I grew up in Los Angeles, but now my home is nestled in the rugged forests of North Idaho. What a difference in terrain! Instead of the constant traffic of Interstate 10 running through downtown LA, the town I live in has only one traffic light.
Priest River, Idaho
Population: 1754
It’s so peaceful here. Deer, raccoons, turkeys, and an occasional skunk tromp through our backyard. Our family even saw a wolf once. We love it here. I also enjoy spending time in my garden for stress relief. This also gives me a chance to learn lessons from plants and listen more closely to the Voice of God.
Yet like a bird perched on top of a pine tree, I still spend time viewing events in the world and in our church. In these last days, the world is in a terrible condition. There are so many lost souls who need the Savior!
As I look at God’s church, I see so much that is encouraging. The recent ASI convention held in Orlando, Florida, was fantastic. So many ministries were there networking together. The Three Angels Messages are advancing worldwide. Nothing can stop them.
Yet I also see things in our church that concern me and many others. There’s no denying that Achans exist among us, but that shouldn’t surprise us, for Jesus plainly stated that the wheat and the weeds will “grow together until the harvest” (Matthew 13:30). Addressing this exact issue, Ellen White wrote insightfully:
“We are sorry that there are defective members, that there are tares amid the wheat … Although there are evils existing in the church, and will be until the end of the world, the church in these last days is to be the light of the world that is polluted and demoralized by sin. The church, enfeebled and defective, needing to be reproved, warned, and counseled, is the only object upon earth upon which Christ bestows His supreme regard” (Last Day Events, p. 52).
This inspired paragraph reveals five facts:
God’s “church” isn’t composed of only pure saints.
There are “evils existing in the church, and will be until the end of the world.”
The “church” is “enfeebled and defective, needing to be reproved, warned, and counseled …”
Nevertheless, this same defective “church” is still called by God to be “the light of the world.”
This same defective “church” is still “the only object upon earth upon which Christ bestows His supreme regard.”
From my symbolic “perch on the top of a pine tree,” I wish to be guided by these inspired truths when controversies occur among us. As most of us do, I also watch some videos, read some articles, and scan some posts beneath some articles and videos. When I do, God sometimes teaches me valuable things and I learn from others. Other times I cringe.
I have chosen to call this article, A Sin Often Unseen. What is that sin? You’re about to find out. As most of us know, the Bible plainly says “sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). As Adventists, we often quote this verse in reference to the fourth commandment and teach (rightly so) that it is a sin not to keep the seventh-day Sabbath holy (after knowledge comes to a person’s conscience about this issue). We also teach (rightly so) that a final test will soon come upon the entire world in the form of Sunday laws. But we must never forget that “whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10).
Thus, 1 John 3:4 applies to all ten of God’s commandments, not just the fourth.
In this article I want to draw your attention to the fifth commandment sitting right beside the fourth commandment. It too was written with God’s finger amid the thunder and flames of Mount Sinai. It too was written while the earth shook. It too tests our hearts. That holy commandment declares:
“Honor your father and your mother: that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).
Is dishonoring our parents the often-unseen sin this article will refer to? Not quite. Sometime ago I discovered that inside the book Patriarchs and Prophets is a deeply insightful chapter entitled “The Law Given to Israel” (chapter 27) in which the author quotes the Ten Commandments, one by one, and then shines a magnifying glass upon each of them. Notice carefully the last part of Ellen White’s comments revealing the depth of the Fifth Commandment:
“Parents are entitled to a degree of love and respect which is due to no other person. God Himself, who has placed upon them a responsibility for the souls committed to their charge, has ordained that during the earlier years of life, parents shall stand in the place of God to their children. And he who rejects the rightful authority of his parents is rejecting the authority of God. The fifth commandment requires children not only to yield respect, submission, and obedience to their parents, but also to give them love and tenderness, to lighten their cares, to guard their reputation, and to succor and comfort them in old age. It also enjoins respect for ministers and rulers and for all others to whom God has delegated authority” (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 308 (emphasis added).
Thus part of obeying Commandment Five is to have “respect” for “ministers,” “rulers,” and “all others to whom God has delegated authority.” How serious is this issue? It’s part of keeping the Ten Commandments written by Almighty God with His own finger on stone. And since “sin is the transgression of the law,” this means that having no “respect” for “authority” is also a sin. It is the cornerstone of rebellion.
In the Author’s Introduction to the book The Great Controversy we are also told that “Satan, the prince of evil, the author of sin,” is “the first transgressor of God's holy law” (p. x). In heaven, Lucifer rebelled against God’s authority. Down here on this earth, we are often tested on the same issue. If we have zero respect for “ministers,” “rulers” or for “all others to whom God has delegated authority,” then we are unknowingly placing ourselves on Satan’s side of The Great War against God’s law and character. As it is written, “He that commits sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
What about leaders within the Remnant Church? Has God given them authority? I’ll let the Spirit of Prophecy answer that. In a chapter called “The Spirit of Independence,” Ellen White wrote:
At times, when a small group of men entrusted with the general management of the work have, in the name of the General Conference, sought to carry out unwise plans and to restrict God's work, I have said that I could no longer regard the voice of the General Conference, represented by these few men, as the voice of God. But this is not saying that the decisions of a General Conference composed of an assembly of duly appointed, representative men from all parts of the field should not be respected. God has ordained that the representatives of His church from all parts of the earth, when assembled in a General Conference, shall have authority. The error that some are in danger of committing is in giving to the mind and judgment of one man, or of a small group of men, the full measure of authority and influence that God has vested in His church in the judgment and voice of the General Conference assembled to plan for the prosperity and advancement of His work” (9T, 260, 261, emphasis added).
As I ponder these inspired words from my quiet (metaphorical) perch on top of stately pines, my conscience speaks to me, saying, Yes, duly appointed leaders within God’s organized Seventh-day Adventist Remnant Church still do have authority.
Does this mean that everything every individual minister, ruler, or conference leader does is right, or that they will never make mistakes, or that it is impossible for them to commit sin? Hardly. Adventists aren’t papists who think we are governed by infallible priest and popes.
A candid analysis of Bible history reveals a different story. Look at Moses. He was given authority by God, yet he sinned when he took glory to himself and struck the rock twice. David sinned with Bathsheba, and then murdered Uriah. Peter denied Christ with cursing. Yet in spite of their sins, God gave each of these men certain responsibilities and authority that was still to be “respected.”
Consider the case of David and Saul. At God’s command, Saul was anointed by the prophet Samuel to be an earthly king over Israel. He was given authority. Yet he messed up. He sinned. An evil spirit even compelled him to try to kill David. David fled and surrounded himself with loyal men. Then one day as Saul was pursuing David, he entered a cave to relieve himself. Unknown to Saul, David and his men lurked in the shadows. “Kill him!” David’s men urged. “God has delivered your enemy into your hands!”
On the surface, it sure seemed so, but that was bad advice. To his credit, David chose not to follow it. Instead, his response was: “I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD’s anointed” (1 Samuel 24:10).
Rather than killing Saul, David spared him. He also waited, and prayed. Finally, in God’s own time and way, He made David the new king; and one reason for this was because David passed the test of showing “respect” to a man—even though he was a sinner—“to whom God had delegated authority.” By so doing, David kept the fifth commandment.
In North Idaho, I’ve planted some fruit trees in my backyard. During down times—when I’m not working with my team at our office, traveling, or holding seminars—I enjoy pruning, mulching, and tending my trees. I also pray, ponder, and observe.
Yesterday I picked about 20 ripe pears. I enjoy pears. To me, homegrown fruit tastes great! Jesus said, “By their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7:20).
What fruit does Jesus want to see growing on the branches of His Remnant people, even in the midst of controversy? The Bible reveals the answer. Not the works of the flesh, which not only include gross sins like “adultery,” “fornication,” “lewdness,” and “sorcery,” but also more subtle sins like “hatred,” “contentions,” “outbursts of wrath,” and “dissensions” (Galatians 5:19-21).
Instead, our Savior longs to find “the fruit of the Spirit,” which is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (vv. 22,23).
In these last days, those who reveal such godly fruits are God’s true commandment keepers.
Summary
Just to clarify, does this mean that God’s faithful people will never point out sins in others? No. Does it mean that they will never seek to “reprove, warn, or counsel” His defective church? No again.
But it does mean that in the process of seeking reforms, they will have “respect for ministers and rulers and for all others to whom God has delegated authority.” By the power of His Spirit, they will refuse to merge their characters with Satan as “transgressors of the law.” Instead, they seek to be more like their Savior, who “loves the church, and gave Himself for it” (Ephesians 5:25).
Remember, it is a “defective and enfeebled” church that is still “the only object upon earth upon which Christ bestows His supreme regard.”
Let’s be more like Jesus!
In this solemn Day of Atonement, when God wants us to keep every precept of His holy law, may the Holy Spirit convict us (where we need convicting) and lead us to humble our hearts, confess our sins, trust Jesus Christ’s blood, and overcome “A Sin Often Unseen” of breaking the 5th commandment which “also enjoins respect for ministers and rulers and for all others to whom God has delegated authority” (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 308).
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Steve Wohlberg is the Speaker/Director of White Horse Media. He is the author of 40+ books, including God’s Last Message: Christ our Righteousness. Pastor Steve also teaches two online courses, Sprouting with Steve (about health) and Grow Your Money With God (Christian stewardship). White Horse Media’s YouTube channel contains many more “present truth” biblical messages. Its online Bible school is also great for sharing with the public.
