The distinction is as wide as eternity when it comes to the church’s retention of believers and the imperative of making one’s faith one’s own.

At one point in 1878, Ellen White found herself traveling by boat from California to Oregon.  An incident occurred during this voyage which speaks with powerful, sobering relevance to the continuing controversy in the Seventh-day Adventist Church over whether human beings can keep God’s law through God’s power here on earth.

Weakness and indecision in addressing spiritual rebellion are never justifiable.  But too often, in the struggle against apostasy in the church, it is assumed that because ungodly leaders at times overstep their rightful authority and use bullying tactics against the godly, that godly leaders are therefore justified in using the same tactics against the ungodly.