Unwarranted Conclusion

“Such messages will come,” we were forewarned. Here they are. “It will be claimed for them that they are sent of God.” That is what this “accuser of the brethren” claims. “But the claim will be false.” That is clear to every believer in the Spirit of Prophecy. “There will be messages of accusation against the people of God.” Accusation against whom? The people of God. And here they come in direct fulfillment of the Spirit of Prophecy.SDACBB 4.3

The terrible conclusion that “twenty-six years ago” the divine Spirit of God left the Seventh-day Adventist organization, never to return, is based entirely upon a misinterpretation of a passage wrested from its context. The passage is found in Testimonies for the Church 8:250, and reads as follows:SDACBB 4.4

“Who can truthfully say, ‘Our gold is tried in the fire; our garments are unspotted by the world’? I saw our Instructor pointing to the garments of so-called righteousness. Stripping them off, He laid bare the defilement beneath. Then He said to me: ‘Can you not see how they have pretentiously covered up their defilement and rottenness of character? “How is the faithful city become a harlot?” My Father’s house is made a house of merchandise, a place whence the divine presence and glory have departed. For this cause there is weakness, and strength is lacking’”

Like an inverted pyramid, the accusing message proclaiming the church to be Babylon rests upon this single passage. If examination shows that the interpretation of this passage by the exponents of this doctrine of denunciation is false, and contrary to the thought of the writer, the entire structure must fall. The importance of this passage, and the date of its writing, are constantly stressed in the publications of this “reform” propaganda. Only so can this accusing movement claim to escape the condemnation uttered against the false teachers, who in 1893 were teaching that the “remnant church” had become Babylon.SDACBB 4.5

One month later than the appearance of the statement that the Seventh-day Adventist Church had been cast off, the same accuser tells us why he believes that the instruction given by Mrs. White that the “remnant church” is “not Babylon” no longer applies. He admits that up to the early nineties it was “a very serious mistake for anyone to denounce that church as ‘Babylon,’” but puts forth the claim that by the next ten years the church had backslidden so far that it is the duty of the “reformers” now to denounce her as Babylon. But we will let him make the explanation in his own words, lest some might think he is misrepresented. He writes:SDACBB 5.1

“At this juncture let us call to mind certain dates; first the date under which the Testimony entitled The Remnant Church Not Babylon, was first presented—March 23, 1893; and another date—one of incomparable importance in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church—that is April 21, 1903.… A most vital truth is herein involved.

“The fact of the church’s Spirit pronounced condemnation and final renouncement was made known to her in a Testimony given April 21, 1903....that was a decade, approximately, after the servant of God stated that the church was not Babylon.

“Let us consider calmly and unprejudicedly, this most remarkable message in which is contained the startling exposure of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s spiritually corrupt condition, also her just condemnation as declared by Christ Himself (‘our Instructor’) on that fateful day, April 21, 1903.”

The passage in the Testimony is then quoted, but the editor finds it necessary to make two interpolations in order to put into the mind of the reader the false interpretation he wishes him to accept. I order to make clear this addition of this private interpretation, we quote the sentences again as the critic set them forth:SDACBB 5.2

“Who can truthfully say, ‘Our [meaning the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s] gold is tried in the fire; our garments are unspotted by the world’? ... ‘How is the faithful city become a HARLOT’ [or Babylon]?”

Both these interpolations are misleading. True, Babylon is called a “harlot” in the Scriptures. But in the passage as quoted from Isaiah 1:21 there is no reference to Babylon. On the contrary, the words were spoken to God’s backslidden people, and in close connection with that wonderful assurance that “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Let us note the earmarks of the enemy of our souls in any effort today to disconnect these words from the promise and assurance of a possible forgiveness.SDACBB 5.3