Crossroads

One voice

Different witnesses. One testimony.

Moses saw it:

“And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.”

— Exodus 24:3, KJV

Paul saw it again:

“That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

— Romans 15:6, KJV

That is the sound of the Advent pioneers when their testimony is laid together.

Millerthunders prophecy. Fitchcries, “COME OUT OF HER.” Batesraises the Sabbath and sealing message. Andrewsopens the Scriptures like a sword. James Whitehammers Present Truth through the press. Ellen Whitepoints through the open door into the Most Holy Place.

Different instruments. One trumpet.
Different witnesses. One testimony.
One command: GO FORWARD.

1517 · The unfinished Reformation

“The Reformers stopped reforming.”

The story begins long before 1844. For centuries the professed Christian world staggered beneath accumulated tradition. Then came the Protestant Reformation. The Bible was torn from the chains of ecclesiastical control. Luther stood before princes and councils. The Scriptures began speaking again.

But James White looked back upon the Reformation and drove his hammer into the unfinished wall:

“The ‘mystery of iniquity’ began to work in the church in Paul’s day. It finally crowded out the simplicity of the gospel, and corrupted the doctrine of Christ, and the church went into the wilderness. Martin Luther, and other reformers, arose in the strength of God, and with the Word and Spirit, made mighty strides in the Reformation. The greatest fault we can find in the Reformation is, the Reformers stopped reforming.”

Then he struck again:

“Had they gone on, and onward, till they had left the last vestige of Papacy behind, such as natural immortality, sprinkling, the trinity, and Sunday-keeping, the church would now be free from her unscriptural errors.”

— James White, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, February 7, 1856, p. 148

There is the wound. THE REFORMERS STOPPED REFORMING.

They broke chains. They opened doors. They recovered mighty truths. And yet the Reformation still had miles to travel. The fourth commandment still lay trampled beneath Sunday tradition. God had spoken ten commandments. The Protestant world was living as though heaven had spoken nine. But prophecy was about to strike the clock.

1798 · The hinge of history

The 1260 years close. Daniel opens.

Ellen White places the marker with unmistakable force:

“The ‘man of sin,’ which is also styled ‘the mystery of iniquity,’ ‘the son of perdition,’ and ‘that wicked,’ represents the papacy, which, as foretold in prophecy, was to maintain its supremacy for 1260 years. This period ended in 1798. The coming of Christ could not take place before that time. Paul covers with his caution the whole of the Christian dispensation down to the year 1798. It is this side of that time that the message of Christ’s second coming is to be proclaimed.”

— The Great Controversy, p. 356.1

“But since 1798 the book of Daniel has been unsealed, knowledge of the prophecies has increased, and many have proclaimed the solemn message of the judgment near.”

— Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 356.2

There stands the hinge of history. The 1260 years close. Daniel opens. The time of the end begins unfolding. The judgment message rises. The unfinished Reformation takes fire again. And soon William Miller is standing with an open Bible announcing: “THE HOUR OF HIS JUDGMENT IS COME.”

1840–1844 · The first and second angels

Come out, and keep moving.

From approximately 1840 to 1843 the First Angel’s Message shook the Protestant churches. Then came the Second Angel: “BABYLON IS FALLEN.” James White remembered the scene because he lived it:

“The first message was to the churches, from about 1840 to 1843; and the second angel ‘followed,’ therefore the message—‘Babylon is fallen’—‘Come out of her my people’ was in 1844.—We heard it with our ears, our voices proclaimed it, and our whole being felt its power, and with our eyes we saw its effect, as the oppressed people of God burst the bands that bound them to the various sects, and made their escape from Babylon.”

— James White, The Present Truth, vol. 1, no. 9, April 1850, p. 66

They burst the bands. They came out. They escaped the sectarian machinery that resisted advancing light. James White explained in the same article that if they had stayed “bound down by ministers and creeds, the glorious light of the Holy Sabbath never would have reached us.” Heaven called them out because heaven had more truth to reveal.

COME OUT, AND KEEP MOVING.

October 22, 1844 · The Red Sea

Egypt behind. An impossible sea before.

The Advent movement reached its Red Sea. Christ did not appear in the clouds as they expected. The day passed. The sun went down. Hope seemed crushed. Mockers laughed. Many turned back. Ellen White later wrote:

“The history of ancient Israel is a striking illustration of the past experience of the Adventist body. God led His people in the advent movement, even as He led the children of Israel from Egypt. In the great disappointment their faith was tested as was that of the Hebrews at the Red Sea.”

— Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 457.2

And the ancient command rang again: GO FORWARD. The sea opened. And the Advent movement discovered that the prophetic road had gone upward.

The heavenly sanctuary opened

The ark came into view.

Christ had entered upon His heavenly ministry. The Most Holy Place came into view. The ark came into view. The Ten Commandments came into view. And in the heart of that law stood the commandment that centuries of tradition had obscured:

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

— Exodus 20:8, KJV

The Reformation had reached another door. Luther had recovered mighty gospel truth. The Advent pioneers now stood before the ark itself: the whole law, all ten commandments, the Sabbath, the judgment, the sanctuary, the sealing work, the faith of Jesus. The Reformation was moving again.

The third angel

HOLD FAST. GO FORWARD.

James White tells us what the Third Angel means. His language is scorching:

“The third angel’s message was, and still is, a WARNING to the saints to ‘hold fast,’ and not go back, and ‘receive’ the marks which the virgin band got rid of, during the second angel’s cry.”

— James White, A Word to the “Little Flock,” 1847, p. 11

There is the Third Angel standing like a sentry in the road. The pioneers had cast away the marks of the old systems during the Second Angel’s cry. The Third Angel tells them to keep advancing: finish the Reformation, restore the whole law, stand upon the sanctuary, keep the Sabbath, keep the faith of Jesus. Revelation describes the people produced by that message:

“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”

— Revelation 14:12, KJV

ALL TEN. The whole law. The faith of Jesus. The commandments written upon the heart.

The sanctuary becomes life

Christ above as High Priest. Christ within by His Spirit.

Jesus said:

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”

— John 16:7, KJV

Then Christ prayed:

“And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”

— John 17:5, KJV

John gives the key:

“(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”

— John 7:39, KJV

Christ died. Christ arose. Christ ascended. Christ was glorified with His Father. Then the river began to flow. Jesus had promised:

“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”

— John 14:18, KJV

Paul tells us how:

“And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”

— Galatians 4:6, KJV

And what happens when the Spirit of the Son enters?

“…written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”

— 2 Corinthians 3:3, KJV

There it is. The law in the ark above, written into living hearts below.

CHRIST ABOVE AS HIGH PRIEST. CHRIST WITHIN BY HIS SPIRIT. THE LAW OF GOD WRITTEN UPON FLESHY TABLES OF THE HEART.
That is the blazing hope of the sanctuary.

1892 · The Loud Cry begins

“The loud cry … has already begun.”

Then history reaches 1892. Ellen White announces that another mighty movement has already begun:

“The time of test is just upon us, for the loud cry of the third angel has already begun in the revelation of the righteousness of Christ, the sin-pardoning Redeemer. This is the beginning of the light of the angel whose glory shall fill the whole earth.”

— Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, November 22, 1892 (Selected Messages, book 1, p. 362.4)

And where does it begin? “In the revelation of the righteousness of Christ.” Christ, the sin-pardoning Redeemer. Christ within. Christ’s righteousness. Christ’s character manifested in His people. The law written in the heart. The Third Angel begins swelling into the Loud Cry. The earth is moving toward the glory of Revelation 18.

Jordan

The Red Sea carried Israel out. Jordan carried Israel in.

So the Advent movement cannot live forever on the testimony that its fathers came out in 1844. Heaven calls for entrance: entrance into the Most Holy Place by faith, into the New Covenant experience, into the sealing, into Christ formed within, into the preparation of the 144,000, and toward heavenly Canaan.

Jericho

Carry the ark. Sound the trumpets. March.

Immediately after Jordan stood Jericho: a fortified city with walls so massive they seemed permanent. Human structure. Human security. Human confidence stacked stone upon stone. And God gave Israel a battle plan that looked foolish to earthly wisdom. Ellen White describes the procession:

“Seven priests with trumpets followed. Then the ark of God, surrounded by a halo of divine glory, was borne by priests…”

— Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 488

And towering before them: the walls. Then Joshua declared:

“…when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat…”

— Joshua 6:5, KJV

The ark circled Jericho. The trumpets sounded. The people gave the shout. And the walls fell.

Achan’s Sin and Punishment 3T 263

“God had specially guarded His people against mingling with the idolatrous nations around them, lest their hearts should be deceived by the attractive groves and shrines, temples and altars, which were arranged in the most expensive, alluring manner to pervert the senses so that God would be supplanted in the minds of the people.” 3T 263.2

“The city of Jericho was devoted to the most extravagant idolatry. The inhabitants were very wealthy, but all the riches that God had given them they counted as the gift of their gods. They had gold and silver in abundance; but, like the people before the Flood, they were corrupt and blasphemous, and insulted and provoked the God of heaven by their wicked works. God’s judgments were awakened against Jericho. It was a stronghold. But the Captain of the Lord’s host Himself came from heaven to lead the armies of heaven in an attack upon the city. Angels of God laid hold of the massive walls and brought them to the ground. God had said that the city of Jericho should be accursed and that all should perish except Rahab and her household. These should be saved because of the favor that Rahab showed the messengers of the Lord. The word of the Lord to the people was: ‘And ye, in anywise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.’ ‘And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.’” 3T 264.1

“God was very particular in regard to Jericho, lest the people should be charmed with the things that the inhabitants had worshiped and their hearts be diverted from God. He guarded His people by most positive commands; yet notwithstanding the solemn injunction from God by the mouth of Joshua, Achan ventured to transgress. His covetousness led him to take of the treasures that God had forbidden him to touch because the curse of God was upon them. And because of this man’s sin the Israel of God were as weak as water before their enemies.” 3T 264.2

“Joshua and the elders of Israel were in great affliction. They lay before the ark of God in most abject humility because the Lord was wroth with His people. They prayed and wept before God. The Lord spoke to Joshua: ‘Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.’” 3T 264.3

— Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, pp. 263–264 (first published in Testimony for the Church No. 23, 1873)

Jericho’s Wealth, Then and Now

“The inhabitants were very wealthy.”

Read Jericho again, and set it beside the 501(c)(3) General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and its worldwide empire of corporations. Ellen White says Jericho was “very wealthy,” with “gold and silver in abundance,” yet “all the riches that God had given them they counted as the gift of their gods” (3T 264.1).

The modern walls are made of corporations. Adventist-named hospital systems, universities, agencies, and foundations file IRS Form 990 returns. Those returns are the public data shown on Candid’s GuideStar.

Sum of each organization’s latest IRS Form 990, retrieved 2026-09-26 from ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer (the same IRS data Candid/GuideStar publishes). Churches, conferences, unions, divisions, and the General Conference itself are not required to file Form 990. They are not in this total, so the full empire is larger.

Jericho counted God’s gifts as the gift of her gods. The pioneers received a platform of truth between 1840 and 1850: the Sabbath, the sanctuary, the Father and His Son, and the three angels’ messages. The question is whether the corporation now holding their name has rejected that truth while its wealth has grown.

“In amazement they hear the testimony that Babylon is the church, fallen because of her errors and sins, because of her rejection of the truth sent to her from heaven.”

“In every generation God has sent His servants to rebuke sin, both in the world and in the church. But the people desire smooth things spoken to them, and the pure, unvarnished truth is not acceptable. Many reformers, in entering upon their work, determined to exercise great prudence in attacking the sins of the church and the nation. They hoped, by the example of a pure Christian life, to lead the people back to the doctrines of the Bible. But the Spirit of God came upon them as it came upon Elijah, moving him to rebuke the sins of a wicked king and an apostate people; they could not refrain from preaching the plain utterances of the Bible—doctrines which they had been reluctant to present. They were impelled to zealously declare the truth and the danger which threatened souls. The words which the Lord gave them they uttered, fearless of consequences, and the people were compelled to hear the warning.” GC 606.1

“Thus the message of the third angel will be proclaimed. As the time comes for it to be given with greatest power, the Lord will work through humble instruments, leading the minds of those who consecrate themselves to His service. The laborers will be qualified rather by the unction of His Spirit than by the training of literary institutions. Men of faith and prayer will be constrained to go forth with holy zeal, declaring the words which God gives them. The sins of Babylon will be laid open. The fearful results of enforcing the observances of the church by civil authority, the inroads of spiritualism, the stealthy but rapid progress of the papal power—all will be unmasked. By these solemn warnings the people will be stirred. Thousands upon thousands will listen who have never heard words like these. In amazement they hear the testimony that Babylon is the church, fallen because of her errors and sins, because of her rejection of the truth sent to her from heaven. As the people go to their former teachers with the eager inquiry, Are these things so? the ministers present fables, prophesy smooth things, to soothe their fears and quiet the awakened conscience. But since many refuse to be satisfied with the mere authority of men and demand a plain ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ the popular ministry, like the Pharisees of old, filled with anger as their authority is questioned, will denounce the message as of Satan and stir up the sin-loving multitudes to revile and persecute those who proclaim it.” GC 606.2

— Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, chapter 38, “The Final Warning,” p. 606

This is the compelling warning of the final hour, and the chapter it comes from says much more. Read it in full.

Rebuilding the Accursed City

Hiel Rebuilt Jericho—and Joshua’s Warning Came to Pass

Who rebuilt Jericho after God cursed it? It was Hiel the Bethelite. He rebuilt Jericho during King Ahab’s reign. The KJV says he laid its foundation “in Abiram his firstborn” and set up its gates “in his youngest son Segub” (1 Kings 16:34). This fulfilled the curse Joshua had pronounced in Joshua 6:26.

When Jericho’s walls fell, Joshua declared before Israel: “Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho” (Joshua 6:26, KJV). The warning named the cost: his firstborn at the foundation and his youngest at the gates.

“In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.”

— 1 Kings 16:34, KJV

During Ahab’s reign, Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho. Scripture names his sons: Abiram at the laying of the foundation and Segub at the setting up of the gates. The king’s apostasy had grown so deep that Joshua’s solemn warning carried no weight.

“The people of Israel had gradually lost their fear and reverence for God until His word through Joshua had no weight with them.”

— Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 273.1

“But in the days of Ahab’s apostasy, when through Jezebel’s influence the worship of Ashtoreth was revived, Jericho, the ancient seat of this worship, was rebuilt, though at a fearful cost to the builder.”

— Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 230.1

The lesson is plain: a generation may cease to fear a warning from God, but its neglect cannot make His word fail.

Babylon’s crowning sin

Ellen White wrote many related warnings about false worship, taking credit for God’s gifts, and withholding glory from Him. They do not name Babylon’s “crowning sin” in so many words, but they describe the same heart:

1. “These they ascribed to the favor of their gods.”Testimonies, vol. 3, p. 262.3
2. “The benefits which God gave to this people called forth from them no gratitude to the Giver.”Testimonies, vol. 3, p. 262.3
3. “All the blessings they enjoy have been ascribed to nature and to their gods.”Signs of the Times, Dec. 18, 1884, par. 6
4. “Their worshipers had ascribed to them praise and honor for all the bounties bestowed by the mercy and love of God.”Signs of the Times, May 19, 1881, par. 17
5. “The apostate tribes of Israel were to be shown the folly of trusting to the power of Baal for temporal blessings.”Prophets and Kings, p. 120.1
6. “Thus the glory of the victory was ascribed to the power of these false gods, and the name of Jehovah was dishonored.”Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 682.3
7. “They act as if they had created themselves and their blessings.”The Present Truth (UK), Sept. 14, 1899, par. 7
8. “His name only should be glorified.”Counsels on Stewardship, p. 111.3
9. “No credit belongs to us; Christ did it all, and to his name be all the glory.”Signs of the Times, Nov. 7, 1895, par. 6

Revelation 18

“Corruptions which have been entering the churches since 1844.”

James White wrote that this final message would call out the 144,000 in preparation for Christ’s coming. Then Ellen White gives the explosive addition:

“The message of the fall of Babylon, as given by the second angel, is repeated, with the additional mention of the corruptions which have been entering the churches since 1844.”

— Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts, vol. 1; later Early Writings, p. 277.1

The Loud Cry reaches back to the Second Angel, and then thunders over everything that accumulated afterward. It remembers what the pioneers came out of. It exposes what entered after 1844. It lifts Christ. It restores the commandments. It sounds the trumpet. And it cries:

“COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE.”

April 15, 1904

The walls before Canaan

On April 15, 1904, the General Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists was incorporated in Washington, D.C. In this prophetic picture, Jericho represents the 501(c)(3) General Conference Seventh-day Adventist Church corporate structure, standing as a fortified institutional system before the final entrance into Canaan.

There are the walls: corporate machinery, legal structure, institutional authority, religious bureaucracy, policies, boards, committees, assets, centralized machinery. A massive earthly structure rising where the original Advent movement once stood as a scattered people following advancing light. And Ellen White had already warned of a structure whose foundation would fail:

“Their foundation would be built on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure.”

— Ellen G. White, Letter 242, 1903, par. 13 (Selected Messages, book 1, p. 204.2)

The prophetic picture is fierce. The 144,000 stand around Jericho. The ark is with them. The commandments are with them. The sanctuary message is with them. The trumpets are in their hands. The Loud Cry is in their mouths. The righteousness of Christ is their covering. The Spirit of the Son is in their hearts. And the final cry goes everywhere: COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE.

The whole road

From 1517 to the New Jerusalem

1. The Protestant Reformation begins. James White cries: “THE REFORMERS STOPPED REFORMING.”
2. 1798. The 1260 years close. Daniel opens. The time of the end unfolds. The judgment proclamation rises.
3. 1840–1844. The First Angel. The Second Angel. The people burst the bands of the sects.
4. October 22, 1844. The Red Sea. The heavenly sanctuary opens. The ark appears. The whole law appears. The seventh-day Sabbath blazes again.
5. The Third Angel cries: HOLD FAST. The Spirit of the Son enters the heart. The law is written upon fleshy tables.
6. 1892. “THE LOUD CRY … HAS ALREADY BEGUN.” The righteousness of Christ rises like the dawn.
7. April 25, 1980. The worship of false gods is made official. At the Dallas General Conference Session, the 501(c)(3) General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists voted a statement of Fundamental Beliefs with Belief No. 2 headed “The Trinity.” This is the same doctrine James White named among the vestiges of the Papacy the Reformers left behind. Like Jericho, which counted all the riches God had given as “the gift of their gods,” the corporation grew rich while turning from the God of the pioneers. Dallas, April 25, 1980Read the 1980 Trinity Vote Record →Jericho’s WealthSee the Corporate Empire →
8. Jordan appears. Canaan lies beyond. And Jericho stands before the people.
9. Around it marches the final company: the ark, the commandments, the sanctuary, the Sabbath, the faith of Jesus, the righteousness of Christ, the sealing message, the 144,000, the trumpets, the Loud Cry.
10. Revelation 18 thunders: BABYLON THE GREAT IS FALLEN. COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE. The walls fall. Canaan opens.

And beyond Canaan shines the city Abraham looked for: the New Jerusalem. The city of God. The Bride. The foundations of precious stones. The river of life. The tree of life. The throne of God and of the Lamb. And a people who have followed the Lamb all the way home.

“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

— Revelation 21:2, KJV

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