I want to draw your attention to a well-known text in Revelation.
Actually, well I am at it, I will show you all four of them. Here they
are, read carefully:
Re 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith
the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Re 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and,
What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches
which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos,
and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto
Laodicea.
Re 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the
fountain of the water of life freely.
Re 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first
and the last.
Now the reason I am drawing your attention to these texts is a
little different than we usually associate them. Only recently a fact
was drawn to my attention by another faithful sister, that led me to
the conclusion that many Adventists, yes Historic ones as well, seem
to have missed some important information, that God wanted us to have,
regarding the apostasy that surrounds us today.
We are all well acquainted with the expression, The Alpha and
The Omega. But somehow it seems we have missed a clue here. The
general concept is that way back at the turn of the twentieth century,
an isolated event occurred called The Alpha Apostasy, and that was
all taken care of, and the denomination sailed on after that in
perfect order, heading for the heavenly shores.
But we also heard that there was to be an "OMEGA". And so for years
the idea has prevailed that sometime in the future there will come a
terrible apostasy, and that will be the Omega. But in the mean time
all was well and nothing to worry about.
In this we are very much like the mainline Protestant world, that
has their seven year tribulation under some terrible antichrist
figure pushed off somewhere into the future. They are missing their
clues badly, and will be doomed to a very rude awakening.
Are we also missing our clues?
When we read the above texts, do we have in our minds that Christ
as the Alpha is a completely different person than Christ as the
Omega? Is Jesus telling us here that He is two completely separate
persons?
"Of course not!" you say, "That would be silly!" We see Jesus here
as clearly saying that He is a continuum -
he was there in the past, He is here in the Present and He will still
be around in the future. He is One Being and He is involved with us
from beginning to ending and everything in between as well.
Any one who would put forth the idea that the Alpha Christ was
back then, but He is gone now and we have to look somewhere into the
distant future for the Omega Christ to come, would surely be a very
mixed up individual.
So why when we read the references that tell us that the Alpha of
spiritualism was started and there would be an Omega-
why do we see this as two separate and unrelated events with a long,
undetermined space in between when nothing bad is happening? I am sure
that if the Lord wanted us to see it that way, he would have used
entirely different words to describe the two events.
To use the term Alpha and Omega is to refer to a continuum, a
process that was then beginning and would go on and on, until the end
it would finally reach - caused the Lords
messenger to tremble for our people!
I want to show you another way in which the terms Alpha and
Omega are used:
"The Alpha and Omega of Scripture.--[Rev. 22:13-17 quoted.] Here we
have the Alpha of Genesis and the Omega of Revelation. The blessing is
promised to all those who keep the commandments of God, and who
cooperate with Him in the proclamation of the third angel's message"
(RH June 8, 1897).
Now, when we use this, is it being inferred that there is only
Genesis over there and then down here we have Revelation and nothing
in between? Of course not; the whole Bible is in between. She is
referring to a complete whole that begins with Genesis and ends with
Revelation.
Now I would ask you to read a few of these well known references to
the Alpha and Omega of apostasy. I would ask you to rearrange your
thinking into harmony with the other inspired statements using the
terms Alpha and Omega. Then re-read them and please substitute the
term Starting and Finish, or Beginning and End and see if you get the
picture.
"Living Temple contains the Alpha of these theories. The Omega
would follow in a little while. I tremble for our people. These
beautiful representations are similar to the temptation that the enemy
brought to Adam and Eve in Eden." {1SAT 341.3}
"Be not deceived; many will depart from the faith, giving heed to
seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. We have now before us the
alpha of this danger. The omega will be of a most startling nature."
{1SM 197.4}
"In the book Living Temple there is presented the alpha of deadly
heresies. The omega will follow, and will be received by those who are
not willing to heed the warning God has given." {1SM 200.1}
"When I first left the State of Maine, it was to go through Vermont
and Massachusetts, to bear a testimony against these sentiments.
Living Temple contains the alpha of these theories. I knew that the
omega would follow in a little while; and I trembled for our people. I
knew that I must warn our brethren and sisters not to enter into
controversy over the presence and personality of God. The statements
made in Living Temple in regard to this point are incorrect. The
scripture used to substantiate the doctrine there set forth, is
scripture misapplied." {1SM 203.2}
What is being conveyed to us here is that a process was beginning,
a terrible process of corruption of true doctrine with the sentiments
of spiritualism. It was entering amongst Gods people at that period,
but it wasnt going to end there. It was going to continue. The
misapplication of scripture would be part of it.
They were to confront it and resist it, but it would continue to be
a threat, changing faces and forms but eating away at the foundations
until a final climax would be reached. A climax that caused the
messenger to tremble.
Having the idea similar to the mainline churches that all our
concerns for the safety of the church are either in the past or in the
hazy future, has allowed us to be too much off our guard. God was
warning us that a process was beginning back then, a process that
would continue and destroy us if we did not stay alert and watch; if
we were not quick to discern spiritism in its subtle guises.
Notice in one of the above references that she refers to the
deceptive beauty of these subtle errors. Have you heard any
beautiful, sentimental ideas going around lately? It is a process,
brothers and sisters, an ongoing process. It is high time we stopped
looking to the distant future for something to happen, that is already
all around us in full force. It is time we apply the eye-salve of the
Spirit of Prophecy and take a look at what we are up to our necks in
right now!
Friends, many of us point to the mid 1950s as the time when the
church turned her helm and new theology was born. No my friends, there
has been a lengthy process going on long before that to prepare the
way.
Something prepared the way for a long time before this could take
place. What was it? Satans plans are not simple; they are convoluted
and subtle. Generation after generation he sows his seeds and waits
for the crop.
When you actually look into history and see the subtle ground-work
he has been laying in his plan to deceive the very elect, especially
since 1798 when he saw the prophecy fulfilled that marked the end of
the 1260 years and knew that the Great Advent Awakening that led to
the end of the 2300 days was shaping up. It is scary and truly does
make one tremble. We have placed on the
internet a very rare book written by an man who was once himself an
infidel and sought in every way to discredit the Word of the Living
God. Then the Word got to him and he was converted and spent the rest
of his days teaching and writing to show others the way.
Earle Albert Rowell, who fell asleep in Jesus in the early part of
the twentieth century, is well known for his wonderful book
David Dare.
However in 1917 he put out a book called
"The
Bible in the Critics Den". In this book he gives a wonderful
rundown on the roots of "New Theology". I bet most of you thought that
"New Theology" was new to the last few decades? No way; here we are
shown its very roots way back then.
Did you ever notice the many warnings Sister White penned for us in
those early years of the 1900s, urging us to beware of science
falsely so called, and worldly education and encouraging all to take
the Bible just as it reads and to put our trust in it? God did not
send these urgent messages just to pass His time; we needed them
because the devil had turned loose a barrage against us that was
different than ever before in the history of the church.
Nearly always before, the attacks had come from without the church,
(even the Alpha was resisted by leadership.) but now by subtly
introducing the learned theologians into the very ranks of the
remnant, through the push for accreditation and striving to meet the
worlds educational standards, which we were warned not to do, the
battle was brought into our very schools and pulpits.
Many of the things we hear weekly from the pulpits of our
denomination today, had its roots in the movement that was underway
big time in 1917 called Higher Criticism. Too many of Gods people
today humbly bow before these learned theologians because we feel that
surely, the things they speak must be based upon very good, sound and
solid evidence, and who are we to contradict such learned men.
Remember that was how the Jews in the time of Jesus felt also. And
thousands, yea millions were lost because of it.
But did the Priests and Rulers of Jesus day have solid scientific
evidence for rejecting Jesus?? No way! The only reason was ignorance
and greed coupled with the love to be acclaimed by the people.
Did the founders of the Higher Criticism that gave us our New
Theology and has permeated its roots of spiritualism into our very
rank and file; did they have solid scientific evidence for their
spoutings? I urge all to read this masterpiece and learn just what
sinking sands and shifting quagmire all this wonderful New Theology
is really built upon.
It is interesting that even he did not at this time recognize that
the movement by Wescott and Hort to promote their New Greek text based
on the corrupt Alexandrian Mss. was actually a branch of the same
crooked tree he was exposing. It was only later that this became
apparent to the faithful, and exposed by other watchmen, after this
brother was laid to rest.
I was blessed to obtain a crumbling copy of
The
Critics Den from 1917 and scanned it in for your benefit. My
hope is the same as the author, that it will strengthen your faith in
the Living Word of God! We have not followed cunningly devised fables!
Cast off the roots and branches of Christian Skepticism and
return, oh return to the old paths, the safe way of faith and
obedience.
"Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for
the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall
find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein."
Jer 6:16.
Is my theory backed up by the SOP? Indeed it is, please note the
following:
