SDA Issues - Age to Come heresy of the past

THE EARLY 1850'S WHEN "THE AGE-TO-COME" ADVOCATES TAUGHT THAT OLD JERUSALEM WOULD BE BUILT UP AS A CENTER OF CHRISTIAN WITNESS FULFILLING CERTAIN PROPHECIES OF THE O.T., AND THE BELIEF OF A SECOND PROBATION

For I know this,

that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you,

not sparing the flock.

Acts 20:29

"I was pointed to some who are in the great error of believing that it is their duty to go to Old Jerusalem, and think they have a work to do there before the Lord comes.  Such a view is calculated to take the mind and interest from the present work of the Lord, under the message of the third angel; I saw that such a mission would accomplish no real good, that it would take a long while to make a very few of the Jews believe even in the first advent of Christ, much more to believe in His second advent." Early Writings p.75 E.G.W.

 

"Stephenson and Hall of Wisconsin.... in June, 1854,.... Their object has been to have the Review publish the Age-to-Come theory, or to destroy its influence."

SPIRITUAL GIFTS, VOL 2, p 273 E.G.W.

 

 "A spirit of fanaticism has ruled a certain class of Sabbath-keepers in the East.  They have sipped but lightly at the fountain of truth, and are unacquainted with the spirit of the message of the third angel.  Nothing can be done for this class until their fanatical views are corrected.  Some who were in the 1854 movement have brought along with them erroneous views, such as the non-resurrection of the wicked, and the future age.  They are seeking to unite their erroneous views and past experience with the message of the third angel.  They cannot do this.  There is no concord between Christ and Belial.  The non-resurrection of the wicked, and their peculiar views of the age to come, are gross errors.

Some of them have exercises which they call gifts, and say that the Lord has placed them in the church.  They have an unmeaning gibberish which they call the unknown tongue, which is unknown not only by man, but by the Lord and all Heaven.  Such gifts are manufactured by men and women, aided by the great Deceiver.  Fanaticism, false excitement, false talking in tongues, and noisy exercises have been considered gifts which God has placed in the church.  Some have been deceived here."

Testimonies, vol. 1, p 411-412 E.G.W.

 

"Brother J .......his course has not been pleasing to God.  He was unstable.  He has been befogged with the Age-to-Come, and as there is not the least harmony between the Age-to-Come theory and the third angel's message, he lost his love for and faith in the message, and felt irritated because so much had been said in regard to it.  The third angel is proclaiming a most solemn message to the inhabitants of the earth; and shall God's chosen people be indifferent to it, and not unite their voice to sound this solemn warning?  Brother J is deceived, and is deceiving others."

TESTIMONIES, Vol. 1, p 333 E.G.W.

 

Sounds like the Age-To-Come crowd was similar, to a limited degree, to what the secret rapture crowd erroneously believes today about literal Jerusalem. They also, in their fanaticism, seem to have resembled the modern Pentecostal movement.

P.S. This was NEVER the position of the SDA Church.