Religious Liberty vs. 2 John 1:9

In the second book of John, chapter 1, verse 9 we read–

“Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”

What does John really mean here? Does this really mean exactly what it says?  We have no choice to admit it must. For the Scriptures say, “All scripture is  given by inspiration of God, and is  profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Tim.3:17)

How many of us have been greeted at the door by Jehovah Witnesses? Certainly most of us. Yet, we often chat with them, even trying to discuss our beliefs with them. But are we doing what God’s word says to do? Most of us have to admit we’ve been guilty of ignoring this counsel from God at one time or another, including yours truly.

Yet, once we have looked anew at this instruction, it should serve as a reminder to double down and do as God instructs. For obedience can only bring God’s blessings (see Duet.28:1).

But what about religious liberty? How do we balance that with 2 John 1:9? This is our study for this post. Let us look at the ramifications of this seemingly confusing dilemma.

Recently on some of our Facebook groups, myself and some other administrators have seen a rising of activity from those who we know and believe to have false teachings and wrong beliefs on the Lord’s word as brought by His prophets. Particularly against His last messenger, the Elijah prophet.

This all is understandable because as we’ve said many times–this is really the only game in town that matters to Satan. He is out to destroy any way he can, the truth of the sealing message from the anti-typical Elijah. This he is VERY active in.

Today, this is the controversy among His people.

“Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD’S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.” (Micah 6:2).

So as shepherds at the gates (administrators) for His sites, those professing His present Truth for the hour, we are faced with the fact that we must “guard the gate” as it were. This is a fine line that we must walk.

On one hand we want to be fair (religious liberty) and let the people post what is on their hearts, yet on the other we cannot allow false doctrine to come in and God forbid, some innocent newbie in the faith falls for it hook, line and sinker!

Today, we see several frequent false doctrines that the dark one uses to pull the wool over the unsuspecting ones. They include, but not limited to:

1) There shall be two church purifications (two Ezek. 9’s) one to the Davidian SDA*, then later the other to SDA. (Although it is not found in one single writing in Scripture, SOP or the Elijah message.)

(*Davidians are not to be confused with Branch Davidians)

2) Another prophet is to come after the Elijah prophet. In other words two or more are to come before the Great and Dreadful day of the Lord. (Again, nowhere in the Inspired writings do we find this.)

3) We must keep the feast days. His blood did not cover that. God requires we obey all the ceremonies. (However, the Elijah prophet strictly said the obeying of these days, shows “unbelief in Christ”.)

4) The Holy Spirit is not a real live Person with personal characteristics. It’s a force.(This belief not only flies in the face of SDA fundamental beliefs, it does the DSDA as well.)

5) The Elijah message must go to Davidians (the Elijah messengers) only now. The SDA church will receive it later. (In other words, they teach we are to be talking to ourselves now. The SDA people aren’t to be taught now.)

6) Two particular leaders are to be followed today, their followers say. “Ariel” from the Philippines and “Lennox” from the Wave-sheaf ministries. (Of course these two groups tell each other that they are right and the other is wrong.)

7) The Holy Spirit needs an “active prophet” in the midst to communicate God’s word to the people. ( This belief is proclaimed to support their belief in their prophet.)

We know that to be a faithful guardian, it requires fortitude and strength. In (Amos 5:10) we read, “They hate the one who rebukes in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks uprightly.”

It’s not easy cutting people off from sites, but to look the other way is to be asleep at the wheel and allow the evil deceptions to come in. A new kind of “flood” in other words, could carry away some.

Now, with the above understanding, some may say, “Well if that is what Davidians do to others, then why can’t the SDA church be justified in their historical out-casting of Davidians? The same line of reasoning, yes?”

This is a valid point and must be addressed. We should understand where both parties are coming from. Let us take the first scenario;

The SDA out-casting the DSDA.

The SDA church has a long history of non-tolerant and even abusive history towards the DSDA.  This is well documented in the writing of brother Houteff’s Symbolic Code volumes.  People were literally thrown out of churches, and brother Houteff himself violently beaten on at least two occasions.

The SDA proudly states the following on one of their websites:

“FREEDOM TO BELIEVE

The Seventh-day Adventist church strongly believes in religious freedom for all people. A person’s conscience, not government, should dictate his or her choice to worship—or not.

We have advocated for these goals for more than 100 years, through our department of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty (PARL), to governments and religious and international organizations.”

But it seems that our SDA historical practices conveniently left out these principles in corresponding with the DSDA.  The line is well spread about from the SDA. “Stay away from these Davidians, they are not teaching correctly from Bible or Spirit of Prophecy.” Yet, when the well-informed DSDA students attempt to sit down and study with the SDA leaders or people in responsible positions, often it is denied, with the slight of the hand as if to say “away with you”.

Here is the crux of the problem. The DSDA come in the name of Jesus saying that they have a message from the Lord. But the typical leaders care not to hear it. They think they already know what the DSDA message is and 9 times out of 10, they have never even read into it! And those who do, read only what they can find to bolster their own opinion and agenda.

Inspiration says,  “When a message comes in the name of the Lord to His people, no one may excuse himself from an investigation of its claims.” (Test. on Sabbath School Work. p.65)

“If a message comes that you do not understand, take pains that you may hear the reason the messenger may give,” and not the reasons the ministers may give. (Ibid., p. 65)

So to sum up the practice of the SDA towards the DSDA, we must say that 2 John 1:9 cannot apply as being practical. Why? Because the DSDA are not “transgressing” nor are they not failing to “abide in the doctrine of Christ.”

For a short Youtube video of peaceful Davidans be removed for church see this link-

I happen to know this woman who was removed from church. She is very dedicated to the Lord and truly “sighs and crys” for the abominations done in the church. She was asked to give the Children’s story, but some of the leaders found out she is a believer in the Lord’s Elijah message and removed her and her family–Sad indeed!

The DSDA out-casting the false brethren and their teaching.

Occasionally , as an administrator, I will notice a post that will contain one of the doctrines of the afore-mentioned 7 points. The first thing done is to warn the poster that we (our FB group) do not subscribe to their beliefs and that they should not post anymore similar posts with those teachings. If they continue, they are deleted.

In September of 2011, our group “Truth Tellers” became the first active FB group to promote the Lord’s Elijah message(Shepherd’s Rod). Now, today there are at least 15 groups, proclaiming the 11th hour message. However some of them are promoting a mixture of the straight Rod message as brought by brother Victor Houteff, and teachings of their own prophet (as mentioned earlier in point 6).

The big difference in our casting out practices and the SDA practices is that we are “well-informed” of the error doctrines trying to be put over. And contrary to our SDA leaders, I am more than happy to “sit down” with them to go over what they are doing and to point out my position (backed by Scripture, SOP and Elijah message). If we can bring back even one to His pure unaltered truth, it’s worth it!

So in a nutshell that is the difference. And because these types are “knocking at our door” with a doctrine that is not based on His word as brought by His prophets but instead by “their” prophet, we can follow the Inspired advice –“do not receive him into your house”. In our case, the “house” being the FB group.

In closing, let us remember the apostle’s warning, “ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

But be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”( 2 Tim. 4:3-5)

 

 

7 Responses to “Religious Liberty vs. 2 John 1:9”

  1. vegaraw Says:

    Do you moderate nowadays before a post can be made? That can prevent the post going live before you actually see it.

    Please note:
    one to the Davidian SDA*, then later the other to SDA->one of the Davidian SDA*, then the other of SDA;
    fundamentla beliefs, it does the DSDA as well->fundamental beliefs, it does to the DSDA as well;
    says their followers-> their followers say;
    let us take the first scenario->Let us take the first scenario;
    So that in a nutshell that is the difference->So in a nutshell that is the difference.

  2. godsloveandlaw Says:

    Updated. Yes the system allows for the post review before it goes live.

  3. vegaraw Says:

    Would you not prevent them from posting something like the topic discussed in this post, something which is divisive or not supported by the Rod?

    • godsloveandlaw Says:

      Sorry my sister, I don’t follow your question (?)

      • vegaraw Says:

        I mean, since you can review posts before they go “live” so to speak, can you not then prevent the divisive posts to go online, before they wreak havoc in our community? Or do you allow them to be posted, so that you are able to address the issue?

  4. godsloveandlaw Says:

    Oh ok now I see what you mean. Yes, there is the option of requiring the posts to be reviewed on FB. But we decided long ago, that it would be more of a hinder (discouraging the people from saying what’s on their mind). So your second point is correct (address the issues).

    Occasionally we have to mark a certain individual (with a certain FB limit feature requiring Admin approval) because they have shown they are inclined to post false doctrines and such. This program has worked good overall for the several years we’ve been on FB.

    But as you imagine we’ve had to deal with some difficulties now and then (abusive comments and posts) and we always warn them , if they do it again they are gone. we’ve been firm about that.

    Scripture gives great counsel —

    “Cast out the scorner and contention shall go out, yes, strife and reproach shall cease.” (Proverbs 22:10)

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s


%d bloggers like this: