Part 3; The constant decay.
As always, there are those who oppose the gospel, so it was in Abraham’s time, so it has been all the time since, and so it is now. In the years that followed, Abraham was able to preach the gospel so that many came to believe in Abraham’s God. But because most of the neighbouring peoples paganism was so deeply rooted in their hearts, Abraham’s preaching bounced off like water on a goose. Just look at what God says in Genesis 15,16. Here, God speaks to Abraham in a dream and tells him that his descendants will serve a people, but after four generations they will be allowed to return to Canaan. Then God lays the groundwork for Abraham’s descendants to be slaves to other peoples for four hundred years: But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites [is] not yet full, (Genesis 15:16).
The Amorites were a people to whom Abraham had preached the gospel, and God would give them 400 years to either 1) choose to follow Abraham’s God, or 2) continue their wickedness. The Amorites unfortunately chose the latter.
Within Abraham’s own family, too, the apostasy was great. Abraham’s son, Isaac, had twins, Esau and Jacob. Jacob was able to cheat his brother of the birthright that Esau should have had because he was the firstborn of the twins. This created a rift between the brothers and Jakob had to leave. He eventually takes four wives, and has children with all of them, and Jakob’s 12 sons were at odds with each other. It ended up that Joseph, the son that Jacob favoured, was sold as a slave to Egypt by his brothers because they were jealous of him. After a few years Jacob goes to Egypt with his whole house because of a drought and Gods people were there four generations, and sometime after Joseph’s death in 1635 BC. they were made slaves. Four generations later, in 1445 B.C. they are freed from slavery, and now what we can call Israel’s turbulent journey with God begins. Until Jesus died on the cross, the journey of Israel, Abraham’s carnal descendants, was like a roller coaster, where sometimes they stayed close to the Lord and other times they fell deep, so deep that God had to do something about it.
Through his prophets, God had time and again warned his people and begged them to return to their God, but as soon as they turned, another apostasy came. As I said, they fell so deep that God had to put an end to the madness. In 722/721, the Assyrians came under the leadership of King Sennacherib and conquered Israel, the Ten-tribe kingdom – or the Northern Kingdom. Those who were not killed during the hostilities were taken away to the other side of the Euphrates. The ten tribes were gone forever.
Just over 100 years later, Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, came and conquered Judah, and after the third siege he burned Jerusalem and the Temple, and took the survivors captive to Babylon. The Jews were allowed to go home after a time and the prophecy says that they were given 70 weeks, as a grace period during which they should prove that they wanted to be God’s people, turn to Him and turn away from the idolatry which was the direct cause of their captivity. These 70 weeks, prophetic time, are 490 years according to the principle that a prophetic day is the same as a literal year. (A week is 7 days and 70 x 7 = 490.)
Finaly, the Jews sealed their apostasy by demanding Pilate to crucify Jesus, justifying this with the following: … We have no other king but Caesar! (John 19:15).
The church is founded.
Now the mission of bringing the gospel to all people passed to the Christians. Now it was no longer a prerequisite to be a carnal descendant of Abraham, but a spiritual descendant. In the Christian church, there is no requirement of ethnicity, where all who accept Jesus as their salvation will become Abraham’s spiritual followers.
For the first 100 years of the early church’s existence, everything was in perfect order, but soon after John, as the last of Jesus’ apostles, died, paganism began to penetrate the church. Paul said this about what would happen in the church: For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [will let], until he be taken out of the way, (2 Thessalonians 2:7). Paul knew that already while he was alive there were powers within the church that would not follow God’s word, and John said of this power: They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would [no doubt] have continued with us: but [they went out], that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us, (1 John 2:19).
When Emperor Constantine the Great was «converted», the apostasy began. He made Christianity one of the many state religions of the Roman Empire, and this opened the door for a mixture of paganism, philosophy and human traditions to enter the church.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the bishop of Rome saw that there was a political vacuum in Rome, and the bishop usurped power, eventually emerging as the head of the church and taking, among other things, the title of Pontifex Maximus, a title that the emperor previously held as the supreme priest for the pagan religions in the Roman Empire. This is a title that goes back to Babylon.
The secret of lawlessness was fully revealed when the bishop of Rome usurped the political power that arose in the vacuum that followed the emperor’s removal to Constantinople. The leader of the church in Rome proceeded from the church that John and Paul had helped to found, but the leaders of the Roman church were not like the apostles of Jesus.
Part 4; The fall of the church in the Middle Ages.
Once the papacy as we know it today was established, it began to persecute all who did not submit to its decrees and edicts, and millions of people had to pay with their lives over a period of 1,260 years. Some believe it was 50 million who were killed, and some claim it was as many as 100 million. In addition to persecuting and killing those who did not submit to papal authority, it introduced hundreds of unbiblical doctrines that have become essential points of Catholic doctrine. And the apostasy just gets bigger and bigger.
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). When Eve entered into a conversation with the serpent (Satan) she said that they could eat from all the trees, just not the one tree in the middle of the garden because then they would die. To this Satan replied: Ye shall not surely die. It is from this statement in Genesis 3:4 that the immortality of the soul here originates.
God raises up Martin Luther, and the Reformation start.
Martin Luther was originally a priest in the order of the Augustinian hermits. He educated himself as a theologian and became a professor at the University of Wittenberg. Here he studied the sacraments and man’s relationship with God and how indulgences were used in the church. This led to him posting his 95 theses on the church door, which in turn led to the Reformation.
It was another experience of divine intervention that led to all this. When he was in Rome he was supposed to climb the famous Santa Scala stairs to get his sins forgiven. There in the middle of the stairs he hears a voice inside his head saying: The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17). Thus Luther was called to reform the church, but the papacy would not allow itself to be reformed and continued its apostasy.
Part 5; The fragmentation of the Reformation.
When God does something for His people, Satan is immediately there to oppose it. So also with the Reformation. Satan understood that he could not break Luther or get him away from his mission. In order to destroy the Reformation, he instead used other means to destroy it. Instead of attacking the Reformation from the outside, Satan made use of the Reformation movement itself. As soon as some other reformers found a point that Luther had not seen, they started a new movement, and slowly but surely the Reformation fragmented. Where Luther started a new movement – the Reformation – there are now more than 50,000 Protestant/Lutheran denominations, most of which are at war with each other.
All these denominations have their own peculiarities and believe that they have found the very formula for the right service. But, have they? The Bible tells us to try everything that is preached with To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, [it is] because [there is] no light in them, (Isaiah 8:20). To the law and the testimony is the teaching of the Bible through the law of God and the testimony of the prophets. Almost all of the over 50,000 denominations do not keep to the law and the testimony, because they do not keep God’s ten commandments, or they do not care about the testimony of the prophets. They are in constant apostasy, and the reformation that Luther started has been destroyed bit by bit.
The book of Zechariah is a book that deals with both Zechariah’s time and the end times. In Chapter 13 we find a passage called The open spring against sin – by the Messiah, and it begins like this: In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, [that] I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land, (Zechariah 13,1-2).
In that day, refers to the end times, and then our God will eradicate all false teachings, and all false gods will be destroyed along with those who preached these false messages. And, if anyone is still preaching the lie when the Lord returns we can see in the next verse what will happen to them.
And it shall come to pass, [that] when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth, (Zechariah 13:3).
When we read the letters to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, we see that in the letter to Ephesus (31-155) the church is pure, we also find it in the letter to Smyrna (155-313). The first two letters describe pure churches. When we come to the third letter, the one to Pergamon (313-538), it emerges that some adhere to Balaam’s teaching, which is the same as idolatry. Now this has entered the pure church, and it is the result of Emperor Constantine the Great making Christianity a state religion. In the letter to Thyatira (538-1517) we meet the woman Jezebel who is a prophetess. This is a clear parallel to Jezebel who was married to King Ahab, who had a confrontation with the prophet Elijah on Carmel. At that time, King Ahab and his queen led the religious apostasy in Israel.
After Thyatira we find the letter to Sardis (1517-1789). This corresponds to the reformation, which comes out in Revelation 3:4 where it is written that some in Sardis here did not defiled their clothes, that is, some promote the reformation and are pure in God’s eyes. Then follows Filadelfia (1798-1844). This letter describes a victorious reformed church, and the seventh letter is to Laodicea (1844- Jesus’ return), and applies to our time. It is a lukewarm church that is described, because now the Reformation has become fragmented, and the individual denominations live their own lives. It is now that God comes to the scene again to complete the reformation.
According to the Spirit of Prophecy, the fall of Babylon is complete when the union of the Church with the world is accomplished throughout Christendom. We must look at this in the light of the king of the north and the king of the south as we saw earlier in Daniel chapter 10, 11 and 12. The merism, which we looked at there, tells us that the king of the north, which is a picture of the Catholic Church, has gathered all denominations under its umbrella, unites with, or rather defeats the king in the south, which is a picture of the secular world, with all its -isms, secularism, existentialism, etc. This is about to be fulfilled in our days. Almost all Protestant denominations have crawled back to Rome through three interesting ecumenical encounters with the Catholic Church.
1) On October 31, 1999, the Lutheran World Federation took a long step towards cancelling the Reformation when they, together with the Catholic Church, chose to sign what is entitled: The Joint Declaration Between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation on the Doctrine of Justification, better known as The Joint Declaration. This document has been prepared in its entirety by the Catholic Church.
2) Pope Francis visited Lund in Sweden on October 31st, 2016, in connection with a joint Catholic-Lutheran ceremony. This was the next step on the road to full gathering under the Catholic umbrella. The following is taken from http://www.katolsk.no/nyheter/2016/09/informasjon-om-pavens-sverige-besok
The Pope’s historic visit to Lund and Malmö takes place on the occasion of Catholics and Lutherans jointly marking the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) agree that Lund is a good place to mark the Reformation. LWF was founded in Lund in 1947. Lund Cathedral, where the ecumenical service takes place on October 31, has a thousand-year history shared by Catholics and Lutherans. The Lutheran World Federation and the Vatican invite to the meeting on October 31. The host is the Church of Sweden in close collaboration with the Catholic Church in Sweden and the Christian Council of Sweden. The Catholic Church and LWF have been in dialogue for 50 years. It is this dialogue that has led us to this autumn’s historic meeting in Lund and where we are today. A milestone in the dialogue is the document From Conflict to Community Common Lutheran-Catholic commemoration of the Reformation 2017 (from 2013*). There, Lutherans and Catholics express grief and remorse for the pain we have inflicted on each other, but also gratitude for the theological insights we have fertilized each other with. It is against this background and in this spirit that leaders from the Catholic Church and LVF meet in Lund this autumn for the first time ever to mark the Reformation.
3) The approach that took place on the 500th anniversary of Luther’s Reformation on October 31, 2017, when the Lutheran-Protestant churches merged with the Catholic Church in a common Lutheran-Catholic commemoration of the Reformation, is the third step towards a complete obliteration of the Reformation. Below is a small excerpt from the document From conflict to community. Joint Lutheran-Catholic commemoration of the Reformation 2017 *. Report of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission on Christian Unity. This document is also written by Catholics and only them, but the Lutheran-Protestant churches have accepted, approved and signed this, together with the Catholic Church
Here is the excerpt. We take as our guide the doctrine of justification, which expresses the gospel message and therefore incessantly serves to direct the whole doctrine and practice of the Church toward Christ (Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification). The true unity of the Church can only be unity in the unity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That the controversy over this truth in the 16th century led to the loss of unity in Western Christianity is one of the dark chapters in church history. In 2017, we must openly confess that we have been guilty before Christ of harming the unity of the Church. The year of remembrance presents us with two challenges: to cleanse and heal the memories, and to restore Christian unity in accordance with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- Although the document was completed in 2013, it has been used as a basis both for the ecumenical meeting in Lund 2016 and for the Lutheran Jubilee in 2017
It is extremely unfortunate that Lutheran and Protestant churches accept this document. Only Catholic doctrines are the basis for this document, but it is written in such a way that it appears to be an acceptable document for Protestants and Lutherans. The problem is that only the packaging is acceptable. When it comes to the Catholic Church’s view of salvation and justification, Jesus’ deeds are the basis for this. They do say that Jesus died on the cross, and he was obedient until death, but not that He died for you and me. It is His good works, as well as the good works of Mary and all the good works of the saints, that make atonement for your and my sins. Many will now probably say that this is not possible. But let us look at something the Roman Church says about this.
God raises up the Advent movement.
When the 1812 war between the United States and England raged, the deist William Miller gathered a company of soldiers who were placed under the 30th infantry regiment and he was eventually promoted to captain. He miraculously survived the grenade that exploded a few feet from where he was standing. He later wrote that the fort I was in was exposed to every shot, and bombs, rockets and shrapnel fell as thick as hail. One of these many shots had exploded two feet from him, wounding three of his men and killing another, but Miller survived without a scratch.
This led Miller to begin studying the Bible after the war. He was overwhelmed by what he read in the book of Daniel about the prophecy about the 2300 evenings and mornings that we find in Daniel 8:14. Miller ate the open book that the angel showed John in his vision, and it was sweet as honey in his mouth (Revelation 10:10), because the way he interpreted the prophecy about the sanctuary, it meant that Jesus would return in 25 years . This was in 1818. Miller continued to study the Bible, and gradually he began to tell about what he had discovered to friends and acquaintances and other interested people, but he had no desire to become a preacher, being only an old farmer.
I will remind you of Jonah who was commissioned by God to preach judgment and destruction in Nineveh, the most powerful city in the time of Jonah, because the course of events in this story is quite similar to what happened to William Miller. Jonah refused to do as God wanted and began to travel west instead of going east to Nineveh. We all know how it went with Jonah. He finally had to bow to God’s will and carry out the mission.
God asked William Miller to go out and preach the message he had discovered through his studies of the Bible, but he would not because he was just an old farmer. One day he responded in this way to the call he received to preach what God had entrusted to him. I will make a covenant with God. If I am invited to preach in a church, I will do so, in the full assurance that no one would invite an unlearned farmer to preach the word of God in a church. When he and his wife were having breakfast the next day, Saturday, there was a knock at the door, and one of their nephews entered. He had the following message for his uncle. The minister of the local church to which Miller’s family belonged in the neighboring village had fallen ill, so this boy was sent to Miller to ask him to give a talk on what he had found in the book of Daniel the next day, on Sunday. Miller was stunned, then he stormed out of the house and into the woods, continuing to tell himself that he was not competent to preach the word of God. Then he heard his own words ringing in his ears, and he surrendered and laid himself completely in God’s hands. The next day he went to the neighboring village and preached.
Then things went on, and by the beginning of the 1840s, what was only a local event had become a national event. Believers came from all denominations and joined the Advent movement, and there was an interdenominational revival that led to what in 1863 became the Seventh-day Adventists (SDA). The theology comes from all denominations, and all points of faith and all theology are based on the Bible and the Bible alone.
Now, through meticulous Bible studies, the Advent believers discovered many of the old truths that had been hidden by the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages. But the fallen denominations did not want to know about this, and eventually threw out of their churches those who had adopted the doctrines of the Advent movement.
What Miller had discovered in 1818, when he believed that Jesus would return within approx. 25 years was built on the cleansing of the sanctuary and the 2300 evenings and mornings prophetic time, which is 2300 years real time in Daniel 8:14 turned out to contain a misinterpretation of what the sanctuary was. After all, Miller was a child of his time, and all Christians at that time, absolutely all believed that the sanctuary was the earth, and the earth was to be cleansed with fire at Jesus’ return. When Jesus did not come at the expected time, the Advent movement experienced a huge disappointment and almost everyone left the movement. The day after October 22, 1844, which was the day of the expected return, there were no more than about 50 who still held fast to what they had discovered in the Bible and began to investigate why they had been wrong.
However, the Advent movement continued, and with increased force, and from being a local movement in the United States it now spread throughout the world. They continued to find back to the old truths and one truth after another was found from the veil of oblivion that the Catholic Church had placed over the Bible. However, the other denominations continued with their apostasy.
Part 6; The Last Rebellion.
In the same way as the early church was kept pure as long as one or more of Jesus’ disciples were alive, the SDA was kept pure as long as Ellen G. White was alive and could keep the «brethren» in check, and she led the movement/church with the help of God. When she was laid to rest in 1915, the same thing happened with us as in all other reformations. There was strife within the Adventist church, and we have seen several groups that have broken away from the SDA.
In 1925 «SDA Reform Movement» and «True and Free SDA»
In 1929 «Davidians» and «United Sabbath-Day Adventist Church»
In 1932 “Adventist Church of Promise”
In 1992 «Abajiri»
In addition to these, some marginal extreme groups have also broken out. What these groups have in common is that they have rejected many of the truths that the SDA had found through their studies of the Bible. As if this were not enough, during the last 20 years heresy has crept into the church. We see the same abominations that Ezekiel warns against in chapter 8, which is called «The vision in the temple». Some churches, especially in the western part of the world, allow homosexual cohabitants and transvestites to be pastors or serve in other ways in the church. There is nothing that prevents them from going to church, because we are all sinners, but when they live out their sin and do not confess it, it is an abomination to God, and therefore, according to the Bible, cannot serve in the church.
After the Second Vatican Council, also called the 21st Ecumenical Council, there has been a shift in the Advent Church. SDA are not full members in the ecumenical councils, but SDA are observers. This has become a stumbling block for the church, and many of our leaders are rushing back to the mother church. It is perhaps not so strange since several of our world leaders in the last 60-70 years have their theological education and titles from Catholic universities.
In Revelation chapter 10 we read about the SDA’s genesis, and that we have been put into the world to restore what has been destroyed by the false teachings that have entered the church: And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings, (Revelation 10,11).
The mission we, the Seventh Days Adventists have been entrusted with by God is described by Ellen G. White in 9T 19.1: In a special sense Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers. To them has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world. On them is shining wonderful light from the word of God. They have been given a work of the most solemn import—the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages. There is no other work of so great importance. They are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention.
Nowadays, there is extensive cooperation between all denominations and congregations under the Catholic ecumenical umbrella. The SDA is also an associate member in the ecumenical cooperation, and our church’s leaders point out that we are only observers, and they justify this by saying that then we as a church can tell other churches about our faith, and thereby have a unique opportunity to influence the others. I wonder if it doesn’t also apply the other way, that our representatives in the ecumenical forums are exposed to untimely influence and pressure. The ecumenical cooperation is based on a minimum common multiple, or so to speak, they must focus on the little they have in common and completely ignore everything that separates them.
Pope Francis calls all Christians together with other religions to unite – and of course under the Pope’s umbrella. Jesus and the Bible are clear that we must separate ourselves from the world and the pagan religions and the fallen churches. In Genesis 12:1, God asks Abram to leave his family because 1) they had a bad influence on Abraham, and 2) God wanted to use him in a special way. In Revelation 18:4, God says through John that those who hear the preaching and take it to heart must leave (come out of) Babylon so that they do not share in her sins. God has not changed anything, but the papacy is trying to annul God’s word – also in this area.
We see clear signs that ecumenism is beginning to make itself felt in our church community. There is a clear change in the rhetoric used, and leaders both locally and globally are submitting to the regime of ecumenical cooperation. The end-time message is no longer preached in our churches, and what our pioneers considered important has today been swept under the rug.
Those who have become involved in the ecumenical cooperation, and promote this in God’s end-time church, will thereby set themselves up against this straight testimony, and they will therefore be shaken out of God’s people. I believe that the shaking will hit our church with full force before long, and then, as I have mentioned, all those who have participated actively in the ecumenical cooperation will be shaken out of our ranks, because God wants a pure and undefiled church in the absolute end time. These are the ones who will bring the final warning to a world shrouded in the ecumenical fog and darkness of the devil.
We see that apostasy is also spreading in our church community, and this apostasy is constantly accelerating at an ever-increasing pace. What we see now, God’s end-time prophet has told us will come to pass.
The omega apostasy.
Are we now seeing the start of the dangerous omega apostasy? We will see that in a relatively short time. But it harmonizes perfectly with everything else we can see unfolding before our eyes. God will judge all those who carry out what God himself calls abominations that are done in His temple, and as far as God’s own end-time church is concerned, it will be affected by a shaking caused by what Ellen G. White calls the straight testimony.
Those who are not shaken out are God’s true remnant, and they are those who have hungered and thirsted for the truth that is more important to them than life itself here on earth. About these, Ellen G. White says the following in Early Writings: They had been hungering and thirsting for truth; it was dearer and more precious than life. I asked what had made this great change. An angel answered, It is the latter rain, the refreshing from the presence of the Lord, the loud cry of the third angel, (271.2) … / and / … This testimony must work deep repentance; all who truly receive it will obey it and be purified, (270.3).
What is now about to happen is the final rebellion against God, and it is coming from the church He raised up in the middle of the 19th century. This rebellion leads to the omega apostasy, which in turn will lead to the shaking of the church just before Jesus’ return.
Now it’s not predetermined that it has to happen. People still have their free will, and they can choose what they want. The shaking, the omega apostasy and everything that leads up to this together with the ecumenical cooperation is something that the individual chooses to be part of. Had everyone refrained from this, the congregation would have stood together, been infinitely stronger, and the prophecies of shaking and apostasy would have been only conditional prophecies, as they have actually been given.
Fortunately, there are many, both among leaders and members in general, who do not indulge in what leads to perdition, and with God’s power these people will preach the truth also for our time, the absolute end time, with power and anointing, and lead people out of Babylon and to God’s pure end-time church.