After the passing of time in 1844, God raised up a people to do a special work which would prepare His followers to receive the Latter Rain and to hail Christ as their Saviour at His glorious return. It is today, as it has always been, Christ’s desire to see his followers united in heart and spirit upon the solid, immovable platform of truth.

Unity is good, only if the premises on which unity is established are good.  Uniting upon a false premise or uniting to do something that is bad is worse than not uniting at all.  The scriptures record an occasion when Israel was so united that when they shouted, “the earth rang again” (1 Sam. 4:5) and “the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore. Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.” (1 Sam. 4:7, 8).  But unfortunately, it ended with the Ark being taken away by the Philistines, the shock of the news causing Eli, the High Priest, to fall over and break his neck and a woman in labour, dying in child-birth and crying “Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel” (1 Sam. 4:21).  What was the reason for such a tragedy?  Simply put, God was not with them on that mission!  Yes, they were still God’s people, but He was not with them!  On any mission, we must first ensure that God is with us.

Efforts are being made to unite the Advent people today, and that is good.  The 28 Fundamental Beliefs are being promoted as a doctrinal foundation for unity.  But is this the foundation on which God would have us unite?  Would the pioneers and all faithful Seventh-day Adventists be able to unite on such a foundation?  Or is it a foundation that would exclude some of God’s faithful children?  A faithful believer who got baptized in 1978, pointed out that the Baptismal Vow that he took, had, as the first belief, the following: “I believe in God the Father, in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit”.  That vow came straight from the scriptures – Matt. 28:19, 20.  But now, for his faithful children to be accepted into fellowship, they are required to make the following vow: “I believe there is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three co-eternal Persons.”.  This new version includes elements that are not explicitly stated in scripture, and thus excludes those who have chosen to go no further than what the scriptures explicitly say.  Was the previous statement not clear enough and scriptural?  Why then change it to exclude some of the faithful?

Present state

It is very unfortunate that the present state among those who embrace the special truths for this time is a far cry from the state of unity that is envisioned in Christ’s earnest prayer of John the seventeenth chapter. Numerous groups and factions of varying sizes, all of which claim to be Seventh-day Adventist endeavour to establish legitimacy (and in some cases, exclusive right) for their operations, while at the same time manifesting towards each other, in some cases, a cold indifference, suspicion and virtual hostility, even denouncing each other openly at times.

It is a fact that the coming of the Lord is near, and before He comes, the venom of the Beast and his Image will be unleashed against, not one only, or another of these groups, but against all Sabbath-keeping Adventists. The inspired messenger has repeatedly urged “the little company” to “press together”.

We cannot afford to deny our history at this time, because we have nothing to fear for the future except as we forget how God has led us in the past. Therefore, there is need for a re-focus on the distinctive truths which have brought the Advent people into existence. Otherwise, we run the risk of failing to acknowledge the Divinely established criteria that identifies Seventh-day Adventists as God’s denominated people. We are likely to establish our own criteria for the identification of God’s denominated people and hence continue either to exclusively acknowledge the faction with which we identify ourselves, or wrongfully denounce those who we think have no right to consider themselves as being numbered among God’s denominated people.

There is a shortage of pastors worldwide. Is it possible that many sincere followers of Christ who would like to commit themselves to the work are not being attracted to the work of the church because they feel that sincerity to their own consciences might be negatively affected?

Highest Authority God’s Word, Not the Popular Vote

Those who think that the collective voice of the people is the voice of God need to disabuse their minds of that fallacy; whether the voice of the people comes in the form of a majority vote of the world church or in the form of the pronouncements of its leaders. As one well respected former Union President once said, “An ounce of inspiration is better than tons of speculation”, a plain “Thus saith the Lord” takes precedence above all human pronouncements or opinions. Biblical authority clearly establishes this, as in the case cited above, where a unanimous vote of the people to fetch the Ark and bring it in their midst as they went to battle with the Philistines was no guarantee that God was with them (1 Sam. 4:3-5).

There is an even more striking case that illustrates this: the vote of the leaders of Israel – God’s people – to crucify Jesus, the Son of God. On hearing of the remarkable miracle of Jesus in raising Lazarus from the dead, the leaders laid the plot as described in the Biblical account as follows: “Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. . . . Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.” (John 11:47-50, 53). So depraved and desperate the leaders became that they even conspired to kill Lazarus who was raised from the dead, because his very existence, as an evidence of Jesus’s miracle, was a problem to them (John 12:10, 11).

Alternative Vow

So where does it leave us, now that the SDA Church has in place an unscriptural vow that persons are being asked to take to become members of the church? Some persons see it as a mark of Divine providence that an alternative vow is allowed, that has three articles, of which the relevant one says: “Do you accept the teachings of the Bible as expressed in the Statement of Fundamental Beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and do you pledge by God’s grace to live your life in harmony with these teachings?” Some persons conscientiously take this vow with the understanding that it is not an acceptance of all the Fundamental Beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist church but rather an acceptance of all Bible teachings that are contained in the Fundamental Beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist church. This does not declare acceptance of those elements of the Fundamental Beliefs that are not teachings of the Bible. Technically, there might be some plausibility in this view, so conscientious pastors can opt to use this vow rather than force people, who want to be a part of that administration within God’s Advent Movement, to take an unscriptural vow.

For those whose conscience and sense of transparency will not allow them to take even the Alternative Vow, they have done no wrong by that decision, and should not allow anyone to send them on a guilt trip to fear that they are therefore on their way to eternal damnation because they refuse to violate their conscience, as the Bible clearly states that “there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord” (1 Cor.12:5). Notwithstanding, there is value in working together with others who are of the same faith. God’s remnant people are urged to “Press together”.

May the Lord help us, and raise up faithful servants who are not seeking to exalt themselves or even the church primarily, but God first.

“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 11:15).

For further information, please visit Patience of the Saints at http://thecommandmentsofgodandthefaithofjesus.com/

Questions and comments may be sent by e-mail to: commandmentsofgodandfaithofjesus@yahoo.com