1857: The Laodicean message
But even though the SDA church was richly blessed by God as we have seen, and were made depositories of His word, they unfortunately allowed history to repeat itself. Just like those churches that went before them i.e. the Protestants, the church at Rome and ancient Israel, modern Israel — the SDA church– started to slowly depart from God. They became lukewarm and God mercifully sent them the Laodecian message in 1857 to arouse them from their spiritual slumber. God speaking through the prophet said:
“The church must arise. They do not half heed the message to the Laodicean church. There are those in the church who love this world better than they love Jesus. They love their treasures here better than they love heaven or eternal life, and with their earthly treasure they will perish. The True Witness now speaks to a lukewarm church. Be zealous and repent; but they scarcely hear or heed the message. A few are afflicting their souls. A few are heeding the counsel of the True Witness. Unless the church speedily arouses they will go into darkness, be ensnared and overcome by the enemy….
“I was shown that many of the church have at this time of peril more care for their farm and their cattle than they have for the servants of God, or the truth which they preach; their labors are so common among them that the laborers are not considered worthy of their hire. His strength must be exhausted, his life embittered by scarcely a well day, must spend and be spent, and yet the church asleep as to these things.
“But I saw that God was not asleep. Said the angel, Jesus says, I know thy works; yes, selfish, professed Sabbath-keepers. God knows thy works. Ye covetous, world-loving Sabbath-keepers, said the angel, God knows thy works. I saw that every privation the servants of God have endured are all written in the book, every tear is bottled up. Every pang of agony they have endured is recorded in the book. I know thy works, says the True Witness. [Revelation 3:15.] All that has been done to help the servants of God is all recorded; all of it is written in the book. All the selfish withholding from God’s servants are all written in the book. All thy deeds, said the angel, are passing in review before God. I saw that the church now must afflict their souls. They must labor, they must agonize or go down.” Manuscript 1 1857.
Most heeded the message but when they saw that it did not immediately end in the loud cry of Revelation 18 and the latter rain, they again became lukewarm. Two years later in 1859 the prophetess writes:
“I saw that the testimony to the Laodiceans applies to God’s people at the present time, and the reason it has not accomplished a greater work is because of the hardness of their hearts. But God has given the message time to do its work. The heart must be purified from sins which have so long shut out Jesus. This fearful message will do its work. When it was first presented, it led to close examination of heart. Sins were confessed, and the people of God were stirred everywhere. Nearly all believed that this message would end in the loud cry of the third angel.
“But as they failed to see the powerful work accomplished in a short time, many lost the effect of the message. I saw that this message would not accomplish its work in a few short months. It was designed to arouse the people of God, to discover to them their backslidings, and to lead to zealous repentance, that they might be favoured with the presence of Jesus, and be fitted for the loud cry of the third angel. As this message affected the heart, it led to deep humility before God. Angels were sent in every direction to prepare unbelieving hearts for the truth. The cause of God began to rise, and His people were acquainted with their position. If the counsel of the True Witness had been fully heeded, God would have wrought for His people in greater power. The efforts made since the message has been given, have been blessed of God, and many souls have been brought from error and darkness to rejoice in the truth.
“I saw that God would prove His people. Patiently Jesus bears with them, and does not spew them out of His mouth in a moment. Said the angel: “God is weighing His people.” If the message had been of as short duration as many of us supposed, there would have been no time for them to develop character. Many moved from feeling, not from principle and faith, and this solemn, fearful message stirred them. It wrought upon their feelings, and excited their fears, but did not accomplish the work which God designed that it should. God reads the heart. Lest His people should be deceived in regard to themselves, He gives them time for the excitement to wear off, and then proves them to see if they will obey the counsel of the True Witness.” Testimonies for the Church, Volume 1, Chapter 33, p. 186-187; same as No. 5, 1859, p. 1-26.
In spite of the backslidden state of the church, God was long suffering and merciful towards the SDA and still kept pouring blessings upon them as seen by the establishment of their first denominational school. Church membership also had increased and in the 1870s was just above 5000.
Apart from the public testimonies which the Lord was sending through the prophetess to arouse His people and the rest of the world from their spiritual slumber, God was also sending individual members of the SDA church their personnel testimony pointing out what was wrong in their spiritual life and what to do to correct this. And these testimonies comprising of letters, manuscripts, books, etc. have been preserved by God so that we who are living today may also find words that will help us in our spiritual walk and not repeat what the SDA did and are still doing in not heeding God’s reproves.
God said, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” and so He did not immediately spue them out of His mouth hoping that they would repent. Rev. 3:19. But the SDA as a whole did not repent, and they did not like being reproved or corrected. In 1873 the prophetess writes:
“The message to the church of the Laodiceans is a startling denunciation, and is applicable to the people of God at the present time… 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 in 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 ….
“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. But let these murmurers see their hearts and compare their lives with the practical teachings of the Bible, let them humble their souls before God, let the grace of God illuminate the darkness, and the scales will fall from their eyes, and they will realize their true spiritual poverty and wretchedness. They will feel the necessity of buying gold, which is pure faith and love; white raiment, which is a spotless character made pure in the blood of their dear Redeemer; and eyesalve, which is the grace of God and which will give clear discernment of spiritual things and detect sin. These attainments are more precious than the gold of Ophir.
“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. Many have despised the reproofs and warnings given them. The True Witness condemns the lukewarm condition of the people of God, which gives Satan great power over them in this waiting, watching time.” Testimony for the church, Vol. 3, p. 252-255, Chapter 27—The Laodicean Church same as Review and Herald September 16 to October 7 1873.