In the Bible is brought to view the following statement: “And after these things I
saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was
lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying,
Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all
nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the
earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are
waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice
from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her
sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelation 18:1-4. Of this Scripture
we are told that it speaks about the Church, fallen because of sins. “In amazement
they [the people] hear the testimony that Babylon is the church, fallen because of
her errors and sins, because of her rejection of the truth sent to her from heaven.”
Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, pp. 606-607.
We are repeatedly told by certain quotations from Mrs. White’s writings that we
are not to apply this Scripture to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. For example,
she says: “God has a church, a chosen people; and could all see as I have seen how closely Christ identifies Himself with His people, no such message would be heard as the one that denounces the church as Babylon.” Ellen G. White, Testimonies To Ministers And Gospel Workers, p. 20.
But we need to understand that the S.D.A. Church was not to be called Babylon on certain CONDITIONS. The S.D.A. Church must not be called Babylon WHILE IT WAS RECEIVING THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD. “How is it
that these pamphlets denouncing the Seventh-day Adventist Church as Babylon
were scattered abroad everywhere, AT THE VERY TIME when the Church was
receiving the outpouring of the Spirit of God? How is it that men can be so
deceived as to imagine that the loud cry consists in calling the people of God out
from the fellowship of a church that is enjoying a season of refreshing” Ibid, p. 23.
“While the deep movings of the Spirit of God were made manifest among the
people, and souls were being converted and hard hearts broken, there were those
who were inspired with zeal from beneath to go forth and proclaim that the very
people receiving of the Holy Spirit, who are to receive the latter rain and the
glory that is to lighten the whole earth, were Babylon. Did the Lord give these
messengers their message? No, for it was not a message of truth.” Ibid, p. 49.
We are also told that the claim that the S.D.A. Church is Babylon was not the
message to be proclaimed at that time (August 1893), not that it was NEVER to
be proclaimed. “Those who assert that the Seventh-day Adventist churches
constitute Babylon or any part of Babylon, might better stay at home. Let them
stop and consider what is the message to be proclaimed at this time.” Ibid, p. 37.
We are told that such proclaimers ran before they were sent. This implies that in
1893 when the 1888 message was still being taught in the Church, to claim that the
S.D.A. Church was Babylon was to do so out of time, thus there would be a time
for this claim in the future. “When anyone arises either among us or outside of us,
who is burdened with a message which declares that the people of God are
numbered with Babylon, and claims that the loud cry is a call to come out of her,
you may know that he is not bearing the message of truth. Receive him not, nor
bid him Godspeed; for God has not spoken by him, neither has He given a message
to him, but he has run before he was sent.” Ibid, p. 41.
If all this is true, when, we ask, could the S.D.A. Church ever be called Babylon?
And did Mrs. White ever call the S.D.A. Church Babylon? First of all, Mrs. White
warnsof two companies developing in the Church. “A new life is coming from
heaven and taking possession of all God’s people. But divisions will come in the
church. Two parties will be developed.” Ellen G. White, Selected Messages Book
Two, p. 114. One of the groups is the conservative class who hate the other group
that is standing in the light. “And at that time the superficial conservative class,
whose influence has steadily retarded the progress of the work, will renounce the
faith and take their stand with its avowed enemies, toward whom their sympathies
have long been tending. These apostates will then manifest the most bitter enmity,
doing all in their power to oppress and malign their former brethren and to excite
indignation against them.” Ellen G. White, Testimonies For The Church, Vol. 5,
p. 463. The group that is in the truth is contrasted to the church, they are called the
“little company.” “At the time when the danger and depression of the church are
greatest, the little company who are standing in the light will be sighing and
crying for the abominations that are done in the land. But more especially will
their prayers arise in behalf of the church because its members are doing after themanner of the world” Ibid, pp. 209-210.
One group can be adequately called the “church sleeping” or the “church apostate”,
while the good group can be called the “church militant”, that is, the church that is
fighting against the evil of the world, this is the church, we are told, that must not
be called Babylon. “Those who have any realization of what this warfare means
will not turn their weapons against the church militant, but with all their powers
will wrestle with the people of God against the confederacy of evil.” Ellen G.
White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, p. 51. It is the “church
apostate” with the name Seventh-day Adventist that we are told will give up the
Sabbath to save their institutions. “I was told that men will employ every policy to
make less prominent the difference between the faith of Seventh-day Adventists
and those who observe the first day of the week … A company was presented
before me under the name of Seventh-day Adventist, who were advising that the
banner or sign which makes us a distinctive people should not be held out so
strikingly; for they claimed it was not the best policy in securing success to our
institutions … But the Sabbath of the Lord thy God is to be a sign to show the
difference between the obedient and the disobedient. I saw some reaching out their
hands to remove the banner, and to obscure its significance … When the people
accept and exalt a spurious Sabbath, and turn souls away from obedience and
loyalty to God, they will reach the point that was reached by the people in the days
of Christ. “ Ellen G. White, Selected Messages Book Two, p. 385. It is this same
S.D.A. Church that Mrs. White said way back in 1877 was in danger of becoming
a sister to fallen Babylon. “We must as a people arouse and cleanse the camp of
Israel. Licentiousness, unlawful intimacy, and unholy practices are coming in
among us in a large degree … we are in danger of becoming a sister to fallen
Babylon, of allowing our churches to become corrupted and filled with every foul
spirit, a cage for every unclean and hateful bird, and will we be clear unless we
make decided movements to cure the existing evil?” E.G. White, Manuscript
Releases No. 449, pp. 17,18. A sister to Babylon or a daughter of Babylon, all are
indeed Babylon. In November 1891, she again warned that the S.D.A. Church will
become Babylon by referring to the Scripture that describes Babylon. “The world
must not be introduced into the church, and married to the church, forming a bond
of unity. Through this means the church will become indeed corrupt, and as
stated in Revelation, “cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”” E.G. White,
Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, p. 265. Again, she said:
“If we turn from the testimony of God’s word, and accept false doctrines because
our fathers taught them, we fall under the condemnation pronounced upon
Babylon; we are drinking of the wine of her abominations.” E.G. White, Spirit Of
Prophecy, Vol. 4, p. 347. “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 when the divine
presence and glory have departed!” E. G. White, Testimonies for the Church,
Vol. 8, p. 250. This was in 1903. Would you say that by that time the “church
sleeping” had become Babylon? If this was so as Mrs. White’s writings seem to
imply, then, with the present fallen state of the S.D.A. Church, with its
fraternization with Hinduism, Pantheism, New Age concepts, Evangelical
practices, and apostate theology; with its congenial relationship with the Roman
Catholic papacy, and its justification of low moral standards, even with its
teachings of salvation in sin, the S.D.A. Church certainly fits the description of
being a sister to Babylon today as Mrs. White said. Let the reader be the judge of
this matter and make the right decisions. Amen
What makes the church Babylon?
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