An Invitation for Laodicea to Come and Investigate

This week we continue our introductory concern for the Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist Church to come and investigate her true condition before God and realize she has many things to learn, and many, many to unlearn in regard to God’s soon coming kingdom. The following appeal comes from the original Shepherd’s Rod tract publication entitled, The Answerer Book, No. 1, pp. 16-28.

Do As Did Nathaniel.

Come and see!

See what? Laodiceans, rich and increased with goods, and in need of nothing, with the excuse that the need to take care of the material things of life (Luke 14:15-19) forbids their accepting the invitation?

Indeed not!

See the Laodiceans from the streets and lanes–”the poor, and the maimed and the halt, and the blind” (Luke 14:21), gladly availing themselves of the remedy!

But, alas, not all who come, remain, for “when any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.” Be not like him, but make the effort required to understand the Truth. And others, “when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word,” are offended. These are they “that received the seed into stony places.” Neither be like them; be rooted in the Truth. “But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” Matt. 13:19-23.

Though the “bad” along with the “good” are still coming (for we are yet in the period in which the wheat and the tares, the good and the bad fish commingle), you need not be of the tares or of the “bad fish.” Be of the wheat, do as the “good”: lay aside your own thoughts and ways, then take the Lord’s, for He says: “…My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways…For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isa. 55:8, 9.

And finally, never be like a Pharisee who can see the mote in his brother’s eye, but cannot see the beam in his own (Matt. 7:3). For after all “Who art thou?” asks the Lord. Art thou thyself not a Laodicean? How “judgest” thou “another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.” Rom. 14:4.

Never mind the other fellow, Brethren; you have barely enough time to look after yourself. And moreover, do not measure the Truth with the rod of man, but with the Rod of God: “Hear ye the Rod, and [Him] Who hath appointed it” (Mic. 6:9), urges the Lord.

Will you not take His counsel? If you will, then without further delay, send your name and address for Present Truth literature–the feast which, though worth everything, will cost you nothing. And besides being the only cure for your Laodiceanism, it will thrill and satisfy your hungry soul with something truly rich and extraordinary !

Then all of us together “shall have spiritual eyesight to discern the inner courts of the celestial temple. We shall catch the themes of song and thanksgiving of the heavenly choir round about the throne. When Zion shall arise and shine, her light will be most penetrating and precious songs of praise and thanksgiving will be heard in the assemblies of the saints….As we apply the golden eye-salve, we shall see the glories beyond. Faith will cut through the heavy shadow of Satan, and we shall see our Advocate offering up the incense of His own merits in our behalf. When we see this as it is, as the Lord desires us to see it we shall be filled with a sense of the immensity and diversity of the love of God.”–Testimonies, Vol. 6, p. 368. And then we shall no longer ask:

Whose Advice Is To Be Followed?

Now we want you to know that we truly appreciate your concern for our spiritual welfare, as expressed in many of your criticisms, and we assure you that we fully realize that, be we wrong, your advice is surely as valuable to us as, be we right, our advice is to you. So we are confident that you will be agreed with us that we must settle the question,

Who Is Who?

To begin our investigation, it is necessary in fairness to both sides, to take into account the experiential knowledge of each.

In view of our long experience with the Third Angel’s Message in its first part, as well as in its present addition (Early Writings, p. 277), as brought in The Shepherd’s Rod, as against yours in the first part only, we are constrained to believe that the possibility of your being wrongly led by the angel of the Laodiceans, is greater than the possibility of our being wrongly led by the Rod.

Were you in a position, such as we are in, to be fully informed in both messages, –in both the one of 1844 and the one of today,–then the possibility of your being right and of our being wrong, as against the possibility of your being wrong and of our being right, would be about equally balanced. Inasmuch, though, as you are conversant with the former only, it is more probable that our position carries a greater percentage of possibility of being correct than does yours.

Moreover, whether the Rod is right or wrong “the angel of the church of the Laodiceans” is as the Lord Himself has made acutely clear, in a sad, fearful, and terrible deception (Testimonies, Vol. 3, pp. 253, 254, 260), and about to be spued out.

In view, therefore, of the consequent greater responsibility resting upon us, we cannot be less interested in you than you are in us. And you cannot afford to be less mindful of our advice to you than we can afford to be of yours to us.

And finally, believing that you are as honest as we are, we are confident that you will candidly and carefully weigh every word herein.

Our being, as you know, unswerving adherents of the Bible and of Sister White’s writings, full-fledged Seventh-day Adventists we are sure that both the Bible and Sister White’s writings support the Rod one hundred percent. All three, therefore, we see in perfect harmony with one another with the Rod giving “power and force” to the message as given since 1844. (See Early Writings, p. 277.)

In view of our sustaining this solid conviction, you can readily understand that your rejecting the Rod on the grounds that it is out of harmony with Sister White’s writings, is not at all to us the actuality it seems to you.

Then, too, having every reason to believe that our minds are fully rational, we accordingly have every reason to believe that we are no less able than others intelligently to study both the Bible and Sister White’s writings. So let us, as Christians who really want to know the truth, together begin

Examining Both Your Position And Ours.

To begin with, is it not correct that the Christian’s textbook is the Bible? If your answer to this fundamental question is in the affirmative, then it compels us to study Sister White’s writings in the light of the Bible, not the Bible in the light of her writings. This, in fact, she herself plainly says:

“Only those who have been diligent students of the Scriptures, and who have received the love of the truth, will be shielded from the powerful delusion that takes the world captive. By the Bible testimony [not by hers], these will detect the deceiver in his disguise…. Are the people of God now so firmly established upon His word that they would not yield to the evidence of their senses? Would they, in such a crisis, cling to the Bible, and the Bible only?”–The Great Controversy, p. 625.

Clearly, therefore, her work must never be interpreted in such a way as to contradict the Bible but always to clear it. If you undeviatingly follow this absolute rule of interpretation, you can never possibly have any trouble with the Rod or with any message the Lord may ever send.

Your interpretations of many of Sister White’s writings, most notably, perhaps, those concerning the Kingdom, being manifestly contradictory to the prophecies of the Bible, cause the one who accepts her writings to doubt the Bible, and the one who holds to the Bible to be set against her writings, thus bringing in dispute and schism among the brethren. Such interpretations, one-sided and division-making, are therefore grievously unfair not only to the Bible and to Sister White’s writings but also to yourself, and consequently to the cause of Truth.

So you will, we trust, see that while you are intentionally endeavoring to prove only the Rod wrong, you are in reality unwittingly endeavoring to prove Sister White at odds with the Bible–a work which is scattering from Christ rather than gathering to Him.

As both your and our doctrinal positions must be in perfect harmony with the Bible, we are therefore asking you to harmonize your position on the Kingdom with Daniel 2:44; Jeremiah 51:20; Hosea 3:4, 5; Isaiah 2:1-4; Micah 4:1-6; Isaiah 11:12-16; Jeremiah 30:18, 21; 31:2-13; 32:37; Ezekiel 37:15-28.

We hold it to be a simple, self-evident truth that as the stone (Dan. 2:34) is symbolical of the Kingdom, and that as It smites the toes of the image, It necessarily must be set up before It smites them, just as Daniel said: “In the days of these kings [toe-kings: the kings of today] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom.” “In the days of these kings,” cannot mean after their days. And unless the Kingdom is set up (brought into being), It cannot smite the nations.

If, moreover, Judah and Israel (both kingdoms) are not gathered together into one kingdom, as the prophecies say they will be (Ezek. 37:15-28), then how can they be His “battle-ax” (Jer. 51:20)? And how can the prophecies be fulfilled?

It is equally self-evident that the “many days” (Hos. 3:4, 5) are the long years from the time the Kingdom went down until It shall finally be set up again. Wherefore the word “return” cannot mean anything other than that those dispersed “many days” are to go back to the land whence they were taken captive.

This, furthermore, is the only position, consistent with all relevant Bible doctrines, that gives assurance of fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 2 and that of Micah 4.

Again: from Isaiah 11 we see that the Lord is to “set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people” (Isa. 11:11), and that when He does so, He will prepare a way for them “like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.” Isa. 11:16.

And Jeremiah testifies that the Lord “will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap….and their nobles shall be of themselves and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them.” Jer. 30:18, 21.

To Ezekiel, moreover, “thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land.” Ezek. 37:21.

The Bible is either right or wrong. If you believe It is right, take It to heart, and take your stand upon It, at least upon such open passages as the ones herein quoted–scriptures which need no interpretation.

And certain it is that God will accept no excuse for anyone’s trying to side-step them, so plain and positive are they. Neither will anyone succeed in escaping God’s judgments by endeavoring on the one hand to dodge through what he thinks to be loopholes in the Rod, and by endeavoring on the other hand to set up in Sister White’s writings, obstacles to take cover behind.

Such vain attempts today will leave the perpetrators no more excusable (in fact, less so) than the vain efforts of the Jews yesterday left them in their attempt to discover loopholes in Christ’s work by the use of Moses’ writings.

If one’s excuse be that the Rod’s teachings are not found in Sister White’s writings, no more will he be vindicated in rejecting its voice on such grounds than are the Jews for fighting and rejecting the New Testament Scriptures on the grounds that they are not found in the writings of the prophets.

If you are really a sincere and faithful believer in both the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, you will obey this counsel: “…if a message comes that you do not understand, take pains that you may hear the reasons the messenger may give.”–Testimonies on Sabbath-School Work, p. 65, Counsels on Sabbath School Work, p. 29.

Your integrity in renouncing the sealing message on the ground that it contradicts Sister White’s writings, will be tested by your response to her urging you to reason with the messenger rather than to reason with his enemies.

What to some of you may seem to set this or that teaching of the Rod squarely in contradiction to Sister White’s writings, is not half so plausible as is that which to all appearances sets the Lord’s statement in Matthew 10:23 solidly in contradiction to His promises. “Ye shall not,” say the Scriptures, “have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.” But the apostles did go preaching the gospel not only to the cities of Israel but also to “every creature which is under heaven” (Col. 1:23), and as yet the Son of man is not “come,” though 1900 years have passed since that time. Christ must have spoken the truth, but it is not understood, just as many points in connection with Present Truth are not understood, and hence in most cases are misconstrued.

When Moses wrote the first part of the Bible he was not given the privilege to write the whole Truth which God intended to reveal to His people. Later in the Old Testament period came Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, et al. Then in the New Testament period came John the Baptist, Christ, the apostles, the reformers, Miller, and Sister White, each one in turn teaching truths which could not, however, be maintained by Moses’ writings. This is the divine rule of unfolding truth. And only to one’s own loss will he refuse to acknowledge that it is operative the same today as ever, even though the message today is derived entirely from the inspired writers before it.

Though there is much more to be said on these matters, suffice these lines for the present, for unless for your life’s sake you respond to them, more would be only a weariness to you and a loss of time to us.

Our sincere prayer and earnest hope, therefore, is that the valuable, irretrievable time expended in this effort of good will and deep concern for your souls, will be the means of bringing you to rejoice in the glorious hope which the Rod sets before you. May your heart yet be responsive to the “Lord’s voice,” which still “crieth unto the city,…hear ye the Rod, and Who hath appointed it.”

If you are resolved now to comply with this injunction, and with the one in Testimonies on Sabbath-School Work, p. 65, to take pains to hear the reason the messenger may give, and to ask questions on the message, whether with respect to the Bible or to Sister White’s writings, be assured that we shall welcome hearing from you, and shall gladly do our honest best to clear whatever is involved.” — Answerer Book No. 1, pp. 16-28

Tagged as: investigate, kingdom, Laodicea, Laodicean