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Redefining Babylon
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May 27  Redefining Babylon

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Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. Gen. 11:9, RSV.

By the middle of 1859 James White was ready to launch the final drive for formal denominational organization. "We lack system," he cried out on July 21. "Many of our brethren are in a scattered state. They observe the Sabbath, read with some interest the REVIEW: but beyond this they are doing but little or nothing for want of some method of united action among them." To meet the situation, he called for regular meetings in each state to give guidance to the activities of Sabbatarians in that region.

"We are aware," he wrote, "that these suggestions will not meet the minds of all. Bro. Overcautious will be frightened, and will be ready to warn his brethren to be careful and not venture out too far; while Bro. Confusion will cry out, 'Oh, this looks just like Babylon! Following the fallen church!' Bro. Dolittle will say, 'The cause is the Lord's, and we had better leave it in his hands, he will take care of it.' 'Amen,' says Love-this-world, Slothful, Selfish, and Stingy, 'if God calls men Korah, Dathan, and Abiram are ready to rebel against those who feel the weight of the cause [e.g, James White] and who watch for souls as those who must give an account, and raise the cry, 'You take too much upon you.'"

White let it be known in the most descriptive language that he was sick and tired of hearing the cry of Babylon every time that anyone mentioned organization. "Bro. confusion,' he wrote, "makes a most egregious blunder in calling system, which is in harmony with the Bible and good sense, Babylon. As Babylon signifies confusion, our erring brother has the very word stamped upon his own forehead. And we venture to say that there is not another people under heaven more worthy of the brand of Babylon than those professing the Advent faith who reject Bible order."

By this time James's concerns for the health of the Sabbatarian movement had reached a high pitch. In his strident call for organization, we should note, he redefined Babylon from "oppression" to "confusion," a word aptly describing the situation in 1859.

Sometimes it is important to stand up and emphasize our biblical convictions. God still men and women of balance and pious conviction, just as he did James Whtie, to help His church get back on course. May God grant us courage to speak up at the proper time.

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True holiness is wholeness in the service of God. This is the condition of true Christian living(COL 48).
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