The Need of Investigation
"God has precious light to come to His
people.... When new light is presented to the church, it
is perilous to shut yourself away from
it.... To condemn that which you have not heard and do
not understand will not exalt your
wisdom in the eyes of those who are candid in their
investigations of truth.
And to speak with contempt of those whom God has sent with a
message of truth is folly and madness....
"...for God will glorify
His Word, that it may appear in a light in which we have never before
beheld it.... Light will come
to every earnest seeker for truth, as it came to Nathanael.... There
should be liberty given for a frank
investigation of truth, that each may know for himself what is
the truth.
"...if a message comes
that you do not understand, take pains that you may hear the reasons
the messenger may give,...for your
position will not be shaken by coming in contact with
error.... No one of those who imagine
that they know it all is too old or too intelligent to learn
from the humblest of the messengers
of the living God." -- Testimonies On Sabbath School
Work, pp. 60-66.
As every important incident,
in connection with the church, is preceded by a message, and
as every such incident has been
Tract 2 3
foretold by the prophets, it is important
for each to realize
The Need of Prophecy.
Never in the annals of the Christian
church has there been a shaking the like of that which is
rapidly increasing as a result of the
circulation of The Shepherd's Rod series of books and
tracts throughout the rank and file
of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. It presents a
singular and perplexing problem which
human wisdom is utterly powerless to solve. In this
extremity, then, we must turn to divine
wisdom. Both the struggle and its remedy must be
found in prophecy. Gladly, therefore,
we accept the challenge: "Ask Me of things to come
concerning My sons, and concerning
the work of My hands command ye Me." Isa. 45:11.
Only when the church finds
herself grounded on a reef of her own folly, with the fierce waves
of divine retribution beating over
her sides, is she in a position to realize her dreadful danger
and her need of everything. And
only when thus endangered and alarmed can she possibly
be roused to the absolute necessity
of having the gift of prophecy -- her most imperative need
in her present predicament. "Surely
the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret
unto His servants the prophets." Amos
3:7. "Desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may
prophesy.... He that prophesieth edifieth
the church." 1 Cor. 14:1,4.
Tract 2 4
"For the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit
of Prophecy." Rev. 19:10. Consequently if she does not
now awake to the fact that "where there
is no vision, the people perish" (Prov. 29:18), then she
never will.
Emphasizing the importance
of the gifts of the Spirit, Paul says: "And he gave some,
apostles; and some, prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the
perfecting of the saints, for the work
of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ." Eph.
4:11,12. "After that miracles,
then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of
tongues." 1 Cor. 12:28.
But while most of these
gifts, especially those of tongues and of governments, are zealously
sought after by the churches, the one
that was despised by the Jews -- the gift of "prophets" --
is wholly rejected by almost all Christendom.
Therefore the spirit that instigated the killing of
the ancient seers at the hand of the
Jewish leaders, is today doing virtually the same sort of
destructive work through organized
religion.
The Jews, while ascribing
praise and honor to the dead prophets who were slain by the
forefathers, rejected the living
prophets, thus bringing upon themselves the Master's mournful
pronouncement:
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of
Tract 2 5
the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers
of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days
of our fathers, we would not have been
partakers with them in the blood of the prophets." Matt.
23:29,30.
Present-day Christians
who despise the gift of prophecy and deny to the gospel dispensation
the authority of the Old Testament
Scriptures, thereby reject all the prophets, though at the
same time they do them the lip service
of acknowledging them as the servants of God. In
giving such service, they are but building
and garnishing the tombs of the prophets, as did the
Jews, but when tested, they too, will
be found to be liars. Mere lip professions of believing in
the whole Bible, are worse than no
profession at all, and doubly so when the professors are at
the same time teaching that all the
laws and statues, all the warnings and condemnations
apply only to the ancient Jews, whereas
all the graces belong to the Christian church!
By following in this course,
they have been led so far in perverting the gifts that their
so-called gift of tongues is naught
but gibberish, and is no more the Biblical gift than is Sunday
the "sanctified" Sabbath day!
Perverted also is the gift of governments, which is degenerated
into an institution of prerogatives,
formalities, goals, and the like, which, were they ever
beneficial devices, are certainly,
in their present low estate, nothing but agencies which in
effect militate against the Truth,
Tract 2 6
and neutralize the piety of the church.
In this state of affairs, do the best of these professed
Christians of today seem better than
the worst of yesterday's Jews? Wherefore, O church of
God, "Awake, awake"! "Quench
not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things;
hold fast that which is good." 1 Thess.
5:19, 21. "Loose thyself from the [man-wrought] bands of
thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion."
Isa. 52:2.
As the gift of prophets
is, according to the Scriptures, second in order of the gifts to the
church, and the gift of governments
and that of diversity of tongues are last, obviously, then,
those who despise the gift of prophecy
but exalt the gift of governments and the gift of tongues,
are pulling the cart from its rear
end, and are going in the wrong direction. To such, Christ is
saying: "Knowest not that thou art
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."
Rev. 3:17.
"Come now, and let us reason
together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isa. 1:18.
This condition underlies
the present church trouble, which along with its outcome is
figuratively set forth in Zechariah's
prophetic symbolism,
Tract 2 7
These verses contain one
of the most remarkable and important pictorial prophecies
recorded in Sacred Writ, and their
true interpretation brings a soul-gripping revelation of
momentous church history. The first
symbol to be considered is
Tract 2 9
The "Mountains of Brass."
Being composed of brass,
the two mountains can never, in even the smallest part, be carried
away by wind or flood. Matter
not what betide them, they stand immovable. And as they are
symbols of God's holy church (as seen
from the scripture: "Thus saith the Lord;... Jerusalem
shall be called a city of truth; and
the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain" --
Zech.8:3), they must therefore
represent her at a time when she is able to withstand the storm
-- when she is a clean and fit place
for the dwelling of His Holy Presence which, as the
mountains denote, is to His saints
a mighty fortress and "an hiding place from the wind, and a
covert from the tempest; as rivers
of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a
weary land." Isa.32:2. But "he
that worketh deceit," says the Lord "shall not dwell within My
house: he that telleth lies shall not
tarry in My sight." Ps. 101:7.
The facts so far established
show God's Dwelling Place in two separate sections, for He has
only one church organization at a time.
The valley lying between the two mountains (the
space through which the chariots come
forth), therefore denotes the period between the two
holy church organizations which the
mountains represent.
This solid foundation promises a sure structure of truth which embraces church
Tract 2 10
history culminating in a present-truth
lesson of momentous consequence to everyone. Only if it
reveals such a truth can we know that
our interpretation is divinely inspired, not "private," and
that it will stand every Bible test.
In pursuance of this end, we now come to the consideration
of
The Time of the Mountains' Actual Existence.
When ancient Israel marched
out of Egypt, "the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a
cloud, to lead them the way; and by
night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and
night." "And in the place where
the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their
tents." Ex. 13:21; Num. 9:17.
But some years after the Israelitish movement had marched into
the "promised land," God withdrew
His personal presence from among them, because of their
great sin of which they refused to
repent.
"Therefore He brought upon
them the king of the Chaldees, who...burnt the house of God and
brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and
burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed
all the goodly vessels thereof.
And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to
Babylon; where they were servants to
him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of
Persia." 2 Chron. 36:17, 19, 20.
Tract 2 11
Were it not for the fact
that a similar incident occurs in the Christian era, perhaps we would
have to conclude without going further
that the "two mountains" of "brass" are symbolical of
the two sections of the church in Old
Testament time. But inasmuch as the Dark Ages, from 538
A.D. to 1798 A.D. (Dan. 7:25; Rev.
12:6, 14), divide the Holy Mountain of God into two separate
parts, we are compelled to prove from
another angle the time to which these two figurative
"mountains of brass" apply.
Never has this symbolical
prophecy been understood by any people; and never could it have
been fulfilled and not been revealed
(for then would its truth have been unavailable to the
people in the past and but half efficacious
to us now). Necessarily, then, its fulfillment is yet
future, sometime in the latter part
of the Christian era.
The metal composing the
"mountains" must represent that which is to make up what they
stand for. Explicitly, the "brass"
must disclose the people who are to make up two holy
sections of the Christian church.
In the second chapter of
Daniel, four empires are symbolized by a great metallic image of
gold, silver, brass, and iron -- a
well understood prophecy of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia,
and Rome.
Tract 2 12
Gold, being first of value
in the order of metals, is singularly adapted in symbolizing the
first
empire after the flood. Silver,
being second to gold, is the number two metal, and exactly
symbolizes the second empire -- Medo-Persia.
While brass, being third to gold, precisely fits
the third empire (Grecia), and consequently
has the numerical value of three.
So, being of brass, the
"mountains" denote that the church which they symbolize is in period
number three. And the fact that
there is a third period, presupposes two preceding periods,
making in all, three great divisions
of time -- the first, from creation to the flood; the second,
from the flood to the crucifixion of
Christ; and the third, from the crucifixion to His second
coming. The Christian era is
therefore the one to which the symbolical "mountains of brass"
apply.
Necessarily, then, the
former of the two "mountains" is symbolical of the spirit-filled early
Christian church prior to 538 A.D.,
and the latter, of the Christian church sometime after 1798
A.D., when it is, as was the early
Christian church, fitted for God's Holy Dwelling Place as
described in the following scriptures:
"O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted,
behold, I...will make thy windows of
agates, and thy gates of carbuncles... And all thy children
shall be taught of the Lord; and great
shall be the peace of thy children." Isa. 54:11-13.
Tract 2 13
This cannot be, as some
may think, a symbolization of the Holy City, which comes "down
from God out of heaven" (Rev. 21:2),
for the celestial city has gates of "one pearl" (Rev. 21:21),
whereas the gates which Isaiah describes
are of "carbuncles." This symbolical language,
therefore, can be descriptive only
of the people who are to make up the spiritual house of God.
(See Ephesians 2:20-22.) All
her "stones" are of "fair colours": they are all precious jewels.
No
rubble, no "tares," no "lukewarm" professors
are among her hosts, neither indeed can ever
be, for, as is very easy to be seen,
by the "foundations" are prefigured her founders; by the
"windows," through which light shines,
her living prophets or seers; and by the "gates of
carbuncles" her "watchmen," who are
to let in only those who have a right to enter, and to
keep out all others. And the
"borders of pleasant stones" are the members that beautify the
house. Plainly, then, only "such
as should be saved" will become a part of it.
"In righteousness shalt
thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt
not fear: and from terror; for it shall
not come near thee. Behold, they shall surely gather
together, but not by Me: whosoever
shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy
sake...and every tongue that shall
rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." Isa.
54:14, 15, 17.
Tract 2 14
This symbolically predicted
church cannot be the Kingdom in the "New Earth," for then there
shall be no wicked to gather against
it, whereas against this church gather the wicked, whom
she shall "condemn." And if she
is to condemn them, then they are not condemned before
they gather together against her.
"Clad in the armor of Christ's
righteousness, the church is to enter upon her final conflict.
'Fair as the moon, clear as the sun,
and terrible as an army with banners,' she is to go forth into
all the world, conquering and to conquer."
-- Prophets and Kings, p. 725.
"Clad in complete armor
of light and righteousness, she enters upon her final conflict. The
dross, the worthless material, will
be consumed, and the influence of the truth testifies to the
world of its sanctifying, ennobling
character." -- Testimonies to Ministers, p. 17.
"Therefore thy gates shall
be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men
may bring unto thee the forces of the
Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. For the
nation and kingdom that will not serve
thee shall perish: yea, those nations shall be utterly
wasted." Isa. 60:11, 12.
The church described in
these passages is obviously not the church in her Laodicean state --
"neither cold nor hot," and
Tract 2 15
about to be spued out (Rev. 3:16).
And since the symbolical mountains of brass are both alike,
there being no distinction between
them, therefore the second "mountain," the soon coming
church of God, is to be of no less
power and purity than that which characterized the first
"mountain," the early Christian church,
a glimpse of which is to be caught from the following
scriptures:
"And when the day of Pentecost
was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
And they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost....and the same day there were added unto them
about three thousand souls. And
the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."
The Acts 2:1, 4, 41, 47.
"But a certain man named
Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back
part of the price.... But Peter said,
Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy
Ghost, and to keep back part of the
price of the land?... And Ananias hearing these words fell
down, and gave up the ghost.... And
it was about the space of three hours after, when his
wife,...came in. Then Peter said
unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the
Spirit of the Lord?... Then fell she
down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost." The
Acts 5:1-3, 5, 7, 9, 10.
Tract 2 16
Is there any comparison
between the church described in The Acts and the one at the
present time? Where is
the power of the Holy Ghost in the church today? In the early church
everyone was filled with It!
Where do we read of the apostles' ever trying to raise financial
goals? But how often do we hear
that many of those who are brought into the church today,
go out. And how few of those
who remain are really converted to the Truth. Why such woeful
waste, such pitiful loss? And
why so many tares choking up the wheat? Jesus says: "While
men slept, his enemy came and sowed
tares among the wheat, and went his way." Matt.
13:25. Why? -- obviously because
the watchmen on the walls of Zion are asleep. (See
Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 235.)
Throwing light on this
condition, the Spirit of Prophecy says: "What greater deception can
come upon human minds than a confidence
that they are right, when they are all wrong! The
message of the True Witness finds the
people of God in a sad deception, yet honest in that
deception... While those addressed
are flattering themselves that they are in an exalted
spiritual condition, the message of
the True Witness breaks their security by the startling
denunciation of their true condition
of spiritual blindness poverty, and wretchedness. The
testimony so cutting and severe, cannot
be a mistake, for it is the True Witness
Tract 2 17
who speaks, and his testimony must be correct." -- Testimonies, Vol. 3, pp. 252, 253.
In trumpet tones, these
all-too-evident facts declare that the church in her present condition
so unlike the early Christian church,
cannot, therefore, be illustrated by the same symbol as
was she. So, since the church today
is as far from being like the early church as darkness is
from light, the holy church of God
symbolized by the second mountain of brass, must yet be in
the future. Wherefore let us
praise God that now within our reach is the glory of
The Church Triumphant!
When will the church really
become God's Dwelling Place? By human effort it is as
impossible to bring about such a change
as it is to dry up the ocean. Only God can do it. But
when He does, He will certainly make
a clean work of it:
"And I will," He says,
"fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of
children, I will destroy My people,
since they return not from their ways." Jer. 15:7.
His "fan is in His hand,
and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the
garner; but He will burn up the chaff
with unquenchable fire." Matt. 3:12.
"I saw that the Lord was whetting his sword in Heaven to cut them down. Oh,
Tract 2 18
that every lukewarm professor could
realize the clean work that God is about to make among
His professed people." -- Testimonies,
Vol. 1, page 190.
"The Lord will work to
purify His church. I tell you in truth, the Lord is about to turn
and
overturn in the institutions called
by His name. Just how soon this refining process will begin, I
can not say, but it will not be long
deferred. He whose fan is in His hand will cleanse His
temple of its moral defilement.
He will thoroughly purge His floor." -- Testimonies to Ministers,
page 373.
"The time has come for
earnest and powerful efforts to rid the church of the slime and filth
which is tarnishing her purity." --
Id., p. 450.
Do not, my Brethren, say:
"The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he
prophesieth of the times that are far
off." For "the days are at hand, and the effect of every
vision." Ezek. 12:27, 23. "For
Zion's sake will I not hold My peace," says the Lord, "and for
Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until
the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the
salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth."
Isa. 62:1.
"But the days of purification
of the church are hastening on apace. God will have a people
pure and true. In the mighty sifting
soon to take place, we shall be better
Tract 2 19
able to measure the strength of Israel....
Those who have trusted to intellect, genius or talent,
will not...stand at the head of rank
and file" (Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 80),
When The Church Is Fitly Represented By The Mountains.
Through the time of this
solemn work -- a subject of paramount importance to the church of
God at this critical hour -- is clearly
set forth in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, yet,
ironically, it is a matter little thought
of and little understood by the people in the church it
concerns. We therefore at this
point inquire further into it.
At the instance of Inspiration,
the prophet Isaiah wrote: "For by fire and by His sword will the
Lord plead with all flesh: and the
slain of the Lord shall be many.... And I will send those that
escape of them unto the nations,...and
they shall bring all your brethren...in a clean vessel into
the house of the Lord." Isa.
66:16, 19, 20.
Note that these prophetic
words say that those who "escape" being among "the slain of the
Lord" are to be sent "unto the nations,"
and that they "shall declare [His] glory among the
Gentiles. And...shall bring all
[their] brethren...out of all nations."
Tract 2 20
As this great world-wide
work of ingathering cannot be done after probation has closed, you
must not let the enemy deceive you
"with good words and fair speeches." Show him that he
cannot explain these inspired passages
another way, and yet have his explanation in harmony
with what the Lord has said in the
foregoing scripture as well as in the following statement
from the Spirit of Prophecy:
"While the investigative
judgment is going forward in heaven...there is to be a special work
of purification...among God's people
upon earth.... Then the church which our Lord at His
coming is to receive to Himself will
be 'a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing.' Then she will look
forth 'as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and
terrible as an army with banners.'
" -- The Great Controversy, p. 425.
This statement from the
Spirit of Prophecy also clearly indicates that the purification takes
place before probation closes, or "while
the investigative judgment is going forward in heaven,
"and that then the church, clean and
spotless, is to go into all the world conquering and to
conquer (Prophets and Kings, p. 725).
Brother, Sister, do not
rise up against this message of deliverance, and by so doing join the
ranks of the enemy, who sowed the tares
in the church, and who is determined to keep them
there, for he knows
Tract 2 21
that with a purified church, his power
will be crushed, and the barriers which he has erected
against it will be smashed to fragments!
Indeed, "we need never expect that when the Lord
has light for His people, Satan will
stand calmly by and make no effort to prevent them from
receiving it. He will work upon
minds to excite distrust and jealousy and unbelief." --
Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 728.
From the evidences adduced,
the fact towers forth that the purification takes place before the
work of the gospel is finished in any
part of the world: for those who "escape" the slaughter are
sent to "bring all [their] brethren
for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations." Necessarily
therefore, the consummation of this
"special; work of purification" precedes the
commencement of "The Loud Cry."
Doubly conclusive proof of this is that the Spirit of
Prophecy states that "the true people
of God, who have the spirit of the work of the Lord,...will
always be on the side of faithful and
plain dealing with sins.... Especially in the closing work
for the church, in the sealing time
of the one hundred and forty-four thousand...." This special
work of purification and "sealing of
the servants of God is the same that was shown to Ezekiel
in vision." -- Testimonies, Vol. 3,
p. 266; Testimonies to Ministers, p. 445.
Ezekiel's vision discloses that those who "sigh and cry for all the abominations that
Tract 2 22
be done in the midst thereof" (the church)
are marked, or sealed, and that the men with the
"slaughter weapons" then "slay utterly
old and young, both maids, and little children and
women" who have not the mark.
The purification of the church, therefore, is a separation of
the sinners from the true people of
God. At the time of its fulfillment, the immediate future, the
144,000 receive the seal, or mark,
escape the slaughter, become the "servants of God," and go
forth unto the nations to finish the
work. This makes them the "first-fruits" of the living who are
to be translated, and "all their brethren"
whom they bring in (the "great multitude" of
Revelation 7, verse 9), the second
fruits of the living who are to be translated: for where there
are no second fruits, there can be
no first. (For further light on this subject, read Tract No. 1,
Pre-"Eleventh Hour" Extra!.)
Brethren, we must "sigh
and cry" against the sins in the church; not against the message
which is to seal us for translation
and make us a people fitly symbolized by the mountains of
brass. Your sighing and crying
for the abominations done in her "midst," makes you eligible
for the "mark"; but should you
attempt to shield the abominations, you shall fall under the
slaughter weapons of the angels.
The church is to be purified and made clean and fit to be
God's Dwelling Place. In no other
way can she be identified as the
Tract 2 23
"mountain of brass," the symbol of endurance.
This is the church that shall "enter upon her
final conflict," and the one
with whom the dragon is to be "wroth:" for the symbolical
"woman" and "her seed," as a body,
keep the commandments of God and have the "testimony
of Jesus Christ." Rev. 12:17.
Having fully cleared the first part of Zechariah's symbolism, we now give attention to
The Valley Between The Mountains.
The truth having been solidly
established that the early Christian church is symbolized by
one of the "brass mountains," and the
church that closes the gospel work, by the other, then it
follows as a logical sequence
that the valley between, from which come the four chariots,
must be symbolical of the period from
the one church to the other. The next symbolism, then,
to be considered is
The Four Chariots.
Says the prophet Zechariah:
"In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses,
HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD." Zech. 14:20.
As symbols to illustrate various lessons, horses are
quite prominently employed in the Scriptures,
being in every instance perfectly adapted, of
course, to the circumstance or situation.
In this connection, they represent people, for the
sounding of their "bells" is "HOLINESS
Tract 2 24
UNTO THE LORD;" whereas "the spasmodic
fitful movements of some who claim to be
Christians is well represented by the
work of strong but untrained horses. When one pulls
forward, another pulls back." -- Testimonies
to Ministers, pp. 489, 490.
These symbolical "horses,"
therefore, each portray a certain class of people in connection
with the church. And owing to
the fact that each team is leading a chariot, they can denote
only a class of church leaders.
The chariots, consequently, must in some way depict the
church membership which the symbolical
horses are leading. Moreover, to Zechariah's
question, "What are these, my lord?...the
angel answered and said,...These are the four spirits
of the heavens, which go forth
from standing before the Lord of all the earth." Zech. 6:4, 5.
Hence these symbolisms stand for heaven-born
messages carried by the church on earth. And
since the symbolism is self-defining,
it answers the question:
Why Chariot a Symbol of a Church?
The Scriptures symbolize
God's church by various earthly objects. To illustrate: "In that
day,"
says the Lord, "will I make Jerusalem
a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden
themselves with it shall be cut in
pieces." Zech. 12:3. "Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in
the hand of the Lord." Isa. 62:3.
"And
Tract 2 25
the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches." Rev. 1:20.
The same object cannot
perfectly characterize the church under varying conditions and
circumstances or relationships.
For example, on the one hand the church that gave birth to
Christ (Rev. 12:1, 2) cannot congruously
be symbolized by a chariot, but rather only by a
woman, while on the other hand the
church with which God will break the nations, cannot
congruously be likened to a woman,
but rather to a "stone" (Dan. 2:45), or an "axe." Jer. 51:20.
For a church in its work of gathering
souls, the most fitting symbol is a "chariot," and for its
leadership, naturally "horses."
As there are, in the symbolization
before us, four chariots to be identified, we must therefore
consider each one separately, beginning
with
The First Chariot.
The consecutive order of
the chariots indicates a series of gospel events. "In the first
chariot were red horses."
That the color red stands for bloodshed, the Spirit of Prophecy
bears out: "As we were traveling along,
we met a company.... I noticed red as a border on
their garments.... I asked Jesus who
they were. He said they were martyrs that had been slain
for Him." -- Early Writings, pp. 18,19.
The red border on the garments of this company
Tract 2 26
being emblematic of martyrdom, obviously,
then, the red color of the "horses" denotes the
martyred leaders of the church before
538 A.D.
In response to Zechariah's
question as to who the horses were and where they were going,
the angel answered: "The black horses
which are therein go forth into the north country; and
the white go forth after them; and
the grisled go forth toward the south country. And the bay
went forth, and sought to go that they
might walk to and fro through the earth." Zech. 6:6, 7.
Though the angel's answer discloses
the respective directions toward which the black, white,
grisled, and bay horses went, it omits
to make the slightest mention of the red horses, thus
riveting the conclusion that the red
horses were martyred and went nowhere so far as their
final destination is concerned.
This being clear our next step, logically, is to identify
The Second Chariot.
"And in the second chariot
[were] black horses." Universally, the figurative significance of
"black" is bondage. So as the
martyrdom of the early Christian church was followed by the
Dark Ages of religion, from 538 A.D.
to 1798 A.D., it is very evident that the chariot with the
black horses represents the church
and its leadership during this long prophetic period in
Ecclesiastical Roman bondage.
This fact is borne out by the angel's explanation of
Tract 2 27
the horses' destination: "The black
horses," he said, "...go forth into the north country." And
"the north country" is the Biblical
term for ancient Babylon, as is quickly seen from the
following scriptures:
"...saith the Lord God;...I
will bring...Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,...from the north."
Ezek. 26:7. Again: when the Jews
were returning from Babylon to Jerusalem, God spoke
through His prophet Zechariah, saying:
"Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north"
(Zech. 2:6), thus identifying Babylon
as "the north country." But as we are dealing with the
fulfillment of prophecy in the New
Testament era, the north country in this connection must be
antitypical Babylon -- Christianized
Rome -- where God's people during the New Testament
period have gone. This clear-cut
truth concerning the second chariot, leads us to the
exposition of
The Third Chariot.
And there were "in the
third chariot white horses." Since black is significant of bondage,
then white, being the opposite of black,
must denote liberty. Accordingly, the white horses
with their chariot must be symbolical
of the church, following her 1260 year period of Roman
bondage. Said the angel to Zechariah:
"The white go forth after" the black horses, to the north
country. The white chariot therefore
represents
Tract 2 28
a free church, carrying a heaven-born
message to the north country shortly after 1798 A.D., in
time of liberty. The only such
message found on record is that of the Millerite movement, of
which we read:
"To William Miller and
his co-laborers it was given to preach the warning in America. This
country became the center of the great
Advent Movement.... The writings of Miller and his
associates were carried to distant
lands. Wherever missionaries had penetrated in all the
world, were sent the glad tidings of
Christ's speedy return." -- The Great Controversy, p. 368.
But though "the white horses"
went to the "north country," the Millerites, or "First Advent
Movement," was not in response to the
call, "come out of her My people." This is made clear
by Miller's own words: "In all my labors...I
never had the desire or thought to establish any
separate interest from that of existing
denominations, or to benefit one at the expense of
another. I thought to benefit
all." -- The Great Controversy, p. 375.
The concluding revelation
is: "Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted
My Spirit in the north country." Zech.
6:8. After the warning message by the Millerite
movement had been rejected by the churches,
in fulfillment of the words, "have quieted My
Spirit in the
Tract 2 29
north country," God withdrew His
Spirit from them. In evidence of this, "the Second Angel"
announced: "Babylon is fallen." Rev.
14:8.
The foregoing chain of
facts surrounding the first three symbolical "chariots," shows that the
series of gospel events which they
comprehend terminated with the Millerite movement in
1844 A.D. And the additional
fact that the "white" color of the "horses" also denotes purity,
shows that the "third chariot" is symbolical
of the church which of all the seven churches is the
only one that is white, without condemnation
-- the Philadelphian church (Rev. 3:7).
The Word of God is full
of meaning; its depth unfathomable; and its truth, like the waves that
ever break on the shore-line, laving
the shore of life with never-ceasing waves, one of which
brings in the fact that the Millerite
church's being named "Philadelphia" was not merely
incidental. The name, meaning
"brotherly love," was divinely designed, and will not, in all the
Christian era, fit a church organization
other than the Millerite -- the only one that is not guilty
of casting out its brethren for hearing
a message from God, or of restricting their religious
freedom in investigating for themselves
any purported truths! It alone, therefore, stands free
from the guilt and condemnation underlined
in the Lord's charge:
Tract 2 30
"Hear the word of the Lord,
ye that tremble at His word; Your brethren that hated you, that
cast you out for My name's sake, said,
Let the Lord be glorified: but He shall appear to your joy,
and they shall be ashamed." Isa. 66:5.
These heaven-condemned, because self-appointed,
judges entered not in themselves, and
them that were entering in, they hindered (Luke 11:52).
To repeat: the Millerite, or "First
Advent Movement," being the only one that never cast out
any of its brethren, is consequently
the only church which can be represented by the white
chariot, and the only one worthy of
the name "Philadelphia" -- "brotherly love."
All seven of these antitypical
churches (Rev. 2 and 3) started out well, but sooner or later
Satan succeeded in bringing into each
one in succession a flood of satanic agencies
(figuratively, the "tares") in the
garb of professed believers of the Truth. Especially has this
been so with the ministry, by whom
he has been able to lead entire churches astray. And
always some of the members who have
refused to follow the leadership of man in the place of
that of Christ, have been cast out.
Indeed, whenever God has sent a message to His church,
the ministry, instead of standing by
the messenger and helping get the message to the people,
has fought against it, standing, almost
as a unit, in its way, so that it not reach the people!
Showing how the ministry tried
to put an extinguisher on the
Tract 2 31
"First Advent Message," and how they
persecuted the laity who dared attend Miller's
preaching, church history says:
"But as ministers and religious
leaders decided against the advent doctrine, and desired to
suppress all agitation of the subject,
they not only opposed it from the pulpit, but denied their
members the privilege of attending
preaching upon the second advent, or even of speaking of
their hope in the social meetings of
the church." "...therefore it was largely committed to
humble laymen. Farmers left their
fields, mechanics their tools, traders their merchandise,
professional men their positions; and
yet the number of workers was small in comparison with
the work to be accomplished." -- The
Great Controversy, pp. 376, 368.
"The work did not stand
in the wisdom and learning of men, but in the power of God. It was
not the most talented, but the most
humble and devoted, who were the first to hear and obey
the call.... Those who had formerly
led in the cause were among the last to join in this
movement." -- The Great Controversy,
p. 402. "The fact that the message was, to a great
extent, preached by laymen was urged
as an argument against it. As of old, the plain
testimony of God's Word was met with
the inquiry, 'Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees
believed?'... Multitudes, trusting
implicitly to their pastors, refused to listen to the warning;
Tract 2 32
and others, though convinced of the
truth, dared not confess it, lest they should be 'put out of
the synagogue.' " -- The Great Controversy,
p. 380.
"...The true followers
of Christ...do not wait for truth to become popular. Being convinced of
their duty, they deliberately accept
the cross." -- The Great Controversy, p. 460. "The
half-hearted and superficial
could no longer lean upon the faith of their brethren." -- The Great
Controversy, p. 395. "Instead
of questioning and caviling concerning that which they do not
understand, let them give heed to the
light which already shines upon them, and they will
receive greater light." -- The Great
Controversy, p. 528.
"There has ever been a
class professing godliness, who, instead of following on to know
the
truth, make it their religion to seek
some fault of character or error of faith in those with whom
they do not agree. Such are Satan's
right-hand helpers." -- The Great Controversy, p. 519.
"All who look for hooks
to hang their doubts upon, will find them. And those who refuse to
accept and obey God's word until every
objection has been removed, and there is no longer an
opportunity for doubt, will never
come to the light." -- The Great Controversy, p. 527.
Of all "the seven churches"
(Rev. 2 and 3), only the Philadelphian (the Millerite) church did
not run afoul these same satanic practices.
Ever true to God, it closed its brief but spotless
career in 1844, its
Tract 2 33
appointed destination. Having
lived its entire life under the personal supervision of its founder,
it was never new-modeled. Thus
being without condemnation, as perfectly illustrated by the
third "chariot" and its "white horses,"
it stands out in bold relief to the succeeding movement,
represented by
The Fourth Chariot.
Since the first three "chariots"
embrace the history of the church up to 1844 A.D., the fourth
one must represent a subsequent church
organization -- successor to the Millerite, or
Philadelphian church. The last
of "the seven churches," the church of the "Laodiceans,"
necessarily, therefore, is the one
symbolized by the fourth "chariot."
Amidst the multi-sectarian
confusion overspreading all Christendom at the present time, it
may seem difficult to segregate the
Laodiceans from among the rest. But the great Designer of
types and symbols, the One Who seeing
the end from the beginning, thus foresaw precisely
what was to be the condition and the
work of the last of "the seven churches," must therefore
by His Word, be able to pick this church
from among the multitude of churches, and set it like a
beacon shining forth in the darkest
hour of the night.
But even as Satan put forth
determined efforts to misapply the name "Philadelphia," and thus
to obscure it from view
Tract 2 34
and cause it to go unnoticed, so has he confused
The Name of the Last Chariot.
Just as the name "Philadelphia"
fits only one church organization, and only one of the
chariots, so the name "Laodiceans"
can logically fit only one of the chariots and only one
denomination. The word, itself,
is derived from the Greek word, Lego-dikean, meaning,
"declaring judgment." After the
event of the Philadelphian church, there must therefore be a
church declaring judgment. And
it is a historical fact that in 1844 A.D., the very year the
Millerite movement came to the end
of its appointed course, a new movement, the
Seventh-day Adventist denomination,
arose, proclaiming: "Fear God, and give glory to Him;
for the hour of His judgment is come."
Rev. 14:7.
In spite of the unenviable
record of the Laodicean church, the founder of its movement,
unlike the founders of other
movements, honestly states in Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 252: "The
message to the church of the
Laodiceans is a startling denunciation, and is applicable to the
people of God at the present time"
-- the Seventh-day Adventists. Declaring the judgment, as
well as being in the undone condition
described, the S.D.A. church is the only one which can
rightly be called the "Laodicean,"
-- Declaring Judgment. What an absolute match between
description and condition!
Tract 2 35
"O magnify the Lord with me, and let
us exalt His name together," for He hath "magnified [His]
Word above all [His] name." Ps. 34:3;
138:2.
Since both the third chariot
and the Philadelphian church have been identified as
representing the Millerite movement,
and also since the Laodicean church has been identified
as representing the Seventh-day Adventist
movement, then it incontrovertibly follows that the
"fourth chariot," the last of the chariots,
is symbolical of the S.D.A. church -- the Laodicean.
Now if this application
of "the chariot" is wrong, the simple and positive proof is, of course,
that it cannot be made congruously
to fit the S.D.A. church, but if it is right, then, by the same
token, it cannot be made congruously
to fit any other but the Adventist church: for the divine
symbols are devised perfectly to fit
only one object. The final test, therefore, of the
interpretation herein given, is the
conclusiveness of the paradoxical part of the symbolism --
The Grisled And The Bay-Double Leadership.
And in the "fourth chariot" were
"grisled and bay horses." The anomalous part of this
symbolical prophecy is, manifestly,
that the fourth chariot, unlike the other three, has a
double span of horses. But
Tract 2 36
most arresting about the whole symbolism
is the paradoxical fact that the grisled went "toward
the south country, and the bay went
forth, and...walked to and fro through the earth". Zech. 6:6,
7. The grisled go one way, and
the bay, another way, and yet both are pulling the same
chariot!
Obviously, therefore, this
strange circumstance must hold a singular present-truth lesson of
great importance to the church of God
at the present hour, when the vision has been opened
and the truth unfolded, the time in
which the church is confronted with a strange and
perplexing problem which human
wisdom is at a loss to solve.
The dissimilar teams hitched
to the fourth chariot, each pulling in a different direction from
the other, show not only that there
is a double leadership in the Laodicean church, but also
that the one is opposed to the other
in character as well as in purpose. This condition being a
strange one, the wise will well consider
it. Seeing that the Word of God has spoken it, and that
the symbolism perfectly describes the
contest which, before their very eyes, is taking place,
they will tenaciously take hold of
the truth.
Now for the explanation
of the climactic and enigmatic part of this symbolization, we must
go to the past and present record of
the Laodicean church. As the
Tract 2 37
message to every church is addressed
to the "angel" who has charge of the candlestick (the
church Rev. 1:20), John was instructed:
"And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans
write." Rev. 3:14. But this "angel"
cannot be a heavenly angel, for he is at fault: "Neither cold
nor hot," but "wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked" "and knowest not."
Rev. 3:16 17. What else could
this angel be but the earthly one who is given charge over the
"candlestick"? Plainly, therefore,
he and the servant "whom his Lord hath made ruler over His
household, to give them meat in due
season" (Matt. 24:45) are identical, both of whom, clearly,
represent the church leadership, not
the membership.
Anyone having a reasonable
knowledge of the Scriptures, should know that God cannot
finish His work on earth with a "wretched,
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked"
leadership; and what is worse,
one that does not even know its condition. Those who are
excusing the overwhelming wickedness
everywhere, are not God's true people; they are the
"tares," the seed of the Evil One.
"The message God sends
through His servants," says the Spirit of Prophecy, "will be scorned
and derided by unfaithful shepherds,
who tread down with their feet the feed of the pastures,
giving the flock as food that which
they have defiled. 'Woe
Tract 2 38
be unto the Pastors that destroy and
scatter the sheep of My pasture! saith the Lord.' " -- Review
and Herald, June 25, 1901.
In view of this sad fact,
God must have a second leadership to finish His greatest work since
the world began. Of this second
set of servants, we read: "And I saw another angel ascending
from the east, having the seal of the
living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four
angels,...saying, Hurt not the
earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the
servants of our God in their foreheads."
"And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are
without fault before the throne of
God." Rev. 7:2, 3; 14:5.
Thus by testimony and by
symbol, the Word of God brings to view two dissimilar classes of
"servants" -- the one "lukewarm,"
the other "without fault."
So important is this subject
that the Spirit of Prophecy turns the light on still another aspect of
it:
"But the days of purification
of the church are hastening on apace. God will have a people
pure and true.... Those who have trusted
to intellect, genius, or talent, will not then stand at the
head of rank and file." -- Testimonies,
Vol. 5, p. 80.
The fact that our conferences
grant ministerial licenses only to college graduates, shows that
they are trusting to human wisdom
Tract 2 39
-- wisdom which God can no more use
now than He could when Moses displayed it. And the
fact that they have been following
in this foolish course for years, is another unimpeachable
evidence in the proof that the ministry
at the present time is comprised of men whom God
cannot use, not only because they are
independent of Him, but also because against His will
they have kept out of the work those
whom He can use:
"Now I want to say, God
has not put any kingly power in our ranks to control this or that
branch of the work. The work has been
greatly restricted by the efforts to control it in every
line. Here is a vineyard presenting
its barren places that have received no labor. And if one
should start out to till these places
in the name of the Lord, unless he should get the permission
of the men in a little circle of authority,
he would receive no help. God means that His workers
shall have help. If a hundred
should start out on a mission to destitute fields, crying unto God,
He would open the way before them.
"Let me tell you, if your
heart is in the work, and you have faith in God, you need not depend
upon the sanction of any minister or
any people: if you go right to work in the name of the
Lord, in a humble way doing what you
can to teach the truth, God will vindicate you.
"If the work had not been so restricted
Tract 2 40
by an impediment here, and an impediment
there, and on the other side an impediment, it
would have gone forward in its majesty.
It would have gone in weakness at first; but the God
of heaven lives." -- Review and Herald,
April 16, 1901.
Not until Paul had forsaken
all trust in human wisdom, counting it loss for Christ, was God
able to exalt him in His mighty hand.
"And I brethren," says the great apostle, "...came not
with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
declaring unto you the testimony of God." 1 Cor. 2:1.
But unlike the humbled Paul, the great
men in the church today "are self-sufficient,
independent of God, and he cannot use
them... The call to this great and solemn work was,"
since 1844, "presented to men of learning
and position; had these been little in their own eyes,
and trusted fully in the Lord, He would
have honored them with bearing His standard in
triumph to the victory. But they
separated from God, yielded to the influence of the world, and
the Lord rejected them." -- Testimonies,
Vol. 5, pp. 80, 82.
But "the Lord has faithful
servants, who in the shaking, testing time will be disclosed to view.
There are precious ones now hidden
who have not bowed the knee to Baal. They have not
had the light which has been shining
in a concentrated blaze upon you. But it may be under a
rough and uninviting exterior the pure
brightness
Tract 2 41
of a genuine Christian character will be revealed." -- Testimonies, Vol. 5, pp. 80, 81.
Thus in their perfect mutual
harmony, the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy once again exalt
each other, and clear the paradox of
the fourth chariot -- its double span of horses each of
which, as revealed by their colors
and aims, is inimical in character, principle, and objective;
each contesting the right to the chariot.
Endeavoring to keep it in the south country (Egypt),
where they are blindly "settled on
their lees," the grisled, the leadership at the very head of
the chariot, "say in their heart, The
Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil. Therefore
their goods shall become a booty, and
their houses a desolation." Zeph. 1:12, 13. Whereas the
bay, the leadership behind the grisled,
seek to go to and fro through the earth.
The former say: "He is
too merciful to visit His people in judgment" by fulfilling Ezekiel 9
upon them, while the latter sigh and
cry for the abominations in the midst thereof. Thus
whereas behind the grisled horses there
is a crying of God's visitation, there is ahead of the
bay, a crying of "peace and safety...from
men who will never again lift up their voice like a
trumpet to show God's people their
transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. These
dumb dogs, that would not bark," says
the founder of the church, "are the
Tract 2 42
ones who feel the just vengeance of
an offended God. Men, maidens, and little children, all
perish together." -- Testimonies,
Vol. 5, p. 211.
While on the one hand,
therefore, we prophetically behold the failure of the grisled horses to
maintain control of the chariot (church)
because of their dereliction of duty, on the other hand
we see the bay horses both prophetically
and actually getting ready to take over the chariot at
the appointed time; or, as the angel,
speaking in prophetic past, explained: they "sought to go
that they might walk to and fro through
the earth." Zech. 6:7.
Unlike in color, the two
teams are figurative of two classes of servants unlike in character.
The former class (the grisled) are
"men of learning and position," but "self-sufficient,
independent of God and He cannot
use them." The latter (the bay) those whom "He will raise
up and exalt among us," are "those
who are taught rather by the unction of His Spirit, than by
the outward training of scientific
institutions.... God will manifest that He is not dependent on
learned, self-important mortals." --
Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 82.
This latter class, moreover,
have the "pure brightness of a genuine Christian character," "but,
it may be under a rough and uninviting
exterior" -- unveneered by "higher education"
so-called. "He will use men for
the accomplishment of His purpose
Tract 2 43
whom some of the brethren would reject
as unfit to engage in the work." -- Review and Herald,
Feb. 9, 1885. "And I will gather the
remnant of My flock out of all countries whither I have
driven them, and will bring them again
to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
And I will set up shepherds over them
which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor
be dismayed, neither shall they be
lacking, saith the Lord." Jer. 23:3,4.
Though these servants of
God, who are to be disclosed to view during the purification of the
church, "have not had the light which
has been shining in a concentrated blaze" upon the
others, yet it is stated of them: "The
most weak and hesitating in the church, will be as David --
willing to do and dare.... Then will
the church of Christ appear 'fair as the moon, clear as the
sun and terrible as an army with banners.'
" "She is to go forth into all the world, conquering
and to conquer." -- Testimonies, Vol.
5, pp. 81, 82; Prophets and Kings, p. 725.
Where else in all Christendom,
save in the S.D.A. Denomination (the church of the
Laodiceans), is to be found the fulfillment
of the prophetic church history unfolded in this
study? If this startling revelation
of present truth, plain and certain as the conflict itself
between Good and Evil, does not reach
the Laodicean heart,
Tract 2 44
then nothing can ever reach it.
O, Brother, Sister, be not fooled: if this does not reach your
heart now in time to save you from
the evil to come, it will surely overtake you eventually, but
then only to destroy, not to save,
you. So stay no longer with the grisled horses in Egypt, for to
do so will be only to perish there
with them while
The Bay Take The Chariot To The Promised Land.
Seeing that the chariot
is drawn by both teams each pulling in a different direction from the
other, obviously both cannot win out
without breaking it in two, thus leaving it ruined and
useless. One pair or the other,
therefore, must be cut out of the traces. And the fact that the
bay (the "strong horses" Zech. 6:3,
margin) are the ones who "walk to and fro through the
earth" while the grisled remain in
Egypt, shows that the bay alone are to possess the chariot
and to take it from Egypt to the promised
land.
Although this remarkable
prophetic symbolization, now opened up fully, was simply another
locked prophecy when The Shepherd's
Rod, Vol.1 was published and sent throughout the
S.D.A. denomination in 1930, yet in
its momentous message to Laodicea (declaring that the
prophecy of the ninth chapter of Ezekiel
is on the verge of fulfillment, and that those who
escape the "slaughter" will comprise
the future leadership of the church), the warning-tragedy
Tract 2 45
in the singular paradox here revealed
was anticipated. Thus we see that from the very first,
The Shepherd's Rod, in projecting a
preview of the same critical problem encountered in the
warning-paradox here revealed, was
published in pre-clarification of Zechariah's prophecy!
And, reciprocally, not only does this
remarkable prediction make the Word of God appear
more marvelous than ever before, but
also it sustains the message in The Shepherd's Rod, and
unveils the outcome of the baffling
difficulty before us, the like of which has never occurred in
the history of the church.
Though the leaders of the
S.D.A. denomination are determined to drive out of the church all
who believe in the message of The Shepherd's
Rod, they are trying to make it appear that the
Rod's adherents are pulling out for
themselves. The paradoxical truth, however, shows that
they are to posses "the chariot," and
their refusing to leave the church demonstrates in
actuality the certainty of the bay
horses' alone taking the chariot to its destination -- "to and fro
through the earth."
The revelation of this
warning-paradox also demonstrates that God controls the Scriptures
and brings them to light at just the
very time His people need to know which way to turn! And
now, having found the way, let us,
as did the apostles, tarry in the church with the message
until told,
Tract 2 46
"Get you hence, walk to and fro through
the earth." Having thus done our part, it will be said of
us: "Kings of armies did flee apace:
and she that tarried at home (church) divided the spoil.
Though ye have lien among the pots,
yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with
silver, and her feathers with yellow
gold." Ps. 68:12,13.
So whereas the bay horses
are now getting themselves groomed to go "to and fro through
the earth," the grisled are endeavoring
to kick the bay away from the chariot and to keep it in
The South Country.
To determine the antitypical
significance of the "south country," we consult the Revelation:
"And I will give power unto My two
Witnesses, and They shall prophesy a thousand two
hundred and threescore days, clothed
in sackcloth. And when They shall have finished Their
testimony, the beast that ascendeth
out of the bottomless pit shall make war against Them, and
shall overcome Them and kill Them.
And Their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great
city, which spiritually is called Sodom
and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." Rev.
11:3,7,8.
"The two Witnesses," says
the Spirit of Prophecy, "represent the Scriptures of the Old and the
New Testament.... They continued their
testimony throughout the entire
Tract 2 47
period of 1260 years.... The period
when the two Witnesses were to prophesy clothed in
sackcloth, ended in 1798.... It was
in 1793 that the decrees which abolished the Christian
religion and set aside the Bible
[or killed the 'two Witnesses'], passed the French Assembly." --
The Great Controversy, pp. 267, 268,
287.
Since, therefore, the atheistic
French government in 1793 is called by the Scriptures "Sodom
and Egypt, where also our Lord was
crucified," ancient Egypt -- "the south country" -- is
symbolical of our present world in
general, where "our Lord was crucified." Consequently,
though "the black" and "the white horses"
went "into the north country" (Christendom), "the
grisled horses" went toward "the
south country" (the world).
In remarkable corroboration
of this particular phase of the prophecy, the Seventh-day
Adventist denomination, after the disappointment
in 1844, went forth in fulfillment of the
following divine commission:
"Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations,
and tongues, and kings." Rev. 10:11.
Thus does "the more sure word of prophecy," borne out
in detail by church history, establish
the fact that the message of the S.D.A. denomination has
gone to the world -- Egypt. Hence,
the danger of the "fourth chariot" (the S.D.A.'s) is not of
going into Babylon, but rather into
Egypt.
Tract 2 48
In further confirmation
of this plain and alarming prophetic fact, the Spirit of Prophecy
says:
"I am filled with sadness when I think
of our condition as a people.... The church has turned
back from following Christ her Leader,
and is steadily retreating toward Egypt. Yet few are
alarmed or astonished at their want
of spiritual power." -- Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 217.
But some with the fabled
ostrich-habit of burying the head to danger shout up from under the
sand, as it were, "there is no danger.
This movement will triumph." But the very best
evidence that the great objective of
the S.D.A. movement is in the gravest danger of failing, is
the deep concern evinced by the president
of the General Conference, in an address published
in the Review and Herald, Oct. 14,
1937, which we quote in part as follows:
"I tell you solemnly that
there are forces and influences at work which, if unchecked, will
render us just as unprepared for the
second coming of Christ as was Israel for His first coming.
Make no mistake about that. I
see those influences at work. The spirit of Sadduceeism is
working like leaven, and I want to
lift my voice in earnest entreaty that you may see that the
door is closed against all such intrusions....
I summon you all to engage in the fight against the
spirit of Sadduceeism, the spirit of
worldly conformity, the spirit
Tract 2 49
which, if allowed to go unchecked, will
subvert and change the whole spirit and purpose of
this movement.... This question also
came to me: Are we, in our defense of these great
principles of truth that God has committed
to us, allowing the mantle to fall from our own
shoulders upon the shoulders of others?
Are we going to allow others to step into our places
and call the world to a reformation
along some of these lines?
"Objective Of Movement In The Balance
"I believe that we ought
to bestir ourselves mightily. This is no ordinary time. The
times
demand something unusual. I want
to stand here before you today as one who believes, and
believes deeply, seriously, and
earnestly, that the whole purpose and objective of this
movement today is in the balance. It
is for us to turn the scales on the side of right....
"I tell you, my friends,
in all seriousness, that today many of our young people are confused
and their faith is broken down by what
they see and hear. Do you not know this? Is it not the
truth? It may be an infallible
truth, but many of our young people today do not believe in the
Spirit of Prophecy because of the inconsistency
that they see in the lives of those who ought to
be their leaders. If we want
to the young people to believe, we must set them an example in
faith and practice.
Tract 2 50
"I think the time has come
when this setting of a right example should be a challenge to all
our people. There is no use of
our posing before the world in a certain light, and then shaping
our whole course and purpose according
to another policy. Oh, may God help us to come
back to simplicity and faith, to obedience
and right practice. Most of our people know of the
standards as taught in the Spirit
of Prophecy, and when they see us violating them in our
practice they lose faith, not only
in the Testimonies, but in our leadership. Let us be consistent
leaders. Let us practice what
we preach....
"It is not the assaults
of our enemies that I fear. No,...what I am afraid of is our own
departure from the true course.
That is the hardest to deal with ....
"We are the neediest people
on earth. My friends, we need something extraordinary done
for us. A great procession is
moving toward the kingdom. Are we leading the forces of God in
the right direction?
"Threatened By Worldly Conformity
"I believe that the spirit
of society, the spirit of the world, has in to many instances come in
among us. I would not have you
think that I am discouraged over the prospect. No, thank God,
I know this movement will move forward
triumphantly and victoriously. Nevertheless I feel
Tract 2 51
I would be remiss if I failed to point
out some of the danger signs along the way, and to which I
believe we ought to give heed.
"I wish to repeat that
many of our parents are distressed over trying to maintain the faith of
their sons and daughters because of
some things that are taught in some of our classrooms.
They come and tell us that some Bible
teachers refuse to allow their students to read from
'The Desire of Ages' in a class
on the life of Christ. Some come and say the Spirit of Prophecy
is discredited in the mind and belief
of their sons and daughters through interpretations of
history that they receive, that those
interpretations often are made to discredit the plain
statements of the Spirit of Prophecy.
"There is another thing
that I believe needs attention. It has to do with the social life
and the
activities in our educational institutions.
The faculties need to give more care and attention to
some of these matters. I believe that
we are developing in some of our educational centers a
dress aristocracy that embarrasses
the parents of some of the children. Faculties permit the
young people to adopt a style of dress
that sets the standard for all the students, and if they do
not conform, parents and students are
embarrassed. It often results in merely a parade of
worldly fashion and worldly conformity.
I want to lift my
Tract 2 52
voice against it today, and I appeal to you to stop that trend.
"Too many of our young
people are today being led into worldly conformity by some leaders
who are themselves adhering to forms
of worldly amusement and pleasure. My friends, I wish
our young people could be kept away
from all the beach parties and nudity parades and
moving picture shows and other questionable
places where they ought not to go, but where
they are sometimes led by their leaders.
I believe it is the duty of every school board and
every school faculty to take steps
to change things. Just how far can we go in this matter of
worldly conformity? Let
us be done with the spirit of compromise. Let us not be like
those
people of old who allowed their religious
beliefs to be so poisoned by contacts with the world
that they were unable to recognize
their own Messiah when He appeared.
"Would the pioneers know
this movement today if they should awaken? Would they
recognize the movement that they started
in this world and handed over to their successors?
Would they really recognize it?
To me, that is a very appealing and important question. 'Oh,'
some may say, 'they were a lot of old
fogies! They were out of date. They were entirely
behind the times. Today, standards
have changed.' That is a favorite expression
Tract 2 53
with some, but I do not believe it.
I maintain that every right and true and proper standard that
has ever prevailed and that is laid
down in God's work, is just as vital today as it ever was. I
am not one who is willing to admit
that standards have changed. That argument suggests that
today we have lower standards, and
it is used only by those who want lower standards. The
nearer we come to the kingdom of God,
the higher standards we should have.
"If Jesus were here today
would He recognize us? Indeed, may I say, would we recognize
Him? Oh, I trust that the inroads
of worldly corruption and poisoning have not prevailed to the
place where not even Jesus would recognize
us! I feel very solemn and very serious when I
think about these things.
"My friends, really I am
concerned about the trends and the tendencies. I confess a great
anxiety about them. Here we are
today, a group of leaders, and when we leave this place, to
what are we going back? We are
going back to face thousands of our young people. We are
going back to continue to influence
and to mold the lives of thousands of young people, and to
lead them -- but to lead them how?
to lead them where?
Tract 2 54
"A Revival Needed
"What would Jesus say to
us today if He were here? Would He undertake to cleanse the
temples of our hearts and to drive
out the spirit of Sadduceeism, of materialism, of worldly
conformity? I believe He would.
I believe what we need today, as a group of educators and
leaders, more than anything else, is
something that cannot come to us from any committee on
resolutions, and that is a revival
of primitive godliness. Would God that this convention may
not close until that something comes
to us -- not a revival of merely lip service. But a revival of
heart and of life, a change of practice,
a change that will help us to true up our objectives in
this great movement. Today I
plead with you all to take your eyes off the world, and fix them
upon the Lamb of God which taketh away
the sin of the world. Let us talk more about what He
is to this movement, than we do about
some other things that engage so much of our time and
conversation...." -- Review and Herald,
Vol. 114, No. 41, October 14, 1937, pp. 4-6.
O how dreadfully clear
it is from every angle viewed that the grisled horses have led the
chariot into the world instead of out
of it! Even the General Conference President is pleading
with these world-loving leaders to
amend their ways and their doings (Jer. 7:3). But quitting
not their backward course, yet they
are retained by
Tract 2 55
the denomination, though they continue
leading the people away from God and from the
Spirit of Prophecy, and closer to the
world and its corrupting influence. And since they are
casting out those who are striving
to awaken the Laodiceans, will not the General Conference
President, in his efforts to
awaken, too, arouse to the ironical situation at hand, and instead of
longer supporting those self-willed
leaders, discharge them, and refellowship the "sighing,
crying ones" (Testimonies, Vol. 5,
p. 210) whom they have cast out?
And while the grisled horses
are bringing the tragedy upon themselves by languishing in "the
south country," lukewarm and satisfied
with their attainments, the bay horses, have "sought to
go that they might walk to and fro
through the earth"; that is, they have been making ready to
go, but could not go until told: "Get
you hence, walk to and fro through the earth." Finally,
though, they walk, signifying that
they are honored of God by bearing His standard in triumph
to the victory!
In this restraining circumstance,
is found proof again of the inerrancy of the Rod, for from the
beginning, it has proclaimed that the
three angels' messages cannot go to the ends of the earth
until after the fulfillment of Ezekiel
9, and after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as described
in Joel 2:28 -- the time in which the
Lord has prophetically said, "Go."
Tract 2 56
Had the present leaders,
those who are represented by "the grisled horses," taken heed to
the "Call for Reformation," and "had
these been little in their own eyes," says the Spirit of
Prophecy, and "trusted fully in the
Lord, He would have honored them with bearing His
standard in triumph to the victory.
But they separated from God, yielded to the influence of the
world, and the Lord rejected them."
-- Id.p.82. "So then because thou art lukewarm and
neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee
out of My mouth," saith the Lord. Rev. 3:16.
Then will they seek for
this "extra oil," but alas too late to profit by any answer to their
apprehensive questions: "Are
we...allowing the mantle to fall from our own shoulders upon
the shoulders of others? Are
we going to allow others to step into our places and call the
world to a reformation...?"
To be sure, "this movement"
(chariot) is destined to go forward triumphantly, but only behind
the leadership of the bay horses.
The chain of facts linked
herein concerning the church's condition is so solidly forged by
prophecy and history that none can
break it. Indeed each prophetic link is so manifest that
even the General Conference President
is alarmed. Yet despite this fact, the servant of the
Lord predicts that "the light which
will lighten the earth with its glory will be called a false
light, by
Tract 2 57
those who refuse to walk in its advancing glory." -- Review and Herald, May 27, 1890.
"In the manifestation of
the power that lightens the earth with its glory, they will see only
something which in their blindness
they think dangerous, something which will arouse their
fears and they will brace themselves
to resist it. Because the Lord does not work according to
their expectations and ideals, they
will oppose the work. Why, they say, should we not know
the Spirit of God, when we have been
in the work so many years?" -- Bible Training School,
1907, (Reprinted in Review and Herald,
Nov. 7, 1918).
"We need never expect that
when the Lord has light for His people, Satan will stand calmly
by, and make no effort to prevent them
from receiving it. He will work upon minds to excite
distrust and jealousy and unbelief.
Let us beware that we do not refuse the light God sends,
because it does not come in a way to
please us. Let not God's blessing be turned away from
us because we know not the time of
our visitation. If there are any who do not see and accept
the light themselves, let them not
stand in the way of others. Let it not be said of this highly
favored people, as of the Jews when
the good news of the kingdom was preached to them,
'They entered not in themselves,
and them that were entering in they hindered.' " --
Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 728.
Tract 2 58
This very sort of thing,
we remind our leading brethren, was precisely what occurred in the
impious treatment accorded the
message of 1888, when it was "slighted, spoken against,
ridiculed,... rejected," and "denounced
as leading to enthusiasm and fanaticism." --
Testimonies to Ministers, p. 468.
Would that that experience never be repeated. Sadly,
though, the Spirit of Prophecy says:
"The light which will lighten
the earth with its glory will be called a false light.... We entreat
of you who oppose the light of truth,
to stand out of the way of God's people. Let Heaven-sent
light shine forth upon them in clear
steady rays. God holds you, to whom this light has come,
responsible for the use you make of
it. Those who will not hear will be held responsible; for
the truth has been brought within their
reach, but they despised their opportunities and
privileges." -- Review and Herald,
May 27, 1890.
That nothing may be left
undone to warn them of this terrible disappointment about to
overtake them, we address still
another appeal
TO THE LEADING BRETHREN.
Dear Brethren:
Again we plead with you
that, even though you despise the source of the plea, you make a
through investigation of the
Tract 2 59
message that has come to you in the
name of the Lord, lest you repeat the history of the Jews.
For of all men, you should realize
most acutely the dreadful danger of closing your eyes and
stopping your ears, even though
it be to the words of only some poor "fisherman."
Unless you repent of your
present attitude toward the message, "and pray God, if perhaps the
thought of thine heart be forgiven
thee," then just so surely as your eyes now read these words,
your wrong course will bring upon you,
and that very shortly, the fulfillment of that fearful
pronouncement of the True Witness:
"Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with
goods, and have need of nothing [truth
or prophets]," "I will spue thee out of My mouth."
Brethren, remember that
"there is no pride so dangerous as spiritual pride. -- Testimonies to
Ministers p. 109.
Foreseeing that the message
was to find you full of self-complacence over your spiritual
attainments, the Lord mercifully
forewarned you: "Thou art neither cold nor hot;" that is, thou
art lukewarm, satisfied. "I would
thou wert cold or hot," -- dissatisfied, -- wanting everything
rather than feeling that you have need
of nothing. Then you would not by your actions be
saying, "I am rich, and increased with
goods and have need of nothing," -- neither truth nor
prophets, -- but would know
Tract 2 60
that "thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."
Brethren, may these disillusioning
words open your eyes that you may see yourselves as you
are, so that "the shame of thy nakedness
do not appear." The promise is unfailing: "Anoint
thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou
mayest see." Our prayers are that you fail not, for we love
you.
Remember that though the
Lord in His great mercy has called you out of darkness to walk in
His marvelous light, yet if you walk
not therein, your light shall become darkness and your
goods a booty.
Says the Lord: "I have
caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast
increased and waxen great, and
thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are
fashioned, and thine hair is
grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare." Ezek. 16:7. But "as
many as I love, I rebuke and chasten:
be zealous therefore, and repent." Rev. 3:19. Or
"therefore will I return, and take
away My corn in the time thereof, and My wine in the season
thereof, and will recover My wool and
My flax given to cover her nakedness." Hos. 2:9.
Take heed, Brethren, lest
by your willful course you incur God's displeasure and (speaking in
the mixed figures of these correlative
prophecies) in His awful wrath He strip you naked, and
"spue thee out of
Tract 2 61
[His] mouth." Then you will be "hot,"
but to no avail, for it will be forever too late to change
and though like Esau you shall weep
bitterly the Lord shall not hear you.
No more honest in their
deception than are you in yours, yet the Jews at least gave audience
to Christ, where as you have not been
that fair. Not-withstanding that Inspiration characterizes
you as "blind" and in "a terrible deception"
(Testimonies Vol. 3, p. 254), you are setting
yourselves up as wise spiritual guides,
even demanding that Inspiration bow down to your
decision as to what shall or what shall
not be brought before God's people! Your behavior is as
unreasonable as the strictures of the
ancient scribes and Pharisees against the teachings of
Christ!
Increasingly your challenging
attitude toward the present revelations from God's Word, is
crying out: "Who is the Lord, that
I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord
neither will I let Israel go." Ex.
5:2.
The Lord's counsel is:
"Precious light is to shine forth from the Word of God, and let no one
presume to dictate what shall or what
shall not be brought before the people in the messages
of enlightenment that He shall send,
and so quench the Spirit of God. Whatever may be his
position of authority, no one has a
right to shut away the light from the people." -- Testimonies
on Sabbath School Work p. 65.
Tract 2 62
"God means what He says. -- Testimonies Vol. 5, p. 365.
"Men...through selfishness...crowd
down the very ones whom God is using to diffuse the light
He has given them...Satan's skill is
exercised....He works to restrict religious
liberty....Organizations...will work
under Satan's dictation to bring men under the control of
men; and fraud and guile will bear
the semblance of zeal for truth and for the advancement of
the kingdom of God....such men assume
to exercise the prerogatives of God -- they presume to
do that which God Himseif will not
do in seeking to control the minds of men. Thus they follow
in the track of Romanism....
In such arrangements the man who allows his mind to be ruled by
the mind of another is thus separated
from God and exposed to temptation....but God has
plainly set it before us. He
says, 'Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his
arm. -- Testimonies Vol. 7, pp.
179, 180, 181, 178.
Calling yourselves men
of "experience," you say: "If a brother has any light on the
Scriptures, let him submit it
to us, and if we see no light in it, let him drop it." But, Brethren,
how can you see light in anything without
looking into it? And how can you discern spiritual
things unless you "anoint thine eyes
with eyesalve ['revealed truth'], that thou mayest see"?
Refusing to do this, how will you ever
discern truth?
Tract 2 63
Why should we renounce
the message in the Rod when you have so utterly failed to prove it
to be in error? Why cast aside
precious gems of truth simply because the majority cannot tell
them from paste jewels? You have
long been leveling stout words against the tyrannies of
others, but now how about your own!
You charge that our position "puts us in bad company."
But you do not realize what you say,
and that we stand in identically the same position today
as did John the Baptist, Christ, the
apostles, Luther, and Miller in the yesterdays, and as did the
founders of the S.D.A. denomination;
not in the position which you are trying to make us
appear to be in -- that which the opposers
of truth have always occupied, and by which
thousands have been cheated of heaven's
blessing! Brethren, really prove us wrong, and you
will then see how quickly we will change
our position!
Our unfailing concern is
that you will take heed to the counsel of the True Witness, and
confess your poverty of spiritual things,
lest He pronounce upon you the dreadful woe: "Howl,
ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves
in the ashes, ye principle of the flock: for the
days of your slaughter and of your
dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a
pleasant vessel" (Jer. 25:34), and
thus be missing when "it shall come to pass afterward, that I
will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh;
and your sons and your daughters
Tract 2 64
shall prophesy, your old men shall dream
dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also
upon the servants and upon the handmaids
in those days will I pour out My Spirit." Joel 2:28,
29. Speaking of this time, the
Spirit of Prophecy declares: "Mighty miracles were wrought, the
sick were healed, and signs and wonders
followed the believers." -- Early Writings, p. 278.
O what unbounding folly
and loss to pursue a wrong course, and lose out in a time like this,
when the privilege is being accorded
you to choose rather to "sit down with Abraham, and
Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of
heaven"! Matt. 8:11. May you not fail.
Sincerely yours for a humble
spirit and the happy choice,
Your friend and servant.
Though exceedingly burdened
for our leading brethren that they lay to heart the Lord's
counsel just tendered, we are likewise
burdened that the laity also lay well to heart the Lord's
counsel to them. Thus, impartially,
we now address
A WORD TO THE ELECT OF GOD, THE 144,000!
Dear Brethren:
To you who hear the voice
of the Good Shepherd, and who are not known to us by name, but
only by prospective number
Tract 2 65
(144,000) and office (God's guileless
servants, kings, and priests), -- to each of you comes the
solemn certainty that the sealing time
is very short, its end very near. Therefore, Brother,
Sister, make sure that you receive
the seal of God on time; do not delay the return to our Eden
home. "Today if ye will hear His voice,
harden not your hearts." Heb. 4:7. He that is on the
Lord's side, let him tarry no longer.
The time has fully arrived for the 144,000 to come into line
with God's program for the finishing
of His work and the preparing of them for translation. So,
saith the Lord: "As a shepherd seeketh
out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that
are scattered; so will I seek out My
sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they
have been scattered in the cloudy and
dark day." Ezek. 34:12. "And the Lord their God shall
save them in that day as the flock
of His people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown,
lifted up as an ensign upon His land."
Zech. 9:16.
Make haste Brother, Sister;
immediately take your stand on the Lord's side, so that He may,
because of your "sighing" (repenting)
and "crying" (proclaiming the sealing message), without
delay disclose "to view" as the "servants
of our God," you who shall escape being among the
"slain of the Lord," be sent unto the
Gentiles, and "bring all your brethren...out of all nations."
Isa. 66:16, 19, 20.
Tract 2 66
Study the message for yourselves,
and forbid that any flesh interfere with your salvation.
Make your own decision independently
of any man, and know for yourself that God is leading
you as He did when you were to become
as S.D.A. Accept neither priest nor prelate as your
God. "Be ye not as the horse,
or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth
must be held in with bit and bridle,
lest they come near unto thee." Ps.32:9. Why should you
trip and fall over the same stumbling
block which has plunged millions headlong into hell?
Look up, Brother, Sister, and avoid
the calamity ahead, and help others also to avoid it.
And as for those who are
deaf to the voice of the Good Shepherd, "my soul shall weep in
secret places for your pride; and mine
eye shall weep sore and run down with tears, because
the Lord s flock is carried away captive."
Jer. 13:17." Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord,
that He hath taken against Edom; and
His purposes, that He hath purposed against the
inhabitants." Jer. 49:20. "And
the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the
flock to escape." Jer. 25:35.
Now our great desire and
hope is that each one of you will communicate with us without
delay, so that in accordance with God's
Word we may together launch a program for the
"siege," and in such a manner
Tract 2 67
that we can present to the enemy a united
front. Then will God work; then will the barriers
which have been erected against the
Truth and against His servants who are to "be disclosed
to view," fall like the walls of Jericho!
"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith
unto the churches." Rev. 3:22
Yours is "to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound;
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day
of vengeance of our God; to comfort
all that mourn." Isa. 61:1, 2. What an unmatched privilege!
God forbid that any forfeit it.
Sincerely yours for implicit trust in
God and for green pasture
for His flock,
Your friend and servant