“Elder G’s proofs are not reliable.  If received, they would destroy the faith of God’s people in the truth that has made us what we are.

 

“We must be decided on this subject; for the points that he is trying to prove by Scripture, are not sound.  They do not prove that the past experience of God’s people was a fallacy.  We had the truth; we were directed by the angels of God.  It was under the guidance of the Holy Spirit that [162]

 

“the presentation of the Sanctuary question was given.  It is eloquence for every one to keep silent in regard to the features of our faith in which they acted no part.  God never contradicts Himself.  Scripture proofs are misapplied if forced to testify to that which is not true.  Another and still another will arise and bring in supposedly great light, and make their assertions.  But we stand by the old landmarks. [1 John 1:1-10 quoted].

 

“I am instructed to say that these words we may use as appropriate for this time, for the time has come when sin must be called by its right name.  We are hindered in our work by men who are not converted, who seek their own glory.  They wish to be thought originators of new theories, which they present claiming that they are truth.  But if these theories are received, they will lead to a denial of the truth that for the past fifty years God has been giving to His people, substantiating It by the demonstration of the Holy Spirit.”  1SM:161-162; Letter 329, 1905.

 

“Our people need to understand the reasons of our faith and our past experiences.  How sad it is that so many of them apparently place unlimited confidence in men who present theories tending to uproot our past experiences and to remove the old landmarks!  Those who can so easily be led by a false spirit show that they have been following the wrong captain for some time -- so long that they do not discern that they are departing from the faith, or that they are not building upon the true foundation.  We need to urge all to put on their spiritual eyeglasses, to have their eyes anointed that they may see clearly and discern the true pillars of the faith.  Then they will know that ‘the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His’ [2 Timothy 2:19].  We need to revive the old evidences of the faith once delivered to the saints.”  2SM:25.1; SW, April 5, 1904.

 

“Paul was an inspired Apostle, yet the Lord did not reveal to him at all times just the condition of His people.  Those who were interested in the prosperity of the Church, and saw evils creeping in, presented the matter before him, and from the light which he had previously received he was prepared to judge of the true character of these developments.  Because the Lord had not given him a new revelation for that special time, those who were really seeking light did not cast his message aside as only a common letter.  No, indeed.  The Lord had shown him the difficulties and dangers which would arise in the Churches, that when they should develop he might know just how to treat them.

 

“He was set for the defense of the Church.  He was to watch for souls as one that must render account to God, and should [66]

 

“he not take notice of the reports concerning their state of anarchy and division?  Most assuredly; and the reproof he sent them was written just as much under the inspiration of the Spirit of God as were any of his Epistles.  But when these reproofs came, some would not be corrected.  They took the position that God had not spoken to them through Paul, that he had merely given them his opinion as a man, and they regarded their own judgment as good as that of Paul.

 

“So it is with many among our people who have drifted away from the old landmarks and who have followed their own understanding.  What a great relief it would be to such could they quiet their conscience with the belief that my work is not of God.  But your unbelief will not change the facts in the case.  You are defective in character, in moral and religious experience.  Close your eyes to the fact if you will, but this does not make you one particle more perfect.  The only remedy is to wash in the blood of the Lamb.

 

“If you seek to turn aside the Counsel of God to suit yourselves, if you lessen the confidence of God’s people in the testimonies He has sent them, you are rebelling against God as certainly as were Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”  5T:65-66; PH117:46.

 

“For your soul’s sake, my brethren, have an eye single to the glory of God.  Leave self out of your thoughts as much as possible.  We are nearing the close of time.  Examine your motives in the light of eternity.  I know you need to be alarmed; you are departing from the old landmarks.  Your science, so called, is undermining the foundation of Christian principle.  I have been shown the course you would surely pursue should you disconnect from God.”  5T:97.1; PH117:83.

 

“Now is the time when we should closely connect with God, that we may be hid when the fierceness of His wrath is poured upon the sons of men.  We have wandered away from the old landmarks.  Let us return.  If the Lord be God, serve Him; if Baal, serve him.  Which side will you be on?”  5T:137.3.

 

“The great truths of prophecy, showing our position in the history of the world, have been shorn of their beauty and power by the clergy, who seek to make these all-important truths dark and incomprehensible.  In many cases the children are drifting away from the old landmarks.  The Lord Commanded His people Israel:  ‘When thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath Commanded you? then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:  and the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:  and He brought us out from thence, that He might bring us in, to give us the land which He sware unto our fathers.  And the Lord Commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.  And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these Commandments before the Lord our God, as He hath Commanded us.’ [Deu. 6:20-25].

 

“Here are principles that we are not to regard with indifference.  Those who have seen the truth and felt its importance, and have had an experience in the things of God, are to teach sound doctrine to their children.  They should make them acquainted with the great pillars of our faith, the reasons why we are Seventh-day Adventists, -- why we are called, as were the children of Israel, to be a peculiar people, a holy nation, separate and distinct from all other people on the face of the earth.  These things should be explained to the children in simple language, easy to be understood; and as they grow in years, the lessons imparted should be suited to their increasing capacity, until the foundations of truth have been laid broad and deep.”  5T:330.

 

“There is to be no change in the general features of our work.  It is to stand as clear and distinct as prophecy has made it.  We are to enter into no confederacy with the world, supposing that by so doing we could accomplish more.  If any stand in the way, to hinder the advancement of the work in the lines that God has appointed, they will displease God.  No line of truth that has made the Seventh-day Adventist people what they are is to be weakened.  We have the old landmarks of truth, experience, and duty, and we are to stand firmly in defense of our principles, in full view of the world.”  6T:17.2; GCDB, March 2, 1899 par. 4.

 

“Few realize the dangerous character of the sentiments that we are having to meet.  I have been over the ground.  I have been given plain words to speak concerning these specious, bewitching sentiments.  If they are not most decidedly met and reproved, souls will be lost.  We cannot afford to be deceived.  We must point our people to the old landmarks.  We are to obtain strength and courage from on high, that we may obey the Command given me, ‘Meet it.’ “  7MR:384.1.

 

“The Law in Galatians is not a vital question and never has been.  Those who have called it one of the old landmarks simply do not know what they are talking about.  It never was an old landmark, and it never will become such.”  9MR:183; 1888M:841.

 

“A large number who claim to believe the present truth, know not what constitutes the faith that was once delivered to the saints -- Christ in you the hope of glory.  They think they are defending the old landmarks, but they are lukewarm and indifferent.  They know not what it is to weave into their experience and to possess the real virtue of love and faith.  They are not close Bible students, but are lazy and inattentive.  When differences of opinion arise upon passages of Scripture, these who have not studied to a purpose, and are not decided as to what they believe, fall away from the truth.  We ought to impress upon all the necessity of inquiring diligently into Divine truth, that they may know that they do know what is truth.”  11MR:285.2.

 

“If your faith in the Word of God is strengthened; if you will fully accept the truths that have called us out of the world and made us a people denominated by the Lord as His peculiar treasure; if you will unite with your brethren in standing by the old landmarks, then there will be unity.  But you remain in unbelief, unsettled as to the true foundation of faith; there can be no hope of any more unity in the future than there has been in the past.”  11MR:319.1.

 

“As a people we have been greatly humiliated by the course that some of our brethren in responsible positions have taken in departing from the old landmarks.  There are those who, in order to carry out their plans, have by their words denied their faith.  This shows how little dependence can be placed on human wisdom and human judgment.  Now, as never before, we need to see the danger of being led unguardedly away from loyalty to God’s Commandments.  We need to realize that God has given us a decided message of warning for the world, even as He gave Noah a message of warning for the antediluvians.  Let our people beware of belittling the importance of the Sabbath, in order to link up with unbelievers.  Let them beware of departing from the principles of our faith, making it appear that it is not wrong to conform to the world.  Let them be afraid of heeding the counsel of any man, [238]

 

“whatever his position may be, who works counter to that which God has wrought in order to keep His people separate from the world.”  CH:237-238; 7T:107.1; BCL:53; KC:74.

 

“No line of our faith that has made us what we are is to be weakened.  We have the old landmarks of truth, experience, and duty, and we are to stand firm in defense [522] of our principles, in full view of the world.”  CH:521-522; 6T:17; CW:52-53; 8T160; CTr:350.5.

 

“In Minneapolis God gave precious gems of truth to His people in new settings.  This light from Heaven by some was rejected with all the stubbornness the Jews manifested in rejecting Christ, and there was much talk about standing by the old landmarks.  But there was evidence they knew not what the old landmarks were.  There was evidence and there was reasoning from the Word that commended itself to the conscience; but the minds of men were fixed, sealed against the entrance of light, because they had decided it was a dangerous error removing the ‘old landmarks’ when it was not moving a peg of the old landmarks, but they had perverted ideas of what constituted the old landmarks.

 

“The passing of the time in 1844 was a period of great events, opening to our astonished eyes the cleansing of the Sanctuary transpiring in Heaven, and having decided relation to God’s people upon the earth, {also} the First and Second angels’ messages and the Third, unfurling the banner on which was inscribed, ‘The Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.’  One of the landmarks under this message was the Temple of God, seen by His truth-loving people in Heaven, and the Ark containing the Law of God.  The light of the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment flashed its strong rays in the pathway of the transgressors of God’s Law.  The nonimmortality of the wicked is an old landmark.  I can call to mind [31]

 

“nothing more that can come under the head of the old landmarks.  All this cry about changing the old landmarks is all imaginary.

 

“Now at the present time God designs a new and fresh impetus shall be given to His work.  Satan sees this, and he is determined it shall be hindered.  He knows that if he can deceive the people who claim to believe present truth, [and make them believe that] the work the Lord designs to do for His people is a removing of the old landmarks, something which they should, with most determined zeal, resist, then he exults over the deception he has led them to believe.”  CW:30-31 (1889); Manuscript 13, 1889; 1888M:518; LDE:45; 11MR:243.2.

 

“Satan hopes to involve the remnant people of God in the general ruin that is coming upon the earth.  As the Coming of Christ draws nigh, he will be more determined and decisive in his efforts to overthrow them.  Men and women will arise professing to have some new light or some new revelation, whose tendency is to unsettle faith in the old landmarks.  Their [50]

 

“doctrines will not bear the test of God’s Word, yet souls will be deceived.  False reports will be circulated, and some will be taken in this snare.  They will believe these rumors, and in their turn will repeat them, and thus a link will be formed connecting them with the archdeceiver.  This spirit will not always be manifested in an open defiance of the messages that God sends, but a settled unbelief is expressed in many ways.  Every false statement that is made feeds and strengthens this unbelief, and through this means many souls will be balanced in the wrong direction.”  CW:49-50; 5T:295-296 (1885); CCh:344.4; Mar:64.

 

“Satan can skilfully play the game of life with many souls, and he acts in a most underhanded, deceptive manner to spoil the faith of the people of God and to discourage them. . . He works today as he worked in Heaven, to divide the people of God in the very last stage of this earth’s history.  He seeks to create dissension, and to arouse contention and discussion, and to remove if possible the old landmarks of truth [360]

 

“committed to God’s people.  He tries to make it appear as if the Lord contradicts Himself.

 

“It is when Satan appears as an angel of light that he takes souls in his snare, deceiving them.  Men who pretend to have been taught of God, will adopt fallacious theories, and in their teaching will so adorn these fallacies as to bring in Satanic delusions.  Thus Satan will be introduced as an angel of light and will have opportunity to present his pleasing fables.

 

“These false prophets will have to be met.  They will make an effort to deceive many, by leading them to accept false theories.  Many Scriptures will be misapplied in such a way that deceptive theories will apparently be based upon the Words that God has Spoken.  Precious truth will be appropriated to substantiate and establish error.  These false prophets, who claim to be taught of God, will take beautiful Scriptures that have been given to adorn the truth, and will use them as a robe of righteousness to cover false and dangerous theories.  And even some of those who, in times past, the Lord has honored, will depart so far from the truth as to advocate misleading theories regarding many phases of truth, including the Sanctuary question.”  Ev:359-360; Manuscript 11, 1906; 4MR:145-146; 2SAT:276.

 

“The true laborer will take care that his hearers understand the leading points of our faith, and that they keep distinctly in mind the old landmarks, the way by which the Lord has led His people.  He will teach them to look to God for themselves, expecting the outpouring of His [450]

 

“Spirit.  If those who profess to be teachers of the truth teach their own ideas independent of the opinions of their brethren, they should be labored with as unfaithful in their work.  One who feels at liberty to advance what he chooses and keep back what he chooses, should not be encouraged to labor in the ministry; for he is failing to prepare a people to stand in the day of the Lord.”  GW92:449-450; RH, April 8, 1884 par. 6.

 

“The affections must be drawn away from worldly pleasures, worldly enjoyments, and centered on Heaven and Heavenly things.  The heart is the soul temple, and until that is fully on the Lord’s side it will be the stronghold of the enemy; for the partial surrender to truth and the partial indulgence of self give free access to Satan; his suggestions become mixed and mingled in the mind with truth, and are received as all truth and the effect is that souls over whom these minds have influence are led far away from the grand old landmarks into false paths which separate from God.”  PH167:9.2.

 

“While representing the kingdoms of this earth, the image that was revealed to Nebuchadnezzar also fitly represented deterioration of religion.  We grow weak morally and spiritually, just in proportion as we forget God.  Those who claim to be Protestants are not today what Luther was.  They have left the old landmarks, and have depended on forms, ceremonies, and outward display to make up for the lack of purity and piety, meekness and lowliness, found in obedience to God.  Sin is ruining nations today just as it has done in time past.  Even leaders in the religious world have not a good conscience toward God.”  RH, February 6, 1900 par. 9.

 

“Many know so little about their Bibles that they are unsettled in the faith.  They remove the old landmarks, and fallacies and winds of doctrine blow them hither and thither.  Science, falsely so called, is wearing away the foundation of Christian principle; and those who were once in the faith drift away from the Bible landmarks, and divorce themselves from God, while still claiming to be His children.”  RH, Dec. 29, 1896, par. 10; CSW:35.1; Ev:362.

 

“Those temptations are most dangerous which come from the professed servants of God, and from our friends.  When persons who are uniting with the world, yet claiming great piety and love, counsel the faithful workers for God to be less zealous and more conservative, our answer must be an appeal to the Word of God.  When they plead for union with those who have been our determined opposers, we should fear and shun them as decidedly as did Nehemiah.  Those who would lead away from the old landmarks to form a connection with the ungodly, cannot be sent of Heaven.  Whatever may have been their former position, their present course tends to unsettle the faith of God’s people. [par. 14]

 

“Such counselors are prompted by Satan.  They are time-servers.  The testimonies, reproofs, and warnings of God’s servants are unpalatable to them, being a reproof to their worldly, pleasure-loving propensities.  We should shun this class as resolutely as did Nehemiah.”  ST, January 3, 1884 par. 14&15; SW, May 24, 1904.

 

“There are men among us who profess to understand the truth for these last days, but who will not calmly investigate advanced truth.  They are determined to make no advance beyond the stakes which they have set, and will not listen to those who, they say, do not stand by the old landmarks.  They are so self-sufficient that they cannot be reasoned with.  They consider it a virtue to be at variance with their brethren, and close the door, that light shall not find an entrance to the people of God.  It will require Heavenly wisdom to know how to deal with such cases.  Light will come to God’s people, and those who have sought to close the door will either repent or be removed out of the way.  The time has come when a new impetus must be given to the work.  There are terrible scenes before us, and Satan is seeking to keep from our knowledge the very things that God would have us know.  God has messengers and messages for His people.  If ideas are presented that differ in some points from our former doctrines, we must not condemn them without diligent search of the Bible to see if they are true.  We must fast and pray and search the Scriptures as did the noble Bereans, to see if these things are so.  We must accept every ray of light that comes to us.  Through earnest prayer and diligent study of God’s Word, dark things will be made plain to the understanding.”  ST, May 26, 1890 par. 12.

 

“Those who seek to remove the old landmarks are not holding fast; they are not remembering how they have received and heard.  Those who try to bring in theories that would remove the pillars of our faith concerning the Sanctuary or concerning the personality of God or of Christ are working as blind men.  They are seeking to bring in uncertainties and to set the people of God adrift without an anchor.”  YRP:235.4; MR:760:9.5.

 

“It is sin that is ruining nations today.  Even many leaders in the religious world have not a good conscience toward God.  Many of those who claim to be Protestants have not the faith in God’s Word that Luther had in the early days of the Reformation.  They have left the old landmarks, and depend on ceremony and formal display to make up for their lack of the purity and piety, the meekness and lowliness, found in obedience to God.”  YI, September 22, 1903 par. 7.