The Landmarks & the Omega of Deadly Heresies

(Prov 22:28 Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.)

By Brian Tsikada

An Introduction :

This is a question & answer format manuscript that shows Satan’s subtle and specious attack to uproot the foundational principles of the third angel’s message by overturning the Adventist landmarks and setting up a new counterfeit belief system.

“We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and his teaching in our past history.” GCB Jan 29, 1893

(You are much encouraged to look up each quotation to understand it in its original context – All emphasis not in original).

Brian Tsikada [email protected]

14 June 2011.

- 2 - Chapters Page

SECTION ONE

1. Back to the Foundation of the Faith. 4.

2. Identifying the Pillars of Faith. 15.

3. An Attack on the Platform of Eternal Truth. 30.

SECTION TWO

4. The Alpha. 40.

5. The Development of the Omega 47.

6. The Nature of the Omega 55.

7. The Omega Enters the Church. 60.

8. The Principal Error of the Trinity Doctrine. 74.

9. A New Movement, A New Organization. 89.

SECTION THREE

10. APPENDIX: The Lord’s Teaching in our Past History

- 3 - Chapter One

Back to the Foundation of the Faith

1. Q : What are the pillars of faith? a) “ …. The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith , and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place what would result? The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church would be discarded. Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. …” Battle Creek letters. pg 81 b) “Those who seek to remove the old landmarks are not holding fast; they are not remembering how they have received and heard. Those who try to bring in theories that would remove the pillars of our faith concerning the sanctuary or concerning the personality of God or of Christ are working as blind men. They are seeking to bring in uncertainties and to set the people of God adrift without an anchor.”. {YRP 235.3} d) “ The leading points of our faith as we hold them today were firmly established. Point after point was clearly defined, and all the brethren came into harmony.” {3MR 412.4} e) “I have been instructed by the heavenly messenger that some of the reasoning in the book Living Temple is

- 4 - unsound, and that this reasoning would lead astray the minds of those who are not thoroughly established on the foundation principles of present trut h. It introduces that which is nought but speculation in regard to the personality of God and where His presence is. {1SM 201.3}”

“The pillars of faith” or “landmarks” are “doctrines” that constitute “the leading points of our faith”.They are “the fundamental principles” or the “the foundational principles of present truth”.

3. When were these landmark principles of truths “revealed” by God to His people? a) “After the passing of the time , God entrusted to his faithful followers the precious principles of present truth…”. Ms 129, 1905, p. 2. ("Steadfast unto the End," December 24, 1905.) {1MR 58.1}. b) “But we must firmly refuse to be drawn away from the platform of eternal truth, which since 1844 has stood the test.” 1SM 200

The landmark principles/doctrines were revealed by God soon after the passing of time in 1844. (The passing of time refers to the passing of the 2300 days prophecy of Dan 8.14 on October 22 1844).

4. To whom were the principles of truth specifically entrusted?

“After the passing of the time, God entrusted to His faithful followers the precious principles of present truth. These

- 5 - principles were not given to those who had had no part in the giving of the first and second angels' messages. They were given to the workers who had had a part in the cause from the beginning .” {2SM 389.4}.

God entrusted the landmark doctrines only to the faithful servants who had acted their part in the proclamation of the 1st and 2 nd angel’s messages. The 1 st and 2 nd messages were proclaimed prior to October 22, 1844 in the years 1842 1843 through to the summer of 1844.

5. Under which message were these principles or pillars of faith discovered by God’s people?

“We must let the great principles of the third angel's message stand out clear and distinct. The great pillars of our faith will hold all the weight that can be placed upon them.” Letter 207, 1899, p. 2. (To Elder S. N. Haskell and Elder G. A. Irwin, December 15, 1899.) {1MR 53.3}

“In the early days of the message , when our numbers were few, we studied diligently to understand the meaning of many Scriptures. At times it seemed as if no explanation could be given. My mind seemed to be locked to an understanding of the Word; but when our brethren who had assembled for study came to a point where they could go no farther, and had recourse to earnest prayer, the Spirit of God would rest upon me, and I would be taken off in vision, and be instructed in regard to the relation of Scripture to Scripture. These experiences were repeated over and over again. Thus many truths of the third angel's message were established, point by point.”

- 6 - The great landmarks or pillars of Adventism hold up the third angel’s message. They were established point by point during the early days of the message. The third angel’s message began to be proclaimed soon after October 22, 1844. The many truths of the third message were established when the Adventists were still few in number. (Many people erroneously believe that the fundamental teachings of Adventism were carved out when the movement was large and generally wide spread).

6. What is the relationship between these landmark doctrines and what Ellen White often called “the platform of truth” or “the foundation of truth”?

“ In a vision of the night I was shown distinctly that these sentiments have been looked upon by some as the grand truths that are to be brought in and made prominent at the present time. I was shown a platform, braced by solid timbers,-- the truths of the Word of God . Some one high in responsibility in the medical work was directing this man and that man to loosen the timbers supporting this platform . Then I heard a voice saying, "Where are the watchmen that ought to be standing on the walls of Zion? Are they asleep? This foundation was built by the Masterbuilder.” {SpTB02 54.2}

In the above vision, Ellen White was shown that the landmark doctrines, the truths of the Word of God, were like solid timbers that supported the platform of eternal truth. This platform she also called “a foundation”.

7. What is this platform of eternal truth or foundation that was supported by the truths of the word of God?

- 7 -

“God is leading out a people and establishing them upon the one great platform of faith, the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus. …”{3T 447.1}

“I saw a company who stood well guarded and firm, and would give no countenance to those who would unsettle the established faith of the body. God looked upon them with approbation . I was shown three steps--one, two and three--the first, second and third angels' messages. Said the angel, Woe to him who shall move a block, or stir a pin in these messages. The true understanding of these messages is of vital importance. The destiny of souls hangs upon the manner in which they are received. I was again brought down through these messages, and saw how dearly the people of God had purchased their experience. It had been obtained through much suffering and severe conflict. Step by step had God brought them along, until he had placed them upon a solid, immovable platform.” 1 SG pg169, 1858.

By combining this vision and the one in question 6, we see here that God led the remnant step by step from the 1 st message to the 2 nd , and then to the 3 rd angel’s message. The 1 st and 2 nd messages were steps leading up to and supporting the 3 rd message. These messages were “braced up” or supported by certain irrevocable truths (which the angel in the vision called “blocks” and “pins”. Therefore by 1858, the people of God had experienced all three messages (“steps” in the vision) and were now standing on the platform of eternal truth….. “the law of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ”.

- 8 - 8. Who were some of the people involved in the laying of this foundation of faith soon after 1844 what was their experience?

“Many of our people do not realize how firmly the foundation of our faith has been laid . My husband, Elder Joseph Bates, Father Pierce, Elder Edson , and others who were keen, noble, and true, were among those who, after the passing of the time in 1844, searched for the truth as for hidden treasure. I met with them, and we studied and prayed earnestly. Often we remained together until late at night, and sometimes through the entire night, praying for light and studying the word. Again and again these brethren came together to study the Bible, in order that they might know its meaning, and be prepared to teach it with power. When they came to the point in their study where they said, "We can do nothing more," the Spirit of the Lord would come upon me, I would be taken off in vision, and a clear explanation of the passages we had been studying would be given me, with instruction as to how we were to labor and teach effectively. Thus light was given that helped us to understand the scriptures in regard to Christ, His mission, and His priesthood. A line of truth extending from that time to the time when we shall enter the city of God, was made plain to me, and I gave to others the instruction that the Lord had given me. {SpTB02 56.4}.

“During this whole time I could not understand the reasoning of the brethren. My mind was locked, as it were, and I could not comprehend the meaning of the scriptures we were studying. This was one of the greatest sorrows of mylife. I was in this condition of mind until all the principal points of our faith were made

- 9 - clear to our minds, in harmony with the word of God. The brethren knew that when not in vision, I could not understand these matters, and they accepted as light direct from heaven the revelations given. {SpTB02 57.1}

“My husband, Elder Joseph Bates, Father Pierce, Elder Edson, a man who was keen, noble, and true, and many others whose names I can not now recall, were among those who, after the passing of the time in 1844, searched for truth.

“…..My mind was locked, as it were, and I could not comprehend what we were studying. …….. ….For two or three years my mind continued to be locked to the Scriptures. In 1846 I was married to Elder James White. It was some time after my second son was born that we were in great perplexity regarding certain points of doctrine. I was asking the Lord to unlock my mind that I might understand His Word. Suddenly I seemed to be enshrouded in clear, beautiful light, and ever since, the Scriptures have been an open book to me.

“ I was at that time [early December 1850] in Paris, Maine. Old Father Andrews was very sick. For some time he had been a great sufferer from inflammatory rheumatism. He could not move without intense pain. We prayed for him. I laid my hands on his head and said, "Father Andrews, the Lord Jesus maketh thee whole." He was healed instantly. He got up and walked about the room, praising God, and saying, "I never saw it on this wise. Angels of God are in this room." The glory of God was revealed. Light seemed to shine all through the house, and an angel's hand was laid upon my head. From that time to this, I have been enabled to

- 10 - understand the Word of God.”--Ms 135, 1903, pp. 1-3. ("Establishing the Foundation of Our Faith." Typed Nov. 4, 1903.) {3MR 414.1}.

Elders James White, Edson, Bates and Ellen White herself were among the earliest pioneers that laboured in the raising up of the foundation/ platform of truth. The period when the landmark teachings were being confirmed to the remnant by the miraculous power of God was between the years 1846 and 1850 .

During this time, the brethren would meet to study the scriptures, sometimes spending the entire night in prayer and study. When they would come to places of perplexity, God would reveal through the spirit of prophecy the line of truth and they would all unite on that truth. But though God would reveal the light of truth by Ellen White when the brethren were in hard places, Ellen herself could not understand the discussions of the brethren - her mind was locked to the understanding of scriptures. Therefore the brethren knew that when she spoke, it was only by direct revelation. The labours of the brethren in the scriptures were sealed by the gifts of miracles and a marked presence of the power of God. It was only in December of 1850, after about three years of hard labour in establishing and confirming the foundational of truths of the third angel’s message, that Ellen’s mind was miraculously opened to the understanding of the scriptures.

9. Who was the actual master builder of the foundation of faith ?

“I saw a company who stood well guarded and firm, and would give no countenance to those who would unsettle the

- 11 - established faith of the body. God looked upon them with approbation. I was shown three steps--one, two and three--the first, second and third angels' messages. Said the angel, Woe to him who shall move a block, or stir a pin in these messages. The true understanding of these messages is of vital importance. The destiny of souls hangs upon the manner in which they are received. I was again brought down through these messages, and saw how dearly the people of God had purchased their experience. It had been obtained through much suffering and severe conflict. Step by step had God brought them along, until he had placed them upon a solid, immovable platform.

“Then I saw individuals as they approached the platform, before stepping upon it examine the foundation. Some with rejoicing immediately stepped upon it. Others commenced to find fault with the laying of the foundation of the platform. They wished improvements made, and then the platform would be more perfect, and the people much happier. Some stepped off the platform and examined it, then found fault with it, declaring it to be laid wrong. I saw that nearly all stood firm upon the platform, and exhorted others who had stepped off to cease their complaints, for God was the master-builder, and they were fighting against him . They recounted the wonderful work of God, which had led them to the firm platform, and in union nearly all raised their eyes to heaven, and with a loud voice glorified God. This affected some of those who had complained, and left the platform, and again they with humble look stepped upon it.” {1SG 168.2} 1858.

“They are not to give heed to seducing spirits. They are not to remove one pin from the foundation of truth that the Lord has built up from point to point by the ministration of the Holy Spirit. If one point is yielded, there is no surety

- 12 - that other points will not be discarded; and point by point, the structure of truth will be assailed and discarded.” MR 784

“During the past night, I have been shown more distinctly than ever before that these sentiments have been looked upon by some as the grand truths that are to be brought in and made prominent at the present time. I was shown a platform braced by solid timbers, -- the truths of the words of God. Some on high in responsibility in the medical work was directing this man and that man to loosen the timbers supporting this platform. Then I heard a voice saying, "Where are the watchmen that ought to be standing on the walls of Zion? Are they asleep? How can they be silent? This foundation was built by the Master worker , and will stand storm and tempest. Will they permit this man to present doctrines that deny the past experience of the people of God? The time has come to take decided action.” {BCL 80.2}

“ I am instructed to say that those who would tear away the foundation that God has laid are not to be accepted as the teachers and leaders of His people. We are to hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. Words of power have been sent by God and by Christ to this people, bringing them out from the world point by point, into the clear light of present truth. With lips touched with holy fire, God's servants have proclaimed the message. The divine utterance has set its seal to the genuineness of the truth proclaimed.” {BCL 82.5}

- 13 - the reprinting of their articles in our periodicals. Ms 62, 1905, p. 6. ("A Warning against False Theories," May 24, 1905.) {1MR 55.1}

God Himself by His Holy Spirit was the Master builder of the platform or foundation of faith of Seventh Day Adventists. The pioneers were only instruments by which God was revealing the pillars of faith that hold up that foundation.

- 14 - Chapter Two

Identifying the Pillars of Faith

11. Which doctrines in particular supported the foundation and constituted the pillars of faith or landmarks of the Adventist faith?

“The passing of the time in 1844 was a period of great events, opening to our astonished eyes the cleansing of the sanctuary transpiring in heaven, and having decided relation to God's people upon the earth, [also] the first and second angels' messages and the third , unfurling the banner on which was inscribed, "The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." One of the landmarks under this message was the temple of God , seen by His truth-loving people in heaven, and the ark containing the law of God . The light of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment flashed its strong rays in the pathway of the transgressors of God's law. The nonimmortality of the wicked is an old landmark. I can call to mind nothing more that can come under the head of the old landmarks.” 1888 materials p518

Please note that Ellen White here lists the old landmarks that she could recall at the time of writing the above statement.

These are 1) the cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven, 2) the 1st , 2nd and 3 rd angel’s messages 3) the temple of God in heaven 4) the law of God and the Sabbath 6) the nonimmortality of the wicked.

It can readily be seen that she neither said that these were all the landmarks nor the only landmarks….but that she said that she could “call to mind nothing” or “remember” other

- 15 - teachings that came under the heading of the “old landmarks”.

In another place, she mentions the personality of God and Christ also as being another landmark teaching:

“Those who seek to remove the old landmarks are not holding fast; they are not remembering how they have received and heard. Those who try to bring in theories that would remove the pillars of our faith concerning the sanctuary or concerning the personality of God or of Christ are working as blind men. They are seeking to bring in uncertainties and to set the people of God adrift without an anchor. {YRP 235.3}. "A Warning Against False Theories," May 24, 1905.) {MR760 12.2}

Other landmarks which were unanimously held by the Adventist believers (which Ellen White did not specifically mention in the above passage) included “the closing of the 2300 days”, “the authority of the scriptures”, “the doctrine of God”, the second advent of Jesus”, “the millennium”, “the judgment of the wicked”, the “resurrection of the dead”, etc.

A consolidation of all the landmark teachings were published by Battle Creek Steam Press in 1872 under the title “A Declaration of Fundamental Principles Taught & Practised by Seventh Day Adventists.”

A careful comparison of these “Fundamental Principles” with the teachings in the book “Word to the Little Flock” written in 1847 by the pioneer laborers, James White, Joseph Bates and Ellen White shows that the “Fundamental Principles” of 1872 were a clear development of the teachings in the “Word to the Little Flock”. It is of special note that the “Word to the Little Flock” was authored in 1847 at the very time

- 16 - when the foundation was being confirmed. It is the earliest document detailing the points of present truth that God was revealing to the little flock of Adventist believers.

The following is the full original statement of the 1872 “Fundamental Principles” with the original title and full preamble included:

“A DECLARATION OF THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES TAUGHT AND PRACTICED ——— BY ——— THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS.

“Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.” EPHESIANS 2:20””

“IN presenting to the public this synopsis of our faith, we wish to have it distinctly understood that we have no articles of faith, creed, or discipline, aside from the Bible. We do not put forth this as having any authority with our people, nor is it designed to secure uniformity among them, as a system of faith, but is a brief statement of what is, and has been, with great unanimity, held by them. We often find it necessary to meet inquiries on this subject, and sometimes to correct false statements circulated against us, and to remove erroneous impressions which have obtained with those who have not had an opportunity to become acquainted with our faith and practice. Our only object is to meet this necessity.

“As Seventh-day Adventists we desire simply that our position shall be understood; and we are the more solicitous

- 17 - for this because there are many who call themselves Adventists who hold views with which we can have no sympathy, some of which, we think, are subversive of the plainest and most important principles set forth in the word of God.

“As compared with other Adventists, Seventh- day Adventists differ from one class in believing in the unconscious state of the dead, and the final destruction of the unrepentant wicked; from another, in believing in the perpetuity of the law of God as summarily contained in the ten commandments, in the operation of the Holy Spirit in the church, and in setting no times for the advent to occur; from all, in the observance of the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath of the Lord, and in many applications of the prophetic scriptures.

“With these remarks, we ask the attention of the reader to the following propositions, which aim to be a concise statement of the more prominent features of our faith.

“II. That there is one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Eternal Father, the one by whom God created all things, and by whom they do consist; that he took on him the nature of the seed of Abraham for the redemption of our fallen race; that he dwelt among men full of grace and truth, lived our example, died our sacrifice, was raised for our justification, ascended on high to be our only mediator in the sanctuary in Heaven, where, with his own blood he makes atonement for

- 18 - our sins; which atonement so far from being made on the cross, which was but the offering of the sacrifice, is the very last portion of his work as priest according to the example of the Levitical priesthood, which foreshadowed and prefigured the ministry of our Lord in Heaven. See Lev. 16; Heb. 8:4, 5; 9:6, 7; &c.

“III That the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, were given by inspiration of God, contain a full revelation of his will to man, and are the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

“IV. That Baptism is an ordinance of the Christian church, to follow faith and repentance, an ordinance by which we commemorate the resurrection of Christ, as by this act we show our faith in his burial and resurrection, and through that, of the resurrection of all the saints at the last day; and that no other mode fitly represents these facts than that which the Scriptures prescribe, namely, immersion. Rom. 6:3-5; Col. 2: 12.

“V. That the new birth comprises the entire change necessary to fit us for the kingdom of God, and consists of two parts: first, a moral change, wrought by conversion and a Christian life; second, a physical change at the second coming of Christ, whereby, if dead, we are raised incorruptible, and if living, are changed to immortality in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. John 3:3, 5; Luke 20:36.

“VI. We believe that prophecy is a part of God’s revelation to man; that it is included in that scripture which is profitable for instruction, 2 Tim. 3: 16; that it is designed for us and our children, Deut. 29: 29; that so far from being enshrouded in impenetrable mystery, it is that which especially constitutes the word of God a lamp to our feet and a light to our path,

- 19 - Ps. 119: 105, 2 Pet. 2:19; that a blessing is pronounced upon those who study it, Rev.1:1-3; and that, consequently, it is to be understood by the people of God sufficiently to show them their position in the world’s history, and the special duties required at their hands.

“VII. That the world’s history from specified dates in the past, the rise and fall of empires, and chronological succession of events down to the setting up of God’s everlasting kingdom, are outlined in numerous great chains of prophecy; and that these prophecies are now all fulfilled except the closing scenes.

“VIII. That the doctrine of the world’s conversion and temporal millennium is a fable of these last days, calculated to lull men into a state of carnal security, and cause them to be overtaken by the great day of the Lord as by a thief in the night; that the second coming of Christ is to precede, not follow, the millennium; for until the Lord appears the papal power, with all its abominations, is to continue, the wheat and tares grow together, and evil men and seducers wax worse and worse, as the word of God declares.

“IX. That the mistake of Adventists in 1844 pertained to the nature of the event then to transpire, not to the time; that no prophetic period is given to reach to the second advent, but that the longest one, the two thousand and three hundred days of Dan. 8:14, terminated in that year, and brought us to an event called the cleansing of the sanctuary.

“X. That the sanctuary of the new covenant is the tabernacle of God in Heaven, of which Paul speaks in Hebrews 8, and onward, of which our Lord, as great High Priest, is minister; that this sanctuary is the antitype of the Mosaic tabernacle, and that the priestly work of our Lord, connected therewith,

- 20 - is the antitype of the work of the Jewish priests of the former dispensation. Heb. 8:1-5, &c.; that this is the sanctuary to be cleansed at the end of the 2300 days, what is termed its cleansing being in this case, as in the type, simply the entrance of the high priest into the most holy place, to finish the round of service connected therewith, by blotting out and removing from the sanctuary the sins which had been transferred to it by means of the ministration in the first apartment, Heb. 9:22,23; and that this work, in the antitype, commencing in 1844, occupies a brief but indefinite space, at the conclusion of which the work of mercy for the world is finished.

“XI. That God’s moral requirements are the same upon all men in all dispensations; that these are summarily contained in the commandments spoken by Jehovah from Sinai, engraven on the tables of stone, and deposited in the ark, which was in consequence called the “ark of the covenant,” or testament. Num. 10:33, Heb. 9:4, &c.; that this law is immutable and perpetual, being a transcript of the tables deposited in the ark in the true sanctuary on high, which is also, for the same reason, called the ark of God’s testament; for under the sounding of the seventh trumpet we are told that “the temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.” Rev. 11:19.

“XII. That the fourth commandment of this law requires that we devote the seventh day of each week, commonly called Saturday, to abstinence from our own labor, and to the performance of sacred and religious duties; that this is the only weekly Sabbath known to the Bible, being the day that was set apart before Paradise was lost, Gen. 2:2,3, and which will be observed in paradise restored, Isa. 66:22, 23; that the facts upon which the Sabbath institution is based confine it to the seventh day, as they are not true of any

- 21 - other day; and that the terms, Jewish Sabbath, and Christian Sabbath, as applied to the weekly rest-day, are names of human invention, unscriptural in fact, and false in meaning.

“XIII. That as the man of sin, the papacy, has thought to change times and laws (the laws of God), Dan. 7:25, and has misled almost all Christendom in regard to the fourth commandment, we find a prophecy of a reform in this respect to be wrought among believers just before the coming of Christ. Isa. 56:1, 2, 1 Pet. 1:5, Rev. 14:12, &c.

“XIV. That as the natural or carnal heart is at enmity with God and his law, this enmity can be subdued only by a radical transformation of the affections, the exchange of unholy for holy principles; that this transformation follows repentance and faith, is the special work of the Holy Spirit, and constitutes regeneration or conversion.

“XV. That as all have violated the law of God, and cannot of themselves render obedience to his just requirements, we are dependent on Christ, first, for justification from our past offenses, and, secondly, for grace whereby to render acceptable obedience to his holy law in time to come.

“XVI. That the Spirit of God was promised to manifest itself in the church through certain gifts, enumerated especially in 1 Cor. 12 and Eph. 4; that these gifts are not designed to supersede, or take the place of, the Bible, which is sufficient to make us wise unto salvation, any more than the Bible can take the place of the Holy Spirit; that, in specifying the various channels of its operation, that Spirit has simply made provision for its own existence and presence with the people of God to the end of time, to lead to an understanding of that word which it had inspired, to convince of sin, and to work a transformation in the heart and life; and that those who deny

- 22 - to the Spirit its place and operation, do plainly deny that part of the Bible which assigns to it this work and position.

“XVII. That God, in accordance with his uniform dealings with the race, sends forth a proclamation of the approach of the second advent of Christ; and that this work is symbolized by the three messages of Rev. 14, the last one bringing to view the work of reform on the law of God, that his people may acquire a complete readiness for that event.

“XVIII. That the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary (see proposition X), synchronizing with the time of the proclamation of the third message, is a time of investigative judgment, first, with reference to the dead, and at the close of probation with reference to the living, to determine who of the myriads now sleeping in the dust of the earth are worthy of a part in the first resurrection, and who of its living multitudes are worthy of translation—points which must be determined before the Lord appears.

“XIX. That the grave, whether we all tend, expressed by the Hebrew sheol and the Greek hades, is a place of darkness in which there is no work, device, wisdom, nor knowledge. Eccl. 9:10.

“XX. That the state to which we are reduced by death is one of silence, inactivity, and entire unconsciousness. Ps. 146:4; Eccl. 9:5, 6; Dan. 12:2, &c.

“XXI. That out of this prison house of the grave mankind are to be brought by a bodily resurrection; the righteous having part in the first resurrection, which takes place at the second advent of Christ, the wicked in the second resurrection, which takes place a thousand years thereafter. Rev. 20:4-6.

- 23 - “XXII. That at the last trump, the living righteous are to be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and with the resurrected righteous are to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, so forever to be with the Lord.

“XXIII. That these immortalized ones are then taken to Heaven, to the New Jerusalem, the Father’s house, in which there are many mansions, John 14:1-3, where they reign with Christ a thousand years, judging the world and fallen angels, that is, apportioning the punishment to be executed upon them at the close of the one thousand years; Rev.20:4; 1 Cor. 6:2, 3; that during this time the earth lies in a desolate and chaotic condition, Jer. 4:23-27, described, as in the beginning by the Greek term abussos bottomless pit (Septuagint of Gen.1:2); and that here Satan is confined during the thousand years, Rev. 20:1, 2, and here finally destroyed, Rev. 20:10; Mal. 4:1; the theater of the ruin he has wrought in the universe, being appropriately made for a time, his gloomy prison house, and then the place of his final execution.

“XXIV. That at the end of the thousand years, the Lord descends with his people and the New Jerusalem, Rev. 21:2, the wicked dead are raised and come up upon on the surface of the yet unrenewed earth, and gather about the city, the camp of the saint, Rev. 20:9, and fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them. They are then consumed root and branch, Mal. 4:1, becoming as though they had not been. Obad. 15, 16. In this everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, 2 Thess. 1:9, the wicked meet the everlasting punishment threatened against them, Matt. 25:46, This is the perdition of ungodly men, the fire which consumes them being the fire for which “the heavens and the earth which are now” are kept in store, which shall melt even the elements with its intensity, and

- 24 - purge the earth from the deepest stains of the curse of sin. 2 Peter 3:7-12.

“XXV. That new heavens and earth shall spring by the power of God from the ashes of the old, to be, with the New Jerusalem for its metropolis and capital, the eternal inheritance of the saints, the place where the righteous shall evermore dwell. 2 Peter 3:13; Ps. 37:11, 29; Matt. 5:5”.

The above representative statement of Fundamental Principles was re-published 2 year later by James White with no change on June 4, 1874 in the first issue of the Signs of the Times. (A ddress:http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/ST/ST18740604-V01- 01__B/index.djvu1889 ).

In 1889, after the famous 1888 Minneapolis Conference, the same statement of Fundamental Principles was re-published by the Review & Herald Publishing Company in the Seventh - Day Adventist Yearbook with three additional articles were added. The number of Fundamental Principles became 28. The three additional principles were on “separation from worldliness”, stewardship” and “dress”:

“ 13.That the followers of Christ should be a peculiar people, not following the maxims, nor conforming to the ways, of the world; not loving its pleasures nor countenancing its follies; inasmuch as the apostle says that "whosoever therefore will be" in this sense, "a friend of the world, is the enemy of God" (James 4:4); and Christ says that we cannot have two masters, or, at the same time, serve God and mammon. Matt. 6:24. ------“14. That the Scriptures insist upon plainness and modesty of attire as a prominent mark of discipleship in those who

- 25 - profess to be the followers of Him who was, "meek and lowly in heart," that the wearing of gold, pearls, and costly array, or anything designed merely to adorn the person and foster the pride of the natural heart, is to be discarded, according to such scriptures as 1 Tim. 2:9,10; 1 Peter 3:3, 4. ------“15.That means for the support of evangelical work among men should be contributed from love to God and love of souls, not raised by church lotteries, or occasions designed to contribute to the fun-loving, appetite-indulging propensities of the sinner, such as fairs, festivals, oyster suppers, tea, broom, donkey, and crazy socials, etc., which are a disgrace to the professed church of Christ; that the proportion of one's income required in former dispensation can be no less under the gospel; that it is the same as Abraham (whose children we are, if we are Christ's, Gal. 3:29) paid to Melchisedec (type of Christ) when he gave him a tenth of all (Heb. 7:1-4); the tithe is the Lord's (Lev. 27:30); and this tenth of one's income is also to be supplemented by offerings from those who are able, for the support of the gospel. 2 Cor. 9:6; Mal. 3:8, 10.” (Address http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1889/index.djv u)

As stated in the preamble, these fundamental principles were not the ideas of a few prominent individuals in the church. These fundamental principles were not to be imposed upon the membership by church leadership. On the contrary, these statements constituted a concise confession of faith unanimously held by the general body of Seventh Day Adventist believers. There is no record of these principles being controverted during the time of the pioneers by the spirit of prophecy or by any individual who had any genuine experience in the work of God.

- 26 - These principles,(being understood as reflecting the true Adventist faith), were published with no theological amendment in the official church journals in 1872, 1874. They were subsequently published in the official Seventh Day Adventist Year Books between 1889 and 1914 (a period of a quarter of a century). This testifies not only to the unity of the pioneers’ faith in the teachings of these “Fundamental Principles”, but also to their general or unanimous acceptance by the body of believers.

Ellen White testified to the divine character and authority of these fundamental principles:

“Messages of every order and kind have been urged upon Seventh-day Adventists, to take the place of the truth which, point by point, has been sought out by prayerful study, and testified to by the miracle-working power of the Lord . But the waymarks which have made us what we are, are to be preserved, and they will be preserved, as God has signified through His Word and the testimony of His Spirit. He calls upon us to hold firmly, with the grip of faith, to the fundamental principles that are based upon unquestionable authority .” {3SM 38.2}

“ We are to hold fast the first principles of our denominated faith, and go forward from strength to increased faith. ” {SpTB07 57.1}” Sanitarium, Cal., Dec. 4, 1905.

The Fundamental Principles were the landmarks that defined the Adventist faith and separated it from all other professed Christian believers. Upon these principles of present truth, the remnant church was established. It became Satan’s special work to overthrow the remnant by both overturning

- 27 - the teachings of these landmarks as well as by eclipsing them from the minds of the people of God.

It was after 1914, that the “Fundamental Principles” strangely enough no longer appeared in our denominational annual Year Books. It is of interest that at this time almost all the pioneers who had labored in the raising of the foundation soon after 1844 had died. Ellen White herself died in 1915. It is around this time, (1914 and onwards), that Satan was especially seeking to eclipse the landmark teachings and preparing the Adventist church to receive a new theology that would deny their past experience.

The publication of the new set of beliefs in 1931 was a further step in the movement towards a reformed theology. Without any General Conference session or any denominational vote, F. M. Wilcox (Review & Herald Editor) with the nod of a three man committee composed of M E Kern – Assistant Secretary of the General Conference, E R Palmer – Manager of the Review and Herald Publishing Company and C H Watson – President of the General Conference produced a new statement of beliefs in 1931. General Conference minutes 29 December, 1930 p 195 cited by LeRoy Froom in Movement of Destiny, p 411.

These new SDA principles of faith which were subsequently officially adopted by the General Conference had an interesting divergence from the landmark doctrines in the Fundamental Principles of 1872-1914 in the very first principle. It read :

“1. That the Godhead, or Trinity , consists of the Eternal Father, a personal, spiritual Being, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, infinite in wisdom and love; the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Eternal Father, through whom all

- 28 - things were created and through, whom the salvation of the redeemed hosts will be accomplished; the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, the great regenerating power in the work of redemption.”

This principle on the Godhead as expressed in this 1931 statement though divergent from the pioneer position and using the word “trinity” is not in reality confessing “orthodox trinitarianism”. “Orthodox trinitarianism” converges the divine personalities into “one God ”– into a “unity” of three persons.

This 1931 statement, nevertheless, was an indicator of the progressive, thought-change that had already begun in Adventist theology. Satan’s efforts to surreptitiously and systematically reform the Adventist teaching seemed to be especially targeted towards the new generation of church leadership.

- 29 - Chapter Three

An Attack on the Platform of Eternal Truth

12. Did “Fundamental Principles” or pillars of present truth disclosed since 1844 need any theological alteration in future?

“In the future , deception of every kind is to arise, and we want solid ground for our feet. We want solid pillars for the building . Not one pin is to be removed from that which the Lord has established . The enemy will bring in false theories such as the doctrine that there is no sanctuary. This is one of the points on which there will be a departing from the faith. Where shall we find safety unless it be in the truths that the Lord has been giving for the last fifty years?” {MR760 12.3} RH May 25, 1905 .

“At this time many efforts will be made to unsettle our faith in the sanctuary question; but we must not waver. Not a pin is to be moved from the foundations of our faith. Truth is still truth. Those who become uncertain will drift into erroneous theories, and will finally find themselves infidel in regard to the past evidence we have had of what is truth. The old waymarks must be preserved, that we lose not our bearings”. Letters 395, 1906, p. 4. (To Elder S. M. Cobb, December 25, 1906.) {1MR 55.3}

“When men come in who would move one pin or pillar from the foundation which God has established by His Holy Spirit , let the aged men who were pioneers in our work speak plainly, and let those who are dead speak also, by the reprinting of their articles in or periodicals. Gather up the rays of divine light that God has given as He has led His

- 30 - people on step by step in the way of truth. This truth will stand the test of time and trial .” Ms 62, 1905, p. 6. ("A Warning against False Theories," May 24, 1905.) {1MR 55.1}

“Messages of every order and kind have been urged upon Seventh-day Adventists, to take the place of the truth which, point by point, has been sought out by prayerful study, and testified to by the miracle-working power of the Lord. But the waymarks which have made us what we are, are to be preserved, and they will be preserved, as God has signified through His Word and the testimony of His Spirit. He calls upon us to hold firmly, with the grip of faith, to the fundamental principles that are based upon unquestionable authority.” {3SM 38.2}

“Many of our people do not realize how firmly the foundation of our faith has been laid. My husband, Elder Joseph Bates, Father Pierce….. Elder {Hiram} Edson, and others who were keen, noble, and true, were among those who, after the passing of the time in 1844, searched for the truth as for hidden treasure. I met with them, and we studied and prayed earnestly. Often we remained together until late at night, and sometimes through the entire night, praying for light and studying the Word. Again and again these brethren came together to study the Bible, in order that they might know its meaning, and be prepared to teach it with power. When they came to the point in their study where they said, "We can do nothing more," the Spirit of the Lord would come upon me, I would be taken off in vision, and a clear explanation of the passages we had been studying would be given me, with instruction as to how we were to labor and teach effectively. Thus light was given that helped us to understand the scriptures in regard to Christ, His mission, and His priesthood. A line of truth extending from that time to the time when we shall enter the city of God, was made

- 31 - plain to me , and I gave to others the instruction that the Lord had given me.”{1SM 206.4}

“…We are to hold fast the first principles of our denominated faith, and go forward from strength to increased faith. ” {SpTB07 57.1}” Sanitarium, Cal., Dec. 4, 1905

It is very clear from the above statements that the first principles of our denominated faith, the foundational truths of 1844,1845, 1846 etc were still to be maintained as present truth by the general body of Adventist believers well into the 20 th century. The theology/teachings of these old landmarks were to “stand the test of time”. They were to be preserved unchanged until the saints would enter the New Jerusalem .

It is true that God in His wisdom may send “new light” with succeeding Adventist generations. However, it is clear that these “new revealings” would not contradict that which was already established. “New light” would not theologically be at variance with the old light. New revelations which would come as a further development of present truth would build on the foundational teachings already established by the authority of God.

13. Did God warn that the enemy would nonetheless seek to reform the Adventist faith by attempting to uproot or alter the pillars of faith thus destroying the foundation of our faith?

“As a people, we are to stand firm on the platform of eternal truth that has withstood test and trial. We are to hold to the sure pillars of our faith. The principles of truth that God has revealed to us are our only true foundation. They have made us what we are. The lapse of time has not lessened their

- 32 - value. It is the constant effort of the enemy to remove these truths from their setting, and to put in their place spurious theories . He will bring in everything that he possibly can to carry out his deceptive designs . But the Lord will raise up men of keen perception, who will give these truths their proper place in the plan of God”. {SpTB02 51.2}

“I saw a company who stood well guarded and firm, and would give no countenance to those who would unsettle the established faith of the body…….. “Then I saw individuals as they approached the platform, before stepping upon it examine the foundation. Some with rejoicing immediately stepped upon it. Others commenced to find fault with the laying of the foundation of the platform. They wished improvements made, and then the platform would be more perfect, and the people much happier. Some stepped off the platform and examined it, then found fault with it, declaring it to be laid wrong ” …. 1 SG 168.2} 1858.

“He (Satan) works today as he worked in heaven, to divide the people of God in the very last state of this earth's history. He seeks to create dissension, and to arouse contention and discussion, and to remove if possible the old landmarks of truth committed to God's people. He tries to make it appear as if the Lord contradicts Himself .” {4MR 145.3} Ms 11, 1906.

“ One thing it is certain is soon to be realized,--the great apostasy, which is developing and increasing and waxing stronger, and will continue to do so until the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout . We are to hold fast the first principles of our denominated faith, and go forward from strength to increased faith .” {SpTB07 57.1}” Sanitarium, Cal., Dec. 4, 1905.

- 33 - “The enemy will set everything in operation to uproot the confidence of the believers in the pillars of our faith in the messages of the past, which have placed us upon the elevated platform of eternal truth, and which have established and given character to the work”. Ms 28, 1890

“ Our work is to bring forth the strong reasons of our faith, our past and present position, because there are men who, never established in the truth, will bring in fallacies which would tear away the anchorage of our faith . Even presidents of conferences will fear to move, as some have done, dictating and commanding and forbidding. They drive the sheep away into forbidden paths. God sends no man with a message that leads souls to depart from the faith that has been our stronghold for so many years. We are to substantiate this faith rather than tear down the foundation upon which it rests .” {SpTB02 51.1} May 1905.

“The truth for this time is precious, but those whose hearts have not been broken by falling on the rock Christ Jesus, will not see and understand what is truth. They will accept that which pleases their ideas, and will begin to manufacture another foundation than that which is laid . They will flatter their own vanity and esteem, thinking that they are capable of removing the pillars of our faith, and replacing them with pillars they have devised. This will continue to be as long as time shall last .” -- Manuscript 28, 1890. {2SM 389.2}.

“My heart is pained as I see that many, and some even amongst our own people, are fulfilling the words written by Paul: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to

- 34 - seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils" [1 Tim. 4:1]. The time of this apostasy is here. Every conceivable effort will be made to throw doubt upon the positions that we have occupied for over half a century ” .MR1415, 1907,AUG 6

Through the spirit of prophecy, God has warned that it is Satan’s special work to cast doubts on the teachings of the pillars of faith--- he would seek to replace the original principles of truth with pillars of his own devisings. This Satanic “reformation” to overthrow the landmarks would continue as long as time would last.

14. What would be the results of this reformation if permitted to take place within Adventism?

“In a representation which passed before me, I saw a certain work being done by medical missionary workers. Our ministering brethren were looking on, watching what was being done, but they did not seem to understand. The foundation of our faith , which was established by so much prayer, such earnest searching of the Scriptures, was being taken down, pillar by pillar. Our faith was to have nothing to rest upon -- the sanctuary was gone, the atonement was gone . I realized that something must be done.” {1SAT 344.1} Ms. 46, 1904. (MR 900.1)

- 35 - would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced. The founders of this system would go into the cities, and do a wonderful work. The Sabbath, of course, would be lightly regarded, as also the God who created it. Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the new movement. The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice, but God being removed, they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is worthless. Their foundation would be built on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure.” {SpTB02 54.3}

“If we are the Lord's appointed messengers, we shall not spring up with new ideas and theories to contradict the message that God has given through His servants since 1844….

“And those who today claim to have light, and who contradict the teaching of God's ordained messengers who were working under the Holy Spirit's guidance, those who get up new theories which remove the pillars of our faith, are not doing the will of God, but are bringing in fallacies of their own invention, which, if received, will cut the church away from the anchorage of truth and set them drifting, drifting, to where they will receive any sophistries that may arise . These will be similar to that which Dr. J. H. Kellogg, under Satan's special guidance, has been working for years”. {MR760 14.2} May 1905 .

“Those who seek to remove the old landmarks are not holding fast; they are not remembering how they have

- 36 - received and heard. Those who try to bring in theories that would remove the pillars of our faith concerning the sanctuary or concerning the personality of God or of Christ are working as blind men. They are seeking to bring in uncertainties and to set the people of God adrift without an anchor. ”Ms 62, 1905 .

“The Lord has declared that the history of the past shall be rehearsed as we enter upon the closing work….Every pillar that He has established is to be strengthened. We cannot now step off the foundation that God has established . We cannot now enter into any new organization; for this would mean apostasy from the truth .--Manuscript 129, 1905. {2SM 390.1}

A reformation of the pillars of our faith would result in the church being cut off from the anchorage of truth. The church would be set adrift. An entire revolution of the Adventist religion and economy would take place. This would result in a new movement based on intellectual philosophy. A new organization/movement would be established. This new movement/organization would be evidence of apostasy from the truth.

15. How are God’s people to respond when threatened by such a reformatory movement?

“I saw a company who stood well guarded and firm, and would give no countenance to those who would unsettle the established faith of the body ….” {1SG 168.2}

“I entreat every one to be clear and firm regarding the certain truths that we have heard and received and advocated. The statements of God's Word are plain. Plant your feet firmly on

- 37 - the platform of eternal truth. Reject every phase of error , even though it be covered with a semblance of reality, which denies the personality of God and of Christ .” {RH, August 31, 1905 par. 11}”

“Those who passed through these experiences are to be as firm as a rock to the principles that have made us Seventh-day Adventists. …. These men are not to permit their faith to be changed to infidelity; they are not to permit the banner of the third angel to be taken from their hands. They are to hold the beginning of their confidence firm unto the end.” {2SM 389.4}.

“As a people, we are to stand firm on the platform of eternal truth that has withstood test and trial. We are to hold to the sure pillars of our faith.” {SpTB02 51.2}.

“We are God's commandment-keeping people. For the past fifty years every phase of heresy has been brought to bear upon us, to becloud our minds regarding the teaching of the word,--……. But the way-marks which have made us what we are, are to be preserved, and they will be preserved, as God has signified through His word and the testimony of His Spirit. He calls upon us to hold firmly, with the grip of faith, to the fundamental principles that are based upon unquestionable authority .” {SpTB02 59.1}

“ One thing it is certain is soon to be realized,--the great apostasy, which is developing and increasing and waxing stronger, and will continue to do so until the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout . We are to hold fast the first principles of our denominated faith, and go forward from strength to increased faith. ” {SpTB07 57.1}” Sanitarium, Cal., Dec. 4, 1905.

- 38 -

SECTION TWO

- 39 - Chapter Four

The Alpha

16. Is there a time when the Seventh Day Adventist church was threatened by such a reformatory movement?

“During the past night, I have been shown more distinctly than ever before that these sentiments have been looked upon by some as the grand truths that are to be brought in and made prominent at the present time. I was shown a platform braced by solid timbers, -- the truths of the words of God. Some one high in responsibility in the medical work was directing this man and that man to loosen the timbers supporting this platform . “Then I heard a voice saying, "Where are the watchmen that ought to be standing on the walls of Zion? Are they asleep? How can they be silent? This foundation was built by the Master worker, and will stand storm and tempest. Will they permit this man to present doctrines that deny the past experience of the people of God? The time has come to take decided action.” {BCL 80.2}

“In a representation which passed before me, I saw a certain work being done by medical missionary workers. Our ministering brethren were looking on, watching what was being done, but they did not seem to understand. The foundation of our faith, which was established by so much prayer, such earnest searching of the Scriptures , was being taken down, pillar by pillar . Our faith was to have nothing to rest upon--the sanctuary was gone, the atonement was gone. I realized that something must be done.” {1SAT 344.1} Ms. 46, 1904. (MR 900.1)

- 40 - 17. Who was that medical man who was seeking tear down the platform of eternal truth?

“ If Dr. Kellogg would stand solidly with his ministering brethren, they could help him, and he could help them. But he has started on a track which, if followed, will lead to the tearing down of the foundation upon which our faith is based .” {19MR 357.2} Nov 1903.

“I am much worried about Dr. Kellogg . In many respects, his course is not pleasing the Lord. It seems to be so easy for him to drift away from foundation principles. He is in great danger of not holding the beginning of his confidence steadfast unto the end. ”{BCL 59.5}. September 5, 1902

18. What specific doctrine or pillar was Dr. Kellogg seeking to reform?

“You are not definitely clear on the personality of God , which is everything to us as a people. You have virtually destroyed the Lord God Himself .”--Letter 300, 1903. March 16. To J.H. Kellogg

“Dr. Kellogg is still in the mists of error,--befogged. He says that he can not see as we do regarding the dangerous tendencies of his theories concerning God .” {BCL 104.6} B--177-1904.

Dr. Kellogg was seeking to bring in new teachings on the doctrine of the personality of God and Christ.

The doctrine of the personality of God as taught by Adventists at that time (1903 -1904) which Dr. Kellogg was seeking to tear away was considered a landmark doctrine

- 41 - by both the pioneers and the pen of inspiration . It was therefore a part of the platform of eternal truth. It was as much one of the pillars as the teaching of the heavenly sanctuary:

“I entreat every one to be clear and firm regarding the certain truths that we have heard and received and advocated. The statements of God's Word are plain. Plant your feet firmly on the platform of eternal truth . Reject every phase of error, even though it be covered with a semblance of reality, which denies the personality of God and of Christ”. {RH, August 31, 1905 par. 11}”

“Those who seek to remove the old landmarks are not holding fast; they are not remembering how they have received and heard. Those who try to bring in theories that would remove the pillars of our faith concerning the sanctuary or concerning the personality of God or of Christ are working as blind men. They are seeking to bring in uncertainties and to set the people of God adrift without an anchor.” {YRP 235.3}. "A Warning Against False Theories," May 24, 1905.) {MR760 12.2}.

The doctrine of God was the very first principle of the “Fundamental Principles of Seventh day Adventists” which were published in the official Seventh Day Adventist Yearbooks between 1889 -1914. It read:

“ I . That there is one God , a personal, spiritual being, the creator of all things, omnipotent, omniscient, and eternal, infinite in wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, truth, and mercy; unchangeable, and everywhere present by his representative, the Holy Spirit. Ps. 139:7. “II. That there is one Lord Jesus Christ , the Son of the Eternal Father, the one by whom God created all things, and

- 42 - by whom they do consist; that he took on him the nature of the seed of Abraham for the redemption of our fallen race; that he dwelt among men full of grace and truth, lived our example, died our sacrifice, was raised for our justification, ascended on high to be our only mediator in the sanctuary in Heaven, where, with his own blood he makes atonement for our sins; which atonement so far from being made on the cross, which was but the offering of the sacrifice, is the very last portion of his work as priest according to the example of the Levitical priesthood, which foreshadowed and prefigured the ministry of our Lord in Heaven. See Lev. 16; Heb. 8:4, 5; 9:6, 7; &c.”

19. What was the reformed teaching of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg?

Dr. Kellogg at first was in harmony with the landmark denominational view expressed above. This view taught that the “one God ” of the bible was a direct and specific reference to the individuality and personality of the Father. This one God’s dwelling was in the sanctuary in heaven. He,(God or the Father), was omnipresent throughout the universe by His (Holy) Spirit. Fundamental Principle #1 & #10.

This understanding began to be subtly altered in Dr. Kellogg’s mind. He began to reason that God’s being was not confined to a heavenly sanctuary but that His being filled all space and every living thing.…This meant that God (that is the Father) personally dwelt in the water, in the trees, in the flowers, in the animals, in every person and every living thing etc.

- 43 - This teaching followed to its logical conclusion would raise perplexing issues. If the being of God is personally dwelling in every part of creation, then logically the throne on which He sits should also be everywhere. If the throne on which He sits is everywhere, then the sanctuary in which the throne sits is also everywhere. If the sanctuary in which the throne sits is everywhere, then heaven in which the sanctuary is situated is also everywhere. So God, His throne, His sanctuary and heaven would be in every part of creation – in the people, in trees, in insects, in water and in the air!

The next perplexing question would then be: Where did Jesus go when He ascended to His Father in “heaven”? “Everywhere?” Well then, where will the saints go at the time of the resurrection? or how and where will the saints see the face of God (Rev 22.4)? The teaching of Dr. Kellogg if followed to its logical conclusion would uproot the entire Christian hope and the entire Christian economy.

20. What was the background to Dr. Kellogg’s new teaching?

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was the leading physician at the famous Battle Creek Sanitarium. He was in harmony with the rest of the brethren in the understanding of the Adventist faith until some time in the late 1890’s when he started cherishing pantheistic views of God. At first, these views where not openly expressed. But around the turn of the century, he sought to include some of his teachings in the book he was about to publish. The book’s name was “The Living Temple”.

The “Living Temple” was supposed to be a physiological book, but Dr. Kellogg sought to include in it some doctrinal

- 44 - subjects. Some of the teachings in the book were sound and were in harmony with the light God had already revealed to the Adventist people. But Dr. Kellogg also sought to include his subtle and erroneous views on the personality of God. The leading brethren seemed to be confused over the teachings in the book. Many workers at Battle Creek Sanitarium, where J.H. Kellogg was a leader, thought the book contained light for the people of God. There was a crisis. At this time God revealed to Ellen White the deception that was contained in the book. Through messages of “the spirit of prophecy”, a large proportion of the leading brethren eventually took their rightful position in refuting both the teachings and the publication of “the Living Temple”.

Dr. Kellogg was dis-fellowshipped on November 10, 1907 for his erroneous view on the doctrine of God. A proportion of church and sanitarium workers also left the faith and the denomination.

21. What did God call this heresy which Dr. Kellogg published in “the Living Temple?”

“ In the book "Living Temple" there is presented the alpha of deadly heresies. ” {SpTB02 50.2} August 7, 1904.

“Living Temple contains the alpha of a train of heresies .. {11MR 247.1}” --Letter 265, 1903, pp. 1-7. (To Dr. J. H. Kellogg and His Associates, November 26, 1903).

“I did not read Living Temple, though I had it in my library….. Living Temple contains the Alpha of these theories .” {1SAT 341.3} Ms. 46, 1904. (MR 900.1)

- 45 - “I was forbidden to talk with Dr. Kellogg on this subject, because it is not a subject to be talked about. And I was instructed that certain sentiments in Living Temple were the Alpha of a long list of deceptive theories .”{1SAT 343.4}Ms. 46, 1904. (MR 900.1

“Be not deceived; many will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. We have now before us the alpha of this danger .” {SpTB02 16.2} July 24, 1904

It is clear from the above quotations that the erroneous teachings of Kellogg on the personality of God in the “Living Temple” were the Alpha or the beginning of a long list of speculative and deceptive theories.

What theories is EGW referring to? In context she is referring to speculative theories on the personality of God. In her own words she says : “…… Living Temple contains the Alpha of these theories .” {1SAT 341.3} Ms. 46, 1904. (MR 900.1)

- 46 - Chapter Five

The Development of the Omega

22. What did God call the final evolution of these alpha theories on the personality of God?

“I am instructed to speak plainly."Meet it," is the word spoken to me. "Meet it firmly, and without delay." …..In the book Living Temple there is presented the alpha of deadly heresies. The omega will follow, and will be received by those who are not willing to heed the warning God has given.” {1SM 200.1} August 7,1904

“Be not deceived; many will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. We have now before us the alpha of this danger. The omega will be of a most startling nature”. {SpTB02 16.2} July 24, 1904.

“Living Temple contains the alpha of these theories. I knew that the omega would follow in a little while ;” {1SM 203.2} August 7, 1904.

“When I first left the State of Maine, it was to go through Vermont and Massachusetts, to bear a testimony against these sentiments. Living Temple contains the Alpha of these theories. The Omega would follow in a little while. I tremble for our people. These beautiful representations are similar to the temptation that the enemy brought to Adam and Eve in Eden”. Ms. 46, 1904.

- 47 - The Living Temple contained the Alpha of deadly heresies ….the Omega or the last of these same heresies was to come…some time in the future.

23. How did the Alpha begin to evolve towards the Omega?

As the opposition to the sentiments in the “Living Temple” thickened, Dr. Kellogg himself became confused, and as not clear on his own teachings. He thought the matter over as the brethren were trying to help him. Within a very short space of time, he then revised his theology of God again.

By revising his theology, he entered into yet another even more subtle and more complex deception. Instead of repenting from the Alpha he was instead moving towards the Omega. Dr. Kellogg reasoned that…there should be a God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, a trinity of three God beings. He reasoned that it should be God the Holy Spirit, and not God the Father who dwells personally in every living thing. With this revised view he hoped for harmony with the brethren who refuted the idea that God the Father was personally dwelling everywhere.

So Dr. Kellogg thought to share his new view of God first with the then president of the SDA denomination, A.G. Daniels. He (Kellogg) hoped to include this trinity view of the personality of God in a new revised edition of “The Living Temple”. However, A.G. Daniels could not see any light in this trinity teaching and could not see the harmony of this new theology of the doctor with the established faith of the church.

Here is part of A.G. Daniels’ letter to Ellen White’s son Willie White, after his interview with Dr. Kellogg:

- 48 - “October 29, 1903

“Dear Brother White,

“Ever since the council closed I have felt that I should write you confidentially regarding Kellogg's plans for revising and republishing "The Living Temple." ...He said that some days before coming to the council, he had been thinking the matter over, and began to see that he had made a slight mistake in expressing his views. He said that all the way along he had been troubled to know how to state the character of God and his relation to his created works...

"He then stated that his former views regarding the trinity had stood in the way of making a clear and absolutely correct statement ; but that within a short time he had come to believe in the trinity and could now see pretty clearly where all the difficulty was, and believed that he could clear the matter up satisfactorily. He told me that he now believed in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost; and his view was that it was God the Holy Ghost, and not God the Father that filled all space, and every living thing. He said that if he had believed this before writing the book, he could have expressed his views without giving the wrong impression the book now gives.

"I placed before him the objections I found in the teaching , and tried to show him that the teaching was so utterly contrary to the gospel that I did not see how it could be revised by changing a few expressions. We argued that matter at some length in a friendly way; but I felt sure that when we parted, the Doctor did not understand himself, nor the character of his teaching. And I could not see how it would be possible for him to flop over and in the course of a few days fix the book up so that it would be all right." (Letter: A. G. Daniels to W. C. White. 10/29/1903.

- 49 - 24. How was Kellogg’s new trinity teaching contrary to how the brethren understood the doctrine of God?

The preponderant denominational teaching on the doctrine of God was expressed in the official Seventh Day Adventist Yearbooks:

“ I . That there is one God, a personal, spiritual being , the creator of all things, omnipotent, omniscient, and eternal, infinite in wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, truth, and mercy; unchangeable, and everywhere present by his representative, the Holy Spirit. Ps. 139:7. “II. That there is one Lord Jesus Christ , the Son of the Eternal Father, the one by whom God created all things, and by whom they do consist; that he took on him the nature of the seed of Abraham for the redemption of our fallen race;”

The first two landmark doctrines viewed the one God of the bible as a personal being (singular). God was identified to be a specific reference to the person of the Father . The Holy Spirit, (the Spirit of the Father), was understood to be the agency by which He (that is, the Father) manifests Himself throughout creation. (see Fundamental Principle # 1). In other words, God (the Father) makes Himself omnipresent by the agency of His own Spirit.

The exact nature of the Holy Spirit was regarded as mystery beyond human comprehension; yet clearly shown by the pioneers from scripture that the Spirit was revealed as an omnipresent and omnipotent influence, power, breath, intelligence, current of life and light. The Spirit, proceeding and flowing out from the persons of the Father and Son bears the divine attributes of their personality. It is in this similar way that the spirit of man possesses the attributes of

- 50 - a man’s “inner nature” or personality for man was made in the image of God.

The presence of the Spirit in the human soul would therefore be the non-bodily or spiritual presence of both the Father and the Son. For this reason, it is called the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Christ..

Dr. Kellogg’s teaching of a trinity implied that there is a third independent God being called “God the Holy Ghost.” This “God the Holy Ghost”, just like “God the Father” and “God the Son” of necessity would have to possess a separate and individual personality. Therefore, this “third God” would bring into the human soul its own personality which has neither the attributes of the Father nor of the Son.

In short, the denominational view was that there is only one God , the Father. Christ was the literal Son of God. The divine Spirit was His representative, the agency by which He (the Father) made Himself omnipresent. Kellogg’s view was that there are three God beings, God the Father, God the Son and Ghost the Holy Ghost. According to him, it was now God the Holy Ghost that filled all space and every living thing. This new view Dr. Kellogg hoped to include in a newly revised “Living Temple”.

25. What was the message from the Spirit of Prophecy regarding Dr. Kellogg’s revised theology which he hoped to include in a newly revised “Living Temple”?

“ It will be said that "Living Temple" has been revised . But the Lord has shown me that the writer has not changed , and that there can be no unity between him and the

- 51 - ministers of the gospel while he continues to cherish his present sentiments .” {SpTB02 50.1} August 7, 1904.”

It is very clear from this passage that Dr. Kellogg’s new trinitarian view of God received no commendation from God. The adoption of the this revised doctrine of God by John Harvey Kellogg was a movement further away from the platform of eternal truth --- it was not a sign of progression into light but into deeper darkness.

[It is erroneously taught that Dr. Kellogg’s heresy was only in his pantheistic view of God. (Pantheism is the view that the Father is personally dwelling in all animate and inanimate creation). A study of the letters between the denominational leaders written at the time of the crisis, clearly shows that Kellogg also adopted a trinitarian view of God. Neither the original pantheistic view nor the revised trinitarian view received any endorsement by God or by the brethren. It is this trinitarian aspect of the Kellogg’s heresy that is less well known in modern Adventism. Reasons for this suppression will become obvious later on in this document].

26. How was the Alpha of deadly heresy (which was already evolving towards the Omega) met by the people of God?

“The reason I have published anything in regard to the medical missionary work, was that the errors that were coming in must be met. I did not design to meet them, but in the visions of the night I saw a large ship far out at sea. Suddenly the man on the lookout cried, "Iceberg ahead!" Without hesitation the command rang out, "Meet it." The engines were put on at full force, and the vessel crashed into the iceberg. There was a

- 52 - tremendous shock, and the ship quivered from stem to stern; but she rebounded from the shock unhurt, and went safely on her way. After seeing this representation. I knew what work I must do. I knew that I must meet the errors that were coming in among us .” {1SAT 344.3} Ms.46,1904. (MR 900.1).

The same thought is presented below with few more details added:

“Shortly before I sent out the testimonies regarding the efforts of the enemy to undermine the foundation of our faith through the dissemination of seductive theories, I had read an incident about a ship in a fog meeting an iceberg. For several nights I slept but little. I seemed to be bowed down as a cart beneath sheaves. One night a scene was clearly presented before me. A vessel was upon the waters, in a heavy fog. Suddenly the lookout cried, "Iceberg just ahead!" There, towering high above the ship, was a gigantic iceberg. An authoritative voice cried out, "Meet it!" There was not a moment's hesitation. It was a time for instant action. The engineer put on full steam, and the man at the wheel steered the ship straight into the iceberg. With a crash she struck the ice. There was a fearful shock, and the iceberg broke into many pieces, falling with a noise like thunder to the deck. The passengers were violently shaken by the force of the collision, but no lives were lost. The vessel was injured, but not beyond repair . She rebounded from the contact, trembling from stem to stern, like a living creature. Then she moved forward on her way. “Well I knew the meaning of this representation. I had my orders . I had heard the words, like a voice from our Captain, "Meet it!" I knew what my duty was, and that there was not a moment to lose. The time for decided action had come. I must without delay

- 53 - obey the command, "Meet it! " “That night I was up at one o'clock, writing as fast as my hand could pass over the paper. For the next few days I worked early and late, preparing for our people the instruction given me regarding the errors that were coming in among us.

“I have been hoping that there would be a thorough reformation, and that the principles for which we fought in the early days, and which were brought out in the power of the Holy Spirit, would be maintained .” {SpTB02 56.3}. August 7, 1904

Through these visions given by God to His people, the Seventh Day Adventist Church successfully met the challenge of the evolving alpha. There was some damage to the “ship” though, due to subsequent wresting of the Battle Creek Sanitarium from the denomination. The Battle Creek Sanitarium was under the leadership and strong theological influence of Dr. J.H. Kellogg. A portion of the church’s medical missionaries and some ministers of the gospel (the iceberg in the vision) who were in sympathy with Dr. Kellogg were together with the doctor also lost to the cause.

27. Though the church survived “the alpha” through the counsels of the spirit of prophecy…God had warned of another future danger which would shortly follow the alpha of deadly heresies–“the Omega”. Ellen White “trembled” for Seventh Day Adventist as she thought of the Omega:

“….Living Temple contains the Alpha of these theories. The Omega would follow in a little while . I tremble for our people . These beautiful representations are similar to the temptation that the enemy brought to Adam and Eve in Eden”. Ms. 46, 1904.

- 54 - Chapter Six

The Nature of the Omega of Deadly Heresies

28. Did God reveal any specific aspects of this startling and deadly omega?

“When I first left the State of Maine, it was to go through Vermont and Massachusetts, to bear a testimony against these sentiments . Living Temple contains the Alpha of these theories . The Omega would follow in a little while. I tremble for our people. These beautiful representations are similar to the temptation that the enemy brought to Adam and Eve in Eden.” Ms. 46,1904.

The sentiments that were taught in Vermont and Massachusetts in the early days of Ellen White’s ministry (before 1850) were false theories on the personality of God. These theories Dr. Kellogg had published in the “Living Temple”. They were the Alpha. The Omega would follow and perpetuate these same deceptive theories. The following quotes show that the Omega will be a perpetuation of the false theories on the personality of God first published as the Alpha in the “Living Temple”:

“Be not deceived; many will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. We have

- 55 - now before us the alpha of this danger . The omega will be of a most startling nature.

“We need to study the words that Christ uttered in the prayer that He offered just before His trial and crucifixion."These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father , the hour is come; glorify Thy Son , that Thy Son also may glorify Thee. As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou has sent. I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world; Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me; and they have kept Thy word ."” {SpTB02 16.3}. July 24, 1904.

“We are now to be on guard, and not drawn away from the all-important message given of God for this time. Satan is not ignorant of the result of trying to define God and Jesus Christ in a spiritualistic way that sets God and Christ as a nonentity. The moments occupied in this kind of science are, in the place of preparing the way of the Lord, making a way for Satan to come in and confuse the minds with mysticisms of his own devising. Although they are dressed up in angel robes they have made our God and our Christ a nonentity . Why?--because Satan sees the minds are all fitted for his working.

“Men have lost track of Christ and the Lord God , and have been obtaining an experience that is Omega to one of the

- 56 - most subtle delusions that will ever captivate the minds of men. We are forbidden to . . . set the imagination in a train of conjecture”.--Diary, #48, pp. 153, 163, Aug. 25 and Aug. 28, 1904”.

In the above passages, Ellen White said that the “Living Temple” contained “the alpha of these theories”. This is a specific reference to the erroneous theories in the Living Temple on the personality of God. As men lose track of the truth regarding the personalities of Christ and the Lord God, they will finally receive the Omega.

In the penultimate quotation, the messenger of the Lord said that the Omega, would be of a startling nature and then she immediately draws our attention to the prayer of Jesus just before His crucifixion. It is in this prayer that Christ clearly shows the true relation of His personality to that of God. It is this very truth that the Omega will deny. Therefore, God warned: “We need to study the words that Christ uttered in the prayer that He offered just before His trial and crucifixion.

In this prayer Christ refers to Himself as the Son of the only true God. He states that eternal life is based on this knowledge: the knowledge of the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent.

29. Whom did the Lord’s messenger say would be in danger of receiving the Omega?

“I am instructed to speak plainly. "Meet it," is the word spoken to me. "Meet it firmly, and without delay." …..In the book Living Temple there is presented the alpha of deadly heresies. The omega will follow, and will be received by

- 57 - those who are not willing to heed the warning God has given.” {1SM 200.1} August 7, 1904.

30. What was that warning that God had given?

“Our ministers must be very careful not to enter into controversy in regard to the personality of God . This is a subject that they are not to touch. It is a mystery, and the enemy will surely lead astray those who enter into it. We know that Christ came in person to reveal God to the world. God is a person and Christ is a person. Christ is spoken of in the Word as "the brightness of His Father's glory, and the express image of His person. " {1SAT 343.3}.

"Living Temple" contains the alpha of these theories. I knew that the omega would follow in a little while; and I trembled for our people. I knew that I must warn our brethren and sisters not to enter into controversy over the presence and personality of God . The statements made in "Living Temple" in regard to this point are incorrect. The scripture used to substantiate the doctrine there set forth, is scripture misapplied. ” {SpTB02 53.2} Aug 1904.

The warning was that no controversy was to be entertained over the presence of God and His personality. Why? The matter was already a settled and closed matter. God had already revealed the infallible truth of the knowledge about Himself and His Son. This truth He had confirmed to the early pioneer workers of 1840’s by divine revelations when the pillars of our faith were being reared up.

(See the following 1845 vision which Ellen White received when she was but a young girl of seventeen years of age. This vision she received from God when she was sent to go

- 58 - to Massachutes to rebuke the spiritualistic theories that were developing over the personality and presence of God:

“God showed me the following, one year ago this month:--I saw a throne, and on it sat the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. I gazed on Jesus' countenance and admired his lovely person. The Father’s person I could not behold for a cloud of glorious light covered him. I asked Jesus if his Father had a form like himself; He said he had, but I could not behold it; for, said he, if you should for once see the glory of his person , you would cease to exist.” March 14, 1846 Letter from Sister Harmon. Falmouth Mass., Feb., 15, 1846.).

The knowledge that God is one and Christ is one , could not be controverted. The humble workers who received this revelation incorporated it into the first two fundamental principles of the Seventh Day Adventist church. There was to be no discussion on this subject that would seek to overturn the foundation that God Himself had already laid.

- 59 - Chapter Seven

The Omega Enters the Church

31). In the decades following the Kellogg apostasy, how did the enemy of souls continue to work to reform the Adventist theology?

During the Kellogg apostasy, Ellen White had prophesied of the constant Satanic effort to reform Adventist pillars of faith:

“The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh- day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result? The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church, would be discarded. Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced. The founders of this system would go into the cities, and do a wonderful work. The Sabbath, of course, would be lightly regarded, as also the God who created it. Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the new movement. The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice, but God being removed, they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is worthless. Their foundation would be built on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure.” {SpTB02 54.3}

- 60 - By 1919, about 15 years after the Kellogg apostasy, some of the church administrators and Bible teachers had begun to question certain teachings of the denomination. Discussions over these teachings came to the fore during the infamous 1919 Bible Conference. The actual deliberations of the conference were kept away from the public eye until 1984 when the General Conference released them from their archives.

At this conference, discussions covered many aspects of the Spirit of Prophecy, such as verbal inspiration, plagiarism, changes by copiers, differences between the testimonies and the ‘Conflict’ series. Which of the prophet’s writings were authoritative? Was Ellen White an authority on history or not? etc. etc.

Brother W. W. Prescott gave a series of studies entitled, ‘The Person of Christ’ at the Bible Conference. His main thrust was the trinitarian belief that Christ was without beginning. He asked the delegates to the session: “Ought we to continue to circulate in a standard book a statement that the son is not co-eternal, that the Son is not co-equal or co-eternal with the Father?” (June 2, afternoon session. 1919)

Naturally this study promoted a lot of discussion, as there were men in attendance who believed the foundational teaching that Christ was literally begotten of the Father in eternity (prior to His incarnation). Others held to the trinitarian position, and discussion became quite heated.

Brethren W W Prescott, J N Anderson, H C Lacey, G B Thompson spoke in favour of the Trinitarian view. Brethren C P Bollman, T E Bowen, L L Caviness, W T Knox and C

- 61 - M Sorenson spoke against this view. Those giving a picture of uncertainty in their comments were Brethren A G Daniells, W E Howell, John Isaac, E R Palmer, A O Tait, Charles Thompson, W H Wakeham, and M C Wilcox,

At one point, Elder Daniells had to cool the discussions by emphatically stating, “ We are not going to take a vote on trinitarianism or arianism , but we can think. ” 1919 Minutes.

As one of the meetings came to a close, John Isaac said in frustration, “What are we Bible teachers going to do? We have heard ministers talk one way. Our students have had Bible teachers in one school spend days and days upon this question, then they come to another school, and the other teacher does not agree with that. We ought to have something definite so that we might give the answer. I think it can be done. We ought to have it clearly stated. Was Christ ever begotten or not ?” Ibid.

The minutes of this conference clearly show that by 1919 another watershed was developing in Adventist theology over the same doctrine that John Harvey Kellogg had stumbled over 15 years before – the doctrine of God and Christ. Though a vote was not taken at this Bible Conference, yet seeds of doubt on the position the church had held for decades had been sown.

About 10 years after this, the second major publication on the personality of God after Dr. Kellogg’s Living Temple was published in 1928 by The Review & Herald Association. This was a book called “The Coming of the Comforter” written by Le Roy Froom a very illustrious church administrator and prolific author.

- 62 - This book continued the attempt to reform the teaching on the “personality of God”. This is very evident in the chapter entitled “The Personality of the Holy Spirit” pg 37-57. On pg 53, Froom has a sub-section: “The Godhead a Trinity”. In this section, he sets forth a belief that God is one, yet three persons. He, like Dr. Kellogg before him, also states that the Holy Spirit is “God the Spirit” pg 42.

In his emphasis on the “personhood” of the Spirit, Froom does not give the balanced teaching of scripture that reveals that the Holy Spirit appears to have both personal and dynamic impersonal attributes . The dynamic impersonal attributes are never ascribed to either the Father or to the Son. Scripture reveals that the Spirit :

• can be poured (Prov 1.23, Isaiah 44.3), • can flow (John 7.38), • can be quenched (1 Thes 5.19), • can be given in a measure, (2 kings 2:9, John 3:34), • can fill (Lk 1.15), • can be breathed upon the disciples by Christ (John 20.22,) • can fall upon (Ez 11.5, Act 10.44), • can be shed (Acts 2.33).

In the New Testament, the word for Spirit in the original Greek is (pneuma). It is in neuter gender. Therefore, in several places the Spirit in scripture is correctly translated as an “ it ” or “ itself .” John 1.32, Rom 8.16, 26, 1 Pet 1.11. The personal pronoun “ He ” in reference to the Spirit is correctly used in the English translation of John 14, because it is associated with the noun, “parakletos” or “Comforter”. “Parakletos” has a masculine gender in the Greek language. Since the noun is masculine, its pronouns also need to be

- 63 - masculine in the Greek. An understanding of the Greek in John 14 therefore reveals that the use of the personal pronoun “ He ” is strictly a matter of grammar and not about the personality of the Spirit. (The grammar and gender of a noun in a particular language does not determine whether the noun is a person , a plant or some other thing . We need to look elsewhere for other evidences in order for us to fully understand the nature or identity of the noun itself).

Some interesting scriptural facts: There is no place in scripture or spirit of prophecy where the Holy Spirit is worshipped, prayed to, or praised in either word or song. All worship, praise and prayers in scripture are directed to the Father or to His Son. There is no place in scripture where the Father, Christ, an angel, an apostle or any prophet speaks to the Holy Spirit. In the sanctuary of heaven, only God and the Lamb appear to sit on the throne. Rev. 3.21; 22.1,3. The presence of the Spirit is revealed as the seven horns and seven eyes of the Lamb as well as the seven burning lamps of fire before the throne of God. Rev 1.4. Rev 4.5. Rev 5.6.

The Coming of the Comforter was a reformatory book. It was a book of a new order. It was the first significant denominational publication generally accepted by church leadership that introduced a theology on the personality of the Holy Spirit that was deviant from the original fundamental principles. Ellen White had predicted :

- 64 - principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church, would be discarded . Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written . A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced…..” {SpTB02 54.3}

Since the publication of Le Roy Froom’s Coming of the Comforter in 1928, more “books of a new order” were published by the denomination. These were generally used as curriculum - study material for the student ministers in college and for the church at large. They included among many others:

1) The Church Manual in 1931. This first church manual contained a new statement of beliefs with an altered view of the Godhead. It was the first time that the word trinity was used in any of our statements of beliefs.

2). The New Baptismal Vow and the Church Hymnal A new baptismal vow was introduced in 1941 which included an affirmative statement of the candidates' belief in the Trinity. This was also the year that the Church Hymnal appeared. The hymns in our early song books had been changed to promote the truth about God and Christ. The Church Hymnal was the start toward Trinitarian hymns.

3) Daniel and Revelation, new edition . A post-humous work was done by denominational leaders to expunge portions of Uriah Smith’s Daniel & Revelation (pages 400 and 430) in the 1940’s. These expunged portions were the non-trinitarian doctrinal sections dealing

- 65 - with the personality of Christ and God. The necessity of removing this book from circulation for the above reason was first suggested by W. W. Prescott at the 1919 Bible Conference. It was finally decided not to drop the book from circulation but to revise it. The main thrust in the revision was to remove the non-trinitarian statements. No explanations or footnotes of this mutilation appear anywhere in the book.

4) Evangelism, 1946 The book Evangelism was compiled under the influence/ supervision of Le Roy Froom. On pages 615 to 617 there are sub-headings with the word “Trinity”. The sub- headings was the work of compilers and not of Ellen White. They are misleading as they give the impression that Ellen White taught the trinity doctrine when she wrote the statements in the book.

5) Questions on Doctrine. (QOD).1950’s The 1950’s saw the publication of the Questions on Doctrines. This was the most controversial book in Adventist history. Its viral incarnation Christology (see QOD pg 19-24 1957ed) has been the focus of most of the controversy for more than half a century. On pages 21,22 and 36 the book upholds trinitarian views of Deity. On page 29 the book gives a wrong impression that some of the early Seventh Day Adventist pioneers were Trinitarian in belief. A research of the pioneer writings reveals that none of them maintained trinitarian teachings once having joined the remnant.

6) Movement of Destiny, 1971 In 1971, Le Roy Froom published his classic series: “Movement of Destiny”. This monumental research work was in reality a re-writing of Adventist theological history. The

- 66 - influence of this book together with QOD on the Adventist ministry, teaching and institutions cannot be estimated.

7. The 27 Fundamental Beliefs It was the voting in of the 27 Fundamental Beliefs in 1980 in Dallas by the General Conference in a world session that completed the theological reformation of the Seventh Day Adventist church. The adoption of this new set of beliefs officially and effectively broke modern Adventism with its past. “The reformation theology” on the personality of God had matured over a period of about 70 years…now, a new organization was firmly established. Nothing was to stand in its way – just as Ellen White predicted.

The second, third and fourth Fundamental Beliefs voted in 1980 by the world church read:

“2. Trinity : There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three co-eternal Persons . God is immortal, all-powerful, all- knowing, above all, and ever present.He is infinite and beyond human comprehension, yet known through His self revelation. He is forever worthy of worship, adoration, and service by the whole creation. (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 Tim.1:17; Rev. 14:7.)

“3. Father: God the eternal Father is the Creator, Source, Sustainer, and Sovereign of all creation. He is just and holy, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. The qualities and powers exhibited in the Son and the Holy Spirit are also revelations of the Father. (Gen. 1:1; Rev. 4:11; 1 Cor. 15:28; John 3:16; 1 John 4:8; 1 Tim. 1:17; Ex. 34:6, 7; John 14:9.)

- 67 - “4. Son: God the eternal Son became incarnate in Jesus Christ. Through Him all things were created, the character of God is revealed, the salvation of humanity is accomplished, and the world is judged. Forever truly God, He became also truly man, Jesus the Christ. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived and experienced temptation as a human being, but perfectly exemplified the righteousness and love of God. By His miracles He manifested God's power and was attested as God's promised Messiah. He suffered and died voluntarily on the cross for our sins and in our place, was raised from the dead, and ascended to minister in the heavenly sanctuary in our behalf. He will come again in glory for the final deliverance of His people and the restoration of all things. (John 1:1-3, 14; Col. 1:15-19; John 10:30; 14:9; Rom. 6:23; 2 Cor. 5:17-19; John 5:22; Luke 1:35; Phil. 2:5- 11; Heb. 2:9-18; 1 Cor. 15:3, 4; Heb 8:1, 2; John 14:1-3.)

“5. Holy Spirit: God the eternal Spirit was active with the Father and the Son in Creation, incarnation, and redemption. He inspired the writers of Scripture. He filled Christ's life with power. He draws and convicts human beings; and those who respond He renews and transforms into the image of God. Sent by the Father and the Son to be always with His children, He extends spiritual gifts to the church, empowers it to bear witness to Christ, and in harmony with the Scriptures leads it into all truth. (Gen. 1:1, 2; Luke 1:35; 4:18; Acts 10:38; 2 Peter 1:21; 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 4:11, 12; Acts 1:8; John 14:16-18, 26; 15:26, 27; 16:7-13.)”

Compare and contrast these statements with the statements in the historic 28 Fundamental Principles of 1872 -1914:

- 68 - “1- That there is one God, a personal, spiritual being, the creator of all things, omnipotent, omniscient, and eternal; infinite in wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, truth, and mercy; unchangeable, and everywhere present by his representative, the Holy Spirit . Ps. 139:7.

“2- That there is one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Eternal Father , the one by whom he created all things, and by whom they do consist; that he took on him the nature of the seed of Abraham for the redemption of our fallen race; that he dwelt among men, full of grace and truth, lived our example, died our sacrifice, was raised for our justification, ascended on high to be our only mediator in the sanctuary in heaven, where, through the merits of his shed blood, he secures the pardon and forgiveness of the sins of all those who penitently come to him; and as the closing portion of his work as priest, before he takes his throne as king, he will make the great atonement for the sins of all such, and their sins will then be blotted out (Acts 3:19) and borne away from the sanctuary, as shown in the service of the Levitical priesthood, which foreshadowed and prefigured the ministry of our Lord in heaven. See Lev. 16; Heb. 8:4, 5; 9:6, 7; etc.”

A candid comparison of the statements of 1980 - 2010 and that of 1872 -1914 show marked differences – not in semantics, but in theology.

Adventist theologians acknowledge this official doctrinal change/ transformation on the teaching of the Godhead in official church publications:

“Adventist beliefs have changed over the years under the impact of “present truth.” Most startling is the teaching regarding Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord . Many of the pioneers, including James White, J. N. Andrews, Uriah

- 69 - Smith, and J. H. Waggoner, held to an Arian or semi-Arian view—that is, the Son at some point in time before the Creation of our world was generated by the Father.

“Likewise, the Trinitarian understanding of God , now part of our fundamental beliefs, was not generally held by the early Adventists . Even today, a few do not subscribe to it.” (Adventist Review, January 6, 1994, pp. 10, 11.)”.

The Adventist Review here confesses that the Trinitarian view of God was not part of the foundational teachings of the church. A change took place to align the denomination with orthodox trinitarian teaching. Please note that the Adventist Review confesses that this change in the theology of the personality of God was of the “ most startling ” nature! Incredibly, the Adventist Review used the very same words that E.G. White used 90 years before when she prophesied of the Omega heresy:

The Ministry Magazine, another official publication of the General Conference of Seventh Day Adventists says the following on the doctrine of God:

“Most of the founders of Seventh-day Adventism would not be able to join the church today if they had to subscribe to the denomination’s Fundamental Beliefs.

“More specifically, most would not be able to agree to belief number 2, which deals with the doctrine of the Trinity .

- 70 - For Joseph Bates the Trinity was an unscriptural doctrine, for James White it was that “old Trinitarian absurdity,” and for M. E. Cornell it was a fruit of the great apostasy, along with such false doctrines as Sunday keeping and the immortality of the soul .”(Ministry, October 1993, p. 10).

The focus of the above statement is on the idea that most of the founders of the Seventh Day Adventist would not be able to join the current organization if they had to subscribe to the fundamental beliefs. While the general thrust of this statement may be true, but it is riddled with some serious inaccuracies.

The first inaccuracy: It is not true that most of the founders were non-trinitarian….The fact is: there is no known record of any founding pioneer was in favour of the trinity teaching after joining the remnant church! They all opposed it…even those who converted from Trinitarian churches.

The second inaccuracy : The founders of Adventism would not have an option to choose whether or not to subscribe to the belief system of modern Adventism, if they wanted to join the organization. One cannot be baptized into the organization unless they accept the confession of faith as outlined in the baptismal vows. The trinity doctrine is one of the very first articles in these vows. So, not one of the founders of Adventism could become members of the current organization. An astounding thought indeed!

The third inaccuracy: The pioneers would not be opposed to Fundamental Belief 2 only, but also belief number # 4, #5. The early Adventists neither believed in a “God the Son” nor “God the Holy Spirit”. They believed in the Son of God and the Spirit of God. There is a difference.

- 71 - The above statement in the Ministry magazine is itself a confession by the organization that the modern Adventist church is a New Movement, a New Organization, different from the pioneer Adventist movement. If it was the same movement and organization as the pioneer movement, why would the pioneers not be able to join it today? Clearly then, something has changed if the founders of the denomination cannot join it…So what has changed? In 1980, the fundamental principles that upheld the movement from 1844 to 1931 were officially and publicly counted as error and were uprooted and replaced.

So what has been the result? A new religion for Seventh Day Adventists. Why do I say a new religion? When a religion changes its gods, it changes its identity and becomes another religion. Religions are distinguished from each other by whom they worship).

Ellen White’s prophetic warning of a “great reformation”, “the omega of deadly heresies” had now come to pass:

- 72 - teach that virtue is better than vice, but God being removed , they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is worthless. Their foundation would be built on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure.” {SpTB02 54.3}

- 73 - Chapter Eight

The Principal Error of the Trinity Doctrine

32. How does the current trinity (omega) theology of the Seventh Day Adventist Church destroy the personality of God?

Compare the historic and the current beliefs on the personality of God:

The historic view: “1- That there is one God, a personal , spiritual being , the creator of all things……………….and everywhere present by his representative, the Holy Spirit . Ps. 139:7.

“2- That there is one Lord Jesus Christ , the Son of the Eternal Father,…….”

The 2010 view: “There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three co-eternal Persons . God is immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, above all, and ever present. He is infinite and beyond human comprehension, yet known through His self revelation. ………………

The current Adventist theology, implies that there are three Gods, (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit). Yet the teaching also says that these three divine persons make up the “one God” of scripture. The root of this second teaching is the same as in the heresy taught by Dr. J.H. Kellogg at the time that he sought to revise the “Living Temple”. Kellogg taught that there was God the Father, God

- 74 - the Son and God the Holy Ghost. And he said that it was God the Holy Ghost who filled all space:

“……He told me that he now believed in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; and his view was that it was God the Holy Ghost, and not God the Father, that filled all space, and every living thing. He said that if he had believed this before writing the book, he could have expressed his views without giving the wrong impression the book now gives ” (Letter: A. G. Daniells to W. C. White. 10/29/1903 reporting on the interview between him and Dr. J.H. Kellogg.

An examination of the current Adventist doctrine, the “one God” is in reality not a personal being at all. “He” may be a family, a group, a committee, a corporation or a team of three self-originated co-eternal Gods. It appears that to maintain the “oneness of God”, these three God beings would have to come together into some “unity” in order to be represented as “one God”.

Since the term “one God” of the modern Seventh Day Adventist church is the collective noun for three divine personalities; the Father, in His individuality, cannot therefore be “the one God” of scripture. Put in another way, “the oneness of God” would lie in the collectiveness/unity of three divine persons and not in the personality of the Father.

The question that I have is: How many centers of consciousness does this Adventist trinitarian “one God” have? One or three? If one – then it means that God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are some how organically hybridized (united) into one being (person). This is the insultive pagan representation of a deity with three heads.

- 75 - If on the other hand, this trinitarian “one God” has three centers of consciousness, then he is neither a being nor a person ality . A being or person as presented in nature and in spiritual things can only have one centre of consciousness. A being or personality with three centers of consciousness is a non – entity. Such a deity is in reality a spiritualistic philosophy.

In either case, whether the Adventist trinitarian “one God” is three persons with one center of consciousness, or one personality with three centers of consciousness - such a god can never possess any conceivable reality that we can honestly say that we were made in “his” image.

It appears that the current Adventist trinity fundamental does not resolve the above dilemma. It maintains the confusion by calling its “ one God” who is three persons a “ He ”. How can three separate beings (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit) also be called a He ?? The correct pronoun of the trinity “one God” should not be “He” (singular), but should be “They” (plural). Scripture uses plural pronouns consistently when it refers to two or more divine beings in the same passage. See the texts below:

“Jesus answered and said unto him, If any man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and WE will come unto him, and make OUR abode with him” John 14.23

“And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them; that they may be one, even as WE are one ” John 17.22

“….and He shall be a priest upon His throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between THEM BOTH ” Zec 6.13.

- 76 - “And God said let US make man in OUR image …..”Gen 1.26.

Referring to three persons (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit), as a “He” and not a “They” transgresses both common English sense/grammar and basic scriptural textual principles. The Adventist doctrine is a clear desperate attempt to compound what in reality is a three-god system into a mono-theistic one. Such a god who is both a “he” and “three persons” at the same time - is a mysterious, spiritualistic, heathenistic monstrosity, a confusion of personalities.

33. So what is the true biblical teaching on the personality of God?

The term “one God” or “only God” appears several times in the scriptures. In the New Testament, we can see in context that “one God” is never used to refer to more than one divine personality. It is with no exception a direct reference to the Father only . Please see the following texts where this phrase or similar is used:

Matthew 19:16 “And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is], God : but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”

Mark 10:17 “And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is], God .”

- 77 - Luke 18:18 “ And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 18:19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none [is] good, save one, [that is], God.”

Jesus shows in all the above verses that the “one God” is a singular being. In context that being is His Father.

Gal 3:19 “ Wherefore then [serveth] the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; [and it was] ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. 3:20 Now a mediator is not [a mediator] of one, but God is one .”

1 Tim 2:5 “For [there is] one God , and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”

The God is one. The mediator is one. That mediator between the “one God” (the Father) and man is Christ Jesus.

1 Cor 8:4 “ As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol [is] nothing in the world, and that [there is] none other God but one . 8:5 For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many ,) 8:6 But to us [there is but] one God, the Father , of whom [are] all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ , by whom [are] all things, and we by him.”

The heathens believe in many gods (three or more). But to the bible believing Christian there is only “one God” – that is, the Father. And, there is one Lord – Jesus Christ.

- 78 - Ephesians 4:4 “[There is] one body, and one Spirit , even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 4:5 One Lord , one faith, one baptism, 4:6 One God and Father of all, who [is] above all, and through all, and in you all.”

The Spirit is one. The Lord is one. God is one. That “one God” is the Father.

James 2:19 “Thou believest that there is one God ; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost is three gods and not one. Devils know that there is “one God” and not three; they know this truth and tremble --- yet they seek to hide it from the Christians through the heresy of the trinity doctrine.

Mat 4:8 “ Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 4:9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”

John 1:18 “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared [him].”

Only Christ who had seen the Father could declare Him to us.

John 17:3 “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God , and Jesus Christ , whom thou hast sent.”

- 79 - Eternal life is based on the true knowledge of two persons: the only true God (that is the Father) and Jesus Christ (His literal Son begotten in days of eternity in His express image).

Jude 1:4 “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God , and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The trinity denies the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ by denying that the person of the only Lord God is the person of the Father. The trinity doctrine says that the only Lord God is a unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit:

“There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three co-eternal Persons.”

Mark 12:28 “ And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments [is], Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment. 12:31 And the second [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he : 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love [his] neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. 12:34 And when Jesus saw that HE

- 80 - ANSWERED DISCREETLY , he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him [any question].”

Christ here interprets the true meaning of the Hebrew Shema. Against this understanding no theologian can gainsay lest he pits himself against its Author! The God of Deut 6:4, is one Lord – a numerically singular person and individual. There is no other God but He . That “one God” according to context is a clear reference to the Father.

All the above verses do not detract the deity of Christ at all. Heb 1.1-9 shows that Jesus’ divinity is by inheritance of birth (being literally begotten of the Father in eternity before the creation of the world). Christ, the First-born of the Father, has inherited the divine nature of the Father and thus fully possesses full divinity, even the fullness of the (Father’s) Godhead bodily. (This is how the diety of Christ in John 1.1 and Phil 2.6 is to be understood). Christ, as the literal Son of the living God was begotten and NOT CREATED by the only true God prior to His incarnation. Prov 8.22-30.

Ellen White continuously saw the distinction between God and Christ, His Son. She never saw Christ’s personality as being a part of the Eternal God (though she understood that Christ was fully a divine person). To her, as in scripture, the “one God” was the Father who was a distinct individual and personality. Christ, His only begotten Son, was yet another distinct and individual personality. A fusion of the persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit into “one God” was never considered as a true representation of Deity. As already seen, the current Adventist trinity doctrine by compounding the personalities of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit into one “person” or “unity” called the “one God”

- 81 - destroys the individual distinctiveness of the personalities of both the Father and Christ.

The following quotations are representative of many such references in which Ellen White clearly distinguishes the “only true God” of the scriptures from Jesus Christ, His divine Son whom He has sent. John 17.3:

“The unity that exists between Christ and His disciples does not destroy the personality of either. They are one in purpose, in mind, in character, but not in person . It is thus that God and Christ are one. “{MH 422.1}

Notice: Oneness of God and Christ is only in their purposes, mind, character. Their unity is not in their persons as stated in the Adventist trinity doctrine: “There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three co-eternal Persons.”

“The Scriptures clearly indicate the relation between God and Christ, and they bring to view as clearly the personality and individuality of each . "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son?" Hebrews 1:1-5.

- 82 - “God is the Father of Christ; Christ is the Son of God . To Christ has been given an exalted position. He has been made equal with the Father. All the counsels of God are opened to His Son”. {8T 268.3}.

Notice : God is the Father. Christ, His Son.

“We know that Christ came in person to reveal God to the world. God is a person and Christ is a person. Christ is spoken of in the Word as "the brightness of His Father's glory, and the express image of His person." {1SAT 343.3} Ms. 46,1904. (MR 900.1

“The seventeenth chapter of John speaks plainly regarding the personality of God and of Christ , and of their relation to each other . "Father, the hour is come," Christ said: "glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee." [John 17:23, 3, 5-11 quoted.] Here is personality, and individuality (MS 124, 1903). {5BC 1145.10}”

“There is a personal God, the Father ; there is a personal Christ, the Son .” (Heb. 1:1-3 Quoted). RH March 17, 1904

“God is a spirit; yet He is a personal being , for man was made in His image. As a personal being , God has revealed Himself in His Son. Jesus, the outshining of the Father's glory, "and the express image of His person" (Hebrews 1:3), was on earth found in fashion as a man. As a personal Savior He came to the world. As a personal Savior He ascended on high. As a personal Savior He intercedes in the heavenly courts. Before the throne of God in our behalf ministers "One like the Son of man." Daniel 7:13. {Ed 131.1} 1903.

- 83 - Notice : God is one personal BEING. Not a unity of three persons. Ellen White was in perfect agreement with the 1 st proposition of the pillars of faith in the pioneer “Fundamental Principles”. Notice how her wording above is very similar to that contained in the “Declaration of Fundamental Principles”:

“1- That there is one God, a personal , spiritual being , the creator of all things…….”

According to Ellen White, the one God of scripture had His own individuality and personality distinct and separate from Christ, His Son.

What of the personality of the Holy Spirit?

Scripture tells us that there is one Spirit. Eph 4.4. That same one Spirit is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. Rom 8.9,10.1 Peter 1.11. 2 Peter 1.20. The Father and Christ both share the self-same Spirit. The Spirit proceeds from them both – carrying their presence, intelligence and power throughout the universe. Ps. 139.7. The presence of the Spirit is the presence of God and Christ in spirit form while their bodily presence is on the throne in heaven. The Spirit’s presence is symbolized in scripture in various ways: as a dove, as seven burning fires on a lamp- stand, as tongues of fire, as seven horns and seven eyes etc. Mat 3.16, Rev 4.5, Act 2.2,3, Rev 5.6. But never is the Spirit represented in scripture as having its own definite bodily form (of a being) visible either to man or angels. The Holy Spirit possesses the personality of the Father and Christ. John 14.23. 1 John 4.13.

The Holy Ghost is therefore not another God. It is God’s own spiritual presence that comes with His divine influence, life ,

- 84 - power, intelligence, glory and fullness. The Spirit flows out from God’s being; from within Him; from His mind. Rom 11. 34, Isa 40.13. This is the very reason why the Holy Spirit is referred to in scripture as the breath or “current of life” (coming out) of God. Ps 33.6, Job 33.4, John 20.22. Rev 11.11.

Scripture tells us that this “holy” Spirit bearing the personality of the Deity and proceeding from the mind of the Deity can be poured, can be shed, can flow, can be quenched, can fill a person and can be breathed upon a person. It is represented in scripture as to possess both personal and impersonal attributes. Its exact nature is not revealed. It is a mystery and on this theme silence is eloquence.

The following are some interesting EGW quotes on the relation of the Holy Spirit to the personality of God and or Christ.

“The greatness of God is to us incomprehensible. “The Lord’s throne is in heaven” (Psalm 11:4); yet by His Spirit He is everywhere present. He has an intimate knowledge of, and a personal interest in, all the works of His hand” E.G. White Education.p.132 .

It is the Father who is omnipresent. This is by His Spirit.

“The Holy Spirit is the breath of spiritual life in the soul . The impartation of the Spirit is the impartation of the life of Christ . It imbues the receiver with the attributes of Christ. Only those who are thus taught of God, those who possess the inward working of the Spirit, and in whose life the Christ- life is manifested, are to stand as representative men, to minister in behalf of the church.” {Desire of Ages p 805.3}.

- 85 - The presence of the Spirit = presence of the life of Christ.

“Christ declared that after his ascension, he would send to his church, as his crowning gift,the Comforter, who was to take his place. This Comforter is the Holy Spirit ,-- the soul of his life , the efficacy of his church, the light and life of the world. With his Spirit Christ sends a reconciling influence and a power that takes away sin”. {E.G.White Review and Herald, May 19, 1904 }.

The Holy Spirit = “ the soul” of Christ’s life. It is Christ who sends a reconciling influence – by His Spirit.

“That Christ should manifest Himself to them, and yet be invisible to the world, was a mystery to the disciples. They could not understand the words of Christ in their spiritual sense. They were thinking of the outward, visible manifestation. They could not take in the fact that they could have the presence of Christ with them, and yet He be unseen by the world. They did not understand the meaning of a spiritual manifestation.” {E. G. White, The Southern Review, September 13,1898.

It is Christ (who would be the Comforter), who would be with the disciples, yet be invisible to the world.

“After His inauguration, the Spirit came and Christ was indeed glorified, even with the glory which He had from all eternity with the Father. During His humiliation upon this earth, the Spirit had not descended with all its efficacy; and Christ declared that if He went not away, it would not come, but that if He went away, He would send it . It was a representation of Himself , and after He was glorified it was manifest. { E.G. White Signs of Times, May 17, 1899 par. 3}.

- 86 - The Spirit was to be a representation of Christ Himsel f.

“Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally; therefore it was altogether for their advantage that He should leave them, go to His father, and send the Holy Spirit to be His successor on earth. The Holy Spirit is Himself divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof . He would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent .”{ E.G. White Manuscript Releases vol.14 p23.3}.

The Holy Spirit = Christ Himself stripped of the personality of His humanity. Christ makes Himself omnipresent by His Spirit.

The bible position therefore is that there is “one God”, the Father. He sits on the throne in heaven as a spiritual yet personal being. There is one Lord, Jesus Christ, who is the only begotten Son of the living God. As a begotten Son, Christ’s divinity is inherited from His Father in eternity past, before the creation of angels. Christ as a personal being is in heaven on the right hand of God. There is one Holy Spirit; the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ. This Spirit proceeds from the being of the Deity; from the mind of God and Christ. The Spirit has the personality of both the Father and the Son. It is their representative throughout the universe. The Spirit is not another God, called “God the Holy Spirit”, (as taught in the Adventist trinity teaching), but the Holy Spirit is the spiritual presence, life, person and fullness of the Two divine beings – the Father and Christ. When the believer receives the Holy Spirit in the heart, he in fact receives Christ and the Father in his heart. John 14.23. This is how a man becomes a partaker of the divine nature.

- 87 - How the trinity teaching denies that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead:

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead and not the third person in the Godhead – there is a vast difference. The word “Godhead” is used three times in scripture in Acts 17.29, Rom 1.20 and Col 2.9. It means divinity. The Greek word for “Godhead”, “theos”, is translated as divinity in 2 Pet 1.3, 4.

The Father is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He reveals Himself as a personal being sitting on the throne in heaven. His person is invisible to mortal sight, yet seen by heavenly intelligencies. The redeemed shall see His face. Matt. 5.8, Rev 22.4.

The Father has also chosen to reveal His divinity to His creatures in a second personal being , His Son. Christ is the “express image” of the invisible God’s person, and the outshining of His glory. It pleased the Father that all His fullness should dwell in Christ, even His divinity or Godhead. Heb 1.3, Col 1.15. John 14.9,10. Col 1.19. Col 2.9.

The Father’s Godhead or divinity is again revealed to us in a third personal way – through the agency of His own Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead - the omnipresent person of God the Father in all the fullness of divinity or Godhead. The trinity doctrine erroneously teaches that the Holy Ghost is a third individual “God-being” apart from the Father and Christ. This teaching therefore denies that the Holy Ghost is the third person of the Godhead - the third personal self- revelation of the Father as an omnipresent Spirit.

- 88 - Chapter Nine

A New Movement, A New Organization

34. What was God’s warning to His church on “reforming” this concept of the personality of God?

“Our ministers must be very careful not to enter into controversy in regard to the personality of God . This is a subject that they are not to touch . It is a mystery, and the enemy will surely lead astray those who enter into it. We know that Christ came in person to reveal God to the world. God is a person and Christ is a person . Christ is spoken of in the Word as "the brightness of His Father's glory, and the express image of His person ." {1SAT 343.3} Ms. 46, 1904.

"Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father; [but] he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. 1 John 2.25-29. Quoted .

“He who denies the personality of God and of his Son Jesus Christ, is denying God and Christ . "If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father." If you continue to believe and obey the truths you first embraced regarding the personality of the Father and the Son, you will be joined together with him in love. There will be seen that union for which Christ prayed just before his trial and crucifixion:” - {RH, March 8, 1906 par. 19}

- 89 - “I entreat every one to be clear and firm regarding the certain truths that we have heard and received and advocated. The statements of God's Word are plain. Plant your feet firmly on the platform of eternal truth. Reject every phase of error , even though it be covered with a semblance of reality, which denies the personality of God and of Christ .” {RH, August 31, 1905 par. 11}.

"And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." All through the Scriptures, the Father and the Son are spoken of as two distinct personages . You will hear men endeavoring to make the Son of God a nonentity. He and the Father are one, but they are two personages . Wrong sentiments regarding this are coming in, and we shall all have to meet them .” {RH, July 13, 1905 par. 3}.

“Ministers and people were deceived by these sophistries. They lead to making God a nonentity and Christ a nonentity . We are to rebuke these theories in the name of the Lord .” {5MR 279.1}.Ms 70, 1905, pp. 3, 4. ("A Message of Warning," a talk at the General Conference of 1905.).

35. What is has been the result of stepping off this original foundation of truth by the Seventh Day Adventist church?

“We cannot now step off the foundation that God has established. We cannot now enter into any new organization ; for this would mean apostasy from the truth .”-- MS. 129, 1905.

Notice: Ellen White links the stepping off the foundation of God with entering into a new organization. Why does she

- 90 - link the two? Because as elsewhere stated….every religion is defined by its theology – its central teaching on the identity of its deity, and how that deity is worshipped. When a religion changes its theology – its central teaching on the nature and identity of its gods –it becomes another religion – a different organization. The current Adventist leaders recognize that the modern Adventist church is a new organization because they state that the founders of Adventism would not be members of the current organization because they were non-trinitarians:

“Most of the founders of Seventh-day Adventism would not be able to join the church today if they had to subscribe to the denomination’s Fundamental Beliefs. “More specifically, most would not be able to agree to belief number 2, which deals with the doctrine of the Trinity”. (Ministry, October 1993, p.10).

What else has happened to the Adventist church as a result of receiving the omega of deadly heresies?

The acceptance of the trinity theory has therefore set the people of God adrift without an anchor. This reformation of the original Adventist “Fundamental Principles” of faith has uprooted God and has re-organized the Seventh Day

- 91 - Adventist Church into a New Movement with a changed religion:

“The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh- day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization . Were this reformation to take place what would result? The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church would be discarded. OUR RELIGION WOULD BE CHANGED . The FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be counted as error. A NEW ORGANIZATION would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced. The founders of this system would go into the cities, and do a wonderful work. The Sabbath, of course would be lightly regarded, as also the God who created it. Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the NEW MOVEMEN T. The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice, BUT GOD BEING REMOVED they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is worthless. Their foundation would be build on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure.” BCL Oct., 1903. 39.

36. Who is mainly responsible for this last day falling away?

“God holds the leaders accountable for some of the heresies among His people: "In His Word the Lord declares what He would do for Israel if they would obey His voice. But, the leaders of the people yielded to the temptations of Satan and God could not give them the blessings He designed them to have because they did not obey His voice,

- 92 - but listened to the voice and policy of Lucifer . This experience will be repeated in the last years of the history of the people of God, who have been established by His grace and powe r, men whom He has greatly honored will in the closing scenes of this earth's history pattern after ancient Israel, because they are converting the truth of God into a falsehood. MANY HERESIES will come from Lucifer, that will bewilder if possible the very elect ." MS 5, Jan. 20, 1904.

37. This being the case has God therefore “cast away His people?”

“ God forbid…. God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew….Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace” Rom 11.1-5.

Who is this remnant? “ But what saith the answer of God unto him (Elijah)? I have reserved to myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal” Rom 11.4.

As in the time of Elijah when most had turned from serving the one true God and had erected altars to Baal; so today thousands, yea, millions are worshipping the sun god – the trinity. But God has reserved to Himself in Israel, a remnant keeping all the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ who have not bowed the knee to this idol.

The Elijah message to be proclaimed by the remnant is “Fear God and give glory to Him ”…. This startling message is to direct the people to the worship of the “one true God” in line with the commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”. The call to fully obey the first commandment of

- 93 - the decalogue is to awaken Adventists to return their hearts to the God of their fathers and to forsake the altars of Baal.

The Seventh Day Adventist church has received the prophesied omega of deadly heresies. The church is in apostasy, playing the harlot by going after other gods. Yet, there are many who will see the light of truth and will yet break all bonds with Babylon. A remnant will heed the voice of the1st and 2 nd angels’ messages and escape. The majority of the professed Seventh Day Adventists will however reject the light, being drunk with the cup of the intoxicating wine of Mystery, Babylon the great – the Mother of Harlots. They will yet cling to the idolatrous spiritualistic worship of a trinity. Being deceived and deceiving others, they will in reality be worshipping the god of the beast and preparing to receive his mark in the right hand. These will become “the synagogue of Satan” calling themselves “Jews”, when indeed they are not. Rev.3.9.

Jer 2:11 “Hath a nation changed [their] gods , which [are] yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for [that which] doth not profit?

Conclusion

The Trinity doctrine, the omega heresy, is the central root teaching of Mystery Babylon. It is the vital intoxicant in the wine of fornication that she gives to her harlot daughters. Upon this heresy is based all other teachings of the papacy; upon it all the major denominations of Christendom have united.…..

- 94 - “The Mystery of the Trinity is the central doctrine of Catholic Faith . Upon it are based all the other teachings of the Church . …

“The Church studied this mystery with great care and, after four centuries of clarification, decided to state the doctrine in this way : in the unity of the Godhead there are three Persons,—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit …” (Handbook for Today’s Catholic, p. 11).

It is this central doctrine that unites all organizations that have any fellowship in the World Council of Churches :

“The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the scriptures, and therefore seek to fulfil together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit . It is a community of churches on the way to visible unity in o ne faith and one eucharistic fellowship, expressed in worship and in common life in Christ. It seeks to advance towards this unity, as Jesus prayed for his followers, "so that the world may believe" (John 17:21) http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/who/index-e.html

The warning for Seventh Day Adventists is :

“In the balances of the sanctuary the Seventh-day Adventist church is to be weighed . She will be judged by the privileges and advantages that she has had. If her spiritual experience does not correspond to the advantages that Christ, at infinite cost, has bestowed on her, if the blessings conferred have not qualified her to do the work entrusted to her, on her will be pronounced the sentence: "Found wanting." BY THE LIGHT bestowed , the opportunities given, will she be judged.” 8 T 247

- 95 -

"Those who have not been in the habit of searching the Bible for themselves, or weighing evidence, have confidence in the leading men and accept the decisions they make and thus many will reject the very messages God sends to His people if these leading brethren do not accept them ." TM pp 106, 107

“It is impossible to estimate the evil results of removing one of the landmarks fixed by the word of God . Few who venture to do this stop with the rejection of a single truth. The majority continue to set aside one after another of the principles of truth, until they become actual infidels. ” {E. G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 525. 1888}

- 96 -

SECTION THREE

- 97 - Chapter Ten

APPENDIX: The Lord’s Teaching in our Past History

Truth is truth not because the pioneers taught it; it is truth only if it is in harmony with the bible and inspiration. Now let us let the aged men speak in regard to the biblical truth on the personality of God

“Protest against Removing Landmarks

When men come in who would move one pin or pillar from the foundation which God has established by His Holy Spirit, let the aged men who were pioneers in our work speak plainly , and let those who are dead speak also, by the reprinting of their articles in our periodicals. Gather up the rays of divine light that God has given as He has led His people on step by step in the way of truth. This truth will stand the test of time and trial. Ms 62, 1905, p. 6. ("A Warning against False Theories," May 24, 1905.)” {E. G. White, Manuscript Releases Volume 1, p. 55}

J.N.Andrews ,

“The doctrine of the Trinity which was established in the church by the council of Nice, A. D. 325. This doctrine destroys the personality of God, and his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. The infamous, measures by which it was forced upon the church which appear upon the pages of ecclesiastical history might well cause every believer in that doctrine to blush.” March 6, 1855, Review & Herald, vol. 6, no. 24, page 185)

- 98 - S. N. Haskell

“The rainbow in the clouds is but a symbol of the rainbow which has encircled the throne from eternity. Back in the ages, which finite mind cannot fathom, the Father and Son were alone in the universe. Christ was the first begotten of the Father , and to Him Jehovah made known the divine plan of Creation.” , The Story of the Seer of Patmos, pages 93, 94, 1905).

E.J. Waggoner

“The Word was “in the beginning.” The mind of man cannot grasp the ages that are spanned in this phrase. It is not given to men to know when or how the Son was begotten; but we know that he was the Divine Word, not simply before He came to this earth to die, but even before the world was created.

“Just before His crucifixion He prayed, “And now, O Father, glorify thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” John 17:5. And more than seven hundred years before His first advent, His coming was thus foretold by the word of inspiration: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.” Micah 5:2, margin. We know that Christ “proceeded forth and came from God” (John 8:42), but it was so far back in the ages of eternity as to be far beyond the grasp of the mind of man .” (E. J. Waggoner, 1890, Christ and His Righteousness, page 9)

“The Scriptures declare that Christ is “the only begotten son of God.” He is begotten, not created . As to when He was begotten, it is not for us to inquire, nor could our minds grasp

- 99 - it if we were told. The prophet Micah tells us all that we can know about it in these words, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.” Micah 5:2, margin. There was a time when Christ proceeded forth and came from God, from the bosom of the Father (John 8:42; 1:18), but that time was so far back in the days of eternity that to finite comprehension it is practically without beginning.

“But the point is that Christ is a begotten Son and not a created subject. He has by inheritance a more excellent name than the angels; He is “a Son over His own house.” Heb. 1:4; 3:6. And since He is the only-begotten son of God, He is of the very substance and nature of God and possesses by birth all the attributes of God , for the Father was pleased that His Son should be the express image of His Person, the brightness of His glory, and filled with all the fullness of the Godhead. So He has “life in Himself.” He possesses immortality in His own right and can confer immortality upon others. Life inheres in Him, so that it cannot be taken from Him, but having voluntarily laid it down, He can take it again. His words are these: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” John 10:17, 18. (E. J. Waggoner, 1890, Christ and His Righteousness, pages 19-22)

“Finally, we know the Divine unity of the Father and the Son from the fact that both have the same Spirit . Paul, after saying that they that are in the flesh cannot please God, continues: “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit,

- 100 - if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Rom. 8:9. Here we find that the Holy Spirit is both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ”.… (E. J.Waggoner, 1890, Christ and His Righteousness, pages 23, 24)

Uriah Smith

“God alone is without beginning. At the earliest epoch when a beginning could be,—a period so remote that to finite minds it is essentially eternity,— appeared the Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1. This uncreated Word was the Being, who, in the fulness of time, was made flesh, and dwelt among us. His beginning was not like that of any other being in the universe. It is set forth in the mysterious expressions, “his [God’s] only begotten Son” (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9), “the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14), and, “I proceeded forth and came from God.” John 8:42. Thus it appears that by some divine impulse or process, not creation , known only to Omniscience, and possible only to Omnipotence, the Son of God appeared. And then the Holy Spirit (by an infirmity of translation called “the Holy Ghost”), the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the divine afflatus and medium of their power, representative of them both (Ps. 139:7), was in existence also .” (Uriah Smith, 1898, Looking Unto Jesus, page 10).

“1.We are baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Matt. 28:19. By this we express our belief in the existence of the one true God, the mediation of his Son , and the influence of the Holy Spirit .”(Uriah Smith, 1858, The Bible Students Assistant, pages 21, 22

- 101 - M.E. Cornell.

“Protestants and Catholics are so nearly united in sentiment, that it is not difficult to conceive how Protestants may make an image to the Beast. The mass of Protestants believe with Catholics in the Trinity , immortality of the soul, consciousness of the dead, rewards and punishments at death, the endless torture of the wicked, inheritance of the saints beyond the skies, sprinkling for baptism, and the PAGAN SUNDAY for the Sabbath; all of which is contrary to the spirit and letter of the new testament.Surely there is between the mother and daughters, a striking family resemblance .” (M. E. Cornell, 1858, Facts For The Times, page 76)

Joseph Bates

“My parents were members of long standing in the Congregational church, with all of their converted children thus far, and anxiously hoped that we would also unite with them. But they embraced some points in their faith which I could not understand. I will name two only: their mode of baptism, and doctrine of the trinity.

“My father, who had been a deacon of long standing with them, labored to convince me that they were right in points of doctrine.… Respecting the trinity, I concluded that it was an impossibility for me to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, was also the Almighty God, the Father, one and the same being . I said to my father, “If you can convince me that we are one in this sense, that you are my father, and I your son; and also that I am your father, and you my son, then I can believe in the trinity .” (Joseph Bates, 1868, The Autobiography Of Elder Joseph Bates, page 204)

- 102 - James White

"The way spiritualizers have disposed of or denied the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ is first using the old unscriptural Trinitarian creed viz., that Jesus Christ is the eternal God , though they have not one passage to support it, while we have plain scripture testimony in abundance that he is the Son of the eternal God." The Day Star, 24 January, 1846

"To assert that the sayings of the Son and his apostles are the commandments of the Father, is as wide from the truth as the old trinitarian absurdity that Jesus Christ is the very and eternal God. " Review and Herald, 5 August 1852, Vol 3, #7, p 52

"As fundamental errors, we might class with this counterfeit Sabbath other errors which Protestants have brought away from the Catholic church, such as sprinkling for baptism, the trinity, the consciousness of the dead, and eternal life in misery...Can it be supposed that the church of Christ will carry along with her these errors till the judgment scenes burst upon the world? We think not." Review and Herald, 12 September 1854, Vol 6, #5, p 36

"Here we might mention the Trinity, which does away the personality of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ ....” Review and Herald, 20 November, 1877 p 172

“Paul affirms of the Son of God that he was in the form of God and that he was equal with God. 'Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God.' Philippians 2:6. The reasons why it is not robbery for the Son to be equal with the Father is the fact that he is equal... The inexplicable Trinity that makes the godhead three in one

- 103 - and one in three, is bad enough ; but that ultra Unitarianism that makes Christ inferior to the Father is worse. Did God say to an inferior, 'Let us make man in our image? ” J. S. White, Review & Herald, November 29, 1877}

“Jesus prayed that his disciples might be one as he was one with his Father. This prayer did not contemplate one disciple with twelve heads, but twelve disciples, made one in object and effort in the cause of their master. Neither are the Father and the Son parts of the "three-one God." They are two distinct beings, yet one in the design and accomplishment of redemption. The redeemed, from the first who shares in the great redemption, to the last, all ascribe the honor, and glory, and praise, of their salvation, to both God and the Lamb .” {J. S. White, Life incidents, p.343. 1868} 16

D.M. Canright

“At the time when the Bible was written, nearly the whole world had adopted either Polytheism or Pantheism. Polytheism taught that there were many gods. Rome had its gods. Greece had its gods. Egypt had its gods. ... In opposition to that, Moses and the prophets set forth the grand fact that this doctrine of many gods was a lie, and that there was but one God, Jehovah the living God... "'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.' Dt. 6:4. Here we strike the key-note of the doctrine of the Deity. 'The Lord our God is ONE Lord. ' Not many, not a thousand, not a hundred, not ten, not three, but only ONE-one God . ... Turning to the New Testament, we find the same doctrine taught just as plainly as in the Old Neither Moses nor the prophets ever set forth the unity of God more strongly than Jesus himself . He taught it and reiterated it many times. Thus he says: 'The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel: The lord our

- 104 - God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul...And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth; for there is one God; and there is none other but he.' Mark 12:29-32. "The scribe said, 'There is one God, and there is none other but he.' To this declaration Jesus assented. 'And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent.' John 17:3 Jesus says his Father is the only true God. But Trinitarians contradict this by saying that the Son and Holy Ghost are just as much the true God as the Father is ... [1 Cor. 8:4-6 quoted] "Says the great apostle, 'There is none other God but one,' and 'there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things.' He tells us who this one God is. It is not the Holy Ghost; it is not Jesus Christ, but it is the Father . Gal. 3:20; 1 Tim. 1:17… How the doctrine of the Trinity, of three Gods, can be reconciled with these positive statements I do not know. …

“And then the Bible never uses the phrases, 'Trinity,' 'triune God,' 'three in one,' 'the holy three," 'God the Holy Ghost,' etc. but it does emphatically say there is only one God, the Father. And every argument to prove three Gods in one person, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, all of them of one substance, and every way equal to each other, and all three forming but one, contradicts itself, contradicts reason, and contradicts the Bible... "God is self existent, and the source and author of all things,-of angels, of men, of all the worlds,- of everything. Thus Paul says, 'For of him and through him and to him, are all things; 59 to whom be glory forever. Amen.' Rom. 11:36. "He is the source of all life and immortality. Thus, speaking of the Father, Paul says, 'Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto.' 1 Tim. 6:16. Notice that this glorious God is the only one who, in himself,

- 105 - possesses immortality. That is, he is the fountain-head, the source of all life and immortality... "'For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.' John 5:26. This statement is unequivocal. The Father has life in himself, and in his great love for his Son he bestows the same gift upon him; but it will be noticed that the Father is the one from whom the gift came ... How carefully Paul distinguishes between the Father and the Son. He says, 'The Father, of whom are all things,' and 'Jesus Christ, by whom are all things.' The Father is the source of everything. Jesus is the one through whom all things are done. All the authority, the glory, and the power of Christ he received from his Father ... A belief in this doctrine is very important. Indeed, it cannot be too strongly insisted upon. Jesus even declares that the knowledge of this truth is necessary to eternal life. 'And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent.' John 17:3. "We must know the Father as the only true God. Then there is no true God besides the Father. But we must also know his Son Jesus Christ, whom he has sent. How simple and plain is this doctrine, and how abundantly sustained by the Holy Bible .” {D. M. Canright, Review & Herald, August 29, 1878}

J.N. Loughborough

Review and Herald, 5 November 1861 Vol 18, p 184 “But Jesus Christ was begotten of the Father's own substance . He was not created out of material as the angels and other creatures. He is truly and emphatically the 'Son of God.'”,

“Questions for Bro. Loughborough

- 106 - Brother White, the following questions I would like to have you give, or send, to Bro.Loughborough for explanation. (from W. W. Giles. Toledo, Ohio).

“QUESTION 1. What serious objection is there to the doctrine of the Trinity? “ANSWER. There are many objections which we might urge, but on account of our limited space we shall reduce them to the three following: 1. It is contrary to common sense. 2. It is contrary to scripture.3. Its origin is Pagan and fabulous.

“These positions we will remark upon briefly in their order. 1. It is not very consonant with common sense to talk of three being one, and one being three. Or as some express it, calling God “the Triune God,” or “the three-one-God.” If Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are each God, it would be three Gods; for three times one is not one, but three . There is a sense in which they are one, but not one person, as claimed by Trinitarians.

“2. It is contrary to Scripture. Almost any portion of the New Testament we may open which has occasion to speak of the Father and Son, represents them as two distinct persons. The seventeenth chapter of John is alone sufficient to refute the doctrine of the Trinity. Over forty times in that one chapter Christ speaks of his Father as a person distinct from himself. His Father was in heaven and he upon earth. The Father had sent him. Given to him those that believed. He was then to go to the Father. And in this very testimony he shows us in what consists the oneness of the Father and Son. It is the same as the oneness of the members of Christ’s church. “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be

- 107 - one, even as we are one.” Of one heart and one mind. Of one purpose in all the plan devised for man’s salvation. Read the seventeenth chapter of John, and see if it does not completely upset the doctrine of the Trinity.

“To believe that doctrine, when reading the scripture we must believe that God sent himself into the world, died to reconcile the world to himself, raised himself from the dead, ascended to himself in heaven, pleads before himself in heaven to reconcile the world to himself, and is the only mediator between man and himself. It will not do to substitute the human nature of Christ (according to Trinitarians) as the Mediator; for Clarke says, “Human blood can no more appease God than swine’s blood.” Commentary on 2 Sam. 21:10. We must believe also that in the garden God prayed to himself, if it were possible, to let the cup pass from himself, and a thousand other such absurdities.

“Read carefully the following texts, comparing them with the idea that Christ is the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Supreme, and only self-existent God: John 14:28;17:3; 3:16; 5:19, 26; 11:15; 20:19; 8:50; 6:38; Mark 8:32; Luke 6:12;22:69; 24:29; Matt. 3:17; 27:46; Gal. 3:20; 1 John 2:1; Rev. 5:7; Acts 17:31. Also see Matt. 11:25, 27; Luke 1:32; 22:42; John 3:35, 36; 5:19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26; 6:40; 8:35,36; 14:13; 1 Cor. 15:28, &c.

“The word Trinity nowhere occurs in the Scriptures . The principal text supposed to teach it is 1 John 5:7, which is an interpolation. Clarke says, “Out of one hundred and thirteen manuscripts, the text is wanting in one hundred and twelve. It occurs in no MS. before the tenth century. And the first place the text occurs in Greek, is in the Greek translation of the acts of the Council of Lateran, held A. D. 1215.” - Com. on 1 John 5, and remarks at close of chapter.

- 108 -

“3. Its origin is pagan and fabulous. Instead of pointing us to scripture for proof of the trinity, we are pointed to the trident of the Persians, with the assertion that “by this they designed to teach the idea of a trinity, and if they had the doctrine of the trinity, they must have received it by tradition from the people of God. But this is all assumed, for it is certain that the Jewish church held to no such doctrine. Says Mr. Summerbell, “A friend of mine who was present in a New York synagogue, asked the Rabbi for an explanation of the word ‘Elohim’. A Trinitarian clergyman who stood by, replied, ‘Why, that has reference to the three persons in the Trinity,’ when a Jew stepped forward and said he must not mention that word again, or they would have to compel him to leave the house; for it was not permitted to mention the name of any strange god in the synagogue.” (Discussion between Summerbell and Flood on Trinity, p. 38) Milman says the idea of the Trident is fabulous. (Hist. Christianity, p. 34) This doctrine of the trinity was brought into the church about the same time with image worship, and keeping the day of the sun, and is but Persian doctrine remodeled. It occupied about three hundred years from its introduction to bring the doctrine to what it is now. It was commenced about 325 AD and was not completed till 681AD . See Milman’s Gibbon’s Rome, vol. 4, p. 422. It was adopted in Spain in 589, in England in 596, in Africa in 534. - Gib. vol. 4, pp. 114, 345; Milner, vol. 1, p. 519. (To be continued.).” (J. N. Loughborough, November 5,1861, Review & Herald, vol. 18, page 184, par. 1-11).

" R.F Cottrell

“Position of SDA Pioneers on the Trinity This has been a popular doctrine and regarded as orthodox ever since the bishop of Rome was elevated to the popedom

- 109 - on the strength of it. It is accounted dangerous heresy to reject it; but each person is permitted to explain the doctrine in his own way. All seem to think they must hold it, but each has perfect liberty to take his own way to reconcile its contradictory propositions; and hence a multitude of views are held concerning it by its friends, all of them orthodox, I suppose, as long as they nominally assent to the doctrine. For myself, I have never felt called upon to explain it, nor to adopt and defend it, neither have I ever preached against it. But I probably put as high an estimation on the Lord Jesus Christ as those who call themselves Trinitarians. This is the first time I have ever taken the pen to say anything concerning the doctrine.

“My reasons for not adopting and defending it, are 1. Its name is unscriptural. The Trinity, or the triune God, is unknown to the Bible; and I have entertained the idea that doctrines which require words coined in the human mind to express them, are coined doctrines . 2. I have never felt called upon to adopt and explain that which is contrary to all the sense and reason that God has given me. All my attempts at an explanation of such a subject would make it no clearer to my friends.

“But if I am asked what I think of Jesus Christ, my reply is, I believe all that the Scriptures say of him. If the testimony represents him as being in glory with the Father before the world was, I believe it. If it is said that he was in the beginning with God, that he was God, that all things were made by him and for him, and that without him was not anything made that was made, I believe it. If the Scriptures say he is the Son of God, I believe it. If it is declared that the Father sent his Son into the world, I believe he had a Son to send. If the testimony says he is the beginning of the creation of God, I believe it. If he is said to be the brightness

- 110 - of the Father’s glory, and the express image of his person, I believe it. And when Jesus says, ‘I and my Father are one,’ I believe it; and when he says, ‘My Father is greater than I,’ I believe that too; it is the word of the Son of God, and besides this it is perfectly reasonable and seemingly self- evident.

“If I be asked how I believe the Father and Son are one, I reply, They are one in a sense not contrary to sense. If the and in the sentence means anything, the Father and the Son are two beings. They are one in the same sense in which Jesus prayed that his disciples might be one . He asked his Father that his disciples might be one. His language is, that they may be one, “even as we are one. ”It may be objected, If the Father and the Son are two distinct beings, do you not, in worshipping the Son and calling him God, break the first commandment of the Decalogue?

“No; it is the Father’s will That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. We cannot break the commandment and dishonor God by obeying him. The Father says of the Son, Let all the angels of God worship him. Should angels refuse to worship the Son, they would rebel against the Father. Children inherit the name of their father. The Son of God hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than the angels. That name is the name of his Father. The Father says to the Son,Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Heb. 1:8. The Son is called The mighty God. Isa. 9:6. And when he comes again to earth his waiting people will exclaim, This is our God. Isa. 25:9. It is the will of the Father that we should thus honor the Son. In doing so we render supreme honor to the Father. If we dishonor the Son we dishonor the Father; for he requires us to honor his Son.

- 111 - “But though the Son is called God yet there is a God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ . 1 Pet. 1:3. Though the Father says to the Son, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, yet, that throne is given him of his Father; and because he loved righteousness and hated iniquity, he further says, Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee. Heb. 1:9. God hath made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ. Acts. 2:36. The Son is the everlasting Father, not of himself, nor of his Father, but of his children. His language is. I and the children which God hath given me. Heb. 2:13.” {R. F. Cottrell, Review & Herald, June 1,1869}

“That one person is three persons and that three persons are only one person is the doctrine which we claim is contrary to reason and common sense . The being and attributes of God are above, beyond, out of reach of my sense and reason, yet I believe them: But the doctrine I object to is contrary, yes that is the word, to the very sense and reason that God has himself implanted in us.” “Such a doctrine he does not ask us to believe…..Our Creator has made it an absurdity to us that one person should be three persons, and three persons but one person and in his revealed word he has never asked us to believe it. This, our friend thinks is objectionable. But to hold the doctrine of the Trinity is not so much an evidence of evil intention as of intoxication from that wine of which all the nations have drunk. The fact that this was one of the leading doctrines, if not the very chief, upon which the bishop of Rome was exalted to popedom, does not say much in its favour. This should cause men to investigate if for themselves; as when the spirits of devils working miracles undertake the advocacy of the immortality of the soul. Had I never doubted it before, I would now probe it to

- 112 - the bottom, by that word which modern spiritualism sets at nought .” Review and Herald 6 July, 1869

Mrs S.M.I. Henry

“Comments on the Godhead "Q Do you think the Spirit of God is a person, or is it simply the power by which God works, and which he has given to man for his use? "A. The pronouns used in connection with the Spirit must lead us to conclude that he is a person, the personality of God which is the source of all power and life."” {S. M. Henry, The Abiding Spirit, 1899.}

Elder W.C. White

A Letter to Elder Carr by Elder W.C. White. (Ellen White’s son and personal assistant) “April 30 th 1935 Elder H. W. Carr 164 Saxton Street Lockport New York

“Dear Brother Carr,

“I hold in my hand your letter of January 24. For some months I have been so heavily pressed with work connected with manuscripts which we were preparing for the printer that my correspondence has had to wait.

- 113 - “In your letter you request me to tell you what I understand to be my mother’s position in reference to the personality of the Holy Spirit.

“This I cannot do because I never clearly understood her teachings on the matter. There always was in my mind some perplexity regarding the meaning of her utterances which to my superficial manner of thinking seemed to be somewhat confused. I have often regretted that I did not possess that keenness of mind that could solve this and similar perplexities, and then remembering what Sister White wrote in “Acts of the Apostles,” pages 51 and 52, “regarding such mysteries which are too deep for human understanding, silence is golden,” I have thought best to refrain from discussion and have endeavoured to direct my mind to matters easy to be understood.

“As I read the Bible, I find that the risen Saviour breathed on the disciples (John 20:22) “and saith unto them, ‘receive ye the Holy Ghost.” The conception received from this Scripture, seems to be in harmony with the statement in “Desire of Ages”, page 669, also Genesis 1:2; with Luke 1:4; with Acts 2:4 and also 8:15 and 10:44. Many other texts might be referred to which seem to be in harmony with this statement in the “Desire of Ages.”

“The statements and the arguments of some of our ministers in their effort to prove that the Holy Spirit was an individual as are God, the father and Christ, the eternal Son , have perplexed me and sometimes they have made me sad . One popular teacher said “we may regard Him, (the Holy Spirit) as the fellow who is down here running things.”

- 114 - “My perplexities were lessened a little when I learned from the dictionary that one of the meanings of personality, was characteristics. It is stated in such a way that I concluded that there might be personality without bodily form which is possessed by the Father and the Son.

“There are many Scriptures which speak of the Father and the Son and the absence of Scripture making similar reference to the united work of the Father and the Holy Spirit or of Christ and the Holy Spirit, has led me to believe that the spirit without individuality was the representative of the Father and the Son throughout the universe, and it was through the Holy Spirit that they dwell in our hearts and make us one with the Father and with the Son.

“My answer to your second question “Does Sister White’s writings anywhere teach that prayer should only be addressed to the Father, or that we should not address Christ in prayer, only through the Father,” is that I think not. I have not found such teachings in Ellen White’s writings. ……….

“With kind regards, I remain,

“Sincerely your brother,

W. C. White” WCW:lfw.

J.S Washburn Letter ,1939

“The doctrine of the Trinity is a cruel heathen monstrosity, removing Jesus from his true position of Divine Savior and

- 115 - Mediator. It is true we can not measure or define divinity. It is beyond our finite understanding, yet on this subject of the personality of God the Bible is very simple and plain. The Father, the Ancient of Days, is from eternity. Jesus was begotten of the Father. Jesus speaking through the Psalmist says: "The Lord (Jehovah) has said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee." - Psalm 2:7.Again in Proverbs (where Jesus is spoken of under the title of wisdom, See 1 Cor. 1:24), we read: "The Lord (Jehovah) possessed me in the beginning of his way" v. 22

"Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth." - v. 24 The Son says he was brought forth, begotten, born of His Father (Jehovah). Satan has taken some heathen conception of a three-headed monstrosity, and with deliberate intention to cast contempt upon divinity, has woven it into Romanism as our glorious God, an impossible, absurd invention. This monstrous doctrine transplanted from heathenism into the Roman Papal Church is seeking to intrude its evil presence into the teachings of the Third Angel’s Message. …

“And the fact that Christ is not the mediator in the Roman Church demonstrates that the Trinity destroys the truth that Christ is the one, the only mediator. The so-called Christian Church, the Papacy, that originated the doctrine of the Trinity, does not recognize him as the only mediator but substitutes a multitude of ghosts of dead men and women as mediators. If you hold the Trinity doctrine, in reality, Christ is no longer your mediator . …

“The whole Trinity doctrine is utterly foreign to all the Bible and the teachings of the Spirit of Prophecy . Revelation gives not the slightest hint of it. This monstrous heathen conception finds no place in all the free universe of our

- 116 - Blessed heavenly Father and His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ…The Catholic heathen doctrine of the Sunday Sabbath is just as sacred as the Catholic pagan doctrine of the Trinity and no more so…

“Seventh-day Adventists claim to take the word of God as supreme authority and to have ‘come out of Babylon’, to have renounced forever the vain traditions of Rome. If we should go back to the immortality of the soul, purgatory, eternal torment and the Sunday Sabbath, would that be anything less than apostasy? If, however, we leap over all these minor, secondary doctrines and accept and teach the very central root, doctrine of Romanism, the Trinity, and teach that the son of God did not die, even though our words seem to be spiritual, is this anything else or anything less than apostasy? and the very Omega of apostasy?”

References to these and other articles confirming that Seventh Day Adventist church was non-trinitarian during the life-time of Ellen White & the pioneers:

James White, - in Life Incidents, 1868 p 343; The Day Star, 24 Jan 1846; Review and Herald, 5 Aug 1852, 9 June 1853, Vol 4,#2, p 1; 29 Nov, 1877; 4 Jan 1881

JH Waggoner - The Atonement in the light of Nature and Revelation, 1884 p 152-154,164, 165, 167, 169, 173; article republished in R&H 10 Nov, 1863, vol 22 p 189; 1854,Review and Herald, 18 July Vol 5, #24, p 86;

Joseph Bates – The autobiography of Elder Joseph Bates, p 204, 1868; letter to William Miller 1848, Past and Present Experience p 187 W W Prescott – Review and Herald, 14

- 117 - April, 1896, p 232; ME Cornell – Facts for the Times,1858, p76; R&H, 7 April, 1863 v 21, p149;

AT Jones – General Conference Bulletin, 1895 p 448; Review and Herald 7 July – 1 August 1899, Ecclesiastical Empire, p 837-838;The Two Republics, 1891, p 590, 801;

AJ Dennis – Signs of the Times, 22 May, 1879;

J Matteson – Review and Herald, 12 October, 1869 p 123;

JM Stephenson – Review and Herald, 7 November, 1854, vol 6, # 13 p 99, 5 December, 1854 vol 6 # 16 p 123, 124;

Uriah Smith – Daniel and the Revelation, 1882 and 1912 edn, p 430, Review and Herald 10 July, 1856, vol 8, # 11 p 87, Looking Unto Jesus 1898, p 10, 23, 24, The Bible Student’s Assistant p 21, 22, 42-25, General Conference Daily Bulletin, 14 March, 1891, Vol 4, p 146,147;

JN Andrews – Review and Herald, 6 March 1855, vol 6 # 24, p 185, 7 September, 1869 (republished in Review and Herald, 4 January 1881);

R.F Cottrell – R&H, 19 November, 1857, vol 11, #2, p 13, 6 July, 1869;

DW Hull – Review and Herald, 10 November 1859, vol 14 p 193-195, 17 November, 1859, vol 14, p 201-202;

JN Loughborough – Review and Herald, 5 November, 1861 Vol 18, p 184;

EJ Waggoner – Christ and His Righteousness, 1890 p 9, 11- 13, 19-24;

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MC Wilcox – Questions and Answers Gathered From the Question Corner Department of the Signs of the Times, 1911 p 181, 182;

GW Amadon – Review and Herald 24 September, 1861 p 136;

E Everts – Review and Herald, 20 March, 1856, Vol 7, # 25, p 199, 4 July, 1854 vol 5 # 22, p 169;

JB Frisbie – Review and Herald 7 March, 1854.

SN Haskell – The Story of the Seer of Patmos, 1905, p 93, 94, 98, 99, 217; The Cross and its Shadow, 1914 p 14, 232

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