A Mighty General Cried out :
COME INTO LINE !
[ A vision of 1903 ]
In 1903 Sister Ellen G. White got a vision on the above subject. She then wrote it as a special testimony for us in the following story:
“In vision I saw two armies in terrible conflict. One army was led by the banners bearing the world’s insignia; the other was led by the bloodstained banner of Prince Immanuel. Standard after standard was left to trail in the dust as company after company from the Lord’s army joined the foe and tribe after tribe from the ranks of the enemy united with the commandment-keeping people of God. An angel flying in the midst of heaven put the standard of Immanuel into many hands, while a mighty general cried out with a loud voice: “Come into line. Let those who are loyal to the commandments of God and the testimony of Christ now take their position. Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean, and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters. Let all who will come up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.”
“The battle raged. Victory alternated from side to side. Now the soldiers of the cross gave way, “as when a standard bearer fainteth.” Isaiah 10 : 18. But their apparent retreat was but to gain a more advantageous position. Shouts of joy were heard. A song of praise to God went up, and angel voices united in the song, as Christ’s soldiers planted His banner on the walls of fortresses till then held by the enemy. The Captain of our salvation was ordering the battle and sending support to His soldiers. His power was mightily displayed, encouraging them to press the battle to the gates. He taught them terrible things in righteousness as He led them on step by step, conquering and to conquer.
“At last the victory was gained. The army following the banner with the inscription, “The commandment of God, and the faith of Jesus,” was gloriously triumphant. The soldiers of Christ were close beside the gates of the city, and with joy the city received her King. The kingdom of peace and joy and everlasting righteousness was established.
“Now the church is militant. Now we are confronting with a world in midnight darkness, almost wholly given over to idolatry. But the day is coming in which the battle will have been fought, the victory won. The will of God is to be done on earth, as it is done in heaven. Then the nations will own no other law than the law of heaven. All will be a happy, united family, clothed with the garments of praise and thanksgiving – the robe of Christ’s righteousness. All nature, in its surpassing loveliness, will offer to God a constant tribute of praise and adoration. The world will be bathed in the light of heaven. The years will move on in gladness. The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold greater than it is now. Over the scene the morning stars will sing together, and the sons of God will shout for joy, while God and Christ will unite in proclaiming: “There shall be no more sin; neither shall there be any more death.”
Testimonies for the Church, vol. 8, pp. 41, 42.“This is the scene that is presented to me. But the church must and will fight against seen and unseen foes. Satan’s agencies in human form are on the ground. Men have confederated to oppose the Lord of hosts. These confederacies will continue until Christ shall leave His place of intercession before the mercy seat and shall put on the garments of vengeance. Satanic agencies are in every city, busily organizing into parties those opposed to the law of God. Professed saints and avowed unbelievers take their stand with these parties. This is no time for the people of God to be weaklings. We cannot afford to be off our guard for one moment.”—
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D e l i b e r a t i o n s
After having presented us with “The Call for a spiritual Revival and Reformation” through the Review and Herald, February 25, 1902, a year later in 1903, Sister White again got a vision from the Lord as related to us at the above story. A vision is not a dream. Man usually got a dream when he was in a deep sleep, but a vision was usually witnessed by someone when he was in a trance. In the vision Sister White has witnessed two armies in terrible conflict. One army was led by the banners bearing the world’s insignia; the other was led by the bloodstained banner of Prince Immanuel… This condition seemed to be inseparable from the spiritual condition of the Laodicean Church, wherein the call for a spiritual revival and reformation should have taken place.
The terrible conflict
is to take place in the SDA Church
Since the commandment-keeping people of God could be found only in the Laodicean Church, and since the call for a spiritual reformation (or a spiritual re-organization) to have the spiritual re-organized body established, should have taken place in the same Church of the Laodiceans, then the terrible conflict would inevitably take place only in the Church. It would be the conflict between the army of the old Organization (the angel of the Laodicean Church + his followers) against the army of the new re-organized One (the Church of the Laodiceans). This is the condition Sister White saw in the vision, when she said:
Let those who are loyal to the commandments of God and the testimony of Christ now take their position. Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean, and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters.” Come into line: “An angel flying in the midst of heaven put the standard of Immanuel into many hands, while a mighty general cried out with a loud voice. people of God the commandment-keeping“In vision I saw two armies in terrible conflict. One army was led by the banners bearing the world’s insignia; the other was led by the bloodstained banner of Prince Immanuel… Standard after standard was left to trail in the dust as company after company from the Lord’s army joined the foe and tribe after tribe from the ranks of the enemy united with
The angel flying in the midst of heaven put the standard of Immanuel into many hands, must inevitably represent the angel of Revelation 18 : 1, which is the message of the fourth angel that has united his voice with the third angel, to have the earth enlightened with its glory. Only when the earth has been enlightened with the glory of the angel, that the whole Bible could be fully comprehended. And then could we repeat to say the word of David of old: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” – Psalm 119 : 105.
The mighty general must represent Jesus Himself, because He is the only One having the authority to call you and me to come into line, to unite into the re-organized body. It appeared to be only those who are loyal to the commandments of God and the testimony of Christ, who are to take their position in the new revival and reformation process. Sister White said:
“God calls for a spiritual revival and a spiritual reformation. Unless this takes place, those who are lukewarm will continue to grow more abhorrent to the Lord, until He will refuse to acknowledge them as His children. “ — Review and Herald, Feb. 25, 1902
It is an undeniable fact that due to their continual rejection of the message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1 up to now, that the angel of the Laodicean Church has been spewed out of Jesus’ mouth. They have continued to grow more abhorrent to the Lord, until at last sometime in 1935, the Lord spewed them out of His mouth, that He will no more acknowledge them as His children. And this is the reason why, in the vision to Sister White we have been admonished, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean, and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters.”
The battle raged.
Victory alternated from side to side.
The conflict began in 1929 when the message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1 came for the first time through Bro. Victor T. Houteff, in Los Angeles, California, USA, through his publications of The Shepherd’s Rod Message. Although against so many obstacles, the message has gained much progress at the beginning, that only within six years he has successfully gathered enough membership to move to establish a new Headquarters of a Re-organized Body of the angel of Laodicea in Waco, Texas, in 1935. This is the result of the re-organization predicted by Sister White in the Review and Herald, February 25, 1902, which is to succeed the General Conference of SDA and its function, to represent God and His Truth on the earth, in this time of the end. So was it how the battle raged, and how victory gained at the beginning. But several years before he died in 1955, however, Brother Victor T. Houteff again had to warn us in the following words:
“Everything that can be done against God’s message of today will be done with even a greater vengeance than was manifest against Heaven’s message in the days of Christ’s first advent, for the Devil knows that if he loses now, he loses forever — that he is to have no other chance. Unparalleled, therefore, is the urgency that every eleventh-hour church member now quickly and solidly brace himself against the Enemy’s effort to deliver a knockout blow. We must be alert, too, to realize that the blow is to come from surprisingly unsuspected foes — from professed friends of the gospel, who are no less pious than were priests in Christ’s day. It is, moreover, but to be expected that Adversary will employ every agency possible to prevent the Lord from disclosing to view His now obscure 144.000 first-fruit servants, who are to go gather in the second fruits (Rev. 7 : 9). The Enemy will try everything conceivably to confuse, becloud, and cover up the Truth, especially on the subject of the 144.000.” – The White-House Recruiter, p. 33.
The Enemy’s effort to deliver a knockout blow upon the people and the message began to be fulfilled in 1962, when Mrs. Houteff in her capacity as President of the GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF DAVIDIAN SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS has liquidated its Headquarters in Waco, Texas. And though the Headquarters and its location in Waco, Texas, later in 1991, have been recovered, the people must yet be alert for the blow is to come again “from surprisingly unsuspected foes — from professed friends of the gospel, who are no less pious than were priests in Christ’s day.”
“Now the soldiers of the cross gave way, “as when a standard bearer fainteth.” Isaiah 10 : 18. But their apparent retreat was but to gain a more advantageous position. Shouts of joy were heard. A song of praise to God went up, and angel voices united in the song, as Christ’s soldiers planted His banner on the walls of fortresses till then held by the enemy. The Captain of our salvation was ordering the battle and sending support to His soldiers. His power was mightily displayed, encouraging them to press the battle to the gates. He taught them terrible things in righteousness as He led them on step by step, conquering and to conquer.”
The end of the conflict
At last the victory was gained. The army following the banner with the inscription, “The commandment of God, and the faith of Jesus,” was gloriously triumphant. The soldiers of Christ were close beside the gates of the city, and with joy the city received her King. The kingdom of peace and joy and everlasting righteousness was established.” “
In 1903, wherein the vision was witnessed by her, Sister White said:
. Then the nations will own no other law than the law of heaven. All will be a happy, united family, clothed with the garments of praise.” The will of God is to be done on earth, as it is done in heaven. the victory won, But the day is coming in which the battle will have been fought“Now the church is militant. Now we are confronting with a world in midnight darkness, almost wholly given over to idolatry.
The conflict did not begin in 1903, but some times later, after “The angel flying in the midst of heaven put the standard of Immanuel into many hands.” The standard of Immanuel is the flag of the true born-again Christians in the time of the end. They are the Immanuelite Christians, who have been fed up with butter and honey, and have fully grown up in the faith. (Read Isaiah 7). Hence, they are the only Christians in the time of the end, who have the ability to refuse the evil and choose the good. So the standard of Immanuel means the Law and the Testimony of Christ, which is THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY.
When the victory won, the 144.000 Immanuelite Christians would emerge on the stage of history, to stand with the Lamb on the mount Zion, and to have the kingdom established there in the Palestine. Then the prayer of all the Christians ever since the time of Jesus: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven ……” would meet its fulfillment.
Concluded
The Church of God in this time of the end has been represented as the Church of the Laodiceans. The Organization Headquarters of this Church is called The General Conference of Seventh – day Adventist. And in the prophecy it is represented as the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans. So you and I are the Laodiceans.
If you are truly an understanding Laodicean, you should have understood that the Lord is now speaking with us through the prophecies of the Old Testament and the book of Revelation, and through the parables of the New Testament, which have been fully interpreted in the time of the end, into the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY. Therefore the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY should be known in this time of the end as: (1) meat in due season, or (2) the present Truth, or (3) butter and honey, etc. And in the domain of the law science it is known as the positive law that is binding. To this end the Lord through the mouth of His servant Isaiah has warned us in the following words:
Isaiah 55 : 6, 10, 11.“Seek the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near. …….. For as rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not hither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” –
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