While Jesus is unquestionably the single most important figure in all of history, the approach of the year 2000 and the new millennium inspired several organizations to compile lists in December 1999 of the most influential individuals of the past millennium. The cable TV network A&E also aired a series entitled Biography of the Millennium: 100 People – 1000 Years, featuring interviews from numerous scholars, politicians, and theologians who tried to identify those people who have most impacted our world, for better or worse, in the period between 1000 and 2000 AD.

We don’t have room to list all 100 people here, but their selections were very interesting and provocative. For example, some of the selections follow: 

Florence Nightingale, Guglielmo Marconi (inventor of radio), Marie Curie, Winston Churchill, The Wright Brothers, Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi, Edison, Galileo, Einstein, Marx, Columbus, Darwin, Alexander Graham Bell, Martin Luther, Isaac Newton, Princess Diana, Adolf Hitler, Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Napoleon, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Lenin, Walt Disney, Jane Austen, Genghis Khan, Bill Gates, Pope Gregory VII, and Ronald Reagan.

I’m sure there is hardly a person who, when reading the list, wouldn’t argue with at least some of the individual selections or the order in which they were placed. I at least had some quarrels with it. And many that I thought were important were missing. Where were John Calvin, Hudson Taylor, John Knox, and William G. Morton, the inventor of anesthetic? How could Princess Diana make the list while Queen Victoria, who influenced the entire western world for decades, was completely ignored?

But despite my disagreements, I completely agree with the individual chosen as the number one most influential person of the past 1000 years: Johann Gutenberg. His impact cannot be underestimated. Gutenberg invented the moveable-type printing press, and it changed society forever. Gutenberg was a simple, hard-working German. Yet most of the other people who have impacted our world owe a debt to Gutenberg. Without his invention, our way of life could never be possible.

Gutenberg’s mission was very simple, and I believe, divinely inspired. Johann Gutenberg wanted to make the Word of God available to everyone, and thereby share the good news of Christ with people everywhere in the world. No mortal ever set out to accomplish such a noble purpose for the cause of Christianity. Listen to what he says:

God suffers in the multitude of souls whom His Holy Word cannot reach. Religious truth is imprisoned in a small number of manuscript books, which confine instead of spreading the public treasure. Let us break the seal which seals up holy things, and give wings to truth, in order that she may go and win every soul that comes into this world, but her word, no longer written at great expense by a hand easily palsied, but multiplied like the wind by an untiring machine.ⁱ

Gutenberg’s vision had eternal potential:

Yes, it is a press, certainly, but a press from which shall soon flow, in inexhaustible streams, the most abundant and most marvelous liquor that has ever flowed to relieve the thirst of men! Through it, God will spread His Word. A spring of pure truth shall flow from it; like a new star it shall scatter the darkness of ignorance, and cause a light heretofore unknown to shine amongst men.ⁱⁱ

It is not known how many of Gutenberg’s Bibles were printed. Only 47 copies survive today and only three “perfect” copies are known to exist. But you and I owe our knowledge of God’s Word in part to the work of his hands. Even this newsletter is a direct beneficiary of Gutenberg’s landmark invention.

Gutenberg’s first Bibles have, since then, blossomed into hundreds of thousands around the world. The Bible is still the bestseller of all time, and is available to anyone who wishes to read its sacred pages. Gideon Bibles are left in countless hotel rooms for travelers needing spiritual guidance. And because God’s Holy Word was available for study, the Protestant faith and even our Seventh-day Adventist denomination has sprung into existence.

But Satan has hated the Holy Scriptures since they were first penned. He well knows that they enable men to discern his deceptions and withstand his power. It was by the Word that the Saviour of the world resisted his attacks.

Because of Satan’s intense desire to maintain sway over men and establish his authority through his usurper on this earth, he has done all in his power to keep people in ignorance of the Scriptures. Because the Bible exalts God and places finite people in their true position, its sacred truths must be concealed and suppressed. This was the logic adopted by the Roman Church during the Dark Ages.

For hundreds of years, the circulation of the Bible was prohibited. The people were forbidden to read it, or to have it in their houses, and unprincipled priests and prelates interpreted its teachings to sustain their pretensions. Thus the pope came to be almost universally acknowledged as the vicegerent of God on earth, endowed with supreme authority over church and state (Story of Redemption, 328).

Once the detector of error had been removed, Satan was able to work according to his will. Through the Roman Catholic Church, the Ten Commandments were altered and changed. The Second Commandment, forbidding image worship, was removed, and the Tenth Commandment divided into two. In addition, Satan tampered with the Fourth Commandment, and tried to set aside the ancient Sabbath, the day that God had blessed and sanctified, and in its stead to exalt the festival observed by the heathen as “the venerable day of the sun.”

Although, during the first centuries, the true Sabbath was still kept but all Christians, the attention of the people was being called to Sunday as a day in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held on it and it was regarded as a day of recreation.

Vast councils were held, from time to time, in which the dignitaries of the church were convened from all the world. In nearly every council, the Sabbath which God had instituted was pressed down a little lower, while Sunday was correspondingly exalted. Thus the pagan festival came finally to be honored as a divine institution, while the Bible Sabbath was pronounced a relic of Judaism, and its observers were declared to be accursed (Story of Redemption, 330).

As the voiding of the Word continued, the darkness deepened:

Faith was transferred from Christ, the true foundation, to the pope of Rome. Instead of trusting in the Son of God for forgiveness of sins and for eternal salvation, the people looked to the pope and to the priests and prelates to whom he delegated authority. They were taught that the pope was their mediator, and that none could approach God except through him, and further, that he stood in the place of God to them, and was therefore to be implicitly obeyed. A deviation from his requirements was sufficient cause for the severest punishment to be visited upon the bodies and souls of the offenders. This the minds of the people were turned away from God to fallible, erring, and cruel men – nay, more, to the prince of darkness himself, who exercised his power through them. Sin was disguised in a garb of sanctity. When the Scriptures are suppressed, and man comes to regard himself as supreme, we need look only for fraud, deception, and debasing iniquity. With the elevation of human laws and traditions was manifest the corruption that ever results from setting aside the law of God. Those were days of peril for the church of Christ. The faithful standard-bearers were few indeed…

The people were taught not only to look to the pope as their mediator but to trust to works of their own to atone for sin. Long pilgrimages, acts of penance…the payment of large sums to the church – these and many similar acts were enjoined to appease the wrath of God or to secure his favour; as if God were like men, to be angered at trifles, or pacified by gifts or acts of penance!

So bitter had been the war waged upon the Bible that at times there were very few copies in existence; but God had not suffered His Word to be wholly destroyed. Its truths were not to be forever hidden. He could as easily unchain the words of life as He could open prison doors and unbolt iron gates to set His servants free. Amid the gloom, the light of truth could not be wholly extinguished. In different countries of Europe, men, moved by the Spirit of God, studied the sacred pages with intense interest. They were willing to accept the light at any cost to themselves. Though they did not see all things clearly, they were enabled to perceive many long-buried truths. As Heaven-sent messengers they went forth, rending asunder the chains of error and superstition, and calling upon those who had been so long enslaved to arise and assert their liberty. The time had come for the Scriptures to be translated and given to the people of different lands in their native tongue. The world had passed its midnight (Story of Redemption, 328, emphasis added).

Through the reformers, who knew no fear but the fear of God, the freedom we now enjoy enables us to make the Word of God our daily study.

It seems, however, that Satan’s work to extinguish the Word from our minds and hearts has not ceased. Now that the Bible is accessible to anyone, how many still treasure it? After its long history, and after all the effort put forth to scatter it around the globe, it has become to many nothing more than a dust collector, door stopper, paperweight, or a decorative ornament in our homes. A growing number of cynics lower the importance of the Bible to the level of a mythological book, a book of fables and far-fetched tales. The Genesis account has repeatedly been downplayed as nothing more than a simplistic story for children, even among our own people.

But one cannot use the Bible as a buffet—to pick and choose what is to be believed and what is just “opinion.” Reading the Word of God includes obeying and assimilating it into one’s own lifestyle. Without that extra step, there is no difference between reading the Bible or some other enlightened book.

This lack of faith in God’s Holy Word is universal. The Roman Catholic Church believes evolution is a good explanation of our origins. This sentiment is echoed in the statement made by the Jesuit priest, Guy Consolmagno, employed in the Vatican Observatory in Italy. According to the Roman Church, creationism is nothing more than “a 19th century Protestant heresy. The ancient Church fathers knew better than to interpret the Bible that way.”ⁱⁱⁱ

There are so many winds of doctrine blowing even among our own churches. Debate and discussion continues on such things as righteousness by faith, keeping the feasts of the Old Testament, Ellen G. White’s authenticity, and so on.

Could this all be the beginning of the sign predicted in the book of Amos? As we near the close of this earth’s history, another famine of the Word is predicted upon the earth’s inhabitants:

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it (Amos 8:11-12).

Are we going to be those looking for the Word of God? We who had ample opportunity to drink of the “most abundant and marvelous liquor” of the Word and to bask in the bright light of truth? Will we have wasted our time creating doctrines of our own that tickle the ears, while we could have trusted in the Word of the Lord, believed His prophets, and been a light to the world (2 Chronicles 20:20)?

 

While the world is dying to hear the life-giving Word, we sit and argue about our opinions. Instead of accepting the truth, living it, and passing it on, we quibble about the inconvenience of changing to a healthy lifestyle, or about the fact that something we believe may not quite suit the times.

I suppose you can’t really blame people too much for apostasy if the Word is rarely preached from the pulpit, if leadership won’t take a stand on issues, and if sin is never dealt with. Apostasy always starts at the top. God will deal with leaders who refuse to take a bold stand.

Remember Jesus in Luke 24 as He walked with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, quoting Scripture to them, showing the many prophecies foretelling all the things that would happen to Him while on this earth. The disciples remarked afterward in verse 32: “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures?”

Oh that we would be able to say such things after we leave the services on Sabbath mornings.

In Ezekiel 8 and 9, we see a vivid description of the end-time Church. At the time of the sealing, every abominable thing was found in the Church, either secretly or openly. As Ezekiel 8:17 says, “Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here?”

The saddest and most awful words ever spoken by our Lord are those found in Matthew 7:21-23. These verses were written to us that profess to follow Christ, to those who are called Christians:

Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Is our activity more important than the motive behind it? Are we hiding our unbelief in the Word behind our great works for God? Are we so caught up in doing things for God, that we don’t understand what truth is anymore? Are community outreach programs or rousing worship services going to make up for not applying “the will of the Father” to our personal lives? The time now is to get into Christ. We may be in the Church, but are we in Christ?

Why is God not now bringing many into the Church? The majority of God’s people are still in the world waiting to hear the message (Isaiah 43:5-7)!

Our burning desire is not evangelism, and even if it was, the state of our people would be no witness! What would happen to those joining the Church? They would come in and find God’s people belittling the heath message and ashamed of it, living opposite to their high calling, even playing rock music in God’s holy sanctuary! They would find “many of those who count themselves as His chosen, peculiar people satisfied to live without the evidence that, of a truth, God is among them to save them from Satan’s snares and attacks” (8T, 248).

Many of the professed, peculiar people of God are so conformed to the works that their peculiar character is not discerned, and it is difficult to distinguish ‘between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.’ God would do great things for His people if they would come out from the world and be separate. If they would submit to be led by Him, He would make them a praise in all the earth. Says the True Witness: “I know they works.” Angels of God who minister unto those who shall be heirs of salvation are acquainted with the condition of all and understand just the measure of faith possessed by each individual. The unbelief, pride, covetousness, and love of the world, which have existed in the hearts of God’s professed people, have grieved the sinless angels. As they have seen that grievous and presumptuous sins exist in the hearts of many professed followers of Christ, and that God has been dishonored by their inconsistent, crooked course, they have been caused to weep. And yet those most at fault, those who cause the greatest feebleness in the church and bring a stain upon their holy profession, do not seem to be alarmed or convicted, but seem to feel that they are flourishing in the Lord (2T, 125).

We have been given a prophet to guide us through the maze of temptations and false doctrines that are devised by Satan to deceive us. The prophet is a sign of the true Church. Even the early Church had the gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 1:5), and look how they prospered!

But Luther Zwingli, Knox, Calvin, all the great reformers, did a great work for God, but were not prophets, nor was the gift of prophecy manifested among them. Why? Because the law was still not being kept! God only blesses with a prophet the church that obeys the law. The law and the prophet always go together! You cannot be a true Seventh-day Adventist and not believe in the prophet. It is because we shy away from reading her books and counsels that we have so many false doctrines roaring through our churches.

“Where there is no (prophetic) vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). As a matter of fact, Ellen White herself says that there would have been no need for her writings if we had been reading the Word and following Scripture as we should:


The Word of God is sufficient to enlighten the most beclouded mind, and may be understood by those who have any desire to understand it. But notwithstanding all this, some who profess to make the Word of God their study are found living in direct opposition to its plainest teachings. Then, to leave men and women without excuse, God gives plain and pointed Testimonies, bringing them hack to the Word that they have neglected to follow (2T, 455).

It isn’t a new thing to reject the prophet and the law. The prophets were not sent to rebuke the gentiles. They were always sent to God’s Church, because His people too often long for the leeks and onions of Egypt! They like to eat like the world, dress like the world, seem like the world, talk like the world, marry into the families of the world—anything but be a peculiar people.

 

The prophets were sent to God’s people to wake them up and to perfect them. But His people throughout the Bible were always shunning them, ridiculing them, and ignoring them. And they still don’t want to accept the prophet. We still prefer the modern voices of the popular writers, even those of other denominations, than the voice of a little woman 150 years ago.

Let us stop drinking the wine—the false doctrines—of Babylon. Let us stop studying the books and attending the workshops of those who don’t believe the law of God! What can we learn from them? We have so much to learn from the one God has sent! Let’s not despise prophecy. Let us hold fast the faithful Word as we have been taught (Titus 1:9).

By Wendy Goubej

i Alphonse De Lamartine, Memories of Celebrated Characters volume 2 (London: Richard Bentley, 1854): 323.
ii Ibid., 334.
iii Alison Rose, “Science of Heaven,” Elm Street (December 1999): 30.