The fruit of the Promised Land was everything that God had promised. They had spent 40 years wandering in a dry and dusty barren land because of their apostasy. Manna rained down every day except Sabbath to feed the nearly two million souls.

Water gushed from the barren ground to quench their thirst. The pillar of cloud by day shaded them from the burning heat of the desert, and the pillar of fire by night comforted them that God was with them.

Yet, after 40 years the children of the Exodus showed that they had inherited the rebellion of their parents, and the tragedy of Baal-Peor became history. It was a history which was written for our admonition, to warn us that just before the close of our probation, the remnant church would experience a second Baal-Peor. This time it would be called the Omega of Apostasy--the very last apostasy before we would enter the Promised Land. You say it will never be. It cannot happen, but it already has; and it may be the greatest sign of the end of time. “Before we enter the little time of trouble, the close of our probation, and the coming of our Lord, the remnant church will enter into a terrible shaking brought on by our apostasy.” Testimonies, vol. 7, 219.

The Omega…The Final

"We want to understand the time in which we live. We do not half understand it. We do not half take it in. My heart trembles in me when I think of what a foe we have to meet, and how poorly we are prepared to meet him.

The trials of the children of Israel, and their attitude just before the first coming of Christ, have been presented before me again and again to illustrate the position of the people of God in their experience before the second coming of Christ--how the enemy sought every occasion to take control of the minds of the Jews, and today he is seeking to blind the minds of God's servants, that they may not be able to discern the precious truth." Selected Messages, book 1, 406.

So everything that the church was doing in Christ's day will be repeated in this end-time, just before probation closes--the same trials, the same attitudes will again be the position of the last-day Seventh-day Adventist Church.

It would be the final apostasy--the Omega. See Selected Messages, book 1, 197-205. "I have been shown that the spirit of the world is fast leavening the church. You are following the same path as did ancient Israel. There is the same falling away from your holy calling as God's peculiar people. You are having fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 75-76.

Backsliding Towards The World

"It is a solemn and terrible truth that many who have been zealous in proclaiming the third angel's message are now becoming listless and indifferent! The line of demarcation between worldlings and many professed Christians is almost indistinguishable.

Many who once were earnest Adventists are conforming to the world--to its practices, its customs, its selfishness. Instead of leading the world to render obedience to God's law, the church is uniting more and more closely with the world in transgression. Daily the church is becoming converted to the world.

How many professing Christians are slaves of mammon! Their indulgence of appetite, their extravagant expenditure of money for selfish gratification, greatly dishonors God." Testimonies, vol. 8, 118-119. "I am filled with sadness when I think of our condition as a people. The Lord has not closed heaven to us, but our own course of continual backsliding has separated us from God. Pride, covetousness, and love of the world have lived in the heart without fear of banishment or condemnation.

Grievous and presumptuous sins have dwelt among us. And yet the general opinion is that the church is flourishing and that peace and spiritual prosperity are in all her borders. Our only safety is to stand as God's peculiar people. We must not yield one inch to the customs and fashions of this degenerate age, but stand in moral independence, making no compromise with its corrupt and idolatrous practices.” Ibid., 76-78.

The Celebration Movement At Baal-Peor, 24,000 died with the plague. This was the last of the rebellious Exodus generation. Balaam, a one-time prophet, had sold his soul for recognition from the idolatrous King Balaak.

Some leaders, pastors, and lay leaders are responsible for the celebration movement in many of our churches, and for the gospel rock music in some of our youth meetings. We were told that just before probation closes this music would come in among us and be found in some of our churches. See Selected Messages, book 2, 36.

The Apostasy

Our educational institutions have followed the world's curriculum, and as a result there is financial chaos in a number of them. Competitive sports are the order of the day in many of our schools. However, very few of our students who pass through our educational system can defend their faith when it comes to proper Sabbath keeping (see Daniel 7, 8, 9; Revelation 13, 14, 17), and the 2300-day prophecy.

Many students know very little of our important church history. The same drugs, alcohol, and immorality that are found in the schools of the world can be found in some of our own schools. Furthermore, the divorce rate among our people now is nearly that of the world. Yes, we have come to the Jordan, with Mt. Peor just before us, and we find the very same rebellion--apostasy--that was experienced in the days of Moses before they crossed into the Promised Land.

Remember, the prophet told us that we would repeat the experience of the Jews. Let us not forget that the Old Testament is a record of the church's apostasy. The record also reveals that the Bible writers were not under the jurisdiction of the church leaders, but were under the direction of God. See 2 Peter 1:21. These God-sent men counseled, reproved, and rebuked the church for their stubborn resistance to God's directions and commands.

They were then frequently persecuted or killed for their straight testimonies. As persecution increases, those who have only professed the truth, yet not experienced it, will continue to flee the ranks of Adventism. At that time those who have not only professed but also experienced the truth will become more zealous in proportion to the apostasy in the world and in the church. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" Amos 3:3.

Awake! Awake, O Sleepy Church!

"There is a terrible amount of guilt for which the church is responsible. Why are not those who have the light putting forth earnest efforts to give that light to others? They see that the end is near. They see multitudes daily transgressing God's law; and they know that these souls cannot be saved in transgression.

Yet they have more interest in their trades, their farms, their houses, their merchandise, their dress, their tables, than in the souls of men and women whom they must meet face to face in the judgment. The people who claim to obey the truth are asleep. They could not be at ease as they are if they were awake. The love of the truth is dying out of their hearts. Their example is not such as to convince the world that they have truth in advance of every other people upon the earth. At the very time when they should be strong in God, having a daily, living experience, they are feeble, hesitating, relying upon the preachers for support, when they should be ministering to others with mind and soul and voice and pen and time and money." Testimonies, vol. 5, 456-457.

There is only one cure for our rebellion against God's orders, His plans for His remnant church, and that is confession of our apostasy. If we will make this confession and repentance now, the church will not have to suffer the wrath of God, which otherwise will surely come soon.

Yes, God's church will soon be purified, shaken to its very foundation, and it will go through, although much of the machinery will swiftly disappear. “We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.” Jer. 2:25.