President's Message
No Time For Business As Usual
While visiting New York City in 1901, Ellen White had a vision in the night during which she was "called upon to behold buildings rising story after story toward heaven." As the scene unfolded before her, she saw an "alarm of fire. Men looked at the lofty and supposedly fireproof buildings and said: 'They are perfectly safe.' But these buildings were consumed as if made of pitch." The vision is recorded in volume 9, page 11, of Testimonies for the Church. (Think 9/11, when the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed into dust after being hit by two airliners.)
In the same chapter, she writes, “The agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis.” (Notice it's the last great crisis.) “Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones.”
Later that same year, she wrote, "Even before the last great destruction comes upon the world, the flattering monuments of man's greatness will be crumbled in the dust. God's retributive judgments will fall on those who in the face of great light have continued in sin" (Signs of the Times, Oct. 9, 1901).
After the destruction, she foresaw a time when those holding the reins of government will “struggle in vain to place business operations on a more secure basis.” She further saw a period of time when the "world is stirred with the spirit of war... Soon the scenes of trouble spoken of in the prophecies [of Daniel] will take place" (9 Testimonies, pp. 11-14).
The rapid destruction by fire of buildings and land that we have experienced since 9/11, along with the many tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, nuclear disasters and financial meltdowns, lead me to believe that we have entered "The Last Crisis," which, by the way, is the subtitle for the section of the Testimonies volume 9 that contains these prophecies.
It is time for God’s people to act. If the agencies of evil are consolidating their forces, then so must we—except that our forces are centered in One, even Christ Jesus.
“Divine power and the human agency combined will be a complete success, for Christ’s righteousness accomplishes everything. The reason so many fail to be successful laborers is that they act as though God depended on them...in the place of their depending on God. They lay aside the supernatural power and fail to do the supernatural work” (Faith and Works, p. 26-27).
What would we dare to attempt if we really believed in that potential? It can’t be business as usual. We can no longer excuse ourselves by saying, “We are only human and can only do a limited work." If we are only human, we are not Christians, for Christians are partakers of Christ’s divine nature. Jesus, speaking as our Representative, said, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore...”.
When every ministry, every department, and every member of ASI goes armed with Christ as their righteousness, then would they go forth to meet the enemy “conquering, and to conquer,” “fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners” (Revelation 6:2; Song of Solomon 6:10).
Frank Fournier, President
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