In a recent devotional reflection I came across the following thought-provoking passage:
“In the last solemn work few great men will be engaged... God will work a work in our day that but few anticipate. He will raise up and exalt among us those who are taught rather by the unction of His Spirit than by the outward training of scientific institutions.... God will manifest that He is not dependent on learned, self-important mortals” (Ellen White, Last Day Events, p. 204).
We perhaps should define the group here designated as “great men.” This cannot refer to the great men or leaders of the secular world, seeing these have little to no interest in, but will mostly oppose, “the last solemn work” that involves lighting the earth with the glory of God. The term is evidently applicable to those who have been at the front of the gospel work - those who have received the highest training and been privileged to occupy positions of trust in the Lord’s vineyard. We are told here, by testimony of none other than the Holy Spirit, that He will not be forming partnership with the majority of these prominent and privileged persons in the closing work of the gospel. As He has often been obliged to do, he will again bypass the “learned” and “self-important” ones among us and will equip “those who are called the common people” (ibid.) to finish His work.
What seems to be the issue with most of today’s great men, or religious philosophers in the Adventist Church (the abbreviation Ph.D. actually means Doctor of Philosophy) is that, more often than not, their methodologies and reasoning often tends to lead away from the plain teachings of the Scriptures while claiming to uphold and affirm them.
Great discernment is here required because the distinction is not always readily detected. Jesus declared in Matthew 5:19,
“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
We learn here that Jesus is paying attention to what people are teaching concerning the Commandments of God, and upon this point He determines who are called great and who are called least, or common. The message entrusted to the Movement, and which God commanded be given to the world, includes faith in the uplifted Savior - our only Surety and the reception of the righteousness of Christ which is manifested in obedience to all the commandments of God (See Testimonies to Ministers, p. 91). And the truth of the matter is that the result of the teachings of many Adventist philosophers of modern times is that the Commandments of God are broken rather than kept.
It is the acceptance of the popular version of righteousness by faith, held by that system of error and deception known as Babylon, which sidelines obedience to God and offers salvation to people who have no interest or belief in total deliverance from sin.
As an example, take the following teaching of one such “great man”, a philosopher that was greatly honored and admired among those who oppose the truth, the late Dr. Desmond Ford. He took upon himself to teach us as follows: “This word ‘justify.’ It never means to make righteous inside. It means, strictly, to count righteous” (Right with God Right Now, pp. 19-21).
Wait, where is the Bible evidence for this teaching? Any man can have an opinion, but when it comes to the life and death issues of the gospel of Christ, I would say more than mere unsupported opinion is required, especially of one deemed to be a scholar. Is not this so? How can such a clearly untrue concept be accepted as factual without remonstrance? And yet, amazingly, this is the present reality among many of the “learned.” Remarkable!
Since writing and publishing abroad this unbiblical philosophy which finds its roots down in the culverts of Calvinistic confusion, Dr. Ford has been allowed by the Great Life-Giver to cease his labors and go to his place of rest. There he awaits a resurrection, one of two, to be determined by Jesus beforehand in the pre-advent judgment which he denied with great vehemence, but which, notwithstanding his campaign against it, even now proceeds!
While we will wisely stay away from any undue judgment as to his future, or that of any of the many SDA philosophers yet living, a matter which must always be left in the hands of the long-suffering Father, we must honestly recognize that his (Ford’s) work among us has not been without fruit, and that not of the most healthy variety.
As one of his disciples, another philosopher of like persuasion boldly informed the world church recently,
“most Adventist scholars and pastors have accepted Ford’s definition of righteousness by faith” (See Gerhard Pfandl, Remembering Desmond Ford, Adventist Review, March 15, 2019).
Ah! Now the Holy Spirit’s statement with which we begun this article begins to make sense! It’s coming together with the clarity of noonday. Now we see why most of the leading pastors, administrators, preachers, authors, editors of our official papers, professors and self-designated thought leaders (a term which borders upon blasphemy, as the Holy Spirit is the only Thought Leader among God’s people) who now occupy the limelight in the Seventh-day Adventist Church will have no part in the work of the angel of Revelation 18. Not that God would not have them take part. Oh no! He would gladly employ their expertise, but alas! they exclude themselves!
You see, the work of that angel leads all to a life of total submission to Jesus, total obedience to all God’s Commandments. This is incompatible with philosopher Ford’s edition of the gospel which the larger body of these have assented to and utilize their platforms to propagate. That gospel offers salvation in sin rather than from it. It therefore runs in the opposite direction to the plain declarations of the Holy Bible. The solemn truth is that all who accept and teach these things will be necessarily excluded from giving the loud cry, receiving the seal of God and the latter rain, and God’s protection from the 7 last plagues.
Terrible will be the fate of those who have human beings, especially great men and philosophers, as their guides in these times!
The saved will be those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. He, the Good Shepherd, leads them in the paths of righteousness, real righteousness such as He provides and produces in all who truly have faith in Him, and not a make believe sort that does not transform the life but covers up known sin, and leads its adherents, hopelessly, to look to the Second Advent for a change of character to prepare them for entry into Heaven.
Does any reader of this document believe that Jesus will be rectifying characters at the Advent? And yet this is the teaching of the philosophers!
Can the reader see John’s point about those who “make a lie” in Revelation 21:27? These are costly lies! Souls will be lost for believing them!
Great men will know that it is a serious thing before God to lie about the way to Heaven.
“Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life” Ezekiel 13:22.
Great hailstones (vs. 11) will be used by God to repay this terrible work. The smaller ones will weigh at least fifty pounds. The weight of a lost soul is a very heavy burden on the heart of God. Philosophers, there is yet time to mend your way!
Are all these great men and women doomed? Far be it from me to even suggest this! A philosopher need not be unfaithful. There will be the occasional Nicodemus to challenge them in their scheming and plotting against Christ and His ambassadors; plotting that includes, for example, denial of access to churches, Conferences and media platforms.
There will be a few Gamaliels who in the fear of God will speak wisdom among them from time to time, warning them to refrain from persecuting the servants of God who are preaching the Three Angels Messages and the true rendition of righteousness by faith. And I am sure that there will be other Sauls of Tarsus who will mercifully meet their own Damascus day and be turned to the way of true obedience when grace removes the scales from their learned eyes to see the truth in its simplicity.
Moreover, the same passage quoted tells us that learning and education and the institutions that provide these, are ordained of God. Such ordination, of course, must be rightly understood, so that we do not say the Lord has said, when He has not spoken. But for the most part, blessed will be the ones who keep in mind the following counseling of the prophet:
“Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help” (Psalm 146:3).
And now, a word for “those who are called the common people.” Read the book of Acts in preparation for the journey of your lifetime! All who will earnestly pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and will surrender completely to Jesus, will know what it really means to become a co-laborer with Christ.
What a scene this world will witness when the followers of the Lamb receive the latter rain and go forth like a mighty army, empowered by the Spirit! The Lord will then show our great men, even as he showed Peter under the early rain, how foolish it really is to call any of God’s humble children “common” or unclean.
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