EDITOR’S CORNER

The church is in trouble. With signs of the end coming thick and fast, many in the church seem uncertain even about how to be saved. The leading brethren are not unified about the nature of Christ. A prominent minister proclaims our sanctuary doctrine in error, stating that Christ went to the Most Holy Place at His ascension. Faith in the prophetic gift manifested by Ellen White seems in decline. Some Adventists are sending their tithe where they wish. A conference president is promoting a demonstrative worship style with music that assaults the senses. And it looks as though we are going to lose the medical work.

1993? No, I've described conditions of a hundred years ago, in the two decades following 1888. Those were serious times and serious issues, and I haven’t even listed all the problems. Several of them had the potential to split the church and perhaps even deal it a death blow.

But the church did not split, nor did it die. We lost some members, but the church grew stronger. It weathered the storms that beat upon it so heavily, and it sailed on, sometimes even in calmer waters!

Dudley M. Canright, one of our premier evangelists, left the church in 1887. He had been in and out of the ministry before, but for a man of his stature to leave us and start preaching for the Baptists must have sent shock waves through the church. We had fewer than 30,000 members in the world at that time!

Mrs. White later published a letter she had written to him before his fateful move, relating an impressive dream concerning him. She saw him “on a strong vessel, sailing on very rough waters. Sometimes the waves beat over the top, and you were drenched with water. You said: ‘I shall get off; this vessel is going down.’ ‘No,’ said one who appeared to be the captain, ‘this vessel sails into the harbor. She will never go down.’”

Canright argued with the captain: “‘I shall take my chances on that vessel you see yonder. . . . This vessel will become a wreck. I can see it just as plain as can be.’ The captain looked at you with piercing eye, and said firmly, ‘I shall not permit you to lose your life by taking that boat. The timbers of her framework are worm-eaten, and she is a deceptive craft.’” How the Lord appealed to him not to go! (Read the whole dream in Testimonies for the Church,5:571-573.)

Distressed by some things they see in the church, some Adventists today are asking what they should do. Perhaps, like Canright, they feel the waves are crashing over them, and the ship is falling apart. The Captain has a message for them: “‘This vessel sails into the harbor.’ Don’t withdraw or look for another, sturdier vessel. Others have tried that and made shipwreck of their faith.”

If you have concerns regarding various problems, express them to the right people, in the right spirit and tone. That is part of your responsibility. Pray earnestly for those in leadership. But stay by the ship.

In This Issue. Mark Finley calls our attention to the upheavals the Lord has told us the church would experience in the last days. The church will be mightily shaken, and many will leave. Who are they? Read “Shaken or Sealed?”, p. 5.

Mrs. White gave some very direct, plain reproofs to the church during the period I described in the opening paragraph above. C. Mervyn Maxwell’s article, “Ellen G. White, Baal Worship, and Loyalty” (p. 12) reviews the surprising message of Testimonies to Ministers and offers an outline of Ellen White’s counsel to both the troubled and the troublers in the church.

Don’t miss the blessing of reading “The Church Our Mother” (p. 18) by W. D. Frazee, whom many consider the patriarch of the truly supportive independent ministries today.

Joe Engelkemier returns to our pages with two timely articles about those whose teachings lead away from the church. Elder Engelkemier faces these challenges today in one of his churches, and he shares some of his findings with us in “Guarding Against End-Time Deceptions” (p. 26) and “Lessons From Waco” (p. 34).

In “Cut From the Quarry” (p. 40), Jan Doward will warm your heart with his personal experience and will encourage with its application.

“The Last Words of Francis Schaeffer” (p. 49) by C. Raymond Holmes examines the crucial matter of the church’s attitude toward Scripture.

Betty Lou Hartlein, our associate editor, addresses the essential spirit of family the church must have, in “At Home in the Church” (p. 54).

Finally, read Ellen White’s portrayal of the church’s trials and triumphs in “A View of the Conflict” (p. 57).

Inspiration promises no “flowery beds of ease,” but it offers us assurance regarding the church’s final destiny. Then let all ADVENTISTS AFFIRM it: the church is going through!