Dear Elders and Laity:
The burden of this letter is especially for you Elders who seem to think that you and the booklet entitled "A Reply to The Shepherd's Rod" have refuted the doctrines which are taught in "The Shepherd's Rod" publications. You are certainly beguiled by the booklet's so-called great men, supposedly "men of experience." We would have you to know that they have refuted nothing, and here follow the plain naked facts:
Since the Brethren's whole burden is to refute the "Rod" doctrines on the subjects of the harvest and of the 144,000, we shall now deal strictly with these two subjects. "A Reply To The Shepherd's Rod," page 16, quotes the following from "Christ's Object Lessons":
"The tares and the wheat are to grow together until the harvest; and the harvest is the end of probationary time." -- "Christ's Object Lessons," p. 72.
By this quotation the Elders try to make us believe that the harvest takes place after the close of probation! But they certainly must know that "probationary time" does not end after the close of probation, but before; and that thus the quotation places the harvest before probation closes, that the "end of probationary time" causes probation to close. Since you Elders are well versed in the English language, we are constrained to say that your trying to make yourself believe that the quotation says what it does not say, cannot be charged to ignorance or to oversight but rather to deliberate side-stepping, attempting to falsely refute the "Rod" and thus to cheat the laity of Its special message for these trying times. Yes, "men of experience," but what kind?
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One can go through the whole booklet and find every quotation thus twisted and distorted! If they could not have correctly seen what "Christ's Object Lessons" says, they most certainly have not failed to see that their error is corrected by the following inspired statement:
"I then saw the third angel. Said my accompanying angel, 'Fearful is his work. Awful is his mission. He is the angel that is to select the wheat from the tares, and seal, or bind, the wheat for the heavenly garner. These things should engross the whole mind, the whole attention.'" -- "Early Writings," p. 118.
This quotation, too, Brother, Sister, needs no interpretation. It, too, plainly tells that the harvest precedes the close of probation, that the Third Angel's Message is both to seal and "select the wheat from the tares." Every Seventh-day Adventist knows that this work of the angel is probationary (during the time of salvation). Here you see that the cleansing of the sanctuary (Dan. 8:14) is the Judgment for the Living, "the purification of the church" (5 T 80), which is accomplished by destroying the "tares" and sparing the "wheat." Then the Loud Cry begins with a pure ministry imbued with the Spirit of God. This is plainly seen from the following excerpts:
"Only those who have withstood and overcome temptation in the strength of the Mighty One will be permitted to act a part in proclaiming it [Third Angel's Message] when it shall have swelled into the Loud Cry. -- "Review and Herald," Nov. 19, 1908.
"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.
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No plainer language can be employed by which to declare that the Loud Cry is proclaimed by a pure ministry and that after this separation or purification ("Testimonies," Vol. 5, pp. 80, 82) takes place, then it is that the work is finished in all the world, that then are the saints truly called out of Babylon into a sinless place -- into the church purified, the ark for today, the only place where the plagues do not fall.
Our prayerful hope, Brethren, is that you will sit down to business and study the additional Truth ("Early Writings," p. 277) so that you be not led to bitterly cry out: "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." Jer. 8:20. The harvest you again see, takes place during the time of salvation.
Brethren, do not lightly pass over this important Truth. Definitely take your stand for It and completely denounce Its enemies if you are to escape the fast approaching scourge, the "Judgment in the house of God" (1 Pet. 4:17). The situation demands action to the end that a revival and reformation be immediately effected, lest we all perish in our Laodicean self-deception ("Testimonies," Vol. 9, p. 126).
By twistings of Divine revelations as these lines point out, you Elders may convince a surface reader that you have refuted the Rod of God, but as far as we know you have never yet so convinced any normal minded Davidian, or any S.D.A. thinker. Anyone with normal reasoning powers can go through the whole book, "A Reply To The Shepherd's Rod," and there find that "a reply" is all it is. It is now plainly seen that not Brother Houteff, but you Elders are misinterpreting the Word of God and misleading the laity.
We shall now take up the Denomination's theology on the subject of the 144,000. You Elders proudly
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tell us that the Denomination now numbers nearly a million members, and that she has set her goal to double the membership. On one hand you brag about Its rapid growth and on the other hand you try to refute "The Shepherd's Rod" teaching that the great multitude of Revelation 7:9 are the second fruits of the harvest. By your positively holding that the living saints are to be only a few in number, and by your bragging about the Denomination's rapid growth and of her multiple hundreds of thousands already in the church, you are thus creating a paradox for yourselves and for all your sympathizers. Besides this, you admit that the greatest part of the work is yet to be done -- that there are millions upon millions even in the United States itself who have not as yet heard so much as the name Seventh-day Adventist, much less "the everlasting gospel." Plain it is, therefore, Brethren, that at the present ratio of growth, when the work is finished and Jesus comes to take His church to glory-land, the Denomination by then will have grown to several millions strong.
Notwithstanding this background that you Elders have yourselves built up, yet contrary to it all, you teach that when Jesus comes, there will be only 144,000 living saints, no more! Are you Elders not confused and confusing? If you really believe your theory of the 144,000, then will you in the Spirit of Christ and at least for your own soul's sake, take paper and pencil and accordingly figure the percentage of saints and the percentage of devils, or tares, that even now constitute the membership of our churches? Since the membership already numbers no less than 800,000, and if there be only 144,000 saints in it, then according to this ratio a congregation of 100 members would consist of about 18 saints and 82 devils! And since the officers who run the churches are elected by majority vote, do you see who elected them, who is in office, and who is in control of the churches? Do you wonder then why things are running as they are?
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If it be true that there are to be only 144,000 living saints when Jesus comes, and if the membership doubles by the end of 1953 or 1954 as the aim seems to be, then at that rate in 1955 according to your own calculation, there will be only 9 saints to 91 devils out of every hundred members. Accordingly if the membership doubles several times before Jesus comes to receive His church then there will not be even one saint in a hundred members! If this be so, then ask yourselves whose church is the church? -- the Devil's? or the Lord's? and where shall He look for it when He comes?
These sad facts stand as high as mountains against your private interpretations, Elders, and as eye-openers to your flocks. If you therefore continue to say that you are not asleep, that your interpretation of the Word is unquestionable, that you have all the Truth to take you through the Pearly Gates, that you have need of nothing more, than there is no hope; you are too far gone.
We personally know, though, that there are many who are not so badly fooled, who have not bowed the knee to Baal, who have not permitted themselves to be locked in corrals as it were, like sheep and cattle, by imposters and so-called "men of experience that control and feed the flock of God there with such low grade husks as these lines disclose.
Your bragging about the Denomination's numerous conversions the world over now challenges you to honestly answer the questions that here ensue: Why are you Elders jubilantly bringing the multitudes into the churches if you positively know that only 144,000 out of a vast multitude of church members are to be worthy of salvation? Why are you giving them hope of a home in the Kingdom if you positively know that they cannot be saved? Is not such an ingathering outright deception and the greatest endeavor to infiltrate the church with tares ever heard of, and is it not spiritual whoredom of the
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worst kind to fill the church of God with devils? In the following quotation Inspiration further magnifies this Truth:
"I saw jets of light shining from cities and villages, and from the high places and the low places of the earth. God's word was obeyed, and as a result there were memorials for Him in every city and village. His truth was proclaimed throughout the world." -- "Testimonies," Vol. 9, p. 28.
Jets of light from cities and villages, from high and low places of the earth, and "memorials" in every city and village, represent a great multitude, not merely 144,000. Even if there were no more than one jet or memorial in every city and village, the number of them would be many, many times more than 144,000.
To cover up the deep slumber that is reflected by the aforesaid figures, one minister explained: "When the work closes," he said, "there would be in the church many more thousands than 144,000 living saints, but rather than being translated, the greater number of them will have to die from the plagues or from epidemics before Jesus comes, because they could not be good enough for translation although perfect enough for resurrection!
What an eye-opener to the laity these outstanding false doctrines! And what a compelling power now for you Elders to admit Christ's charge that you, the "angel" of the church of the Laodiceans, are "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Rev. 3:17. If the Spirit of Truth cannot now so convince you, then He never will. Wisdom, though, cries out that you had better now confess to the laity that you are guilty of passing out falsehood, and take to heart the Lord's counsel:
"I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire [inspired Truth], that thou mayest be rich;,
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and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint shine eyes with eye-salve [such as this], that thou mayest see. As many as l love I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." Rev. 3:18, 19.
Your nakedness you see, is already beginning to be uncovered. For your sake these things have been kept away from the public eye, but since you have completely scorned every Heaven-sent plea for twenty long years, you are reaping a harvest. And if you do not now respond to this final revelation against the abominations in your midst, and to this plea for a reformation, then every one will know that your doings, Elders are deliberate attempts to deceive "the very elect," the 144,000 who, according to prophecy, are already in the church.
If you ever intend to do something different from what you are now doing, you had better do it at this very moment. Now is the time to take to heart what the Spirit of Prophecy warned long ago. Do not fail to read "Testimonies," Vol. 5, p. 80; Vol. 3, p. 252 and on.
Is it not shocking to you Elders who with one corner of your mouths teach these heresies and with the other corner of your mouths shout to your flocks to look out for the "The Shepherd's Rod," that It teaches error! What a paradox this is!
What is really surprising, though, is that there are not a few, especially of the laity, who, without a question and with their eyes closed like birds in a nest, swallow whatever their confused Elders hand to them. These are the very ones who encourage the Elders to do what they are now doing. Such are too lazy to think, and too drowsy to open their eyes and to study for themselves. They expect the minister to carry them in his arms right into Heaven! They have forgotten that everyone must on his own legs get there.
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Their falling for private (uninspired) interpretations of the Scriptures, such as you Elders teach concerning the 144,000, is incredible indeed. They are not all so fooled, though; many of them are already discovering that all such perpetrators are underground agents of un-Adventist activities. God's true people know that though Jesus, by the name Michael, comes in a time of trouble such as never was, yet He delivers everyone whose name is written in the book, and that all God's people who are at that time in Babylon, the world, and thus subject to the plagues, are all called out (Rev. 18:4), and as they come out of her and into God's purified church they all escape the plagues; none have to die for any such reason. They all know that if they are good enough to come up in the first resurrection, they are good enough for translation. They know that the standard of salvation is not lower for the resurrected than it is for the translated.
The Elders who have gone so deeply into darkness, if they are to be helped, the laity must compel them to really prove their teachings by the Bible; for such strange, inconsistent and erroneous theology, heresy of the lowest type, purposely devised to fight Truth with it, is certain to plunge them and their sympathizers to the bottom of the pit. If they continue to fight the "Rod," do not let them take you into something else, or to personalities, let them fight It in what It says here.
They should be shown that what the "Rod" teaches It proves. Then they should be made to understand that their following the head men who have usurped the title "men of experience," and who have infiltrated the church of today with tares and error in no lessen degree than did the Sanhedrin-heresy teachers in Christ's day, will lead them and all their sympathizers into hell.
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The Elders are warning the laity not to read the 'Rod," but to burn It, only because they are determined to keep them in darkness so that they may never discover the delusion into which they have been led. Notwithstanding the ministers' command, "Thou shalt not," many of the laity are already beginning to see that before they voice their opinion, and before they set their stakes, they had better look into these things for themselves.
Thanks be to God that the 144,000 are not all the living saints that they are but the "first fruits" (Rev. 14:4) of the great harvest that they are not from all nations but only from the twelve tribes of the children of Israel (Rev. 7:4-8) -- the fruits from the church at the commencement of the harvest (Judgment for the Living). The great multitude, though, which John saw immediately after the sealing of the 144,000, are "from all nations" (Rev. 7:9), over whom Babylon then rules (Rev. 17), and who are called to come out of her (Rev. 18:4). They are the second fruits.
God will have a church filled with saints, not with devils. None will have to die to be saved, but all may live to be delivered by Michael's standing up (Dan. 12:1).
"Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time." Isa. 60:21, 22. Does not this scripture also say that there are to be multitudes of true conversions and no devils in their midst? Why limit the Lord?
It is your duty, Brother, Sister, to tell plainly and kindly to your Elders that the term "first fruits" (Rev. 14:4) definitely implies that there are to be second fruits, just as does the term "first resurrection" (Rev. 20:5) definitely imply
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that there is to be a second resurrection. Tell them that they had better not meddle with the Word of God. Tell them that since Inspiration does not say that the great multitude are the resurrected ones, they have no right to say that they are the resurrected. Tell them that their adding the word "resurrected," and their taking away the words "second fruits" which are implied by the term "first fruits," is nothing short of deliberately adding to, and taking from, the Word of God (Rev. 22:18-20).
This alone is enough to convince any open-eyed Adventist that the church is at sea "without chart or compass." But should we not be thankful that the "Rod" has found both the chart and the compass, and that we may have them back if we want them?
Elders, it is certain that if the laity allow you to continue on with the head men's foolishness, you will prove no less detrimental to the church at this time than did the pious priests in Christ's time, who, by their Sanhedrin foolishness proved detrimental to the Old Testament church. Yes, as surely as God lives, their foolishness, selfwill, and supposedly wise judgment will prove no less detrimental to the Denomination than did Hitler's foolishness and his false philosophy prove detrimental to Germany.
Do you Elders realize that in your tirades against "The Shepherd's Rod," you do not at all deal with the issues involved, but instead you boast about goals raised and about saintly men running the churches? Just how does that refute the "Rod"? Obviously you Elders do not know that such boasting is condemned by the Scriptures (Jer. 7:4). Evidently you have not read "Testimonies," Vol. 5, p. 217. Heretofore you have been talking generalities and scattering character defamation, but now you will have to deal with the issue! We are sure that the Spirit of God through the laity will demand this of you.
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Since the church as a body has never since the beginning of the world accepted a new message, and since the ministry in every age and in every church has bitterly fought it, it is not surprising that they are now doing the same. Your decision now, as always, must therefore be altogether an individual matter. But remember that your decision is not to be that of joining something, but of joining Christ and His Judgment message for the salvation and prosperity of the Denomination. Stay in it and work for its return to God. It is not Babylon, and do not let them intimidate you to leave it. They may take your name off of their church records which are now devised for no other purpose but upon which to base their goals and other money raising campaigns, but that is all they can do. If you want to know why the church is not Babylon and what Babylon is, then you had better study "The Shepherd's Rod."
If you are convinced of the facts brought out in these pages, and if you pray for forgiveness and for guidance, then happy shall you be, and your hope shall not be in vain. But if this fails to open your eyes, then what hope is there for you but forever to abide in your Laodicean self-deception and to spend eternity in the company of those who crucified the Lord? The Spirit's recommendation for the Laodicean malady is this: "Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." 1 Thess. 517-21. Do as the noble Bereans who "received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so." Acts 17:11. "Knowing this first that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation" (2 Peter 1:20), that only by Divine gift of interpretation can prophecy be interpreted. Cease from all un-Adventist activities; return to God. Shun uninspired interpretations of the Scriptures
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lest you be led not by the Spirit of "all Truth," but by the spirit of the Devil that is working through everyone who engages in private interpretations of the Scriptures to keep himself and others in darkness and away from the Spirit of Truth for this very time. "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" (Isa. 2:22), but do something to save them.
