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Schism In The Camp
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May 20  Schism In The Camp

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You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, and among them Phygelus and Hermogenes. 2 Tim. 1:15, RSV.

James and Ellen White's minds were quite settled by the beginning of 1854 on the need for more order and structure among Sabbatarians. James not only considered it important, he also believed that the movement wouldn't see much progress without it. Thus he could write in March that God "is waiting for his people to get right, and in gospel order, and hold that standard of piety high, before he adds many more to our numbers."

The fact that Sabbatarian Adventism also faced its first organized schisms at that time undoubtedly reinforced James's convictions on the topic. By early 1854 two ministers, H. S. Case and C. P. Russell, had turned against the Whites. During the fall of that year they began their own publication, the Messenger of Truth, which they hoped would not only rival the Review and Herald but would also bring a significant number of Sabbatarians under their influence.

Concurrent with the rise of the Messenger Party was the defection of two of the four Sabbatarian preachers in Wisconsin. J. M. Stepheson and D. P. Hall began to promote a temporal millennium and age-to-vome view that proposed a second chance at conversion during the Millennium. Before long the two Wisconsin ministers joined forces with the Messengers in their opposition to the leadership of the Whites.

With so many unruly individuals in their midst, it is little wonder that the Sabbatarians during the second half of the 1850s increasingly penned articles reflecting a developing understanding of Bible principles related to church order and the ordination of approved leaders. God is Good!

He even helps His people learn from schism and problems in their midst. It was so in the early Christian church. As a result, we have Paul's great pastoral letters to Timothy and Titus that ouline biblical principles of organization. In addition, the epistles penned by Paul, James, Peter, Jude and John rebutted the false teachings of schismatics. Without God's guidance through the problems that such false teachers continue to raise, the church would be poorer in every age.

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Help us, Father, to realize more clearly how You use even problematic situations to grow Your church.
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