Standing Together in These End Times

Two months ago I began my 54th year of service for the Seventh-day Adventist Church and am midway through my 15th year of service as God’s leader for the Carolinas. As I have seen the tide of the great conflict between good and evil unfold in various corners of God’s vineyard of the Carolinas, I am reminded of a sobering message in the words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Matthew:

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven.”—Matthew 5:11–12, KJV

Jesus was not promising His followers a life free from criticism, misunderstanding, false accusations, or persecution. Quite the opposite. He warned us that such things would come.

And as we approach the closing scenes of earth’s history, we should not be surprised when the enemy works with increasing intensity to discourage God’s people, damage relationships, create suspicion, and bring division into the church. Satan has always understood something that we sometimes forget: a divided church is a weakened church.

Jesus said it plainly: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.” —Matthew 12:25. The principle is unmistakable. Division destroys our strength. Ellen White expressed this same truth with remarkable clarity: “Union is strength; division is weakness.” —Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 236.

She continued by warning that Satan is determined to make the truth of God ineffective by creating “bitterness and dissension among the Lord’s people” (ibid.). That warning deserves our attention today.

The devil does not always attack the church from the outside. Sometimes his most effective strategy is to get God’s people fighting among themselves. He can use misunderstandings, wounded feelings, accusations, rumors, mistrust, personality differences, disagreements over decisions, and even legitimate concerns that are handled in an un-Christlike manner.

Sadly, there are publications both outside and within the Seventh-day Adventist Church and social media outlets that appear to have as their primary mission that of attacking and tearing apart the church that belongs to Christ. God’s messenger once again reminds us on page 15 of the book entitled Gospel Workers: “I testify to my brethren and sisters that the church of Christ, enfeebled and defective as it may be, is the only object on earth on which He bestows His supreme regard.”

The church can be “enfeebled and defective,” but it is still the object of Christ's supreme regard. Its imperfections do not give us permission to abandon, despise, or destroy it. Rather, they create a greater need for counsel, spiritual revival, unity, and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.

On the night before Calvary, Jesus prayed one of the most beautiful prayers in Scripture. He was not merely praying for the disciples who were gathered around Him. He was praying for all who would believe in Him through their testimony—including us.

Jesus prayed: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.” —John 17:20–21

And then He gave the reason for that unity: “That the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” —John 17:21. Think about the significance of that prayer.

Our unity is part of our witness. Jesus understood that the world would be watching His followers. He knew that our relationships with one another would either strengthen or weaken the credibility of our message. That is why unity is not merely an administrative concern. It is a spiritual and evangelistic concern.

When God’s people love one another, forgive one another, pray for one another, and work together for the salvation of souls, the world sees something supernatural.

But when Christians constantly attack one another, publicly criticize one another, assume the worst motives of one another, or allow disagreements to become personal battles, we obscure the very character of Christ whom we claim to represent.

So let us stand together—not around personalities, positions, or preferences—but around Jesus Christ, His Word, His mission, and His soon return. For “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” Our nation’s 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, understood the power of those words and used them with his committed energy and life for the preservation of our nation through the conflict of a horrible Civil War. That resolve and courage brought us to this year, in which America celebrated its 250th anniversary as one nation—the United States of America.

We, as the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a people united in Christ, walking in love and filled with the Holy Spirit, can become a powerful witness to a world that desperately needs to see Jesus.

May this remnant church of Christ press together. May we love one another. May we guard the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And may our lives proclaim, until Jesus comes, that Christ is indeed Lord.

Pastor Leslie D. Louis

A servant leader for the Lord