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Middle Ages, many refugees fled
to the relative safety and tolerance
of England . Among them were
members of the true Church. They
brought with them their doct rines
and beliefs, especially the knowl–
edge of the Sabbath.
The strict Sunday-observing
Pu–
ritans resisted, but in spite of a
rising tide of opposition, in the
early 17th century, there were sev–
era) small Sabbath-keeping congre–
gations in England. Jesus was
raising up the fifth era of bis
Church-Sardis.
Protestant England became in–
creasingly intolerant of dissenters,
including Sabbath keepers.
The true Church in England
withered. But across the ocean,
men were beginning to discover a
New World.
Stephen Mumford, a member of
a Sabbath-keeping church in Loo–
don, left England for Newport,
Rhode Island, in 1664. Rhode Is–
land was the smallest of the Amer–
ican colonies, and had been
founded by Roger Williams, a Bap–
tist fleeing persecution from the
Puri tans of Massachusetts.
Rhode Island was the first place
in the world to guarantee freedom
of religion as a basic tenet of its
constitution. Finding none who
kept the Sabbath, Mumford and
his wife began to fellowship with
the Baptist church in Newport . He
did not proselytize, but quietly
maintained his own belief. Severa)
members of the Sunday-keeping
congregation became convinced
that they, too, should observe the
Sabbath.
They became the first Sabbath–
keeping congregation in America.
At first they met in prívate
bornes. In the historicaJ museum at
Newpor t, their record book is pre–
served-contai ning names- their
contributions- even records of
their ordination services.
Also preserved is the simple, but
elegant, meeting hall that they
built in Newport in the early years
of the 18th century. Others joined
them as God began to call more to
his work in the New World.
A second congregation was es–
tablished at Hopkinton. This soon
became a thriving church of several
hundred. A bridge today marks the
spot where their meeting house
July/ Auguat 1986
once s tood. Severa! thousand were
baptized here on the banks of the
Pawcatuck River. Then spiritual
decline set in.
By the mid-1800s, vigorous new
Sabbath-keeping congregations,
raised up as a result of the preach–
ing of William Miller, 183 1-1849,
could be fou nd throughout the
American Midwest.
At Battle Creek, Michigan, in
1860, many thousands were per–
suaded to accept the beliefs 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–
door policy," "the investigative
judgment," a "2,300 day" doctrine
and "the spirit of prophecy," iden–
tifying Mrs. White as the church's
prophet who actuall y set the
church's doctrine.
They adopted the name Seventh–
day Adventists, by which name
they are known to this day. But
those who remained of the true
Church of God refused to accept
these teachings and doctrines and
restored certain truths that had
fallen into neglect in the previous
century.
They moved their headquarters
to Marion, Iowa, and then to Stan–
berry, Missouri. A magazine,
The
Bible Advocate,
was published .
Their efforts bore sorne fruit–
small congregations sprang up
across the nation .
And so it was that sometime in
the 19th century, a small congrega–
tion of the true Church of God was
established in the peaceful
Willamette Valley in Oregon.
They were farmers, without for–
mal education. They lacked trained
ministers to teach and guide them.
But they had the name, Church of
God, and they faithfully kept the
Sabbath day.
God's Cburch had come a long
way across the turbulent centuries
since that day of Pentecost.
It was weak, and lacked influ–
ence. Years of persecution and
compromise had taken thei r toll.
Much truth had been lost. But they
had stayed the course.
In the Willamette VaJiey, they
waited.
lt
was nearly time for the
baton to change again-into the
hands of those God would call to
do his end-time work.
Restoratlon of God's Truth
From the year 1931, exactly
1 ~900
years (a century of time cycles)
from the foundation of the Church,
this small remnant of the original
true Church of God began to take
on new life.
It was to be at a time when, for
the first time in the history of
mankind, the weapons of mass de–
st ruction were produced that could
erase all humanity from the earth
(Matt. 24:21-22). This also was to
occur just befare the Second Com–
ing of Christ (verses 29-30).
These prophecies have now defi–
nitely been fulfilled. The true
gospel has been restored and has
now gone in power into every na–
tion on the face of the earth.
The Church has taken on a new
Spirit-empowered life.
All the technological advances
and facilities are being emp1oyed.
First radio was used, beginning
on one of the smallest-powered sta–
tions in Eugene, Oregon. Then the
printed word. This started with an
old secondhand Neostyle, ancestor
to the mimeograph. In due time
the printing press was used.
The advent of television carne in
1945- immediately after the end
of World War 11. The Church be–
gan using television in the summer
of 1955. The true gospel, for the
first time in 1,900 years, has finally
been proclaimed and published into
all nations of the earth. The
Church has grown. For the first 25
years it grew at an average rate of
30 percent per year.
The first apostles would be as–
tonished to see the size and scope
of the work now. The means of
communications, the technology
and the modern resources that God
has given to his end- time work
would indeed be strange to those
men who first received the com–
mission to take tbe gospel to the
world nearly 2,000 years ago.
But sorne things would not be
strange- the Sabbath and Holy
Days, the name. the Church of
God, and the gospel of the king–
dom- these they would recog–
nize-handed down through the
ages from the time of Christ to the
time of the end.
o
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