Persecution by Jurisprudence in West and East for Adventists
Koot
van Wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD) Visiting Professor, Kyungpook National University,
Sangju Campus, South Korea, Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College, Australia
In a long document accepted in 2002 the
General Conference understood Ellen White correctly that funds from any State
should not be accepted by church institutions at all. Great Controversy warns against the slightest attempts of the State
to approach the Church on page 297. Funds from the government, however noble
the offering is, do have strings attached. If those strings are invisible there
comes a time when others will take up the helm and they will go back to he
archives to focus and even enlarge their contributions to the Church so that
they can use it as a leverage to force the Church into uncomfortable
anti-biblical jurisdiction positions. That is what happened to the Esther 6
when Xerxes could not sleep and during the night he studied the archives about
Mordechai and how he saved the king’s life (Esther 6:1-2). Of course this
reinvestigation of archives helped Mordechai but the reverse is also possible. And
the reverse did happen. It is reported in full by Adventist Today 3rd of July
2016 by advocate Michael D. Peabody that the Judiciary Committee of the
California Assembly passes a law called SB 1146 by a margin of 7 to 2 in favor
of the class of people one may term: LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transsexual,
queer). Any participant in any part or all parts of this anocrym is in essence
against the Word of God. There is not permission by the Word of God in any text
to this kind of lifestyle. The law stated that those colleges and
universities and schools that accepted from the government funds in California,
may not discriminate against any LGBTQ student and even give same sex housing
for those in such a choice. Paul advocated in 2 Timothy 1:8-11 that
the law of God is made for the lawless, rebellious including the homosexual.
Prof. dr. Richard Choi from the New Testament Department at Andrews University
categorically declared in a Youtube
lecture, that homosexuality is not a biblical way of life. He would not waste
his time to talk about it. So on the one side there are journals
like Adventist Today who is pushing
for the acceptance of the position of LGBTQ as did also the blogs of Arthur
Patrick from Avondale College reveals with names and scholars leaning towards
this permissive de-theologically confused positions and on the other, people at
Loma Linda that went with the Catholics and other denominational institutions
to object against this decision of California Assembly. To no avail. So in essence the LGBTQ anti-biblical
agenda and movement opens up persecution of the faithful at Colleges and
Universities in California. Persecution in the USA. Almost unthinkable, many
would say, but it is predicted. The subject of Persecution of Religion
is not over yet. Any attack by ISIS anywhere in the world is done on the basis
of religious intolerance and a high view of Quran Eschatology. The online Dictionary of Islam written in English
in the late 1890’s at the article: Resurrection reveals exactly the agenda that
ISIS is trying to follow. About 100 years ago the fall of the Ottoman-Turkish
empire happened which was a period between 1517 until 1917 of Islammic rule all
over the Levant. It is possible that ISIS is not “past-orientated” or “Romanticizing
the past” as some would think, but “Future-orientated” in order to prepare the
way for the 12th Imam, an eschatology that all informed Muslims
knows about. ISIS is an organization that wants to make prophecy of the Quran
work. If the situation does not peacefully unfold in an evolutionary way, they
will “push the hand” to make it happen. Many similar thinkers were in
Christianity in the Roman Periods and in the Middle Ages. The Christian sects
would read eschatological passages of the prophets, calculate times and then
come to the conclusion that the Antichrist had come and that the Second Coming
is near. So they would organize resistance movements or militia to fight their
perceived “Antichrist”. As a result the emperors made Books like Daniel and
Revelation illegal and should be confiscated and burnt. Daniel 7 for example pinpointed
the Roman Empire as the fourth beast and it as to come to its end. Churchfathers Eusebius, Jerome and
Augustine designed also the theology of anti-eschatology thinking. Anyone who
tried to write books on this topic would be persecuted by the church. It was
taboo. In the 11th –the 13th centuries the Books by
Alexander Minorita on Revelation and those Franciscan eschatological
historicists, were either burnt or confiscated to be taken to a secret “upper-room”
by the Vatican. Emperor Justinian became converted and
accepted the primacy of the papacy and also wrote in his letter to pope
Johannes in 535 that the papacy is the primary chief of the state church with a
seat in Rome and that it was the Catholic church. He supported what popes Leo,
Gelasius, and Hormisdas (518) already said before him. When Justinian thus took
off his soldier clothes and traded it in for the cross in the hand and
theological garment in 538 as his coins are showing, the Fall of the Roman
Empire became a total reality. Justinian was known for his caesero-papism and this frustrated the popes. He was according to
R. Landes (1983) against homosexuality. He persecuted the heretics including the
Samaritans and Jews and pagans on behalf of the papacy and the State Church.
Special favors were given to the State Church by the State. We are days away from Putin to sign off
a law that will persecute Adventists and other Protestants as well as Islam and
other religions from proselytizing and evangelizing. They are not allowed to
have meetings in their houses or in public. One would say it would be a safer
way to force them to be only public in the street so that any “ear” can hear
and evaluate whether it is dangerous or not. But, seemingly the sloppy worded
document designed the end of June 2016, according to Russian experts, does not
care whether international law or freedoms of conscience is respected or not.
What is at hard in this upcoming persecution, is a clamp down of Islam, Adventist Today journalist is saying. In the west (California) the church is
persecuted by democracy the freedom way as a result of the impact of the LGBTQ
anti-biblical stance and self-inflicted persecution due to the acceptance of
funds from the government against the explicit counsel of Ellen White in the
Spirit of Prophecy not to do so. In the east (Russia) potentially seemingly the
church will be persecuted by a Putin-to-sign document that takes away the
freedom of religious meetings in the houses. Justinian made it illegal for religious
groups to meet in houses. “No heretic shall, under any circumstances, have a
house of worship, or a place of prayer” (Justinian Novella XXXVII date is not clear but ca. 535-537). The State was preparing the persecution
time by the Antichrist (papacy as Papal-caesar)
around 538 by creating laws forbidden worship in houses. They also had their
excuses and rationalizations to coerce rebellious groups from taking “eschatology”
in their hands and create a potential revolution or disaster. But the fact
remains, what Eusebius, Jerome and Augustine did to eschatological thinking
also affected all true “Advent thinking” through the ages and led to their
persecution. That is why Daniel 7 and Revelation 12 talks about this period of
papal persecution as 1260 years starting in 538. If Justinian is a Caesaro-papist then pope Gregory could
be called the first Papal-caesar. Starting
to reign in 590 he thought the end of time is near and that the Antichrist will
be in the Catholic Church (Vincent P. Micelli, Antichrist 1981). Pope Gregory did not know how correct he was! Isaiah 24:18 describes the Time of Trouble mentioned in Daniel
12:1-2 also as “terror and pit and snare confront you, o inhabitant of the
earth.” All this is not humanly designed because the “windows above are opened,
and the foundations of the earth shake”. The weed in the remnant will suffer
during the Time of Trouble but God promised that the destroyers and devastators
“will depart from you” (Isaiah 49:17b-c). We do not want to create a
misunderstanding. Maybe the true people will also suffer but with the
appearance of Christ the evil will depart. It could be also the other way,
since many texts do indicate that the true remnant has nothing to fear during
the Time of Trouble.
Dear
God As
persecutions are “kicking off” in West and East, we pray for Your guidance of
our souls, fully dedicated to Your Word and Your Worship. Let the coming Latter
Rain Spirit filling event also be ours. Amen.
Source: Justinian Novella XXXVII. Adventist
Today 3rd of July 2016