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What is the basis?
One glance around the church and we see that God does not have a purified, peculiar people. Satan definitely has stalled the forward movement of our church with many asleep to this fact. Be comforted in knowing that it was prophesied to be this way. But it will not stay this way “for he will finish the work, and cut [it] short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth” (Romans 9:28).
So, who made people judge in the church, when it comes to open sin in the church, the answer is God. “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?” (1 Corinthians 6:2).
What are the facts?
“The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall” {Last Day Events, page 180}. If there is any handful of references that frequent this newsletter or is spoken among Adventists, it would be this one. But here is the rest of the story. “It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out--the chaff separated from the precious wheat.” When this happens, what is God left with? A pure, peculiar people.
“Their foundation would be built on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure” {Selected Messages, Book 1, page 204}. Here is a statement that is part of a larger quote that is also frequented in our newsletter and among those that are aware of events. After a reorganization of things with books of a new order, the end result is that the existing structure will be swept away. God’s church is going to look a lot different without the man-made restructure.
“Those who have rendered supreme homage to "science falsely so called" will not be the leaders then. Those who have trusted to intellect, genius, or talent will not then stand at the head of rank and file. They did not keep pace with the light. Those who have proved themselves unfaithful will not then be entrusted with the flock. In the last solemn work few great men will be engaged” {Testimonies for the Church, volume 5, page 80}. Our leadership, who especially are involved in pushing a different agenda as noted under the quote about books of a new order, will not be the leaders of the church.
There is a time of trouble coming to the people of God, but we are not to keep that constantly before the people and rein them up to have a time of trouble beforehand. There is to be a shaking among God's people, but this is not the present truth to carry to the churches.--1SM 180 (1890) {Last Day Events, page 17}. While not to be “constantly” before the people, we are not to be in ignorance regarding this matter. A hundred and twenty years later, it may be present truth today. After all, we never have seen such a polarization as we do today.
Who is allowing the wrestling in the church?
He will purify His church, even as Christ purified the temple during His ministry on earth. All that He brings upon His people in test and trial comes that they may gain deeper piety and greater strength to carry forward the triumphs of the cross. {Acts of the Apostles, page 524}
In the affliction designed to purify them, the power of the gospel is to be their consolation. In His sure word they have a fortress. {Our High Calling, page 317}
God is leading out a people to stand in perfect unity upon the platform of eternal truth. Christ gave Himself to the world that He might "purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." This refining process is designed to purge the church from all unrighteousness and the spirit of discord and contention, that they may build up instead of tear down, and concentrate their energies on the great work before them. God designs that His people should all come into the unity of the faith. The prayer of Christ just prior to His crucifixion was that His disciples might be one, even as He was one with the Father, that the world might believe that the Father had sent Him. This most touching and wonderful prayer reaches down the ages, even to our day; for His words were: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word." {Testimonies for the Church, volume 4, page 17}
Jesus died to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. {Testimonies for the Church, volume 4, page 332}
"God is sifting His people. He will have a clean and holy church. We cannot read the heart of man. But the Lord has provided means to keep the church pure. A corrupt people has arisen who could not live with the people of God. They despised reproof, and would not be corrected. They had an opportunity to know that theirs was an unrighteous warfare. They had time to repent of their wrongs; but self was too dear to die. They nourished it, and it grew strong, and they separated from the trusting people of God, whom He is purifying unto Himself. We all have reason to thank God that a way has been opened to save the church; for the wrath of God must have come upon us if these corrupt pretenders had remained with us. {Testimonies For The Church, volume 1, page 99}
The powerful and purifying influence of the Spirit of God upon the heart, carried out in words and works, separates them from the world, and designates them as God's peculiar people. The character and disposition of Christ's followers will be like the Master. He is the pattern, the holy and perfect example given for Christians to imitate. The true followers of Christ will love their brethren and be in harmony with them. They will love their neighbors, as Christ has given them an example, and will make any sacrifice if they can by so doing persuade souls to leave their sins and be converted to the truth. {Testimony to the Church, page 79}
In short, God is going to allow events to shake up His church. The end result is a pure church. “While Christ is at work to preserve a pure church in the earth, Satan ever seeks to counteract his agency and work. Spurious Christians are found in the church of God; for we find men, while professing the name of Christ, more firmly united to Satan than they are united with pure and holy influences.” {The Review and Herald, January 3, 1893 par. 10}
Why must we go through this?
Hearts will be refined and purified, made fit for the indwelling of the Lord Jesus. {The Review and Herald, January 12, 1911 par. 13}
Now God calls upon those who claim to believe the truth to show to the world its converting power on the heart and character, and to reveal to the world that they are of the number who are being purified, and made white, and tried. {The Review and Herald, March 7, 1899 par. 9}
The Church is in great need of purification. There are sins that are unrepented of and unconfessed. The poison of sin must be cleansed from the Church. {The Review and Herald, February 12, 1901 par. 21}
If ever a people needed the purifying, sanctifying influence of the truth of the living God, it is the Seventh-day Adventists. {The General Conference Bulletin, April 14, 1903 par. 47}
God cannot pour out His Spirit when selfishness and self-indulgence are so manifest; when a spirit prevails that, if put into words, would express that answer of Cain,-- "Am I my brother's keeper?"--R. & H., July 21, 1896. {Counsels on Stewardship, page 52}
John says, "I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory." Then, as at the Pentecostal season, the people will hear the truth spoken to them, every man in his own tongue. God can breathe new life into every soul that sincerely desires to serve him, and can touch the lips with a live coal from off the altar, and cause them to become eloquent with his praise. Thousands of voices will be imbued with the power to speak forth the wonderful truths of God's word. The stammering tongue will be unloosed, and the timid will be made strong to bear courageous testimony to the truth. May the Lord help his people to cleanse the soul temple from every defilement, and to maintain such a close connection with him that they may be partakers of the latter rain when it shall be poured out. {The Review and Herald, July 20, 1886 par. 10}
When the latter rain is poured out, the church will be clothed with power for its work; but the church as a whole will never receive this until its members shall put away from among them, envy, evil-surmisings, and evil-speaking. Those who cherish these sins know not the blessed experience of love; they are not awake to the fact that the Lord is testing and proving their love for him by the attitude they assume toward one another. Christ says to us, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." When this commandment is obeyed, envy, evil-speaking, evil-surmising, and evil-thinking will not be indulged; they will have no part in the formation of character. {The Review and Herald, October 6, 1896 par. 9}
But the latter rain will never refresh and invigorate indolent souls, that are not using the power God has already given them. Spiritual laziness will not bring us nearer to God. There must be energy and zeal as well as devotion and personal piety, woven into all our works. {Signs of the Times, December 9, 1886 par. 10}
Christ gave Himself for us, to redeem us from all iniquity, that He might purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. His church must be kept free from all false doctrine (MS 46, 1905). {S.D.A. Bible Commentary, volume 6, page 1083}
The Lord is willing to help us, to strengthen and bless us; but we must pass through the refining process until all the impurities in our character are burned away. Every member of the church will be subjected to the furnace, not to consume, but to purify. {Testimonies For The Church, volume 5, page 485}
I saw that the testimony of the True Witness has not been half heeded. The solemn testimony upon which the destiny of the church hangs has been lightly esteemed, if not entirely disregarded. This testimony must work deep repentance; all who truly receive it will obey it, and be purified. {Christian Experience and Teachings of Ellen G. White, page 176}
The Lord would have His church purified from all contention and strife. Every phase of character is to be in harmony with the character of Jesus Christ. Unity will then be seen as the sure result. {Testimonies to Southern Africa, page 57}
While Christ pleads in your behalf, plead for yourselves that you may be purified from every unrighteous thought, every unholy action. Make an entire surrender to God, of body, soul, and spirit. Be determined to do all in your power to learn the true science of soul-saving. While the light of God's day of mercy still shines, gather up every divine ray. {Letters From Ellen G. White To Sanitarium Workers in Southern California, page 31}
How will God purify His church?
When the truth begins to purify them and purge away their dross and tin, as it surely will when it is received in the love of it, the one who has this great work done for him will not feel that he is rich and increased in goods and has need of nothing. {Early Writings, page 118}
The truth of God will purify the true believer. He who is thoroughly converted will abandon every defiling habit and appetite. By total abstinence he will overcome his desire for health-destroying indulgences.--Letter 49, 1902. {Evangelism, 264}
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 cannot 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.--Lt 4, 1895. {The Publishing Ministry, page 170}
Just as long as God has a church, he will have those who will cry aloud and spare not, who will be his instruments to reprove selfishness and sins, and will not shun to declare the whole counsel of God, whether men will hear or forbear. I saw that individuals would rise up against the plain testimonies. It does not suit their natural feelings. They would choose to have smooth things spoken unto them, and have peace cried in their ears. I view the church in a more dangerous condition than they ever have been. Experimental religion is known but by a few. The shaking must soon take place to purify the church. {Spiritual Gifts, volume 2, page 284}
I have been shown that the Lord is reviving the living, pointed testimony, which will develop character and purify the church. {Testimonies For The Church, volume 1, page 216}
He will purify all who yield themselves to Him, and will make them a praise in the earth. Nothing else in this world is so dear to God as His church. {Testimonies For The Church, volume 7, page 242}
Beware how you place yourself in opposition to the work of health reform. It will go forward; for it is the Lord's means of lessening the suffering in our world, and of purifying His people. {Counsels on Diet and Foods, page 38}
The message which God had sent for the testing and purification of the church, revealed all too surely how great was the number who had set their affections on this world rather than upon Christ. {Evangelism, page 198}
We are to be consecrated channels, through which the heavenly life is to flow to others. The Holy Spirit is to animate and pervade the whole church, purifying and cementing hearts. Those who have been buried with Christ in baptism are to rise to newness of life, giving a living representation of the life of Christ. . . . You are dedicated to the work of making known the gospel of salvation. Heaven's perfection is to be your power. {The Faith I Live By, page 149}
The church of God, hated and persecuted by the world, are educated and disciplined in the school of Christ. They walk in narrow paths on earth; they are purified in the furnace of affliction. They follow Christ through sore conflicts; they endure self-denial, and experience bitter disappointments; but their painful experience teaches them the guilt and woe of sin, and they look upon it with abhorrence. Being partakers of Christ's sufferings, they are destined to be partakers of His glory. {Sons and Daughters of God, page 74}
The ministers whom God ordains and accepts as his chosen laborers will be men of integrity. They may, some of them, be unlearned and ignorant men; but grace will reign in their hearts, inspiring them with faith and purifying the motives that govern the outward conduct. They will be living examples of the mind and spirit of Christ, known and read of all men. {Special Testimony to the Battle Creek Church, page 9}
What role do we play?
Those who have too little courage to reprove wrong, or who through indolence or lack of interest make no earnest effort to purify the family or the church of God, are held accountable for the evil that may result from their neglect of duty. We are just as responsible for evils that we might have checked in others by exercise of parental or pastoral authority, as if the acts had been our own. {Child Guidance, page 235}
If Christ is in the heart, He will appear in the home, in the workshop, in the marketplace, in the church. The power of the truth will be felt in elevating, ennobling the mind and softening and subduing the heart, bringing the whole man into harmony with God. He who is transformed by the truth will shed a light upon the world. He that hath the hope of Christ in him will purify himself even as He is pure. The hope of Christ's appearing is a large hope, a far-reaching hope. It is the hope of seeing the King in His beauty and of being made like Him. {Faith and Works, 116}
Parents need to awake, and purify their souls by practicing the truth in their home life. When we reach the standard that the Lord would have us reach, worldlings will regard Seventh-day Adventists as odd, singular, strait-laced extremists. "We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men." {Fundamentals of Christian Education, page 289}
The work of the people of God in the world is to restrain evil, to elevate, to purify, and to ennoble mankind. The principles of kindness and love and benevolence are to uproot every fiber of the selfishness that has permeated all society and corrupted the church. . . . If men and women will open their hearts to the heavenly influence of truth and love, these principles will flow forth again, like streams in the desert, refreshing all, and causing freshness to appear where now are barrenness and dearth. The influence of those who keep the way of the Lord will be as far-reaching as eternity. They will carry with them the cheerfulness of heavenly peace as an abiding, refreshing, enlightening power. {God's Amazing Grace, page 124}
Souls around us must be aroused and saved, or they perish. Not a moment have we to lose. We all have an influence that tells for the truth, or against it. I desire to carry with me unmistakable evidences that I am one of Christ's disciples. We want something besides Sabbath religion. We need the living principle, and to daily feel individual responsibility. This is shunned by many, and the fruit is carelessness, indifference, a lack of watchfulness and spirituality. Where is the spirituality of the church? Where are men and women full of faith and the Holy Spirit? My prayer is, Purify thy church, O God. For months I have enjoyed freedom, and I am determined to order my conversation, and all my ways, aright before the Lord. {Life Sketches of James White and Ellen G. White, page 315}
Satan will work his miracles to deceive; he will set up his power as supreme. The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out--the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place. None but those who have been overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true, without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths.... The remnant that purify their souls by obeying the truth gather strength from the trying process, exhibiting the beauty of holiness amid the surrounding apostasy. {Maranatha, page 203}
Teachers of the truth, missionaries, officers in the church, can do a good work for the Master if they will but purify their own souls by obeying the truth. Every living Christian will be a disinterested worker for God. The Lord has given us a knowledge of His will that we may become channels of light to others. If Christ is abiding in us, we cannot help working for Him. It is impossible to retain the favor of God and enjoy the blessing of a Saviour's love, and yet be indifferent to the danger of those who are perishing in their sins. "Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." {Testimonies For The Church, volume 5, page 238}
The converting power of God must come to your own hearts and sanctify your own lives and refine and purify your own characters, before you will be a help to the cause of God in any place. You are both far from God. Self and self-esteem are standing directly in the way of your advancement, and you will not make progress until you have a sense of your own defects of character. {Manuscript Releases, volume 19, page 56}
As a people professing to be reformers, treasuring the most solemn, purifying truths of God's word, we must elevate the standard far higher than it is at the present time. Sin and sinners in the church must be promptly dealt with, that others may not be contaminated. Truth and purity require that we make more thorough work to cleanse the camp from Achans. Let those in responsible positions not suffer sin in a brother. Show him that he must either put away his sins or be separated from the church. {Counsels On Health, page 626}
Just as long as you allow pride to dwell in your hearts, so long will you lack power in your work. For years a wrong spirit has been cherished, a spirit of pride, a desire for preeminence. In this Satan is served, and God is dishonored. The Lord calls for a decided reformation. . . . Let [a truly reconverted soul] renew his covenant with God, and God will renew His covenant with him. . . . Let angels and men see that there is forgiveness of sin with God. Extraordinary power from God must take hold of Seventh-day Adventist churches. Re-conversion must take place among the members, that as God's witnesses they may testify to the authoritative power of the truth that sanctifies the soul. Renewed, purified, sanctified, the church must be, else the wrath of God will fall upon them with much greater power than upon those who have never professed to be saints. {Lift Him Up, page 301}
The church above united with the church below is warring the good warfare upon the earth. There must be a purifying of the soul here upon the earth, in harmony with Christ's cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven. {Maranatha, page 249}
John was a teacher of holiness, and in his letters to the church he laid down unerring rules for the conduct of Christians. "Every man that hath this hope in him," he wrote, "purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (1 John 3:3). . . . He taught that the Christian must be pure in heart and life. Never should he be satisfied with an empty profession. As God is holy in His sphere, so fallen man, through faith in Christ, is to be holy in his sphere. . . . {Reflecting Christ, page 81}
Let the churches who claim to believe the truth, who are advocating the law of God, keep that law and depart from all iniquity. Let the individual members of the church resist the temptations to practice evils and indulge in sin. Let the church commence the work of purification before God by repentance, humiliation, deep heart searching, for we are in the antitypical day of atonement --solemn hour fraught with eternal results. {Selected Messages, book 2, page 378}
Men of action are needed --men who will labor with earnest, ceaseless energy for the purifying of the church and the warning of the world. {Testimonies for the Church, volume 5, page 187}
This labor of purifying the church is a painful work, but one that must not be neglected, if the church would have the commendation of God. But repent, because thou hast left thy first love. Here is plainly presented before us our work as members of the church of Christ. {The Review And Herald, June 7, 1887 par. 17}
God calls for a thorough purification of households and institutions. {The Review And Herald, July 15, 1902 par. 10}
It is the faith that works by love that purifies from every species of selfishness. When the members of the church have this manner of faith, they recognize their mutual obligation and dependence. {Manuscript Releases, Volume 2, page 267}
The inner sanctuary of the soul is consecrated to God and we are to keep the soul dedicated, cleansed, purified for the sacred repository of truth. . . . {Manuscript Releases, Volume 11, page 38}
There is to be a decided work done of purification of leading men who need to be true as steel to principle. {Manuscript Releases, Volume 18, page 150}
When does this happen?
God has promised that where the shepherds are not true He will take charge of the flock Himself. God has never made the flock wholly dependent upon human instrumentalities. 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 able to measure the strength of Israel. The signs reveal that the time is near when the Lord will manifest that His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor. {Testimonies for the Church, volume 5, page 79}
The days of purification of the church are hastening on apace. {The Review And Herald, January 11, 1887 par. 3}
While the work of salvation is closing, trouble will be coming on the earth, and the nations will be angry, yet held in check so as not to prevent the work of the third angel. At that time the "latter rain," or refreshing from the presence of the Lord, will come, to give power to the loud voice of the third angel, and prepare the saints to stand in the period when the seven last plagues shall be poured out. {Maranatha, page 259}
Even the style of the apparel will express the truth of the gospel. Their dress bears its testimony to their own family, to the church and the world, that they are being purified from vanity and selfishness. They demonstrate that they are not idolaters. {Manuscript Releases, Volume 6, 161}
The day of test and purification is just upon us. {The Review And Herald, November 8, 1892 par. 6}
The Lord would have his church purified, before his judgments shall fall more signally upon the world. {The Review And Herald, November 8, 1906 par. 1}
A Final Word
I write to the church: Be not unbelieving, but have faith. Receive the message sent to you from God. He has sent you light, not because he would afflict you and cause you pain, but because He loves you and would have you escape from the snares of the enemy which would entangle your souls. Let the good work of purification go forward. Meet the standard the Lord has given you. {The Paulson Collection of Ellen G. White Letters, page 45}
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