The Remnant Church Not Babylon by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 16, 1916

“The Remnant Church Not Babylon”

By F. M. W.

The great threefold message recorded in Revelation 14 is both positive and negative in its character. It is positive in that it proclaims great, positive, up-building truths. It proclaims the imminence of the judgment. It calls upon men to fear God and give glory to him, and to worship the Creator of the heavens and the earth. It develops a people who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. It is negative in that it sounds a warning against Babylon and her false doctrines, against the beast and his image, and the reception of his mark.

What is represented by the term “Babylon”? A study of Revelation 17 shows that this is the term which inspiration applies to the great worldly church. Primarily it refers to the Church of Rome as symbolized by the woman sitting upon the scarlet-colored beast with seven heads and ten horns. But this woman was a mother,—a mother of daughters who followed in her steps and did after her ways. These daughters of Babylon must refer to some of the great religious organizations which have forsaken the Lord and are following in the footsteps of the Roman Catholic Church.

Are the church and people whom Heaven has raised up to sound this warning against the false doctrines of the Babylonian church, included in this classification? Such a conclusion is unthinkable, and would be entirely contrary to the whole tenor and character of the teaching of the Scriptures. On the contrary, the Word teaches that those who sound the warning against the beast and his image, and who refuse the reception of his mark, are found on Mt. Zion at last, with the Father’s name written in their foreheads. Rev. 14: 1-5; 15: 1-3.

But notwithstanding the plain statements of the Scriptures as to the final outcome of the controversy and the triumph of those who uphold the claims of God’s law against the persecuting powers of earth represented by the beast and his image, at different times in the history of this movement the claim has been made that the Seventh-day Adventist Church should be classed under the term “Babylon,” the same as the great formal system of Christianity in the world. Some have charged that the call of God to his children to come out of Babylon includes a call for devout believers to separate themselves from the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

And strange as it may seem, perverted and garbled statements from the Spirit of prophecy have been used to bolster up this position. As early as 1845 this claim was put forth, and considerable agitation was aroused, particularly in the New England States. When steps were taken for a denominational organization, some of the believers feared that this step would bring about a Babylonian state of the church. Later, however, all these believers came to see that proper organization did not constitute the church Babylon, but that professed Christianity took on this character through “the wine of the wrath of her fornication,” or in other words, through the false doctrines which Babylon held, and the evil practices which she tolerated.

Still later, in 1893, a movement of transitory existence and small influence was started in the Northwest, and publications were issued in which the claim that the Seventh-day Adventist Church was Babylon was very zealously advocated.

In a continued article, entitled “The Remnant Church Not Babylon,” published in the REVIEW AND HERALD of Aug. 22 and 29 and Sept. 5 and 12, 1893, the servant of the Lord spoke in a very definite manner of the influence attending such movements, and the relation which the children of God should sustain to them. In this article we have a clear definition of what constitutes the religious system represented by the term “Babylon:”—

“It is our individual duty to walk humbly with God. We are not to seek any strange, new message. We are not to think that the chosen ones of God who are trying to walk in the light, compose Babylon. The fallen denominational churches are Babylon. Babylon has been fostering poisonous doctrines, the wine of error. This wine of error is made up of false doctrines, such as the natural immortality of the soul, the eternal

torment of the wicked, the denial of the preexistence of Christ prior to his birth in Bethlehem, and advocating and exalting the first day of the week above God’s holy, sanctified day. These and kindred errors are presented to the world by the various churches, and thus the scriptures are fulfilled that say, ‘For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.’”—Review and Herald, Sept. 12, 1893.

Sister White declares that definite light was given her as to the character of this movement charging that the Seventh-day Adventist Church was Babylon. In the REVIEW of Aug. 22, 1893, she says:—

“I have had light to the effect that the position taken by Brother — and his sympathizers, is not true, but one of the ‘lo here’s’ and ‘lo there’s’ that will characterize the days in which we are living.”

The attempted use of the Testimonies to bolster up and support this erroneous theory was plainly condemned. Regarding this the servant of the Lord makes this statement in the REVIEW of Aug. 29, 1893:—

“It will be found that those who bear false messages will not have a high sense of honor and integrity. They will deceive the people, and mix up with their error the Testimonies of Sister White, and use her name to give influence to their work. They make such selections from the Testimonies as they think they can twist to support their positions, and place them in a setting of falsehood, so that their error may have weight, and be accepted by the people. They misinterpret and misapply that which God has given to the church to warn, counsel, reprove, comfort, and encourage those who shall make up the remnant people of God.

“Those who receive the Testimonies as the message of God, will be helped and blessed thereby; but those who take them in parts, simply to support some theory or idea of their own, to vindicate themselves in a course of error, will not be blessed and benefited by what they teach. To claim that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is Babylon, is to make the same claim as does Satan, who is an accuser of the brethren, who accuses them before God night and day. By this misusing of the Testimonies, souls are placed in perplexity, because they cannot understand the relation of the Testimonies to such a position as is taken by those in error; for God intended that the Testimonies should always have a setting in the framework of truth.”

But in meeting this delusion in 1893, Sister White did not content herself alone with giving general instruction regarding the question involved. She

made a direct and earnest appeal to the leader of the movement. This appeal, in the form of a personal letter, was printed in the REVIEW of Sept. 12, 1893, and from this letter we make the following quotations:—

“My brother, I learn that you are taking the position that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is Babylon, and that all that would be saved must come out of her. You are not the only man whom the enemy has deceived in this matter. For the last forty years, one man after another has arisen, claiming that the Lord has sent him with the same message; but let me tell you, as I have told them, that this message you are proclaiming, is one of the satanic delusions designed to create confusion among the churches. My brother, you are certainly off the track. . . . If you are teaching that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is Babylon, you are wrong. God has not given you any such message to bear. Satan will use every mind to which he can attain access, inspiring men to originate false theories, or go off on some wrong tangent, that he may create a false excitement, and thus divert souls from the true issue for this time. I presume that some may be deceived by your message, because they are full of curiosity and desire for some new thing.”

The manner in which our brethren and sisters related themselves to this movement was not considered at that time a light matter. The question involved eternal issues, and our brethren and sisters were earnestly urged to turn from these fanciful interpretations, and take their stand squarely on the Word of truth. The following quotation is representative of the earnest warnings given to the church by the servant of the Lord in that period of our history:—

“Those who start up to proclaim a message on their own responsibility, who, while claiming to be taught and led of God, still make it their special work to tear down that which God has been for years building up, are not doing the will of God. Be it known that these men are on the side of the great deceiver. Believe them not. They are allying themselves with the enemies of God and the truth. They will deride the order of the ministry as a system of priestcraft. From such turn away, have no fellowship with their message, however much they may quote the Testimonies and seek to intrench themselves behind them. Receive them not: for God has not given them this work to do.”—Id., Sept. 5, 1893.

History repeats itself. As apostasies have arisen in the church in the past, so we shall witness in the days to come many strange movements. “The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” This is the word of divine revelation. Some perhaps whom we have looked upon as trusted leaders will depart from the Lord. If the foundation of our faith rests in these men, if we have built upon their word in place of the Word of God, then when they fall, we shall fall likewise. Says the servant of the Lord:—

“Many a star that we have admired for its brilliancy, will then go out in darkness. Chaff like a cloud will be borne away on the wind, even from places where we see only floors of rich wheat.”

But at this time the record is:—

“When the trees without fruit are cut down as cumberers of the ground, when multitudes of false brethren are distinguished from the true, then the hidden ones will be revealed to view, and with hosannas range under the banner of Christ.”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. V, p. 81.

We must recognize that “God has a church upon the earth, who are his chosen people, who keep his commandments. He is leading, not stray offshoots, not one here and one there, but a people. The truth is a sanctifying power; but the church militant is not the church triumphant. There are tares among the wheat. ‘Wilt thou then that we gather them up?’ was the question of the servant; but the master answered, ‘Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.’ The gospel net draws not only good fish, but bad ones as well, and the Lord only knows who are his.”—Mrs. E. G. W., in Review and Herald, Sept. 12, 1893.

The sifting process is now going on. The chaff is being separated from the wheat, the dross from the pure gold. May we have grace and wisdom to stand stanchly and bravely for the faith that is in Christ Jesus. Established in his eternal truth, no theories of men will be permitted to deceive us, no winds of false doctrine to loose us from our anchorage. His truth will prove a bulwark and a rock of defense. F. M. W.