SabbathSermon
Seventh Day Adventists say it does not matter how far they go in apostasy, they are still the church of God. Sr White said the SDA church is not Babylon. At the time when Sr White said that, the Adventist church was still teaching correct messages. She made it clear that it was the commandment keeping people that made the church the church of God.
Again I say, The Lord hath not spoken by any messenger who calls the church that keeps the commandments of God, Babylon. {2SM 68.3}
God has a church upon the earth who are His chosen people, who keep His Commandments. TM page 61.
When Seventh Day Adventists decided to join participate in the Armed Forces and joined with the Kings of the earth in their warfare, were they keeping the commandments of God? Sr White wrote that the church is not infallible but in danger of becoming a sister to fallen Babylon;
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? {21MR 380.1}
She also made the following statement in her time, but would she say the same thing today?
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 {TM 50.2}
Those who have had opportunities to hear and receive of the truth and who have united with the Seventh-day Adventist church, calling themselves the commandment-keeping people of God, and yet possess no more vitality and consecration to God than do the nominal churches, will receive the plagues of God just as verily as the churches who oppose the law of God.–19MR 176 (1898). {LDE 172.2}
Do we put tradition and the word of the church above the bible? There are many church organizations that exist today that were once pure. Consider the church at Rome in the apostolic days, it was pure but is now the Catholic Church. It continues as a organization but has it fallen? Or the Jewish Nation who still claim to be Gods church, are still they the depositories of God’s truth? I’ve noticed no decided reform movements been made in the SDA church but rather backsliding and apostasy.
What Does The Word Babylon Mean?
The term ‘Babylon’ is derived from ‘Babel’ and signifies confusion. It is employed in Scripture to designate the various forms of false or apostate religion. GC page 381.
The existing confusion of conflicting creeds and sects is fitly represented by the term ‘Babylon’ which prophesy (Rev 14:8, 18:2) applies to the world loving churches of the last days. PP page 124.
Adventists in the second angels message started to call the people out of the fallen churches even though their fall was not yet complete. Only one divine message was enough to make the churches Babylon. The rest of the teachings were the same among the early Adventists, as the other denominations. The message of the second angel did not reach its complete fulfillment in 1844. The churches then experienced a moral fall, in consequence of their refusal of the light of the Adventist message; but that fall was not complete. As they have continued to reject the special truths for this time they have fallen lower and lower.
In the last work for the warning of the world, two distinct calls are made to the churches. The second angel’s message is, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” And in the loud cry of the third angel’s message a voice is heard 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. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” {Mar 171.4}
Is The Fall prophesied?
Song of Solomon 5:2 I (THE CHURCH) sleep but my heart waketh: [it is] the voice of my beloved (JESUS) that knocketh, [saying], Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, [and] my locks with the drops of the night.
5:3 I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?
5:4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole [of the door], and my bowels were moved for him.
5:5 I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped [with] myrrh, and my fingers [with] sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.
5:6 I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, [and] was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.
Isaiah 4:1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
From the beginning of the fall, the people were already called out of these churches. Are we rejecting many divine messages and not the only one as did the churches in 1844? Christ our Righteousness has never been accepted by the church as a whole since it was rejected in 1888. The health reform message has been ignored. Joining ecumenical movements goes against divine council. Accepting military service breaks the 6th commandment directly. There are honest individuals among SDA’s. Other churches too have true Christians amongst them who have not heard the special testing truths for our time/present truth.
In the days of the Reformation, the gentle and pious Melancton declared, ‘There is no other church than the assembly of those who have the word of God, and who are purified by it. ‘ Adventists, seeing that the churches rejected the testimony of God’s word, could no longer regard them as constituting the church of Christ, ‘the pillar and ground of the truth’; and as the message, ‘Babylon is fallen’, began to be proclaimed, they felt themselves justified in separating from their former connection. SOP 4 page 237.
The message proclaiming the fall of Babylon is repeated by another angel or could it be a ‘movement’ in our days.
Revelation 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
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.
18:4 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.
Revelation 18:1,2,4. This scripture points forward to a time when the announcement of the fall of Babylon as made by the 2nd angel of Revelation 14 [see verse 8] is to be repeated, with the additional mention of the corruption’s which have been entering the various organizations that constitute Babylon, since that message was first given, in the summer of 1844. In defiance of the warnings which God has given, they will continue to trample upon one of the precepts of the Decalogue until they are led to persecute those who hold it sacred. GC page 603.
Hence the Movement
Of Babylon, at the time brought to view in this prophecy, it is declared: “Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” Revelation 18:5. She has filled up the measure of her guilt, and destruction is about to fall upon her. But God still has a people in Babylon; and before the visitation of His judgments these faithful ones must be called out, that they partake not of her sins and “receive not of her plagues.” Hence the movement symbolized by the angel coming down from heaven, lightening the earth with his glory and crying mightily with a strong voice, announcing the sins of Babylon. In connection with his message the call is heard: “Come out of her, My people.” These announcements, uniting with the third angel’s message, constitute the final warning to be given to the inhabitants of the earth. {GC 604.1}
The work and message today should be to call people out of Babylon. We are not allowed to soften the message but proclaim it as God has given in Revelation Chapter 18. Whoever rejects the message rejects God, the Holy Spirit and their salvation.
Matthew 10:13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. 10:14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. 10:15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
We need to warn the people of the coming doom, and offer them the remedy to cure their spiritual sickness.
Amen.
Again I say, The Lord hath not spoken by any messenger who calls the church that keeps the commandments of God, Babylon. {2SM 68.3}
God has a church upon the earth who are His chosen people, who keep His Commandments. TM page 61.
When Seventh Day Adventists decided to join participate in the Armed Forces and joined with the Kings of the earth in their warfare, were they keeping the commandments of God? Sr White wrote that the church is not infallible but in danger of becoming a sister to fallen Babylon;
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? {21MR 380.1}
She also made the following statement in her time, but would she say the same thing today?
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 {TM 50.2}
Those who have had opportunities to hear and receive of the truth and who have united with the Seventh-day Adventist church, calling themselves the commandment-keeping people of God, and yet possess no more vitality and consecration to God than do the nominal churches, will receive the plagues of God just as verily as the churches who oppose the law of God.–19MR 176 (1898). {LDE 172.2}
Do we put tradition and the word of the church above the bible? There are many church organizations that exist today that were once pure. Consider the church at Rome in the apostolic days, it was pure but is now the Catholic Church. It continues as a organization but has it fallen? Or the Jewish Nation who still claim to be Gods church, are still they the depositories of God’s truth? I’ve noticed no decided reform movements been made in the SDA church but rather backsliding and apostasy.
What Does The Word Babylon Mean?
The term ‘Babylon’ is derived from ‘Babel’ and signifies confusion. It is employed in Scripture to designate the various forms of false or apostate religion. GC page 381.
The existing confusion of conflicting creeds and sects is fitly represented by the term ‘Babylon’ which prophesy (Rev 14:8, 18:2) applies to the world loving churches of the last days. PP page 124.
Adventists in the second angels message started to call the people out of the fallen churches even though their fall was not yet complete. Only one divine message was enough to make the churches Babylon. The rest of the teachings were the same among the early Adventists, as the other denominations. The message of the second angel did not reach its complete fulfillment in 1844. The churches then experienced a moral fall, in consequence of their refusal of the light of the Adventist message; but that fall was not complete. As they have continued to reject the special truths for this time they have fallen lower and lower.
In the last work for the warning of the world, two distinct calls are made to the churches. The second angel’s message is, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” And in the loud cry of the third angel’s message a voice is heard 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. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” {Mar 171.4}
Is The Fall prophesied?
Song of Solomon 5:2 I (THE CHURCH) sleep but my heart waketh: [it is] the voice of my beloved (JESUS) that knocketh, [saying], Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, [and] my locks with the drops of the night.
5:3 I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?
5:4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole [of the door], and my bowels were moved for him.
5:5 I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped [with] myrrh, and my fingers [with] sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.
5:6 I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, [and] was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.
Isaiah 4:1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
From the beginning of the fall, the people were already called out of these churches. Are we rejecting many divine messages and not the only one as did the churches in 1844? Christ our Righteousness has never been accepted by the church as a whole since it was rejected in 1888. The health reform message has been ignored. Joining ecumenical movements goes against divine council. Accepting military service breaks the 6th commandment directly. There are honest individuals among SDA’s. Other churches too have true Christians amongst them who have not heard the special testing truths for our time/present truth.
In the days of the Reformation, the gentle and pious Melancton declared, ‘There is no other church than the assembly of those who have the word of God, and who are purified by it. ‘ Adventists, seeing that the churches rejected the testimony of God’s word, could no longer regard them as constituting the church of Christ, ‘the pillar and ground of the truth’; and as the message, ‘Babylon is fallen’, began to be proclaimed, they felt themselves justified in separating from their former connection. SOP 4 page 237.
The message proclaiming the fall of Babylon is repeated by another angel or could it be a ‘movement’ in our days.
Revelation 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
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.
18:4 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.
Revelation 18:1,2,4. This scripture points forward to a time when the announcement of the fall of Babylon as made by the 2nd angel of Revelation 14 [see verse 8] is to be repeated, with the additional mention of the corruption’s which have been entering the various organizations that constitute Babylon, since that message was first given, in the summer of 1844. In defiance of the warnings which God has given, they will continue to trample upon one of the precepts of the Decalogue until they are led to persecute those who hold it sacred. GC page 603.
Hence the Movement
Of Babylon, at the time brought to view in this prophecy, it is declared: “Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” Revelation 18:5. She has filled up the measure of her guilt, and destruction is about to fall upon her. But God still has a people in Babylon; and before the visitation of His judgments these faithful ones must be called out, that they partake not of her sins and “receive not of her plagues.” Hence the movement symbolized by the angel coming down from heaven, lightening the earth with his glory and crying mightily with a strong voice, announcing the sins of Babylon. In connection with his message the call is heard: “Come out of her, My people.” These announcements, uniting with the third angel’s message, constitute the final warning to be given to the inhabitants of the earth. {GC 604.1}
The work and message today should be to call people out of Babylon. We are not allowed to soften the message but proclaim it as God has given in Revelation Chapter 18. Whoever rejects the message rejects God, the Holy Spirit and their salvation.
Matthew 10:13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. 10:14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. 10:15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
We need to warn the people of the coming doom, and offer them the remedy to cure their spiritual sickness.
Amen.