Corporate Repentance - Robert J. Wieland

preparation on the part of His people?
If so, this raises serious problems that involve
the Lord Himself in an ethical difficulty. He has
often told us through the Spirit of Prophecy that the
end is "near." His messenger frequently said: "I
saw … that time can last but a very little longer"
(Early Writings, page 58; 1850). "Only a moment
of time, as it were, yet remains." "The battle of
Armageddon is soon to be fought" (Testimonies,
vol. 6, pages 14, 406; 1900). If such warnings were
merely a cry of "wolf, wolf," then the Lord has not
been fair with us. For Him repeatedly to say "near"
when He didn't mean it or intended to define the
word so we couldn't understand it, this would be
unethical. Surely He doesn't treat His people this
way! Further, if we say or feel that "the Lord is
delaying His coming," we put ourselves in the
company of the "evil servant" in the parable who
says that very thing (Matthew 24:48).
Any meaningful Adventism cannot survive this
doubt, because no people can be reconciled to God
in a "final atonement" if they feel that He has
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