many of us have heard of the great rescues at sea, or in a fierce battle of combat? The stories are legion where the hero could have abandoned ship or the field but instead decided to “tough it out” to save others. In like manner our church analogy is similar. We are on a great “rescue” mission in the battle. And so it makes no sense for us to up and walk off the battlefield ( and I do mean a real spiritual battlefield) in the midst of the war.

So my dear sister in the faith needs some answers. So what to do? Well we must always go to the Lord’s word and see what He instructs us to do through Inspiration. Our ideas, our solutions,  come second to the Lord’s word.

As Elijah messengers of the Lord, we face distinct difficulties once we step forward and accept His final message and their instructions. Here are some points we wish to address.

1) As shown above, the first issue is the observation of much sin in the midst of our people (ie. church). Should we walk away from such people?

Once we become truly converted and learn to listen to Him , we see sin as He sees it. The numerous violations done each Sabbath is clear, as we learn the message and its specific descriptions of the sins done in the midst. But despite this we must stay with the church and do our duty as “‘sighers and criers”.

The Elijah message says –God says now to work within the Laodicean congregation rather than without. And what He says, that He means, and we dare not disobey, regardless what men may say or do.   (Answerer, vol.2, Q- 32)

Can we effectively work within it if we abandon it?

2) Should we call our church –Babylon, and start our own church or group and meet independently each Sabbath?

Ellen Whites said-” The Lord has not given you a message to call the Seventh-day Adventists Babylon, and to call the people of God to come out of her. All the reasons you may present cannot have weight with me on this subject, because the Lord has given me decided light that is opposed to such a message. . ” (Selected Messages , vol. 2, p.63)

One of the well known SDA movements called the “SDA Reform Movement”, is solidly behind such error-filled beliefs.

“Assuredly we do believe that this is no time to be pulling apart, but indeed to be pressing together. And the message which we are bearing to the church, not only does not contain any doctrine or teaching which would warrant our leaving her ranks to become a separate cult, but does on the contrary absolutely forbid our doing so. For these reasons, we have from the beginning steadfastly refused, even in the face of abusive treatment, to leave the Mother church.” (The Answerer, vol. 2, Q-32)

We have already dealt with the issue of some calling the church –Babylon, please see this post — https://godsloveandlaw.com/2013/01/05/is-the-sda-church-babylon/

3) What is the point for us to stay in the  church today, and what happens to us if we leave?

“Two of the chief reasons for not staying away from Sabbath School and church services are, (1) that we would be depriving ourselves of the privilege of public worship in the church we helped build, and (2) that by absenting ourselves from services, we would become strangers  to our brethren and would have to become reacquainted with them if ever we were to give the message to them.

By continuing, though, to go to church, we are then, after the congregation is dismissed, afforded an opportunity to speak with the brethren in the interest of the message, urging them to investigate for themselves either by attending our studies or by reading the publications of Present Truth…

   ..So, if we voluntarily stay away from the church services, we lay ourselves open to the charge of being offshoots from the body, and at the same time forfeit the opportunity of coming in contact with the congregation.

   Moreover, if in this wise we separate ourselves, then in the fulfillment of Ezekiel 9. when those who have not the “mark” are taken away, we shall not have the same right to claim an inheritance in the Denomination.” (Answerer, vol. 4, Q- 90)

Whoa! That says a mouthful. Did you notice the dire consequences of us leaving the church? We “shall not have the same right to claim inheritance in the Denomination” when The Lord executes His church judgement. 

The “escaped” ones (the 144,000) are given great power from the Lord and thus protected as they call the sinners out of Babylon. Not so with those who attempt to come back to God’s church.

“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Rev. 12:17)

Another very important point to remember is that of our Lord’s example. He faithfully returned to Sabbath services each Sabbath despite being among those who wanted to kill Him! He fellow-shipped with the hypocrites, thieves, and those who publicly despised Him. But He returned.

In closing, we see that despite the hardships and struggles we inherit in stepping forward to embrace an unpopular message of truth that must go to our church, the Lord bids us –stay the course. The sealing of God’s people today is the one instructed by Ezekiel — “sigh and cry for all the abominations” in the church. We continue to pray and reach out whenever we can for those who are blind to His last message of hope, the one that they need.

Let us keep in mind the  great instruction from Apostle Paul.

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:”(2 Tim 4:7)

“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.” (Hebrews, 10:24-25)

This entry was posted on May 24, 2014 at 4:47 am and is filed under Christian faith, Church, Sighing and Crying, Witnessing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.