Skeptics Beware.

Rom 13:11  And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 

You say it's impossible for our salvation to be nearer than when we believed, because you've been waiting for many years for the Lord to return, and have believed for so long? Let me remind you, the Israelites under Egyptian captivity prayed for salvation from that captivity for four hundred years, how many of them died waiting?

That God's chosen- the Israelites- long waited for a Messiah for thousands and thousands of years, and then Jesus was born. Many millions died during that time- waiting. 

The truth of the matter is… and DO NOT EVER FORGET THIS… the waiting DID end.

The prophecies predicting freedom from captivity for the Israelites under Egyptian domination came to pass. The prophecies predicting a Messiah to come, all came to pass. We can't sit back and stop believing that 'for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed', because in TRUTH every day draws us closer to that ultimate salvation, to the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who will call us to meet Him in the air- either from our graves, or alive and waiting, watching for Him.

Prophecies unfold and we often have to step back and pause to look at our history (long past and newly passed) so that we can gauge the time stream we are in according to prophecy.

When God allows the Holy Spirit to guide the enlightenment, we have to pay attention to all the concrete facts presented. To hide our heads in the sand, to tuck our heads tight underneath our pillows, to clasp our hands against our ears and close our eyes tightly shut, is to keep the Holy Spirit from our lives, choosing rather to remain deaf and blind, preferring our state of ignorance over a state of enlightenment.

Many will choose ignorance in favor of familiarity, of mental and emotional comfort rather than allow their world of even status quo to be upended. As Moses walked among the Hebrews revealing to them God's plan for their escape, many did not believe it would happen-  it happened. As Jesus walked among the Hebrews revealing to them God's plan for their salvation, many- in fact the overwhelming majority- did not believe - not when it came down to the reality of that plan. So many followed Him, so much so that the hierarchy of temple priests and scribes became enflamed enough to seek His death for fear the people would truly believe Him and follow Him. Yet, as the truth of the way to salvation that Jesus foretold came to pass, the majority of those people turned away from Him, choosing to no longer believe. It happened though, it came to pass, all that Jesus said would happen, all that the thousands of years of predictions claimed would come to pass- did so! If we can BELIEVE this undisputable truth of Jesus, our Messiah, our Redeemer, our Savior- why do we NOT believe that so much more - all that He, Himself predicted would HAVE to come to pass?

We MUST get out of our comfort zone. We must REFUSE to remain buried beneath traditions. We HAVE to open our hearts to the LORD and let the HOLY SPIRIT guide us to truth! Let Him tear down our walls of stubbornness that would keep us clinging to a past that prophecy has overrun and guided us towards future fulfilment of the return of our SAVIOR to claim us as HIS.

Please, Lord, let us watch and pray, let us trim our lamps and holdfast to our extra oil as we wait for Your return, for Your call, for that LAST TRUMP TO SOUND!  We note the signs, we know a lot of things predicted towards the very end will happen so rapidly we will scarcely comprehend their unfolding, but right now we long for every single prophetic utterance to come to pass that leads us to Your return, the promised return of You to Us, Your children.

All in YOUR NAME JESUS, ALL in YOUR NAME!

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Luk 21:24  And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. 

Luk 21:25  And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring

1967 -- (Times of the Gentiles)

In A. D. 70, Titus took Jerusalem, and the nation of Israel ceased to be.

In 1948 the British withdrew from Palestine.

In the ensuing war between the Jews and the Arabs, the Jews were able to hold what was known as West Jerusalem, a new city; and they made it the Capitol of the re-established state of Israel. But the Western Wall, "A fragment of the western rampart of a platform on which the First Temple of King Solomon and the Second Temple of King Herod stood", remained beyond their reach.  1

It was the lone remaining remnant of that city taken by Titus, and in 1948 it remained under Gentile control. However, in the Six Day War of June, 1967, the victorious Israeli took and annexed the Old City, and thus the Jerusalem of which Jesus prophesied in Luke 21:20-24 was no longer under the control of the Gentiles.

The times of the Gentiles had been fulfilled. Other events were also taking place in this same year, which this fulfilled prophecy brought into meaningful focus.

Jesus also indicated in the same prophecy that "upon earth" there would be      "distress of nations, with perplexity."  2    The word, "nations" in this verse and the word, "Gentiles" in verse 24 is the same word in Greek word. The Greek word translated "distress" means imprisoned; - in the straits or narrows. The phrase, "with perplexity" or better, "in perplexity" carries the force of being unable to meet the demands placed upon them financially, and the inability to solve the financial stress.   3    In other words, Jesus declared that there was a time coming when the nations of earth would be unable to solve their financial problems. Has this

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been fulfilled, and if so, when did the distress begin?

In a special issue of Myers' Finance and Energy, the editor wrote:

It has now been established over the course of the last seven years - since 1967- that there is nothing in this world the international monetary authorities can do to stem the advance of gold, or to stem the collapse of inflation - or to avoid the enormous deflation - the global liquidity crunch - and the resulting depressions. Don't doubt this . . .

For seven years things have gone from bad to worse; the U. S. $ has been devalued; inflation has undermined world confidence in money, and now the bankruptcies come.   4

After attending an international monetary meeting in Switzerland this year, the same editor wrote:

From all that I have observed of international conferences since 1967 I do not believe that any conference is going to come up with any workable answer. It seems that the situation will just continue to deteriorate.

Only six months ago we heard every monetary authority in the world shouting, "either we lick inflation or we are doomed. This is the battle of the century"…

What has happened to all the dire predictions of the result of inflation? All brains have been stunned. They see no answer - so now they begin to think no answer is necessary. Or at least they have decided there is no use thinking about it at all. Therefore I can only see as the end product, as I have repeatedly said in these letters -and especially after attending the big world meetings of IMF -the answer is total collapse.

Either the countries will have to go back to a system which will stabilize the money, such as gold-or the social order, not only of the United States, but all of the industrial world, will disintegrate, and from this enormous confusion new governments will arise after much suffering and bloodshed, starvation and horror. These governments would be dictatorships.   5

Need more be said -or written? And what is the date? -"since 1967!"

Turning our attention next to the Church, we ask, What was happening within the Church during the year, 1967?

Since we are looking at the financial narrows through which the nations have passed "since 1967", let us explore this factor in the Church's program. In 1967, the General Conference  "established special 'unitized'

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funds which are operated in a manner similar to mutual funds ."   6    Into this created "pool" all conferences, unions, divisions, and church-owned institutions could pour their surplus funds. Because of this "large pool of capital, the controlling investment and securities committee decided in 1967 to retain professional investment counsel. . . . Lionel D. Edie & Company, Inc., of New York City, was chosen to do the research, analysis, and selection of securities for the General Conference portfolio."   7   

In other words, in 1967, the Church officials began playing the stock markets in earnest with the money of the laity.

The results of this action for one conference has already been documented in our Special Report #1. The difference between the cost of investing in the "selected" stock, and the market value of the same for the year 1968 through 1973, amounted to over $2,000,000 paper loss. Since the release of this report, letters have come to this desk affirming that the total loss to the entire Church has been well over $50,000,000. Only a full release of the records by the Investment and Securities Committee of the General Conference could verify the actual total loss.

Also in the year 1967, there appeared a series of three editorials on the relationship of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to the World Council of Churches. Keep in mind that the Review in 1967 was still billed as the "Official Organ of the Seventh-day Adventist Church" rather than our "General" church paper. Thus its editorial pronouncements constituted the official position of the Church. These editorials were triggered by a report on Seventh-day Adventists released      "in the January number of The Ecumenical Review, the official quarterly journal of the World Council."  8    Two years prior a dialogue had begun between representatives of the Church and representatives of the Faith and Order Commission of the WCC. The report in The Ecumenical Review was a summary from the World Council viewpoint of these dialogues. Later this report was incorporated in a booklet which presented

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"Documents of Interest in the conversations between World Council of Churches and the Seventh-day Adventist Church."  9    The tiptoe of the booklet is - So Much in Common one surveys the footnotes to the initial report released in 1967, it is understandable why there is so much in common. Of the 49 footnotes used 29 are from the heretical publication -Questions on Doctrine! But this is not all!

In the third editorial, R. F. Cottrell concluded -note the words used: It is with no small measure of regret that SDA's do not find it possible, as an organization, to be more closely associated with others who profess the name of Christ. On the other hand, if the Secretariat on Faith and Order, for instance, were to invite SDA's to appoint someone competent in that area to meet with their group from time to time and represent the SDA point of view, we would accept such an invitation with a clear conscience. Perhaps the same might be done in other areas of Christian concern.   10

In other words, through the official organ of the Church, we asked for representation on the Faith and Order Commission. The invitation was not long in coming and we concurred in 1967!    11    The Central Committee of the WCC appointed Dr. Earle Hilgert of Andrews University as a member of the 120 member Commission on Faith and Order. The leadership of the Church endorsed this selection. Dr. Hilgert has since become an ordained Presbyterian minister and is serving on the staff of Mc Cormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. His replacement was Dr. Raoul Dederen, also of Andrews University.

In the same year -1967 -the liberal intelligentsia of the Church made their voices heard, and received the endorsement of the hierarchy. We shall let Alvin L. Kwiram of Harvard University, president of the Association of Adventist Forums in 1969 tell the story. Here is what he wrote:

To further this spontaneous search for meaningful participation [on the part of the liberal intelligentsia], the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists invited representatives from several groups to meet with them in October of 1967. The purpose was to discuss possible methods of establishing a cohesive program to provide for dialogue between the church leadership and this segment of the laity and to involve the latter more significantly in the activities and concerns of the formal church. The outgrowth of that meeting was an action by the officers

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of the General Conference (taken at the 1967 Fall Council) to approve the establishment of an organization known as the Association of Adventist Forums.   12

Through, Spectrum, the official publication of this Association, the doctrine that the world was created 6,000 years ago is challenged; and the authority of Ellen G. White as a prophet with a relevant message for this hour, or as a basis for a systematic theology is openly questioned.   13

When the leadership of the Church turns from the Source of living waters and seeks the broken cisterns of this world with its vain philosophy what else could God do, but to arise from "the cherub, whereupon He was," and call for the sealing of those in "Jerusalem" who are sighing and crying for all the abominations that are being done in the midst thereof.   14    And in that act, how much plainer could He declare that the Church, whom He had called to carry the final message to the world, and to whom He had once more committed the "prophetic gift", had been weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and had been found wanting.  15    And lest there be any mistake, He, the Sovereign of the Universe in whose hands are the times and seasons,    16    permitted the sign that Jesus gave to be fulfilled.   17    The "Times of the Gentiles" are up, and by so indicating, God has withdrawn the commission to the Church, and has taken things into His own hands.    18

What has happened, and is happening in the religious world at large? "The angel of mercy is folding her wings preparing to step down from the throne, and leave the world to the control of Satan.    19

This year is an Holy Year for Catholicism. The International Conference on the Charismatic Renewal which had met annually on the campus of Notre Dame University, met this year on the outskirts of Rome "in a large tent over the catacombs of St. Callixtus." Their conference was timed to coincide with Pentecost Sunday, May 18. Leaving the large tent, the 10,000 joined another 15,000 thus jamming the Basilica of St. Peter's in Rome itself on that day. Reporting what happened, a

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writer for Christianity Today stated:

 Pentecost Sunday, 1975, will live in church history as the day when the charismatic movement in the Catholic Church arrived in St. Peter's with full force. During the pontifical mass presided over by Pope Paul VI on May 18, the sound of tongues and charismatic singing filled the massive nave of the ancient mother church of Roman Catholicism.   20

The climax to the Charismatic Conference came on the following day in a mass conducted in St. Peter's Cathedral by Cardinal Suenens, primate of Belgium, assisted by twelve bishops and more than 800 priests. The cardinal delivered his sermon in Pentecostal style, and the cathedral reverberated with the shouted responses to his "hallelujahs". Following the mass, Pope Paul came and gave his special greetings to the Pentecostal pilgrims. Before leaving he kissed Cardinal Suenens, which caused the Cardinal to remark -"the Pope opened his arms and heart to the charismatic renewal."

When did all this begin in the Catholic Church? Speaking of the phenomenal growth of the charismatic movement in the Catholic Church, Christianity Today reported:

On the surface, the big story is still the movement's phenomenal growth. From its beginnings among a handful of mostly young persons at a retreat In 1967 on the Duquesne University campus in Pittsburgh, it now encircles the earth.   21

Not only has it engulfed the Catholic Church, but all the mainline Protestant bodies have had within their communions both among the laity and clergy the manifestation of the gift of tongues.

The date -1967 -is further heightened in relationship to the growing manifestation of the power of Spiritism, not only in its guise as a charismatic movement, but also in its raw form of communications with the spirits of devils. John Godwin reported:

The year 1967 was a historic milestone for the United States toy industry. In that year Americans ditched their longest-standing favorite among board games, Monopoly, and elevated Ouija boards to its place.

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Since then approximately ten million of these boards have been sold, making them a $50,000,000 business and assuring that a basic minimum of 20 million Americans have played with them.   22

Indeed the devil is come down having great wrath, "because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."  23    But are we still sleeping not "knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed?"  24    Are we unable to perceive the meaning of what God is saying to us in fulfilled prophecy - or is the real problem that we are not willing to accept what He is saying?

Are we bowing at the shrine of some "cherished idea"  25    - such as the church as a corporate body is going through - and making this idea, god to us, instead of bowing before the God in whose hands are the times and seasons and saying simply -"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Would the Master say to us -       "0 fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken."  26    And remember that He is the greatest prophet of all, for through Him comes all that the prophets have spoken!

1 -- David Reed, "Jerusalem -Too Holy for Its Own Good", Reader's Digest, March, 1975, p. 132

2 -- Luke 21:25

Luk 21:25  And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring

3 -- James H. Moulton & George Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, p.68.

4 -- C. F. Myers, Editor, Myers' Finance & Energy, July 4,1974, pp. 2-3

5 -- March 11, 1975, pp. 1-2

6 -- Robert E. Osborn, "Investment Practices of the General Conference," Spectrum Vol. 5, No. 2, p. 53.

7 -- Ibid., p. 52

8 -- Editorial, "The World Council Looks at Seventh-day Adventists", Review and Herald, March 23, 1967, p. 12

9 -- So Much in Common, World Council of Churches publication, Title page. The 1967 Report is to be found on pp. 57-68.

10 -- Editorial, "The World Council Looks at Adventists -3", Review and Herald, Apr.6 ,1967, p. 13.

11 -- Gerald F. Moede, Letter to M. Ireland, dated 27th March, 1974: -"The Seventh Day Adventists have had representation on the Faith and Order Commission since 1967."

12 -- Alvin L. Kwiram, "Introduction", Spectrum, Winter, 1969, p. 5.

13 -- See "The Genesis Genealogies as an Index of Time" by Lawrence T. Geraty, Spectrum, Vol. 6, #1 & 2, pp. 5-18. Also, "Ellen G. White in Adventist Theology" by Robert L. Shull, Spectrum, Vol. 6, #3 & 4, pp. 78-85.

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14 -- Ezekiel 9:3-4

Eze 9:3  And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side; 

Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. 

15 -- Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 8, p. 247

16 -- Acts 1:7

Act 1:7  And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 

17 -- Luke 21:24

Luk 21:24  And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. 

18 -- Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers, p. 300

19 -- Ellen G. White, Review & Herald, May 13, 1902

20 -- Vinson Synan, "Pentecost in St. Peter's", Christianity Today, June 6,1975 p.45

21 -- Edward E. Plowman, "The Spirit Is Moving", Christianity Today, June 22,1973, p. 37

22 -- John Godwin, Occult America, p. 271

23 -- Revelation 12:12

Rev 12:12  Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 

24 -- Romans 13:11

Rom 13:11  And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 

25 -- Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, Vo1. 5, p. 173

26 -- Luke 24; 25

Luk 24:25  Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken

Another Testimony to the Historic position of the Church on the Incarnation

In fulfilling the plan of redemption, Jesus came to earth and took upon Himself the same flesh and blood in which Adam failed. Being born of a woman centuries after the fall of man, Jesus inherited all the tendencies to sin inherent in our weak, frail humanity. "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same." When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law." Heb. 2:14, Gal. 4:4. So Jesus, taking this burden of weak, fallen humanity upon Himself, under-took to do what Adam had failed to do in his original perfection. Thus humanity learned obedience by the crucifixion of that fallen, disobedient nature which the Son of God took, and His victory made the development of an obedient, sinless character possible. It is this holy life that He offers to us, but it can come to us only through the same process by which Jesus obtained it. Self, the old fallen, sinful Adam nature, must be crucified and die. "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." Gal. 5:24.

It was the union of His divinity with humanity that enabled Jesus to endure the temptations and suffering where Adam failed. And Christ came to make us "partakers of the divine nature" that by following His example we may triumph as He did. 

Does God Care?, Meade MacGuire, PP. 36-37.

If you have not read and studied -- In The Form of a Slave or An Interpretive History of the Doctrine of the Incarnation as Taught by the Seventh-day Adventist Church - you should do so immediately. May be requested (((Found)))) through Adventist Laymen's Foundation, (((Website))))

AUGUST 1975  -  "Watchman, What of the Night? " Thought Paper.  Adventist Laymen's Foundation.  (Excerpt)