March 31, 1904 The Everlasting Gospel
What is Now Essential to Believe In Order to be Loyal to the Kingdom and Acceptable to Almighty God
I. I believe in God Almighty, the Ancient of Days, as "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see."
II. I believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God and the Coming King, who is to reign over the earth for one thousand years until He shall have "put all things under His feet" -- "put down all rule, and all authority and power" till "the last enemy" shall have been destroyed, and "when all things shall have been subdued unto him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all and in all."
III. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, sent forth by God the Father, and by God the Son, to strive with the world and to lead the church into all truth -- to thoroughly prepare the saints to meet the great and terrible Jehovah, the Judge of all.
IV. I believe in the Bible as the inspired writings of God -- the holy laws of God's kingdom -- to be strictly obeyed on each and every occasion, and as that which is to judge me "in that day."
V. I believe not only in the Father -- the only Potentate -- and in Jesus Christ -- the King whose millennial reign is to prepare the globe for the great God -- but also in the prophet-prince-priest who is to prepare the Kingdom for the Christ; I believe in the man who as a prophet is called in the Bible "Elijah," and as a prince is called "David,"
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and as a priest is called "Tsemach," or "The Branch." I believe that F.W. Sandford of Shiloh, Me., U.S.A. tells the truth when he makes proclamation that God said to him "Elijah is here. Testify," and again "I have found David," words spoken as applying to himself personally. I believe in and accept him as such.
VI. I believe that Mr. Sandford's true yokefellow from the first -- C.E. Holland of Shiloh -- is as proclaimed by Mr. Sandford "the second witness," or as by God Himself to one of the Shiloh evangelists "Moses;" and that these two men are "the two sons of oil," "the two candlesticks," "the two olive trees," the "two witnesses," "the two prophets," and "the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth," Zech. 4 and Rev. 11.
VII. I believe that the Kingdom was "renewed" in Jerusalem Oct. 2, 1902 by the authority of God, and I heartily accept the same as the Kingdom "set up" by "the God of heaven" (Dan. 2:44) and the Kingdom which is eventually to become "a great mountain and fill the whole earth."
"In the name of my Master, the soon coming King, I call upon each one of His loyal subjects to do one of two things: either to be personally present at Shiloh, August 18th, and there wholeheartedly declare yourself in the presence of the people as loyal subjects of "The Kingdom" which was set up Oct. 2, 1902 in Jerusalem by one who authoritatively represented Jehovah, or if impossible to you to be present at this gathering, I ask you in the name of the Master, unless you have already done this, to write out your convictions on this matter without unnecessary delay, and with no uncertain sound -- to so declare yourself that your statement when read to the assembly at Shiloh, may enable the people to discern whether you are for or against the renewed Kingdom."
The Herald of the Coming King [Frank W. Sandford, Ed.]
[The above pledge was signed by 515 Shiloh members in 1903. "Why would anyone sign such a document?", one might ask. Below is another excerpt from The Everlasting Gospel, published two years before, quoting the very words of the same "Herald of the Coming King", which may help to put that question within some context. Ed.]
"...when the books are opened, every man, woman, and child that has rejected this man, this movement, this church and this baptism will be consigned to a lake composed of fire which feeds upon brimstone, where the "smoke of their torment" will ascend up before God for ever and ever, and will never be shown the slightest mercy. God will look at them and will mock them and say, "You mocked my messenger; I told you in My Book "I will mock when your fear cometh; I am a God of truth." He will watch them in their writhing, listen to their groaning, and say, "You did not heed Me, you rejected my messenger, you rejected my workers. I loved you enough to prepare a plan of salvation, and I gave you My Son to save you. And I did that to save you from this fate, and I warned you through my messengers that if you rejected that light I would damn you without mercy, endlessly, to show My wrath against such hellish ingratitude."
F.W.S. The Everlasting Gospel 11/27/1901