Fundamental Doctrines of the Remnant Church 2



10.Evangelism – is that process whereby God seeks to save all who desire Him. This evangelism was started by Jesus in the Garden of Eden when He came to seek and save the first sinners – Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8-21; Matthew 18:11-14). All through history God reveals in His Word the wonders of Evangelism – from the offer to save all in the Ark that Noah built at the instructions of Jesus, to the many Egyptians that came out with Israel(E xodus 9:20-21; Rahab and her family in Jericho (Joshua 2; 6:22-25; the Gibeonites in Joshua 9; Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4); the 600 families of the Philistines(II Samuel 15:18-22; the Persians (Esther 8:17) and all of those Jews, and Gentiles, who have heard the gospel after the death of Christ (the Book of Acts). God wants all of His children to hear of His love and care and He has charged His church to teach, preach, prepare, baptize, and train to be evangelists to spread this message all over the world before His second coming. 



11. Evangelism – is that process whereby God seeks to save all who desire Him. This evangelism was started by Jesus in the Garden of Eden when He came to seek and save the first sinners – Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8-21; Matthew 18:11-14). All through history God reveals in His Word the wonders of Evangelism – from the offer to save all in the Ark that Noah built at the instructions of Jesus, to the many Egyptians that came out with Israel(Exodus 9:20-21; Rahab and her family in Jericho (Joshua 2; 6:22-25; the Gibeonites in Joshua 9; Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4); the 600 families of the Philistines(II Samuel 15:18-22; the Persians (Esther 8:17) and all of those Jews, and Gentiles, who have heard the gospel after the death of Christ (the Book of Acts). God wants all of His children to hear of His love and care and He has charged His church to teach, preach, prepare, baptize, and train to be evangelists to spread this message all over the world before His second coming.

 

12. Ecumenicalism – is the concept that all the churches of the world should unite into one church devoted to God. The problem is that if churches unite God wants them to unite in spirit and in truth for God does not accept multiple ways of worship but wants one united church on one united message from the Word of God. (Ephesians 4:1-14). Solomon attempted to unite all his wives (churches) into one and in the end his heart was turned away from God by the worship issues of his wives (I Kings 11:1-11; Deuteronomy 17:14-20). Any attempt to unite churches on the basis of love, without corresponding acceptance of the truths of God’s Word, will end up in compromised worship which is not accepted by God (Genesis 4:1-15; Matthew 15:1-9; Great Controversy 588-592)

 

 13.  3 Angels Messages –are a group of teachings that are displayed by God’s people in Revelation 14:1-12. The first angel discusses the gospel and the judgment time that has finally arrived in 1844 at the end of the 2300 day prophecy. This first angel also focuses upon the open part of the Most Holy Place where the Ark of the Covenant of Jesus is and reveals the fact that Jesus is not only the High Priest of the Sanctuary in Heaven but is also the Creator of the world and must be worshipped in harmony with the 4th commandment of God that commands worship for being the Creator. The second angel proclaims that all who reject God’s commandments are part of Babylon and are fallen into sin and must be called to the sanctuary for the cleansing blood of Jesus. Babylon makes all nations to drink of the error of all of the abominations spoken of by God in the Bible whereas the church of God wants us to drink of the wine of truth created by the hand of God. The third angels tells about the dangers of receiving the mark of authority of the beast and of worshipping this beast who has sought to change God’s laws, His times, His sanctuary, His Daily, His people, His truth (Daniel 8:9-14). To worship this beast is to reject Jesus. The people who live this message and teach this message are described in full in Revelation 14:1-12.

 

14.  4thAngels Message/Loud Cry/Latter Rain – Another Angel comes down from heaven with great authority for this is Jesus Christ the true Messenger of God. All of the earth is illuminated by His glory as revealed through His people who have truly listened to Him and truly followed Him (Revelation 18:1-8), thus referring back to the people who live out the three angel’s messages of Rev 14:1-12. He repeats the second angel’s message and states that it has developed even further as the people of the earth have rejected the three angel’s messages. But before closing up the sanctuary completely this final message goes out again to call the remaining few of God’s people out of the world and out of the false church. When all have responded to this message then the plagues will fall on the impenitent.

 

 15. Mark of the Beast – The Mark of the “Beast” is first mentioned in Genesis 4:15 in the mark placed upon rebellious Cain. This mark is again identified in the Mark in Revelation 13:17. This mark is a sign of false worship as described in Revelation 13:15-17. This is a counterfeit of the mark of Passover described in Exodus 13:9, 16, the law of God in Deuteronomy 6:8 and 11:18-20, the Sabbath as described in Ezekiel 20:12; and the Holy Spirit in II Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30. In the last days the Sabbath is the concept most distorted by the Beast/the Roman Catholic Church system. The Roman Catholic Church claims to have the authority to have changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday and thus this concept will be the truth most fought over and will be the mark of loyalty in the end. Great Controversy page 447-448.

 

16.  Adornment – God describes the kinds of adornment He is interested in in I Peter 3:1-6. God wants pure “hidden person”, not an externally covered person. God does not want or need plaited hair, or the wearing of gold or special clothing. God wants the heart to be pure and then the life to be pure and reflective of His. God describes the covering that He wants in Ezekiel 16:8-14 where His bride – converted Israel – was covered in the concepts of the sanctuary and covered with His righteousness. When people are far from God they tend to cover themselves with external issues (Isaiah 3:16-24) thinking that somehow this will make them attractive to God. Jesus does not need external jewelry to convince him of the heart issues. When we draw near to God one of the first things He does for us is to remove the externals (Genesis 35:1-4; Exodus 33:1-6) and then gives us the internal jewelry like the necklaces of the law (Proverbs 1:7-9 and 3:1-3) the crown of wisdom (Proverbs 4:1-9) the rings of the law (Proverbs 7:1-3) and the fine linen of the saints which is the righteousness of Christ (Revelation 7:14). When we are clothed in the jewelry of God we will look, act, and talk like Jesus the most beautiful person in the universe.

 

 17.  Nature of Sin – Sin is that state of being where one loses faith in Jesus (John 16:9) and refuses to obey Him or His commandments (I John 3:4). People get here by repeatedly distrusting God and trusting themselves or treasured others. Jesus, the model man, always trusted in His Father and obeyed Him by faith. God wants to get His people to the point that they also will walk with Him like Israel did of old and will walk through the Red Sea, the swollen Jordan River, the raging sea of Galilee, or through the Garden of Gethsemane. The nature of sin is to doubt the power of God and to seek to save oneself through one’s own merit or through one’s own efforts. The nature of grace is to be saved through the merits of Jesus and through dependence upon Him.

 

18.  Historicism – That school of thought that says that history validates God’s prophecies. That when God speaks a prophecy history will show when it was validated and that when looking in the Bible we will see the conditions which required God’s prophecy and then when the prophecy is fulfilled we will see that as well so that we can have faith in the prophecies of God. One of the best examples of Historicism is the prophecy concerning the coming of Christ. God told us Jesus would come in Genesis 3:15 but we did not know when. In Daniel 9 we are told for the first time the exact date, because a priest is called at about 30 years of age (Numbers 4:3; 35,39, 43, 47) to his ministry then when we were able to identify that Jesus would be about 30 years old at the start of His ministry in 27 AD therefore his birthdate would be about 30 years before 27 AD – or 5-4 BC. We know that Jesus would start His ministry according to the 70 week prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27. The 70 weeks would start in 457 BC in the decree of Artaxerxes in 457 BC in Ezra 7. 69 weeks of years, or 483 years later would bring us to the start of the 70th week and this would be 27 AD – or the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar – Luke 3:1. God wanted us to know these things to be confirmed in prophecy. Another example is the 4 kingdoms of Daniel 2, 7, 8, 11. These kingdoms were Babylon, Medo-Persian, Greece, and Rome – Pagan and Papal. God prophesied them before they happened so that when they happened in history we would be confirmed in faith in Him (John 13:19, 14:29).

 

 19.  Identification of the Beast of Revelation – In Revelation 13:1-10 there is a similar description of a religious entity that is very similar to that of the Little Horn of Daniel 7-8. This entity is a kingdom/beast who emerges from the sea, very similar to the nondescript 4thbeast of Daniel 7:7 who is the Roman beast. The Beast of Revelation 13:1-10 is the Papal phase of that Beast the Beast who lives for 1260 years – the time, times, and the dividing of time of Daniel 7:25. This is the same as the 42 months of Rev 13:5 or 42x30=1260 days/years. This beast is similar to the Beast of Daniel 8:9-14 in that it blasphemes/attacks God, His name, His Sanctuary/Tabernacle, God’s people who dwell in heaven by faith in Jesus, it makes war with the saints, and seeks worship from them whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life. The Beast of Revelation 13:1-10 is the same as the Little Horn of Daniel 7 and 8, the King of the North of Daniel 11, the Man of Sin in II Thessalonians, and the combination of the church and state combination of the woman riding the scarlet beast of Revelation 17 – the name of this beast in common terms is the Roman Catholic Church.

 

 20.  What is a True Jew – A “Jew” by definition is a descendent of Abraham (John 8:31-56). But the Bible says in Romans 2:28-29 that a Jew is not one outwardly but one who is inwardly circumcised in the inward heart. In Romans 9:6-8 again Paul states that a Jew is not one by the flesh but they are the seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:1-29) by the promise of God through Jesus. Romans 11:1-30 tells that God’s Israel/Jews are those who are connected to Jesus by faith, not by genealogy. In Revelation 2:9 and 3:9 God describes the true Jew as one who is surrendered to God but those who do not trust and obey Jesus may want to call themselves Jews, and be a part of those people called to God in Revelation 7, but they are not and in reality they are of Satan (Matthew 7:21-27). All of the promises of God for the Jews are available in Jesus.

 

21.  Balance of Law and Grace – We read in Romans 6:14 “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law but under grace.” Most people read this text and believe that the law had been done away with because of grace. This is far from the truth, in fact grace is what allows us to keep God’s laws. He is the power in grace that allows us to experience the reality “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit” Romans 8:4. The law has no power to save us (Galatians 5:4) for we are justified by grace alone by faith. But the balance of this situation is that grace is the power of God to help us live out the law for we live it out by the Spirit of God rather than the power of will. The Christian walk is that grace and law are united as one in our hearts and minds and thus the new covenant experience is that both law and grace have kissed in our experience (Psalms 85:10; Hebrews 10:16; Revelation 14:12).

 

 22.  Literalism and Spirituality – Literalism is where a person takes a concept, or word, or phrase and interprets the concept in the most literal manner while at the same time avoiding the spiritual connotations of the word, or concept. An example of this type of thinking is in John 2:19 where Jesus responds to the request for a sign by the Jews when He answered “and said unto them, destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The literal interpretation of the term “temple” is a building of stone. Spiritually the term can also mean “body” as well as building. This concept is repeated in John 3:3-4 where Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again. Again Nicodemus, taking Jesus literally, spoke of a physical birth, where Jesus was speaking of a spiritual birth. Another example of this paradoxical thinking is in John 9:39-41 where the Pharisees ask Jesus if they were “blind”. There are two ways of responding to “blindness” physically and spiritually. The Pharisees asked the question literally and Jesus answered it spiritually. This is the fine walk of the Christian where we are to respond to Bible terms literally except where the term may be used in a prophetic concept like the term “beast” in Daniel 7, which means a kingdom. At the same time we must always be aware that there are deeper spiritual issues in the Bible, and we must be literal and spiritual at all times as directed by the Holy Spirit.

 

 23.  Early and Latter Rain – is a literal event speaking of the early spring rains that bring the early growth of the plants in the growth cycle, and then the latter rains bring the plant to the final development of fruition and preparation for harvest. In the spiritual realm the early rain is the first workings of the Holy Spirit to initiate conversion, in some cases like Justification, and then the Latter Rain brings the soul to the production of fruit to display the characteristics of Jesus – similarly to sanctification. Another manifestation of the Early and Latter Rains would be the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 the initial preparation for service by the Holy Spirit of the Christian phase of the church, and then the Latter Rains would prepare the Church for the final conflict just before the coming of Jesus. In both cases the Holy Spirit is the power in the Early and Latter Rains and we must pray to God for this powerful gift.

 

 24.  What is the Daily – the Daily is that process in the sanctuary service that Jesus uses to empower the soul for daily living as a Christian. The Daily, or Continual sacrifice consists of the Lamb in the morning and evening, the oil, and flour offerings, morning and evening, and the continual burning of the Candlesticks, the offering of the Shewbread, and the Incense burning day by day. In essence the Daily is the total ministry of Jesus for our daily care. The Little Horn is constantly trying to nullify our awareness of the Daily so that we will turn to another source to help us live our Christian lives. An example of this is in Jeremiah 44:1-28 when the people of Israel proclaimed the power of the Queen of heaven who ministered to them when they offered incense to her on a daily basis. Another example of this is in Ezekiel 8 where Jesus cites several examples of the daily being focused on something else than upon Jesus. In Daniel 8:9-14 Jesus describes Satan’s attempt to nullify the Daily by taking the focus off of Jesus and His work in the Heavenly sanctuary and getting people focused on the daily ministry of the Babylonian church – the Roman Catholic Church. When people use the RCC avenue of the daily ministry there is no power to save, but when people are directed to Jesus and His Daily work in our behalf there is all power and glory and righteousness. Thus it is Satan’s constant effort to keep our focus on anything but Jesus, while it is Jesus’ constant focus to do everything He can to keep our focus on Him.

 

 25.  What is the Abomination of Desolation - The Abomination of Desolation is described in Matthew 23:37-39. In this case Israel/Jerusalem has chosen to reject Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and as a result their house/church was left desolate. They did the abominable thing, chose Satan over Jesus. Since Jesus was no longer the king of Israel (John 19:15) then Satan was now their king and would only bring death and destruction. This choice ends up in having the armies of Rome surround them and then the eventual destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 24:15-24; Luke 21; 20). This event is also symbolic of the turning away of God’s church to choose Babylon over Jerusalem above. This is the same as the turning away from the Daily and choosing to worship Satan. This is also the example of Israel being taken captive by Babylon in II Chronicles 36:11-21. These events will happen again in the world and all the world will decide whether to choose Satan and receive the mark of the beast (Revelation 13) or to decide to worship Jesus (Revelation 14:1-12).

 

 26.  What is Worship – Worship is that experience of being in awe of God, love coming from the heart, and the desire to obey His every command (Acts 24:14-16; I Kings 3:3-15; II Chronicles 5:2-7:4). Worship can also express forms of fear, respect, awe, but all true worship is in spirit and truth and in obedience (Isaiah 6:1-13; Jeremiah 7:3-7; Micah 6:6-8;I Chronicles 15-16; Acts 3-4; Revelation 15)

 

 27.  The Advents of Christ – The “Advent” of Christ is to tell about His coming to earth to minister to mankind. The first coming of Jesus to earth was at the Creation when He created mankind, approximately 6000 years ago. Jesus promised that He would come to die for man in Genesis 3:15 and He fulfilled this promise according to the time of Daniel 9:24-27 and He arrived in about 5-4 BC when the wise men, illuminated by God, came looking for Him. He died in 31 AD, resurrected and promised His disciples that He would come again and receive them unto Himself John 14:1-3. He will fulfill this promise after the end of the 2300 day/year prophecy of Daniel 8:14. Since that time passed in October 22, 1844 we know that this coming of Jesus will be soon. After Jesus comes to receive us He will take us to heaven for 1000 years and then He will come again to the earth to pronounce judgment on the wicked, destroy sin and sinners, and then to recreate the heavens and the earth as a suitable place for His church to live with Him forever.

 

 28.  Probationary Time–is the amount of time that God has appointed for each person, each family, each church, each community, and each nation to determine whether they will follow God or not (Acts 17:26; Job 38:8-11; Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). God has given us examples of probationary time in the story of Noah where God assigned 120 years for mankind to repent and return to Him or He would destroy the earth by water. They refused to repent and God chose to act in accordance with His word and sent the flood waters. This story is repeated in the story of the captivity of Israel in Egypt where Jesus tells Abraham that his descendents would be in Egypt for 400 years and when the times of the Amorites are full then God would deliver Israel and bring them to Canaan. God did the same for Israel and told them they would go into Babylon for 70 years (Jeremiah 25:11-12. When the time was up God would punish Babylon and deliver Israel. This was accomplished according to the plan and Babylon’s time was ended in Daniel 5 and God brought back Israel in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. During this same time God gave the great Probationary time for Israel, and the Christian Church and the Protestant churches in Daniel 8, and 9. This time was fulfilled in 1844 and now the time is in process for the Remnant church. When we make our final decisions then God will end the Most Holy Place ministry and return to earth to gather His special people. We choose, like our spiritual fathers, as to whether we will be willing to allow God to cleanse us or we will rebel and be lost. The choice is ours, the power is God’s.

 

 29.  Ordination of Women – In God’s church the Scriptures are the surest method to determine doctrine and will be supported and clarified by the Spirit of Prophecy. God’s Word does not display women in leadership roles over men. In the Bible God has ordained men to be the leaders in His church and women are to support and aid the men in the work of God (I Timothy 2:9-15; I Timothy 3:1-5). Each person, man, woman and child, surrendered to God is to find the work that God has appointed to them and be content in doing what God has called them to do. There is to be no striving to be the leader but God will raise up His people, or bring them down as needed in His work. We are not to copy the thoughts and works of the churches which have rejected the Most Holy Place ministry of God. God’s remnant church is to be based on the Bible only.

 

30.  The 144,000 – are God’s last day people. This group is mentioned in Revelation 7; 14, 15. They are the ones who have chosen to allow God to make them men wondered at (Zechariah 3:1-8). The 144,000 have surrendered to Jesus as the 12 disciples had surrendered to Jesus and will have had victory over every sin through the grace and ministry of Jesus (Revelation 14:1-12). They are a world-wide group of people who have lived through the time of the Most Holy Place ministry (Great Controversy 648-649). Those who died during the time of the Most Holy Place ministry will be resurrected to listen to the covenant of Jesus and will see Him come in the clouds of heaven (Daniel 12:2; Early Writings 285-286)