Mystery of the Ages.PDF - Blow the Trumpet

By the mid-1800s, vigorous new Sabbath-keeping congregations, raised up as aresult of the preaching of William Miller, 1831-1849, could be found throughout theAmerican Midwest.At Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1860, many thousands were persuaded to accept thebeliefs of the followers of Ellen G. White.They departed from the true name--the Church of God. Instead of the true gospel,the kingdom of God, they substituted doctrines of Ellen G. White, called "the shut-doorpolicy," "the investigative judgment," a "2,300 day" doctrine and "the spirit of prophecy,"identifying Mrs. White as the church's prophet who actually set the church's doctrine.They adopted the name Seventh-day Adventists, by which name they are knownto this day. But those who remained of the true Church of God refused to accept theseteachings and doctrines and restored certain truths that had fallen into neglect in theprevious century.They moved their headquarters to Marion, Iowa, and then to Stanberry, Missouri.A magazine, The Bible Advocate, was published. Their efforts bore some fruit--smallcongregations sprang up across the nation.And so it was that some time in the 19th century, a small congregation of the trueChurch of God was established in the peaceful Willamette Valley in Oregon.They were farmers, without formal education. They lacked trained ministers toteach and guide them. But they had the name, Church of God, and they faithfully kept theSabbath day.God's Church had come a long way across the turbulent centuries since the day ofPentecost.It was weak, and lacked influence. Years of persecution and compromise hadtaken their toll. Much truth had been lost. But they had stayed the course.In the Willamette Valley, they waited. It was nearly time for the baton to changeagain--into the hands of those God would call to do his end-time work.Restoration of God's Truth to ChurchFrom the year 1931, exactly 1,900 years (a century of time cycles) from the foundation ofthe Church, this small remnant of the original true Church of God began to take on newlife as the Philadelphia era. It had come to the "time of the end." A new spiritual vitalitywas infused into it. The time had come for Jesus' prophecy of Matthew 24:14 to befulfilled--"this gospel of the kingdom shall be [proclaimed] in all the world for a witnessunto all nations; and then shall the end come." Such vital truth that had been lost wasgradually revealed and proclaimed.This Philadelphia era is described in verses 7 to 13 of Revelation 3. The Sardis era(Rev. 3:1-6) was by this time spiritually dying and had become impotent in spreading thetrue gospel of Christ. Indeed they had by this time lost knowledge of the true meaning ofthat gospel. They knew they were approaching the Second Coming of Christ, but they hadno knowledge of what would happen during the thousand years millennium, further thanthe fact Christ would rule.Of the Philadelphia era of God's true Church we read: "To the angel of thechurch...." This word angel translated from the Greek aggelos means messenger or agent.