Gospel Order

Ichabod!

Table of Contents

IV - Years of Complete Conformity to the World, God’s Retributive Judgment 1900-1902

1900 -- SDA’s Conforming to the World.

No Longer a Separate and Peculiar People

“Many who call themselves Christians are mere human moralists. They have refused the gift which alone could enable them to honor Christ by representing Him to the world. The work of the Holy Spirit is to them a strange work. They are not doers of the word. The heavenly principles that distinguish those who are one with Christ from those who are one with the world have become almost indistinguishable. The professed followers of Christ are no longer a separate and peculiar people. The line of demarcation is indistinct. The people are subordinating themselves to the world, to its practices, its customs, its selfishness. The church has gone over to the world in transgression of the law, when the world should have come over to the church in obedience to the law. Daily the church is being converted to the world.” COL 315-316.

The Church and the World Standing on the Same Ground

“The church has taken the world into her fellowship, and has given her affections to the enemies of holiness. The church and the world are standing on the same ground in transgression of the law of God. The church prefers to assimilate to the world rather than separate from its customs and vanities.” ST, March 12, 1894 par. 7

1901 – The General Conference No Longer the Voice of God.
-- Call for Renovation, Reorganization.
-- Leaders Closed and Bolted the Door Against the Holy Spirit’s Entrance.
-- Testimonies Not Heeded.

“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 step off the foundation that God has established. We cannot now enter into any new organization; for this would mean apostasy from the truth.” 2SM 390.

True Bible Order Changed

“At times, when a small group of men entrusted with the general management of the work have, in the name of the General Conference, sought to carry out unwise plans and to restrict God's work, I have said that I could no longer regard the voice of the General Conference, represented by these few men, as the voice of God. But this is not saying that the decisions of a General Conference composed of an assembly of duly appointed, representative men from all parts of the field should not be respected. God has ordained that the representatives of His church from all parts of the earth, when assembled in a General Conference, shall have authority. The error that some are in danger of committing is in giving to the mind and judgment of one man, or of a small group of men, the full measure of authority and influence that God has vested in His church in the judgment and voice of the General Conference assembled to plan for the prosperity and advancement of His work.”

“When this power, which God has placed in the church, is accredited wholly to one man, and he is invested with the authority to be judgment for other minds, then the true Bible order is changed. Satan's efforts upon such a man's mind would be most subtle and sometimes well-nigh overpowering, for the enemy would hope that through his mind he could affect many others. Let us give to the highest organized authority in the church that which we are prone to give to one man or to a small group of men.” 9T 260-261.

“From the light God has given me, everything connected with this conference is to be regarded as most sacred. Why? Because at this time the work is to be placed upon a proper basis. Wrong principles have been followed. For the last fifteen years* wrong decisions have been made; and now God calls for a change…”

“It is high time that this came to an end. Let the work be woven after the same pattern that it has in the past and it will finally come to naught. God calls for a decided change... This is what is needed.” 13MR 195.

“That these men should stand in a sacred place, to be as the voice of God to the people, as we once believed the General Conference to be,--that is past. What we want now is a reorganization. We want to begin at the foundation, and to build upon a different principle… “The men that have long stood in positions of trust while disregarding the light that God as given, are not to be depended upon. God wants them to be removed…God has not put any kingly power in our ranks to control. There must be a renovation, a reorganization;” General Conference Bulletin, p 23-26, April 3, 1901.

Door Closed Against the Holy Spirit’s Entrance

A reorganization seemed to take place…

“No official head or president had been elected by the GC.” SDA Encyclopedia, p 1052.

“What a wonderful work could have been done for the vast company gathered in Battle Creek at the General Conference of 1901, if the leaders of our work had taken themselves in hand. But the work that all heaven was waiting to do as soon as men prepared the way, was not done; for the leaders closed and bolted the door against the Spirit's entrance... The doors were barred against the heavenly current that would have swept away all evil... They built themselves up in wrong doing, and said to the Spirit of God, "Go thy way for this time; when I have a more convenient season, I will call for thee." Battle Creek Letters 55-56

Call for Reformation

A solemn warning was given prior to the destruction of the publishing house.

“Unless there is a reformation, calamity will overtake the publishing house, and the world will know the reason... At the General Conference, held in Battle Creek in 1901, the Lord gave His people evidence that He was calling for reformation. Minds were convicted, and hearts were touched; but thorough work was not done. If stubborn hearts had then broken in penitence before God, there would have been seen one of the greatest manifestations of the power of God that has ever been seen. But God was not honored. The testimonies of His Spirit were not heeded. Men did not separate from the practices that were in decided opposition to the principles of truth and righteousness, which should ever be maintained in the Lord's work… Many will wander from the path of humility, and, casting aside the yoke of Christ, will walk in strange paths. Blinded and bewildered, they will leave the narrow path that leads to the city of God.” 8T 96, 97, 100.

Testimonies Not Headed

“The results of the last general conference has been the greatest, the most terrible sorrow of my life, no change was made… Men did not receive the testimonies of the Spirit of God…

“So today upon those who have had light and evidence, but who have refused to heed the Lord’s warnings and entreaties, heaven’s woe is pronounced. The Lord bore long with the perversity of Israel, but the time came when the people passed the boundaries...” 13MR 123

1902 – Review and Herald Publishing House, Battle Creek Sanitarium Destroyed by Fire.
-- God Made Appeals.
-- E.G. White Would No Longer Participate in SDA Church Camp Meeting Activities.

Destruction of the Review and Herald Publishing House by fire in 1902.

In this destruction, God was appealing to His people to return to Him.

Problem of Centralization Solved by Fire.

“ At one time it was supposed that the publishing interests should be centralized under the organization in Battle Creek. I was in great distress in regard to this sentiment. I was weighed down as a cart beneath sheaves. But this difficulty was adjusted by the Lord's permitting the principal buildings of the Review and Herald Publishing House to be destroyed by fire...” PM 177.

God Made Appeals

“We have all been made very sad by the news of the terrible loss that has come to the cause in the burning of the Review and Herald office. In one year two of our largest institutions have been destroyed by fire… The destruction of the Review and Herald building should not be passed over as something in which there is no meaning. Everyone connected with the office should ask himself: "Wherein do I deserve this lesson? Wherein have I walked contrary to a 'Thus saith the Lord,' that He should send this lesson to me? Have I heeded the warnings and reproofs that He has sent, or have I followed my own way?… I pray that those who have resisted light and evidence, refusing to listen to God's warnings, will see in the destruction of the Review and Herald office an appeal to them to turn to God with full purpose of heart. Will they not realize that God is in earnest with them? He is not seeking to destroy life, but to save life…He says: "They shall have another chance. I will let the fire speak to them and will see if they will counterwork the action of My providence. I will try them as by fire to see if they will learn the lesson that I desire to teach them. When the Battle Creek Sanitarium was destroyed, Christ gave Himself to defend the lives of men and women. In this destruction God was appealing to His people to return to Him. And in the destruction of the Review and Herald office, and the saving of life, He makes a second appeal to them. He desires them to see that the miracle-working power of the Infinite has been exercised to save life, that every worker may have opportunity to repent and be converted.” 8T 101-102.

E.G. White’s Decision

“… I have but very little confidence that the Lord is giving these men in positions of responsibility spiritual eyesight and heavenly discernment. I am thrown into perplexity over their course, and I desire now to attend to my special work, to have no part in any of their councils, and to attend no camp meetings nigh nor afar off. My mind shall not be dragged into confusion by the tendency they manifest to work directly contrary to the light that God has given me. I am done. I will preserve my God-given intelligence. “

“My voice has been heard in different conferences and at camp meetings. I must now make a change… I shall therefore leave them… I have pity for them, but…. They are brought no nearer right actions by what I say that if the word were never spoken… this is the light given me, and I shall not depart from it.” 17MR 65

However, this does not mean E.G. White never attended conferences and camp meetings at all. But upon the Lord’s direction, she would attend such gatherings if only to deliver certain testimonies to them. Jesus did the same when He separated and departed from Jerusalem.

“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.” DA 232.

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