Cut From the Quarry

What is the price of membership in God's church? How should we respond?

To become a member of the Seventh-day Adventist church was extremely costly for me. That cost was measured in tears drawn from the depths of abandonment by relatives and friends even before I was baptized. Yet I was determined by God’s grace to take my stand with His remnant people.

Letters from Home. The setting was early summer, 1945, somewhere slightly inland from Orange Beach #2, near Naha, Okinawa. The last desperate pockets of Japanese resistance punctuated the days and nights with real reminders that World War II was still in progress. Suddenly, mail call! Nothing in a soldier’s life compares with this. There never seemed enough letters from home anytime, but after a two-month absence of any mail, everyone in my outfit quivered with excitement. Hunkering down in my pup tent I eagerly sorted the stack of letters according to the postmark and began reading.

In my naiveté I just knew every relative and friend back in the States would share with me my joy in discovering the Seventh-day Adventist message. Daily as I had studied with Floyd Cromwell, an Adventist soldier whom I met on board the troop ship heading toward the combat zone, I felt the urgent desire to share the good news. I wrote extra amounts of "V mail," smiling as I did, knowing that the military censors would also be reading about the great prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. I often wondered if they might think I was writing in some sort of code when I mentioned beasts, 1260 and 2300 days, the great dark day, the falling of the stars, and three angels flying in the midst of heaven.

Rejection.
The bright, happy anticipation of reading my mail faded to black with the mounting realization that not one person was responding positively. All the letters said essentially the same thing. "If you are going to become a Seventh-day Adventist, don't bother to write again!" I fought back the tears most of the way through that stack of mail, but my mother’s response was like a physical blow. She wrote, "I’d rather have you become a thief than a Seventh-day Adventist!" My G.I. buddies, bewildered by my strange outburst of weeping, tried to comfort me, but at the moment I could not articulate anything. All I could do was sob out my sorrow as I plunged into the dark abyss of abandonment. When shortly after this a nearby ammunition dump exploded, it seemed to reflect my inner feelings.

A Bible text kept surfacing in my mind: "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Rev 12:17). That warfare against the remnant had become personal to me, but it made me more determined than ever to proceed with baptism. No Adventist minister was available, and the chaplain assigned to our outfit refused to baptize me if I insisted on becoming a Seventh-day Adventist. Fortunately Floyd Cromwell, who had carefully led me through so many Bible studies, found the chaplain of the island command who outranked ours. The major sent back a terse order: "Baptize this man regardless of his religious preference. You are here to serve them!"

Baptized.
So on Sunday afternoon, July 15, 1945, I was baptized at Ishikawa Beach by a Baptist chaplain who insisted I first sign a paper stating that I had taken out membership in his church and another paper saying I had transferred my membership to the Seventh-day Adventist church. It was the shortest membership the Baptist church ever had!

My mother wrote, "I’d rather have you become a thief than a Seventh-day Adventist!"

On the beach that day stood four Adventist soldiers who came to sing, pray, and witness my baptism. About thirty other Adventists were scattered over the island, but it was not possible for them to come. Those four, then, represented the local Adventist church and their rejoicing with me increased my extreme happiness on the day I became part of the remnant.

To make everything official, Floyd wrote to his home church in Middletown, New York, relating the whole experience and requesting that I be voted into that congregation as a member. Although I have never seen the Middletown church, I have always been deeply grateful for the confidence its members showed in accepting me sight unseen.

Japanese Adventists.
In God's providence my first contact with a civilian Adventist church came during my tour of duty with the Army of Occupation in Japan right after the war. In spite of the language barrier, it was a profound privilege to fellowship with these dear believers who had suffered through a time of trouble. Only about sixty members remained in the Tokyo area, but what an inspiration they were! They added a special living dimension to the reality of the exalted calling of the remnant people of God. I beheld what the church looks like after being sifted with persecution.

Of course, all Japanese suffered during the war. We seem to remember only Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but the massive destruction visited upon the nation, especially in the industrialized zones, was staggering.² The Seventh-day Adventists, however, had something to bear in addition to this. Prior to and during the war, the Thought Control Police did everything at their command to ferret out anyone they considered subversive. With the rationale of the importance of the whole nation worshiping the god-emperor, who was “born” from the sun, it is not hard to imagine the intensity with which the police responded to teachings like that of a second coming of a divine King of Kings, appearing from the east in a blaze of glory.

One Japanese friend of mine told me how he had been tricked by the Thought Control Police. During the war he faithfully gave Bible studies whenever he could. One study was with a young man who seemed eager and sincere and who responded so well to the message that he requested baptism. During the final study, prior to the baptism, he asked many questions regarding Adventist leadership and the organization. To my friend these seemed natural enough at the time, but a few days later he was shocked when that same young man arrived with a truckload of soldiers to round up all of the leaders at the Adventist mission compound.

During my stay in Japan it was my privilege to meet one of those stalwart elders who had been arrested. This godly man had had his head bashed against the prison wall because he refused to give up the Sabbath. He and his dear wife were both imprisoned during those dark days of persecution. These Adventists exemplified the Scripture, “and they loved not their lives unto the death” (Rev 12:11). For me who remained in the comfort of peacetime, who composed the remnant church, indelibly etched in my mind the indomitable power of lives that match the message. It is not in quantity but in quality that Christ is glorified and the church prospers.

Important Lessons.
My total overseas experience enabled me to see more fully the depth of the three angels’ messages and helped me to prepare for the climactic finale to the great controversy when God separates the loyal from the disloyal. That overseas experience also helped me to see that whatever rejection I endured was mild in comparison to what the Japanese believers suffered. When I arrived home I soon discovered that those letters I had received on Okinawa did not begin to portray the animosity of my relatives and friends against my becoming a Seventh-day Adventist. The full fury of the family descended upon me at every turn, but my background with our dear Japanese believers helped me keep their behavior in perspective. I understood what Ellen White meant when she said, "The name Seventh-day Adventist is a standing rebuke to the Protestant world" (Testimonies for the Church, 1:223).

Both sides of the family prided themselves on being religious achievers and Bible-believing churchgoers. Their kind of belief in the Bible, however, relegated it to the status of a book of moral values. Invariably the Bible was forced to leap hurdles imposed by the self-deceptive concepts of their own intellects. They were steeped in Bible theology, which conveniently picks and chooses those portions of Scripture that neatly accommodate being molded into the shapes of social issues. They fervently rejected any notion that the Bible was God's Word and was its own interpreter or the final authority. The name Seventh-day Adventist represented to them a disturbing sect composed entirely of uneducated, bigoted bumpkins.

They were totally embarrassed that I had somehow been "hoodwinked" into joining such an organization. To think that I had broken rank with the mainline Protestant churches was more than they could bear. Seventh-day Adventists were unpopular, and popularity was the driving force of my relatives’ theology. They thought Adventism was Old Testament oriented; "We are New Testament Christians!" they often cried. Yet any attempt on my part to show how beautifully the Old and New Testaments blend into a whole was resisted, clench-jawed. Questions of why they persisted in worshiping on Sunday and rejected so ardently the doctrine of the second advent generated anger and ridicule but never an answer.

Bigotry.
For years I had been taught that bigotry came solely from the right-wing element. The conservatives, I was told, occupied the corner of narrowmindedness. Yet in the onslaught of opposition to my new beliefs I saw more bigotry, more unchristian behavior by those who boasted of their broadmindedness and tolerance, than I had seen anywhere before. I was reminded of how the unwelcome truth was received in Christ’s time. The conservative Pharisees and the liberal Sadducees were bitter enemies of each other. The right and the left clashed. Yet as Jesus’ ministry came to its close, they united against Him. "Like seeks like; and evil, wherever it exists, leagues with evil for the destruction of the good" (The Desire of Ages, p. 405).

Preacher Shock.
About twelve years after my conversion, I was in the home of a very prominent Adventist preacher. During the Sabbath conversation I mentioned how happy I was that God had called me out of Babylon.

"Oh no, brother," this preacher interrupted, "you were not called out of Babylon. Those churches used to be Babylon but no longer are."

To say that I was stunned by this declaration would be an understatement. Since I was in Washington, D.C. at the time, on Monday morning I went to the White Estate to discover firsthand exactly what was written about the fall of Babylon. At that time Elder Robert Leo Odom was working on the three-volume Index to the Writings of Ellen G. White. He was down to the "J’s." As busy as he was in his research, he took time out to study with me. Though I was familiar with many of Ellen White’s statements about apostate Protestantism, I wanted to see the full picture. One statement especially underscored the truth about spiritual Babylon:

"The spirit of world conforming and indifference to the testing truths for our time exists and has been gaining ground in churches of the Protestant faith in all the countries of Christendom; and these churches are included in the solemn and terrible denunciation of the second angel. But the work of apostasy has not yet reached its culmination" (The Great Controversy, p. 389).

Instead of breaking clean from the past after 1844, the apostate Protestant churches headed deeper in the wrong direction. "As they have continued to reject the special truths for this time they have fallen lower and lower" (ibid.).

When we finished our study on Babylon, Elder Odom looked squarely at me and said earnestly, "I don’t know who told you that the churches are no longer Babylon, but let it go in one ear and out the other."

To be honest, I did not follow his advice. Instead, I let the statement make me far more alert and prayerful, with a fuller awareness that the warfare spoken of in Revelation 12:17 certainly describes no mock maneuvers. The intense hatred of the enemy against the remnant church fires him to work both within and without to discredit and dismantle the message God’s people are to bear. That message is designed by God Himself to enhance the quality of life right here, right now, and to prepare a people to meet Christ face to face when He returns. And that is the last thing Satan wants! It exposes him as a liar. By the grace of God, the commandments can be kept!

Problem Foreseen.
I found that the Lord’s messenger had foretold the very thing I had heard from that leading preacher and have heard from others since. "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" (Selected Messages, 2:385).

The sad history of ancient Israel was fostered by their all-consuming passion to imitate their neighbors. They could not tolerate the notion of being unique representatives of the living God, totally separated from the world about them. Can we?

Called to be Separate.
Seventh-day Adventists have been chosen by God as a peculiar people, separate from the world. By the great cleaver of truth He has cut them out of the quarry of the world and brought them into connection with Himself. He has made them His representatives and has called them to be ambassadors for Him in the last work of salvation. The greatest wealth of truth ever entrusted to mortals, the most solemn and fearful warnings ever sent by God to man, have been committed to them to be given to the world" (Testimonies for the Church, 7:138).

Cut from the quarry of the world! Yet, in order to obstruct the beautiful building God designs to make of His church, Satan causes many to resist this separation. The natural heart, bent on the love of approbation, will borrow from Babylon if doing so will lead to acceptance or applause. That God has graciously provided "the greatest wealth of truth ever entrusted to mortals" means little to the heart that is still locked in self-service, "because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom 8:7).

The remnant church is not immune to the influences that have moved the churches of Babylon away from the purity of a truly biblical faith. I have been astonished to see the Babylonian theology and mindset that I came out of, now making inroads among us. Under the guise of "love" and "acceptance" (qualities that should grace the lives of all Jesus’ followers), some Seventh-day Adventists elbow forward with a design to remodel the message to suit a humanistic agenda. In so doing they may try to make all those who stand for the historic Adventist faith appear as a great hindrance to progress. Anyone who remains firm for the faith once committed to this people risks being portrayed as in religious bondage.

Familiar Story.
All this seems tragically familiar. Entranced with his own intellectual ability, Lucifer set out to reinterpret God's Word to fit it into his own perverted notions of progress. Divinity left nothing undone to turn him from his course. Loyal angels pled with him. "Lucifer refused to listen. And then he turned from the loyal and true angels, denouncing them as slaves" (The Story of Redemption, p. 16).

An inquiring mind that seeks the truth is God-ordained. But Lucifer, like many today, asked questions only to create doubt. Typical is his query to Eve after his own fall: "Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?" (Gen 3:1 NIV). Of course He said it! But rebellion ever seeks to incite distrust and dissatisfaction.

None Effect.
In order for the new views to succeed within the Adventist church, their adherents must first make of none effect the writings of Ellen G. White. God's loving gift, given to counsel us and to shed divine light on the Scriptures, too often is spurned; the natural heart never responds well to counsel or reproof. God's messengers of old were stoned and mistreated not because of some personality trait but on the basis of the message.

Ellen White did not write in ancient Aramaic but in plain English—too plain for some. How well I remember the Sabbath a man interrupted my sermon when I read a statement from Ellen White on religious liberty. "I don't believe that!" he shouted. After momentary shock I regained my composure and informed him that I would discuss the matter with him at the close of the service. I fully expected to find that he had some objection to the contents of the quotation. I was wrong. Religious liberty was not the problem. "You used Ellen White, and I don't believe in Ellen White," he said firmly, "because she says not to eat meat and I like my meat." At least he was honest.

Others are not so forthright. They may quote Ellen White selectively where she seems to support their claims, but they will ignore or distort anything to the contrary. They are willing to acclaim the writings of Ellen White as inspirational but not, typically, as inspired, preferring to avoid giving her such authority.

Downward Steps.
But if Ellen White is effectively dismissed, the shift into the next phase is automatic. "Next follows skepticism in regard to the vital points of our faith, the pillars of our position, then doubt as to the Holy Scriptures, and then the downward march to perdition" (Testimonies for the Church, 5:672).

Experience has confirmed that those who set aside the prophetic gift move on to question the vital points of our faith. The great 2300-day prophecy, the solid pillar of the sanctuary doctrine, the three angels' messages, the first eleven chapters of Genesis—all are shelved in favor of the "pick and choose" technique for determining what in the Bible is inspired and what supposedly is not. Some may strain to find discrepancies in the Bible to support their insight. With distorted vision they will see many causes for doubt and unbelief in things that are really plain and simple" (ibid., p. 705).

When the vital points of our faith are questioned, swept aside or ignored, social issues tend to fill the vacuum. Indeed, there will always be those who make social activism a substitute for true religion and character development, taking up trendy causes that fit into the scheme of making the church more acceptable to the secular world.

Reaction.
On the other side, reaction to all of this has been severe, with blame and denigration cast at times over nearly every aspect of the denomination. A wrong spirit has prevailed, even when the cause was right. And some of those who support the inspiration of Ellen White can also be found using her writings very selectively, thereby misusing them.

In all this our Lord is not glorified. It is a staggering, unnerving thought to realize that right on the very edge of eternity, with the long-predicted storm approaching, we can be so distracted from our God-ordained task of carrying the everlasting gospel to our dying world. Many Seventh-day Adventists do not seem to know or care that we are here to reflect the image of Jesus. "The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of His character of love" (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 415).

Satan knows this all too well. Diversionary tactics in any warfare are essential. "He knows that with him everything depends on his diverting minds from Jesus and His truth" (The Great Controversy, p. 488).

What God Requires.
The Lord has a high calling. "God requires of His people now as great a distinction from the world, in customs, habits, and principles, as He required of Israel anciently. If they faithfully follow the teachings of His word, this distinction will exist; it cannot be otherwise" (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 458).

Satan counters with his own plan. "The line of distinction between professed Christians and the ungodly is now hardly distinguishable. Church members love what the world loves and are ready to join with them, and Satan determines to unite them in one body and thus strengthen his cause by sweeping all into the ranks of spiritualism" (The Great Controversy, p. 588). The plan has worked well in other churches, and it will work in ours to the extent that, loving what the world loves, we minimize the distinctions between God’s people and the ungodly.

Had we all loved, appreciated, and understood the depth of the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6-12, we would not have been caught so frequently in our own verbal firefights. Our controversy over, for instance, worship styles adopted from charismatic evangelicals would not even have arisen. The first two words of the first angel’s message "Fear God"—and the second angel’s cry—"Babylon is fallen"—would easily have deterred us from venturing onto that ground. We were "cut from the quarry," remember?

Warning.
Fortunately, there still remain in Israel true believers whose transformed lives testify to the power of the living God and His last day message. But there is a warning in all this. "A sin-hating God calls out upon those who claim to keep His law to depart from all iniquity. A neglect to repent and to render willing obedience will bring upon men and women today as serious consequences as came upon ancient Israel. There is a limit beyond which the judgments of Jehovah can no longer be delayed. The desolation of Jerusalem in the days of Jeremiah is a solemn warning to modern Israel, that the counsels and admonitions given them through chosen instrumentalities cannot be disregarded with impunity" (Prophets and Kings, pp. 416-417).

"When the day comes when the law of God is made void, and the church is sifted by the fiery trials that are to try all that live upon the earth, a great proportion of those who are supposed to be genuine will give heed to seducing spirits, and will turn traitors and betray sacred trusts. They will prove our very worst persecutors" (Ellen G. White comments in The SDA Bible Commentary, 6:1065). In that hour those who subscribe to situation ethics will demonstrate fully the frightful fallacy of their choice to transgress when it seems convenient.

Centuries ago the prophet Jeremiah asked a question that seems hauntingly relevant: "An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?" (Jer 5:30-31 RSV).

Stand Firm.
The God who is running this universe is fully capable of guiding His church through every trial and tribulation just ahead and bringing us safely through to His kingdom. We must never forget this! The distress we are now experiencing will most certainly widen and deepen. "As we near the close of this earth’s history, we either rapidly advance in Christian growth, or we rapidly retrograde toward the world" (The Review and Herald, Dec. 13, 1892). You will be tomorrow what you are becoming today.

The opposition and trials I experienced from those closest to me when I embraced the Seventh-day Adventist message taught me this: whatever shaking or sifting transpires, we must stand firm for the message committed to this people. This is no time to give up or splinter off but a time to remain loyal, a time to pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, a time to study God’s Word and the Spirit of Prophecy, a time to engage actively in seed sowing. It is for this hour that we have been cut from the quarry!

NOTES

1. "V mail" was written on one side of a sheet, photographed on 35mm film for shipment to America, and printed on slightly smaller paper. Amazingly, it was delivered in the States from anywhere in the world within ten days!

2. In February, 1945, the United States began deploying a new bomb containing magnesium and jellied gasoline. In mid-March, 334 B-29s from Guam, Saipan and Tinian were dispatched "on the most destructive single bombing mission ever recorded. It did more damage than even the dreadful atomic explosions that were to wipe out Hiroshima and Nagasaki." The American Heritage Picture History of World War II (American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., 1966), p. 589.