Disappointment is hard to bear, especially in the spiritual realm. From the Israelites forced back to the wilderness, to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, to the disillusioned Millerites on the morning of October 23, 1844, the pain of dashed hopes and shattered dreams has been recurrent throughout the Sacred Narrative.
If they aren’t careful, those experiencing such feelings can find their pain corroding into bitterness. Especially is this a problem when those in positions of responsibility in God’s work become the trustees of hope for revival and reformation, only to be perceived (correctly or otherwise) as failing in their task as leaders, taking more time than is felt necessary in their dealings with the unfaithful, or refusing to make issues within the church of questions not addressed in the inspired writings.
“Been There, Done That”
Throughout the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, some of the greatest champions of truth, righteousness, revival, and reformation have suffered shipwreck of faith because of bitterness. The issue here is not necessarily whether this bitterness was or was not the result of wrongful treatment experienced by these individuals, or perhaps the consequence of not seeing the message they delivered received with the wholehearted commitment for which they hoped. Rather, the question is why these persons allowed such feelings—justified or otherwise—to divert their walk with God and their service to His church.
In modern Adventism, as in former decades of our denominational experience, this problem has periodically arisen. When corrective measures against apostasy have been cut short for whatever reason, when the hope of renewed commitment to the standards of God’s written counsel is followed by a riptide of error and self-accommodating spirituality, the striving faithful have often found negative sentiments dominating their thoughts and perspective relative to the organized church. Unscriptural ideas which marginalize the role of the church structure in God’s plan for His people begin to gain acceptance. People start talking about “home churches” and “going underground” so far as their corporate worship life is concerned.
When I sample the rhetoric on certain websites, I am reminded of Ellen White’s warning that “we have nothing to fear for the future, except as we forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history” [##1|Ellen G. White, Life Sketches, p. 196.##]. The lessons of days gone by can easily be lost through the needful shouldering of daily burdens and the most normal of life’s challenges. People forget where certain ideas and their consequences have led sincere hearts, even in the very recent past.
Thankfully, there are those with long memories. Some of us remember the bitterness and rage a few decades ago which drove leaders in certain ministries to denounce apostasy and sin which very definitely needed denunciation, but which sadly led many to abandon the organized church, withdraw financial support from the denomination, and to separate into independent fellowships which in most cases merely exchanged one set of problems for another. What followed in many such experiences was fanaticism, serial splintering, and spiritual exhaustion.
The phrase: “been there, done that,” comes to many a thoughtful mind when reading suggestions of a similar course in present denominational circumstances.
“Here is the patience of the saints.”
Twice, in the space of two brief chapters, the book of Revelation speaks of the “patience of the saints” (Rev. 13:10; 14:12). Both references occur in the context of tribulation and persecution. Those failing to cultivate this virtue in comparatively tranquil times will never endure the tests and trials of the last days. If problems in the contemporary church drive them to bitterness, despair, and isolation, they won’t have a chance during the final crisis. The words of Jeremiah come to mind:
If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan? (Jer. 12:5).
No faithful Seventh-day Adventist can deny that apostasy and sin have metastasized badly in our denomination. But it’s easy to forget that such trends have all been foretold by the inspired pen. Ellen White spoke of how “divisions will come in the church,” and that “two parties will be developed” [##2|——Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 114.##]. Speaking of those at the end who sigh and cry for the abominations in the church, she writes, “They lament and afflict their souls because pride, avarice, selfishness, and deception of almost every kind are in the church” [##3|——Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 210.##].
Is there anything we see happening in the church just now that couldn’t have been anticipated by the above statement?
In truth, nothing we see happening now hasn’t been anticipated by the God who still leads and governs the great Advent movement. The same inspired author assures us, in the face of all such trials:
Not one cloud has fallen upon the church that God has not prepared for; not one opposing force has risen to counterwork the work of God but He has foreseen. All has taken place as He has predicted through His prophets [##4|——Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 108.##].
Moreover, too many lose sight of the fact that even the godliest leaders in the highest positions do not wield absolute power. Committees and various governing structures may be frustrating at times, but most of us, when pressed, wouldn’t want those checks and balances replaced by autocratic control. What is more, there are those who have sadly experienced the abuse of church authority at the hands of pastors and church administrators who have pushed agendas on the wrong side of various denominational issues, the former thus assuming that if leaders truly wanted reform, these are the tactics they would employ. Such persons don’t understand that, as with God in His dealings with Satan in the great controversy, the godly who hold responsible positions can’t use the bullying, dictatorial tactics of the ungodly, even in the pursuit of the best and noblest aims.
Conclusion: Avoid the Bitterness Trap
Those who constantly feed on conspiracy-driven assessments of reality (whether about the world or the church), who saturate their minds with cultural grievance and hatred of the powers that be, are falling headlong into the trap of bitterness. They invite the very real prospect of losing faith in God Himself, of believing that the problems (real or imagined) that they perceive to be surrounding them are so monstrous that even divine intervention is helpless against them. Most could easily escape this mentality if they simply turned from paranoid news outlets and immersed themselves instead in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy.
Too many of the striving faithful in modern Adventism lost their way, not so long ago, through bitterness. It is a path none dare traverse again. It is a trap that will extinguish godly zeal, suffocate love for the erring, and obliterate the patient spirit which God’s Last Generation Christians must cultivate and possess (Rev. 14:12).
REFERENCES
1. Ellen G. White, Life Sketches, p. 196.
2. ----Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 114.
3. ----Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 210.
3. ----Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 108.
Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan