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 is 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?

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