Does the Shepherd’s Rod state that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is “Babylon”?
Ellen G. White | Spirit of Prophecy
Doctrines that compose “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 pre-existence 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.” It is a wrath which is created by false doctrines, and when kings and presidents drink this wine of the wrath of her fornication, they are stirred with anger against those who will not come into harmony with the false and Satanic heresies which exalt the false Sabbath, and lead men to trample under foot God's memorial.”—The Review and Herald, September 12, 1893, par. 20
Claiming the Seventh-day Adventist Church is “Babylon” is Satan’s Claim
“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 frame-work of truth.”—The Review and Herald, August 29, 1893, par. 6
Bro. Stanton Rebuked
“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. The first message [the second angel’s message] was to go to Babylon (the churches) proclaiming her downfall, and calling the people to come out of her. This same message is to be proclaimed the second time. ‘And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.’ [Revelation 18:1-5.]
My brother, 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 obtain access, inspiring them to get up some false theory, 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 something new and strange.”—Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 8 (1893), Lt 57, 1893, par. 2
Denouncing the Church as “Babylon” is a Message of Error
“Those who are carrying this message of error, denouncing the church as Babylon, are neglecting their God-appointed work, are in opposition to organization, are in opposition to the plain command of God in Malachi in regard to bringing all the tithes into the treasury of God’s house, and imagine they have a work to do in warning those whom God has chosen to forward his message of truth. These workers are not bringing greater efficiency into the cause and kingdom of God, but are engaged in a work similar to that in which the enemy of all righteousness is engaged. Let these men who are rising up against the ways and means ordained of God to forward his work in these days of peril, divest themselves of all unscriptural views concerning the nature office and power of God’s appointed agencies. Let all understand the words that I now write. Those who are laborers together with God are but his instruments, and they in themselves possess no grace or holiness. It is only when they are cooperating with heavenly intelligences that they are successful. They are but the earthen vessels, the depositories in which God places the treasure of His truth. Paul may plant, and Apollos (480) water, but it is God alone that gives the increase.”—Experiences in Australia, 1891, pg. 99
“God has a people in which all heaven is interested, and they are the one object that is dear to the heart of God. Let everyone who reads these words give them thorough consideration; for in the name of Jesus I would press them home on every soul. When anyone arises, either among us or outside of us, who is burdened with a message which declares that the people of God are numbered with Babylon, and claims that the Loud Cry is a call to come out of her, you may know that he is not bearing the message of truth. Receive him not, nor bid him God speed; for God has not spoken by him, neither given a message to him, but he ran before he was sent.”—Experiences in Australia, 1891, pg. 94
The Lord did not give men professing “the Church is Babylon” their message
“Instead of the unity which should exist among believers there is disunion; for Satan is permitted to come in, and through his specious deceptions and delusions he leads those who are not learning of Christ meekness and lowliness of heart, to take a different line from the church, and break up, if possible, the unity of the church. Men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves. They claim that God has given them great light; but how do they act under its influence? Do they pursue the course that the two disciples pursued on their journey to Emmaus? When they received light, they returned and found those whom God had led and was still leading, and told them how they had seen Jesus and had talked with him. Have the men who have claimed to have light concerning the church, pursued this course? Have they gone to those who are chosen of God to bear a living testimony, and given them evidence that this light would better qualify them to prepare a people to stand in the great day of God? Have they sought counsel of those who have been and are still bearing the truth, and giving to the world the last message of warning? Have they counseled with those who have had a deep experience in the things of God? Why were these men so full of zeal for the cause, not present at the General Conference held at Battle Creek, as were the devout men at Jerusalem at the time of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? At the great heart of the work, men opened their treasures of light, and while the Lord was pouring out his Spirit upon the people, did these men receive of the heavenly anointing? While the deep movings of the Spirit of God were made manifest among the people, and souls were being converted, and hard hearts broken, there were those who were listening to the suggestions of Satan, and they were inspired with zeal from beneath to go forth and proclaim that the very people receiving of the Holy Spirit, who are to receive the latter rain and the glory that is to lighten the whole earth, were Babylon. Did the Lord give these messengers their message? -No; for it was not a message of truth.”—Review and Herald, Sept 5, 1893, par. 5
Any man denouncing the Church as “Babylon” is in harmony with Satan
“There is but one church in the world who are at the present time standing in the breach, and making up the hedge, building up the old waste places; and for any man to call the attention of the world and other churches to this church, denouncing her as Babylon, is to do a work in harmony with him who is the accuser of the brethren.”—Review and Herald, Sept 5, 1893, par. 8
Those asserting church is “Babylon” might better stay at home
“Those who assert that the Seventh-day Adventist churches constitute Babylon, or any part of Babylon, might better stay at home. Let them stop and consider what is the message to be proclaimed at this time. In place of working with divine agencies to prepare a people to stand in the day of the Lord, they have taken their stand with him who is an accuser of the brethren, who accuses them before God day and night. Satanic agencies have been moved from beneath, and they have inspired men to unite in a confederacy of evil, that they may perplex, harass, and cause of the people of God great distress. The whole world is to be stirred with enmity against Seventh-day Adventists, because they will not yield homage to the papacy, by honoring Sunday, the institution of this antichristian power. It is the purpose of Satan to cause them to be blotted from the earth, in order that his supremacy of the world may not be disputed.”—Testimonies to Ministers,1923, pg. 36
The Church in her Laodicean state does not stand in any more favor with God than does “Babylon”
“Will the churches heed the Laodicean message? Will they repent or will they, notwithstanding that the most solemn message of truth—the third angel’s message—is being proclaimed to the world, go on in sin? This is the last message of mercy, the last warning to a fallen world. If the church of God becomes lukewarm, it does not stand in favor with God any more than do the churches that are represented as having fallen and become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”—Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 13 (1898), Lt 35, 1898, par. 17
The Church is at risk of becoming a sister to “Babylon”
“We must as a people arouse and cleanse the camp of Israel. Licentiousness, unlawful intimacy, and unholy practices are coming in among us in a large degree, and ministers who are handling sacred things are guilty of sin in this respect. They are coveting their neighbors’ wives, and the seventh commandment is broken. We are in danger of becoming a sister to fallen Babylon, of allowing our churches to become corrupted, and filled with every foul spirit, a cage for every unclean and hateful bird, and will we be clear unless we make decided movements to cure the existing evil? Will you have others follow your example? Will you wish them to pass over the ground you have traveled and feel that they have done no great wrong? Without repentance and genuine conversion you are a ruined man.”—Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 4 (1883 - 1886), Lt 51, 1886, par. 7
Victor T. Houteff | The Shepherd’s Rod
The Church is not “Babylon”
“It matters not what they may do to us, we would rather die than to disobey the commandment of the Lord. The S.D.A. church is not Babylon. If it were we would have been duty bound to come out, but since it is not, we have no place to go. Consequently, we will stay in ‘Jerusalem’ though it may be filled with thieves. ‘Fear them not neither be dismayed at their looks,’ saith the Lord. (Ezek. 3:9.) ‘The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just.’ (Matt. 13:49.)” —The Symbolic Code, Texas, 1935, Vol. 1, No. 14, pg. 8
“The reason that the church is figuratively not ‘Babylon’ is that it is called Jerusalem (Ezek. 9:4,8), and from among the good therein, the wicked (the tares) are destroyed, taken out, by the six men with the slaughter weapons (Ezek. 9:6-9), and then afterward the good (the wheat) are gathered in ‘the barn;’ while from among the wicked in Babylon, the just (‘My people’) are called out and gathered into the barn, and then the remaining wicked are destroyed by the seven angels' pouring out the seven last plagues.”—Tract 3: The Judgment and the Harvest (third-edition), 1942, pg. 71
“The anti-Rodists' accusations that the Rod is calling the church Babylon is another falsehood. The Rod proves that the church is not Babylon and that is the reason for which Its adherents stay in it instead of coming out of it, and this is the very reason for which the anti-Rodists are trying to keep them out of the churches.”—Jezreel Letter, No. 8, copyright unknown, pg. 3
Our publications prove that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is not “Babylon”
“Moreover, to attempt to drive us by force from our churches, then brand us as ‘off-shoots,’ is an ironical paradox, the justice of which neither we can understand nor they explain. Furthermore, for them to persist in accusing us of calling the church Babylon, when they know all too well that we not only cannot be driven from the denomination, thus proving that we do not call it Babylon, but also that our every publication proves that it cannot be Babylon, -- thus for them to persist in this accusation is to engage themselves in misrepresenting us to the people and tempting us to commit wrong -- leave the denomination.”—Tract 7: The Great Controversy Over "The Shepherd's Rod" (third-edition), 1944, pgs. 56, 57
The church contends through and through that the Church is not “Babylon”
“Though the ‘Shepherd's Rod’ plainly says that the church is in ‘Egypt,’ which point the opponents of the Rod are not trying to controvert, and while the Rod contends, through and through, that the church is not Babylon, they accuse it of saying it is! which in comparison means the same as to call black, white, and white, black.”—The Symbolic Code, California, 1934, Vol. 1, No. 4, pg. 8
God foresaw a movement (Reform S.D.A. Movement—SDARM) that would claim the church is “Babylon”
“As God foresaw all movements that would arise against, or for His church, He would have pointed out this message either as being false, or true. He foresaw that some movement would arise and claim that the church is ‘Babylon,’ so gave us the warning that it was false. Read Testimonies to Ministers, pages 49, 53. Again, God foresaw that some will come and call the ministry ‘priestcraft,’ and forewarned us that they are not sent from Him. Read Testimonies to Ministers, page 51. He also foresaw that some will announce the ‘day and the hour for the second coming of Christ,’ etc. Thus, God has forewarned the church all the way. Nowhere do we find any prophecy in contradiction against the message presented in this book. It is impossible to find opposition, seeing the entire message is derived from the Bible and the Testimonies, and predicted by them both.”—The Shepherd's Rod, 1930, Vol. 1, pg. 234
The Reformed S.D.A.’s (SDARM) refer to the Seventh-day Adventist Church as “Babylon” not the Shepherd’s Rod
“The Rod adherents and the Reformed S.D.A.'s do not unite because, unfortunately, they do not agree. Being in wide variance on some doctrinal issues, union under the circumstances is impossible.
One such doctrinal difference, for instance, is that the Reformed S.D.A.'s teach that the sins in the mother S.D.A. church make her a part of Babylon, whereas the Rod teaches that though she is in a bad condition, yet she is not Babylon: for the sins do not make the name any more than the name makes the sins. Babylon is not so named because of its sins, nor condemned because of being named Babylon, but is denounced because of having fallen and because of having ‘become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.’ Rev. 18:2.
The S.D.A. church may be in even a worse condition,--so bad a condition, in fact, that she does not even know that she is ‘wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked’ (Rev. 3:17),--yet in spite of it all, she is called Laodicea,’ not Babylon. And her members stand, not to be called out as do those in Babylon, but rather to be spued out. The Rod is laboring to save them from being spued out, whereas the Reform movement is calling them to come out.
So their believing as they do, and consequently rejecting the Rod's message, make mutually impossible our uniting with them and their uniting with us.”—The Symbolic Code, Texas, 1941, Vol. 7, Nos. 7-12, pg. 18
Produce the statement that The Shepherd’s Rod states that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is “Babylon”
“Still afraid of coming in contact with error! I hope you will no longer deceive yourselves that ‘The Shepherd's Rod’ is tearing down anything that God has built up. It is here to ‘restore all things,’ not to tear them down. As for your charge, however, that the ‘Rod’ teaches that the church is Babylon, we challenge you to produce the statement.”—Jezreel Letter, No. 7, copyright unknown, pg. 3
“As for their charge that the ‘Rod’ teaches that the church is Babylon, we challenge them to produce the statement. And if they do not know what Babylon is, then they better read ‘The Shepherd's Rod.’
True, the church is God's church, but those who have taken charge of it are no better than the Sanhedrin in Christ's day. It is because God has supreme regard for His church that He has thus with His Truth invaded it, and is thus to reclaim His people by cutting down those who are unlawfully enslaving them, teaching them doctrines of devils as shown in this study; and keeping them from coming in contact with Heaven's Truth for this time of crisis. Do you see why the General Conference is now no more the Voice of God to the people (General Conference Bulletin, 34th session, Vol. 4, Extra No. 1, April 3, 1901, pg. 25, Cols. 1, 2) than was the Sanhedrin's to the Jews in Christ's time? I hope you will no longer deceive yourselves that "The Shepherd's Rod" is tearing down anything that God has built up.”—Timely Greetings (revised edition), 1953, Vol. 1, Nos. 3, 4, pg. 10
Testimonial of the inability of the church leadership to produce any facts that the Rod teaches the church is “Babylon”
“One of the field workers, who recently returned to Mount Carmel after five months of survey travel, has consented to give us a condensed idea of the "pulse rate" of the church in general, as related to the ‘Rod’ message.
This worker found that the S.D.A. ministry was by and in the large opposed to the ‘Rod’ message, their general attitude being that: ‘The General Conference has investigated and found error and these men who are smarter than I am should be able to recognize error.’ However, the ministry was not complacent but greatly concerned over the inroads the ‘Rod’ message is making among the S.D.A. laity--bewailing the fact: ‘That the “Rod” is capturing some of our best members, those who are students of the Bible.’
The ministry were consistent in parroting the Adam's brochure that the ‘Rod’ was teaching ‘The Seventh-day Adventist church is Babylon.’ When confronted with the question of whether they would kindly show where in the ‘Rod’ message this statement is found they passed out the stereotyped answers that ‘just off hand I can't point it out,’ or ‘I'll have to brush up a little more on that subject,’ or ‘I have an important appointment now,’ or some other excuse.
When this field worker asked one minister if he believed the Seventh-day Adventist church was the Laodicean church spoken of in Revelation 3:14, he answered in the affirmative. Then he was asked who the ‘angel’ of this church represented. The minister said the ‘angel’ represented Christ. Then the field worker asked him if he was willing to apply to Christ the description of being wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked given to this ‘angel’ in the book of Revelation. He still insisted the ‘angel’ was Christ, closing his eyes to the truth that the ‘angel’ represents the present Seventh-day Adventist church leadership. Apparently he would rather have Christ wrong than himself.”—The Symbolic Code, Texas, 1954, Vol. 10, No. 1, pgs. 8, 9
If you want to know why the church is not “Babylon,” study the Shepherd’s Rod
“Since the church as a body has never since the beginning of the world accepted a new message, and since the ministry in every age and in every church has bitterly fought it, it is not surprising that they are now doing the same. Your decision now, as always, must therefore be altogether an individual matter. But remember that your decision is not to be that of joining something, but of joining Christ and His Judgment message for the salvation and prosperity of the Denomination. Stay in it and work for its return to God. It is not Babylon, and do not let them intimidate you to leave it. They may take your name off of their church records which are now devised for no other purpose but upon which to base their goals and other money raising campaigns, but that is all they can do. If you want to know why the church is not Babylon and what Babylon is, then you had better study ‘The Shepherd's Rod.’”—Jezreel Letter, No. 5, circa 1952-1953, pg. 11
Brethren corrected on mistaken point that the Rod teaches the church is “Babylon” leads to anger
“‘Sabbath morning we went to church in ___, after several weeks of visiting the other churches in this area. Elder ____ preached on the same subject Elder ____ presented last week. The intention was the same (to refute the “Rod”), but the interpretation was surely different. He told the people that we teach the church is Babylon and that the Judgment of the Living began in 1929. After service ____ corrected him on these points, as we were going out the vestibule. This made some of the people angry. One brother clinched his fist and his teeth and told ____ that if he weren't a Christian he would punch him in the nose! He ground his feet into the ground and said, “I'd like to grind you into the dirt with my feet.” This episode amused Elder ____ highly.”—The Symbolic Code, Texas, 1954, Vol. 10, No. 1, pg. 14