Heavenly Father, as we continue on in our consideration of Adventism's visitation, we ask that you would give us discernment about the issues, the concepts, principles we're going to discuss. We need the presence of your Holy Spirit to rightly divide the Word of Truth. We ask that you would give that to us at this time, the discernment, and grant us the presence of the Holy Spirit. We wish to have the latter rain poured out upon us, so we ask that you forgive our sins, forgive us of anything that would prevent us from receiving the latter rain in our vessels. And then we ask that you would pour it out upon us. We want the presence of your Holy Angels. We ask that you'd send them to not only fill this room with the atmosphere of heaven, but to prevent the distractions from coming in. We thank you for a good night's sleep and another day of life, in Jesus' name, Amen. We're considering the passage in Selected Messages, Book 1, where the Lord first saw fit to begin teaching about the reformed lines of Bible prophecy. We're going to go through this very slowly over the next week or two, and lead into God's visitation of Adventism, primarily once we get the planks in place, primarily from the book of Jeremiah. But on page 3 of your notes that you received yesterday, you'll see it says, The Three Angels and the Other Angel. That's the title of this chapter that in 1989 we began to study, and we're going to go through the entire chapter. This chapter is not one singular document of Sister White. The editors compiled this chapter, but still it's a very profound chapter. We're going to take some concepts out of it that you might not expect if you read through it on your own yesterday after you received it. The first paragraph says, I have not been able to sleep since half past one o'clock. I was bearing to Brother T. a message which the Lord had given me for him. The peculiar views he holds are a mixture of truth and error. Is everyone there? The notes are different because we had notes here yesterday, and they got taken out to the trash probably this morning. So if you want to go out to that black sack and untie it, there should be the notes from yesterday. I'm reading from Selected Messages, Book 1, beginning on page 102. I'm only going to read a few paragraphs today, so you can forego it probably on the notes, and then I'm going to go to the four-part notes. So this chapter begins with the words, I have not been able to sleep since half past one o'clock. I was bearing to Brother T. a message which the Lord had given me for him. The peculiar views he holds are a mixture of truth and error. If he passed through the experiences of God's people as he has led them for the past forty years, he would be better prepared to make the correct application of Scripture. The great waymarks of truth showing us our bearing in prophetic history are to be carefully regarded, lest they be torn down and replaced with theories that would bring confusion rather than genuine light. I have been cited to the very erroneous theories that have been presented over and over again. Those who advocated these theories presented Scripture quotations, but they misapplied and misinterpreted them. The theories supposed to be correct were incorrect, and yet many thought them to be the very theories to be brought before the people, the prophecies of Daniel and John are to be diligently studied. So what I'm saying is in 1989 we were led to this chapter, began studying it, and it's what the Lord used to begin the recognition of the Reform lines. And one of the emphases in this chapter is that whatever the great waymarks of truth are, you need to know what they are because you're supposed to carefully guard them. If you don't know what they are, you certainly can't guard them. But what I want you to see here is that she's rebuking a Seventh-day or counseling, however you want to say it, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor that's teaching truth and error that contradicts the truth about that history. So I want to touch, I want to pull that out of this paragraph as much as anything else, not simply the beginning of understanding the Reform lines, but the Reform lines carry with it a caution, a counsel, that there are going to be men that are teaching contradictory to the Reform lines. Second paragraph. So the great, in that first paragraph, one of the statements that carries down to right here and now about the Reform lines is in the center where it says, "...the great waymarks of truth showing our bearing in prophetic history are to be carefully guarded, lest they be torn down and replaced with theories that would bring confusion rather than genuine light." Okay, that's what's happened. These waymarks have been torn down, the waymarks of Islam, the daily, the 2520. Second paragraph. "...there are those now living who, in studying the prophecies of Daniel and John, receive great light from God as they passed over the ground where special prophecies were in the process of fulfillment in their order." When we were studying this in 1989, one thing that stuck out was this emphasis on in their order. So when we began to go find the waymarks, we knew they had to be in a specific order, and this emphasis on in their order occurs over and over again. But when she's saying there's a distinction in Adventism about pioneers, some people will define the pioneers as those men that participated in the early history leading up to 1863 when we started the church, and I think that's a valid identification of the pioneers of Adventism in a certain sense. But there's also a definition of what the pioneers are that's in this chapter, that it's those people that passed over the ground where special prophecies were in process of fulfillment in their order. In other words, the pioneers were the men that were there in 1840, 1841, 1842, 1843, and 1844. So sometimes when we talk about pioneers, we're not specific to what we're speaking about. When I speak about the pioneers, I talk about those people that were in there in the history of 1840 to 1844. They're the pioneers that I'm speaking about. It says, they bore the message of time to the people. They bore this message here of time to the people. Now the truth shone out clearly as the sun at noonday, and the next sentence is one of the building blocks of the reform line. It says, historical events showing the direct fulfillment of prophecy were set before the people, and prophecy was seen to be a figurative delineation of events leading down to the close of this earth's history. When we began studying that, we broke down what the word figurative means and delineation, and delineation means set forth on a line, and suddenly we knew that what we were dealing with here in this paragraph is that these way marks, these events, were to be delineated. They were to be set forth on a line, and we knew that the line was to go to the end of the world. It says so. A delineation of events leading down to the close of this earth's history. This particular sentence has been repeated over and over in the presentation of the reform lines, as is the next one. The next one was put in place early on because when you begin to deal with Daniel 1140-45, three or four years later, you want to be able to say that verses 40-45, the king of the north is the papacy, and Sister White agrees with it because she says the scenes connected with the working of the man of sin are the last features plainly revealed in this earth's history, therefore, the last six verses of Daniel 11 are the last scenes clearly revealed in this earth's history, therefore, who's the king of the north? It's the man of sin. The people who have a special message to give to the world, the people now have a special message to give to the world, the third angel's message. Those who in their experience have passed over the ground and acted apart in the proclamation of the first, second, and third angel's messages are not so liable to be led into false paths as those who have not had an experimental knowledge of the people of God. That's a profound statement. She's talking to someone, she says, 40 years later, that is mixing truth and error and she's saying that those people that had an experience in 1840-44 are less apt to be misled because they were there when it happened, they know those foundational truths. So if you believe that history is repeated to the very letter, then it says something about our day and age. Those people that were involved with the beginning of this message here at the end of the world should have an experience that helps them to be less apt to be led into false paths than some people that are coming into this message later on down the line because they've had an experience with the first and the second message of this history. Someone that accepts this message today is simply learning about that experience. They weren't there. Next paragraph, there have been one and another who in studying their Bibles thought they discovered great light and new theories, but these have not been correct. The scripture is all true, but by misapplying the scripture, men arrive at wrong conclusions. We are engaged in a mighty conflict and it would become more close and determined as we near the final struggle. We have a sleepless adversary and he is constantly at work upon human minds that have not had a personal experience in the teachings of the people of God for the past 50 years. You see that? If they hadn't had an experience, then they got dangers that you don't have if you do have an experience, but that history is repeated at the end of the world, so some of those that have had an experience in this message from the very beginning are better qualified to understand this message than the newbies on the block. We are engaged in a mighty conflict and it would become more close and determined as we near the final struggle. We have a sleepless adversary and he is constantly at work upon human minds that have not had a personal experience in the teachings of the people of God for the past 50 years. Some will take the truth applicable to their time and place it in the future. Saints in the train of prophecy that have had their fulfillment away in the past are made future and thus by these theories the faith of some is undermined. So one of the things I want to deal with, you can go to your handouts for the day, is when it comes to the passage that the Lord uses to introduce the reform lines in 1989, the first thing that is brought out is that there's a warning against false teachers that mix truth with error. And I want to show you something and this is, I presented a sermon three or four weeks ago in our little church here and I just cut some of the notes out of that. What I want you to show you is based upon the principle that each of the ancient prophets spoke more for our day than the days in which they lived and therefore Ellen White is one of the ancient prophets and her writings are more for our day than the days in which she lived and therefore there's some terms that she used in her day and age that have a correct fulfillment in her day and age but we are often unwilling to take those terms and bring them to the end of the world and stand by the conclusions that are made when you do that. But she's a prophet like all the other prophets so you'll see what I mean as we proceed. Let's begin with Matthew 24 verse 23 to 25 which is on your notes and what we're doing here is we're going to make this argument about false teachers here at the end of time because that's part of this passage in Selected Messages we're studying. It says, Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not, for there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders in as much as if it were possible they would deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Okay, there's false Christ going to arrive and when was it that Jesus became Christ? At his baptism when he was anointed. So what this is saying here is that there's going to be those that are falsely anointed. You can take it to mean that there are people that claim to be Jesus. That qualifies too. But the term Christ means anointed. So there will be those at the end of the world that claim to be anointed and as we read yesterday in Isaiah 28, verse 13 I believe, it says, to whom he said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing yet they would not hear. Verse 11 says, For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people what people is he speaking to? He's speaking to the people that have been promised the latter rain. He's speaking to Adventists at the end of the world. Therefore the anointing that scripture identifies at the end of the world is the anointing of the latter rain. Therefore when we've been warned about false Christ, we're

warned against teachers during the time period of the latter rain that will be saying, I am receiving the latter rain. Most of the resistance that we're getting to this message, prophetic message, is not coming from men that are acknowledging that the anointing began on 9-11. They're not professing to be anointed with that latter rain, they're saying it's not happening. So they're not a false Christ. The false Christ would be those of us that are saying we understand the latter rain began, we began to be anointed on 9-11, but they're mixing truth with error. That's the warning. The warning is for God's people and God now is entering into covenant with a special group of people that are going to receive the seal of God, therefore the warning is more specific for them than the group of people that they're contrasted with that are going to receive the mark of the beast. Okay, so I want to try to show you that principle in a few minutes that we have here. Sister White talks about the fallen churches. It says, I saw that God has on his children among nominal Adventists and the fallen churches and before the plague shall be poured out ministers and people would be called out from these churches and will gladly receive the truth. The last sentence says, but light will shine and all who are honest will leave the fallen churches and will take their stand with the remnant. Here it's obvious to see that Sister White is calling the fallen churches the churches of Babylon. Okay, she's not calling the Adventist church Babylon, she's saying the Protestant churches are the fallen churches and the reason, the place where they fell and the reason they fell, she's clear about, Spiritual Gifts, volume 1, page 140. The churches would not receive the light of the first angel's message and as they rejected light from heaven they fell from favor of God, the favor of God. They trusted in their own strength and placed themselves by their opposition to the first message where they could not see the light of the second angel's message, but the beloved of God who were oppressed answered to the message Babylon is fallen and left the fallen churches. Fallen churches are those churches outside of Adventism that rejected the first angel's message in the Millerite history. And she talks about the second angel's message in the summer of 1844. She says the churches would not receive the light of the first angel's message and as they next quote, our hopes now centered on the coming of the Lord in 1844. This was also a time for the message of the second angel who, flying through the midst of heaven, cried Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city. That message was first proclaimed by the servants of God in the summer of 1844. As a result, many left the fallen churches. The fallen churches are Babylon. They fell because they rejected the first angel's message. And then she says about here at the end of the world, God has many thousands who have not bowed the knee to Baal. There are God-fearing men and women in the fallen churches. If this were not so, we would not be given the message to bear Babylon, the greatest fallen, has fallen. Come out of her, my people, Revelation 18, two through four. Many of the honest in heart are grasping for the breath of life from heaven. They will recognize the gospel when it's brought to them in the beauty and simplicity with which it is presented in God's Word. And now I want you to see that she contrasts the fallen churches. From beginning to end, the fallen churches are the churches of Babylon, right? All right. But now she's going to contrast them with the nominal churches, whatever that means. Okay. I saw that God has honest children among the nominal Adventists and the fallen churches. So she's making a distinction. The fallen churches and nominal Adventists. And before the plague shall be poured out, ministers and people will be called out from these churches and will gladly receive the truth. And underneath there in your notes, the word nominal is defined. It means existing in name only, pertaining to a name. So persisting in name only, the name being Adventists, okay. And in Ellen White's day and age, there were Protestant churches that believed in the second coming of Christ, but not enough to be involved with proclaiming the message of the second coming of Christ. They were just Adventists in name. So in her day and age, they were nominal Adventists. But there were some churches that had closed the door against Millerites, and they were the fallen churches. But the prophets speak more about the end of the world than the day in which they lived. So there is a possibility that nominal Adventists mean something different here at the end of the world. Notice this next quote from Testimonies, volume 6, page 95. Nominal meaning in name only. The test of discipleship is not brought to bear as closely as it should be upon those who present themselves for baptism. It should be understood whether they are simply taking the name of Seventh-day Adventists, or whether they're taking a stand on the Lord's side to come out from the world and be separate and touch not the unclean thing. But for baptism, there should be a thorough inquiry into the experience of the candidates. So you can get baptized and only take the name of Adventism, or you can be baptized into the Lord. And if you get baptized and only take the name of Adventist, then what are you? You're a nominal Adventist in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Notice the next quote. There are many Seventh-day Adventists who do not understand that to accept the cause of Christ means to accept His cross. The only evidence they give in their lives of their discipleship is the name they bear. They're nominal Adventists. There was nominal Adventists in Ellen White's day and age, but she's speaking more about our day and age than her day and age, and the nominal Adventists that she defines here at the end of the world are within the Adventist Church. I terribly fear that many that bear the name of Seventh-day Adventists are stumbling blocks in the way of sinners. They neither enter into the work themselves, and those that would enter in they hinder by their unconsecrated lives. God forbid that we should go down to death with the blood of souls upon our garments. God forbid that we should stand merely bearing the name of Christians when we are not sanctified by the truths we profess. God forbid that we at last find that our lives have been an entire failure, an entire mistake, and there appear no soul to whom we can point as one whom we've been the means of saving and bringing through the gates into the city. Shall it appear finally that we have been wrapped up in our own self-righteousness, all covered up with the spirit and love of the world, and if that's our experience, we are nominal Adventists. So the quote we looked at to start the consideration of nominal Adventists says, I saw that God has honest children among the nominal Adventists at the end of the world. He has honest children within the Adventist Church and the fallen churches and outside the Adventist Church. You see that? That's a hard one to apply because some of the things she says, and if you're going to apply this prophetic principle, some of the things she says about Adventism, it's not easy. Notice the next quote, I saw the nominal church and nominal Adventists like Judas, now she's making sure we see that there's churches that profess to be Protestants, they're the church, but there's also nominal Adventists, but she's saying the nominal Adventists are like Judas. Judas is a clear symbol of Seventh-day Adventists in the writings of Ellen White. She says, I saw the nominal church and nominal Adventists like Judas would betray us to the Catholics and to obtain their influence to come against the truth. The saints then will be an obscure people, little known to the Catholics, but the churches and the nominal Adventists who know of our faith and customs, for they hated us on account of the Sabbath, for they could not refute it, will betray the saints and report them to the Catholics as those who disregard the institutions of the people, that is, that they keep the Sabbath in disregard. So the nominal Adventists in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and she says it other places, it's the former Adventists, are going to come show the Catholics where we live, but here she's calling them the nominal Adventists. Here she's applying it at the end of the world within the Seventh-day Adventist Church and she's saying the nominal Adventists are symbolically represented by Judas and in a next quote it says, Judas had great light and he had many opportunities to understand the requirements of God. What were the requirements of God? So in the writings of Ellen White, who is it that has great light and opportunities? Seventh-day Adventists. And she says, numbered among the twelve, he was part of the church and Judas was part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church at the end of the world, numbered among the twelve, he had listened to the lessons of Christ, he had heard the truth, and he had no excuse for failing to form a character after the likeness of Christ. In this age, if those who come under the precious influence of the truth do not become transformed in character, they will, like Judas, go from light to darkness and how great will be their darkness. So when she says nominal Adventists like Judas, she's nailing it down, she's speaking about Seventh-day Adventists at the end of the world. In early writings, page 33, it says, I saw that the Holy Sabbath is and will be the separating wall between the true Israel of God and unbelievers and that the Sabbath is the great test question to unite the hearts of God's dear winning Saints. I saw that God had children who do not keep the Sabbath, they have not rejected the light upon it, and at the commencement of the time of trouble, and she identifies that as the little time of trouble which begins at the Sunday law in the United States, we're not studying that at this time, so I'm just putting it in the record, but she does, and at the commencement of the time of trouble we were filled with the Holy Ghost, at the Sunday law the Holy Spirit's poured out without measure as we went forth to proclaim the Sabbath more fully. This enraged the churches and the nominal Adventists as they could not refute the Sabbath truth. Now in past presentations, not in this presentation and someone that might be looking at through this series all on its own might not follow me, but in past presentations we have shown that ancient Israel illustrates modern Israel, and that the two histories where we find the year day principles in number 14 and in Ezekiel 4 represent the beginning and ending of ancient Israel, and in numbers 14 the year day principle is placed in that scripture at a time when ancient Israel was rebelling against the rest of grace. Sister White calls it the rest of grace, they would not accept Joshua and Caleb's testimony and go into the promised land, and that rebellion produces the year day principle, but they were rebelling against the Sabbath, which Sister White says is illustrated in Hebrews 3 and 4, and she says it wasn't the seventh day Sabbath, it was the rest of grace, whereas at the end of ancient Israel down here their rebellion that was causing Jerusalem to be destroyed was their rebellion against the seventh day Sabbath. So in the beginning and ending of ancient Israel, we see the year day principle marked in two histories, and those two histories represent two rebellions, and those two rebellions, both the beginning and the end, were a rebellion against a type of Sabbath. In here for ancient Israel, it was the Sabbath rest of grace, and here it was the seventh day Sabbath for ancient Israel. So now if we bring those thoughts along with some other thoughts to this board, what she's saying is she saw that the Sabbath was the dividing line from ancient Israel, and on 9-11, one of the truths of the old paths that is brought to Adventism that begins the testing process is the 25-20, and the 25-20 is a Sabbath based upon the land resting every seventh year, and the seven-year cycle being repeated seven times is the Jubilee. So the argument, the shaking, the controversy that began on 9-11 is a Sabbath test, and it's the dividing line in Adventism. We're being divided now over a Sabbath, but at the Sunday law, then the fallen churches, those outside of Adventism, they're also, the dividing line for them is going to be the Sabbath too, only this time it's going to be the seventh day Sabbath. So when Sister White says, I saw that the holy Sabbath is and will be a separating wall between the true Israel of God and unbelievers, it's in both these histories. This Sabbath that's the separating wall is the 25-20. It separates the true believers from the unbelievers in Adventism in advance of the Sunday law where the fallen churches will be separated with this Sabbath. Okay, and in both these histories, you have a three-step testing process. Here, this test, I won't look at all the characteristics, is empowered when the mighty angel descends. Here, this step is empowered when the Holy Spirit is poured out without measure at the Sunday law. Here, this test is an image test that you have the two charts. Here, this is an image test for the fallen churches, and it's the end sign that is lifted up at the Sunday law, those people that perfectly reflect the character of Christ and have the seal of God, and here a door is closed, and here a door is closed. Three-step testing process, both based upon the Sabbath. So when Sister White says she saw that the Sabbath is the dividing, separating wall between the true Israel of God and unbelievers, it's the separating wall for both the churches and the nominal Adventists.

Okay, so, next quote. From the beginning of my work, I've been pursued by hatred, reproach, and falsehood. Base imputations and slanderous reports have been greedily gathered up and widely circulated by the rebellious, the formalists, the fanatic, and the fanatic. There are ministers of the so-called Orthodox churches traveling from place to place to war against Seventh-day Adventists, and they make Mrs. White their textbook. The scoffers of the last days are led on by these ministers professing to be God's watchmen. The unbelieving world, in her day and age, there was some that professed to be God's watchmen. But in our day and age, the ones that are professing to be God's watchmen aren't the men in the Protestant churches, okay? There's two watchmen in Adventism at the end of the world. One is the watchman that will raise their voice day and night and show God's people their transgression, and the other watchman in Adventism are the dumb dogs that will not bark. But continuing on, and I'm hoping you're seeing, I'm acknowledging she's applying this to her history, but bringing it down here to the end of the world, because all the prophets are speaking more about the end of the world than the days in which they live. Next paragraph. The unbelieving world, the ministers of the fallen churches, and the first-day Adventists are uniting in the work of assailing Mrs. White. Okay, now we got a new thought. First-day Adventists. And in this history here, in Adventism, there's two classes of Adventists that are being developed, and they're going to be demonstrated here. And one class is a seventh-day Adventist, and the other is a first-day Adventist, because when this test arrives, they will demonstrate whether they are a seventh-day Adventist or a first-day Adventist. Okay, there was first-day Adventists in Sister White's day and age, but she's speaking more about the end of the world than the days in which she lived. The unbelieving world, the ministers of the fallen churches, and the first-day Adventists are united in the work of assailing Mrs. White. So here, she's identifying one of the characteristics of a first-day Adventist, and if you're going to apply a first-day Adventist within the Adventist church, is that they attack the spirit of prophecy. Notice this next quote. The seventh-day Adventists who profess to be looking for and loving the appearing of Christ should not follow the course of worldlings. They are no criterion for commandment keepers. Neither should they pattern after the first-day Adventists who trample underfoot the law of God. So another characteristic of a first-day Adventist is that they trample underfoot the law of God. So you'll notice the subtitle that I've put with that quote, The Fordites Among Us. Here at the end of the world, we have a teaching in Adventism. You could associate it with many men. I associate it with Desmond Ford because it seems to be a common understanding. And Desmond Ford rejects the spirit of prophecy, and he attacks the law of God. These are two characteristics of the first-day Adventists, in that history, but also in our history. But that's a hard application to make. Next quote. The first-day Adventists as a class are the most difficult to reach. They generally reject the truth as did the Jews. So what I'm saying is these people in Adventism here at Hot Springs, they have a few Adventist churches, but the biggest church at Hot Springs has a group in there. They have their own Sabbath school class, and all they do is study Desmond Ford. They reject the spirit of prophecy, they reject the law of God, and of course they're received in good favor because they're not presenting the message that the Millerites presented. If you present the message that the Millerites presented, then you've got a problem in the Adventist church today. William Miller, James White, Joseph Bates, they wouldn't get baptized into this church today. They couldn't be. They would be presenting the message that is so opposed, but we have no problem keeping people in the congregation that believe you're going to sin until Jesus returns and then magically be changed into his image and who simultaneously throw out the spirit of prophecy. That's the characteristics of a first-day Adventist if you apply it to the Adventist church. And those people are the most difficult to reach because with this message, which is the message you want to reach them with, you have to have a genuine respect for the spirit of prophecy. Desmond Ford followers throw out the spirit of prophecy. They're the most difficult to reach in Adventism. So I'm just throwing that in there to accentuate the characteristics of these people. She compares them to the Jews. We should, as far as possible, go forward as though they were not such a people in existence. There are elements of confusion. They are the elements of confusion and immorality exists among them to a fearful extent. It would be the greatest calamity to have many of their number embrace the truth. They would have to unlearn everything and learn anew or they would cause us great trouble. The Sabbath history has been kept from the people too long. If there's a, I guess it's a union, a union that I have a little bit of familiarity with, it's the German Union. And the German Union is just a bunch of Fordites. And the people we've worked with in Germany, they've always had a burden. Oh, let's take this message to the leaders. And when they get it, they'll run with it. I mean, the German leader, they're fully into the ecumenical movement. They have no regard for the spirit of prophecy. They are the first day Adventists. And what she's saying here is, don't waste your time on them. If they're going to come in, it's going to take so much time working with them so they can retrain their self to the truth that those souls that have honest hearts are going to go by the wayside because you won't have enough time to spend with them. Of course, that's a hard saying to receive. The Sabbath history has been kept from the people too long. They need this precious work, even if they do not have it in all its perfection. It never can be prepared in a manner to fully silence unreasonable opponents who are unstable and who wrest the scriptures unto their own destruction. So in her day and age, she's talking about first day Adventists outside of Adventism. And she says what they need to understand is the Sabbath truth. But don't spend a whole lot of time with them. But what we need to get out there is the Sabbath truth. And here at the end of the world, we have first day Adventists in Adventism. And what do they need to hear? What do they need to hear? The Sabbath truth. And what's the Sabbath truth for this generation? The 2520. If you are willing to make this type of application. This is a busy world. Men and women who engage in the business of life have not time to meditate or even to read the Word of God enough to understand all its important truths. Long labored arguments will interest but a few, for the people have to read as they run. You can no more remove the objections to the Sabbath commandment from the minds of first day Adventists than could the Savior of the world by His great and powerful miracles convince the Jews that He was the Messiah after they had once set themselves to reject Him. Like the obstinate unbelieving Jews, they have chosen darkness rather than light. And should an angel direct from the courts of heaven speak to them, they would say it was Satan. There was an angel that came direct from the courts of heaven on September 11th, 2001 and they're saying it's Satan. Prophetic. So what I'm saying is when you go to the writings of Sister White, she makes a distinction about nominal Adventists who are the first day Adventists and she makes a distinction between them and the fallen churches. But the fallen church is inconsistent all the way through. It's the churches of Babylon that rejected the message in the Millerite history. And although there were first day Adventists and nominal Adventists in her day and age, she's speaking about our day and age, so we bring this down to the end of the world and suddenly we find a great deal about the environment of Adventism here at the end of the world. And one of the characteristics of these first day Adventists is that they reject the spirit of prophecy. It says in the next quote, If our brethren had been divested of prejudice, if they had had the spirit of Christ and spiritual discernment, reasoning from cause to effect, they would not have borne false witness against me. They would have not made the statement that Sister White was influenced by W.C. White and A.T. Jones and E.J. Wagner. She's speaking about 1888. So she's speaking about the resistance of the spirit of prophecy in the time of the latter reign. She's talking about the resistance of the spirit of prophecy in this history right here. And she says, The charge of my being influenced has been brought against me by the first day Adventists and by those to whom the Lord has sent warnings, cautions, and reproofs. Someone has influenced Sister White, they've said. Someone has told her these things. This I've had to meet from the very first day of my labors. Everyone who has been reproved and has apostatized has had these things to say. And you hear this all the time. I remember when Eugene Pruitt told me, Jeff, you know that Sister White is a careless writer? This is the same argument. It's the same argument in this history. And those people that use that argument are the first day Adventists. And what it means that they're the first day Adventists is they're Adventists in name only and they're prepared to accept the first day of the week, preparing to accept the first day of the week at the Sunday law. And of course we know this is the last deception of Satan, the spirit of prophecy. It says, Satan is constantly pressing in the spurious to lead away from the truth. The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God. Where there is no vision, the people perish. And this word vision is the calzone vision. And in Habakkuk 2, the vision that they were to write on the tables is the calzone vision. When there is no vision, the people perish. And this is the vision that is the point of reference at the end of the world. And when you're going to understand this vision, you need to accept the insights about these truths that are recorded in the spirit of prophecy. Because if you reject the spirit of prophecy, you're rejecting the vision and you perish. Where there's no vision, the people perish. Satan will work ingeniously in different ways and through different agencies to unsettle the confidence of God's remnant people in his true testimony. So really all I've been doing here this morning was showing that in Sister White's history when she was dealing with these different bodies that were resisting the message during that time period, that in reality she was setting forth prophecies about Adventism at the end of the world. And it's not often that we go ahead and take that step and make those applications because they become real serious and even scary. But when we're studying the passage in Selected Messages over the next couple weeks about where the reform lines began to be recognized, the first few paragraphs talk about men in that time period when she was speaking that were using a mixture of truth and error. So thus telling us that when it comes to the study of the reform lines and the message of the reform lines, that there will be false teachers. So when you go to Matthew 24, 23 to 25 and apply the same prophetic principle to Matthew 24 that we're applying to Sister White, it says, Lo, here is Christ. Here is an anointed speaker. Here is a speaker that understands the latter reign began to fall on 9-11, 2001. Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not, for there shall arise false anointed ones in this history, false Christ and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders. Insomuch, if it was possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I've told you before. Now, brothers and sisters, go to 2 Peter. 1 Peter, chapter 2. There's two classes of worshippers in Adventism at the time when the Lord is entering into covenant. And 1 Peter, chapter 2 is about the time when the Lord is entering into covenant with those people that are going to stand upon the foundation, the rock. Verse 5 says of chapter 2, 1 Peter, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house. From 1798 to 1844, the Lord built up the spiritual house of the Millerites in 46 years, and He entered into covenant with them, thus prefiguring that He's going to enter into covenant with a group of people here at the end of the world, beginning at 9-11 to the Sunday Law. That's what all the prophets speak about, the end of the world. And they're going to be a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it's contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

This chief cornerstone is the Rock of Ages and Sister White says the truce on this chart is the Rock of Ages. So the argument here in Peter is about the foundational truce of Adventism and the next verse says, Unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient. Here's two classes of worshippers and in one sense you can say this is the seventh-day Adventist in this history and the first-day Adventist. There's a group that are preparing to receive the seal of God, they're the seventh-day Adventists, and there's a group in Adventism that are preparing to receive the mark of the beast, they're the first-day Adventists. The first-day Adventists are the nominal Adventists. They reject the spirit of prophecy and reject the law of God, even if they give lip service to both, they do so, and they're rejecting the return to the foundational messages. Unto you, verse 7, therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, and of course we looked at that yesterday, what word did they stumble at? Line upon line, precept upon precept, that they might go and stumble and fall backward and be broken and snared and taken. That's the word they stumble over, the methodology of proof texting, and that methodology is a message in Isaiah 28, because they refuse to hear it. It's the Lateran message and the methodology to identify the Lateran message, but notice verse 8 again, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, where also they were appointed. Now there's no way that I'm saying that those people in this history in Adventism that are preparing for the mark of the beast, they have no choice. The Lord has ordained that they're going to be lost. That's not what's being said here, but it is being said that there is a group in Adventism that have been appointed in the prophetic narrative to be the class that receives the mark of the beast, okay, but there's also a group, the other group, that are God's elect. So if you go back to verse 25 of Matthew 24, it says, if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect. Who's that? That's the people that are preparing for the seal of God. They're the elect in this history. One group's been appointed to the mark of the beast, the other's been appointed to receive the seal of God, and the warning of Scripture is to those people that are the very elect, and what is the warning? That in this history, when these two groups are being developed, that there will be false teachers among them that claim to be the anointed, they claim to be Christ, they claim to be anointed in the sense that Christ means the anointed one, not that they claim to be Jesus himself, but they claim to be receiving the latter rain, and they're right there among the very elect, and if those people that are following the latter rain message do not understand that Satan attempts to keep them out of the kingdom through false teachers, then they've already taken one step in the way of destruction. Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, we want to be among those that aren't the nominal first-day Adventists. We want to be the elect, and we want to be prepared for the delusive testing time that we're now in, and we know that the preparation we need comes from your Word. We ask that you would continue to give us a deep love for the study and reception of your Word, that we can be thoroughly prepared for this trying hour. We thank you for all these things. We ask for a continued blessing upon the Latin presentations that are going to go on this morning following this meeting, and we ask you to continue to guide us into all truth as this testing process gets more and more narrow and more and more serious. In Jesus' name, amen.