Some thoughts on our church affiliation based on Revelation 14
The Scripture says, "These are those who were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes." "Women" stands for churches - churches that defile people with sins. The Trinity doctrine is sin because it teaches people to worship a false god, thus breaking the First Commandment. We must follow our Saviour instead of a creed.
Therefore, let us not be defiled with churches that are teaching people to sin - either through a false gospel which accommodates sin, tolerating open sin in its members, or teaching people to sin by breaking God's commandments - even if it is a "church" with the name "Seventh-day Adventist" on it.
I'm becoming more and more convinced that if the GC doesn't agree to study the issue of who God is but instead holds to its trinity creed that we should no longer be defiled with it. It's not Babylon, but it's too much like Babylon because it has built a babylonian tower called the trinitarian creed and those who worship in these churches are being defiled - not just with the Trinity doctrine but all manner of evil.
As I see all of the recent developments happening in the "church," I believe that this is it. What happens in the next year or so will determine the destiny of the SDA GC. Will they heed the Laodicean message or will they fall with Babylon?
Now, let me make this practical. We have been commissioned to preach the Gospel to the world. This takes organization, which we've been counseled to have repeatedly in the Testimonies. But the SDA GC is holding us back in not allowing the true God and the true Gospel to be preached. Therefore, in order for us to follow the Lord's commission, we need to preach independently of the GC. But how can we be effective without organization? And where do we lead new disciples to worship? And do we mislead people by saying we are "Seventh-day Adventists" when we are not members of the SDA corporation that the world sees as SDAs? And what do we do about the trademark?
It's time that we lead people to the Scriptures and disentangle ourselves from labels and creeds. We are to be the Israel of God that is restored after 1844 according to the prophecies. Our rightful Law is to be fully restored to us and we are simply to be the people who keep the Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. People are tired of denominationalism. And they need to know what the true church really is - that it is a people and not a certain organization or a building.
It is time to come out of the creed. Until we do, we will not experience the gifts of the Spirit. We cannot have both. It is one or the other. As long as we are connected with an organization that has a creed, we are exempt from Christ being among us. It is our trinitarian creed that has shut Him out. If we wait for dreams and visions to indicate that we should reorganize outside of the GC, it may never come, because we are still connected with the creed, with man replacing God. Even if we have been disfellowshiped from the GC, if we trust that this is still God's sole organization then we are putting our trust in this creed-laden organization. I have no doubt that God will still use supporting organizations of the GC to help bring truth to the nations, but what we need are organized missions right here in the Western world. Home churches are fine, but we need to have a coordinated effort. We cannot continue to be independent atoms. We need God's spiritual gifts among us and to gather together at His appointed times. This waiting for the Conference to be reformed may be a hopeless effort and holding God back from really using us.
Friends, we have put far too much trust in man. Our creeds and organizations have left us bound. We need to have faith that if we will gather ourselves together, and pray for unity and for the gifts of the Spirit, that He will do this for us - even without the large numbers that the GC has. We must fully rely on His power alone. We need to by mission-focused instead of just continually hashing and rehashing the same things among ourselves. We need to gather ourselves together when God has asked us to for the specific purpose of reaching the world with the Gospel of the Kingdom. God's Kingdom will be restored, but we have been so institutionalized that our focus has been on our own organizations instead of of His simple Kingdom.
These are some thoughts that I have. Let's discuss this and pray about it, but please be respectful. We need to examine ourselves. Where is our trust? Are we fully relying on God? Are we mission-focused or focused on ourselves? Are we focused so much on doctrine and debates that we are missing the whole object of our mission? We need to move on, brethren, we must move on.
