“Why don’t you go to the people out there?” Said an angry church member. “We have the truth already! Go out there and save the lost.” There is no question that the Seventh-day Adventist denomination has the charge to go to the world and preach the gospel as commanded by our Lord. (Matthew 24:14, 28:18, 19). And there is no dispute that Christ’s injunction will be......

With over twenty million Seventh-day Adventist world-wide, the question of whether or not the 144,000 is literal or a symbolic number takes on broad implications. The standard teaching is that the number is symbolic, implying that it represents millions. Some even suggest that it is symbolic of all the saved......

“Here is wisdom,” wrote the Apostle John, “Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” Traditional Adventist teaching insists that the Papacy and its head, the Pope, is the power to bear the mystical number “666." To sustain this idea, standard teaching purports that the Leopard-like beast of Revelation 13:1 -10 is the Papacy in its entirety, and that it is the beast which will bear the satanic number and again dominate the world as it did in the dark ages.....

Will the Sea Exist in the New Earth? As Adventists, we typically teach that the sea will not exist in the new earth. This conclusion is drawn from a verse in Revelation and a statement in the Spirit of Prophecy. The Rod’s message, on the other hand, asserts that the sea will exist in the new earth. A discrepancy? As we will see, there is no real discrepancy. Let us begin by looking at the two statements in question. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” Revelation 21:1. “The sea divides friends. It is a barrier between us and those whom we love. Our associations are broken up by the broad, fathomless ocean. In the new earth will be no more sea. . . .Thank God, in the earth made new there will be no fierce torrents, no engulfing ocean, no restless, murmuring waves.” 1 These Inspired references appear clear without need of comment. But before you decide to move on, you should consider the Rod’s perspective. It is true that the issue of whether or not the sea will exist in the new earth is not a critical doctrine. It is not what some would refer to as a salvation issue. However, since it has been raised as a point of discrepancy, it seems to demand a response. Is it possible that we have misread Revelation 21:1? The weight of evidence will show that the clause, “and there was no more sea,” applies not to the first phrase about the new heavens and earth, but to the old one—the one that passed away. Let us look at it again, John wrote: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth:” why? “For” or because, “the first heaven and the first earth were passed away” and in this old heaven and earth there was no sea. In other words, we have been misreading the text applying the phrase to the new heaven and earth! Houteff put it this way: “When was there no more sea?—When the first heaven and the first earth passed away. The scriptures do not say that there shall not be any more sea in the earth made new. It simply says that ‘there was no more sea’ while the heaven and earth were in their removed state—‘passed away.’ In other words, the first part of the verse envisages a ‘new heaven and a new earth,’ whereas the last part foretells of no more sea before the ‘new heaven’ and the ‘new earth’ are made.”2 Before responding more directly to Ellen White’s statement, we should ask ourselves, why would God not have the sea in the new earth? What would be the point? “Having created the sea before the beginning of sin, then to do away with it after the extinction of sin, as some teach that He is to do, would certainly not be His restoring ‘all things,’ but rather His doing away with them, and would imply that in the beginning He made a mistake in creating the sea, thus belying His pronouncement ‘that it was good.’ Gen. 1:10. Since, moreover, the serpent, not the sea, caused Adam and Eve to sin (Gen. 3:17), and since the serpent is to be in the kingdom restored (Isa. 65:25), why, then, should God do away with the sea?” 3 But, you’re thinking, didn’t Ellen White say that there would be no more sea in the new earth? Ellen White’s Perspective The biblical evidence above clearly shows that the “no more sea” phrase applies to the old heaven and earth, not the new. It is possible that the servant of the Lord personally was not aware that the sea will exists in the new earth because that was not the common understanding of the time. But as we have said several times already, light is progressive. No one messenger, Ellen White told us, “has ever attained to a full understanding of the great plan of redemption . . . “ 4 In another reference she wrote, “we have many lessons to learn, and many, many, to unlearn.5 But whether she knew of it or not, that was not the main thrust of her statement. A closer look shows that “the sea [now],” she wrote, “divides friends.” [Bracket added]. “It is a barrier between us and those whom we love. Our associations are broken up by the broad, fathomless ocean. In the new earth there will be no more sea . . . Thank God, in the earth made new there will be no fierce torrents, no engulfing ocean, and no restless, murmuring waves.”6 You can see that Inspiration was simply making the point that friends and love ones will not be separated by the sea in the earth made new. Whether she knew or not that the sea will exist in the new earth, the fundamental truth is that it will not be a barrier to God’s people. This is certainly true. But how can that be true, you ask, if the sea exists in the new earth? Ah! This is the beauty of truth. You see, when God created the earth originally, although the sea existed, the land was one connected body. It was not disconnected or divided into continents as it is today. You will notice in Genesis that God divided the land from the waters and no mention was made of islands or continents. (Genesis 1: 10) Science now confirms this fact. Alfred Wegener, a German arctic explorer and geophysicists, first purported the idea of “continental drift.” The one continent theory became known as “Pangaea” to scientists. By the 1960s the theory had become plausible. Today, it is considered as a fact by most geologists. The science of continental drifts forms the basis for predicting earthquakes and tsunamis. We know that this present state of affairs came about as a result of the flood. So when God restores the earth, it will be as it was before the flood. Thus, in the new earth the sea will not pose a barrier between us and our loved ones. There will be no fierce, restless, torrents, because the earth will be pristine—perfect—balanced as it was in the beginning. So Ellen White is certainly correct and God will indeed restore all not some things! So that means that the sea will be in the earth made new. He said that it was good in the beginning (Genesis 1:10) and so it will be good in the new earth.

Will the Church Be Around in the Time of the Mark of the Beast? This apparently brings about a controversy since Ellen White seems to place both good and bad in the church during the time of the Mark of the Beast. Perhaps the most notable of these statements is found in the Testimonies. “The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. The mark of the beast will be urged upon us. . . . The contest is between the commandments of God and the commandments of men. In this time the gold will be separated from the dross in the church. True godliness will be clearly distinguished from the appearance and tinsel of it.”11 The issue here is, if the church with both good and bad is still around during the time of the mark of the beast, then how could they have been slaughtered? It is important that the reader keep in mind what we have already covered in this chapter, but we will add one other crucial point: The mark of the beast will begin to be urged before the judgment of Ezekiel nine. Yes, it is true that the image of the beast will be fully established after the judgment in Ezekiel nine, but we also know that the mark of the beast could be urged, although not in full, before the judgment of Ezekiel nine. Speaking about the sealing of the 144,000 and the blowing of the winds, which is figurative of the mark of the beast, “You notice here that the angels are not told to hold the winds until Ezekiel 9, has all been fulfilled, but until the servants of God are sealed. Therefore, if there is any intervening time between the close of the sealing and the slaughter of Ezekiel 9, there is a possibility that the winds [mark of the beast] could start blowing during that time. If the nations had everything ready, it would not necessarily take long to bring the trouble that is represented by the four winds.” 13 [Brackets added] Thus Ellen White’s statement is correct. The church can be around with good and bad during the early stage or urging of the mark of the beast, and it is then that it will be purified by the judgment described in Ezekiel Nine–the time when the “gold will be separated from the dross in the church.” That is, we may have a Sunday law(s) before the fulfillment of Ezekiel nine. However, this does not negate the abundance of evidence that the church will be purified before the mark of the beast or Sunday laws are fully enforced.