The straight testimony.
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This [is] the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts, Zechariah 4:6.
When the time is right, God’s faithful remnant will proclaim the straight testimony with zeal and power. Not with their own power, for it is ineffective, but with the power of God’s Spirit. This will lead to major and profound changes in the church. Those who are willing to follow Jesus wherever He goes will preach the end-time message with power and anointing. This will cause the nominal Adventists to leave the church. In Job’s book 38:12-13 we find the following text: Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; [and] caused the dayspring to know his place; That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
This is what will happen in the church when the straightforward testimony is preached in the last times. Ellen G. White has said the following about this: I asked the meaning of the shaking I had seen and was shown that it would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans. This will have its effect upon the heart of the receiver and will lead him to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth. Some will not bear this straight testimony. They will rise up against it, and this will cause a shaking among God’s people. (Last Days Events, 175.3).
This is what Amos means when he says can two walk together, except they be agreed? (Amos 3:3). Those who are shaken out of the congregation are precisely those who do not want to follow God’s commandments and follow Jesus wherever He goes, regardless of whether it is to a cross or a fire. They no longer have any need to be members of God’s end-time church, and many of those who have professed Seventh-day Adventism despise the end-time message.
Among these there are some who wait too long to repent and are lost just like those who belong to the world and will not repent. Ellen G. White says: There are those among us who will make confessions, as did Achan, too late to save themselves. … They are not in harmony with right. They despise the straight testimony that reaches the heart and would rejoice to see everyone silenced who gives reproof, (Last Days Events, 175.4).
But now the straight testimony is not only intended for the Adventists, but it must also go out to all humanity, both Christians and pagans. Everyone must be able to hear the message, because everyone must make up their mind about it. No one can say it doesn’t matter because the choices we make will follow us into eternity.
In order for the straight testimony to be able to have any effect, it must be a revival. We need a renewal and a reformation. This revival, renewal and reformation will take place among all people, not only among those who are not among God’s faithful remnant in the end times, but also among those who fear God and preach the end-time message.
God’s last congregation must consist of passionate Christians, and they must maintain a high standard. They must be steadfast in their faith in the Savior. There is no new message to be preached in the end times. It is the same message that W. Miller began to preach in the first half of the 19th century, and it is the message that Abraham was called to preach – the eternal gospel.
In order for this message to have the power that is necessary and to carry out the task that God wants it to do, it is crucial that those who preach it have cleansed body, soul and heart from all impure and sinful thoughts, desires, and actions. Then, and only then, will the message, the eternal gospel, the straight testimony have the desired effect. Ellen G. White says: The Lord calls for a renewal of the straight testimony borne in years past. He calls for a renewal of spiritual life. The spiritual energies of His people have long been torpid, but there is to be a resurrection from apparent death. By prayer and confession of sin we must clear the King’s highway. (Last Days Events, 176.1).
Rejecting the testimony leads to apostasy.
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them, Roman 16:17.
When the loud cry is preached in the end times, many who call themselves Adventists, but who are Adventists in name only, will despise the preaching of the end time message. These will leave the church. The loud cry is the third angel’s message in Revelation 14:9-11 together with the message of the fourth angel in Revelation 18:1-5. When God’s people cooperate with each other and with the Holy Spirit, this will rise to a loud cry. Those who hear this call and take it to heart will join God’s end-time church, while those who are members of God’s end-time church and take offense at it will leave the church in a hurry.
In 1893, Ellen G. White told the congregation the following: It is a solemn statement that I make to the church, that not one in twenty whose names are registered upon the church books are prepared to close their earthly history, and would be as verily without God and without hope in the world as the common sinner, (Last Dats Event,172.1) … … 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, (Last Dats Event, 172.2).
The work which the church has failed to do in a time of peace and prosperity she will have to do in a terrible crisis under most discouraging, forbidding circumstances. The warnings that worldly conformity has silenced or withheld must be given under the fiercest opposition from enemies of the faith. And at that time the superficial, conservative* class, whose influence has steadily retarded the progress of the work, will renounce the faith, (Last Dats Event, 174.3).
* Ellen White is not here distinguishing theological conservatives from their liberal counterparts; she is describing those who put worldly conformity first and God’s cause second.
Being a member of the church is no guarantee of salvation.
Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee, Revelation 3:3.
Being a member of a church, no matter which church it is, does not guarantee that one will be saved. Even though I am a physical member of God’s end-time church, I must still seek the Lord, because only the Lord can save me. Although the Catholic Church says that there is no salvation outside of it, this does not help either, and is one of the biggest lies of our time, because what Jesus said when he was here on earth 2000 years ago is just as valid today. In John 14:6 Jesus said to Thomas: I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. This has eternal validity, and of course also applies to us in our time.
As trials thicken around us, both separation and unity will be seen in our ranks. Some who are now ready to take up weapons of warfare will in times of real peril make it manifest that they have not built upon the solid rock; they will yield to temptation. Those who have had great light and precious privileges but have not improved them will, under one pretext or another, go out from us, (Last Days Events, 175.2).
We know that there are many who call themselves Adventists because they have grown up in an Adventist family, but who have never met Jesus. Many have also become members of a Seventh-day Adventist church for various reasons and who have not met Jesus either. These can only be called Adventists in name. Regardless of who they are and why they are in the congregation, we do not have the right to throw them out, see the parable «The wheat and the tares» in Matthew 13:24-30, where Jesus explains that the wheat and tares will grow together until the harvest comes. The reason for that is that we can «weed out» people who accept Jesus as their saviour. We don’t see hearts the way God does.
Those who have had privileges and opportunities to become intelligent in regard to the truth and yet who continue to counterwork the work God would have accomplished will be purged out, for God accepts the service of no man whose interest is divided, (Last Days Events, 175.1).
The weeds are separated from the wheat.
Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn, Matthew 13:30.
There must be a good reason why Jesus says that the tares will grow with the wheat until the harvest workers come. We see that more and more people come to our congregations who have a slightly strange approach to scripture. Some are antitrinitarian, some doubt one or more of our beliefs, while others have inclinations towards spiritualism. We see all kinds of «deviations» in relation to our teaching, but that does not give us the right to deny these people entry into our churches, but we must be careful so that they do not preach their false teachings. These may be sincere seekers waiting to hear the words that will make everything fall into place for them. If we reject one of these, we may push away a person who could have been won for Christ, who in turn could win many more for the Lord.
I myself have experienced meeting such people in my church in Oslo. I have met Jews who are in search of the truth, but who rejected SDA because we preach a triune God. Also, a member of a sister church came to us to preach that we were wrong about the Trinity. Once a spiritualist came to us. He visited us regularly for a couple of years. He had been visited by angels, he told me, who had told him to go to us and tell us that we were wrong on several points. We have also had a visit from a slightly confused woman who saw God’s guidance in absolutely everything, and who let her life be controlled by such things. All of these, apart from the slightly confused woman, have disappeared as they did not get any traction for their claims. Everyone was received in a friendly and polite way, and we had many long and in-depth conversations, but they themselves chose to stay away from our congregation. The mildly confused woman on the other hand, she became an Adventist after studying the Bible with my Bible study group, and she was eventually baptized, and is no longer the mildly confused woman. I believe that precisely such examples are what Jesus has in mind when he says that weeds and wheat will grow together until the harvest.
False doctrines deceive some.
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ, Colossians 2:8.
What kind of doctrines are there that can deceive in the end times?
After Constantine the Great made Christianity one of many state religions of the Roman Empire, false doctrines have been continuously introduced into the Catholic Church. Many of these doctrines have been continued in the Protestant / Lutheran churches, and many more will surely find a place in these churches eventually.
These are some of the false doctrines that the Catholic Church has introduced:
In the sixth century infant baptism, sacrament of penance, the doctrine of the eternal torment in hell, the purgatory. In the seventh the Mass. In the eighth century the last oil. In the ninth century holy water. In the tenth century canonization of the dead. In the eleventh century celibacy for priests, relic, and image worship (finally established). In the twelfth century, rosary prayer, sale of indulgences, Mary’s Immaculate conception. In the thirteenth century worship of the host, the immortality of the soul just to name a few.
What do these doctrines entail?
Infant baptism: There are many parents who have gone to the grave certain that their newborn children who died during or immediately after birth have gone to hell. Think of the pain these people are in because they believe (at least) two of the lies of the papacy.
Sacrament of penance: Mandatory confession was introduced in the Catholic Church. This means that ordinary churchgoers must go to their priest and confess their sins in order to be forgiven. It is an illusion to think that the Catholic Church has the authority to forgive sins. This arrangement was introduced in the year 508 and is associated with «the transgression of desolation«.
The doctrine of eternal torment in hell: Many people have given everything they owned to the Catholic Church because they believed the lie of eternal torment in hell. An eternal burning hell is not compatible with God’s character, which is love. The doctrine of eternal burning hell has its origins in what happened in the valley of Hinnom where an «eternal» fire burned where all rubbish and waste was burned together with dead animals.
The purgatory: This is a place where, according to the Catholic Church, the dead are cleansed of their sins. If the family gives money to the Church of Rome, they may be able to shorten their time in purgatory.
The mass: The regular churchgoer was required to go to Mass regularly. This is also not compatible with the character of God who does not force anyone to do what they do not want. God gave us freedom to choose, while the Catholic Church forces everyone to follow unbiblical and false doctrines.
Holy water: In the Catholic Church, holy water is considered a sacramental, that is, using holy water is considered an act the Catholics do to show a special respect for the sacraments. Sacraments are considered in the Catholic Church to be necessary to achieve salvation. But Jesus then truly said that «no man cometh unto the Father, but by me«, (John 14:6).
Canonization of the dead: The Catholic Church loves to appoint saints, and these saints are crucial for the salvation of people, if we believe the papacy.
Celibacy for priests : It is worth looking at all the abuses that have been carried out by Catholic priests (and from other denominations) against children, both boys and girls, and against women over the years. Living in celibacy is also contrary to what God said to people when they were created. God said: «… Be fruitful, and multiply», (Genesis 1,28).
Relic, and image worship : The ordinary Catholic worships relics, images, and statues, completely contrary to the first two commandments that we find in Exodus 20,3-6:
The first commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me, (verse 3). It is something the Catholics ignore when they worship relics, images, and statues. These are made into idols when one kneels down by these objects and/or kisses them.
The second commandment: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of anything] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments, (verses 4- 6). The Catholic churches are full of pictures of saints, statues of Mary and relics, which can be anything from something they claim Jesus was in contact with – parts of the skeletons of dead saints etc.
Rosary prayer: This is often a repetitive form of prayer. Every time a Catholic goes to confession, that person can be imposed as a «punishment» by praying, for example, 25 times to the Virgin Mary. The following was said by Pope Benedict XVI in a speech he gave in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome: «When the Rosary is prayed authentically, not mechanically or superficially, but deeply, it bears fruit in peace and reconciliation. The holy name of Jesus brings with it its healing power when it is invoked with faith and love in the middle of every Hail Mary«.
Sale of indulgences : The indulgence of the Roman Church is the remission of temporal sins. According to the Catholic Church, these temporal sins must be atoned for, and this can be done by confessing, and then it entails a punishment that is either given in the form of a fine where an amount is paid to the Catholic Church, performing actions that grant indulgences such as a pilgrimage, or “a trip to purgatory”. I can only wonder that intelligent people can think their sins are forgiven just because they confess to a sinful man who has no authority to forgive sins, pay a certain amount to the papal church or go on a pilgrimage. It should be enough to refer to the Acts of the Apostles 4,8-12: «Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, [even] by him doth this man stand here before you whole. 1 This is the stone, which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved«. Salvation is only through Jesus Christ, no one else can save people.
Mary’s Immaculate conception: The Catholic Church has determined that Mary was conceived and born without sin. This is also not in accordance with what the Bible teaches, Romans 3:23: «for all (and that means Mary, Jesus’ mother too) have sinned, and come short of the glory of God«.
Worship of the host: The host, or sun cake, as it should really be called, is honoured every year as a God. This is just a factory-made round biscuit (wafer) that in kept in a stand in the Catholic churches. Once a year they are carried around towns and everywhere there is a Catholic church on the day called Corpus Christi. Is it worth remembering the first two commandments?
The immortality of the soul: This is Persian and Greek philosophy that they developed in the centuries before the first coming of Jesus. Admittedly, this goes all the way back to the time just after creation and history’s first lie. When God had created man, they received a commandment: «And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die, (Genesis 2:16-17). Here is the commandment: Do not eat from that tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The punishment if the commandment was broken: You shall surely die!
Sometime later, Eve was at this tree and Satan saw his intention to tempt her, and asks her to taste the forbidden fruit, but Hus says that she is not allowed because then she will die. Then the snake replies with the first and worst lie in world history: «… Ye shall not surely die, (Genesis 3:4). Today, almost all people believe that man has a soul that lives on after man has died.
These false doctrines and all the others not mentioned here, cause seeking people not to find the way to Christ, but to follow the papacy in all that comes of ungodly and false doctrines from Rome.
As we see in Colossians 2:8, Paul was very aware that there would be seductions, and he warns against this in most of the letters he wrote. Peter and John also warn against this, in fact all the writers in the New Testament mention this seduction in one way or another, but the most important warnings are found in Matthew chapter 24 where Jesus says this:
- And Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you, (verse 4).
- For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many, (verse 5).
- And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many, (verse 11).
- For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect, (verse 24).
We therefore have no excuse if we are seduced, because this is something both Jesus, the authors of the New Testament, and not least the spirit of prophecy have warned us against. Jesus even says this: Behold, I have told you before, (Matthew 24:25).
The nominal Adventists give up the faith.
Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown, (Revelation 3:11).
Nominal Adventists can be Adventists in the second, third or fourth generation, i.e. people who were born into the church, and who for that reason go to church every Sabbath out of habit without having had a personal encounter with the Saviour. Other nominals may have been baptized into the church without having had the right conditions for their choice. These are people who will be easily influenced by glory theology and things that itch the ear without being critical of what they hear.
There has been a major change in religious life in Norway in the last 60 years, which before the oil adventure began as a mainly religious country. From being one of the poorest countries in Europe, Norway has become one of the world’s richest countries after the oil adventure started in the mid-1960s. In addition, Norway and large parts of Europe have had peace since 1945. This together has led Norway into a «desert wandering» where the necessity of God has been completely overlooked, and we are one of the world’s most de-Christianized countries.
About this, Ellen G. White says: The work which the church has failed to do in a time of peace and prosperity she will have to do in a terrible crisis under most discouraging, forbidding circumstances. The warnings that worldly conformity has silenced or withheld must be given under the fiercest opposition from enemies of the faith. And at that time the superficial, conservative class, whose influence has steadily retarded the progress of the work, will renounce the faith, (Last Days Event, 174.3). I have already quoted this passage, but it fits at least as well here.
Also in the Adventist church, a liberal attitude to most things creeps in, and these are the people whom Ellen G. White says have learned the truth. But this will soon change due to conflicts that keep getting closer. The warnings that have been given during times of prosperity and progress will have to be given again, and then under opposition from the politically correct who are ruled by the enemy of God. If they are not rooted in God’s word then they will be purged out – which is the same as the shaking. Ellen G. White says: Those who have had privileges and opportunities to become intelligent in regard to the truth and yet who continue to counterwork the work God would have accomplished will be purged out, for God accepts the service of no man whose interest is divided, (Last Days Events 175.1).
When the day comes and the shaking sets in, it will also become visible that there are also two groups of people in the Seventh Days Adventists; those who follow Jesus where He goes, and those who walk the path they choose. Those who follow Jesus are those who have built their lives on the Rock and these will stand through shaking while those who have built their lives on sand will be purged out.
As trials thicken around us, both separation and unity will be seen in our ranks. Some who are now ready to take up weapons of warfare will in times of real peril make it manifest that they have not built upon the solid rock; they will yield to temptation. Those who have had great light and precious privileges but have not improved them will, under one pretext or another, go out from us, (Last Days Event 175.2).
It looks like the church is about to fall.
Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God, (Revelation 3:2).
When the shaking comes, the result will be like when you separate the chaff from the grain when you throw grain and chaff into the air, the chaff blows away while the grain remains. Even in places where it appears that there are only faithful members of God’s end-time church, the wind will do its thing and separate the chaff. And because of this, it will look like the whole end-time church of God is about to fall. Should this happen, this would have been a huge victory for Satan. But as we have just seen, there will be many faithful who will stick to the pure teaching.
Who are they that will be shaken out, and what is their teaching? It is difficult to give a reliable description of everything that leads people to choose to leave the church, but Ellen G. White especially mentions the straight testimony. Others seem to want to liberalize everything that they can liberalize. One of these points concerns homosexuality. There are forces within the SDA that are beginning to launch theories that homosexuals living in an arranged marriage are not affected by the Bible’s condemnation, as they say. With this they completely ignore what God did during creation when he introduced marriage. In Genesis 1:27 we read: So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Furthermore, we read in Genesis 2:24 this: Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh..
The seventh commandment is attached to these two verses. The seventh commandment is found in Exodus 20:14 and reads like this: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Committing adultery is the same as not respecting the marriage, and marriage is defined by God in Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2 and is a holy union of a man and a woman. All other forms of cohabitation break the seventh commandment regardless of whether gay / lesbian couples have been married in church. This is contrary to God’s plan for man. When God had created the humans, Adam, and Eve, it says that God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good, (Genesis 1:31).
This is what forces within our own denomination want to change. When asked what position the SDA will take if there is a request from a same-sex couple to get married in the Advent church, the answer was that we must either follow Norwegian law or renounce the right to marry couples. However, this is a fatalistic attitude. When Jesus was tried on the question of whether or not to pay taxes, He answered «Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”, (Mark 12:17). We must dare to stand on God’s word. But our leaders in Norway are so terrified of losing the state’s financial support that they will soon join hands with the world – completely.
Ellen G. White says this: 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, (Last Days Event 180.5).
The persecution purifies the church.
And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended, (Mark 4:17).
There can be many reasons why people seek to the church. We keep seeing that a large proportion of new converts leave the church after a short time. These have never had a real meeting with the Saviour and are what we can call swarms. Others remain in the church even if their conversion has not been grounded in a strong and personal encounter with Christ. As soon as they face opposition in the end times in the form of persecution, they will leave the church.
Ellen G. White says: In the absence of the persecution there have drifted into our ranks men who appear sound and their Christianity unquestionable, but who, if persecution should arise, would go out from us, (Last Days Event 174.1).
The last great confrontation between God’s people and the henchmen of the papacy will be about the commandments. God has given us His Ten Commandments, and time after time God asks us to keep His Ten Commandments. In the absolute last time, the beast from the earth (USA), according to Revelation chapter 13, will set up an image of the first beast (the papacy), and force all people in the whole world to worship the image of the beast (Revelation 13:12). This image of the beast is a Sunday law enforced by the United States, with an appropriate penalty, which is the death penalty, for all who do not worship the image of the beast, that is, submit to the Sunday law.
The final battle, as we see, revolves around worship. Who will get your worship, God, or Satan? If you keep God’s ten commandments, you show God that you recognize His authority over your life, and God will therefore seal you when the time is right and make you ready for an eternity with your Creator and Savior, but if you keep the papacy’s ten commandments, you worship the papacy and through it you also worship Satan. You thus take the mark of the beast on your hand or forehead.
Ellen G. White says about this last great test: The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. The mark of the beast will be urged upon us. Those who have step by step yielded to worldly demands and conformed to worldly customs will not find it a hard matter to yield to the powers that be, rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death. The contest is between the commandments of God and the commandments of men. In this time the gold will be separated from the dross in the church, (Last Days Event 173.6).
Defections among church leaders.
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression, (1 Timothy 2:14).
If we look at what happened to Israel and Judea in ancient times, we have a type of what will happen in the end times, which will be the antitype. We find stories of priests who did not fulfil their obligations, judges who were apostates, and kings who introduced paganism into the congregation – Israel/Judea. This is something that has taken place throughout the history of God’s people, both in ancient times and in recent times, and in the end times it will seriously affect God’s end-time church as well.
About these Ellen G. White says: Men whom He has greatly honoured will, in the closing scenes of this earth’s history, pattern after ancient Israel…. A departure from the great principles Christ has laid down in His teachings, a working out of human projects, using the Scriptures to justify a wrong course of action under the perverse working of Lucifer, will confirm men in misunderstanding, and the truth that they need to keep them from wrong practices will leak out of the soul like water from a leaky vessel, (Last Days Events 178.4).
The unfair criticism causes souls to be lost.
As we approach the end of it all, false rumours will arise about faithful members of God’s end-time church. Many will therefore, without investigating the matter, take offense at those who are criticized on false grounds. This will help destroy families and spread around the local environment like a plague. We know that Satan will leave nothing untested in his battle against Christ. Only those who are firmly rooted in the truth will avoid being seduced by the unfair criticism, but those who listen to such rumours will be lost.
Ellen G. White says the following: Even in our day there have been and will continue to be entire families who have once rejoiced in the truth, but who will lose faith because of calumnies and falsehoods brought to them in regard to those whom they have loved and with whom, they have had sweet counsel. They opened their hearts to the sowing of tares, the tares sprang up among the wheat, they strengthened, the crop of wheat became less and less, and the precious truth lost its power to them, (Last Days Events 176.2).
God’s faithful will be made known.
Through all ages, God has always had a faithful but small remnant who have kept His word pure and held His commandments high. So even now in the end times, God has such a group of people who do not «defile themselves with women» which is the same as worshiping false gods, be it Satan, Ba’al, the Pope, Mary, the almost 12,000 saints who the Catholic Church surrounds itself with, or whatever other object is worshiped by the people of the world. When the net really begins to tighten, God will honor this group by letting it shine through all the delusion and all the lies directed at them that this is the faithful remnant of the living God in the end times.
This is what Ellen G. White says about this group of faithful: The Lord has faithful servants who in the shaking, testing time will be disclosed to view. There are precious ones now hidden who have not bowed the knee to Baal. They have not had the light which has been shining in a concentrated blaze upon you. But it may be under a rough and uninviting exterior the pure brightness of a genuine Christian character will be revealed. In the daytime we look toward heaven but do not see the stars. They are there, fixed in the firmament, but the eye cannot distinguish them. In the night we behold their genuine lustre, (Last Days Event 181.1).
New converts will take the places of those who leave.
In the last time when God’s last warning cry sounds over the earth: Come out of her, my people, (Revelation 18:4), this will be heard by those who are still in Babylon, but who are searching for God’s truth. They do not find this truth in the churches that are in confusion (= Babel), therefore they now listen to this warning called the loud cry, which consists of the three angels’ messages in Revelation 14:6-11 together with Revelation 18:1-4. This cry reaches out to all who will hear it, and all who accept the last warning God gives to a sinful world leave Babylon (Babel) and join together with God’s faithful remnant who are those who call them out.
This will happen after the shaking that will cause the nominal Adventists to leave God’s church. There will then be many empty places, but these will be filled up with those who leave Babylon.
This is what Ellen G. White says: Some had been shaken out and left by the way. The careless and indifferent, who did not join with those who prized victory and salvation enough to perseveringly plead and agonize for it, did not obtain it, and they were left behind in darkness, and their places were immediately filled by others taking hold of the truth and coming into the ranks, (Last Days Events 181.1)
The broken ranks will be filled up by those represented by Christ as coming in at the eleventh hour. There are many with whom the Spirit of God is striving. The time of God’s destructive judgments is the time of mercy for those who [now] have no opportunity to learn what is truth. Tenderly will the Lord look upon them. His heart of mercy is touched, His hand is still stretched out to save, while the door is closed to those who would not enter. Large numbers will be admitted who in these last days hear the truth for the first time, (Last Days Events 182.2).
Even the powers of heaven will be shaken.
In the book of Job 38:31 we can read the following interesting question: Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
The Pleiades are actually a star cluster consisting of many stars, but it is the seven brightest stars that are the origin of the name. Isabel Lewis in the U.S. The Naval Observatory states; While most constellations drift through space in different directions, and even change shape due to for reasons we know little about, this does not apply to the Pleiades. Photographs now show that there are approximate 250 stars in this cluster, all traveling together in one common direction. All the stars in this constellation stand in a fixed relationship to each other. It is perhaps not so strange
Job asks the following question: Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?
Also when it comes to Orion, something wonderful has been found with this constellation. Orion is called the most marked and visible of all constellations and can be observed from all areas on Earth. This is worth noting! The stars in this formation are eye-catching due to their sparkling clarity. It really seems as if God wants our attention on purpose, when we look up into the sky, towards Orion and the Orion Nebula. It appears as a kind of burning bush in the sky, a study of God’s mighty power and omnipotence. One of the most interesting observations in Orion is the large empty area in the north of the Orion Nebula (known in astronomy as M42). This heavenly cave is so gigantic that our brain can hardly comprehend it. It is also so incredibly beautiful that words cannot describe it. No one who has seen colour photographs of M42 forgets this formation. The sword of Orion is like a flaming cluster of stars forming the opening to a larger cavern. All astronomers agree that the opening is probably more than 26,785,000,000,000 km. in diameter, or about 90,000 times greater than the circumference of the Earth. Some astronomers have called it; a corridor fit for a king. Could it be that this is the gate to the heavenly Jerusalem?
Carefully consider what was written in the book of Job more than 3500 years ago and see what the author of the book of Job wrote about these two star constellations. How could the writer of Job know about this? Where did this knowledge come from 3500 years ago?It is really only recently, with the huge telescopes that are placed out in space, that astronomers have discovered something extraordinary about these two constellations. And what they have discovered confirms what is written in the book of Job.
Warnings from Spiritualism.
From spiritualist media, which Satan is behind, the message now comes more and more often that Orion wants to destroy what Satan’s occult ideology aims at. New Age, and other spiritualist sources say that Orion is evil and wants to rule the universe. We know that the occult, of which spiritism is an essential part, calls good evil and evil good. They turn things upside down.
Those who lead the New Age movement and the spiritualist organizations tell their followers that it is a small group of people who work for what Orion represents. We will warn you against them, for they are not like us, and similar statements come from them. So who are these that the occultists warn against? It must be those who stand at the opposite end of the religious scale, those who keep God’s commandments and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12), those who keep God’s commandments and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:17), which is the Spirit of prophecy, (Revelation 19:10). Because it is only these who stand up against the occult societies, and who dare to speak against the New Age.
They must be considered for what they are, say the spiritualist leaders, they are enemies and negative elements of unrest, which will soon be eradicated. These warnings should not surprise anyone who understands the battle between good and evil. Satan of course has different people, systems and ideologies in his net and uses all methods to oppose the God of heaven and those who choose to speak his cause. It would not be inconceivable that the devil, who was once thrown out of heaven, knows very well the way there and that Jesus and all his angels must come from Orion when the saved are to be brought home.
The Holy City.
About Orion, Ellen G. White says the following: Dark, heavy clouds came up and clashed against each other. The atmosphere parted and rolled back; then we could look up through the open space in Orion, whence came the voice of God. The Holy City will come down through that open space. I saw that the powers of earth are now being shaken and that events come in order. War, and rumours of war, sword, famine, and pestilence are first to shake the powers of earth, then the voice of God will shake the sun, moon, and stars, and this earth also. I saw that the shaking of the powers in Europe is not, as some teach, the shaking of the powers of heaven, but it is the shaking of the angry nations, (Early Writings 41.2).
In Matthew 24:29 Jesus says: Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
In 2 Peter 3:10 the apostle says this: But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
In Revelation 6:14 Jesus says this: And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.