Many of us are familiar with the Ellen White statement:
As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angel's message, but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position, and join the ranks of the opposition [##1|Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 608.##].
And many of us have made assumptions as to who that large class will be. I know I did, years ago.
Who’s Going to Leave?
If we look at the rest of the statement, we find certain indicators:
By uniting with the world and partaking of its spirit, they have come to view matters in nearly the same light; and when the test is brought, they are prepared to choose the easy, popular side. Men of talent and pleasing address, who once rejoiced in the truth, employ their powers to deceive and mislead souls. They become the most bitter enemies of their former brethren. When Sabbath-keepers are brought before the courts to answer for their faith, these apostates are the most efficient agents of Satan to misrepresent and accuse them, and by false reports and insinuations to stir up the rulers against them [##2|——The Great Controversy, p. 608.##].
“By uniting with the world and partaking of its spirit, they have come to view matters in nearly the same light.”
It is the theological liberals in the church, right? Those in the church who want to comply with the world’s requirements of us. Those in our midst who are altering our theology to be more accepting of the world’s view on such things as evolution and homosexuality. Those in our midst who want to bring into our worship the world’s style of music. Those pushing for the worship styles of other churches to become our worship styles. Those in our midst who teach the Calvinist views of salvation so popular with the evangelicals. Are these the ones being described in the above inspired statement, and others?
All of the above.
Yes, this statement applies very much to theological liberals in the church. But it is a mistake to assume the liberals are the only ones who will be pushed out of the SDA church by the end-time process called the shaking.
If we go to the book Christ’s Object Lessons we find in her detailed commentary on the parable of the 10 virgins this following statement that is also about a large class who leave the SDA church in the time of the loud cry.
The class represented by the foolish virgins are not hypocrites. They have a regard for the truth, they have advocated the truth, they are attracted to those who believe the truth; but they have not yielded themselves to the Holy Spirit's working. They have not fallen upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, and permitted their old nature to be broken up [##3|——Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 411.##].
Let us analyze this statement a little more to see who this class of people may be. Three things stand out concerning them: (1) They are not hypocrites; (2) They have a regard for the truth; and (3) Their old nature remains unchanged. “They have not fallen upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, and permitted their old nature to be broken up.”
This, clearly, describes a certain class of religious conservatives among us—those who know and love the truth, but do not have Christlike characters. Maybe you know a few. Those who are up with all the true doctrines of the church but are “crusty” or overbearing or in other ways just unpleasant to be around.
Could that perhaps include me? Or even you?
Theological Liberals
It is obvious that theological liberals qualify for being shaken out of the church in the time of the loud cry. (We need to clarify, of course, that when we use the liberal and conservative labels in this context, we are speaking of theology and personal moral standards, not about secular politics or other cultural markers.) These folks are obviously for the world and against our faith. Likely they remain in the church for the following reasons:
1. Social connections. Many of these having been born in the church, they form strong social bonds with relatives and friends from the same environment, those with whom they grew up going to Adventist churches and Adventist schools. These social bonds they are unwilling to break and risk starting again in the cold, harsh world, so they stay in the church while not identifying with what the church actually stands for.
2. Denominational employment. Many of those born into the church go through a process of church education, then church employment. While there have been instances of our church institutions carrying out some of the bad employment practices of the world, on the whole church employment is far more benign than the world’s with regard to job security and lack of bullying. Unfortunately, church employment can also feature a lack of accountability, which has an appeal for certain ones. They are unlikely to be fired or reprimanded for mistakes or bad decisions. Thus they remain in the church because they prefer its employment conditions to those of the world.
Basically, theological liberals in the church want to live in a hybrid world, where they can enjoy many of the pleasures of sin without their negative consequences. In many respects, the church in its present state provides such a place for them, and thus they remain.
Theological Conservatives
Not so obvious is a class of theologically (mostly culturally) conservative Adventists who are also in a lost state, and who will, at the time of the loud cry, leave the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Unlike the liberals, they profess to be against the world and for our faith (having a regard for the truth). In general they live out the truth, and cannot thus be termed hypocrites. Because they seem loyal to the truth and are often found promoting it, they look like solid Seventh-day Adventists. They also appear to eschew the world.
However, if one looks under the hood a bit, we see some cracks. We find certain of them eschewing the ways of the world only in certain areas. They are against the modern worship styles being brought into Adventism from Sunday-keeping churches. Yet on the other hand, they uphold the efforts of many of these same churches to unite church and state. They eschew such unscriptural practices as homosexuality and transgenderism, while at the same time endorsing leaders who shamelessly practice heterosexual immorality.
You may be aware of such individuals in your church, or you may be aware of the existence of such people through certain websites, on which they show certain characteristics. Perhaps you have found yourself experiencing sympathy for perspectives such as these.
This class of Adventists make an outward profession of belief in the truth, while in their inner lives they lack some of the Christian virtues taught by Christ and outlined by Paul in First Corinthians 13. That is, they do not show patience (verse 4, 5, and 7) or humility (verse 4). They also exhibit rudeness (verse 5), and indulge in evil surmise and gossip. Some may even practice some of the very sins they denounce in others. Recent sex scandals in prominent evangelical circles bear witness to this possibility.
And Us
ADVindicate’s intention is to be a teaching and discussion site around important Adventist issues, and hence is attractive to Adventists of a theologically conservative bent. Certainly the saved among Adventists—that is, those who don’t leave the church as depicted above by Ellen White—would be considered conservative by the liberals, so that label may not appear noxious for now. However, it is imperative for us to not become like the conservative class who lose sight of Christ and His character, joining those who leave during the loud cry because we have “not fallen upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, and permitted our old nature to be broken up.”
Self-examination should replace complacency in our Christian walk.
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? (I Cor. 13:5).
Ellen White has outlined that our characters are to be a “sweet savor”:
The lives of those who are connected with God are fragrant with deeds of love and goodness. The sweet savor of Christ surrounds them; their influence is to elevate and bless. These are fruitful trees. Men and women of this stamp of character will render practical service in thoughtful deeds of kindness, and earnest, systematic labor [##4|——Review and Herald, Aug. 24, 1886.##].
Let us be conservative in the sense of rejecting the world’s and other churches’ requirements of us, but not in failing to fall upon the Rock Christ Jesus, thus not permitting our old nature to be broken up. Let us, in other words, conserve God’s written counsel, while not reserving (conserving) ourselves from the pain and discomfort of full self-surrender.
REFERENCES
1. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 608.
2. Ibid.
3. ----Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 411.
4. ----Review and Herald, Aug. 24, 1886.
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.