After the latter rain has done its work, Jesus will come again to take His children to be with Him in heaven. What a glorious hope for the Christian! Since this event will happen very soon, God’s children are urged to prepare themselves. God requires obedience to all the ten commandments. To be faithful, grace is provided to enable us to separate from sin and all false teaching.

Sometimes, even a separation from a church is necessary. Here are a few instances when separation for the truth’s sake took place, beginning with the first century.

“After a long and severe conflict, the faithful few decided to dissolve all union with the apostate church if she still refused to free herself from falsehood and idolatry. They saw that separation was an absolute necessity if they would obey the Word of God.”76

Christ, the greatest Reformer that ever lived, had to separate from evil.

“The Sanhedrin had rejected Christ’s message and was bent upon His death; therefore Jesus departed from Jerusalem, from the priests, the temple, the religious leaders, the people who had been instructed in the law, and turned to another class to proclaim His message, and to gather out those who should carry the gospel to all nations.”77

Martin Luther, one of the greatest reformers of the 16th century, also had to separate himself from the church that he loved.

“Yet it was not without a terrible struggle with himself that Luther decided upon a final separation from the church.”78

In 1844 another separation took place: 50,000 people took their stand for the truth and separated from the Protestant churches that they had once loved.

“Hence they felt themselves justified in separating from their former connection. In the summer of 1844 about fifty thousand withdrew from the churches.”79

Is it a sin to separate from the church? One answer comes from Mr. B. B. Beach, a former Seventh-day Adventist General Conference Secretary. “There is no doubt that separation from God is sin. But for a group to separate from some organized church and organize their own church may not be sin at all. Often, history has shown, such separation and reorganization has come about because the large church has already separated from God by apostasy and immoral practices. Indeed, not to separate from such an ungodly church could very well be sin.”80