Questions asked by Bro. Norman Archer GADSDA Executive Secretary Nov. 17, 2014. 1. What was the first disappointment that the Rod experienced? 2. What is the detrimental doctrine of the Rod that will cause us to loose enteral life? 3. You have stated that the Rod is not complete! Do your personally know someone, or, do you know of someone else with a message to make it complete? 4. Do you believe that the 144,000 First-Fruits (Rev. 14:1-8) comes from the SDA Church? 5. Do you believe the Great Multitude will come in through the ministry of the 144,000 from Babylon? 6. Do you still believe in the Restoration of the Kingdom? 7. Now that you seem to be having some new beliefs, how many more people are of the same belief as you presently? 8. What part of the Rod do you no longer believe? These questions were triggered through an open letter posted on facebook and personal emails to several Rod believers including Bro. Norman Archer. The following is the open letter: Subject: Re: The first fruits Dear Brethren, It is with deep concern I am writing you this email. I hope that you will take time to study the contend. I am not a writer so I write to the point. But the purpose of this is, that you might realize that the S. Rod is not complete. It is a good source of information but it is not complete. The Rod has already one disappointment a second one will be the loss of eternal life. A comparison can be made with the churches during the time of the preaching of William Miller. They closed their doors for new developments and they fell. But their definite fall is the second time. Rev.18. Here is a short study of the first fruits. James 1:18 Of his purpose he gave us being, by his true word, so that we might be, in a sense, the first-fruits of all the things which he had made. This text gives the true meaning of the phrase first fruits. Here an indication is given that with first fruits God illustrates the nature of things that were before sin. All the fruits in the beginning can be compared with the first fruits of today’s harvest that are the biggest and the best. Therefore the first fruits and also the firstborn, are an illustration of Gods sinless creation. For this reason the church that hear Gods voice and keep His commandments is called the church of the firstborn or Israel. With this symbol of the first fruit and also the firstborn, Christ redemption and recreation power is ensured. Ex. 19:5,6;Ex. 4:22;Hebr. 12:22,23 and see also Rev. 14:4. The S. Rod has it that there are first and second fruits. But a good look at the sanctuary service tells us that there is no such thing as second fruits. The priests they worked only with first fruits and that for the reason already given. The 144000, the great multitude and the dead in Christ are separate groups of which the first is counted, but all three are first fruits in Christ, because they have the same character the human being had before sin. Christ comes for a sinless and spotless church. May the Lord bless you. Roy Answer: 1. What was the first disappointment that the Rod experienced? The history of the S.Rod we know, so therefore we will not make any assumptions on this. A quick look at history tells us, that a disappointment is what shaped the Rod’s movement in the way it is today. I will not include the many splinter groups that came out of the main branch because they are quite unknown to me. I will only point at the two major ones that we know namely Mount Carmel in New York and Mount Carmel in Waco of which you are the Executive Secretary. What shall we say about the Rod believers after Houteff died? It was a painful experience for Rod believers to see the disintegration of a movement that looked unstoppable and all powerful with a prophet that had claimed that he would not die but lead the militant unto the borders of celestial glory. Preparations were already in the making and therefore the merchant, in order for him to buy the pearl of great price, had to sell everything he had. But we know the outcome of this expectancy that it was sealed with disappointment and loss of faith when it was announced that Bro. Victor Houteff had died. Time passed away and the believers were yet in their respective places but not in Jerusalem. And what followed is what I don’t want to include in this writing because it does not support the anti typical position of the Houteff experience or the typical position of Elijah. Sure, it was a disappointment and it took decades before New York made an effort to resurrect the spirit of the once so great a movement. 2. What is the detrimental doctrine of the Rod that will cause us to loose eternal life? The God that we serve is a gracious God. He does not keep us accountable for the things we do not know. As a matter of fact, in the sanctuary service provision was made for sin done in ignorance. But when the sin comes to knowledge, a particular sacrifice had to be made according to the description of Moses. For us this is a typical lesson that in the heavenly sanctuary, of which the earthly was a replica, these types of sins are also dealt with. The believer who is on earth is locked in the symbolism of the typical lesson. This school master, as how the apostle Paul calls it, guides the believer to present his case by faith in the heavenly court and no longer in Jerusalem. We realize then that every single relation that existed between the tabernacle, the nation of Israel and the land of Canaan stood symbolically for a greater reality. What was local in the Old Testament is global in the New Testament. One would ask himself: How is it that Christ died for the entire world? How is it that the Jews and the Romans only knew that He was crucified? The rest of the world was not aware of what was happening on Calvary. But yet the Messiah died for the forgiveness of sins for the entire world. Not only for the Jews and the Romans but also for the Indians, the Chinese, the South Americans etc. and places who have never seen his glory. The answer to these questions is that the nation of Israel, the land of Canaan and the tabernacle system, stood symbolically for the entire world. Now that the symbolism is completed with the crucifixion or slaughtering of the Lamb on Calvary, we are no longer under the schoolmaster in literal sense. We do not have to go literally to Jerusalem to present our cases in the sanctuary. The sanctuary is now in heaven and the land of Canaan too. “For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come .” Hebr. 13:14 Read also John 4:21-24. That God will establish a literal kingdom in Canaan (Palestina) in the end time is not Biblical. This is the doctrine from which the S.Rod has to heal. If not, it will cause the S. Rod its down fall for ever. 3. You have stated that the Rod is not complete! Do you personally know someone, or, do you know of someone else with a message to make it complete? What was literal in the Old Testament is spiritual in the New Testament. The movement that symbolizes the Branch (Christ)today does not come out of the rod but out of the root of the trunk (Isaiah 11:1). This is not one person, but a whole movement of a lot of individuals preaching the three angels-and the health messages free from a literal kingdom to be established in Palestine before Christ comes on the clouds of heaven. 4. Do you believe that the 144,000 First-Fruits (Rev. 14:1-8) comes from the SDA Church? If the SDA is the church that has the characteristics of Laodicea then the closing work for the SDA church brings forth the 144000. 5. Do you believe the Great Multitude will come in through the ministry of the 144,000 from Babylon? This teaching stands tall, it need no adjustment. If you could only realize and understand that the 144000 are the best of the Advent believers and the great multitude the best coming out of the world. They are therefore first born or first fruits yet from a different category. This phrase first fruit or first born has nothing to do with being number one it simply means the one without flaw, the best. 6. Do you still believe in the Restoration of the Kingdom? Sure. But not as how the S. Rod teaches it. There are good things in the S.Rod but certain things need adjustment and this is one of them. 7. Now that you seem to be having some new beliefs, how many more people are of the same belief as you presently? On this question I will not give any answer because it is not good to count Israel. 8. What part of the Rod do you no longer believe? Mainly the kingdom. I am not against the Rod. All I am saying is that the time for the Rod has passed another movement has taken over. We have to make adjustments and continue with the present truth of today and support the movement of SDA self supporting ministries that are preaching the three angels. I know that this is not an easy step to make. It is the same as asking the Sanhedrin to accept Christ as the Messiah. But had they done it, how different would be the history of the Jews today.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 02:34:52 +0000
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