Re Separation - Reply To Dahlia

Dear Dahlia, Your love for those that are out of the way is much appreciated by me. There are few that truly have a love for truth and desire with heart and soul to be right with God. I have studied the material from Brother Sessler. There are many things that he proves well and of these he gives lots of evidence. Here are some examples: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

8. 9.

We are in great spiritual danger God requires us to separate from Babylon God requires us to separate Achans from the camp Separation from worldlings is a condition of being received by God as His child. “Jerusalem” is a picture of what the church would be if she did not move forward with the light. God’s promises and threatenings are alike conditional. We are responsible for: A. Sins we commit B. Sins we would have committed C. Sins we cause others to commit D. Sins we could have prevented (by gospel work) others from committing E. Sins of omission and slothfulness God judges corporate bodies (families, schools, churches, nations) as bodies. The sins of those in a corporate body should greatly concern other members of that body. They have a responsibility to God regarding those sins.

These things listed above can be proven without a doubt. I believe them with all my heart. It is a good question how we should respond to these facts. There is a common trick of the Devil of which you should beware. The Proof-Proof-Poof Trick I will give you a few examples of how this trick is used. It keeps Baptists from joining the Adventist church, and keeps Shepherds Rod believers from rejecting their false prophet. It keeps liberal Adventists from believing in present truth. The trick is very effective. A man proves a point of truth with a lot of scripture, then another point of truth with a lot of scripture, and then concludes from those two truths a third thought. Finally, he offers all the evidence for the first two points as evidence for the third. Here is an example that you will understand. A Protestant man could “Prove” that we are saved by grace and not by works. This, of course, is true. He could show perhaps 45 passages of scripture to prove it. If he were Adventists, he could show hundreds of beautiful Ellen White quotations to prove it also. The Protestant man could then prove that the law was nailed to the cross. It was the ceremonial law that was nailed to the cross, but he doesn’t know that. He could show from Colossians 2:14 and Hebrews 9 and Romans 7:1-6 and from Ephesians 2 and from I Timothy 1:7-9 and from Galatians 3 and from Romans 14 that the law is no longer for Christians. There is truth in this, but only IF you know which law you are talking about it. After proving those two points, he could conclude that we are saved by faith and don’t need to keep the Ten Commandments. If you asked him why he believes we do not need to keep the Ten Commandments, he would give you the whole list of verses. They do prove something, but not the point he is making. The thing that confuses this Protestant man is that he is blinded to how his own ideas have been added to the evidence to make his conclusion. His opinion that there is only one law affected how he read all of the statements about the law. His opinion about the nature of ‘faith’ affected how he understood all the statements about the blood of our dear Saviour.

The Proof-Proof-Poof trick especially catches those that have not learned how to study for themselves. I do not mean that they do not study. But the way that they study is faulty. They trust too much to men. They study the evidence presented and find that the points that are proven are really true. But while they study the ‘proof’ they do not study the ‘poof.’ What do I mean? I mean they do not study the assumptions in the writings and talks of the man. Here is another example of how it works. I am referring now to the Shepherds Rod. Their false prophet is Victor Houteff. Victor Houteff proves that the Seventh-day Adventist Church of his day (the 1930’s) needed revival and reformation. He proves this very well. Then he proves that the church is to receive more light after Ellen White’s time. This is he also proves well. Ellen White wrote it several times. Then he proves that Ezekiel 9 will be fulfilled in the future and unfaithful Adventists will be destroyed. He also proves this very well. He presents a LOT of evidence for why they will be destroyed and the danger of rejecting light. Then he proves that while the church is weak and unconverted that it can not give the loud cry of Revelation 18. There is a great deal of evidence for this truth also. Most people reading his material will learn a lot from it because he quotes Ellen White so much and proves these things so well. Then he concludes that when the Adventists are slaughtered (Ezekiel 9) that the purified ones that are left will give the loud cry of Revelation 18. As proof he refers back to all the things mentioned above. But even though he presents a lot of evidence, and though it might be very convincing to his readers, Victor’s conclusions are wrong. The slaying of the unfaithful in Ezekiel 9 happens after the close of probation. The church is purified, according to several Testimonies, not by the slaughter, but by the pressures of persecution under the Sunday law. The Sunday law will sift the gold from the dross, and false professors from true believers. This following statement was written in 1914. Today, as in the days of Elijah, the line of demarcation between God's commandmentkeeping people and the worshipers of false gods is clearly drawn. "How long halt ye between two opinions?" Elijah cried; "if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him." 1 Kings 18:21. And the message for today is: "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen. . . . Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." Revelation 18:2, 4, 5. {PK 187.2} The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. The observance of the false sabbath will be urged upon us. The contest will be between the commandments of God and the commandments of men. Those who have yielded step by step to worldly demands and conformed to worldly customs will then yield to the powers that be, rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death. At that time the gold will be separated from the dross. True godliness will be clearly distinguished from the appearance and tinsel of it. Many a star that we have admired for its brilliance will then go out in darkness. Those who have assumed the ornaments of the sanctuary, but are not clothed with Christ's righteousness, will then appear in the shame of their own nakedness. {PK 188.1} (See 5T 81 for an earlier edition of this statement. It has some other useful material with it there.) It is interesting that she said at that time “the line of demarcation between God’s commandment-keeping people and the worshippers of false God’s is clearly drawn.” This was written just a few years after one of the greatest apostasies in Adventist history, the pantheism apostasy of Kellog, Jones, and Waggoner. It was during the same year that this was written that Jones was teaching that the SDA church had abandoned its position. He accused Ellen White of becoming a false prophet because she recommended holding Sunday evangelistic services when the Sunday law would make it dangerous to work. If you would be interested, I will send you a long compilation that I am working on. It is a collection of statements to A. T. Jones and about him, arranged chronologically. It tells a story of a man that once loved truth, but that cherished pride of opinion and bitterness against those rejecting his message until his own heart was blinded and he was led captive by the Devil. That story has been repeated so many times. Oh, Dahlia, I speak to you and I both, we

must be more attentive to the character and sacrifice of Jesus. Jone’s great knowledge did not save him from ruin. The angels ascribe honor and glory to Christ, for even they are not secure except by looking to the sufferings of the Son of God. It is through the efficacy of the cross that the angels of heaven are guarded from apostasy. Without the cross they would be no more secure against evil than were the angels before the fall of Satan. Angelic perfection failed in heaven. Human perfection failed in Eden, the paradise of bliss. All who wish for security in earth or heaven must look to the Lamb of God. ST 12-30-1889 The Last Deception Though he offers a great deal of Spirit of Prophecy and a great volume of scripture, Victor Houteff is a false prophet. His readers, not studying the other side of the questions that he presents, easily are led to follow his false interpretations. He is part of the last great deception. 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" (Proverbs 29:18). Satan will work ingeniously, in different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the confidence of God's remnant people in the true testimony. He will bring in spurious visions to mislead, and will mingle the false with the true, and so disgust people that they will regard everything that bears the name of visions as a species of fanaticism; but honest souls, by contrasting false and true, will be enabled to distinguish between them. {10MR 311.1} Likewise, he works through persons who have been reproved for some inconsistency in their religious life, for some course of action which was dangerous to themselves and others. Instead of receiving the testimony as a blessing from God, they refuse the means God uses to set them right. Such apparently may be very zealous for God, but they put their own interpretation upon the Word and make it contradict what the Lord has revealed in the testimonies. They think they are doing God's service, but such work God has not given them to do. {10MR 311.2} Here, Dahlia, I will speak my convictions plainly. While Victor Houteff fulfills part of the first paragraph, Brother Sessler fulfills the second. The last deception is to make the Testimonies of none effect. When I was reading brother Sessler’s material I realized right away an erroneous spirit. I will list a few of the most important points, and then will have to give you evidence for them slowly as I have a full-time job here. On the second point, it is dangerous to say that a plain testimony no longer applies. While it is true, Dahlia, that circumstances altar cases, it is even truer that the last deception is to make of none-effect the testimonies. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

How to deal with corporate sin and guilt The principles behind the 1893 statements The principles of Isaiah 29:20-21 The meaning of “Jerusalem” in relation to our day in prophecy The meaning of “Babylon” in the book of Revelation The corporate significance of being part of an adulterous nation/church The relation of “coming out” to acceptance with God and becoming a child of God in 2 Corinthians 6:16-18. How to test new “light” on new tests for God’s people

I will spend a few minutes at least this morning on the first one. While it is true that we have a responsibility for the sins of our corporate bodies, our families, our churches, our nations, it is not true that the only way to escape the judgements that fall on those bodies is to separate from them.

The Test of Moses The stories of Exodus 31-32, Numbers 14, and Numbers 16 happened over a period of about twenty years. In each case Moses was offered the position of fathering a new and righteous nation to replace the wicked one that was about to be destroyed. And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. Numbers 14:11 Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD. Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you…. And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibrothhattaavah, ye provoked the LORD to wrath. Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadeshbarnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice. Deuteronomy 9:7-8, 2223. And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. Exodus 31:9-10. And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Exodus 32:30-33. And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation? Ex. 16:20-22. Speaking of the first of these experiences, the one in Exodus 31-32, Ellen White wrote an amazing paragraph. Prayerfully consider it, Dahlia. God saw that the children of Israel, especially the mixed multitude, were continually disposed to rebel, and, by their works, provoke him to destroy them. He knew that they would murmur against Moses, when in difficulty, and grieve him by their continual rebellion. He proposed to Moses to consume them, and make of him a great nation. Here the Lord proved Moses. He knew that it was a laborious and soul-trying work to lead that rebellious people through to the promised land. He would test the perseverance, faithfulness and love of Moses, for such an erring and ungrateful people. But Moses would not consent to have Israel destroyed. He showed by his intercessions with God that he valued the prosperity of God's chosen people more highly than a great name, or to be called the father of a greater nation than was Israel. {1SP 245.1} According to what brother Sessler wrote, when the leadership and the people sin a great sin (like worshipping the golden calf) then they become Babylon and we should separate from them. That is a figment of his imagination. Here is Exodus 31 Israel had played the harlot. They had corrupted themselves. They had done a grievous wrong. Was Moses destroyed for staying with them? No. If

he would have separated from them he would have failed the test of his love for the erring people. A similar test of love will come in the end of time. “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure until the end, the same shall be saved.” Matthew 24:12-13. In Psalms 106:23 God explains that Moses’ intercession really did make a difference in Israel. In Ezekiel 22:30-31 God explains that He is looking for people that have such a love for his erring people that they will pray for them. Job 42:7-11 shows the same. Read it carefully. Then you may read I Sam 12. In that chapter Israel rejected God and chose a king. Was Samuel to separate from them? Was Samuel responsible for their sin because he remained in the camp? No. Read verse 23. Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way: Samuel and Moses understood that their duties for an erring congregation were to pray and to teach. That is how they could free themselves from the corporate guilt. First, they prayed (See Daniel 9, Ezra 9, Nehemiah 1) that God would forgive the people. Moses prayed this same way. See Number 14:13-21. Though I am not writing these passages out, they deserve careful and prayerful reading to catch the spirit of Jesus that is in them. When they prayed for forgiveness for their corporate guilt, they received it. Second, they taught. That is how they freed themselves from the responsibility of being an unfaithful guardian. Dahlia, the idea that God requires separation from His body of believers because that is the only way to escape being condemned is just falsehood. There were grave sins in Ellen White’s day. That is why she wrote that the church had played the harlot. There was theft and worse at the Publishing House, and spiritualistic theories at the Battle Creek sanitarium. Yet she wrote that the line of demarcation between God’s commandment-keeping people and the world was clearly drawn. I will need to come back to that “line” later. It is still clearly drawn today. Some things you may not have thought of about the issues of corporate responsibility have to do with families and nations. If it was true that we are judged for the sins of those we are bound up with, then those married to unfaithful spouses would be in a terrible fix, and every national citizen would be condemned for the sins of his government. Nations do receive wrath, and are punished. But is it necessary to separate from our citizenship or legal marriage to escape? No. Read Exodus 32:33. “Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.” This was written in the context of the national apostasy with the golden calf. Salvation was still based on individual acceptance of grace during the time of national apostasy. Jesus was not guilty for the thefts of Judas. When God is angry with his corporate church, the judgment does not fall on the structure, but on the generation. That is what happened to Israel in these stories. They were guilty, so they all had to die. But Israel continued, and the next generation received their chance. If they had rebelled, they would have died also. When our church resisted God’s spirit, the generation that did it was left to perish and a new generation was given time to grow up and make their decision. But there is a place for coming out of an apostate body. When is the time? When the body clearly and distinctly and openly repudiates the present truth for that time. The Jews openly repudiated Jesus as their Messiah. The Catholics openly repudiated the Bible as the sole rule of faith. The Protestants openly repudiate the Sabbath of the fourth commandment and the truth about death. Babylon is that system that openly repudiates the present truth for the world. How Satan would exult to have a message go broadcast that the only people whom God has made the repositories of His law are the ones to whom this message applies. The wine of Babylon is the exalting of the false and spurious sabbath above the Sabbath which the Lord Jehovah hath blessed and sanctified for the use of man, also [it is] the immortality of the soul. These kindred heresies, and the rejection of the truth, convert the

church into Babylon. Kings, merchants, rulers, and religious teachers are all in corrupt harmony. {2SM 68.2} One of the mistakes made by Mr. Sessler was misunderstanding 2 Corinthians 6:16-18. This passage teaches that until we “come out” and separate ourselves that God can not receive us and we will not be his children. It is certainly true. But it is not speaking of coming out of corporate bodies; it is speaking about how we chose our associates, especially within the church. See I Cor. 5:9-11. It is when we first separate from the companionship of our worldly-minded friends that God accepts us. Notice the principles in the following statement. Many have stumbled to ruin because of the erroneous doctrines taught by some ministers concerning the change that takes place at conversion. Some have lived in sadness for years, waiting for some marked evidence that they were accepted by God. They have separated themselves in a large measure from the world, and find pleasure in associating with the people of God; yet they dare not profess Christ, because they fear it would be presumption to say that they are children of God. They are waiting for that peculiar change that they have been led to believe is connected with conversion. After a time some of these do receive evidence of their acceptance with God, and are then led to identify themselves with His people. And they date their conversion from this time. But I have been shown that they were adopted into the family of God before that time. God accepted them when they became weary of sin, and having lost their desire for worldly pleasures, resolved to seek God earnestly. But, failing to understand the simplicity of the plan of salvation, they lost many privileges and blessings which they might have claimed had they only believed, when they first turned to God, that He had accepted them. Evangelism p. 286 Dahlia, I just do not have time to write more at the moment, though I wish to. Jesus said “beware of men.” Seek earnestly to understand Christ’s character yourself. The story of the cross will keep one warm and earnest. I will take more time as it is necessary. I can say that I love your soul. I do not really know you, but do care for all those that are resolve to seek God earnestly. Let me know if anything in this letter is hard to understand, Your servant in Christ, Eugene