In an effort to save our brethren from the imminent vengeance of God, the “great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Mal. 4:5), let every believer respond to the call of God, and unite his voice with the cry: “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion [by removing the accursed thing from among thee]; put on thy beautiful garments [Christ’s righteousness], O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth [after thou hast thus done] there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. (Isa. 52:1).
Despite this sincere effort, we are not in any way calling the SDA church Babylon, and we are not promoting a separation from the church. On the contrary, to receive the seal of God one must remain in the church.
“There is but one church in the world who are at the present time standing in the breach, and making up the hedge, building up the old waste places; and for any man to call the attention of the world and other churches to this church, denouncing her as Babylon, is to do a work in harmony with him who is the accuser of the brethren.“ {Testimonies to Ministers, pg. 50}.
“Has God no living church? He has a church, but it is the church militant, not the church triumphant. We are sorry that there are defective members, that there are tares amid the wheat.” {Testimonies to Ministers, pg. 45}.
“The church, enfeebled and defective, needing to be reproved, warned, and counseled, is the only object upon earth upon which Christ bestows His supreme regard.” {Testimonies to Ministers, pg. 49}.
“Finite man is likely to misjudge character, but God does not leave the work of judgment and pronouncing upon character to those who are not fitted for it. We are not to say what constitutes the wheat, and what the tares. The time of the harvest will fully determine the character of the two classes specified under the figure of the tares and the wheat. The work of separation is given to the angels of God, and not committed into the hands of any man. {Testimonies to Ministers, pg. 47.2}