Conservative

“This people…have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men.” (Isa. 29:13). “What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.” (Jer. 23:28). “We are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” (Phil. 3:2,3).

 

Conservative is not Christian, just as liberal is not pagan. Conservative does not mean converted to God and saved into His kingdom, any more than liberal means reprobate and lost in Satan’s kingdom. Conservative does not equate to heaven or to the law-abiding, any more than liberal equates to hell and to the antinomian. In short, Conservative is Laodicea. Conservatism compared to the Christian life is like chaff compared to wheat. Conservatism breaths the miasma of the humanism. Conversion, a new heart and a new spirit, heavenly-mindedness, Christ-likeness, commandment-keeping are as high as heaven is above the miasma.

 

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa. 55:9).

 

“And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;…even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Eph 2:1,5,6).

 

“It is the design of God that through man His glory shall be revealed to the world; but it is only those who connect themselves with God in Jesus Christ, who can reveal that goodness and that fidelity which Christ manifested in His life. As the branches of the vine are united in the parent stock, so will the children of God be united as one in Christ. They are to reveal to the world the character of God. They must study the Scriptures with the purpose in view of living the unselfish life of Christ. The true Christian will not become self-centered or conservative in his plans. ‘Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.’ As God’s grace is given us freely, so it must be imparted to others. Through the apostle we are admonished, ‘As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.’” Review and Herald, May 30, 1899 par. 13.

 

“When God raises up men to do His work, they are false to their trust if they allow their testimony to be shaped to please the minds of the unconsecrated. He will prepare men for the times.  They will be humble, God-fearing men, not conservative, not policy men; but men who have moral independence and will move forward in the fear of the Lord.  They will be kind, noble, courteous, yet they will not be swayed from the right path, but will proclaim the truth in righteousness whether men will hear or whether they will forbear.” Testimonies for the church, vol. 5, p. 262,263.

 

“Elder M, as president of the _____ Conference, you have shown by your general management that you are unworthy of the trust reposed in you. You have shown that you are conservative, and that your ideas are narrow. You have not done one half what you might have done had you had the true spirit of the work.” Testimonies for the church, vol. 5, p. 370.

 

“There are those who will, through hasty, ill-advised moves, betray the cause of God into the enemy’s power. There will be men who will seek to be revenged, who will become apostates and betray Christ in the person of His saints. All need to learn discretion; then there is danger on the other hand of being conservative, of giving away to the enemy in concessions.” Selected Messages, bk. 3, p. 397.

 

“The work which the church has failed to do in a time of peace and prosperity she will have to do in a terrible crisis under most discouraging, forbidding circumstances. The warnings that worldly conformity has silenced or withheld must be given under the fiercest opposition from enemies of the faith. And at that time the superficial, conservative class, whose influence has steadily retarded the progress of the work, will renounce the faith.” Testimonies for the church, vol. 5, p. 463.  (Last Day Events, p. 174.)

 

“Morality cannot be separated from religion. Not all conservative tradition received from educated persons and from the writings of outstanding people of the past are a safe guide for us in these last days, for the great struggle before us is such as the world has never seen….

We are not one of us safe, even with past experience, unless we live as seeing Him who is invisible. Daily, hourly, we must be actuated by the principles of Bible truth—righteousness, mercy, and the love of God. Any person who would have moral and intellectual power must draw from the Divine Source.

At every point and decision inquire, Is this the way of the Lord? With your Bibles open before you, consult sanctified reason and a good conscience. Your heart must be moved, your soul touched, your reason and intellect awakened by the Spirit of God. The holy principles laid down in His Word will give light to the soul. I tell you…our true source of wisdom and virtue and power is in the cross of Calvary. Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith. He says, “Without me ye can do nothing.” Jesus is the only sure guarantee for intellectual success and advancement.” Counsels to Teachers, p. 124.

 

“A Sign of Growth.--Whenever the people of God are growing in grace, they will be constantly obtaining a clearer understanding of His word. They will discern new light and beauty in its sacred truths. This has been true in the history of the church in all ages, and thus it will continue to the end. But as real spiritual life declines, it has ever been the tendency to cease to advance in the knowledge of the truth. Men rest satisfied with the light already received from God’s word, and discourage any further investigation of the Scriptures. They become conservative, and seek to avoid discussion.  

The fact that there is no controversy or agitation among God’s people, should not be regarded as conclusive evidence that they are holding fast to sound doctrine. There is reason to fear that they may not be clearly discriminating between truth and error. When no new questions are started by investigation of the Scriptures, when no difference of opinion arises which will set men to searching the Bible for themselves, to make sure that they have the truth, there will be many now, as in ancient times, who will hold to tradition, and worship they know not what.” Counsels to Writers and Editors, p. 38,39.

 

 “The Health Institute has been established…to relieve the afflicted, to disseminate light, to awaken the spirit of inquiry, and to advance reform. This institution is conducted upon principles which are different from those of any other hygienic institution in the land. Money is not the great object with its friends and conductors. They conduct it from a conscientious, religious standpoint, aiming to carry out the principles of Bible hygiene. Most institutions of the kind are established upon different principles, and are conservative, making it their object to meet the popular class halfway, and so to shape their course that they will receive the greatest patronage and the most money….” Review and Herald, May 21, 1914 par. 1.

 

“Then as the children of God are one in Christ, how does Jesus look upon caste, upon society distinctions, upon the division of man from his fellow man, because of color, race, position, wealth, birth, or attainments? The secret of unity is found in the equality of believers in Christ. The reason for all division, discord, and difference is found in separation from Christ. Christ is the center to which all should be attracted; for the nearer we approach the center, the closer we shall come together in feeling, in sympathy, in love, growing into the character and image of Jesus. With God there is no respect of persons.  

Jesus knew the worthlessness of earthly pomp, and He gave no attention to its display. In His dignity of soul, His elevation of character, His nobility of principle, He was far above the vain fashions of the world. Although the prophet describes Him as ‘despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief’ (Isaiah 53:3), He might have been esteemed as the highest among the noble of the earth. The best circles of human society would have courted Him, had He condescended to accept their favor, but He desired not the applause of men, but moved independent of all human influence. Wealth, position, worldly rank in all its varieties and distinctions of human greatness, were all but so many degrees of littleness to Him who had left the honor and glory of heaven, and who possessed no earthly splendor, indulged in no luxury, and displayed no adornment but humility.

The lowly, those bound with poverty, pressed with care, burdened with toil, could find no reason in His life and example which would lead them to think that Jesus was not acquainted with their trials, knew not the pressure of their circumstances, and could not sympathize with them in their want and sorrow. The lowliness of His humble, daily life was in harmony with His lowly birth and circumstances. The Son of the infinite God, the Lord of life and glory, descended in humiliation to the life of the lowliest, that no one might feel himself excluded from His presence. He made Himself accessible to all. He did not select a favored few with whom to associate and ignore all others. It grieves the Spirit of God when conservatism shuts man away from his fellow man, especially when it is found among those who profess to be His children.

Christ came to give to the world an example of what perfect humanity might be when united with divinity. He presented to the world a new phase of greatness in His exhibition of mercy, compassion, and love. He gave to men a new interpretation of God. As head of humanity, He taught men lessons in the science of divine government, whereby He revealed the righteousness of the reconciliation of mercy and justice. The reconciliation of mercy and justice did not involve any compromise with sin, or ignore any claim of justice; but by giving to each divine attribute its ordained place, mercy could be exercised in the punishment of sinful, impenitent man without destroying its clemency or forfeiting its compassionate character, and justice could be exercised in forgiving the repenting transgressor without violating its integrity.” Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 259,260.

 

In the above quotations, their author associates conservatism with: being “unconsecrated”, “self-centered”; being the cause of “ideas [that] are narrow”; “giving away to the enemy in concessions”; being “tradition received from educated persons and from the writings of outstanding people of the past” that are not “a safe guide for us in these last days” and are contrary to “sanctified reason and a good conscience”; the cause for men to “seek to avoid discussion” because they “rest satisfied with the light already received from God’s word, and discourage any further investigation of the Scriptures”; being those who have “steadily retarded the progress of the work” and in the great struggles ahead “will renounce the faith”; those who have the love of money, and therefore “meet the popular class halfway, and so to shape their course that they will receive the greatest patronage and the most money”; “caste” and “society distinctions” and being what “grieves the Spirit of God” when it “shuts man away from his fellow man”. She writes that conservative men are the opposite of “humble, God-fearing men”, and they are “policy men”.

 

We hear conflicts between conservative vs. liberal issues in politics and commerce. Recently we’ve also been hearing of this same division within the Protestant religion. But, to unite secular doctrine with religious doctrine—more specifically, to group churches and individuals as conservative or liberal—is to have missed the mark regarding the kingdom that Christ originally set up. The new dividing line, the new “sides to take” came into Protestantism because it lost its first love and its spirituality. The denominations have become political—religio-political. And now their parent,  religio-political Rome, has handed them the humanistic policies, definitions, and labels of the dead, apostate church.

 

Protestantism has lost its original foundation of unity and love. We have become ignorant of the true Spirit of God. The world’s measurement of a world-view or a philosophy cannot be blended with heaven’s method of judging the soul. Just as there was no blurring of the line separating Israel’s priesthood and her kings, neither can there be within the church of Christ a bringing in the worldly secular schemes woven together with the Spirit of God. We need to keep closely to the Bible and to permit into church doctrine and practice only that which is in accordance with the Bible writers’ example.

 

“If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.” (1Pet. 4:11).

“Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt.” (Col. 4:6).

“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my Strength, and my Redeemer.” (Ps. 19:14).

 

The Bible never labels or divides people up between conservative and liberal. It judges them either believers or unbelievers, righteous or wicked, spiritual or natural, walking after the Spirit or the flesh. The people of God were either converted and subject to God, or they were in rebellion toward Him and cut off.

 

Only on either side of the line that the Lord draws does He judge us. “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war.” (Rev. 19:11).

 

All in all, the above author compares a conservative man with a weak man, not a meek man. A meek man is one who has bowed low before the mountain of God’s righteousness. The conservative has nothing to do with surrender to the King of righteousness. But, that kind of humility we see in John the Baptist.

 

“He looked upon the King in His beauty, and self was forgotten. He beheld the majesty of holiness, and felt himself to be inefficient and unworthy. He was ready to go forth as Heaven’s messenger, unawed by the human, because he had looked upon the Divine. He could stand erect and fearless in the presence of earthly monarchs, because he had bowed low before the King of kings.” Desire of Ages, p. 103.