Heraldo Lopes
People who accept Christ and become members of the church sometimes ask themselves: Why do people abandon the gospel? How can they be so weak? Why do they even become enemies of the church? Is there a prophetic explanation to describe this picture?
Yes. We call it the “shaking,” which is a spiritual process that is happening in the church of God that will increase in intensity until the door of grace closes. In it, straw and dirt come out, but the grain remains. The unbeliever will go out into the world to follow false teachings, but the faithful will remain in the church.
In this article, we will learn about the causes, characteristics, and consequences of the “shaking.” See what Amos 9:9 says: “For surely I will command, and will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve; yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.” In it, the straw and the dirt comes out, but the grain remains. By keeping that simple concept in mind and studying the Scriptures, we will not be deceived: the straw and the dirt come out, but the grain remains.
Confirming what Amos said, Jesus says in Matthew 13:24-30 that the wheat and the tares will grow together, but let us pay attention to verse 30: “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” (italics added).
Note that in this parable, the tares are separated from the wheat. And this is what Jesus emphasized when He mentioned: “Gather the tares first.” Jesus confirmed that the tares would come out, and the grain would remain. Ellen G. White reaffirmed this: “True, there are tares with the wheat; but Christ said He would send His angels to first gather the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into the garner.”1
“I saw that we are now in the shaking time.”2
It will come, but it has already started. “Just as soon as the people of God are sealed in their foreheads—it is not any seal or mark that can be seen, but a settling into the truth, both intellectually and spiritually, so they cannot be moved—just as soon as God’s people are sealed and prepared for the shaking, it will come. Indeed, it has begun already.”3
Thus, the shaking has already started; it increases in intensity until the great final shaking, which will occur around the time of the Sunday Law.
The Causes of the Shaking
We can mention at least six causes for the shaking:
First cause: the truth.4
Second cause: persecution.5
Third cause: suffering.6
Fourth cause: the rejection of the testimony of the true witness. “I asked the meaning of the shaking I had seen, and was shown that it would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans.”7
Who are the Laodiceans? Ellen G. White makes this clear:
The Laodicean message applies to the people of God who profess to believe present truth. The greater part are lukewarm professors, having a name but no zeal… . The term “lukewarm” is applicable to this class. They profess to love the truth, yet are deficient in Christian fervor and devotion.8
Fifth cause of shaking: false theories.
“I have been shown that the false theories advanced in the past have by no means been given up. As favorable opportunities come, they will have a resurrection.”9
Every day, new groups, ministries, institutes, centers, and other institutions appear, calling themselves reformers, with an appearance of wanting to help the church carry out its mission. When they begin to present their doctrine, they slowly begin to mix truth with error to deceive as many people as possible.
Do not be deceived. To deceive Adventists, the devil’s agents will never appear careless, dressed indecently or loosely, and eat everything. They appear in decent, conservative clothes, are vegetarian, and have the Spirit of Prophecy under their arms. That is what God wants His people to be. But after gaining the confidence of the brothers, they begin to spread their false teachings.
Our daily fellowship should increasingly emphasize our attachment to Christ and His church. We are a prophetic movement with a special, clear, and distinctive message from all other religious groups. Our distinctive pillars are based on the Word of God and the prophetic message. We cannot change or alter anything, and our commitment must be to the truth only.
Some truths in our set of beliefs have come under terrible attack. These attacks are based on deception disguised as “truth,” orchestrated by the father of lies, who falsely uses God’s Word. These diabolical actions will become more and more emphasized in the last moments of this world’s history.
Be very careful with the thought that if the person is sincere in his theory, that is enough. See what Ellen G. White says: “Without sincerity there is no true religion, but sincerity in a false religion will never save a man. I may be perfectly sincere in following a wrong road, but that will not make it the right road, or bring me to the place I wished to reach.”10
Sixth cause of shaking: satanic deceptions.
• Supernatural and spiritualists: “The light given me has been very forcible that many would go out from us, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.”11
• Miracles: “God’s people will not find their safety in working miracles, for Satan will counterfeit the miracles that will be wrought.”12
Ellen G. White mentions six specific types of people who will leave our flock:
• “Many a star that we have admired for its brilliancy will then go out in darkness.”13
• “Men of talent and pleasing address;”14
• “Entire families;”15
• Entire groups;16
• The non-sanctified;17
• Those who accept false theories.
“When the shaking comes, by the introduction of false theories, these surface readers, anchored nowhere, are like shifting sand. They slide into any position to suit the tenor of their feelings of bitterness.”18
Each of us should worry about the big question: Am I a tare or wheat within the church? Am I preparing to stay or distance myself from the people of God? Remember: apostasy does not begin when you transgress the Sabbath or stop worshiping God with the faithful and systematic return of tithes and offerings. This is already an advanced process of removal.
Apostasy begins when any secular activity is prioritized over communion with God—when obedience to Him is put in the background. God ought to be the first because He is the only and the best remedy against apostasy. What goes beyond this is deceit that slowly drives people away from the gospel.
With that in mind, here is a message of divine origin for each of us:
Closely examine your own heart as in the light of eternity. Hide nothing from your examination. Search, oh! search, as for your life, and condemn yourself, pass judgment upon yourself, and then by faith claim the cleansing blood of Christ to remove the stains from your Christian character. Do not flatter or excuse yourself. Deal truly with your own soul. And then as you view yourself a sinner, fall, all broken, at the foot of the cross. Jesus will receive you, all polluted as you are, and will wash you in His blood, and cleanse you from all pollution, and make you fit for the society of heavenly angels, in pure, harmonious heaven. There is no jar, no discord, there. All is health, happiness, and joy.19
How many will leave?
• “A large class denounced;”20
• “A larger proportion than we now anticipate;”21
• “Crowds.”22
What will those who go out do?
• They will form “new parties of professed believers.”23
Prophecy is being fulfilled! With the most different labels, these new groups started to call themselves: “School of Missionaries,” “Institute of Education and Health,” “Evangelization Center,” “Ministry of Angels,” “Adventists of History,” and many others. They found independent movements and, with their cover of sanctity, started with internet sites, books, DVDs, pamphlets, leaflets, congresses, seminars, etc.
These groups start subtly so as not to frighten others; then they act explicitly. They spread gossip, suspicion, and slander. They defame others, sowing disunity, disengagement, and rebellion because they have a sense of superiority and, regardless of the ideas they propagate, they have some fundamental points in common.
First, they begin by saying that the church is in apostasy and that they are the remnant people. In other words, a “remnant of the remnant,” which is an idea contrary to the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. Ellen G. White said clearly that this idea “pleases the Enemy.”
The leaders of these breakaway groups earn the people’s trust. Eventually, they request tithes and offerings to use in their projects; they establish new organizations. And they end up showing that, in the end, what they want is money. So, let us not be deceived. Whatever is of God, the church will support. But what is not of God, the church will clearly say that it is not of God and will not support it. The Adventist Church wants and supports what comes from God to add to the preaching of the gospel. But what comes to bring false teachings will not have her support because it is not of a divine origin.
They will be traitors and accuse us in the courts.24 They will teach that those who support the church cannot be trusted.25 They will pose themselves as victims, persecuted, and “this martyr-like appearance” to deceive the church members since they are the ones who really are the traitors and persecutors.26
Another question that arises is whether other people will appear to fulfill the mission given. This issue already existed in the time of the pioneers. See the answer given to this type of idea:
You will take passages in the Testimonies that speak of the close of probation, of the shaking among God’s people, and you will talk of a coming out from this people of a purer, holier people that will arise. Now all this pleases the enemy… . Should many accept the views you advance, and talk and act upon them, we would see one of the greatest fanatical excitements that has ever been witnessed among Seventh-day Adventists. This is what Satan wants.27
It means that there will be no remnant of the remnant. This idea comes from the devil. The remnant is purified by shaking. The straw and the dirt will come out. The grain will remain.
• It will not fall. “The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out—the chaff separated from the precious wheat.”28
• It will not decrease. “The ranks will not be diminished. Those who are firm and true will close up the vacancies that are made by those who become offended and apostatize …”29
• It will not be divided.
I know that the Lord loves His church. It is not to be disorganized or broken up into independent atoms. There is not the least consistency in this; there is not the least evidence that such a thing will be. Those who shall heed this false message and try to leaven others will be deceived and prepared to receive advanced delusions, and they will come to nought.30
• It will prevail. Christ Himself said that “the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). The church is the supreme object of God’s care on earth. She is compared as the apple of God’s eye, as the Lamb’s bride, pillar and bastion of truth, and so many other precious metaphors.
• It will keep a steadfast spirit. “At this time we must gather warmth from the coldness of others, courage from their cowardice, and loyalty from their treason.”31
• You will be more zealous for the mission.
We are in the shaking time, the time when everything that can be shaken will be shaken. The Lord will not excuse those who know the truth if they do not in word and deed obey His commands. If we make no effort to win souls to Christ we shall be held responsible for the work we might have done, but did not do because of our spiritual indolence. Those who belong to the Lord’s kingdom must work earnestly for the saving of souls.32
• Many will return;33
• Crowds, in large numbers;34
• Entire groups.35
• Personal purification;36
• Purification of the church.
A corrupt people has arisen who could not live with the people of God. They despised reproof, and would not be corrected. They had an opportunity to know that theirs was an unrighteous warfare. They had time to repent of their wrongs; but self was too dear to die… . We all have reason to thank God that a way has been opened to save the church; for the wrath of God must have come upon us if these corrupt pretenders had remained with us.37
After all the steps in the Church Manual have been completed, the names of those who insist on staying with false theories or in worldly life need to be removed from the membership of the church. It is sad but necessary.
The faithful ones are those who are alive through fellowship and obedience and active in the mission. The psalmist asked: “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully” (Ps. 24:3-4).
Those who maintain the habit of daily fellowship and obedience to God from the first to the last hour of each day will indeed remain firm in Christ. Communion and obedience will lead you to the mission. The earth will be illuminated through the fearless missionaries who will carry the truth in their hearts and proclaim it in many ways.
Among these truths, we highlight the most distinctive ones for God’s remnant people: salvation by grace, through faith, for sanctification, the mortality of the soul, the perpetuity of the law of God, the Sabbath as the Lord’s Day, the investigative judgment in progress at the heavenly sanctuary, and the literal and imminent return of Christ.
These are some of the truths that will be proclaimed:
• The Trinity, including the divinity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit (John 1:1; Heb 10:15-16).
• That Jesus, besides being divine, is also completely human, but without any tendency to sin (Heb. 4:15; 1 John 3:5).
• That every human being is a sinner by nature and is born with a tendency to sin (Ps. 51:5; Rom 5:12). We cannot be confused with the certainty that in Christ we can and must overcome sins (1 John 5:4), but that victory over sins is only possible by the power of the Holy Spirit since our sinful nature will be removed only in glorification at Jesus’ second coming.
• That God inspired the biblical writers and preserved the Scriptures so that His teachings would reach us in an unchanged and unadulterated manner (1 Pet. 1:19-21).
• That God gave the prophetic gift to Ellen G. White, a characteristic of the remnant church (Rev. 12:17; 19:10).
• That the Adventist Church is the remnant church of Bible prophecy and will remain firm until the end by the grace of God.38
• That tithes and offerings are to be returned to God in the remnant church, as they were established by Him, and only He can determine their destiny (Mal. 3:10).
• That only through habitual and daily communion with God is it possible to receive power to obey God. It is Christ who grants the power of the Holy Spirit so that the believer may live in a dignified manner: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).
• When the believer does not take time for daily communion with God and does not obey Him in all aspects of life, he enters the process of apostasy. A day without God is a useless day: “Every day passed in which Christ is refused admittance to the soul, is a day lost.”39
• Good news of assurance. Finally, a prophecy is being fulfilled! According to Ellen G. White, “The time has come when everything that can be shaken will be shaken. We are in the shaking time.”40
• Good news of victory. “Satan is well aware that the weakest soul who abides in Christ is more than a match for the hosts of darkness.”41
• Good news of hope.
I was shown the saints’ reward, the immortal inheritance. Then I was shown how much God’s people had endured for the truth’s sake, and that they would count heaven cheap enough. They reckoned that the sufferings of this present time were not worthy to be compared with the glory which should be revealed in them.42
It is true that these last days are difficult, as Paul said. On the other hand, our salvation has never been closer than it is now. Do we need a better motivation than this: to live from the first to the last hour of each day in the presence of Christ? Seeking Him every day, living the truth that we know, and witnessing to those who do not yet know Him will ensure us a place in the fold of the Good Shepherd.
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1 Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 2, 68, italics added.
2 Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, 429.
3 Ellen G. White, Last Day Events, 219.
4 Ellen G. White, Early Writings, 50.
5 Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, 608.
6 Ellen G. White, Manuscript Releases, vol. 20, 285.
7 White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, 181.
8 Ibid., vol. 1, 429.
9 Ellen G. White, Christian Experience and Teachings, 81.
10 White, Selected Messages, book 2, 56.
11 Ibid., 392.
12 White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, 16.
13 Ibid., vol. 5, 81.
14 White, The Great Controversy, 608.
15 Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 411.
16 White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, 429.
17 White, The Great Controversy, 608.
18 White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 112.
19 Ellen G. White, Maranatha, 57.
20 White, The Great Controversy, 101.
21 White, Selected Messages, vol. 2, 368.
22 White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, 89.
23 White, Selected Messages, vol. 2, 383.
24 White, The Great Controversy, 608.
25 Ellen G. White, Spalding and Magan Collection, 370.
26 Ellen G. White, Christ Triumphant, 125.
27 White, Selected Messages, book 1, 179.
28 White, Last Day Events, 180.
29 White, Selected Messages, book 3, 422.
30 White, Selected Messages, book 2, 68.
31 White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, 136.
32 Ibid., vol. 6, 331.
33 White, Last Day Events, 180.
34 Ellen G. White, This Day with God, 161.
35 White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, 181.
36 Ellen G. White, Manuscript Releases, vol. 7, 111-112.
37 White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, 99, italics added.
38 Ellen G. White, The Remnant and the Adventist Church, 11-74.
39 White, This Day With God, 53.
40 White, “A Message for Today,” Review and Herald, June 18, 1901.
41 White, The Great Controversy, 530.
42 White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, 432.