A friend has voiced his opinion that in the last days the SDA church will loose it's way and we will have to leave the church. Does not Mrs. White have something to say about staying with the church until the end? And the condition of the church in the last days???
Thanks For Your Reply
You folk are always so helpful
___________.
Dear Brother ___________,
Thank you for getting in touch. Your friend may have his opinion, but I think he will be hard pressed to find even one statement from Mrs. White stating that the church will lose its way and we will have to leave it.
Instead, that well known statement from Mrs. White about apostasy in the last days goes like this (note the last of these three paragraphs; the other two are for context):
The voice of the true watchman needs now to be heard all along the line, "The morning cometh, and also the night" (Isa. 21:12). The trumpet must give a certain sound for we are in the great day of the Lord's preparation. . . . There are many doctrines current in our world. There is many a religion current that numbers its thousands and tens of thousands, but there is but one that bears the superscription and the stamp of God. There is a religion of man and a religion of God. We must have
380 our souls riveted to the eternal Rock. Everything in God's world, both men and doctrines and nature itself, is fulfilling God's sure word of prophecy and accomplishing His grand and closing work in this world's history. {2SM 379.3} We are to be ready and waiting for the orders of God. Nations will be stirred to their very center. Support will be withdrawn from those who proclaim God's only standard of righteousness, the only sure test of character. And all who will not bow to the decree of the national councils and obey the national laws to exalt the sabbath instituted by the man of sin, to the disregard of God's holy day, will feel, not the oppressive power of popery alone, but of the Protestant world, the image of the beast. {2SM 380.1} 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. None but those who have been overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true, without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths. We must be divested of our self-righteousness and arrayed in the righteousness of Christ. {2SM 380.2}
Notice who gets sifted out--the chaff--and who remains--the precious wheat. If I leave, which category am I in?
I hope this helps. Thanks for writing, and God bless!
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William Fagal, Director
Ellen G. White Estate Branch Office
Andrews University
Berrien Springs, MI 49104-1400 USA
Phone: 616 471-3209
FAX: 616 471-2646
Website: www.WhiteEstate.org or www.egwestate.andrews.edu
E-mail: [email protected]
