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BIBLICAL REMNANT OR APOSTATE CHURCH?

HAS THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH BECOME BABYLON?A LOOK AT SCRIPTURE, HISTORY, & THE WRITINGS OF ELLEN WHITE

Andrews University

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

A Paperpresented in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the CourseGSEM 626 Contemporary Adventist Theological Issues

by

Justin M. I. Torossian

Summer, 2015

Introduction

Both in the United States and across the world, movements are growing rapidly which

claim that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is--or has become--Babylon. Many of these groups

claim that God’s once-beloved remnant church has apostatized, now fulfilling the prophetic

description of “spiritual Babylon” found in Revelation 18. From Randy Tauran’s influence in

Indonesia to Hope International in North America...from Mr. Stanton’s short-lived offshoot in

1893 to the “Reformed SDA Church” of post WWI Germany, the accusation is far-reaching both

historically and geographically. Like their leaders, locations and time periods, the claims put

forth by these movements vary. Some of the arguments, however, are more prevalent and seem to

be shared amongst the most prominent of these groups. These accusations are responsible for

drawing a number of individuals out of the Seventh-day Adventist church over the years, and

demand answers. Has the Seventh-day Adventist Church apostatized? Has God’s beloved

remnant become spiritual Babylon? While clear answers have been provided by Seventh-day

Adventist laity and leaders alike, with new movements having risen and evolved in recent times

new publications with answers are needed.1 In the following pages, we will examine together the

scope of history, Bible prophecy, and the inspired writings of Ellen White. As we do, it is the

prayer of the author of this booklet that whatever your belief as you’ve begun reading, that you

will finish it having found great clarity and a calm assurance. A sweet, Bible-based assurance

that until our Lord returns in the clouds of glory, the following words will ring true--“The

2

1 1 See Appendix A for a brief list of existing resources for further study.

Seventh-day Adventist church, ‘enfeebled and defective though it be, is the only object on earth

on which Christ bestows His supreme regard.’”2

Nothing New Under the Sun

The claim that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is Babylon is as old as the movement

itself. The idea that the loud cry of Revelation 18 is to come out of the “once-beloved” church of

Christ is by no means new. Perhaps it is because of the effectiveness of this age old lie that the

devil continues to trumpet it, deceiving many honest but discouraged Seventh-day Adventists. As

they look at the existing imperfections of the church, many Adventist members become

susceptible to thoughts that the their cherished church has become Babylon. “What about the

worldliness of certain pastors and church leaders?” they ask. “No one is preaching the 3 angels’

message in our area!” many claim. “Church members are no different than the world…” “People

in our churches aren’t living up to God’s counsels to us!”

Many make lists of the shortcomings of ministers and members, pointing to the mistakes

of the various branches of the church. As W. D. Frazee poignantly put in a sermon preached on

April 1, 1960, “From that they arrive at the conclusion that because there are errors and failures

in the church, God has rejected and forsaken the church. They say that the true-hearted must

leave and get into some other movement, or start one...”3 Upon hearing this sermon (or reading

it’s transcribed booklet) one might think these words, preached 45 years ago, were delivered

today! Truly, little to nothing has changed in regards to this issue. The question for Seventh-day

Adventists is, does the Bible speak to this issue? In the words of the old poem, “What says the

3

2 Ellen Gould White, Selected Messages From the Writings of Ellen G. White, Book 2 (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1958), 396.

3 Frazee, W. D. The Church Triumphant, p. 6

Bible, the blessed Bible to me? The teachings of men so often mislead me. What says the Bible,

the blessed Bible to me? This my only question be."

Salvation History: Two Trends

Down through the span of human history, God has always had a people who were faithful

to Him. Often times He has needed to send messages of revival and reformation to His children.

Whenever He has done so, “there have been two different patterns of results when those

messages have been accepted.”4 Sometimes those messages have been so emphatically accepted

by so many people in the movement that it has been salvaged from sin and gone on through to

victory. At other times, the pattern is that some of God’s people accepted and others rejected His

message designed to bring transformation. “As a result, there has come a split, a separation. True

followers of God have come out of what had formerly been His movement and have established

a separate movement and gone on with the message.”5 We will briefly examine a few examples

of each pattern, beginning with the latter.

In our Bibles, we need look no further than Genesis 6 to find our first example.

Discouraged at the widespread wickedness of the inhabitants of earth, God instructed Noah to

build an ark. His ultimate desire was not simply to save Noah and his family, but He desired that

Noah’s gospel message and clarion call to repentance would transform the earth’s population.

For 120 long years, the Holy Spirit preached through Noah, exhorting all to repent of their

wickedness. But because of their rejection of God’s message of mercy, Noah and his family were

the only remaining people on the planet. They had been mindful of God’s message of revival and

4

4 Frazee, p. 7

5 Ibid

reformation, and “found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”6 From this small group of people, this

remnant if you will, God would begin anew.

Fast-forward to the New Testament. Israel had been given the prophecies of the soon-

coming Messiah. The Lord raised up John the Baptist to prepare the way for His people to accept

Him, but in spite of this, He was rejected by His chosen people. So what did Christ do? He raised

up, in the midst of that people, a new movement. Since the Jews had failed to do so, the apostles

were ordained by Christ to take the gospel to the world. The Christian faith was officially born--a

spiritual continuation of God’s faithful people down through history. This movement continued.

Yet as time went on, dangerous teachings entered into the church. The apostle Paul

warned in Acts 20:29-30, “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in

among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking

perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.” In 2 Thessalonians he gave a

definite prophecy of a “falling away” that would come upon the church. This was a prediction of

the papal apostasy that would ultimately lead to the Dark Ages that were soon to take place.

During this time God’s faithful people fled “into the wilderness,” hiding in the secluded places of

the mountains and deserts where they could be faithful to the truths of Scripture while on a

corporate level the Christian church had apostatized.

Centuries later God raised up the great Protestant Reformation. With individuals like

Huss, Jerome, Wycliffe, Zwingli and Luther, God began shedding the light of Scripture into this

age of spiritual darkness and superstition. The great truths lost sight of and suppressed by the

medieval church were rediscovered and shared with the common people. These reformers had no

5

6 Genesis 6:8

desire to begin a new church, but worked with the sincere desire to reform the existing church.

But as it became clear that the church leaders were antagonistic to the calls for reformation and a

return to the Bible, a movement came to be which separated from the church of Rome. This

movement found its beginnings not in Rome, but with the apostolic church of the first centuries.

Declaring that the Roman Catholic Church was the harlot of Revelation 17 and the antichrist

power, they called God’s people to “come out of her.” But as time marched on, these churches

lost their zeal and wandered back toward “mother Rome.”7 Soon the Lord would send another

message of revival to His people.

In the great second Advent awakening of the 19th century, God did just that. Raising up

the deist-turned-Baptist preacher William Miller in North America, Manuel Lacunza in South

America, Bengel in Germany and Gaussen in France, God began leading people into the study of

the 2300 day prophecy. Uniting with William Miller in North America were Presbyterian and

Methodist ministers, ministers from the Christian Connexion, and others. But rather than those

churches melding into one large movement to prepare the world for Jesus’ return as God desired,

they rejected it. After this, in 1844 God extended the call through His faithful ministers:

“Babylon is fallen.” This was in reference not only to the harlot of Revelation 17, but to her

daughters as well--the apostate Protestant churches. Once again, as was the case at various points

down through time, God sought to separate His people from the organizations that had thereto

represented and spoken for Him. But, as mentioned, there is another model we see in salvation

history.

6

7 Frazee, p. 10

Whenever His people have been willing, God’s message of reformation has been heeded,

and He has worked within the framework of the movement He already has, saving it.8 To see a

few examples, the Israelites in slavery in Egypt is an excellent one. As they were there, many of

them were not keeping the Sabbath. They were in a backslidden condition, but God did not cast

them away...He led them out. God drew His people back to Himself, teaching them again to keep

the Sabbath, and guiding them through the Red Sea and on to victory into the Promised Land.

Did they have difficult experiences along the way? Most definitely. Did they rebel against the

Spirit of Prophecy that was leading them? Yes. They tried killing Moses and Aaron! “But the

movement went on and finally passed over Jordan and those people who went over occupied the

promised land.” This was in spite of an apostasy at the golden calf, during which the second in

command of God’s people, Aaron, was drawn into apostasy as well. In spite of rebellion multiple

times in the wilderness...in spite of the iniquities of the people and even their leaders at times,

God brought the movement through to the Land of Canaan, though not without times of

correction and serious discipline. And as Priebe points out, even when they entered Canaan, “it is

important to note that God’s true church included a mixed multitude of faithful and unfaithful

souls.”9

We see another example of God working within the existing framework of His people in

the many stories of the kings. God’s people rejected Him in asking for a human king.10 But did

God abandon His people? Did He disown them? No. And when the first king of Israel failed time

after time, disobeying God, He anointed David. But Saul, filled with jealousy did his best to kill

7

8 Frazee, 19

9 Priebe, Dennis. The Church: Is it Babylon? Vindicating the Remnant, 13

10 1 Samuel 8:7

David. It’s powerful to note that though David was anointed by God, he did not go off and start a

new movement. He was faithful to Israel as a people, even though there were many in it who

were trying to kill him. And when he had the opportunity to take Saul’s life, he said “I will not

put forth my hand against the Lord’s anointed.”11 After David’s monarchy came to an end and

Israel was divided into the northern and southern kingdoms, God worked to bring revival and

reformation through the prophets and through certain kings. No doubt it would have been much

easier for Him to command His faithful followers to leave and start a new people. But God was

committed to Israel--continually seeking to bring them back to Himself in spite of their spiritual

adultery.

So we see that down through time, in response to God’s appeals to revival and

reformation there have been two reactions. Either God is forced to form a new movement with

those who heed His call, leaving behind those who reject it...or He saves the movement to which

He has extended His call of mercy. The question for us in our study is: which of these two

patterns will the Seventh-day Adventist Church follow? Do the Bible and the writings of Ellen

White give us the answer?

Prophetic Marks of the Seventh-day Adventist Church

There are a number of indicators in Bible prophecy that the “remnant church,” the

Seventh-day Adventist Church, is the final movement that God will use in salvation history. First

of all, the movement results from a call out of Babylon.12 Nowhere in Scripture do we find so

much as even a hint of warning that this movement that was to come out of Babylon would

become Babylon. Nor do we find any description of a movement that would arise after, or out of

8

11 1 Samuel 24:6

12 Revelation 14:8, 18:4

it. It is also noteworthy that the church is symbolized by a woman, and that we find no new

woman introduced after Revelation 12 besides the harlot of Revelation 17 and her harlot

daughters. One would think that were God’s remnant church--His bride--to apostatize, that He

would have shown John another woman in prophetic vision, symbolizing His next coming

faithful church movement.

Another prophetic description of God’s remnant church is found in Revelation 3:14-21.

Symbolized by the church of Laodicea, God’s people at the end of time receive a message of

strong rebuke. Of all the letters to the seven churches, this is the only in which there is nothing

positive said about the church. However, God’s message of correction is that of a loving Savior--

and from Him comes the promise that this church will overcome and share in Christ’s inheritance

on the Father’s throne.13 The message to the church of Laodicea is not for God’s faithful children

to come out of His church...but rather a message that revives His church! Though it will go

through a shaking as a result of it, ultimately that shaking results in the purification of God’s

people.14

But there’s another prophetic mark that points out to us what the Seventh-day Adventist

church is not--a definition by negation. In his article, Mulzac points out, both Jeremiah and John

describe three factors that determine Babylon’s punishment. First, Babylon is the enemy of God.

Secondly, Babylon is the enemy of God’s people. And third, Babylon is corrupt.15 These are

strong statements! Revelation 18 is full of some of the strongest denunciations in all of the Bible!

God says that Babylon has become “a dwelling place of demons” (vs. 2), saying “her sins have

9

13 Revelation 3:21

14 See Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 1, p. 181

15 Mulzac, Kenneth. “The ‘Fall of Babylon’ Motif in the Books of Jeremiah and Revelation.”, 140-141

reached to heaven” (vs. 5), and that she will be repaid “double according to her works” (vs. 6).

This apostate church is responsible for “the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were

slain on the earth” (vs. 24). Ultimately, she will suffer the seven last plagues, and “death and

mourning and famine”….being “utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges

her” (vs. 8). The claim that God’s remnant church has become Babylon is a monumental one. It

would mean that the movement which had so recently been the apple of God’s eye has now

become the object of His hatred and destruction. It would mean that she had become united with

the power responsible for the blood of the saints and prophets. It would mean that without

prophetic warning, the unique movement which God raised prophetically pointed to and raised

up to usher in His second coming had become part of Satan’s end-time deceptions that they were

raised up to warn the world against.

God has gone to great lengths to identify His remnant church. In Revelation 10 we find

the prophecy of the Great Disappointment of 1844--the roots of the Seventh-day Adventist

Church. In Revelation 12 we find the unmistakeable characteristics of the church...it’s identity.

And in Revelation 14 we find the prophetic mission of the Seventh-day Adventist church--the

proclamation of the three angels’ messages, including the second, that “Babylon is fallen!” Near

the end of the longest time prophecy in the Bible, the 2300-day prophecy, God raised up a

movement to prepare the world for His return. Having done so much to make the identity, origin

and mission of the Seventh-day Adventist church so unmistakeable, a number of questions come.

Why would God so clearly identify the Advent movement and Seventh-day Adventist church in

Bible prophecy, but not once tell us of a divinely-led movement that would come out of it? If the

Seventh-day Adventist church would go from being God’s remnant church to being Babylon,

10

why would God not warn us either in Scripture or through the writings of Ellen White? The

answer is simple: there is no church or movement after the remnant. It will be God’s church until

the very end.

A Look at Adventist History

We are told that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Let us

briefly turn our eyes to Adventist history to see how Ellen White dealt with this issue in her day.

The year was 1893. A man referred to as Brother Stanton had published a pamphlet denouncing

the Seventh-day Adventist church as Babylon. In it he claimed that the loud cry of Revelation 18

was to come out it. He had used the writings of Ellen White to try to support his position. As

Douglass brings out, “Stanton sent an intermediary to Ellen White in Australia,” but it was a

waste of time and money. Ellen White had already written a bold letter to him on March 23.16 In

it she made herself clear in no uncertain terms. (You can read the letter in full in Testimonies to

Ministers and Gospel Workers, pp. 58-62.).

"I address to you a few lines. I am not in harmony with the position that you have taken,

for I have been shown by the Lord that just such positions will be taken by those who are in

error.”17 She continued on. “"My brother, I learn that you are taking the position that the

Seventh-day Adventist Church is Babylon….You are not the only man the devil has deceived in

this matter. For the last forty years, one man after another has arisen, claiming that the Lord has

sent him with the same message; but let me tell you, as I have told them, that this message you

11

16 Herbert Douglass, Messenger of the Lord, 231

17 Ellen Gould White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1923), 58.

are proclaiming is one of the satanic delusions designed to create confusion among the

churches.”18

Her words to Stanton are clear and strong. Yet modern proponents of this same teaching

claim that her words to Stanton were applicable in 1893 when she wrote them, but that since that

time the church has become Babylon. Groups disagree as to when this supposedly was. Beliefs

range from Minneapolis in 1888 to the events of September 11 in 2001, neither of which have

support in inspiration, as significant as those events both were. There are many problems with

the claim that Ellen White's words to Brother Stanton were only temporarily applicable…but

here is one of the strongest evidences to the contrary. Ellen White wrote an article in the Review

and Herald in August of 1893 in response to the pamphlet issued by Stanton. In it she made a

prophecy. She explained that people would come in the future who would make the claim that

the Adventist church is Babylon, but that they would be false. (Read it in full in Appendix B.)

““Let everyone who reads these words give them thorough consideration, for in the name

of Jesus I would press them home upon every soul. When anyone arises [future], either among

us or outside of us, who is burdened with a message which declares that the people of God are

numbered with Babylon, and claims that the loud cry is a call to come out of her, you may know

[future] that he is not bearing the message of truth….” But if this is not prophetic enough, listen

to what she goes on to say! “The message contained in the pamphlet called the Loud Cry, is a

deception. Such messages will come, and it will be claimed for them that they are sent of God,

but the claim will be false; for they are not filled with light, but with darkness. There will be

messages of accusation against the people of God, similar to the work done by Satan in accusing

12

18 Ellen Gould White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1923), 58–59.

God’s people, and these messages will be sounding at the very time when God is saying to His

people, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.”19 To

any honest soul, that should settle it. If you believe in the divine inspiration of Ellen White, you

cannot believe the message that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is Babylon or will ever be.

And conversely, if you believe that the church is Babylon, you cannot in all honesty believe in

her prophetic gift.

In addition to these comments, Ellen White has a number of other very clear statements

that bring home the assurance that the Seventh-day Adventist Church will go through till the end

(See Appendix B for a longer list). In 1880’s she wrote to D. M. Canright the following.

“I had an impressive dream last night. I thought that you were on a strong vessel, sailing on very

rough waters. Sometimes the waves beat over the top, and you were drenched with water. You

said: “I shall get off; this vessel is going down.” “No,” said one who appeared to be the captain,

“this vessel sails into the harbor. She will never go down.”20 In another place she said, “I know

that the Lord loves His church. It is not to be disorganized or broken up into independent atoms.

There is not the least consistency in this; there is not the least evidence that such a thing will

be.”21 She affirmed that during the final crisis of the Sunday Law, “The church may appear as

about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out—the

chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take

13

19 Ellen Gould White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1923), 41

20 Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5 (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1855), 571.

21 Ellen Gould White, Selected Messages From the Writings of Ellen G. White, Book 2 (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1958), 68–69.

place.”22 The crisis of persecution that lies ahead is one that will purify God’s church--His

church that will be without spot or wrinkle at the Bridegroom’s return.

Conclusion

In July of 2014 I had the opportunity of speaking with one of the leaders of a group in

another country who was claiming that the Seventh-day Adventist church had become Babylon.

In a very friendly conversation I asked him for clarification, “So, you believe that those in the

church are instruments of Satan, who are being and will be used to deceive the world?” He

answered, “Well...we can’t judge anyone or say that’s the case.” But as the conflict intensifies,

the Spirit of Prophecy is clear. As Garilva points out, “She depicted the whole world as divided

into only two groups: Babylon versus God’s people.”23

There is no middle ground. Either the organized SDA church is "Babylon," and the most

dangerous, deceptive, and wicked church on earth…or it is God's divinely organized, blessed,

sanctioned instrument of peace to ultimately fully reflect His character of love to the world.

There are no two ways about it. The Seventh-day Adventist church is either more dangerous than

the apostate Roman Catholic church, the Bible's antichrist power which is plainly identified, or it

is the only object on earth upon which God bestows His supreme regard. It is either holding up

the black banner of darkness, or uplifting the Light of Life...either preaching dangerous doctrines

of devils, or the everlasting gospel under the power of God.

The questions stand in defense of the truth. If it were to become Babylon, why would

God give so much counsel about how the organized Seventh-day Adventist church was not

14

22 Ellen Gould White, Selected Messages From the Writings of Ellen G. White, Book 2 (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1958), 380.

23 Garilva, 241

Babylon? Why would He never give a shred of evidence that it ever would be? Why would He

even prophesy and warn us through Ellen White that people would come in the future and claim

the same, and that their claims will be false were they to one day become true? To believe that

the organized church which Ellen White so rigorously defended would become Babylon, yet so

clearly resemble the remnant church, is to believe that God has left absolutely no instruction or

warning for His people to know about arguably the most ominous event in the closing of earth's

history. It runs contrary to God's modus operandi--"Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He

reveals His secret to His servants the prophets."24 To suggest such a thing is an attack on His

character of love, making God out to be irresponsible…even cruel. To the contrary--our

omniscient, all-loving God has warned us through His messenger. We can know of a

surety...those who arise making this claim are actuated by the father of lies. He’s given us the

sweet assurance that the Seventh-day Adventist Church will go through to the end. “Truth...will

triumph over all opposition.”25 In the words of our Captain, “This vessel sails into the harbor.

She will never go down.”

Maybe as you read these words, you have found yourself at times discouraged by the

state of God’s church. You have begun to wonder, even doubt that it is still His movement. I want

to encourage you. Rest assured, that though there are tares with the wheat…though there are

faults and failures in her midst...though there are spots and wrinkles in the garments of God’s

bride, God will be faithful to prepare His people for an eternity with Him. “There is no need to

doubt, to be fearful that the work will not succeed. God is at the head of the work, and He will

15

24 Amos 3:7

25 Reflecting Christ, 196

set everything in order. If matters need adjusting at the head of the work, God will attend to that,

and work to right every wrong. Let us have faith that God is going to carry the noble ship which

bears the people of God safely into port.”26 Take courage, my friend! God is in the business of

revival and reformation...and He has promised that He will revive His remnant church. Is it your

prayer to be among that number? If so, I invite you to bow your head just now and say, “Lord...I

recognize that I have spots and wrinkles, imperfections in my character. As the promise is sure

that you will purify your remnant church, please prepare me to be ready when you return. In

Jesus’ precious name, Amen.”

16

26 Ellen Gould White, Selected Messages From the Writings of Ellen G. White, Book 2 (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1958), 390.

APPENDIX A

Valuable Materials for Further Study

For Ellen White’s answers to the accusation that the SDA Church is Babylon, read:

Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, pp. 32-62

The Australian Years, pp. 80-83 (historical context of Mr. Stanton episode explained)

Testimonies vol. 5, pp. 571-573 (A relevant letter Ellen White wrote to D. M. Canright after a God-given dream)

Other Resources

W. D. Frazee, - The Church Triumphant (Available at: http://wdfsermons.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1064-The-Church-Triumphant-qf.mp3) in audio. Booklet form also available for purchase.)

Dores E. Robinson. “Has the SDA Church Become Babylon?” (Available at www.andrews.edu/library/car/cardigital/digitized/documents/b14977977.pdf)

“Report to the Church: On Hope International and Related Groups” - ADCOM, April 2000 Adventist Review (Available at http://archives.adventistreview.org/2000-1540/hope-international.html)

“Issues at the End” - A response to the ADCOM Report” - by Ron Spear of Hope International (Available at http://omega77.tripod.com/issuesattheend.htm)

Gerhard Pfandl - “The Remnant Church” (Available at https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/2013/02/the-remnant-church)

17

APPENDIX B

Relevant Quotes from Ellen WhiteEmphasis Supplied

“God has a church, a chosen people; and could all see as I have seen how closely Christ identifies Himself with His people, no such message would be heard as the one that denounces the church as Babylon.” TM 20.1 “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 36.2“Those who have proclaimed the Seventh-day Adventist Church as Babylon, have made use of the Testimonies in giving their position a seeming support; but why is it that they did not present that which for years has been the burden of my message—the unity of the church? Why did they not quote the words of the angel, “Press together, press together, press together”? Why did they not repeat the admonition and state the principle, that “in union there is strength, in division there is weakness? It is such messages as these men have borne that divide the church, and put us to shame before the enemies of truth; and in such messages is plainly revealed the specious working of the great deceiver, who would hinder the church from attaining unto perfection in unity. These teachers follow the sparks of their own kindling, move according to their own independent judgment, and cumber the truth with false notions and theories. They refuse the counsel of their brethren, and press on in their own way until they become just what Satan would desire to have them—unbalanced in mind.” TM 56 “To claim that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is Babylon, is to make the same claim as does Satan, who is an accuser of the brethren, who accuses them before God night and day.”TM 43.1 “Let everyone who reads these words give them thorough consideration, for in the name of Jesus I would press them home upon every soul. When anyone arises, either among us or outside of us, who is burdened with a message which declares that the people of God are numbered with Babylon, and claims that the loud cry is a call to come out of her, you may know that he is not bearing the message of truth. Receive him not, nor bid him Godspeed; for God has not spoken by him, neither has He given a message to him, but he has run before he was sent. The message contained in the pamphlet called the Loud Cry, is a deception. Such messages will come, and it will be claimed for them that they are sent of God, but the claim will be false; for they are not filled with light, but with darkness. There will be messages of accusation against the people of

18

God, similar to the work done by Satan in accusing God’s people, and these messages will be sounding at the very time when God is saying to His people, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.”TM 41.1 "We are sorry that there are defective members, that there are tares amid the wheat.” TM 45.1 "The church of Christ on earth will be imperfect, but God does not destroy His church because of its imperfection."TM 46.1

“I warn the Seventh-day Adventist Church to be careful how you receive every new notion and those who claim to have great light. The character of their work seems to be to accuse and to tear down.” 2 SM 69

In context of the National Sunday Law Crisis“Satan will work his miracles to deceive; he will set up his power as supreme. The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out—the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place.”1SM 380.2

“The church is God’s fortress, His city of refuge, which He holds in a revolted world. Any betrayal of the church is treachery to Him who has bought mankind with the blood of His only-begotten Son.”RC 196.4

“When anyone is drawing apart from the organized body of God’s commandment keeping people, when he begins to weigh the church in his human scales and begins to pronounce judgment against them, then you may know that God is not leading him. He is on the wrong track.” 3 SM 18

“Truth is inspired and guarded by God; and it will triumph over all opposition.” RC 196.5

“Again I say, The Lord hath not spoken by any messenger who calls the church that keeps the commandments of God, Babylon. True, there are tares with the wheat; but Christ said He would send His angels to first gather the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into the garner. I know that the Lord loves His church. It is not to be disorganized or

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broken up into independent atoms. There is not the least consistency in this; there is not the least evidence that such a thing will be.”2SM 69

Written in the 1880’s to DM Canright“I had an impressive dream last night. I thought that you were on a strong vessel, sailing on very rough waters. Sometimes the waves beat over the top, and you were drenched with water. You said: “I shall get off; this vessel is going down.” “No,” said one who appeared to be the captain, “this vessel sails into the harbor. She will never go down.”5T 571

“There is no need to doubt, to be fearful that the work will not succeed. God is at the head of the work, and He will set everything in order. If matters need adjusting at the head of the work, God will attend to that, and work to right every wrong. Let us have faith that God is going to carry the noble ship which bears the people of God safely into port.”2SM 390

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Douglass, Herbert E. Messenger of the Lord: The Prophetic Ministry of Ellen G. White. Nampa, ID: Pacific Press Pub. Association, 1998.

Frazee, W. D. The Church Triumphant. Wildwood, GA: W. D. Frazee Sermons, 2015.

Garilva, Don Leo. “The Development of Ellen G. White’s Concept of Babylon in the Great Controversy.” Journal of the Adventist Theological Society Vol. 18 (2007): 233-242.

Mulzac, Kenneth. “The ‘Fall of Babylon’ Motif in the Books of Jeremiah and Revelation.” Journal of the Adventist Theological Society Vol. 8 (1997): 137-149.

Priebe, Dennis. The Church: Is it Babylon? Vindicating the Remnant. Roseville, CA. Amazing Facts, Inc. 1994

Robinson, Dores E. “Has the SDA Church Become Babylon?” March 1962, White Estate Shelf Document.

Strand, Kenneth. “Two Aspects of Babylon’s Judgment as Portrayed in Revelation 18.” Andrews University Seminary Studies Vol. 20 (1982): 55-60.

The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

White, Ellen G. Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers. Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1962.

White, Ellen G., Selected Messages From the Writings of Ellen G. White, Book 2 Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1958.

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