Advent Movement Survey 4

Organization

Study given by W. D. Frazee - January 10, 1962

Turn please to Deuteronomy the eighth chapter and the second verse and with that we will
put Testimonies to Ministers, page 31, Life Sketches, page 196 - all those three references:

“And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God
led thee these forty years in the wilderness” Deuteronomy 8:2.

Moses gave them these words near the end of the exodus movement. They were to do what?
Remember. Remember what? The way God had led them. How much of it? All of it.
Remember all the way the Lord thy God lead thee. And so the Lord’s messenger echoes this
in the wonderful statement in Testimonies to Ministers:

“In reviewing our past history, having traveled over every step
of advance to our present standing, I can say, Praise God! As I
see what God has wrought, I am filled with astonishment, and
with confidence in Christ as leader. We have nothing to fear
for the future except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led
us” Testimonies to Ministers, page 31.

Now if we forget the way the Lord has led us then we have something to? To fear. You find
a similar statement in the other reference, Life Sketches. There it says:

“We have nothing to fear for the future except as we shall

forget the way the Lord has led us and His teaching in our past
history” Life’s Sketches, page 196.

So there is a teaching of the Lord in the way He has led this people and we are to study the
way He has led this people, and from it learn lessons as we complete the journey from the
midnight cry of 1844 to the open gates of the city of God just ahead.

Now in our study this evening, I want to study with you especially the development of
organization among Seventh-day Adventists. Beginning with the 1844 date and coming on
through the history of the movement, we find that the early years of this movement were
largely taken up with bringing together the various truths that constitute the three-fold
message. We’ve studied that in our first three lessons. That occupies roughly the first
decade.

By early 1850s the doctrines of this message were quite well understood, and had been
brought together in a great chain of truth, clear and connected, as the Lord’s messenger
speaks of it - the coming of Christ, the sanctuary with the work of Jesus in the two

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apartments, the investigative judgment, the binding claims of the law of God, the Sabbath of
the fourth commandment, the testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of Prophecy, the state of
the dead, and the three angels’ messages of Revelation chapter 14 as the special truth of God
for this time. All of those things had been brought together and were commonly accepted by
the group that later developed into the organization we know now as the Seventh-day
Adventist Church.

Although, (as we come into the 1850s) those truths had been brought together there was still
no organization. There was still no church as we think of a church today. There was no
publishing house, as we know it today. There was a struggling little publishing work that
James White and a few brethren with him were carrying, we might say, as a personal
enterprise for there was no church organization. There was no plan for the support of the
ministry. Tithing, as we know it today, was unknown. There were no conference
headquarters, and presidents and secretary-treasurers. There were no local churches
organized, as we know them today. They spoke of themselves as the scattered flock or the
remnant, or sometimes as the Sabbath-keeping Adventists.

Now, there was not only a lack of organization, there was on the part of a number, a settled
feeling against any organization. This is well summed up by James White in Early Writings,
page 97, in a footnote. Will you turn now to Early Writings and notice the footnote at the
bottom of 97:

“The Adventists were of all churches” Early Writings, page 97.

He is speaking of those that accepted the first angel’s message.

“The Adventists were of all churches, and at first they had no

idea of forming another church. After 1844 there was great
confusion, and the majority were strongly opposed to any
organization, holding that it was inconsistent with the perfect
liberty of the gospel” Early Writings, page 97.

So you see, they were not only not organized, many of them thought that they shouldn’t be. I
was quite interested in the way George Storrs put it. He was a leading Adventist minister in
the second angel’s message and the midnight cry of 1844, never a Seventh-day Adventist, but
one of those in the Miller movement. Writing in the Midnight Cry of February 15, 1844, he
said:

“Take care that you do not seek to organize another church. No

church can be organized by man’s invention but what it
becomes Babylon the moment it is organized. The Lord
organized His own church by the strong bonds of love.
Stronger than that cannot be made. And when such bonds will
not hold together the professed followers of Christ, they cease
to be his followers and drop off from the body as a matter of
course” Midnight Cry, February 15, 1844.

This statement I am reading, I have taken from Loughborough’s book, The Great Second

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Advent Movement, page 344.

Now I read that to give you the background of the thinking. A number of them thought they
had come out of Babylon in coming from the various Protestant churches in 1844. Now if
anyone brought up the idea perhaps they needed more of an organization, “No, no, we got out
of that. We got out of that bondage. We got out of Babylon. We’re free.” They were free
and they had all the, shall I say the advantages and disadvantages of that.

Now as the result of that lack of organization various problems began to appear. For
example, if there is no organized church, then who constitutes the duly appointed ministry?
Who speaks for the church? Who has the right to teach? Who has the right to baptize? Who
has the right to administer the ordinances? Whom should the church support? You can all
see that those are very practical questions.

Did Jesus command His church to go teach and baptize? Well now the question is, who is
going to baptize? Is everybody going to baptize, anybody that teaches somebody the truth,
are they to baptize them? And about the ordinances. Jesus said that as often as ye eat this
bread and drink this cup you show the Lord’s death till He come. Can anybody simply give
somebody else a cup of the wine and a piece of bread and say now we are having the
communion? Those you can see are very practical questions.

As you study this chapter in Early Writings, beginning on page 97, you will note that they
were having some of these problems. Notice at the bottom of 97, Sister White is writing
(well we will just scan down through that first page). She speaks of the importance of order.
There is order in heaven. There was order in the church when Christ was on earth. There
was order when the apostles had the early church.

“And now in these last days, while God is bringing His

children into the unity of the faith, there is more real need of
order than ever before” Early Writings, page 97.

Oh, how beautifully God has guided His people through this prophetic gift. What did she
point out was the need? Order. The date of this is 1853. You see approximately ten years
after the disappointment. Still they were without order.

Running ahead of our study a little, it took nearly another ten years to get the organization
fully established. In fact, it was just ten years from the publication of this testimony that the
General Conference was organized in 1863 - ten years of earnest work by James White and
Ellen White and others to get the system of organization established. That was due to a great
extent to the great prejudice against organization; the fear that in organizing they would
become what? Babylon and get in bondage. So God spoke from heaven through this gift as
well as leading the minds of His people to the Bible.

Now notice some of the fruits of the lack of order. After pointing out the need of order now
as never before, she says:

“As God unites His children, Satan and his evil angels are very
busy to prevent this unity and to destroy it. Therefore men are

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 hurried into the field who lack wisdom and judgment” Early
Writings, page 97.

She goes on to describe some of their lack. But now watch. What was Satan doing? He was
causing men to be what? Hurried into the field. Satan would move upon people to go out
and start teaching and preaching. Well, don’t laborers need to be hurried into the field?
Apparently while the Lord may move upon some people to go into the field, does Satan move
upon some? Now the question is who is to decide? There is the thing you need to have in
your mind as you study the development of these ten years.

Down near the bottom of the page:

“Men whose lives are not holy and who are unqualified to teach
the present truth enter the field without being acknowledged by
the church or the brethren generally, and confusion and
disunion are the result” Early Writings, page 97.

Now what brings confusion and disunion? Men entering the field without being what?
Acknowledged by the church and the brethren generally. That was what was happening back
there. Then she presents several classes of workers. Some, she said, could present the
argument of the truth but they lacked judgment, and spirituality, and experience. Others she
said didn’t even have the argument. They couldn’t even present the doctrines of the truth
very well. But, because they could pray and exhort with quite a bit of enthusiasm, why some
brethren suggested that they would make good preachers. So forthwith they went out to
preach.

So near the middle of page 98 at the end of that paragraph, she says:

“Brethren should be careful not to push those out into the field
whom He has not called” Early Writings, page 98.

So apparently some of these men that God hadn’t called had some brethren that supported
them and encouraged them. Is that clear from this? Well that would only add to the
confusion, wouldn’t it? Yes, alright.

Now in the next paragraph you notice that some of them had a measure of success. But Sister
White points out that it is not a positive evidence that men are called of God because they
have some success. The top of page 99 the first paragraph, beginning, would you read that
sentence that runs across the top of that first paragraph? All together:

“These self-sent messengers are a curse to the cause” Early

Writings, page 99.

Were they trying to preach the third angel’s message? Yes. But they were a what? Curse.
Who sent them? They sent themselves. Let’s read it again:

“These self-sent messengers are a curse to the cause” Early

Writings, page 99.

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Then she goes on and says that honest souls accept the truth under their labors and allow
them to baptize them and to administer the ordinances. Then later they see that these men are
not sent of God and it puts them into a great confusion. And finally it says, they are not
satisfied until they are again baptized and begin anew. Sister White points out that it was
more wearing for the true messengers of God to go over the ground and bring these people in
right and get them ready all over again than it would have been to do the thing in the first
place without these self-sent messengers being in the way.

Now, another important problem, page 100, the first paragraph. What’s the danger? What’s
the danger in that first paragraph on page 100? The danger of some folks doing what?
Traveling, whom God has not called:

“Again the danger of those traveling whom God has not called,
was shown me” Early Writings, page 100.

Do you suppose they thought it was the thing to do to go here and there and teach and preach.
Well, if people listened to them and received them, and some accepted the truth under their
labors, wasn’t that evidence that they were called of God? Then notice how the Spirit of
Prophecy lays the responsibility back upon the church in this whole matter of who are to
teach and who are to travel for the church. Watch, the last two sentences:

“If unmistakable evidence is not given that God has called

them, and that the ‘woe’ is upon them if they heed not this call,
it is the duty of the church to” Early Writings, page 100,

Do what?

“To act and let it be known that these persons are not
acknowledged as teachers by the church. This is the only
course the church can take in order to be clear in this matter, for
the burden lies upon them” Early Writings, page 100.
I want to ask you something, then. In the history of this movement, historically, who was it
that told the Seventh-day Adventist Church to get together and organize and decide who
should speak for the church and who shouldn’t? Who was it that did that? Why Jesus in
heaven sent the message down from heaven. Now that’s a very important fact in the history
of this denomination. It is one of these great way-marks we are studying. I read on:

“I saw that this door at which the enemy comes in to perplex

and trouble the flock can be shut” Early Writings, page 100.

What was this door? How did the enemy come in to perplex and trouble the flock? Why
unsent, unauthorized false teachers or not necessarily teaching false, but not good
representatives were coming in, traveling around. Alright.

“I inquired of the angel how it could be closed” Early

Writings, page 100.

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How would you say? Well this is what the angel said:

“He said, ‘The church must flee to God’s Word and become
established upon gospel order, which has been overlooked and
neglected’” Early Writings, page 100.

Who must flee? The church. They must flee and become established upon what? Gospel
order. Now you notice the angel said they were to flee to what? God’s Word. You see how
in harmony with our last lesson the work of the Spirit of Prophecy is to exalt what? The
Bible, to point to the Bible, to lead people to study the Bible and follow what the Bible says.

By the way, does the Bible teach gospel order? Did Jesus organize His church? Did He
ordain twelve men and send them out? Yes. Did He instruct them to appoint others? When
certain needs arose, did that group of apostles call for the appointment and ordination of
deacons? Yes! Did everyone back there in the church baptize? Why? Did Jesus make
provision for some people being added to the church and some people being dropped from
the church? Is that in Matthew 18? Did Paul tell Titus that he was to ordain elders in every
city?

So you look at the New Testament and you see gospel order. You see an organized church
with power to add to its membership and drop from its membership, (That’s in the Bible,
isn’t it?) with power to elect officers and arrange for the ordination of those officers, with
authority to celebrate the sacraments, to administer baptism and the Lord’s supper. There are
some of the great basic elements of gospel order.

(By the way, every one of you in this class should be able to put his finger quickly upon the
New Testament references for those facts we have just gone over. We should make a note of
that brother and see if we can’t drill on that in the recitation period next week. The New
Testament references on those great basic facts of gospel order. Very well.)

Now you notice in this vision, the angel told the Lord’s messenger how this door through
which problems were coming in among God’s people could be what? I saw how this door
could be shut. Do you think it ought to be shut, friends? What do you think? Do you think it
ought to be shut? This is a shut door friends, as a blessing.

“I inquired of the angel how it could be closed. He said, ‘The

church must flee to God’s word and become established upon
gospel order, which has been overlooked and neglected. This is
indispensably necessary in order to bring the church into the
unity of the faith” Early Writings, page 100.

There you have it. Then she goes ahead and reviews the order of the apostolic church. The
brethren chose men who had given good evidence they could rule their own house and
preserve order in their own families. Then on the top of page 101, they inquired of God
about these, and according to the mind of the church and the Holy Ghost, they were set apart
by the laying on of hands.

Now watch. Oh, this is so important, friends. And remember this is the instruction that came

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to God’s remnant church back here in 1853 that resulted in laying the foundations of the great
organization which now covers this work.

“Having received their commission from God” Early Writings,

page 101.

(She is talking about the apostolic church.)

“And having the approbation of the church they went forth

baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and
administering the ordinances of the Lord’s house” Early
Writings, page 101.

Now I want to ask you, in the light of that could a person who really believes in the
inspiration of the Spirit of Prophecy doubt the fact that God laid the organizations of this
movement? Could he? No. And in the light of this, could one who really believes in the
inspiration of the Spirit of Prophecy allow just anybody to go out and teach and baptize and
administer the ordinances? Why that would be directly opposite to this chapter, wouldn’t it?
Because that lack of order was the very thing that called forth this vision and this testimony.
Alright.

“I saw that we are no more secure from false teachers now than
they were in the apostle’s day” Early Writings, page 101.

So back in 1853, they needed the same security that they had in the apostles’ day.

“We have their example and should follow it. Brethren of

experience and of sound minds should assemble, and following
the Word of God and the sanction of the Holy Spirit, should,
with fervent prayer, lay hands upon those who have given full
proof that they have received their commission of God, and set
them apart to devote themselves entirely to His work. This act
would show the sanction of the church to their going forth as
messengers to carry the most solemn message ever given to
men” Early Writings, page 101.

Did you ever hear of men being called messengers? Is that a good Bible expression? Yes.
But notice here that God calls upon His church to unite with the Lord in recognizing who are
to go forth as what? Messengers. And if men won’t wait for that, then there is great danger
that the same situation that called forth this testimony might develop. Is that clear? Alright.

This wasn’t all the instruction that came on this, but this is one of the earliest. And isn’t this
a wonderful chapter? I want you to give very careful study and recite on it next week on
these pages, Early Writings 97 to 101. And remember that was given in 1853.

Now there were other reasons for bringing in organization. These reasons are well summed
up in Testimonies to Ministers, page 26, one paragraph here:

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 “As our numbers increased, it was evident that without some
form of organization there would be great confusion”
Testimonies to Ministers, page 26.

What happens without organization? Confusion. What’s another name for confusion?
Babylon. Isn’t it interesting, back there, some of the believers were afraid of organizing for
fear they would become what? Babylon. But the truth of the matter is without some form of
organization there would be Babylon. Is that right? An interesting statement on that before I
finish that paragraph, you will find in Volume 1, page 270. If you have your Volume 1,
please turn to that. Will you read with me the first two sentences in the chapter on
organization, the bottom of page 270, Volume, 1. All together:

“August 3, 1861, I was shown that some have feared that our
churches would become Babylon if they should organize; but
those in central New York have been perfect Babylon,
confusion. And now unless the churches are so organized that
they can carry out and enforce order, they have nothing to hope
for in the future; they must scatter into fragments” Testimonies
for the Church, Volume 1, page 270.

What a picture! Now you notice this is in 1861, eight years after this testimony that we read
in Early Writings. Has the battle for organization been won yet then in 1861? No. So you
see it took, as I say, just about a decade of the most earnest work to help our people to see the
great importance of thorough organization. Alright, now back to Testimonies to Ministers,
page 26, the various purposes of organization:

“As our numbers increased, it was evident that without some

form of organization there would be great confusion and the
work would not be carried forward successfully” Testimonies
to Ministers, page 26.

Now notice that Sister White lists the different reasons for organization:

“To provide for the support of the ministry, for carrying the
work in new fields, for protecting both the churches and the
ministry from unworthy members, for holding church property,
for the publication of the truth through the press, and for many
other objects, organization was indispensable” Testimonies to
Ministers, page 26.

So this list doesn’t cover the whole thing, because she says, “many other objects.” But notice
as she lists these. Here is one, two, three, four, five great objects of organization.

The first was to provide for the what? Support of the ministry. That’s right. Now watch this.
Who is it that provides for the support of the ministry? The church. Is that the plan we have
today? Who gave us the plan? God did. Alright. But now notice, if the plan is for every
minister to simply go around and give his message and let those that feel impressed pass him
tithes and offerings, do we need any organization? Oh no, that’s not organization is it? And

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one purpose of church organization was to prevent that very thing, to provide for the support
of the ministry in a properly organized way.

What was the second purpose? For carrying the work in new fields. What do we call that?
Missions, that’s right, missions - home missions and foreign missions. Is it a fact that under
this wonderful organization that God has given the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the church
has been able to go out and enter one new field after the other all over the world. Isn’t it
wonderful that when we give our offerings here on Sabbath in the Sabbath school, and when
we go out and raise ingathering money, turn that in through the regular channels and that
even when we pay our tithe, because part of the tithe goes to open up work in new fields - in
all those ways through our mission offerings and our tithe we are helping to support the work
in Africa, India, South America, and all parts of the world. Isn’t that wonderful, friends?
What is it that makes that possible. Church organization. Without church organization could
you do it? Why no, you couldn’t do it.

Now what was the third purpose? For protecting both the churches and the ministry from
unworthy members. How does church organization protect the church against unworthy
members? Why suppose here comes a man from Texas or Michigan or California and he
says, “I am a Seventh-day Adventist,” and he wants to associate with the believers here.
What is the thing that he does and that we do to protect the church from unworthy members?
Why we say, “Brother, if that is so, shall we ask our clerk to send to your clerk back there,”
and ask for what? A letter? A letter of recommendation, a letter of commendation. And do
we put that brother into office and start him teaching the Sabbath school class before we get
that? Not if we understand church organization. No. Because we may find somebody that
ran before he was sent, mightn’t we? That’s right. Do you see how church organization helps
protect the church from unworthy members? Why yes and oh, how glad we ought to be.

Now, before we go any further with this study I want to ask you something, friends. Do you
think that church organization is perfect? Do you think it always functions perfectly? I
wonder why. Well, because people aren’t perfect. Is that right?

I want to ask you another question. Do you think family government always functions
perfectly? Do you think it would be a good plan to just do away with family government
because there are so many faulty families? Do you think so? Would that be the way to deal
with it? Why no. Did it ever happen that some child got abused in a family? Did it ever
happen that in some homes the children were allowed to run the streets and didn’t have
enough supervision? But because of those faults and extremes of indulgence on the one hand
or abuse and force on the other, we do not set aside family government, do we? No.

So even though church government through the ages and even among the remnant hasn’t
always been perfect, still we recognize that God is the one who established it. And that is
what we are studying this evening, how He established it and why He established it.

Alright now let’s review. What was the first reason here for the establishment of it? To
provide for the support of the ministry. Second? For the work in new fields. Now third?
For protecting the churches and the ministry from unworthy members. We have seen how
the church may protect itself from unworthy members. Now how does organization protect
the ministry from unworthy members? You remember what we read here in Early Writings?

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Sister White says that:

“Brethren of experience and of sound mind should assemble

and following the word of God and the sanction of the Holy
Spirit, should, with fervent prayer, lay hands upon those who
have given full proof that they have received their commission
of God, and set them apart to devote themselves entirely to His
work. This act would show the sanction of the church to their
going forth as messengers” Early Writings, page 101.

What do we call that? Ordination. Who decides who is ordained? The church decides that.
It isn’t that a man says, “Well I think the Lord has called me, so it is time for me to be
ordained.” No. The church decides that in its organized capacity, and that’s to protect the
ministry from what? Unworthy persons.

But now watch. Can a church that grants authority to preach and teach and baptize, can it
withdraw that? Well if it can’t, could it protect the ministry from unworthy persons? Why
no, not at all. So our conferences provide for the review of those credentials from time to
time. And notice that’s not only a privilege the church has, it’s a what? A duty, and as
church members we are to recognize that.

I was interested in this chapter on organization in the Great Second Advent Movement. At the
beginning (I say at the beginning, I don’t mean at 1844, but during this developing period
before the church was formerly organized), there was such a crying need for some form of
giving some measure of respect and authority to those that were recognized, that Joseph
Bates and James White, simply signing the cards as leading ministers, gave what we would
now call credentials to those who were recognized, shall I say by them, as being worthy of
the confidence of the church. But later, of course, when the conference was organized then it
was carried on in a more organized way, and the credentials were renewed every year.

Now going back to our statement in Testimonies to Ministers. (I hope, brother, we can drill
on these different points in the recitation period.) May I review them once again. What was
the first reason for the organization back there? The support of the ministry. Second?
Carrying the work in new fields. Third? For protecting both the churches and the ministry
from unworthy members.

Alright, next? For holding church property. Think of the millions upon millions of dollars
invested in church property today. But back there when that was one of the great reasons for
organizing, so they could hold church property you will find as you read the interesting
chapter on “Organization” in Spalding’s book, Captains of the Host, (those of you who have
access to that) that some of the brothers, they said, “Well, God can take care of His property
all right.”

When it was pointed out that James White legally owned the publishing house there in Battle
Creek and, according to the laws of inheritance, if he should die suddenly, his little children
would be the legal heirs, and nothing could be done about it until they got to be of legal age,
even that didn’t phase some of the men who were opposed to organization. They said the
Lord could look after that.

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But now I want you to notice the comment of the Spirit of Prophecy on that attitude. Turn to
Volume 1. Those who were farsighted, they not only saw the need for owning church
property, but insuring church property. But again, there were those who said, “Well, the Lord
will take care of things.” Here was a vision of December 23, 1860, and I want you to study
Volume 1, pages 210 to 213. We will just notice a few points here:

“Matters pertaining to the church should not be left in an

unsettled condition. Steps should be taken to secure church
property for the cause of God” Testimonies for the Church,
Volume 1, page 211.

Who was it that told us to organize so that church property could be held? Why Jesus told us.
Alright. Notice also another reason for this was so that people could in their wills leave
property to the church. She goes on:

“Steps should be taken to secure church property for the cause

of God, that the work may not be retarded in its progress, and
that the means which persons wish to dedicate to God’s cause
may not slip into the enemy’s ranks. I saw that God’s people
should act wisely, and leave nothing undone on their part to
place the business of the church in a secure state. Then after all
is done that they can do, they should trust the Lord to overrule
these things for them” Testimonies for the Church, Volume 1,
page 211.

When are we are to trust the Lord? When we do all that we can do. I want to give you a text
on that. Psalms 127:1. Turn to that, please, in your Bibles. This verse may be applied to a
literal house, or it may be applied to the house of God which is the church:

“Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build
it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in
vain” Psalms 127:1.

We don’t need a watchman then, anywhere, the Lord will take care of things. Is that what
this teaches? Why if it does, then the first part means we don’t need any builders, brother,
because the Lord will take care of the building too, won’t He?

“Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build
it” Psalms 127:1.

No, we know that we’ve got to build buildings, and yet God must work with us or it is all in
vain. Can it all be swept away? Yes.

So in building the church or in building a literal building, we must do all we can, and then
what? Trust to God. See how God was trying to teach His people these lessons back there in
1853, 1854, and on through the 1850s and the early 1860s, teaching them the importance of
good solid building. Alright, to secure church property, holding church property.

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Now what was the last thing mentioned in this paragraph? For the publication of the truth
through the press, organization was indispensable. And so in 1860 and 1861, our publishing
work was organized as the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association there in Battle
Creek. And the ownership passed from James White over into the hands of a legally
incorporated organization. Also, the Michigan conference was organized in 1861 and just
two years later, in May of 1863, the General Conference was organized, and our work was
well on its way. Thus during these ten years these different things were taken care of.

By 1863 the church had reached the point where it was able to say to the world, “We know
who’s a Seventh-day Adventist and who isn’t. We have a system where this man is a
member. He comes in a certain way, and under certain conditions he is dropped and is no
longer a member. The same with the ministry. We grant credentials to those that speak for
the church. We drop those credentials if they don’t speak for the church. We have those
authorized to baptize and to give the ordinances, and others cannot properly say that they
represent the Seventh-day Adventist Church in that. We have a system to support our
ministry. We have a legally incorporated publishing house.” All this was ours by the time
we get to the middle of 1863. And you know really brethren, everything that has developed
since then has been built upon that foundation.

Now as the work grew larger and larger the General Conference could not look after all the
details of the dozens and scores of local conferences. So the next step naturally was to
organize those local conferences into union conferences. This was beginning to be worked
out in the late 1890s and was finally developed in the General Conference of 1901.

As far as organization is concerned, the two great conferences are the beginning conference
of 1863 and the reorganization conference of 1901. If you have access to Spaulding’s book,
Christ’s Last Legion, you will be interested in reading the chapter in there on the great
conference of 1901. We may have time and opportunity later in this series to study that
conference. It’s a very important conference. But that’s running ahead of our subject
tonight, but I just mentioned it to bind off this thought that God gave us a system of
organization back there in the 1850s and 1860s, a hundred years ago, that has stood the test of
time. And with the addition of union conferences in 1901, it is the plan we follow today.

Now, I want to read you a very interesting summing up of our simple system of organization
that Sister White, herself, gives us here in Volume 8:

“God has not set any kingly power in the Seventh-day

Adventist Church to control the whole body or to control any
branch of the work. He has not provided that the burden of
leadership shall rest upon a few men. Responsibilities are
distributed among a large number of competent men.

“Every member of the church has a voice in choosing officers

of the church” Testimonies for the Church, Volume 8, page
236.

Is that true in every local church? That’s right. Alright. Now notice as we follow on through

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the short, simple steps in organization:

“Every member of the church has a voice in choosing officers

of the church. The church chooses the officers of the state
conferences. Delegates chosen by the state conferences choose
the officers of the union conferences, and delegates chosen by
the union conferences choose the officers of the General
Conference. By this arrangement every conference, every
institution, every church, and every individual, either directly
or through representatives, has a voice in the election of the
men who bear the chief responsibilities in the General
Conference” Testimonies for the Church, Volume 8, page 236.

Isn’t that a wonderful plan of organization? Now, you remember here, that a few weeks ago
this church appointed its nominating committee and after a period of deliberation that
committee brought in a report and this church adopted it. This, Wildwood, church is staffed
for this new year with officers that were elected by the church. Right?

In a little while from now, in this year, there will be a business session of the Georgia
Cumberland Conference. The Wildwood church is one of the churches that make up the
Georgia Cumberland Conference. What is a conference? It’s a group of churches organized
together as a conference. And when that conference is called, word will go out to all the
churches, and this church will elect its delegates. Perhaps fifteen delegates will go from this
church over to Collegedale and there will be delegates there from Knoxville, and from
Atlanta, from Valdosta, and from Greeneville, and from the various other churches of this
conference. Those delegates will all get together and they will appoint committees to
nominate officers. That report will be brought in and the whole delegation will vote on that
and elect a committee to carry on the work in the Georgia Cumberland Conference until the
next session.

Now, you see when we, when you and I as individual members, vote to elect our delegates,
and then those delegates go over there and vote to elect that committee, we’ve all had a part
in it either directly or through our representatives. Is that clear?

Now watch the next step. Every four years there is a union conference session. The
committee that the delegates of this conference have elected, that committee selects certain
delegates from this conference to go to the union conference session and help elect the
officers of the Southern Union Conference and the Southern Union Conference committee.

Also, once every four years there is a General Conference session and the union conferences
elect delegates that go to the General Conference place of meeting and elect the General
Conference officers and a large General Conference committee to carry the work between
sessions. That is the simple plan of organization. And as I say, it was all there, except for a
few developments as the work is enlarged, in that first organization that God gave us back
there in 1863. I repeat. It is wonderful. So you can see why Sister White says in this chapter
on organization and development in Testimonies to Ministers:

“In reviewing our past history, having traveled over every step

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 of advance to our present standing, I can say praise God! ...
We have nothing to fear for the future except as we shall forget
the way the Lord has led us” Testimonies to Ministers, page 31.

Now, I want to ask you something. If you were the devil, what would you do about it?
Well, I will tell you what he does about it:

“Oh how Satan would rejoice if he could succeed in his efforts

to get in among this people and disorganize the work at a time
when thorough organization is essential, and will be the
greatest power to keep out spurious uprisings and to refute
claims not endorsed by the word of God!” Testimonies for the
Church, Volume 9, page 258.

Now what is it Satan would like to do and would rejoice if he could do it? He would like to
get in among this people. If you were the devil and were going to try to get in among this
well organized people, friends, would you come with hoofs and horns and a spiked tail?
Would you, friends? No. Jesus said that the false prophets would come in what kind of
clothing? Sheep’s clothing.

And back there, remember in this chapter on gospel order, it wasn’t just those that taught
heresy. There were those that thought they were teaching the message. But she said they
were self-sent. Some of them didn’t have the proper gifts. Some of them didn’t know how to
present the arguments. Some of them had the arguments, but they had other weakness.

God laid upon the church the responsibility for seeing to it that things were done decently and
in order, but Satan is trying to break down that organization. I wonder if he quit back there in
the 1850s. I wonder if, when the organization was effected in 1863, if Satan got his angels
together and said, “It’s too bad. We failed in that. We will just have to write that off.” Do
you think he did? Oh, no, for this is written, my dear friends, clear on down here in 1909.
That’s long after 1863. Clear down there Satan was still trying to get in among this people
and disorganize the work.

Now I want to tell you something, friends. He didn’t stop when the prophet died. No. He
didn’t stop last year. He is working on it again this year.

“Some have advanced the thought that as we near the close of

time every child of God will act independently of any religious
organization” Testimonies for the Church, Volume 9, page
258.

Have you ever heard the thought advanced that organization was alright back there, but as we
get near the end, we won’t have it. But this covers that. “But” for that’s the very next word:

“But I have been instructed by the Lord that in this work there
is no such thing as every man’s being independent”
Testimonies for the Church, Volume 9, page 258.

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Now, it’s true, friends, and the next page 259 points it out, that there is danger that
organization will be abused. That’s true and we need to guard against that. Organization was
never meant to be a yoke of bondage. The Roman Catholic church has carried organization
way to one extreme, and become a dictatorial tyranny. God has warned us against following
in the track of Romanism. But that isn’t what I am studying today. I am studying this
beautiful experience that God led His people into through the gift of prophecy and through
Bible study, developing a simple, practical organization that has stood the test of time these
hundred years. I say, Thank the Lord. Don’t you, friends?

Oh, I pray that as a result of this little study, God may have given us all an appreciation of
this organization, and we will want to support it and not feel that now is the time to tinker
with it or tamper with it or set it aside, or put our hands on the ark because we think
something might not be just the way it should be. Remember this friends, every time we are
called upon to choose between those who have been authorized by the church and those have
merely sent themselves, we are showing what our attitude on organization is. Shall we bow
our heads.

Dear Lord, we thank Thee for Thy church, organized and we pray that we shall ever uphold
the church that Thou hast established, and share in her final triumph. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

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