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Pacific Press® Publishing Association Nampa, Idaho Oshawa, Ontario, Canada www.pacificpress.com
Cover design by Steve Lanto Cover design resources from Lars Justinen Inside design by Aaron Troia Copyright © 2009 by Pacific Press® Publishing Association Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved Scripture taken from The New King James Version, copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Additional copies of this book may be obtained by calling toll-free 1-800-765-6955 or online at http://www.adventistbookcenter.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Folkenberg, Robert, 1964Getting back to the heart of adventism / Robert Folkenberg, Jr. p. cm. ISBN 13: 978-0-8163-2347-0 (paperback) ISBN 10: 0-8163-2347-X 1. Bible. N.T. Revelation XII-XIV—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Seventh-Day Adventists—Doctrines. I. Title. BS2825.52.F65 2009 230’.6732—dc22 2009008816
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Dedication To Audrey my wife and best friend, partner in the adventure of a life lived for the King, the love of my life and
To Robby, Randy, and Katie my children, incredible gifts from God, the joy of my life, faithful disciples of Jesus
I love you all!
Contents
Preface
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Chapter 1 Conviction or Convention?
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Chapter 2 End-Time Cartography
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Chapter 3 The First Angel’s Message: The Heart of the Matter
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Chapter 4 The Second Angel’s Message: The Tale of Two Cities
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Chapter 5 The Third Angel’s Message: Marks, Worship, and Mission
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Chapter 6 Gnashing of Teeth and Righteousness by Faith
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Chapter 7 Where the Rubber Meets the Road
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Chapter 8 And in Conclusion . . .
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Preface
T
he heart of our message is and always will be Jesus Christ. He is the center, the core of our faith. Without Him and His life, death, and resurrection, this book—and all other books on Christian faith— would be worthless. The heart of our message is about a Person—a real Man who existed since time immemorial as the Son of God—who gave up His exalted station at the center of heaven and became a poor, humble man that He might become the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world! (John 1:29; Philippians 2:5–11). Jesus points to the centrality of His being and mission when He says, “ ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’ ” (John 14:6). Jesus isn’t a way or a truth or one of many kinds of life. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I love the way Ellen White puts this eternal and supreme fact. She states that “Christ, His character and work, is the center and circumference of all truth. He is the chain upon which the jewels of doctrine are linked. In Him is found the complete system of truth.”1 Jesus is the center of Adventism. Take Jesus out of our teaching, and we lose the heartbeat of salvation; we lose our peace, our joy, and our only hope. Actually, we also lose the true power in our message. After all, Jesus said that it is when He is lifted up, when the everlasting 9
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good news of Christ and Him crucified is proclaimed to the world, it is then that all people will be drawn unto Him (John 12:32). This book seeks to show that as God’s end-time remnant people, we have a responsibility to preach Christ and His everlasting gospel. This gospel message always has a contemporary context. In Peter’s final letter to the church, he pleads with his readers, God’s faithful people of his day, to cling to Jesus and be more “diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble” (2 Peter 1:10). His encouragement is spoken from one who does not want to be considered negligent, though he admits that his readers know these truths. In fact, he states that he knows that they are “established in the present truth.” As a people, we must preach Jesus—crucified, resurrected, our heavenly Intercessor, and our soon-coming King! As a people living at the end of time, we have a contemporary message, one that is completely centered on Christ, but one that is also present truth for the closing hours of earth’s history. The context of our gospel proclamation is not the first-century world. Our context is a world engrossed in the drama of life immediately preceding the second coming of Christ. We must preach the message of Jesus—today’s only source of salvation. Jesus—the soon-coming King. Jesus—the awesome Lord we can all follow by having a deep and abiding faith in Him, as well as by gladly keeping all of His commandments (Revelation 14:12). Jesus is the Truth, and we must proclaim the truth as it is in Jesus. Didn’t Jesus Himself command His disciples to do this when He said, “ ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you’ ” (Matthew 28:19, 20)? Jesus was not just a Person: He was a Message. He communicated truth. And the present truth for our time—which still has as its center and core the Person of Jesus Christ—is found in the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6–12.
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The proclamation of this end-time, Christ-centered message is why we are who we are. It defines our identity. It forms the core of our mission. It is the contemporary mission given to God’s last-day faithful people, those who “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12). This book is not a theological dissertation. It is not a deep exegesis of these important texts of Scripture. You won’t find Greek words sprinkled throughout the pages of this book. This book does not even claim to be a comprehensive or exhaustive treatment of these important passages. The purpose of this small book is simply to point God’s people back to these magnificent and profound messages as proclaimed by the three angels of Revelation 14 so as to remind us, as Adventists, of what our mission as a church is all about. I believe with all my heart that we exist as a people to preach these messages. The proclamations of these three angels are a Christ-centered, contemporary message for our day. They are truly present truth, one which we have been called as a church to proclaim. Think about it; we are part of a long line of God-ordained people to stand up at important historic intersections to proclaim a message from God. Our time is now—at the close of earth’s history. Our mission is to proclaim the words of appeal, love, and warning found in Revelation 14:6–12. When we proclaim these messages, Christ will be glorified. He will be uplifted. I pray that as you read these chapters, you will be challenged to once again offer up your life to God and be used by Him to fulfill our mission as a movement, to proclaim Christ and the present truth for our time as found in the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6–12. 1. Ellen G. White, Our High Calling (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald® Publishing Association, 1961), 16.
Chapter 1 Conviction or Convention?
Y
ou could hardly imagine a more depressing and hopeless situation. Even an optimistic glance into the future would reveal nothing but uncertainty. If, on the other hand, you were a pessimist, the same glance would spell certain denominational bankruptcy and theological fragmentation. I’m not trying to be overly dramatic. The facts were such that as the church prepared to convene their thirty-fifth General Conference Session on March 27, 1903, the future of the Seventh-day Adventist Church truly looked bleak. Let me explain. Let’s start with the financial disarray that faced the church. When General Conference President A. G. Daniells took office in 1901, he discovered that the church was in a major financial crisis. It operated without any working budgets. As a result, the church was regularly incurring indebtedness to build new institutions or to renovate older ones, as well as to meet day-to-day operational expenses. The debt was astounding. Church historian Arthur White paints a clear picture of the financial situation that faced the church as they prepared to meet for their yearly session: “The wage of ordained ministers and of skilled workmen in the publishing house was only $12 to $15 per week. Yet the debts on educational institutions amounted to $350,000. The General Conference Association owed 13
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$280,000. By the end of 1902 the debts of the association exceeded the assets by $7,400. The General Conference itself was overdrawn in its accounts by $41,500. The Battle Creek Sanitarium was carrying a debt of $250,000.”1 So you can image the dismay and gloom that pressed in on each of the delegates as they convened their annual General Conference session. If that were not enough, over the ten months preceding the 1903 session, both the Battle Creek Sanitarium, the largest and best-known institution the church operated, and the Review and Herald Publishing House had burned to the ground. The insurance collected for each of these disasters did not even cover the debt they carried—much less fund the building of a replacement structure. Financially, the church was on the brink of bankruptcy, and its flagship institutions lay in a heap of ashes. Besides the financial crisis the church was facing, the church faced the huge risk of losing control of most of its health institutions. At that time, the properties were not registered legally as belonging to the denomination but rather were “owned” by the individual constituencies that had personally invested in the institution through purchases of shares that had been sold to raise needed capital. Also, most health institutions operated by the church were under the management oversight of what was called the International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association. This association, headed by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, was gradually distancing itself from the denomination. One example of this distancing was its board of directors passing resolutions stating unequivocally that their institutions were to carry out their work “independent of any sectarian or denominational control.”2 The third challenge facing those preparing to attend the General Conference Session related directly to the head of this medical association, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. Not only was he distancing himself from the church organizationally, he also was developing some bla-
Conviction or Convention? • 15
tantly non-Christian ideas that contained echoes of pantheism, or in today’s terms, New Age philosophy. As a way to raise funds to rebuild the sanitarium, Dr. Kellogg wrote a book called The Living Temple, containing teachings that directly contradicted biblical and denominational beliefs. However, due to Dr. Kellogg’s charismatic presence and powerful leadership, his ideas were not dismissed by all in the church. Instead, many church leaders across the country began to support the philosophy of his book and the direction of his ministry, including dozens of influential pastors and doctors, among them one of the leaders at the 1888 General Conference, Elder A. T. Jones. Ellen G. White warned the church against the dangerous theological influence found in the book. Elder A. G. Daniells and other leaders were determined to face down this threat to the fundamental pillars of the church. A menacing theological schism loomed on the horizon. So it was with much apprehension and uncertainty that the eightyeight official delegates to this thirty-fifth General Conference Session were seated on Friday afternoon, March 27, to begin discussing and wrestling with the huge issues that stood defiantly before them.
Crystal-clear priorities Here is where this story really becomes interesting. What issue did they tackle first? What challenge did they raise for discussion or refer to a working committee? None. They did not begin by first addressing the financial crisis and having a parade of expert financiers filing before them who could help pull the denomination back from the precipice of bankruptcy. They also did not address the sticky issue of institutional ownership or the leadership and theological crises led by Dr. Kellogg that were threatening to split the church. Not for a second. What did they do first? The first two full days of this historic General Conference session were dedicated solely to the study of the three angels’ messages and how the church could finish the work that God had commissioned it
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to accomplish. In other words, they focused on their mission. Our mission. At that dangerous juncture of the church’s history, the delegates corporately turned their attention to why the Seventh-day Adventist denomination existed. Why they were who they were! After all, the reason they had assembled to tackle the major problems facing the church was not to salvage institutions made of brick and mortar. They weren’t there to preserve jobs or even to balance budgets. They started the conference by placing at the front and center of their agenda the mission for which the church was called into existence. The delegates understood that focusing on their mission was vital to their survival. The same is true today. At a time when the church is facing increasing theological, financial, and missiological challenges from within and without, we must drop all secondary obsessions, however good they might be, and make sure we are focusing on our core mission. We must both corporately and individually, as members of Christ’s remnant church, know and understand why we are here—and what we have been called to do as a church and, in turn, as individual members of the body of Christ. Why is this important? Because if we ignore or misunderstand our core mission, I would submit to you that we cannot expect God’s blessing to be with us as a people! The delegates and leaders of our church who gathered in council back in 1903 understood clearly that their strength in time of need—or in time of plenty, for that matter—would come only from God. It would also come only as they were fulfilling the mission for which the Adventist Church was called into being. They understood that mission to be, and I heartily concur, the proclamation of the three angels’ messages—a signal warning to the world that it is living in the time of the end, in the time of earth’s final judgment. Our mission, the proclamation of the three angels’ messages to the entire world, can be summarized succinctly by remembering two Old Testament prophetic messages. First, the challenge of Amos the
Conviction or Convention? • 17
prophet, “ ‘Prepare to meet your God’ ” (Amos 4:12).3 And then the powerful and clear message of Elijah to the multitude gathered on Mount Carmel, “ ‘How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him’ ” (1 Kings 18:21). The distinct and all-important mission of our denomination is laid out, in no uncertain terms, by Ellen White when she writes, The truth for this time, the third angel’s message, is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, meaning with increasing power, as we approach the great final test. . . . The present truth for this time comprises the messages, the third angel’s message succeeding the first and the second. The presentation of this message with all it embraces is our work. We stand as the remnant people in these last days to promulgate the truth and swell the cry of the third angel’s wonderful distinct message, giving the trumpet a certain sound. Eternal truth, which we have adhered to from the beginning, is to be maintained in all its increasing importance to the close of probation. The trumpet is to give no uncertain sound.4 Let’s return to the session in 1903. For two days, the delegates reviewed and discussed and recommitted themselves to this foundational mission of the church. They refocused on the centrality of the marching orders given to the church. They knew that they were not alone. They knew that the Lord God had called the denomination into existence for a clear purpose, although at the time they faced seemingly insurmountable problems, He would be with them “even unto the end of the age.” Only after they had thoroughly reembraced their calling as a people did they move forward boldly to deal with their immediate financial, organizational, and theological dilemmas.
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Convention or conviction? As a church we have artistically emblazoned the three angels on our official logo; we display them in the stained glass of our churches; we even print them now and again on our official letterhead or discuss them in the give-and-take of our Sabbath School discussions. However, do we really know what these angels and their messages are all about? I dare say that a random survey of those sitting in the pews at your church would reveal that most have no real idea what the first angel’s message of Revelation 14:6, 7 is or what it has to do with them. The same lack of understanding probably would be the case with the second angel’s message and the third angel’s message as well. To some who can recall the messages themselves, natural feelings of either fear or embarrassment are what first surface in their hearts and minds. Fear, because images of fire and brimstone, fallen Babylon, and the dreaded mark of the beast seem to dominate. To others, such topics and their implied exclusivity as a remnant people are an embarrassment. Both responses are an unfortunate misunderstanding of the marching orders that our church has been given. A few years ago, while our family was living in Hong Kong as missionaries, my wife and I purchased the popular board game Risk® to give to our children at Christmas. As a kid, I had spent many hours playing this game with my friends, as had my wife. After the kids had opened their Christmas presents, we sat down as a family and opened our Chinese version of Risk. I discovered something interesting. In the bilingual instructions, I discovered updated optional rules for playing the game. These rules weren’t around when I was growing up. What these optional rules suggested is that at the start of the game each player be given a special-mission card. The focus of the game then was for each player to strategically assemble their board pieces to accomplish their special mission. Whoever achieved this goal first was the winner. As I played the new game with my family for the first time, I could
Conviction or Convention? • 19
not help but think of the similarities between this game of specialmission Risk and that of the church of which I am a member. “That’s it!” I said to myself. “The concept of the remnant is not about an exclusive group who are the only ones saved. No, the ‘remnant’ is, at the core, those who are called to carry out a special mission. To accomplish this mission, they must be covered by the blood of the Lamb, completely committed to Him, love Him above all else, and demonstrate this living connection with the Source of grace by gladly and humbly keeping His commandments” (Revelation 12:17; 14:12; 1 John 2:3).
Remnant heritage In Revelation 12, at the end of this chapter’s sweeping bird’s-eye view of the history of God’s people, the remnant are described in this way: “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17). A few chapters later, in the context of the last message that this remnant has been called to trumpet to the world, again the Lord clearly describes who will comprise His remnant: “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (14:12). The purpose of this book is not to discuss at length the question of who exactly is the remnant. Many good books and articles have been written on this subject.5 I believe the people who best represent the characteristics of the remnant are found in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. This does not exclude others who also unreservedly love Jesus and strive to honor Him by keeping His commandments but who have not joined themselves to this worldwide, organized denomination that we know as the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Let’s be clear about one thing at the start. Our salvation is not tied to having our names written on some church clerk’s membership roll. As Dr. Gerhard Hasel, a former dean of Andrews University Theological Seminary,
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once wrote, Adventists must recognize “that this identification with the remnant church does not accord them an exclusive status with God.”6 I concur. The remnant of Revelation 12 through 14 are a called people with a burning passion for Jesus and all of His commandments who, having this commitment to our Lord, take up a specific mission—one that is outlined in the three angels’ message of Revelation 14. We must remember, the remnant—and the church both universal and remnant—has always been made up of God’s called-out people (that’s what the word church means in biblical Greek, “the called out”). The remnant is much more than a denominational badge or some cultural religious identity or some set of policies or manuals. The remnant of Revelation 12:17 and Revelation 14:12 are intimately connected to God’s faithful people throughout the ages. The major difference is that they are now called to play a special role in earth’s closing hours. They have, as faithful followers of God, been given an end-time special mission. This remnant will also face the devil’s final and frantic attacks right before the second coming of Christ.
Special mission This special mission is what this book is all about. I want to answer these important questions: (1) What is the mission of the remnant? (2) Why are we who we are? (3) What is our purpose here and now? Think about it with me for a minute. We certainly did not organize ourselves back in 1863 so that we could add our name to a long list of denominations now populating the globe! We banded together because of the distinct and overwhelming sense that we had been called by God to preach an end-time message to the people living on the earth at the time of the end (Daniel 12:9). Some might argue that, as a church, we need only embrace and preach the gospel of Christ to fulfill the mission of the church. In principle, I would agree. Any church must, fundamentally and foundationally,
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proclaim the everlasting gospel of Christ. The best definition of this general mission is succinctly articulated by Jesus Himself when He told Peter, “ ‘From now on you will catch men’ ” (Luke 5:10). Or when He challenged and commanded all His followers before His ascension by saying, “ ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’ ” (Matthew 28:19, 20). However, we have been given both this general mission, which is shared by virtually all Bible-believing Christians, and a special mission for this day and age. My family and I served as missionaries for nine years among the Chinese of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. Some of our closest friends during these years were missionaries of other Christian faiths. They, too, had left family and friends—the safe and secure life they lived in their home countries—in order to preach the saving grace of Christ to the lost people of Asia. They were being faithful to this calling, and God was prospering their work. He blessed their efforts and continues to do so. This should not surprise us. He is working through Christian churches the world over to convey the message of salvation to every kindred, tongue, and people. When we participate in this general mission, we are counted among a vast army of believers who, having tasted of the sweet water of life, are now compelled to share it with others. However, this does not minimize or negate the truth that God can give special assignments to groups or individuals at certain times and circumstances. The most striking example of this was the mission given to the Twelve Apostles. They were commanded to remain in Jerusalem until God’s promised Comforter, the powerful Holy Spirit, would arrive to empower them to spread out across the then known world to begin the growth of His church (Luke 24:49). Not only did He call the apostles, but we also see in the pages of history as outlined in the
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book The Great Controversy that God led and protected the Waldenses and Albigenses so that they might accomplish a special mission during the period we know as the Dark Ages.7 Through these faithful believers, the Lord kept alive the knowledge of His Word. In fact, Ellen White points out how time and again God called and gave special tasks or missions to specific people. Take John Wycliffe as an example. Did he preach the gospel of Christ? He surely did. He was faithful to this general mission of Christ. In fact, in Oxford, where he was a professor of theology, he was known as “the Gospel Doctor.”8 However, he was more than just a great and powerful preacher of the gospel. He had been called and appointed for a special mission. The Great Controversy puts it this way: “God had appointed to Wycliffe his work. He had put the word of truth in his mouth, and He set a guard about him that this word might come to the people. His life was protected, and his labors were prolonged, until a foundation was laid for the great work of the Reformation.”9 Ellen White concludes her chapter on the life of this morning star of the Reformation by stating, “Wycliffe came from the obscurity of the Dark Ages. There were none who went before him from whose work he could shape his system of reform. Raised up like John the Baptist to accomplish a special mission, he was the herald of a new era.”10 God called him for a specific purpose. As he was faithful to this calling, John the Baptist received God’s strength and protection. The same could be said for Martin Luther. Ellen White puts it this way: “Foremost among those who were called to lead the church from the darkness of popery into the light of a purer faith, stood Martin Luther. Zealous, ardent, and devoted, knowing no fear but the fear of God, and acknowledging no foundation for religious faith but the Holy Scriptures, Luther was the man for his time; through him God accomplished a great work for the reformation of the church and the enlightenment of the world.”11 He was called by God for a great work—the reformation of His beloved bride, the church. He stood in a long line of faithful followers
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of Christ who have been called by God to preserve or restore truth, to encourage or reprove the people of Israel or people in heathen lands like Jonah of old. Now, at the close of earth’s history, God has raised up another people, known for their impassioned and uncompromising love for Christ and their steadfast desire to keep His commandments. These people, His final remnant, are called to preach a critical and final message of warning to a world totally unaware of the soon coming of the Lord. As a church, as God’s remnant church, we have been given a specific mission—a special mission—and that is to preach the three angels’ messages found in Revelation 14:6–12. Therefore, we must understand it. We must focus our energies on accomplishing it. More important, we must exercise our faith in Jesus Christ and move forward as a church, knowing that the Christ of Revelation has promised to equip and energize us, to personally guide us as we boldly proclaim this last message to the world, heralding the time of the end and the soon coming of Jesus Christ. Let me put it this way. As John the Baptist was called before his birth to the great purpose of preparing the way of the Lord, and to “ ‘ “make His paths straight” ’ ” (Mark 1:3), so you and I, as part of God’s final remnant people, have been given a special mission and message to prepare and warn the world of the soon coming of Christ, the Lamb of God. This time when the Son of God appears, He will not come as a baby to lie in a simple, humble manger. No, He will appear in glory above this earth, riding on clouds of angels, prepared to reward His faithful with immortality and eternal companionship with Himself (Matthew 26:64). In the chapters that follow, we will study this message in detail. My hope is that as you put this book down for the final time, you will personally understand the beauty and thrilling meaning of this end-time message to the world that we have been commissioned to proclaim today! But more important, that you will personally commit to join
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hands with other believers and faithfully do all in your power to fulfill this great and special mission—the proclamation of the three angels’ messages. Then, and only then, will we know why we are who we are! 1. Arthur L. White, The Early Elmshaven Years (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald® Publishing Association, 1986), 199. 2. Ibid., 160. 3. All Bible references, unless noted, are from The New King James Version (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1982). 4. Ellen G. White, Manuscript Releases, vol. 9 (Silver Spring, Md.: Ellen G. White Estate, 1990), 291. 5. A few suggested readings on this topic would be Clifford Goldstein, The Remnant (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press® Publishing Association, 1994); Marvin Moore, Challenges to the Remnant (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press® Publishing Association, 2008); Ekkehardt Mueller, “The End Time Remnant in Revelation,” Journal of the Adventist Theological Society 11, no. 1 (2000): 188–204. 6. Frank B. Holbrook, ed., Symposium on Revelation, bk. 2 (Silver Spring, Md.: Biblical Research Institute, 1992), 327. 7. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy (Mountian View, Calif.: Pacific Press® Publishing Association, 1950), 66. 8. Ibid., 87. 9. Ibid., 93. 10. Ibid., emphasis added. 11. Ibid., 120.
