THIS last-day movement will become the object of Satan's most vicious attacks. Our schools, our medical institutions, our publishing houses, our message will not be spared. "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Rev. 12:17). This war against the remnant is being waged to day. "Satan is a diligent Bible student. He knows that his time is short, and he seeks at every point to counterwork the work of the Lord upon this earth. It is impossible to give any idea of the experience of the people of God who will be alive upon the earth when celestial glory and the repetition of the persecutions of the past are blended."— Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 16.
What has happened in other Christian churches should serve as a warning to us as Seventh-day Adventists. Great churches are rethinking basic concepts of Christian faith. "Ours is a generation of gyrating theology that seems to have spun off any sure Word of God," Carl F. Henry writes. "Neo-Protestant religious currents are losing force and nearing an end of their special impact, while classic modernism, though politically a volcano, is theologically now but a bag of wind."—Christianity Today, March 1, 1968, p. 3.
When Columbia University was founded one of its objectives was stated: "The chief thing aimed at in this college is to teach and engage children to know God in Jesus Christ, and to love and serve Him with all sobriety, godliness, and richness of life."— Quoted in Christianity Today, May 11, 1959, p. 6.
If this statement of purpose had been read on the Columbia campus a few months ago belligerent youth would have laughed it to scorn. Columbia, like most other church-oriented educational institutions, has long since shed its religious affiliation.
Real Leadership Needed
What is happening on formerly Christian campuses today is alarming. "Faster than the pulpits of the land can attract young people to Christ the colleges turn them out as skeptics and agnostics."—Ibid., Sept. 11, 1961, pp. 25, 26.
Fellow leaders, what makes you think Seventh-day Adventist schools won't go the way most other church-oriented educational institutions have gone? If time permitted this morning I could give you eight or ten reasons why I believe, with God's help, they need not follow such a course. But let me tell you, they will go that way unless some real leadership is manifested in this denomination today. Only the power of God, working through dedicated and courageous leaders, will avert tragedy ahead. Don't think for a moment Satan is going to spare Seventh-day Adventist in stitutions! Satan is not going to leave Seventh-day Adventism alone. He will not leave our message unchallenged, our institutions unscathed in his last desperate death struggle. Our message, our schools, our hospitals, our publishing houses, our people will be the object of his bitterest attacks.
"There will be a removing of the land marks," the Lord's messenger warned, "and an attempt to tear down the pillars of our faith."—In Review and Herald, Dec. 13 1892.
Then note the subtlety with which this will be attempted: "I fear, lest, by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Cor. 11:3; see Selected Messages, book 2, p. 196).
"Corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ"—this is the evil that today threatens our institutions. Satan is not coming in his true guise (2 Cor. 11:14, 15.) He comes with subtle subversion, with plausible half-truths, with ridicule, with doubt, with unbelief, with science so-called. Fellow leaders, this church is in far greater danger from seduction than from persecution.
Purposes for Existence Unchanged
We say that times have changed. The aims and the objectives and the purposes of our institutions are different from what they used to be. Who says this? This is not what 1 read! Through it all God's purposes for His church, His schools, His medical institutions, His publishing houses, His people have not changed. Of course pro grams will be kept relevant, policies will be updated, our planning will be large and in keeping with the times in which we live. In those areas we must not lag, but the purposes of our existence have, not changed.
"As our work has extended and institutions have multiplied, God's purpose in their establishment remains the same. The conditions of prosperity are unchanged."— Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 224. (Italics supplied.)
This is the time of great advance. This is the time when leadership is needed with large vision and faith-filled planning. Knowing the men who sit before me as I do, I have no fear but that your plans will be large, that you will be reaching out into the unentered areas. You will push back the frontiers. You will lay plans for the inner cities, the outer cities, and all the cities. In all our planning, let us remember that as leaders we must do some standing too. With all our progress some of us are going to need to do some standing.
Must Not Lose by Default
These institutions of ours, born in prayer and sacrifice, must not go by default. "But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will 1 require at the watchman's hand. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watch man unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shall hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me" (Eze. 33:6, 7). The servant of the Lord says, "Where are the faithful guardians of the Lord's flocks? Where are His watchmen? Are they standing on the high tower, giving the danger signal, or are they allowing the peril to pass unheeded?"—Selected Messages, book 1. p. 194.
Brethren, fellow leaders in the Ad vent cause, you and I must be awake. You and I need to be both on our knees and on our toes in view of what is just ahead of this people. This is a challenge to every Seventh-day Adventist leader. Satan is at work in our churches, in our schools, in our medical institutions, and in our publishing houses.
Erosion of faith, an infringing secularism, worldliness, a relevancy that could beget spiritual insolvency, hypocrisy, in difference, apathy, dishonesty, lack of con version, inactivity, all are potential dangers on the horizon.
We are still a called-out people of faith. We are still a church with some standards. Morality and modesty still are part of Christian conduct. The Word of God is still our guidebook. The Spirit of Prophecy still points us to the greater light. We still operate institutions that are different.
But let me tell you, if we hold our institutions, if we lead our people through to the kingdom, you and I will need to be courageous men of God, true leaders in Israel, watchmen who neither slumber nor sleep. We will need to do some planning. We will also have to do some standing.
We need to stand by our institutional heads. They cannot do the work that must be done alone. We must give these men our fullest cooperation and support in their efforts to maintain these institutions as God has outlined. There are some lines that must be drawn, some board members who are willing to stand up and be counted, some leaders who will stand for right though the heavens fall.
No Escape Hatches
I realize that to some this sounds reactionary—like some "curia-stand-patism," some "feet in concrete" philosophy; some will say we are "going into the future back ward." I know well how some will react to this appeal. But, brethren, we will receive all sorts of labels before the end if we do what God wants us to do. As I have said many times, as far as our plans and pro grams and policies are concerned, we want to be in the 1970's, but when it comes to the message and those things that have made us God's peculiar people, there must be no compromise. It must be, "Here I stand."
Some may feel that we should not be too dogmatic, not too certain. It will be best to leave a few escape hatches here and there. Let us leave a little room for accommodations, a little margin for possible error. Let us not stick our necks out too far. Brethren, I put not only my neck but every inch of my body on the altar for God forty years ago. Before I was a Christian I was an athlete, and I succeeded because I put every ounce of my being into it. When I took my stand for this message, I promised God that every ounce of my energy would go to ward finishing the work of God. I feel the same today after nearly forty years. When I got aboard the good ship Zion I did not purchase a round-trip ticket. Mine is one way. It is too late now to think of turning back; there is only one way, brethren, and it is forward, to the kingdom!
Fellow leaders, brethren and sisters, never forget why we are here and where we are going. Keep bright the purposes for which God called this movement into existence. Keep your vision clear, your courage strong, your heart sensitive to the appeals of the Spirit of God. Final victory is nearer than many of us may believe!
