This title, of course, is taken from our Lord’s parable of the ten virgins waiting for the coming of the bridegroom (Math 25:1-13). Of this parable, Ellen White has to say:
As Christ sat looking upon the party that waited for the bridegroom, He told His disciples the story of the ten virgins, by their experience illustrating the experience of the church that shall live just before His second coming [1].
This clearly depicts that the parable very much is a prophecy of what will happen to the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
The key part of this parable that I want to consider in this article is:
While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept (Matt. 25:5).
Of course, the passage is talking of spiritual and not literal sleep. One big symptom of spiritual sleep is unbelief. Of the unbelief in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in reference to the delay of the Lord's coming, Ellen G White has to say:
It is the unbelief, the worldliness, unconsecration, and strife among the Lord's professed people that have kept us in this world of sin and sorrow so many years. [2]
In the parable, which is also a prophecy about the experience of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, it becomes clear that the bridegroom tarries for a long time.
But there is a delay. Hour after hour passes; the watchers become weary and fall asleep [3].
Misperceptions of the Antichrist
The point I am making is that, as the delay of the Lord's coming lengthens, unbelief in the Seventh-day Adventist Church will grow also. One area of unbelief to consider is the growing skepticism regarding key prophecies about who the Antichrist is. There has formed in our midst, recently, a group of Adventists I would call socially conservative Adventists. The reason for this is they are not theologically conservative in the sense of being necessarily supportive of such classic Adventist teachings as Last Generation Theology, but rather, for being culturally and politically conservative, in line with those in the larger society who, among other things, seek to use civil government as a weapon against such practices as homosexuality and abortion.
We have seen recently how some of these socially conservative Adventists have begun to doubt that Revelation 13 refers to an end-time alliance between evangelical Protestants and the Roman papacy. One such socially conservative Adventist has recently stated:
We are evangelical Christian in our outlook. Increasingly, I view Adventism's traditional distrust--verging on hatred--of non-SDA Christians as strange, unhelpful and unwarranted [4].
These socially conservative Adventists increasingly view religio-political conservatives such as U.S. evangelicals as being the true church of the end times, because of their opposition to liberal politics in general and particularly their desire to criminalize such practices as abortion and homosexuality—topics which loom large in the thinking and fears of these individuals. They contrast this to what they consider to be the weak Adventist response to these issues, at least in the secular political realm.
By contrast, there is another group of Adventists who call themselves progressive, who are socially and politically the opposite of the group mentioned above. They operate such websites as Spectrum and Adventist Today. These progressive Adventists are, in general, what we would call socially liberal. Their focus is on environmental issues, racism, income inequality, and similar issues on the political Left. From time to time they attack socially conservative Adventists on their websites. In response, the socially conservative Adventists spew a constant diatribe of hate against the socially liberal Adventists on another set of websites.
Yet, on one such progressive Adventist website, we find this interesting quote:
The Seventh-day Adventist pastor who had baptized my daughter when she was ten years old recently said, “We need to stop bashing the Catholics. They are not the antichrist. They believe in Christ. The antichrist doesn’t believe in Christ” [5].
Perhaps there have been some in our ranks, whether past or present, who have indulged needless severity in their opposition to Catholicism. But I can’t help but be deeply troubled at the statement that Catholicism is not the antichrist, together with the implication that an individual or belief system must effectively deny the claims of Christ in order to qualify as an Antichrist.
Here we have two opposing factions in the church, much like the ancient Sadducees and the Pharisees, who strenuously opposed each other on all points bar one—but that one point was important to their salvation with regard to "present truth.” The "present truth" at that time was that Jesus was the Son of God. Both of the opposing parties agreed that Jesus was not the Son of God, with fatal results to themselves and the spiritual status of the Jewish nation.
Today we have two opposing factions in the Church who strenuously oppose each other on all points, bar one, with regard to "present truth.” "Present truth" at the time of the Second Angel's Message (Rev. 14:8)—our time—is that the Antichrist is a religious coalition, specifically Catholicism, apostate Protestantism, and spiritualism. But these two opposing factions appear to deny the classic Adventist view of the Antichrist as depicted above, claiming instead that the Antichrist should be identified as atheism and its fellow travelers.
Actually, both sides feel warm towards Rome for different reasons, because Rome, as usual, is able to wear two faces. Of appeal to the socially conservative Adventists is Rome's traditional teachings on homosexuality, abortion, and the rule of law in society. Of appeal to the socially liberal Adventists is the current Pope's emphasis on climate change, racial equality, and social justice. In fact, Rome has historically been ambivalent about economic and racial issues with its alternating in the 1890s between social justice with Rerum novarum [6] and fascism in the 1930s [7] [8]. However, my main point here is not the behaviour of Rome, but rather, its Biblical identity as the Antichrist and the importance of that identity in connection with the three angels’ messages (Rev. 14:6-12). Thus, these two opposing factions agree on one point, and that point—that the Antichrist is atheist rather than professedly Christian—is likely to be spiritually fatal to both groups.
Conclusion
How did this come about? Well, unlike the famous Rolling Stones song, "Time is on My Side," for the people of God time is not on their side. Lengthy delays waiting on God's promises nearly always lead to trouble. The classic prophecy regarding the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the last days—Matthew 25:1-13—depicts the church as getting into trouble because "while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.”
Another example of God's people failing during a long wait for one of God's promises to be fulfilled was Abraham. The long wait that Israel had between the promise of Jesus's first advent and its actual happening, led to Israel getting into trouble and finally rejecting their Savior when He came. It was 490 years, and unlike us they were told how long the delay would be, and still they got into trouble. In our case, after having prophesied for the better part of two centuries about a coming Sunday law, but with no immediate sign of a Sunday Law in sight, doubt has set in for too many.
We need to remind ourselves of Christ's advice to Laodicea:
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see (Rev. 3:18).
It is imperative that we see our true condition, and begin in earnest to desire the white raiment—the pardon and the victory—that our Lord and Savior offers us.
REFERENCES
1. Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 406.
2. ----Evangelism, pp. 695, 696
3. ----Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 405
4. https://www.fulcrum7.com/news/2021/1/9/barry-black-promotes-false-media-narrative-in-senate-prayer (comments section)
5. https://atoday.org/not-the-antichrist/
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_social_teaching
7. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/06/pope-mussolini-secret-history-rise-fascism-david-kertzer-review
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler%27s_Pope
Tony Rigden, a former atheist/deist, came into the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1980 as the result of a miraculous conversion and the reading of the book The Great Controversy by Ellen G White. He has since been a regular Sabbath School teacher, very part-time lay preacher, elder and briefly head elder. Formerly an electronics technician and computer programmer, Tony is currently still part-time programming but mostly retired. Former hobbies included diving and private flying. Currently he is a volunteer guard (train conductor) for one of New Zealand's leading vintage railways.