Light of Prophecy 1844

Where Will It all End?

Builders of Bridges?

On Sabbath afternoon we turned on our computer to see, if the annual meeting at the TVS would be web cast via streaming. Indeed, we were able to see all that was said and done there, namely the two closing meetings. In this letter, we wish to tell you a little of our impressions following the last meeting. The theme for the entire annual meeting was Building Bridges. This was almost like an echo from Vatican Council II. The ecumenical movement talks about building bridges, and now it is also the "in" thing among SDA leaders. This is unfortunate, but true.

For many years we have been criticized for mentioning SDA involvement in the ecumenical work, but now our leaders themselves brag about this co-operation, and other church leaders brag about the SDA Church joining the ecumenical movement. This reoccurred at the Tyrifjord annual meeting. Among others, they had invited a man from a different church denomination. He was a member of the Norwegian Christian Council, and had received a special price or award for building bridges. He was given access to the pulpit, he was handed a license to speak. He spoke glowingly of Sunday services at the Catholic Church and at the Pentecostal Church, where they offered several services for people of different languages. He was happy that the SDA Church, too, was part of the ecumenical movement and was building bridges. His comments were followed by applause, and when this builder of bridges had finished speaking, Reidar Johansen Kvinge called him back onto the podium and thanked him for taking part in the programme. Atle Haugen said words to the effect that perhaps we should seek more help from him in our bridge building activities.

Lasse Stølen told of his ecumenical efforts in Mjøndalen, where he meets with various church leaders, and praised the dialogue with them. He felt it was a shame we had not opened up to this earlier!

Well, we were a bit stunned hearing this, and Bente said that now it is not only us warning about the inter-church work, which is being directed by Rome, but now SDA leaders are opening their arms wide and embracing the Whore and her daughters with a smile – and they are doing this quite openly and official.

Now things are really wrong. The apostasy within the SDA Church is continually growing; it is happening more openly and without anyone putting on the brakes. These SDA leaders are caught in a spider’s web, and they are entangling themselves more and more – voluntarily! What apostasy! What seduction! Now they are bragging about their ecumenical connections, receiving applause from those gathered for their show. No-one objects, the majority feel this is OK.

"Like ancient Israel, the church has dishonoured God by turning away from the light. It has refused to fulfil the duties put on it by God, misusing its exalted privilege of being a peculiar people with holy characters. Our members have broken their pledge to live for God and for Him alone. They have joined with selfish people and lovers of the world. Pride, amusements and sin is the order of the day, and Christ has left them behind. -Ellen G. White: Testimonies for the Church, Volume 2, p. 440-445).

"And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts" (Jeremiah 2:13, 17-19).

"Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4).

Why are the SDA leaders voluntarily embracing Rome, when the Bible so clearly states we are to leave that false system, not joining in any collaboration with it?

We, along with many others, are now greatly surprised at things going on inside the SDA Church. We, along with many older members, can no longer recognise this church denomination after 50-70 years. Dramatic changes have happened in so many fields.

At the same Tyrifjord meeting Atle Haugen asked Birgit Philipsen and Reidar Johansen Kvinge whether SDA ADRA representatives may carry on preaching in ADRA. They said no. These can only carry out their aid projects, and assignments to ADRA come from the U.N. Did you get that?

The U.N. is an organisation working for the Vatican. The U.N. stands, after all, for THE UNITED NATIONS. They are striving to unite the countries in the world under the U.N. – and the U.N. is working for the Vatican global strategy. The U.N. is striving for the world in union, the world as one. That is why they want all countries to accept their international laws, which have been constructed together with the Vatican. It looks like the SDA leaders have failed to understand this. They believe the U.N. is a cosy organisation they can happily co-operate with.

In this connection we remember the SDA world gathering in Toronto in 2000. The U.N. Secretary General was invited, although he sent his representative. In his address, he appealed to the SDA Church to continue giving its support to the U.N. He said that "In a personal capacity, as Undersecretary General of the United Nations, to appeal to you representatives of the Seventh Day Adventist church around the world to continue to give the United Nations the support we need for our world organization. I make this appeal because the United Nations is also your organization. Our world organization. Your United Nations. Without the global efforts of the United Nations, all of our efforts for peace, development, equality, and justice would be to no avail. Delegates, please remember, the United Nations is the only machinery we have for collective cooperation for all. It is the only worldwide institution for furthering development. The United Nations is the only universal mechanism for protecting human rights. The United Nations is the only shared framework for strengthening international law…

As men and women of faith, you are natural partners of the United Nations in our endeavor to transcend irrational and ethnic divisions and promote tolerance and understanding… we pursue our goals of enduring peace and development for all the world’s people in the years ahead." - Message of Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, delivered by Joseph Verner Reed, undersecretary of the U.N., to the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Toronto 2000.

Commenting on this address, Jan Paulsen, world SDA leader, asked the U.N. representative to convey our warmest greetings to Kofi Annan, reassuring him that "we as a church pray for the success of United Nation as an instrument of God in this world." Tragically, the G.C. president and the Seventh-day Adventist church accepted the message from Kofi Annan gratefully. No voice of protest was heard at the meeting. But the representative for UN was a false prophet for peace!

Now we know that the U.N. wants global politics, global economics and global religion, and we know that the Bible speaks about the powers in this world joining together in the last days – indeed, Scripture states these will be of one mind, and that they will give their power and authority to the papacy (the beast) – and that these are the forces battling against the Lamb, Christ. SDA leaders giving the impression that the U.N. is an instrument of God for peace in this world makes us, consequently, puzzled. The exact opposite is the case. The U.N. is a tool for the Vatican’s global plans luring the people into the snares of Satan, binding them more and more hand and foot with a multi-faceted international set of laws. They are shepherding people away from their liberty in Christ. They are shepherding people away from God’s law. They are shepherding people away from the Sabbath. They are, thus, helping the Devil to realise his plan on the earth.

In The Adventist News, for September 24th, 2015 we can read the following about this matter:

Media in the world have also noticed that the Adventist Church is going to collaborate with the U.N. We read in The World News, September 23rd, 2015:

This plan was launched when the U.N. turned 70, and in the presence of all member countries. Pope Francis appealed for all lands to sign this document, and they did.

Agenda 2030 is made up of 17 main points and 169 lesser points. According to the plan, there will be an end to all poverty and starvation. The water, the soil and the air are to become clean and sound. All are to enjoy good health and quality education. There is going to be work for all, and the U.N. is to receive more money to realise its plans. Does it not sound good? Indeed, one might almost believe there is going to be a new paradise in the earth. But to carry this through, one of the points says that women will be empowered. We can see that the SDA Church supports this development. It has, indeed, accepted the plan. This plan also hails immigration, because they think that the entire globe is for all of us, without borders. Borders are to be erased, and all humans are to be citizens of the world under the umbrella of this U.N. Agenda. Compare this with Acts 17:26-27.

Article 47 says that every member country is to be responsible for implementing Agenda 2030, whereas the supervision thereof is to be conducted by the U.N. General Assembly through its Supreme Political Council and its Economic and Social Council. Here you have the text:

How can the SDA Church agree to such a plan, whereby the U.N. will ensure it is implemented in all lands and that the U.N. is to be the Supreme Political, Economic and Social Council of the World?

Let us briefly return to the question put by Atle Haugen to Birgit Philipsen and Reidar Johansen Kvinge, namely whether ADRA can carry on preaching activities in its work with and for the U.N. As we saw, they answered this is impossible. ADRA is allowed to assist and lessen pain and give out food and medicines, etc., where asked to. Only by their lives are they to be allowed to witness about their faith.

Thus, the U.N. assigns tasks, and ADRA receives assignments through the U.N. Is this the way we are supposed to work? Is this the way Jesus worked?

First of all, the U.N. is to assign our work. We have been told to have Jesus as our assigner of work! It is He who has called upon us to serve. Did He ever order us not to tell of salvation in Jesus Christ to those we assist? Yes, health and salvation have to be integral parts.

Let us take the paralytic in Capernaum as an example. "In vain he had approached the Pharisees and physicians for help. They would only declare him incurable, condemning him as a sinner and telling him he would die as a result of the wrath of God.

Christ is the true head of the medical profession. The chief Physician, He is at the side of every God-fearing practitioner who works to relieve human suffering. While the physician uses nature's remedies for physical disease, he should point his patients to Him who can relieve the maladies of both the soul and the body… The physician should teach his patients that they are to cooperate with God in the work of restoration." - Ellen G. White: The Ministry of Healing, pp. 73-78 and p. 112-114.

Both in the Bible and in the writings of Ellen G. White we can see that in our work with ailing people we are to give relief in both the physical and in the spiritual realm. Now that the SDA leaders, through ADRA, have decided that since they are working for the U.N., they are not to conduct any preaching activities in their labours, things go wrong. This way, they accept U.N. demands for just helping people with their physical maladies, without giving them relief and healing on the spiritual level. Here we have a compromise solution satisfactory to the U.N., but one out of harmony with the Word of God and the Spirit of Prophecy.

We, as Seventh-day Adventists, have a special and marvellous message about health and spirituality to give to people, but now the standard has been lowered, to secure acceptance from world leaders. Hence, we are sounding the alarm concerning the policy SDA leaders have entangled us in. The most important factor is not to be accepted by people, but by God. And if we are to be used by God, we are obliged to follow the light that we have. However, now we are putting our light under a bushel, which will have dire consequences!

In the past few years special children’s meetings have been arranged in a tent in the field at the foot of the school building. Here, the children are served pop and at time rock rhythms, with drums, bass guitars and all that goes with it. Drama, theatre and entertainment are natural ingredients, together with simple New Theology preaching. This has been going on for many years, and now the children and the grown-ups are so used to it that very few react. The children believe this is how it should be, and just think of what the SDA Church will be like in the future, if this trend continues!

Ellen G. White has warned against dance rhythms, which are part of this type of music, and she says it will be like this in the last days –and then she adds: "The Holy Spirit never reveals itself in such methods, in such a bedlam of noise." Read about it yourself in her book Selected Messages, Volume 2, p. 36.

We know that the Spirit of God will be poured out over those of a like mind, as during the day of Pentecost. May all of us be awakened, because a lot of things indicate that the condition of the church is making us lethargic, and hence God will, sorry to say, only have a small remnant to use in the closing work, and they will receive His seal in their forehead. May you and we be in that group!

Yours very sincerely,

Abel & Bente Struksnes,

Vestrumsbygda 26, N-2879 Odnes, Norway