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Jesuits and Conservative Adventist Disempowerment
A Review of Bill Hughes' separationist book The Enemy Unmasked, and consideration of the mindset held by some in which the Jesuits combine amazing global control with amazingly inept execution of that control, thus permitting such books to be published revealing their conspiratorial plots to the world!Document Outline
Introduction
The Incident
Where I Stand: I
The Book
Ellen G. White and Bill Hughes Emphasis on Jesuits Compared
Ellen G. White on Jesuits and Secret Societies
Bill Hughes Unmasked
According to Hughes the Decline is Inevitable
According to Hughes the Catholic Church Controls the World
According to Hughes the Catholic Church is Guilty for All Wars
Sources
The Seventh-day Adventist Church Infiltrated and Taken Over? A Thousand Times No!
Hughes Hugely Misinterprets the Pope
Why Infiltration?
Questions to Ask Ourselves
Conservative Adventist Disempowerment
Where I Stand: II
Empowering and Disempowering Explanations
When Someone Offers You Such a Book
Appeal
Introduction
Welcome. I am going to ask you for special permission today. I am asking for you to let me step on your toes. I am asking you to trust me today, to hear me out as I present to you what I honestly believe is God's word to this group in this hour. If you want to get up and walk out part way through, I am asking you to just go ahead and do that right now, and save yourself the time and energy of listening.
If however, you are willing to hear something that might lead to rethinking your approach in some fundamental ways, then please stay. Jesus wants to talk to you. May He use my mind and my lips.
OK. You're still here. Our topic today, is “Jesuits and Conservative Adventist Disempowerment.” By “disempowerment,” I mean a removal of power, a removal of strength and initiative and progress. There is a mindset held by some that is self-defeating, that can destroy our credible presentation of the third angel's message.
There is a strain of thought which sometimes manifests itself in some within the Adventist matrix. Recent years have seen enormous societal change external to us, and, in some places particularly in the West, interior to us, with attempted changes through the introduction of illegitimate theological innovations and worship practices. What we had, in years past, viewed as the flagship publications of our church have, in recent years, been filled with material of a faulty order, too often seeming to undercut the distinctive truths delivered to this church by our Lord Jesus Christ. Too many serious Adventists have taken the magazines produced by a few liberal editors as if they truly represented the direction taken by the whole church.
They have become disheartened. They have given up and think that perhaps the church has, after all, been taken over by forces that are leading it inevitably astray. Some of these have launched out into the toxic waters of the separationists. They come through churches with their books and tracts teaching error. They are not content to stand outside the church alone; they would rather gather a crowd to weep with them. It is time to pause and inoculate against a destructive distraction that is gaining strength.
Jesus warned us in Matthew 24:26: “If they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not.” The warning was about the rising of false Christs, people saying He is here or He is there, when He isn't. It also suggests to us that there would be counterfeit messages and emphases, “Jesus' present-truth is here, Jesus' present-truth is there,” when it is not. Friends, the message Heaven has entrusted us with is too precious to abandon for a replacement message of despair and disempowerment about a church defeated. God's army is on the march; it is no time to cut and run.
The Incident
The other night after prayer meeting a guest insisted on handing me, and some other church members, a little book. I resisted receiving it because I had so many other things I was studying. But this woman had a determined approach and eventually I accepted the book. I rather expected it to contain more or less what it did contain, so, in the conversation I shared with this precious, and I believe sincere soul, what we have been doing here at this church.
I told her that since our arrival here three years ago, that in our very first prayer meeting we opened to Revelation 1:1 and began a study of that book which has continued for these three years (we are now in Revelation chapter 19). I told her we did not use any study guide, just the Bible itself and from time to time we had referred to Ellen White's The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan. She was thrilled. I suggested that if we want to understand prophecy well, that we need to be prepared to present and defend our viewpoints on the basis of Scripture. I said as Adventists, we can especially study the prophecies by reading Early Writings, Great Controversy, and the fifth volume of the Testimonies. She admitted that she hadn't read Great Controversy through, and knew she should.
As for the book she gave me, she said she couldn't get enough of it, and that it was very important because it puts things all together. Regrettably, as I discovered, it puts them all together in a framework of conspiracy theory and error that claims the Seventh-day Adventist Church has been taken over by the Jesuits!
Where I Stand: I
Before going any further, let me tell you were I do stand. The existence of the Jesuit Order, or the Society of Jesus, is a historical fact. They are bent upon the destruction of Protestantism and the reestablishment of Papal supremacy, a task they have advanced rapidly towards achieving. They are still a living threat, a clear and present danger to our existence as a people. I concur with everything that Ellen G. White has said with regard to the Jesuits. If you should have any concern about my anti-catholic credentials, download my sober attack on Roman Catholicism online titled, The Millennium in Review (A.D. 1000 to A.D. 2000).
But, as you will see, I also am very concerned that a loose approach in presenting the alleged activities of the Jesuits, pursued by some, discredits our witness and makes the truth God has commissioned us to present to others appear comical.
But “Why,” some will ask, “are you now going to undermine the work of Bill Hughes? Sure, there will be differences. Can't we just live and let live?” Friends, truth is truth and error is error, and there is a right way to deal with topics and there is a wrong way. The evil that this kind of material does far outweighs any good. We must test these claims.
What is the basic essence of conspiracy theory? To propose some all-pervasive, inaccessible, virtually all-powerful secret group behind the scenes, that we cannot effect or change. This viewpoint saps the strength from people by making them paranoid bystanders to their own lives. If there has already been a fait accompli, and there is nothing we can do about it, then why do anything at all? It would then be time to all become Calvinists and sit back on our predestined posteriors waiting for our ticket to heaven or hell to arrive. Just now, when we need to be active and about our Father's business, standing for truth and against error, actively fighting the battle with self so that we may be changed and prepared for Jesus' return, is not the time to be reduced to whimpering victims of disempowerment.
The Book
Let me tell you about the book. I am in earnest. Some of you might be tempted to laugh. Please remember that all of us have sometimes been mistaken and with the best of intentions have made mistakes. There are people here present who have encouraged me to read this same book.
The book is called The Enemy Unmasked and it is by a man named Bill Hughes. It comes out of Florida. It is a quick read, at 12 chapters and 155 small pages.
The first chapter explains that had the Jesuits not been distracted by fighting for their survival within their own church by murdering kings and popes, they would have crushed America. That is, this chapter puts forth an explanation for how such an immensely powerful, world-controlling entity could be foiled in its attempt to destroy a budding America.
The second chapter teaches that the Illuminati were a front created by the Jesuits, funded by the Rothschilds, most often directed by Jews. Russia was overthrown to be used as a front for the Illuminati. Communism was originally designed by the Jesuits. The Jesuits planned WWI, WWII, and they are trying, by causing friction between Arabs and Jews, to start WWIII.
Where does George W. Bush fit in? “George Bush is working closely with the Jesuits to carry out their policies to the letter” (p. 27). “The Jesuit Order controls the president of the United States,” (p. 28). Also, “The Jesuits never do anything out in the open where they can be exposed,” (p. 29).
Chapter three asserts that the Jesuits controlled England by 1815, controlled the United States Congress not long afterward through bribery, presently controls British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and caused the United States' Civil War. Jesuitism is responsible for the purges in Russia under Stalin, Mao Tse Tung's reign of terror in China, and Pol Pot's murders in Cambodia.
Chapter four insists that President Lincoln's assassination was the result of a Jesuit plot.
Chapter five insists that the “black pope” rules the world. “How could Woodrow Wilson and FDR support Communist Russia? They were all Jesuits working to destroy the United States,” (p. 78).
Chapter six says that the Jesuits planned WWI for 50 years (But WWI did not even begin until 1914, just 24 years before WWII began!). Also, “The following are just a few of the corporations that are controlled by the CFR [Council on Foreign Relations] and the Jesuits: Ford Motor Company, Boeing Corp., Pepsi-Cola, Heinz Co., Lockheed-Martin, Time-Warner, and Chevron,” (p. 87). No evidence is given. Also, “The Jesuits control both major political parties in this country,” (p. 91).
Chapter seven purports that “Vatican agents hatched and plotted the Vietnam War,” (p. 93). Also, the only recent U.S. president who was not a Jesuit, was Catholic John F. Kennedy, who “was shot by Jesuit agents because he dared to do the right thing in Vietnam,” (p. 104). Also, “Vietnam was a Jesuit war designed to create a Catholic superpower in Southeast Asia,” (p. 106).
Chapter eight tells us that “Islam and the rise of Muhammad was an invention of the Catholic Church,” (p. 109).
Chapter nine answers the question of how United States presidents George Bush Sr. and George W. Bush could “be part of the Jesuit Order and they're not even Catholics?” Hughes' answer? “All the more reason why the Jesuit Order would use them, because no American would suspect somebody who is not Roman Catholic to be carrying out exactly what the Jesuits are telling them to do, would they?” (p. 125). Now why didn't I think of that answer.
Chapter ten tells us that “As far back as 1871, the Jesuit Order had planned the wars of the 20th century and the current war on terror,” (p. 132). Also, “The visible leaders that are paraded before the world are mere puppets whose strings are being pulled by their masters!!!” (p. 132). Also, the attack on the Lusitania (that marked American entry into WWI), the attack on Pearl Harbor (that marked American entry into WWII), and the attack on the World Trade Center on 9-11 that marked American entry into the war against radical Islam) were all insider-planned set-ups. As Hughes puts it, “To think anything else but this is ludicrous!!” (p. 138).
Chapter twelve is a seven page long string of Ellen G. White quotes. It is the only chapter in the entire book where the word “Jesuit” does not appear.
In fact, with the exception of two Ellen White statements (on pp. 11 and 53), the first 138 pages of the book refer to no inspired writings. The first Bible reference is found on page 139. Hughes' book is an Oreo cookie with no middle! There is nothing spiritually helpful between its two covers. It is a stack of stale conspiracy theory nothingness presented as food; an evangelistic Olestra.
So the true goal of the author's book is to present the material given in chapter eleven, which we will address in a moment. But first, it may be interesting to compare Bill Hughes' book with Ellen G. White's book, the 1911 edition of the Great Controversy.
Ellen G. White and Bill Hughes Emphasis on Jesuits Compared
The word “Jesuit” or variants appears 290 times in the 155 pages of Hughes' main text (1.87 times per page). In contrast, in Ellen G. White's over 100,000 pages, the total is 16 occurrences of “Jesuit” (0.00016 times per page). That is, to come up with the same ratio of occurrences in Ellen White's writings, you would have to come up with over 187,000 hits in a search of the Ellen G. White CD-ROM.
But it becomes more interesting. Actually, out of the 16 Ellen G. White references, 11 are either in the appendix (not prepared by Ellen White) to Great Controversy or repeats from the 1888 edition Great Controversy. So there are actually seven total unique Ellen G. White references to Jesuits in her 100,000 plus pages of total writing. My calculator says the real ratio is 0.00005 occurrences per page.
Hughes in his book presents approximately 174 quotations as his evidences. Only ten of these are from the writings of Ellen G. White. Of these ten, only one specifically mentions Jesuits—one Ellen G. White quote in the whole book. One expects that, if he could produce the Ellen White quotes to back his speculations, he would have.
Ellen G. White on Jesuits and Secret Societies
Ellen White's “Jesuit” references tend to be very general. You can print them all out to fit on one page. Here is the whole list. This is every single distinct quote:
Great Controversy, 1911 ed., pp. 234 (x2 references), 235 (x2 references), 279, 363, and The Southern Watchman, January 24, 1905, “Christ's Closing Ministry in the Heavenly Sanctuary.”
Most of the material is incidental. The most pointed material is from Great Controversy, pp. 234, 235. Here, she outlines the characteristic workings of the Jesuits. She points out their fanaticism, their use of deception, their devotion to the overthrow of Protestantism and to the reestablishment of Papal supremacy. She even mentions their use of assassination, their connection with governments and states, and their commitment to the principle that the end justifies the means. What is remarkable is that she doesn't on any occasion go into detail about specific incidents.
When it comes to secret societies like the Freemasons, Illuminati, and so forth, here is what she said:
I have been permitted to look in upon these secret societies, their feasts, their order, their works, and my prayer has been, ‘Hide them from my sight forever. Let me not understand more.’ One thing I do know, that those who remain in connection with them will be burned up with the bundles of tares, one with them in the last day. (Ellen G. White, Manuscript Releases, vol. 20, p. 286).
Whereas Mrs. White saw their meetings and through inspiration gave us more general pictures, Bill Hughes, an uninspired man, gives us rafts and rafts of detailed assertions and speculations, only unsupported by credible evidence.
Stop for a moment and think how sensational it would have been if, when Mrs. White wrote Great Controversy in the 1880s she had foretold to the world the three world wars Hughes claims had already been planned in 1871. After WWI the book would have received fresh scrutiny. After WWII interest in it would have been enormous. And now, with the Jesuits trying to start WWIII, our presses would be turning out copies night and day! But God did not work this way. Not until 2004, well after the fact, would the world learn. Not by the Bible, not by revelation, but by reference to numerous books by conspiracy theorists in Hughes' The Enemy Unmasked. Which has more present-truth? According to some, Bill Hughes more than Ellen White. I do not believe it.
Bill Hughes Unmasked
According to Hughes, the Decline is Inevitable
It is chapter 11 where we come to a better understanding of Bill Hughes and his separationist theology. That's right, he's a living, breathing separationist. The first paragraph of this chapter tells us where Mr. Hughes is going. He says he is going to talk to us about the papacy and “its associates.” Hughes goes on to outline via Revelation chapter 17 the Roman Catholic Church as the harlot or the whore that is sitting upon the waters. And he is right. He is also correct to say that she has many daughters.
But here something strange happens. Hughes turns to Isaiah 1:1 and 21 to show that the faithful city—Jerusalem—becomes an unfaithful harlot. Hughes does not proceed through verses 22 and following, where God says He will purge Jerusalem and redeem Zion with judgment, but the unfaithful shall be consumed. Chapter two of Isaiah speaks of God establishing Jerusalem. Hughes only takes you part way.
Next Hughes turns to Jeremiah 3:6, where backsliding Israel plays the harlot. But again he misses crucial details. Such as, Jeremiah 3:6 is referring not to Jerusalem but the 10 northern tribes, the kingdom of Israel. The southern kingdom, Judah is contrasted with her in 3:7-11. God calls out to Israel and offers her pardon; the treachery of Judah is that which is primarily focused upon. In 3:17 God looks ahead to a day when God's people will be reunited to Him. Where? At Jerusalem. Hughes doesn't share this.
Next, Hughes turns to Ezekiel 16:2, 15 to make the same point. Says Hughes, “This was a very common thing in Israel. His people, His church, would forsake Him, and God used one of His prophets to call His people a harlot or a whore” (Bill Hughes, The Enemy Unmasked, p. 143).
Finally, Hughes turns to Hosea 1:2 and recounts God's command to Hosea to take a wife who was a harlot. Says Hughes, “the symbols of a whore, harlot, and prostitute represent a church that has forsaken God's law” (p. 143). But throughout the book of Hosea God calls to His people, urging them to return to Him. At the last Hosea 14:4 rejoices, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away from him.” God will nourish the faithful even as the transgressors shall fall. The Bible picture is sound; the Hughes picture is limited only to a religious group's inevitable spiral into decline and final apostasy.
According to Hughes the Catholic Church Controls World
Next, a logical leap. Revelation 17:2 is taken to mean that Babylon controls all the leaders of the earth. But what does the text say? “With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” There is nothing here about the Papacy controlling the kings of the earth. She exercises a measure of influence, but this is far from the kind of control Hughes has pressed for throughout his book. He has pressed, and no mistake, almost absolute control. He states repeatedly that the pope rules the earth (pp. 120, 145). This is presented as having been the case for many years.
But we should notice that the power of Babylon is limited. Notice from the Great Controversy:
There are “countries where Catholicism is not in the ascendancy…” (p. 563).
There are “restraints now [1911] imposed by secular governments [which if removed would mean] Rome reinstated in her former power, and there would speedily be a revival of her tyranny and persecution” (p. 564).
“Rome… is tolerant where she is helpless…” (p. 565).
Rome is seeking “to extend her influence and increase her power in preparation for a fierce and determined conflict to regain control of the world…” (pp. 565, 566).
“Catholicism is gaining ground…” (p. 566).
“they [Protestants] are opening the door for the papacy to regain in Protestant America the supremacy which she has lost in the Old World” (p. 573).
“Rome is aiming to re-establish her power, to recover her lost supremacy” (p. 581).
“The message of the second angel did not reach its complete fulfillment in 1844. The churches then experienced a moral fall, in consequence of their refusal of the light of the advent message; but that fall was not complete. As they have continued to reject the special truths for this time they have fallen lower and lower. Not yet, however, can it be said that ‘Babylon is fallen…. because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.’ She has not yet made all nations do this… the work of apostasy has not yet reached its culmination…. The change is a progressive one, and the perfect fulfillment of Revelation 14:8 is yet future” (p. 389).
We might present several more references to show that Rome was not, in the time of Ellen White, in complete control of the earth. Nor is she now. Were she, then according to the above, we “would speedily see a revival of her tyranny and persecution” (p. 564).
The fact is, the papacy is not controlling the world, but held in check by the restraints of secular governments. The time will come when this will change, but that time is still not fully come.
According to Hughes the Catholic Church Guilty for All Wars
The next logical leap made by Hughes is to charge the papacy with all the wars and crimes that happen on planet earth. However, since it is God's church that is delaying the return of Jesus, if you are going to charge a church for this, you should charge ours. In any case, Hughes lays responsibility for every war and terrorist activity at the foot of the papacy.
Hughes does not show that he understands what Heaven has set itself to accomplish today: the preparation of a people to meet Jesus, a people who allow God to change them and make their characters an object lesson of what unselfishness is. If we cling to our own ways and our own agendas, we are embracing Satan's kingdom of selfishness. This leads to wars and strife; they arise from within us (James 4:1). We have a spiritual battle to fight, a war against self to wage. The battle is not strengthened by speculation and assertion and absurd theories about how the world works that are glued atop the legitimate message. The responsibility for delay is our own and cannot be laid at the papacy's feet. The papacy is not an all-powerful entity to which we are passively subject.
The gospel is more than handing out little books from our presses to everybody. If we want to do that, we can join the Watchtower and become members of the Jehovah's Witnesses, a whole church built around the idea of publishing. God's people are called to a higher vision. (We refer negatively here to obscure and obscuring books other than the Spirit of Prophecy books. It is very clear from inspiration that the Spirit of Prophecy books themselves will have a most substantial impact as they lead souls who want to follow Jesus out of the fallen churches.)
Sources
Next, Hughes makes his most significant claim. The Jesuits have “infiltrated” and “taken over” “All Protestant churches.” Hughes' source for this knowledge? The infamous “ex-Jesuit priest” and bishop Alberto Rivera (who is not an ex-Jesuit, not an ex-Roman Catholic priest, and not an ex-Roman Catholic bishop!). “He [Alberto Rivera] stated that a sign would be given worldwide when every Protestant denomination had been successfully infiltrated and overcome by the Jesuits” (p. 150). The sign? When a president took his oath of office facing an obelisk, an event according to Jack Chick that occurred when Ronald Reagan was sworn in on January 21st, 1981.
The trouble is, Alberto Rivera is an entirely untrustworthy source. He was revealed as a fraud many years ago. Nor did he die a martyr by Jesuit poisoning but rather died in 1997 of Colon cancer. He has been exposed as a fraud by both Christianity Today (Gary Metz, “Jack Chick's Anti-Catholic Alberto Comic Book Is Exposed as a Fraud,” Christianity Today, March 13, 1981), and Christian Research Institute (Brian Onken, “Alberto: The Truth about His Story,” Forward, February 25, 1983).
Based on the mere assertion of a man widely known to be a fraud, Bill Hughes says, in a round-about way, that all churches, including the Seventh-day Adventist Church, have been infiltrated and taken over by the Jesuits.
Hughes' main sources in his book are mostly his fellow conspiracy-writers. You can create quite a story by just quoting your friends. Years published are but rarely given. The sources are a shoddy mess.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church Infiltrated and Taken Over? A Thousand Times No!
Here is an extended excerpt from p. 151 of Hughes' book. What church is he talking about?
Some may think that Alberto does not know what he is talking about. They probably believe that their church has not been taken over by the Jesuits. Consider this:
- Is your church still Protesting against the papacy?
- Does your church still teach that the papacy is the anti-christ, or is it something that your church once taught, but now shies away from because it is not politically correct?
- Does your church engage in celebration style church services that are more contemporary with the times and have more upbeat music? This was part of the papacy's plan at Vatican II in taking over all the churches.
- Is your church forgetting their historic teachings and becoming more modern, casting away the old truths as relics of the past?
- Are your church periodicals finding more good things to say about the papacy, even considering the Vatican leaders to be fine Christian people?
- Is your church willing to join the ecumenical movement, even if it means sacrificing some basic teachings or principles that the church once believed?
The above is obviously pointed at the Seventh-day Adventist Church—at least the Seventh-day Adventist Church of Bill Hughes' world. Remember, Reagan faced the obelisk, so our church must, like all others, have also been infiltrated and taken over. Alberto said so!
But consider the six items presented above. Is the Seventh-day Adventist Church still Protesting against the papacy? Absolutely. Does the Seventh-day Adventist Church still teach that the papacy is the antichrist? Absolutely.
Perhaps you say “My local church is not.” But then, what thoughtful steps have you taken in your local church to build a love for present-truth there, to help your church family move toward a congregational consensus in favor of strong, present-truth Adventism? Maybe some leaders in your church have come to where they do not take you seriously, and for whatever reason, there seems an irrepairably damaged relationship between you and some who are trending in the wrong direction. Then either hang in there and wait out a change or find yourself a local church where you can throw your energies in and become involved. Whatever your situation, no matter how apparently despairing, you have an opportunity to make a difference. Somewhere.
Does the Seventh-day Adventist Church engage in celebration church services? In some places scattered through Western Adventism, but not in Ghana, not in Romania, not in Bangladesh. We are a world church. The liberalized West is overwhelmingly outnumbered by Adventists in South America and in Africa. All the Adventists in Australia, North America, and Western Europe are less than two millions of a world church now numbering over 13.5 million members. It would be an unthoughtful blindness that would label a whole denomination as “celebration” where it is only happening among a tiny fraction of the whole membership. The original “Celebration Church” that started it all in Colton California, that at one time numbered 1000 members, today has a much smaller number in attendance each Sabbath. This is yesterday's news, a long-faded fad mostly replaced in the same confused congregations with other more recent fads.
Remember, these fads have little staying power. A nearby church just finished the “Purpose Driven Church” emphasis. Hearing this, I asked how mightily the church had been changed by it. The answer was, things were apparently the same as before. Friends, the power of the Holy Spirit is not behind these Babylonian fads. They are sidetracks and spirals to nowhere. God is waiting for us to be intelligent soldiers and do what we can, and do it intelligently. In the case mentioned above, a kind yet forthright letter was presented to the church leaders composed almost entirely of Spirit of Prophecy material urging a different plan. While in the end that church didn't take the direction that it should have, the fact is, an intelligent, Christian attempt was made to help that church change course. Now that, apparently the whole program is turning into a non-event, the warning against it appears more credible. Next time a foray into weirdness is considered, possibly a better approach will come. We have to be consistently working. God will bless.
Is the Seventh-day Adventist Church casting away its historic teachings? Again, some are, even as some are not. In fact, there is a renewed interest among Seventh-day Adventist young people. They are not casting away anything legitimate but are returning to it. For examples of this, consider the General Youth Conference of the past few years.
In our local setting, things can look extremely gloomy. If they look bad to you, realize that God sees much deeper. He sees all the departures from truth. But He desires us to soldier on. Remember the quote about gathering warmth from the coldness of others? That was put there for a reason. It was known that some would veer away into liberalism and noithingness, that the message would be scorned by some of its own children. But remember, a polarity is developing between the obedient and the disobedient. The choice is our own. If we will be credible witnesses for truth in our local churches, we can make a difference. Our light is to shine before all who are in the house. No one said the road through end-time events would be swathed in velvet and silk. We near the last-leg of the journey. This is the big one. The hairy part of the trip has only just begun!
What about the church periodicals? Again, these often trend in the wrong direction, but in the places where they do, they have become irrelevant. Alternative publications and programs have sprung up on the internet and radio and television and print. The chief function of the misguided publications has become to provide fodder for separationists who want to make it look as if the whole denomination supports their wayward work! These publications represent the views of just a few dozens. We give them too much credit. They are virtually irrelevant. The Signs of the Times are a sign of the times. So what's new? Present-truth has not changed.
Is the Seventh-day Adventist Church joining the ecumenical movement? Not at all. Again, a few scattered wayward units of the church have made wrong steps, but the denomination has not joined the ecumenical movement.
But Hughes insists:
If you can answer yes to one or more of these questions, then Alberto Rivera is right. Are there any major religious bodies or denominations today that don't meet these criteria? (p. 151).
I refuse to paint my church with the broad brush. Who decided these six questions make clear that a church has been infiltrated and taken over by Jesuits? This is a mere human test based upon the flimsy foundation of (1) Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel selectively quoted, (2) a claim by the discredited Alberto Rivera, and (3) Hughes' arbitrary list (which is wrong anyway). Added to this is Mrs. White's failure to teach a Jesuit infiltration and take over of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Instead, she claims the following:
The church is God's fortress. His city of refuge, which He holds in a revolted world…. During ages of spiritual darkness the church of God has been as a city set on a hill. From age to age, through successive generations, the pure doctrines of heaven have been unfolding within its borders. Enfeebled and defective as it may appear, the church is the one object upon which God bestows in a special sense His supreme regard. It is the theater of His grace, in which He delights to reveal His power to transform hearts (Acts of the Apostles, pp. 11, 12).
Although there are evils existing in the church, and will be until the end of the world, the church in these last days is to be the light of the world that is polluted and demoralized by sin. The church, enfeebled and defective, needing to be reproved, warned, and counseled, is the only object upon earth upon which Christ bestows His supreme regard.… God has a church on earth who are lifting up the downtrodden law, and presenting to the world the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. The church is the depositary of the wealth of the riches of the grace of Christ, and through the church eventually will be made manifest the final and full display of the love of God to the world that is to be lightened with its glory. The prayer of Christ that His church may be one as He was one with His Father will finally be answered. There is but one church in the world who are at the present time standing in the breach, and making up the hedge, building up the old waste places; and for any man to call the attention of the world and other churches to this church, denouncing her as Babylon, is to do a work in harmony with him who is the accuser of the brethren (Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 48-50).
Is Christ's hope futile? Does Satan take over Jesus' last fortress on planet earth? These people are not reading the Spirit of Prophecy, or, at least, not believing it. And we recall the prophecy: “Satan is… constantly pressing in the spurious—to lead away from the truth. The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God” (Selected Messages, vol. 1, p. 48).
Hughes Hugely Misinterprets the Pope
What is the counter-vision advanced by Hughes?
The pope is concerned about groups that have arisen in the last few decades, who, in response to the suppression of truth in their mainline churches, have been forced to preach the truth outside of these churches” (The Enemy Unmasked, p. 152).
In evidence of this, um, interesting, claim, Hughes quotes the pope:
The proselytizing activity of the sects and new religious groups in many parts of America is a grave hindrance to the work of evangelization. [what he means is that there are independent religious groups that are hindering the papacy's drive to take over the world.] (Pope John Paul II, The Challenge of the Sects, Exhortation, Article 73, bracketted remarks by Hughes).
We see from the above material that Hughes claims that the papacy feels its plans “to take over the world” are threatened by tiny groups such as his own, that write and distribute books filled with great pancake-stacked quotations from equally-dubious conspiracy theory literature. Regrettably for Hughes, he is easily demonstrated to be presenting incorrect information.
You see, the actual full text from which Hughes' quotation has been extracted is online. And in the paragraph immediately following the one Hughes quotes, John Paul II identifies the groups with which he is concerned. Thus we see, it is in fact not as Hughes thinks. Pope John Paul II is clear. He says the groups he is concerned with are “the sisters and brothers of the Churches and Ecclesial Communities separated from the Catholic Church, long-established in some regions,” (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_22011999_ecclesia-in-america_en.html, accessed June 18, 2004, 1:12 p.m. PST). Not splinters of splinters that have arisen in “the last few decades,” but much longer term religious structures are what the pope is focused upon.
Probably, the papacy does not even know that Hughes and his group exist. Nor is Hughes' documentation likely to impress anyone who checks it, for he not only misrepresented the quotation, but he did not even correctly identify the document in his reference. It is not article 73, but paragraph 73, and the title is not ‘The Challenge of the Sects, Exhortation,” but Ecclesia in America, January 22, 1999. The title given by Hughes was merely a subheading.
So where did Hughes get the quotation? Did he himself find it, the result of his own vigorous research? Or did he quote someone else who was quoting someone else who was quoting someone else? If he researched and brought it to the front, then he is guilty of direct misrepresentation (having ignored the pope's exact contradiction to Hughes own view in the immediately following paragraph of the document). But if he copied what someone else had copied, and didn't check it, then he is guilty of unsound scholarship. Either way, one is led to wonder what a rigorous consideration of Hughes' other quotations and sources would reveal. A troubling light is cast on the potential validity of his entire book.
The last words by Hughes to his readers press home his claim that all churches, including the Seventh-day Adventist Church, have been infiltrated and taken over by the Jesuits:
…those harlot daughters include every Protestant denomination today that has forsaken their message…. Revelation 17… reveals the control of the papacy's Jesuits over the leaders of our world, over the wealthy of the earth, and over the churches of today. (Bill Hughes, The Enemy Unmasked, p. 153).
Why Infiltration?
One concept that is part of the “Jesuit Infiltration” suite of ideas is the specification that the organized church has been “infiltrated.” What does this mean? Two ideas stand in contrast:
- Infiltrated by Jesuit personnel joining the church by formal membership.
- Infiltrated by ideas destructive to the credibility or internal self-consistency of our system of faith.
The concept of membership infiltration seems to be what some Adventists mean when they say the church has been “Infiltrated by Jesuits.” And yet, membership infiltration is of only limited use in a voluntary democratic representative organization like our own church. Membership infiltration is of considerably more utility with a closed world than a wired one. Membership infiltration provides access to otherwise inaccessible documents, plans, and so forth, which are limited to a closed group of insiders. Or, in a war movie or a story of espionage, infiltration might serve to help a spy penetrate into a secret base where he can blow it up or capture secret documents or break out a captive.
Membership infiltration into an entity like the Seventh-day Adventist Church would be of considerably less utility. We have no secret bases to enter, no hidden documents or captives to release in a blazing car chase or gun-battle. Our work is in the realm of ideas. When I walk into the Library to do research, the James Bond theme does not begin to play.
Consider for a moment some of the things uncovered on GreatControversy.org (GCO). Our authors did not have to “infiltrate” any secret bases to learn about the origins of GraceLink, or the illegitimate changes to the Pacific Union Constitution and Bylaws, or the Friday maneuver at the last General Conference Session that led to the change on Divorce and Remarriage, or the discovery of the literal phrase “original sin” in the prepublication draft of Questions on Doctrine, or the uncovering of the SDA-HPERA scandal concerning competitive sports in Seventh-day Adventist schools. In every single case, it was a simple matter of attention to events, careful research, and synthesis of ideas.
Wouldn't the purposes of the Jesuits to destroy our church have been better served had all these things remained undisclosed to the broader church membership? Where were the Jesuit infiltrators? Why didn't they sneak in when the White Estate was closed, and under cover of darkness remove the offending files? Or shut down the researchers and authors? Or shut down the website?
And where were they when Bill Hughes published his book exposing them? These are a lazy, bunch, or incompetent, these Jesuits.
Now, when we turn to “idea infiltration,” the matter is different. You overcome a church, not by sneaking people into its administrative offices, but by producing and promoting ideas and teachings that are destructive into it. It is ideas that are so very significant to the gospel. As we all know, the sealing is “a settling into the truth, both intellectually and spiritually, so they cannot be moved” (Ellen G. White, Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 4, p. 1161). There are changes to be made to a person, intellectually and spiritually. These occur through our ideas and doctrines as they modify our faith and practice. Truth sanctifies, error corrupts. This is why sound doctrine is important.
What the enemies of our faith must do is lead us to be open to the inflow of corrupting ideas from Babylon. Here is where God countered with the second angel's message. If we would faithfully remember it, we would not be at risk in this way. Another issue is if we fail to police ourselves. If we do not ourselves hold the line between true and false apostles (Revelation 2:2), all that the Jesuits need do is sit back with their buttered popcorn and soda pop watching as we destroy ourselves.
Thus, our leaders are called to the highest accountability and our members are called to the highest accountability. If we do not hold pastors and leaders accountable, then we are doing the work of Jesuit infiltration ourselves. If we sit back passively on our lees and let events overtake the church and refuse to assist our leaders in fighting to uphold the faith once delivered to the saints, then we are doing this work. If there is Jesuit infiltration, it is in the area of ideas and attitudes. This is not a movie. This is not a television program. This is not fiction. This is reality. Let's think carefully when we speak of “Jesuit infiltration.”
We need to deal with ideas that we know are travelling in the open and doing their destructive work, and leave with God any real or imagined Jesuit infiltrators hidden away in the background or in our own imaginations somewhere, which we can never quite put our finger on or do anything substantial about. Our choice is between a fictional world and a tangible one. Let us not become our own chimeras.
Questions to Ask Ourselves
Are we able to distinguish between a mountain of assertions and a mountain of evidence? Are we willing to question what is presented to us, no matter which direction it comes from, or are we going to uncritically attack everything that comes to us from one wing and uncritically accept everything that comes to us from the other wing? Here are some questions that may be of interest.
- How does such a mighty organization as the Jesuits (AKA, Illuminati/Communists/CFR/etc.), fail to stop the rising of America from nothingness into power?
- If as Hughes reports, the Jesuits do nothing in the open so it can be traced to them, how does a book like Hughes The Enemy Unmasked get put together and publish over 170 pieces of “evidence” in spite of it?
- If this material was so critical to us, why did Ellen present none of it to us? Why wasn't it put into the book Great Controversy?
- Is it really evangelism to pass around a book that teaches that the Seventh-day Adventist Church has completely apostatized from truth?
- Is it actually likely that a conspiracy involving many thousands of knowing participants could remain in operation across numerous generations?
The faith we hold is built upon more than a stack of threadbare, endlessly retreaded material derived from people who never have understood the third angel's message. Many of these conspiracy theory ideas have been floating around since before our church was founded. The ideas are explanations for the way things were then, created by a people who were largely mistaken. The insight we (should have by now) gained in being entrusted with this message was not available to them. Shall we now adopt their tired, un-Adventist theories?
Conservative Adventist Disempowerment
It is an interesting phenomenon, this strange emphasis on the Jesuits. But what is going on? How does something hardly addressed by Ellen White come to serve as the front-and-center emphasis of a certain kind of thinking?
In a way, the in-the-know person who has realized the “truth” of “the Jersuit conspiracy to infiltrate and take over the Adventist Church,” has become a member of those few perceptive individuals. He sees the conspiracy before it is obvious to others while they remain unaware.
Who can explain what has happened to the church? He can. While everyone else gropes for an understanding of Why the Celebration worship, Why the de-emphasis of our prophetic heritage, Why the soft preaching, Why this and that apparent apostasies, he has an explanation. So he walks into the church with a bag of books to distribute. He lingers after the service to give these extremely important tools for illumination to others. He is an agency of light in the darkness. More than this, he is doing something. He is acting against the Jesuit plot! He is a hero.
But the problem is, apart from the catharsis of “doing something,” his actions tend to define him, both to himself and to others, as an outsider. The more he fights against the Jesuits—as a front-line agent on-site at the infiltrated and taken-over Adventist Church—the less impact he has; the more things stay the same; the more frustrated he becomes. He drops into a cycle, ever studying more deeply into the “facts.”
He may begin with Ellen White or the Adventist pioneers, but he won't go very far there because there is, in those materials, a singular lack of emphasis on Jesuit infiltration. So he commences a drift to the more fringe separationist groups. By now he has long been outside of the church in every way but physically. He has not been a church officer for some time. He does not attend any planning meetings of the church. He is not considered for any officer positions in the church. He comes to the point where he can see little if anything positive in the church. After all, the church is infiltrated. It is taken over. It is hopeless.
He has become completely disempowered.
Unfortunately, what he has actually done is to play into the hands of the destructive liberalizing forces already hoping to turn the church in the way that their own agendas prefer. He is now standing far on the outside. Whereas he would before have sought to heed the counsel against fiction, perhaps never even imagining reading a novel, he has now become part of a living fiction. He was distracted and decoyed and now he becomes a decoy and a distraction.
Regrettably, in taking this course he has not only wounded himself and his own cause. He has drifted into a place where he has caricatured all Adventists. He has discredited the movement. He made it look absurd. He contaminates the truth with his error.
Recall Hughes book. We don't know how legitimate was his usage of the other 169 quotations in his book, but we explored his use of the one on The Enemy Unmasked, p. 152, and it was discredited. But anyone who identifies the conspiracist with what are actually legitimate teachings of Adventism will be that much less inclined to take seriously authentic Adventism.
The conspiracist was dissatisfied with where the direction the church appeared to be going, but he bought too readily into the projection the liberals wanted him to: namely, that the church was indeed moving—relentlessly and unstoppably—in the liberal direction.
This is where conspiracy theorist thinking can take you. Proposing some all-pervasive, inaccessible, virtually all-powerful secret, behind the scenes group, that we cannot effect or change, saps the strength from people by making them paranoid bystanders to their own lives. Just now—when we need to be active and about our Father's business, standing for truth and against error, actively fighting the battle with self so that we may be changed and prepared for Jesus' return—just now is not the time to be reduced to whimpering, disempowered victims. Hughes' viewpoint is understandable but not endorsable. It is explainable but not sustainable. By embracing this throw-up-our-hands view, we put down our weapons and slink away off the field of battle. We follow the siren call out into the desert, looking for the secret chamber where the Lord supposedly is (Matthew 24:26).
Where does this thinking arise? Not among the hopeful. It is not arising among the GYC, or the “my-feet-are-nailed-to-the-floor-of-the-Seventh-day-Adventist-Church-and-I-am-going-to-stand-here-for-truth-no-matter-what” crowd of the faithful who have weathered times thick, thin, and thinner, and remained vigilantly at their post of duty. Rather, it arises among those who left the battlefield prematurely and ventured into the separationist groups and sat down to hear that the Seventh-day Adventist Church had become Babylon or practically Babylon, and they became prey for those who would come through teaching obscurities in the promotion of feast-day keeping, or anti-trinitarianism, or some other ill-founded idea of distraction. These are low-power emphases to replace the third angel's mesage with brothers and sisters. We must think carefully before we buy them.
Where I Stand: II
Hopefully, the basis for what may have seemed an unnecessarily hard position at the beginning of this exploration now stands out more clearly. I am all for exposing the false theology of the Catholics, but if serious material is mixed with fictional material, our influence is cut off. We can't afford to be loose on this. Every assertion we make will be tested. We must be responsible so that others who come after us will be taken seriously.
So what does Inspiration say?
- But speak thou things which are proper for sound doctrine (Titus 2:1, marginal reading).
- Neither give heed to fables… (1 Timothy 1:4).
- The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law (Deuteronomy 29:29).
- The opinions of learned men, the deductions of science, the creeds or decisions of ecclesiastical councils, as numerous and discordant as are the churches which they represent, the voice of the majority—not one nor all of these should be regarded as evidence for or against any point of religious faith. Before accepting any doctrine or precept, we should demand a plain ‘Thus saith the Lord’ in its support (Great Controversy, p. 595).
- It is the privilege and the duty of all to closely investigate the doctrine presented to them before they embrace it. And the most effectual way to find access to those whom we wish to educate in the truth, is to have them bring their Bibles, and point them to the chapter and verse, that they may see for themselves that these things are so. (Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, May 13, 1887).
- You may be sure that pure and undefiled religion is not a sensational religion. God has not laid upon anyone the burden of encouraging an appetite for encouraging speculative doctrines and theories. My brethren, keep these things out of your teaching. (Evangelism, p. 138).
- If ever there was a time when those who claim to be Christians should be all that the name comprehends, it is now. Are we following Christ in very reality? As Seventh-day Adventists we must be on watch, guarding every point lest the enemy shall set up his standard among us. There is not one semblance of an excuse for our churches to be indifferent and careless. If ever there was a time when the members of our churches should see if they have oil in their vessels with their lamps, it is now, just now, without a moment's hesitancy or delay. This is an individual work. We are to look earnestly to our own standing and accountability. While the Protestant world is being led by the wily sophistry of Catholic doctrines, while the mystery of iniquity is gathering to itself the world of professed Christians, what are we about? Are those who know the truth for this time anchored in Bible doctrine? Are our weapons, ‘Thus sayeth the Lord: “It is written?”’ Is our anchor cast within the vail? Are we individually rooted and grounded in gospel truth, so that we may be established, strengthened, and settled in the faith? Are we, as those who have the knowledge of the mysteries of God, those to whom God has committed the living oracles, loyal and true to our stewardship? Those who are truly converted will reveal, as missionaries for God, what the truth means to them in its transforming efficiency and sanctifying power. If we are weighted with the treasures of eternal truth, we shall proclaim to a world perishing in sin what it signifies to have the sanctifying, redeeming love of Christ in the soul… (Ellen G. White, Gospel Herald, January 1, 1900).
Empowering and Disempowering Explanations
We have noticed that people with interest in the conspiracy theory explanation are widedly spread across the theological spectrum. Whether jewelry-wearing liberals, Morris Vendon fans, the church is Babylon types, or other varied separationists, some lay hold on this theory and make it their own. It is fascinating that it crosses all theological barriers. It is very utilitarian in this respect. In no case does it require you struggle with what does the gospel personally mean, what is God trying to do inside of me? You don't have to wrestle with righteousness by faith, or an investigative judgment, or the sinful predispositions of the fallen human heart.
You don't have to understand the nature of Christ or whether sin is a choice of the will or whether original sin is the correct viewpoint. If there is a problem, this can be your explanation: there are Jesuits in the church.
As we have spoken with those in favor of the conspiracy theory, we have noticed that their chief reason for favoring the idea of Jesuits infiltrating the church is that it provides an easy explanation for why things are the way they are in the church. Celebration worship? It was brought in by the Jesuits. Obviously! How did the books of a new order get published? It was the Jesuits. Obviously! How is it that drama has been brought in to some churches? Purpose Driven this and that and Yancey ungrace? Well, it was those Jesuits. Anyone could see it.
Some reading this will wonder at this point how I would explain the coming of these things into the church. I have a much less satisfying explanation. It goes like this: We are all born with tendencies to evil. We come into this world with a fallen, selfish nature. The basic essence of the gospel is restoration, but the human heart resists movement toward holiness because, the truth be told, deep inside we are predisposed to prefer evil. With this selfish predisposition comes also the fact that we prefer to be lazy. We prefer answers that are easy, that require little sorting of facts, minimal processing of ideas. But this is not the way the world works.
Notice that in the conspiracy theory explanation we have been discussing, the Jesuits replace the fallen nature as the chief explanation for evil. That which is outside of me and apart from me (the Jesuits) is proposed to be responsible for the problems in the church, rather than your or my own sin problems. We are not responsible.
But I believe this: were there no such thing as a Jesuit, still we would be encumbered with much the same set of problems in the church. The theological error that leads to destructive theological ideas rises not from Rome but from within our broken nature. Rome merely gives shape to it as it is permitted to. Our inattention and inaction toward error are the chief explanation today for the problems in our midst. We have not been faithful. In the heat of battle we have tended to act independently, ineffectually, with no reference to wise generalship. We have been much more like lone, self-appointed Robin Hood figures than a disciplined army in maneouver on the battlefield of truth. We lose many battles we would otherwise win because we are lazy warriors. Am I your enemy because I tell you the truth? (Galatians 4:16).
When speaking of unsound developments in the church, we must focus on that for which we can present compelling evidence, not that which may sound intriguing and mysterious but which cannot be proven. No one is saying that Jesuits couldn't possibly have infiltrated the church. That would be as foolish as to insist that they have. The bottom line is that the only thing we can know for sure, on the basis of Inspiration, is what truth is and what error is. Confronting a teacher of falsehood requires only a plain “thus saith the Lord,” whether such a one is an infiltrating Jesuit or such a self-indulgent Adventist trying to find excuses for sin.
When people are convinced that certain ultra-powerful, superbly intelligent adversaries are lurking among us, with awesome resources at their command, they tend to let themselves become frightened off the battlefields of the church, thinking—as did the ten spies of Israel—that they are nothing but grasshoppers by comparison (Numbers 13:33).
In addition, such theories tend to place the blame for the present apostasy on others, rather than on our own slothfulness and inattention to church affairs, our own failure as present-truth believers to organize among ourselves, network with each other, and thus work together to hold accountable those in responsible positions. The notion that those currently leading the church are in place because some dark, sinister conspiracy put them there, about which the faithful can do nothing no matter how hard they try, is one of the most destructive assumptions currently in existence among conservative Adventists.
In my own experience with the church, I have seen far too much evidence that the reason problems exist is because the faithful just don't do anything about them, rather than the comforting illusion that they couldn't do anything anyhow, because certain supremely powerful forces wouldn't let them.
The popular conspiracy theories some conservative Adventists are attracted to are sources of needless ridicule, and function as counsels of despair among the faithful when we need to re-ignite our courage and go forth to bring our church back to faithfulness. Such theories are a hindrance, not a help, to the cause of present truth. Those promoting them deserve remonstrance, pity, and prayer, but not support.
When Someone Offers You Such a Book
We live in a rapidly-moving world. Using our time wisely has become a continuous challenge. Thus, what follows are a series of practical questions for us when confronted with one offering a book or a paper. Asking these questions in this order can help you uncover whether the book or tract or paper one is proposing you must read is actually one you want to invest your energies in.
Have you read this book through from cover to cover?
Have you checked any of the supplementary (uninspired) references for accuracy?
Would you give me three good reasons, based upon this book, why I should invest my energy in reading it?
Will this book strengthen my resolve to be a faithful member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church?
Does the teaching of this book recognize that the shaking is God's means of purifying His church?
How many books of the Bible or Ellen G. White books has this information led you to read through since you came into contact with it?
Ask them, If the material in the book they are offering you is true, then what should you do about it? Insist on a very specific answer. If they cannot give you one, do not accept the book.
If you are familiar with the material and it is deeply flawed, such as the book by Bill Hughes here reviewed as a sample, have the forthrightness to reject it on the basis of your specific knowledge of the material. You can say, for example, that
- The book is filled with unproven and unprovable assertions, completely unsupported by legitimate evidence.
- The sources used are almost all uninspired, unbiblical references.
- The sources used tend to cross-reference to obscure works of other conspiracy theorists.
- It has been documented that Hughes misused some sources.
- Ellen White in 100,000+ pages of writing only has seven distinct references to the Jesuits, while Bill Hughes has 290 in a mere 155 pages. The author's emphasis is ridiculously out of synchronization with that of Mrs. White.
- Hughes teaches that the Seventh-day Adventist Church has been infiltrated and taken over by the Jesuits, and further, that people are forced to teach the truth outside the church.
- The first Bible reference in Hughes' book comes on page 139 in a book of 155 pages of main text.
- The author has no conception of the shaking as God's means of purifying His church.
- The result of subscribing to the philosophy of the book is to become an inert, disempowered person. After all, what can be done? The Jesuits have infiltrated and taken over the church.
- The book takes as crucial evidence for the idea that the Adventist church has been infiltrated and taken over by the Jesuits an unsupported utterance by known-fraud Alberto Rivera.
Appeal
Were there ever a trend where people were “turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:4), the interest over Hughes' destructive book, The Enemy Unmasked exemplifies it. It is an amalgam of greater and lesser errors whose end is to discredit truth. Don't become a bystander in the battle. Jesus is in the most holy place. Let us follow Him there by faith and live the third angel's message, avoiding every cheap, whimpering outcome that would turn us into fictions, standing in the doorway of the church, urging upon others books of fiction that would better be burnt in the fireplace than handed to anyone who needs to better know Jesus and His present-truth for this hour. The fact is,
Fanaticism, once started and left unchecked, is as hard to quench as a fire which has obtained hold of a building. Those who have entered into and sustained this fanaticism [holy flesh] might far better be engaged in secular labor, for by their inconsistent course of action they are dishonoring the Lord and imperiling His people. Many such movements will arise at this time when the Lord's work should stand elevated, pure, unadulterated with superstition and fables (Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 35).
By the way, has anyone noticed that about the time Elvis disappeared, Kofi Annan became active in the United Nations? You don't think…
May God grant us a renewed interest in studying from the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy the truths of Daniel and Revelation and the things about how to follow Jesus through the end-time. It is too late in the hour to be distributing anything less powerful.
Document History
Originally published on June 20, 2004.
Minor additions and corrections, June 21, 2004.
Added section “Why Infiltration?” June 24, 2004.
Added paragraph at end of “Why Infiltration,” June 25, 2004.
