<< Go Back

Spiritual Condition of the Angel

Of the Laodicean Church

after the year 1888

We all know for sure that in the book of Revelation the entire history of the Church of God in the new Testament era, has been divided into seven periods by the name seven churches in Asia. Since God has only one church on the earth through all the history of the world, we cannot but to conclude that what is meant by the seven churches in Asia is the seventh one, which is the Laodicean Church, the last of the entire Churches. This is the church of God, which has lived throughout the entire period of the New Testament history. John the revelator in his following statements said:

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia. Unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.“ – Revelation 1 : 10 – 11.

The Church of Ephesus which is the first of all the seven churches in Asia was first established by the apostle Paul. Sister White said: “This church had been highly favored. It was planted by the apostle Paul. In the same city was the temple of Diana, which, in point of grandeur, was one of the marvels of the world.” (MS 11, 1906). Our Laodicean Church as the seventh and the last of the Churches has been established by Sister Ellen G. White as the servant of God. This is the same Church that had lived through most of the New Testament era, and we are now living in the time of the end. The names of the Churches derived from several names known in the Asian continent. However, it does not mean that the book of Revelation belongs to only the people of God who live in Asia. The fact is that the Laodicean Church was first established in America not in Asia. That is why Sister White said : “The names of the seven churches are symbolic of the church in different periods of the Christian Era………… while the symbols used reveal the condition of the church at different periods in the history of the world.” – The Acts of the Apostles, p. 585.

The book of Revelation which belongs to the seven Churches in Asia was actually addressed to our Laodicean Church in this time of the end, and not to the previous Churches. This could easily be understood, because as the complement of the book of Daniel, the book of Revelation should be delivered to the Laodicean Church when the book of Daniel has been delivered. This is to comply with the following words of the Angel Gabriel: “And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” – Daniel 12 : 9 – 10.

This means that just in this time of the end, in the Church of Laodicea the book of Daniel and the Revelation would be fully revealed. Then followed by the other books of the Bible, all of which are to be revealed in the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY. Then the following statements by Sister White would be fulfilled: “In the Revelation all the books of the Bible meet and end. Here is the complement of the book of Daniel. One is a prophecy, the other a revelation.” – The Acts of the Apostles, p. 585.

The Laodicean Church is an organized body

Mrs. White said: I tell you, my brethren, the Lord has an organized body through whom He will work. – Review and Herald, vol. 6, p. 515.

From the prophecy of 2300 days of Daniel 8 : 14 : “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” it could be seen that the end of the 2300 prophetic days or years fell in the year 1844. Most of the Laodiceans who live in this time of the end fully understand that at the end of the 2300 years, which fell in 1844 Jesus had entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary to start with the work of purification of the Church through the process of the investigative judgment. At that same time here on earth emerged the Church of Laodicea, proclaiming to the world the message of judgment at the first time.

Laodicea is a Greek word, consists of Lao and Dekei, which means people proclaiming judgment. Lao means people or to say, and Dekei means judgment. Thus was it how the Laodicean Church for the first time emerged in the United States of America with Ellen G. White and her associates as the pioneers.

Then in the year 1860 the name of Seventh-day Adventists had been formally adopted and in 1863 the first General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists had been established to coordinate all the local conferences which have been in existent previously in various places. So prophetically the

Laodicean Church emerged in 1844, and the angel of the Laodicean Church was born in 1863.

Since the Church of Laodicea is an organized body, then the presenting or the forwarding of the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation to her must be done through the leadership of her organization. The leadership of her Organization in this prophecy is called the angel of the Church of Laodicea. Should the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation presented to her through the angel have been welcomed and received, we should have been the most prosperous people in the world, because many will be purified, and made white, and tried. Thus said the angel Gabriel to Daniel.

Read: Daniel 12 : 8 – 10. But, what is the fact of the true spiritual condition of our people at this time of the end? Let us follow carefully how the message from the Lord of being rejected time and again by the angel of the Church of Laodicea up to this day.

The first rejection of the message in Minneapolis

General Conference of 1888

We need to know that the spiritual condition of the Laodicean Church at its early beginning in 1844, which comprised Sister White and her associates, were still truly sound. The parable of Jesus in regard to the Ten Virgins for the first time met its fulfillment in the period of the Church of Philadelphia, which is the sixth of the seven parabolic Churches, in the New Testament era, before the emergence of the Laodicean Church in 1844. So the emergence of Sister White and her associates should have met the fulfillment of the five wise virgins. All those of the other five foolish virgins were fallen, and to be categorized as Babylon which is fallen, to meet the fulfillment of the second angel’s message of Revelation 14 : 8. Thereby, commencing in the year 1844, the Christian world had been divided into only two divisions, namely the Laodicean Church on the one side, and the Babylonian Christians on the other side. “Babylon” means confusing, taken from the tower of Babylon in the time of Noah and his descendants after the flood, where God had confused the language of the inhabitants of the old world up to this day.

In 1888 the Lord through His messengers had presented to the Church of Laodicea a message called: ‘Justification by faith.’ This message was first presented to the General Conference of SDA which was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, in 1888 through Elders Waggoner and Jones. Sister White related the story for us here as follows:

“The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones. This message was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It presented justification through faith in the Surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God. Many had lost sight of Jesus……………. This is the message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel’s message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure………..

“For years the church has been looking to man and expecting much from man, but not looking to Jesus, in whom our hopes of eternal life are centered. Therefore God gave to His servants a testimony that presented the truth as it is in Jesus, which is the third angel’s message, in clear, distinct lines.” – Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 91, 92 & 93.

The message invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the ten commandments of God. But what is the attitude of the people toward the message in that General Conference?

After more than thirty years have passed, then in a meeting of members of The Ministerial Association Advisory Council, which was held in Des Moines, Iowa, on October 22, 1924, there had been agreed upon to ask the willingness of Elder Arthur G. Daniels to find and gather facts and articles from within the writings of Mrs. Ellen G. White, which were very closely related to the problem, ‘Justification by faith.’ Then by a good cooperation with the members of the Association, he has accomplished the task successfully and had documented all his findings in a book entitled: “Christ Our Righteousness.’ In the same book he had related the following story:

“How sad, how deeply regrettable, it is that this message of righteousness in Christ should, at the time of its coming, have met with opposition on the part of earnest, well-meaning men in the cause of God! The message has never been received, nor proclaimed, nor given free course as it should have been in order to convey to the church the measureless blessings that were wrapped within it. The seriousness of exerting such an influence is indicated through the reproofs that were given.” – Christ Our Righteousness, p. 47 (Copyrighted 1941).

“The message of Righteousness by Faith came clearly and fully into the open at the General Conference held at Minneapolis, Minn., in November, 1888. It was made the one great subject of study in the devotional part of the Conference. It would seem that the presentation of the subject had been anticipated, and that there was an understanding that it would receive a thorough discussion in the Conference.” – Ibid., p. 41.

God’s servant Mrs. White said:

“An unwillingness to yield up preconceived opinions, and to accept this truth, lay at the foundation of a large share of the opposition manifested at Minneapolis against the Lord’s message through Brethren [E. J.] Waggoner and [A. T.] Jones. By exciting that opposition Satan succeeded in shutting away from our people, in a great measure, the special power of the Holy Spirit that God longed to impart to them……………….. The light that is to lighten the whole earth with its glory was resisted, and by the action of our own brethren has been in a great degree kept away from the world.” – 1 Selected Messages, p. 234, 235.

“The prejudices and opinions that prevailed at Minneapolis are not dead by any means; the seeds sown there in some hearts are ready to spring into life and bear a like harvest. The tops have been cut down, but the roots have never been eradicated, and they still bear their unholy fruit to poison the judgment, pervert the perceptions, and blind the understanding of those with whom you connect, in regard to the message and the messengers.” – Testimonies to Ministers, p. 467.

Be watchful Brother and Sister, because there are yet ministers who dare to mislead deliberately their members by saying that the message of ‘Justification by Faith’, which was rejected in the General Conference in 1888 , was later received at last with full remorse. Mrs. White had warned, The tops have been cut down, but the roots have never been eradicated, and they still bear their unholy fruit to poison the judgment, pervert the perceptions, and blind the understanding of those with whom you connect, in regard to the message and the messengers.” That means, although the leadership of those in 1888 have now been dead, their roots of present generations still exist. They will always reject whatever message presented to them neither in the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY nor from within the Bible. All these would be seen from the facts that due to their continual rejection of the prophecies of the Bible, they will always fail to get the entire commandments of God obeyed in their practical life. This is also proven how they have been implicated in the sin against the Holy Spirit, the unpardonable sin; due to the fact that they are no more aware of which sin they have been committed.

The message of Justification by Faith is indeed not a new light, because it has been familiar with the people of God ever since the time of Abraham. In the time of the apostles the truth of justification by faith had been widely taught among the people. So in the time of Luther the message ‘The Just Shall live by Faith’ by Luther does not present a new light, but only to restore the message of faith, which had been darkened by the papacy of Rome during the dark ages of religion. Now since every new light would never put away the old lights, then with the arrival of Sister White with the third angel message since 1844, the message of Justification by Faith would then be united into the third angel’s message to be a part of it.

It is the same way with the message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1 as the new light. This angel has united his voice with the third angel, producing a very great light to enlighten the earth with his glory, and give power and force to the third angel’s message. From Sister White’s statement we read: “Then I saw another mighty angel commissioned to descend to the earth, to unite his voice with the third angel, and give power and force to his message. Great power and glory were imparted to the angel, and as he descended, the earth was lightened with his glory.” — Early Writings, p. 277. Here the message, ‘Justification by Faith’ is again to be placed as the beginning of the message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1. To this end Sister White said:“The time of test is just upon us, for the loud cry of the third angel has already begun in the revelation of the righteousness of Christ, the sin-pardoning Redeemer. This is the beginning of the light of the angel whose glory shall fill the whole earth.” – Review & Herald, Nov. 22, 1892. (In bracket is added).

The second rejection of the message in 1929,

and up to this day

The message of Justification by Faith is the same message of that of the Righteousness of Christ brought together by Elders Waggoner and Jones in 1888. It is just the beginning of the light of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1. Therefore the complete message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1 would have come later in 1929 with Victor T. Houteff as its messenger. Since this last message is also to be rejected by the leadership of the Laodicean Church, then to John the Revelator Jesus said:

“I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last; and what thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamus, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.”

“Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.” – Revelation 1 : 11, 19.

Since the entire messages of the book of Revelation belong to the seven Churches in Asia, and since the mysteries of the whole prophecies of the books of Daniel and the Revelation have just been revealed in the time of the end, then the messages of the angels of the book of Revelation should be presented first to the angel of the Church of Laodicea as the leadership of the Organization, that he in turn may distribute the messages to all the members all over the world in this time of the end. However, since the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans himself later rejected the last message presented him, then Jesus commanded John the Revelator to write the following warning to the angel:

“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:” – Revelation 3 : 14 – 17.

And to this end Sister White said:

“The message to the church of the Laodiceans is a startling denunciation, and is applicable to the people of God at the present time.” – Testimony Treasures, Book 1, p. 327.

Due to the rejection of the message in 1888 the spiritual condition of the angel of the church of Laodicea, which represents the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist and most of its ministers all over the world became spiritually lukewarm. And when the message came again in 1929 only to be rejected by the majority of the people, then Sister White said:

“What greater deception can come upon human minds than a confidence that they are right when they are all wrong? The message of the True Witness finds the people of God in a sad deception, yet honest in that deception. They know not that their condition is deplorable on the sight of God. While those addressed are flattering themselves that they are in an exalted spiritual condition, the message of the True Witness breaks their security by the startling denunciation of their true condition of spiritual blindness, poverty, and wretchedness. The testimony, so cutting and severe, cannot be a mistake, for it is the True Witness who speaks, and His testimony must be correct.” – Testimony Treasures, Book 1, p. 327, 328.

The offering of gold, white raiment

and the eye salve by the Lord

Following the condemnation against the spiritual declension of the angel of the Church of Laodicea the Lord in His mercy is again offering him a way out when He said:

“I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” – Revelation 3 : 18 – 20.

The gold, white raiment and the eye salve must be inevitably found in the message of the new light of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1. This is unavoidably clear, because it is the last message which has been rejected. It is just the only message that is to unite with the third angel’s message to enlighten the earth, to enable us to have the Bible fully comprehended. Regarding this last message Sister White said : “Then I saw another mighty angel commissioned to descent to the earth, to unite his voice with the third angel, and give power and force to his message………….. This message seemed to be an addition to the third message, joining it as the midnight cry joined the second angel’s message in 1844.” – Early Writings, p. 277.

This last message as the new light came in 1929 through Brother Victor T. Houteff with his Shepherd’s Rod publications emerged for the first time in Los Angeles, California, United States of America. He later established the Headquarters of this movement in Waco, Texas, United States of America in 1935, and it still holds up to this day.

However, could the offering of gold tried in the fire, white raiment, and the eye salve, which are to be found in the four angels’ messages, be effective to gain back the angel of the Church of Laodicea to the Lord’s side? Let us read carefully the following statements from the pen of the servant of the Lord, The prejudices and opinions that prevailed at Minneapolis are not dead by any means; the seeds sown there in some hearts are ready to spring into life and bear a like harvest. The tops have been cut down, but the roots have never been eradicated, and they still bear their unholy fruit to poison the judgment, pervert the perceptions, and blind the understanding of those with whom you connect, in regard to the message and the messengers.” – Testimonies to Ministers, p. 467.

“God has raised up men to meet the necessity of this time who will cry aloud and spare not, who will lift up their voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. Their work is not only to proclaim the law, but to preach the truth for this time, – the Lord our righteousness……

“But there are those who see no necessity for a special work at this time. While God is working to arouse the people, they seek to turn aside the message of warning, reproof, and entreaty. Their influence tends to quiet the fears of the people, and to prevent them from awaking to the solemnity of this time. Those who are doing this are giving the trumpet no certain sound. They ought to be awake to the situation, but they have become ensnared by the enemy.” – Review & Herald, August 13, 1889.

“In my last vision I was shown that even this decided message of the True Witness had not accomplished the design of God. The people slumber on in their sins. They continue to declare themselves rich and having need of nothing. Many inquire: Why are all these reproofs given? Why do the Testimonies continually charge us with backsliding and with grievous sins? We love the truth; we are prospering; we are in no need of these testimonies of warning and reproof………..

“I have been shown that the greatest reason why the people of God are now found in this state of spiritual blindness is that they will not receive correction.” – Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, pp. 254 – 255.

The Consequence of rejecting the message in 1929

up to this day

At the time when the message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1 again was rejected in 1929, then the words of warning from the Lord in the book of Revelation began to be fulfilled, when He said:

Although later in His great mercy He is still offering a way out to the angel of the church of Laodicea to have his problem settled with the Lord within a certain limited time, yet He had previously stressed that “because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.” This is not only an empty bluff as one might think that came out of the mouth of a Creator of the whole universe.

Therefore, long before the rejected message came in 1929, the Lord has already commissioned His servant Sister White to proclaim through the Review and Herald a Call for a Spiritual Revival and a Spiritual Reformation, in the following words:

“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.

“A revival and a reformation must take place under the ministration of the Holy Spirit. Revival and reformation are two different things. Revival signifies a renewal of spiritual life, a quickening of the powers of mind and heart, a resurrection from spiritual death. Reformation signifies a reorganization, a change in ideas and theories, habits and practices. Reformation will not bring forth the good fruit of righteousness unless it is connected with the revival of the Spirit. Revival and reformation are to do their appointed work, and in doing this work they must blend. ……………” – Review and Herald, February. 25, 1902.

Sister White died in 1915. Although the call for a spiritual revival and a spiritual reformation has been proclaimed throughout Laodicea, since 1902, the reformation in the sense of reorganizing the Organization of the General Conference of SDA has not as yet carried out. Why does not the angel of the

Laodicean Church reorganize his own Organization? Is it possible for the angel of the Laodicean Church or the General Conference of SDA to carryout the work of reorganizing the Organization himself?

Only the Church has the power and authority to organize or to reorganize the Organization

Let us learn from the experience and the history of the establishment of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church ever since the beginning. The history of the Laodicean Church began in 1844, and the angel of the Laodicean Church which represents the General Conference of SDA was born in 1863. It is the mother, the Laodicean Church, which gave birth to the angel of the Laodicean Church in 1863 nineteen years after the Laodicean Church emerged on the stage of history. Sister White said:

“It is nearly forty years since organization was introduced among us as a people. (Written in 1901). I was one of the number who had an experience in establishing it from the first. I know the difficulties that had to be met, the evils which it was designed to correct, and I have watched its influence in connection with the growth of the cause.” – Testimonies to Ministers, p. 24.

Sister White was not alone in organizing the Organization from the first. Therefore it was the church which has organized the organization. It was the Organization of the General Conference of SDA from the first.

Reformation signifies a reorganization.

The Consequence is ……!

Why should the Organization be reorganized? The answer will be found in the Call for a spiritual Revival and a spiritual Reformation itself, in the Review and Herald, February 25, 1902. Since the spiritual condition of lukewarm ness of the General Conference of SDA after their rejection of the last message in 1929 could no more be too long tolerated, then under the ministration of the Holy Spirit the Lord sent Brother Victor T. Houteff and his associates to reorganize the Organization of the General Conference of SDA, by establishing the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Headquarters in Waco, Texas, United States of America. This work of reorganizing has been accomplished in 1935, and we fully believe that ever since that year the Lord Jesus would have spewed out the angel of the Laodicean Church out of His mouth. This is the fact that should be understood by the people of God in this time of the end, that the Lord would no more be willing to be represented here on earth by two Organizations, who are against each other. Therefore the old one must be spewed out of His mouth and the new one must be sustained and supported by us all. The consequence of their being spewed out of the Lord’s mouth has been explained by the servant of the Lord in the following words:

“To those who are indifferent at this time Christ’s warning is: ‘Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth.’ Revelation 3 : 16. The figure of spewing out of His mouth means that He cannot offer up your prayers or your expressions of love to God. He cannot endorse your teaching of His word or your spiritual work in anywise. He cannot present your religious exercises with the request that grace be given you.” –- 6 Testimonies, p. 408.

The spewing out of the mouth of Jesus as predicted in Revelation 3 : 16 was not addressed to only the angel of the Laodicean Church, but to all of us as well, to those who are indifferent at this time.

We are now living in the year 2006. More than sixty years have elapsed since the Lord spewed out the angel of the Laodicean Church from His mouth in 1935. Have you ever witnessed any spiritual progress made in the messages of the angels of the book of Revelation in the pulpits or from the Sabbath Schools lessons during the last sixty years up to this day? Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit the Lord had warned us long before through Sister White, when she wrote the following statements:

“I am filled with sadness when I think of our condition as a people. The Lord has not closed heaven to us, but our own course of continual backsliding has separated us from God. Pride, covetousness, and love of the world have lived in the heart without fear of banishment or condemnation. Grievous and presumptuous sins have dwelt among us. And yet the general opinion is that the church is flourishing and that peace and spiritual prosperity are in all her borders.”

“The church has turned back from following Christ her Leader and is steadily retreating toward Egypt. Yet few are alarmed or astonished at their want of spiritual power. Doubt, and even disbelief of the testimonies of the Spirit of God, is leavening our churches everywhere. Satan would have it thus. Ministers who preach self instead of Christ would have it thus. The testimonies are unread and unappreciated. God has spoken to you. Light has been shining from His word and from the testimonies, and both have been slighted and disregarded.” – Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 217.

“The conviction is gaining ground in the world that Seventh-day Adventists are giving the trumpet an uncertain sound, that they are following in the path of world lings.” – Testimonies to Ministers, p. 86.

And at the same time He also sent His own messengers to forewarn His people in the Laodicean

Church of the coming danger. To this end Sister White said:

The Lord is now pleading with us

Through prophet Isaiah whose prophetic words were addressed to the people of God in this time of the end, the Lord is pleading with us in the following words:

“Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand the doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.” – Isaiah 28 : 9 – 11.

Since the prophetic word of Isaiah is to be fulfilled in this time of the end, then the knowledge and the doctrine must represent the four angels’ messages of the book of Revelation, which have been fully interpreted into the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY. Those prophetic words in the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY will be presented us precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little, because all the prophecies of the Bible and the parables of Jesus in the new Testament, which have been supplemented by each other, will supply us with all the knowledge and the doctrine of our salvation. The Lord is now pleading with us through his last servant Victor T. Houteff, an American Citizen of the Bulgarian descent, who spoke English as another tongue with stammering lips, to all of us in this time of the end.

But whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand the doctrine? The answer is: Only them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

All of us have ever been baptized to be born again into the Church of Laodicea by the mother or the ministers. As a new born baby we had ever to be dependent upon her milk from the breasts. However, since mother rejected every new nutritious food or message presented her, the children stay dwarfed spiritually on the same milk from time to time.

Therefore since the angel of Laodicea and all his ministers have been spewed out of Jesus’ mouth, then only them that are weaned from their milk, and drawn from their breasts that will be granted access to the knowledge and the doctrine of salvation provided us by the Lord.

* * *

208 total, 1 views today

<< Go Back