Doctrine

Do Not Sleep as Do Others

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One of the first letters written by the apostle Paul and recorded in the New Testament gives a straightforward explanation concerning the state of the dead, and when Christians will be reunited with their loved ones who have died in Christ, yet many Christians still consider this a mystery.

While Paul was in Corinth ministering in evangelism, to provide himself with an income, he made tents in the evenings with his companions, Aquila and Priscilla. He was comforted by the arrival of two of his working companions, Silas and Timothy, who had come from Thessalonica with news of the newly formed church. Paul learned that there were people in this church who had fallen into mistaken ideas concerning those who had died after their conversion. They held the belief that they would all live to see the second coming of Christ and were perplexed when some of their friends had died, making it impossible for them to behold Christ coming in the clouds of heaven.

In addition, some of the people, who believed that Jesus’ coming would be soon, quit their employment to devote all of their time to being ready. This prompted the apostle Paul to write some very straight things to those who had stopped working. He said, “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” II Thessalonians 3:10. This biblical counsel is still unpopular today amongst those who resign themselves to idleness, waiting for what will happen in the future.

Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica explained the true condition of a person in death. He said, “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.” I Thessalonians 4:13. The sleep here mentioned was death. He then said, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.” Verse 14.

“Those who sleep in Jesus” are those who believe the Christian faith but die before Jesus comes again. Paul continued, “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.” Verse 15. The people who received this letter were greatly comforted when they understood that the righteous dead would rise from their graves to a holy, happy, immortal life and be reunited with their loved ones when Jesus returns.

The Thessalonians had eagerly grasped the idea that Jesus was coming to change the faithful who were alive and take them with Him, but they had forgotten what Paul had taught them about those who died. When they buried their friends, they remembered that all of their ancestors had been buried, and with anguish they looked on the face of their dead loved ones, not realizing that, because they were Christians, they had hope of a certain reunion again. What a joy to hear that, “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” Verses 16–18.

It was clear that those who were alive at that time would not go to heaven before those who had fallen asleep, those who were dead in Christ. Notice that three times in this passage, as in the Old Testament where death is referred to as a sleep, Paul also uses this term. The epistle gave great hope and joy to this young church that had accepted the gospel. There were so many new and strange things to learn it is not surprising that they had forgotten some of the things they had been taught. But now, no longer did darkness enshroud the sepulcher of the dead. Their friends, who had fallen asleep in Jesus, would be resurrected from the grave at Jesus’ return and enjoy immortal life in the kingdom of God.

However, this passage talks only about the resurrection to immortal life being given to those who have fallen asleep and died in Christ. Are you in Christ, today? If you are in Christ, then whether you live or die, your eternal future is secure. Are you in Christ? Have you committed your life to Him? Is He your Lord and Saviour? Do you follow Him? Do you obey Him? Are you a Christian in character, or are you just a Christian by profession, not living like the Lord Jesus and following Him in your life?

Just as Christ was raised from the dead, Paul said, He will bring those who die in Christ with Him, to the kingdom of heaven. After this, the apostle Paul reminded them concerning events of the last days. In the very next verse he says, “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you [because of previous instruction]. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.” I Thessalonians 5:1–4.

There are many prophecies clearly pointing out the end time and when the last days will begin, but Paul warns that there will be many who will be caught unaware. He said we are not of the night, nor of the darkness. “Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober.” Verses 6–8.

The Greek word translated sober means to not partake of any intoxicating drink. There are professed Christians today who see no wrong in drinking in moderation, but the Bible does not teach that. The New Testament does not teach that. Both Paul and Peter were very clear that a Christian preparing for the second coming of Christ would not use intoxicating drink. You cannot be both sober and intoxicated. Anyone who is partially intoxicated is not really sober. The sober Christians are watching what is taking place in the world and preparing for the future. Are you seeking to purify your life? Remember, the Bible says that, “Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” I John 3:3. Are you purifying your life? Are you doing all in your power for the cause of God in the world?

It is predicted that the Christian who lives in the last days is going to have severe trials. Jesus, in Matthew 24 and Luke 17 and 21, said that perilous times will come. What shall we do because we are living in a world full of trials? Notice what Paul says: “We urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the faint-hearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.” I Thessalonians 5:12–15.

Many practical instructions were given at the close of Paul’s letter. “Pray without ceasing.” Verse 17. Always be in an attitude of prayer. He said, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” Verses 18–22.

It is time to follow those injunctions. It is time to abstain from every form of evil, be sober and watchful, for you do not want to be among those who are drunk in the night and not watching and be overtaken suddenly by an overwhelming surprise when it will be too late to be saved.

When Jesus comes again, you will either already be saved, or you will be lost. That is why Paul said to the Corinthians, “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” II Corinthians 6:2. Now is the time to make a decision that will result in having eternal life. It is the decision to commit your life to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour and choose to follow Him in obedience. If you commit your life to Him, you will receive the Holy Spirit that will transform your life. This letter brought wonderful comfort, hope, joy and excitement to the Thessalonian church, as it still does today to all who believe.

Paul said, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” I Thessalonians 4:16, 17.

The “we” mentioned here refers to the people in the church who are alive when Jesus comes and who are ready to meet Him. Some of the people interpreted it to mean that Paul included himself as one of those who would live until Jesus came, which resulted in the necessity to write them another letter. In fact, there were some who quit working, saying, “The Lord’s going to come so soon, that we are not going to work.” Paul wrote very specifically about this to Timothy and said, “If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” I Timothy 5:8.

Paul had to address the whole issue of the second coming, and even today some Christians are mixed up on this. Some people say, “The apostles expected the Lord to come in their day in the first century.” No, they did not.

In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul sought to correct the misapprehensions they had because of what he had said in his first letter about when the Day of the Lord would come. When would Jesus Christ come again and when would the believers be reunited with their dead loved ones? When would they leave this world and go to heaven?

The apostle Paul begins his letter by commending them for their faith: “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.” II Thessalonians 1:3–10.

But then he goes on to talk to them about the coming of this day, the Day of the Lord that He has just described, when they would receive rest from all care and perplexities in this world. All persecutions of the Christians would be at an end. Those who died in Christ would be resurrected and taken with the living to heaven. They would be given immortality as you read in I Corinthians 15 or I Thessalonians 4. But then they were thinking it was going to happen very, very soon.

Paul says next: “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come [or was at hand]. Let no one deceive you by any means.” II Thessalonians 2:1–3. Back in those days it was common to send forged letters in the names of important people, so Paul said, “If anybody tells, gives you a letter and says it’s from me; if anybody tells you that I said this, please know it’s not so. Don’t let anybody convince you that the Day of the Lord is just about here.” This is a very emphatic warning. He tells them to be careful. Don’t allow yourselves to be troubled or even think that the Day of the Lord is at hand, because it’s not going to happen right away.

He then says, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.” Verse 3.

Now this man of sin, of course, is the antichrist. It says in verse 4, concerning him: “Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God (that is the church), showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?”

So, Paul says, “I have already instructed you. Remember what I instructed you about this.” Verse 5. The coming of Christ is not going to occur until after a great apostasy transpires in the Christian church and the antichrist is revealed. The word antichrist does not just mean somebody who is against Christ; it means somebody who stands in the place of Christ. The antichrist is going to arise in the church first. “And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time [that is, the antichrist]. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way, and then the lawless one [the antichrist] will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.” Verses 6–8. That is a very interesting verse.

Some people believe that the antichrist is going to appear after the Lord comes. But this verse teaches us that when the Lord comes, the antichrist will already be here and will be destroyed when He comes. Study this passage in your Bible. The Bible then says, “The coming of the lawless one [that is the antichrist] is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders [there will be miracles], and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” Verses 9, 10.

These texts tell us that if you do not love the truth, you are going to be deceived.

God will never force anyone to believe or accept or follow the truth. God’s government allows freedom of choice. And He will never give you such overwhelming evidence that you will be forced to believe it against your will, but there is sufficient information, if you are willing to look at the weight of evidence. However, be warned that if you do not love the truth, you will be deceived.

How will it happen? “For this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie [the idea that a person can be saved in sin], that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Verses 11, 12.

The reason people do not believe the truth is stated here in this verse, because they are having “pleasure in unrighteousness.” All unrighteousness is sin (I John 5:17). Sin is the transgression of the law (I John 3:4). To have pleasure in unrighteousness means to have pleasure in sin or in breaking God’s law. This pleasure is temporary and will cost them their souls and eternal life.

If that is the situation in which you find yourself, won’t you repent so that you will have eternal life and not meet the destiny of those who delight in unrighteousness? Do not sleep as do others.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Free Seventh-day Adventist Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Cheap Grace or Costly Grace?

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One of the most beautiful verses in all the Bible is found in Psalms 85:10. “Mercy ( Grace ) and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”

Let us start by analyzing the word truth. God declares in His Word that truth is the righteousness of God’s law. “Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Thy law is truth.” Psalms 119:142. Righteousness and truth are two of the attributes of our eternal God. We know from reading the Scriptures that God is holy and the law is holy. See Romans 7:12. In Psalms 19:7 we find that the law is as perfect as God. He is also just, and Romans 7:12 says that the law is just. In the Bible we find that God is pure just as “the commandment of the Lord is pure.” Psalms 19:8. We read that God is forever and we find that the ten commandments are forever, for we read in Psalms 111:8, that the commandments are sure, “they stand fast for ever and ever.”

It is no wonder that in Signs of the Times, January 9, 1879, we read: “God . . . exalted them equal to Himself.” “The ten holy precepts spoken by Christ upon Sinai’s mount were the revelation of the character of God.” Bible Commentary, vol. 1, 1105. So the law is the righteousness of God Himself.

Now let us examine the other attributes mentioned: mercy and truth. We find in Scripture that there is no clearer discernment of mercy than in what Jesus did on Calvary. Peter was so impressed with this that he wrote, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” 1 Peter 3:18. “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things . . . but with the precious blood of Christ.” 1 Peter 1:18, 19.

I think it is very beautiful how Ellen White put it all together in Bible Echo, March 15, 1893. “At the cross, mercy and truth met together; righteousness and peace kissed each other. As the sinner looks upon the Savior dying on Calvary, this great sacrifice, and realizes that the Sufferer is divine, he asks why this great sacrifice was made; and the cross points to the holy law of God, which has been transgressed. The death of Christ is an unanswerable argument to the immutability and righteousness of the law.”

The law could not save, it only points out our defects and leads us to Christ, who becomes our substitute. Jesus meets the need of the sinner. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5.

The law and grace had to be separate attributes in order to meet together at the cross. They met together, they kissed each other, revealing that they are inseparably joined together in wedlock.

“Christ shows that in God’s plan they are indissolubly joined together; the one cannot exist without the other. ‘Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.’ ” God’s Amazing Grace, 74. So the love of God, His grace, does not do away with the divine law. If God was only love, there would be no need for the atonement. There are conditions that come with the costly Gift. Justice demands holiness, and mercy opens the gates of eternal life to the obedient. “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Revelation 22:14.

This costly grace is being undermined today by a new theology called cheap grace. It’s invading every Protestant church in the world, including the Seventh-day Adventist church. The people are being taught that they are under grace, so they do not have to be a believer in obedience.

“God’s love has been expressed in His justice no less than in His mercy. Justice is the foundation of His throne, the fruit of His love. It had been Satan’s purpose to divorce mercy from truth and justice. He sought to prove that the righteousness of God’s law is an enemy to peace. But Christ shows that in God’s plan they are indissolubly joined together; the one cannot exist without the other. ‘Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.’ By His life and His death, Christ proved that God’s justice did not destroy His mercy, but that sin could be forgiven, and that the law is righteous, and can be perfectly obeyed.” The Desire of Ages, 762.

Satan is coming with a new belief which is very disarming in its approach. If he can just get the ministers to preach only half the truth, he can fill the church. Such preaching ignores or minimizes sanctification, the High Priest ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary and the justice of God in demanding absolute obedience.

The book, Beyond Belief, by Jack Sequeira, which is being promoted by the General Conference, comes along and very quietly implants within your mind deadly errors. I have never read a book from our presses like this before.

In this article we will examine nine teachings of cheap grace theology that are in this book.

1. Cheap grace teaches that sanctification is not a requirement for heaven.

“We often describe the first aspect of salvation—the objective gospel—as the imputed righteousness of Christ. This is what qualifies the believer for heaven, both now and in the judgment. We describe the second aspect of salvation—the subjective gospel—as the imparted righteousness of Christ. This is what gives evidence of the reality of the imputed righteousness of Christ in the life. It does not contribute in the slightest way to our qualification for heaven; it witnesses or demonstrates what is already true of us in Christ. Imparted righteousness does not qualify us for heaven.” Beyond Belief, 32.

You notice he uses some terms you will never find in the Bible: the subjective and the objective gospel. That is foreign to the Bible. “We describe the second aspect as the imparted righteousness,” so he is talking about the imparted righteousness of Christ, and he says “it does not contribute in the slightest way to our qualification for heaven.” Ibid. He is taking away our very fitness for heaven in this kind of teaching.

“The righteousness by which we are justified is imputed; the righteousness by which we are sanctified is imparted. The first is our title to heaven, the second is our fitness for heaven.” Messages to Young People, 35.

As you read on, you will find that this kind of attack is really against obedience, for in Selected Messages, vol. 1, 367, it says that “righteousness is obedience.” He is telling us, “You don’t have to obey, it has no significance to God, it has nothing to do in qualifying you for heaven.”

2. Cheap grace teaches that all babies are born guilty of Adam’s sin, therefore Jesus was born with the unfallen nature of Adam.

“‘By one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for all have sinned’ . . . Did Paul mean that all die because ‘all have sinned’ personally as did Adam? Or did he mean that all die because ‘all have sinned’ in Adam? . . . It simply isn’t true that everyone dies because they have personally sinned as Adam did . . . ‘All have sinned’ most naturally refers to a single past historical event (Adam’s sin) and not to the continuing personal sins of his descendants over the centuries.” Beyond Belief, 52, 53.

That is the Catholic doctrine of the original sin. I do not worship a God that condemns me for something that I had nothing to do with. The Bible says: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father.” Ezekiel 18:20. That is the kind of God that I like!

One of the foundation principles of cheap grace is the Catholic doctrine of original sin. It teaches that when Christ came, He did not come to this earth as you and I, He came in the unfallen nature of Adam, and that is why He could overcome. Cheap grace teaches that Jesus is not our example, because He overcame differently from you and I.

On page 54 of Beyond Belief, Mr. Sequeira contradicts what he says here, and on page 146 he says just the opposite again. What is he doing? He is using a form of N.L.P. He has implanted within you an error and then later on he says, No, I did not say that at all! But he implanted it in your mind.

3. Cheap grace does away with obedience to God’s law as essential to salvation.

“If a person does not believe that full and complete salvation has already been obtained in Jesus Christ, if a person believes that salvation ultimately depends to some decree on his or her behavior, then the faith such a person is able to generate will naturally be polluted with self-concern.” Beyond Belief, 91.

What is behavior? Behavior is obedience or disobedience. Obedience is the condition to which eternal life is granted. “Christ did not lessen the claims of the law. In unmistakable language He presents obedience to it as the condition of eternal life—the same condition that was required of Adam before his fall. The Lord expects no less of the soul now than He expected of man in Paradise, perfect obedience, unblemished righteousness.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 391.

4. Cheap grace teaches that we may obtain advance forgiveness (this is the Catholic doctrine of indulgences).

“Justification is the work of a moment although it remains effective in all our believing lives . . . It’s true that one important truth about justification is the forgiveness of our past sins but justification involves far more than that. The righteousness of Christ includes the fact that He endured the just penalty of the law on behalf of our sins, past, present, future. But in a positive sense Christ also kept the whole law on our behalf. All this becomes ours the moment we become justified by faith. Justification means all of Christ’s righteousness that He provided for us so that nothing more is required of us to qualify for heaven.” Beyond Belief, 103.

Here he tells us that God has already forgiven us of all future sins. If this was true, we could go to the priest and pay him money to excuse our sin in advance, and then we could go out and steal or commit any other type of sin.

5. Cheap grace teaches that it is legalism to believe or to teach obedience.

“The devil has deceived many Christians into believing that justification by faith does not fully qualify them for heaven. That something more is necessary, that they must keep the law and do good works. As a result, many sincere Christians are trapped in a subtle form of legalism.” Beyond Belief, 104. If that is legalism, then God was the greatest legalist that ever existed, for He gave the law. And Jesus Christ believed in legalism for He kept the law and He taught others to be obedient. He said, “If you love Me, keep my commandments.”

“As a result, many sincere Christians are trapped in a subtle form of legalism. Living in fear and insecurity. Every time we fall or sin we become unjustified. This is another common misunderstanding about justification. It is a monstrous teaching that has no support from the Word of God. God does not reject us every time we make a mistake or fall into sin.” Ibid.

If I only believe, I can go ahead and steal, I can commit adultery with my neighbor’s wife, I can do anything and God does not reject me!

God still loves the sinner and He wants him to be saved, so He pleads with him, but this does not mean that He does not reject the sinner. When David took Bathsheba and committed adultery and then killed the husband, was he rejected of God? Yes, he was! It was not until the Lord, because of His love, sent the prophet in and told him, “You are the man!” When David saw his sin, he fell on his knees and pleaded with God for forgiveness. But during that time he was lost.

“In order for man to retain his justification, there must be continual obedience, through active, living faith that works by love and purifies the soul.” Selected Messages, vol. 1, 366.

6. Cheap grace teaches that salvation was completed on the cross.

Therefore, there is no need for Jesus to intercede in the heavenly sanctuary nor is there need for an investigative judgment and the blotting out of our sins.

“The sanctuary of the old covenant was divided into three parts—the courtyard, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place. Likewise, the believer who represents God’s temple on earth is divided into three parts spiritually—spirit, soul and body.” Beyond Belief, 139.

Now where did he ever concoct such an idea? There is an heavenly sanctuary and Jesus Christ is in the heavenly sanctuary. Let me read it, “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Hebrews 9:24. What is He doing up there? He is presenting us to the Father as though we had never sinned—He is blotting out our sins. This is the investigative judgment. This is all done away with, if you believe that everything was completed at the cross.

7. Cheap grace teaches that we are no longer under the law but under grace.

Careful now! If you are not under God’s authority, whose authority are you under? “According to Paul, it is impossible for someone who truly understands salvation by grace, and who appreciates Christ’s cross, to go on condoning sin. Righteousness is by faith and if the faith is there, the righteousness is sure to be there as well and there is no sin in righteousness . . . but that sin no longer has authority to condemn or to control a believer because such a person is no longer under the law’s control but under grace.” Beyond Belief, 163, 164. Finally, he is throwing the law out the window.

“Since a believer is no longer under the law’s authority, sin can no longer bring the believer under the law’s condemnation of eternal death. The believer is delivered from the power of sin . . . there is a world of difference between sinning under the law and sinning under grace.” Ibid., 164, 165.

“You see, in this sense, the law and Christ differ radically.” Ibid. Oh, no they do not! The very character of my Lord is His law. Cheap grace divorces the righteousness from grace.

8. Cheap grace teaches that we can sin without punishment.

“Stumbling under grace, falling into sin, does not deprive us of justification. Neither does it bring condemnation.” Beyond Belief, 166. There is nothing in the Bible or Spirit of Prophecy that teaches this. It is Calvinism!

He talks about the law as a standard. May I remind you that standards change, but God’s law does not. “How should we Christians view the law? Is it still binding on us? The answer is emphatically No; the law is not binding on us as a means of salvation. But the answer is a most definite yes if you are speaking of the law as a standard for Christian living.” Ibid., 173.

The law is a means of salvation, for “the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” Psalms 19:7. It shows us our guilt, it shows us our need, and so it guides us to One who can help us.

9. Cheap Grace teaches that Sabbath-keeping is nothing but a work as a requirement of salvation.

“When we make Sabbath-keeping a requirement of salvation. . .” Beyond Belief, 183. What does the Bible say? “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Revelation 22:14.

If you believe that Sabbath-keeping is legalistic and that God does not require it for salvation, then in the coming days of persecution you will find it very easy to worship on Sunday.

It says on page 185 of Beyond Belief that there are “two opposing methods of salvation.” I totally agree with this, for there is the truth and there is a counterfeit. One leads you to heaven, the other leads you to hell. Never forget the words of Christ, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” That is why Ellen White wrote these words in Selected Messages, vol. 1, 367, “Righteousness is obedience to the law.” No one will go to heaven without righteousness.

Cheap grace destroys the beautiful relationship between mercy and truth. Do not let anybody try to break that relationship in your life.

Beyond Belief is a book that will prepare you to receive the mark of the beast if you believe it. Now is the time for us to take hold of the Bible and study it, for it is our only guide. Let us hold fast to these truths. Let us be faithful to God that we may be ready to meet Him when He comes.

The End

The Two Ones, Adam and Christ

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We cannot say that we have not been warned. The apostle Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, warned us very clearly: “Even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you; As also in all of his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they who are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” 2 Peter 3:15, 16.

What shall we do then, with the writings of Paul? Shall we just lay them aside? Certainly not, they are scriptures, and we need them. But let us not approach them carelessly, and let us carefully abide by our basic rule of all Bible study, that a passage which is not clear to us at first reading must be understood in the light of other passages on the same subject. Thus the Bible interprets itself to us, and we do not place a private interpretation on the Bible. And since the Holy Spirit is the ultimate author of the scriptures, it follows that all Spirit inspired writings should be included in our study. Peter did not say that some of Paul’s writings are impossible to understand—he just said that they are difficult.

So with all due caution and care, let us address ourselves to one of those difficult passages, Romans 5:12–19. Many people have started to read this scripture, and after a few verses have given it up and gone on to the next chapter. But just now this passage is being placed before us as the cornerstone of a false theology. We are going to be hearing a great deal about this false theology, and if we do not have an understanding of Paul’s message in these verses, we are in danger of being deceived. We note in passing that false teachers quite customarily seize upon obscure passages as a vehicle for their errors, but we do not have time to enlarge on that point and cite examples just now.

In Romans 5:12 Paul sets up a comparison, which might be called The Comparison of the Two Ones, since he uses the term “one” repeatedly, and in the comparison itself does not use names. Then he does something a bit out of the ordinary. Before finishing his comparison, he stops in the middle of it to make some explanations and state some qualifications. Having done this in verses 13–17, he then returns to his comparison and completes it in verses 18 and 19.

The King James translators took note of this unusual circumstance, and put verses 13–17 in parentheses, as you will see if you look at them carefully. Paul himself also took note of it, and used a word in verse 18 which, in the Greek language, signifies a return to a line of thought which has been interrupted. This is not indicated in the King James translation, where verse 18 is introduced with the word “therefore.” But Paul did not use the single word ara, which means “therefore.” He used the compound form, ara oun, which means “therefore, to return to my interrupted subject.” (Refer to any Greek-English lexicon.)

Phillip Schaff offers this comment: “The Apostle might have spared the commentators a great deal of trouble, if he had, according to the ordinary rules of composition, first stated the comparison in full, and then given the explanations and qualifications.” Quoted in Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, 529.

Having now made ourselves aware of Paul’s arrangement of his ideas, let us read the comparison in full, in verses 12, 18 and 19, passing by, for the moment, the explanations and qualifications in verses 13–17: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned . . . Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life; For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”

Let us make a list of the comparisons and contrasts between the accomplishments and influences of “The Two Ones,” who are obviously Adam and Christ:

One (Adam): One (Christ):

·Disobedience ·Obedience

·Sin ·Righteousness

·Condemnation ·Justification

·Death ·Life

·Many made sinners ·Many made righteous

Now we understand his comparison, so let us go back and examine the explanations and qualifications that Paul had put in verses 13–17. Verses 13 and 14 are an explanation of what he had said in verse 12: “and so death passed upon all men.”

Nothing else that he had said in verse 12 called for any explanation, but this did. How did death pass upon all men? How about the Gentiles, who had not had the law? Were they not exceptions? If not, why not?

Paul denies that they are exceptions, though conceding that they had not sinned “after the similitude of Adam’s transgression,” that is, not in defiance of a direct and specific command, such as God had given to Adam about the tree of good and evil. Nevertheless he holds them accountable for such light as they had, insisting that “death reigned from Adam to Moses,” even over the Gentiles who did not have the written law of Moses.

“For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression.” Romans 5:13, 14.

Paul is arguing that the Gentiles, even though they were not being held accountable for disobeying the laws of Moses, which they had not known, were nevertheless being held accountable in the manner that he had already described in Romans 2:14–16: “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves . . . their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.”

This is a reflection of the same truth that had been expressed by the Apostle John in John 1:9: “[Jesus] was the true light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”

Having thus explained in verses 13–14 what he had meant by the words, “death passed upon all men,” in verse 12, he moves on to state, in verse 15, a qualification of his comparison of “The Two Ones,” using the words “but not,” and “much more:” “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one, many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, had abounded unto many.”

The Grace of God

He recognizes that his comparison is lopsided, because the act of God in Christ is so much greater than the act of Adam, so he puts in this much more qualification, then follows it by another qualification of a similar nature in verses 16–17: “And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”

So the act of Adam and the act of Christ are not equal, even though both brought far-reaching results. The saving act of Christ far surpasses and transcends all other acts, and can only be compared with them if qualifications are stated. Having made this clear, he now returns to his comparison, and finishes it, in verses 18–19, which we have already examined.

The tragic act of Adam brought disobedience, sin, condemnation, death and the making of many sinners. The glorious act of Christ brought obedience, righteousness, justification, life, and the making of many righteous.

So where is the problem? How is this scripture being used as the cornerstone of a false theology?

First or the Second Death?

The problem is in the short phrase in verse 12: “and so death passed upon all men.”

Is this referring to the first death, or to the second death? We remember that the first death comes to all, as a result of Adam’s sin. We pause to reflect that others die as a result of Adam’s sin, not because they are responsible for it. Your cat, your dog, and your horse will all die as a result of Adam’s sin—not because they were responsible for it.

We remember that the second death is total annihilation. This creates a question: How could death pass from an annihilated person to other persons? Can annihilation be passed from one to another?

And in verse 15 Paul writes: “For if through the offence of one many be dead.”

Obviously these persons were already dead when Paul was writing, but had they been annihilated? No. And carrying this point a step further, Had Adam himself been annihilated? Again we must answer, No. If we choose to believe that the death referred to in Romans 5 is the second death of annihilation, we are confronted with insurmountable difficulties. How could an annihilated Adam pass on annihilation to others? Impossible.

Yet some theologians and some among us are arguing for that position. What shall we do when confronted with a problem like this? Go to the Spirit of Prophecy. That is what it is for. And if someone casts the senseless accusation at us, that we are putting Ellen White above the Bible, just look them in the eye and firmly set them straight. We are not putting Ellen White above the Bible, we are putting her above all earthly interpreters. We are saying that Ellen White had a better understanding of the Scriptures than anyone else since the Apostle Paul.

As quickly as we turn to her writings, we find that she understood clearly the difference between the first death and the second death, and that she understood which death Paul was referring to when he wrote in Romans 5:12 that “death passed upon all men.”

She discusses the matter on pages 533 and 544 of The Great Controversy. She quotes certain scriptures on page 544, including Romans 6:23: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” She then writes: “The death referred to in these scriptures is not that pronounced upon Adam, for all mankind suffer the penalty of his transgression. It is the ‘second death’ that is placed in contrast with everlasting life.”

That makes sense. It would hardly be sensible to place eternal life in contrast with the earthly, temporary death. To contrast eternal life with eternal death would be much more logical. Then she enlarges on the subject of the first death, and in a precise parallel with Romans 5:12 she writes: “In consequence of Adam’s sin, death passed upon the whole human race.”

Here she uses three of Paul’s words, “death passed upon.” On page 533, dealing with the same subject, the first death, she uses a longer quotation from Romans 5:12: “While ‘death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned,’ Christ ‘hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.’”

On page 544 she continues in the same vein, stating what happens after the first death: “In consequence of Adam’s sin, death passed upon the whole human race. All alike go down into the grave [the first death]. And through the provisions of the plan of salvation, all are to be brought forth from their graves. ‘There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust;’ (Acts 24:15) ‘for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.’ (1 Corinthians 15:22) But a distinction is made between the two classes that are brought forth. ‘All that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.’ (John 5:28, 29) They who have been ‘accounted worthy’ of the resurrection of life are ‘blessed and holy.’ ‘On such the second death hath no power.’ (Rev 20:6) But those who have not, through repentance, and faith, secured pardon, must receive the penalty of transgression,—‘the wages of sin.’ They suffer punishment varying in duration and intensity, ‘according to their works,’ but finally ending in the second death.”

So God’s inspired messenger answers our questions about Romans 5, and clears away our problems, just as she did in the early Bible conferences of our pioneers, and in countless other situations where divine insight was needed to protect God’s people from scriptural error. Now we know beyond question that the death described in Romans 5, that began with Adam and passed upon all men, is the first death, not the second death of annihilation.

What did not pass?

Another simple means of determining what passed from Adam to others is to pose the question, What did not pass from Adam to others? Ellen White, with crystal clear consistency, deals with this question in The Great Controversy, 533, 534: “Adam could not transfer to his posterity that which he did not possess . . . Had man after his fall been allowed free access to the tree of life, he would have lived forever, and thus sin would have been immortalized. But cherubim and a flaming sword ‘kept the way of the tree of life,’ (Genesis 3:24) and not one of the family of Adam has been permitted to pass that barrier and partake of the life-giving fruit. Therefore there is not an immortal sinner.”

A prominent Seventh-day Adventist theologian, one of those who were trying to introduce the falsehoods of Calvinism into Adventism, once challenged me with the question: If guilt is not passed from Adam to his children, why do babies die? He obviously was not familiar with the above passages from the scriptures and the Spirit of Prophecy, or else just did not accept them.

Beyond Belief

It is even so today. Those who refuse to permit God’s chosen messenger to correct their thinking, and protect them from misunderstanding the scriptures, go blindly on, stumbling from one error to another, blundering in the darkness of their own presumed wisdom. An outstanding example may be seen in the recent book, Beyond Belief, by Jack Sequeira. In a chapter entitled The Two Adams—Romans 5, he argues most strenuously for six and a third pages that the death referred to in Romans 5 is the second death. Thus he firmly rejects the Spirit of Prophecy, placing his own judgment above the light that has come to us from God, and uses this as a foundation pillar in a fearfully false theology.

Substitutionary Atonement

Sequiera’s false theology is built upon three main pillars. The first pillar is his misuse of Romans 5, as already noted. The second pillar is a rejection of the substitutionary atonement, which we will consider next. The third is a total rewriting of the gospel into the incomprehensible gibberish of metaphysical language. But before I share with you anything from this book, I must caution you that the book abounds in inglorious self-contradictions. Whatever you read from it to a friend, you must be prepared to have the friend say, “Oh no, that is the opposite of what he believes,” and then actually read to you, from a different page, the exact opposite of what you read. We will have reason to note this as we go along.

Sequeira’s false theology’s rejection of the substitutionary atonement, the great truth that Christ took our punishment and died for our sins, is found on pages 39–49 of his book, Beyond Belief. There we find the following remarkable statements, attributed to Catholic scholars (but with no documentation):

“No law allows one person to assume the guilt or punishment of another. Righteousness cannot be passed from one person to another.” Beyond Belief, 39.

“It is a fundamental principle of all law, God’s or man’s, that guilt or punishment cannot be transferred from the guilty to the innocent, nor can the righteousness of one person be legally transferred to another.” Ibid., 40.

“No law of God or man will allow guilt or righteousness to be transferred from one person to another . . . Law simply will not allow sin to be transferred from the guilty to the innocent.” Ibid., 42.

What then of the following scripture?

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all . . . he shall bear their iniquities . . . he bare the sin of many.” Isaiah 53:5, 6, 11, 12.

I just made a quick scan of the writings of Paul, and counted sixteen references saying that Christ died for us. Are these all in error? And what of the sanctuary service, which is entirely built around the concept of a transfer of sin and guilt from the sinner to a sin bearer, a substitutionary atonement? Is this all nonsense? I have just counted seventeen references in the Spirit of Prophecy which use the word transfer in describing how our guilt is laid on Jesus, and His righteousness is credited to us. Here is a sample:

“The iniquity is transferred to the innocent, the pure, the holy Son of God; and man, all undeserving, stands before the Lord cleansed from all unrighteousness, and clothed with the imputed righteousness of Christ.” Bible Commentary, vol. 4, 1178.

In my CD-ROM I found more than five hundred passages where Ellen White uses the word substitute in a similar manner. She firmly believed in the substitutionary atonement, that Christ took our punishment and died for our sins. Sequeira with equal firmness denies this, except as the word substitution is defined by himself as something other than substitution. See page 48, where he contradicts himself in a single paragraph. In a similar self-contradiction, he refers to Jesus as our sin-bearer, after redefining the term as something other than sin-bearing. (See pages 14, 124, 131, et. al.)

We have now noted two of the basic principles, the foundations, or pillars, upon which Sequeira’s false theology is based: the misuse of Romans 5 and the denial of the substitutionary atonement. We have noted that he contradicts himself in regard to the substitutionary atonement. He also contradicts himself in regard to the second death, advancing the argument that Romans 5 applies to both the first and the second death.

Metaphysical Gibberish

There is a third principle of his false theology which is made necessary by these two. This third basic principle is a virtual rewriting of the plan of salvation into the incomprehensible gibberish of metaphysical language. (Metaphysical means part physical and part nonphysical.) Consider these examples:

“All three aspects of our salvation—justification, sanctification, and glorification—have already been accomplished in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ibid., 30. (Then why are we still here? Glorified persons are in the kingdom of God.)

“All mankind, as a corporate unit, participated in Adam’s fall.” Ibid., 36. (Jesus, according to Sequeira, was a part of corporate humanity. Did Jesus participate in Adam’s fall?)

“In Him we lived a perfect life. . .” Ibid., 43. (Before we were born?)

“In Him we died the penalty for sin.” Ibid., 43. (Were we our own saviors?)

“All humanity corporately obeyed the law in one Man, Jesus Christ.” Ibid., 48. (Then why are they called sinners?)

“Every baby is born subjectively under the reign of sin, condemnation, and death because of Adam’s fall.” Ibid., 61. (What happens if they die soon after birth? And what about the baby Jesus?)

“Our eternal destiny depends on which humanity we have chosen.” Ibid., 62. (Are there two humanities, and do we have a choice?)

“Thus the life we receive at birth is a life that has sinned.” Ibid., 63. (Is this reincarnation?)

“On the cross, Christ actually experienced the second death on behalf of fallen humanity.” Ibid., 75. (This statement is not qualified, so it must include annihilation. Did Jesus experience annihilation? Ellen White indicates that Jesus did in a certain manner experience the anguish of the second death (See The Desire of Ages, chapter 74.) but she does not introduce that concept into Romans 5.)

“The whole human race, which originated in the first Adam, died in Christ, the last Adam.” Ibid., 86. (But there are still seven billion of us here.)

“God will never help the flesh to be good, because the flesh is Satan’s domain, and unalterably opposed to God.” Ibid., 94. (What about the flesh of Jesus? For the shocking answer, read on.)

“Christ’s flesh, being our corporate sinful flesh, lusted after sin.” Ibid., 147. (Is that clear enough? Ellen White says that the flesh, of itself, cannot sin. Adventist Home, 127.)

“A believer is no longer under the law’s authority.” Ibid., 164. ( Then how can we sin? and what about James 2:12: “So speak ye and so do as they who shall be judged by the law of liberty?”)

“I believe the Bible teaches that God actually and unconditionally saved all humanity at the cross.” Ibid., 8. (But the conditions are stated in the next sentence.)

We could go on, but is it necessary? In a statement that is exceptional for its accuracy, Sequeira writes in his preface: “This book presents the plan of salvation in a new light and, therefore, will require the reader to put aside all preconceived ideas in order to appreciate its message.” Ibid., 7. (It will also be helpful to put aside your reasoning faculties. This is tacitly conceded on page 8.)

“In studying the truth of the gospel, you will discover much that contradicts human reasoning.” Ibid., 8. (This is emphatically true of Sequeira’s gospel, but not of the true gospel.)

If one should put one or more of these questions directly to Sequeira, as I have done, there will be an immediate and fluent answer, but the answer will be just as incomprehensible as the statements themselves. We are reminded of Ellen White’s response to persons who asked her to explain the writings of John Harvey Kellogg in his pantheistic book, The Living Temple. They cannot be explained, she said. They are unexplainable. All in all, Sequeira’s book is a tragic conglomeration of false reasoning, contradictions of scripture, contradictions of the Spirit of Prophecy, and even contradictions of itself. What is strongly affirmed on one page is with equal firmness denied on another. The book appears to be bringing about a striking fulfillment of the solemn warning by Ellen White: “God will arouse His people. If other means fail, heresies will come in among them, separating the chaff from the wheat.” Testimonies to the Church, vol. 5, 707.

The heresies are here, pouring forth from our publishing houses and being preached from the pulpits of our churches. How can we hope to analyze them all and decipher their incomprehensible mysteries? Here is a practical suggestion. Don’t bother with the intricate arguments, the convoluted concepts, the false reasoning. Just look at the bottom line. If the bottom line tells you that you don’t need to stop sinning, that is all that you need to know. Throw the book away, even if other pages tell you that you should stop sinning, and do not pollute your mind with its mixture of truth with falsehood. Then fortify your soul by drinking from the pure fountains that flow from the throne of God, the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. Here are the strong towers in which we may find safety. May God be with you.

The End

A Manner of Madness, The Lack of a Love for Truth

by

“They received not the love of the truth , that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” II Thessalonians 2: 7-8.

Madness (to use the older term) comes in many ways. We hear of phobias, fixations, obsessions, delusions, and other mental disorders without number. From Alzheimer’s disease to schizophrenia, they have been analyzed, classified, and treated, until there is quite a body of literature on the subject. We learn that some mental impairments are caused by physical problems, such as birth defects or brain injuries. Others are to some degree self-inflicted through the use of liquor or drugs. Others seem to be an outgrowth of dire living situations or experiences.

In our previous article we learned about the hideous monster-god of Calvinism who ordains, decrees, creates and supervises every thought, impulse, and action of all persons on earth, whether they be good or whether they be evil. We felt inclined to agree with John Wesley, who said of the Calvinistic theologians of his day, that they made God worse than Satan. We also learned that Satan has endeavored to clothe God with his own attributes by making false accusations against Him, and that the centerpiece of those false accusations was the allegation that God had given a law that His subjects could not obey. He hoped by this means to convince the universe that God is arbitrary, cruel, harsh, unforgiving, etc.

We were required to recognize that Satan’s accusation, that God has given a law that His subjects cannot obey, is now being taught as truth at our theological seminary, in our colleges, and in many of our churches throughout the land. This is astonishing, and the methods by which this was brought about are even more astonishing. They remind us of our text, and of some sobering statements by Ellen White. From these we learn that there is a particular and peculiar manner of madness that begins with having no love for the truth and ends with an inability to distinguish truth from error. It seems that a dislike for the truth can cause God to withdraw His protection, and then Satan moves in upon the mind with all of his mighty power, bringing serious mental derangement. Consider this evidence:

“Light rejected becomes, to the rejector, blacker than the darkness of midnight.” Review and Herald, June 3, 1902.

It must have been this principle that caused Isaiah to write: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.” Isaiah 5:20.

Could it be that they were afflicted by this peculiar form of madness? We read of some of the leaders of Israel: “By rejection of evidence they lost their spiritual insight, and could not discern between good and evil, between truth and error, between light and darkness.” Review and Herald, May 18, 1893.

Ellen White comments further: “The mind that cherishes sentiments that tend to destroy faith in the foundation that has made us what we are, becomes confused, and cannot discern between truth and error.” Bible Training School, March 1, 1915.

“He who deliberately stifles his conviction of duty because it interferes with his inclinations will finally lose the power to distinguish between truth and error.” Great Controversy, 378.
This would surely be a tragic condition. It must be a recognition of this principle that caused Ellen White to write: “I question whether genuine rebellion is ever curable.” The Australian Years, 286.

Before anyone can be helped in spiritual matters, there must be a sense of need. God has promised that “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine.” John 7:17. But how can God help the one who simply does not want to do His will? The truth has been made known to him but it is not welcome. He wishes that it were not so. This is the beginning of what ends in a terrible mental problem, a madness that is defined as an inability to distingish truth from error.

It happened to some Jewish leaders. It has happened to some of our leaders. Remember the Kellogg tragedy? Dr. John Harvey Kellogg had one of the most brilliant minds among us, but he became enamored with the ancient falsehood of pantheism. A. G. Daniells, who had worked in India, and knew pantheism when he saw it, tried hard to help Kellogg, but found that he could not reach him. Kellogg had developd a distaste for the Spirit of Prophecy, and he had clearly lost the ability to distinguish between truth and error. It happened to other leaders as well, calling forth from Ellen White in 1901 the anguished question:

“Are there men at the heart of the work men who cannot distinguish between truth and error?” Mind, Character, and Personality, 717.

It could even happen to a General Conference president. Elder G.I. Butler wrote and published in the Review an article arguing that there are different degrees of inspiration, an idea that is sometimes advanced in our time. It was also being taught in Battle Creek college. This called forth from Ellen White: “Have God’s people put out their eyes, that they cannot distinguish between the sacred and profane?” 1888 Materials, 258.

She was referring to a General Conference president. And she was referring to another when she wrote of president O. A. Olsen: “When Elder Olsen linked himself with these men, he perverted his spiritual eyesight, and saw things in a strange light . . . His clear discernment between right and wrong has become injured.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 17, 182.

What does all of this say to us? It tells us with unmistakable clarity that among all of the other kinds of mental impairment that afflict men’s minds, there is a particular, peculiar form of madness that begins with “They received not the love of the truth,” and ends with “They cannot distinguish between truth and falsehood.” Brilliance of intellect is no defense against it, nor is power, position, or higher education. It can strike in any place where truth is known but not appreciated. Lack of protection from God leaves the individual alone to contest the massive intellectual powers of Satan, which have never been equalled or even approximated by the greatest intellectual powers of any man.

This type of madness can be quite specific. It does not mean that the individual becomes unable to function normally in other ways. But in spiritual matters, dealing with the eternal truth of God, his behaviour will be erratic, bizarre, and wildly out of harmony with reality. He may set forth ridiculously false propositions, and steadfastly maintain that they are true. He may even try to rewrite the facts of history to make them fit his theories, make false statements about the Bible or the Spirit of Prophecy, or even re-write the Spirit of Prophecy.

While doing these strange things, he may appear to be earnest and sincere, since he actually does not know when he is telling the truth and when he is not telling the truth. He may set forth ludicrous self-contradictions in his written materials, apparently having no awareness at all of what he has done. And perhaps most astonishing of all, he will publish his ridiculous misrepresentations of fact and sign his name to them, seemingly unconcerned that his distortions of fact, self-contradictions and untruths will eventually be uncovered and exposed. This is probably one of the more dependable means of identifying such a mental problem. Men in their right minds who set out to deliberately deceive us would doubtless be more careful to employ disguises of various kinds, in order to avoid being caught in their misrepresentations. These poor people seem to manifest no such caution or concern.

This should help us to understand our present situation in the Seventh-day Adventist church. For quite a few years now we having been gazing in dumfounded astonishment at the things that are being said, written and done by some of our church leaders. We have found it unbelievable, yet undeniable. Utterly horrendous misrepresentations of fact have been issuing from our Seventh-day Adventist publishing houses and appearing in our church papers for several years. Protests have been utterly fruitless.

I have personally made a supreme effort to call the attention of our church leaders to some of the worst misrepresentations that have appeared. During the years 1981–1986 I engaged in careful and thorough research in our historical records, and found 1200 statements by our pioneers and church leaders to reaffirm that our Lord had come to this earth in the human nature of fallen man. Of these statements, 400 had been published by Ellen White. This was in startling contrast to the claim, made in the book Questions On Doctrine, that our church had never believed such a thing.

In 1986 I presented my findings in manuscript form to both of our major publishing houses. Both refused to print it. So I published it at my own expense, and then sent free copies of it to all of our church adminstrators in North America. This included one hundred Genaral Conference officers, and the three leading officers in every Union and local conference in this division. I also sent free copies to every minister in Australia and New Zealand.

In the book I offered a reward of $1000.00 to any person who could produce from Ellen Whites’s writings a single statement that Christ had come in the human nature of the unfallen Adam, as was claimed to be her teaching in the book Questions On Doctrine. This offer was met with a thunderous, ear-shattering silence. It soon became clear that there was a firm determination to simply “stonewall” the facts and defend the falsehood.

Conditions have not improved since then. It is now 1996. On every side we see ominous indications of the approaching end. Departures from the truth are becoming worse and worse, and books containing glaring falsehoods are continuing to roll off the presses. Meanwhile the efforts of church leaders are being exerted only to silence the voices that are calling for fidelity to the truth. We can no longer realistically hope for any kind of reform, and so silence is no longer appropriate. You need to know, and you have a right to know, what is being done in our church in defiance of the truth, and by whom.

I will therefore place before you a list of five names. All of these persons have Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Three of them have been seminary professors, and two have been college teachers. They have all written books in defense of Calvinistic falsehood. These books have been printed in our denominational publishing houses, and sold in our Adventist Book Centers. The names are Dr. Leroy Edwin Froom, Dr. Edward Heppenstall, Dr. Desmond Ford, Dr.Helmut Ott, and Dr. Roy Adams.

As I said, they have all written books in defense of Calvinistic falsehood. What I shall share with you today, therefore, is in no sense of the word rumor or hearsay. It is a matter of record. I am personally convinced that these authors and publications fit the inspired description of that peculiar mental problem that begins with “They received not the love of the truth,” and ends with “They are not able to distinguish between truth and error, right and wrong, light and darkness.” I invite you to draw your own conclusions.

Dr. Leroy Edwin Froom was the leader in the ill-fated dialogues with Walter Martin and his Calvinistic colleagues in the 1950s. He put together the materials for the book, Questions On Doctrine, and followed with another volume called Movement of Destiny. His particular style is the “quotation wrap-around,” in which he writes long sentences with his own words, and includes in them tiny snippets of quotations from the writings of Ellen White, sometimes as small as two or three words. He who traces these small snippets to their sources, and examines their context, will experience a series of shocks. We submit an example.

On page 497 of Movement of Destiny Dr. Froom presents a paragraph on the human nature of Christ over which he places this heading: Took Sinless Nature Before the Fall

Beneath this heading he arranges a series of brief quotations from Ellen White, including this line:

“He did not in the least participate in its sin.”

If you look at those two lines for a moment, you will surely have some questions. What sin was there in the sinless nature of Adam before his fall that Christ might have participated in? None whatever. There was no sin of any kind in Adam before his fall. Why, then, did Ellen White write a senseless statement like that? What was the matter with Ellen White? Deeply perplexed, we go to the source, and discover that as Ellen White wrote it, the statement actually looked like this:

In taking upon Himself man’s nature in its fallen condition, Christ did not in the least participate in its sin.” Signs of the Times, June 9, 1898. (Emphasis supplied)

We gaze at this in disbelief. This is the ultimate violation of context. The writer has been represented as having said the exact opposite of what she actually did say. This was done by a scholar with a Doctor of Philosophy degree, a seminary professor. And this is not an isolated example. It is typical. In my book, The Word Was Made Flesh, I devote 33 pages to exposing, point by point, the wrongful manipulations of evidence in the paragraph presented by Dr. Froom. I also present conclusive evidence that the statement given to Walter Martin, that our church had never believed that Christ came to earth in the human nature of fallen man, was a methodological monstrosity and a historical fraud. And Dr. Froom put this out over his own signature. How could it happen?

Did not Ellen White tell us how it could happen? I am convinced that she did.

Dr. Edward Heppenstall served for many years as chairman of the Systematic Theology department of our theological seminary at Andrews University. He wrote several books in defense of Calvinistic falsehoods. His specialty was self contradiction, sometimes between two different books, and sometimes within a single book.

Contradictions between two different books.

In 1975 Southern Publishing Association published a book called Perfection, The Impossible Possibility. Dr. Heppenstall wrote a section in it. In this section there are twenty-one statements that it is impossible, even by the power of God, for Christians to stop sinning. Here is a sample:

“The Bible rejects every possibility of our reaching sinless perfection in this life.” Ibid., 73.

In 1974 The Review and Herald Publishing Association had published a book written entirely by Dr. Heppenstall entitled, Salvation Unlimited. In this book there are fifteen firm statements that it is possible, by the power of God, for Christians to stop sinning. Here is a sample:

“We need to commit ourselves to that love from God and from His Son that issues in our deliverance from all that is sinful. Let us give full scope to His incomparable love and law in our lives. The power of the Holy Spirit within us is sufficient to make us like Him, to keep His commandments, and to know Him whom to know is life eternal.” Ibid., 236.

Contradictions within a single book.

In 1977 the Review and Herald published the book, The Man Who Is God, written entirely by Dr. Heppenstall. In this volume Dr. Heppenstall lays caution aside and goes all out in defense of Calvinistic falsehoods. And he repeatedly contradicts himself. If we present a series of questions related to his subject matter to this book, we are confronted by a bewildering array of self-contradictory answers.

1. Was Christ conceived as all men are? Yes, page 60. No, page 135.

2. Was Christ born as all men are? Yes, pages 24, 25, 125. No, pages 126, 135.

3. Was Christ born with the same flesh and blood that we have? Yes, pages 36, 86, 91, 136. No, page 137.

4. Is sin a thing of the flesh? Yes, page 137. No, page 138.

5. Did Christ have advantages in meeting temptation that we do not have? Yes, pages 132-133. No, pages 86, 90-91.

6. Was Christ born into the same state or condition that we are? Yes, pages 24, 91, 98. No, pages 126, 129, 132-133.

7. Is this state or condition into which all men are born actually guilt? Yes, page 146. No, page 121.

8. Did Christ take human nature as it was before Adam’s fall? Yes, page 155. No, page 121.

9. Is Christian character perfection possible? Yes, pages 120, 125, 166. No, page 147.

10. Is original sin a matter of man’s nature? Yes, pages 108, 118, 132, 135. No, pages 107, 109, 122.

Three times I have heard Dr. Heppenstall make the statement, “We must not let Ellen White veto the scriptures.” I submit that when a man publishes a book exalting Calvinistic falsehoods, containing incredible self-contradictions, then accuses Ellen White of vetoing the scriptures because she disagrees with him, that he is not a well man. He has the affliction that Ellen White and the Apostle Paul have described for us. He has lost the ability to distinguish between truth and error.

Dr. Desmond Ford taught at Avondale College and Pacific Union College. On October 27, 1979, he made a public attack on the sanctuary doctrine. I was one of those who were asked to analyze his arguments and send a written report to the General Conference. The first thing that I noticed was that he now admitted that he had been disbelieving the sanctuary doctrine for many years, although he had firmly denied this when others had suspected it of him. I discovered, as I went through his presentation, that his particular specialty was the employment of artificial, manufactured, falsified evidence. He made false statements about the Scriptures, the Spirit of Prophecy, and other sources as well. I counted twenty-six arguments against the sanctuary doctrine in his presentation. Of these, I reckoned twenty–three to be totally fictitious, and the other three to be half truths. I was reminded that when a half truth is presented as if it were an entire truth, it can have the effect of an untruth.

Dr. Ford alleged that: The word “cleanse” is not in Daniel 8:14 and Leviticus 16 in Hebrew, (it is); that modern translations do not use “cleanse,” (some do); that in his own commentary he refused to relate Daniel 8:14 to Leviticus 16, (he did not see his Daniel, p. 175); that most versions translate Hebrews 9:12 as “most holy place,” (they do not); that bulls and goats were sacrificed only on the day of atonement, (they were not, see Leviticus 4); that the high priest had no distinctive work in the holy place, (he did, see Exodus 30:7 and Hebrews 7:26-27); that Adventists invented the concept of a movable throne, (we did not, see Daniel 7:9-10, Revelation 4:2-3, and Ezekiel 1); that Ellen White said the day of atonement began in 31 AD, (she did not, see Great Controversy, 409, Patriarchs and Prophets, 350, and Early Writings, 251); that she made double applications of the earthquake prophecies in Revelation, (she did not, see Great Controversy, 304 and 637). Other problems were as grievous as these, but are too technical for this paper.

A man who does things like this is either being deliberately dishonest, which I do not want to believe, or he suffers from the affliction described by Ellen White and the Apostle Paul—he has lost the ability to distinguish between truth and untruth. He apparently believes his own fictions to be true.

Dr. Helmut Ott teaches at Southern College. In 1987 he published a book called Perfect In Christ. It would be better entitled Sinning In Satan. The purpose of the book is to prove that Ellen White taught that overcoming sin in this life is impossible, and that God does not expect that of us. He maintains that this is the correct understanding of Ellen White’s writings. Inasmuch as she had written the opposite not less than 4500 times, his project required some enormous distortion, twisting, and misrepresentation of her words, as well as of the Scriptures. Here is a sample of Dr. Ott’s work, in reference to the robe of Christ’s righteousness:

“Clothing is never an integral part of those wearing it. It is some-thing that is put upon someone, an outward cover intended to make a person look appropriate.” Ibid., 22.

Compare Revelation 19:7-8: “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”

But now let us permit Ellen White to speak for herself: “The wedding garment represents the character which all must possess who shall be accounted fit guests for the wedding.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 307.

“By the wedding garment in the parable is represented the pure, spotless character which Christ’s true followers will possess.” Christ Object Lessons, 310.

“By His perfect obedience He has made it possible for every human being to obey God’s commandments. When we submit ourselves to Christ, the heart is united to His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him; we live His life. This is what it means to be clothed in the garment of His righteousness.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 312. (Emphasis supplied)

And the other side of the picture is this: “The righteousness of Christ will not cover one cherished sin.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 316.

We tremble for those who read and believe Dr. Ott’s book and continue sinning, confident that they will be covered by the robe of Christ’s righteousness. We tremble even more for Dr. Ott. How well Ellen White wrote: “Religious teachers have led souls to perdition, while professing to guide them to the gates of Paradise.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 640.

Dr. Roy Adams has taught at the theological seminary of the Far East, where I once taught, and is now an associate editor of the Review. In 1994 he published a book entitled The Nature Of Christ. It is the most wildly erratic and irresponsible of the books that we have examined. In his attempts to exalt and defend the falsehoods of Calvinism, he literally stops at nothing. He rewrites portions of the history of our church into pure fiction,and even dares to rewrite the words of Ellen White, to make them serve the purposes of Calvinistic falsehoods. He grossly misrepresents the views of those who are trying to be faithful to the Adventist faith, reviles them, and makes wildly false accusations. And his book is highly reccomended to us by the president of the General Conference, Robert Folkenberg.

The spirit in which Dr. Adams writes is well demonstrated by his reviling. He applies these words to us: Sour, festering, self-appointed, infected with the virus of judgmentalism and suspicion, disease, martyr complex, seasoned controversialists, spirit of accusation, outraged, aghast, scandalized, pathetic, self confessed expert, misguided, wrongheaded, steeped in their cherished position, impenetrable to any theological logic, irresponsible, almost dishonest, deluded self-appointed gurus, disgruntled, pious self-appointed prophets, turncoats, charlatans and scoundrels. He applies these descriptive terms to our reasoning: Mumblings, innuendos, broken faith with the church, specious theology, perfection-istic agitation, petty, picayune, disgusting, speciousness, repetitive, exasperating, subtle spin, overblown, vacuousness, subtle legalism, anger, irritation, anger to new heights, radical articulation, fuss, ingenious theological gymnastics, willfulness, mischief, dishonesty, far-fetched explanations, artificial and contrived, totally fabricated, thoughtlessly, narrow, shallow, facile admonitions, simplistic pietism, shrill, provincial, manipulative, like Jim Jones and David Koresh, dogmatism, trap of perfectionistic legalism, frustration, heated, quoted piously, specious reasoning, vehement, inordinate insistence, maliciously accusing, sharpened tongues, navel-gazing, and self flagellation.

The crescendo of vituperation reaches its climax in a viciously false accusation against Robert Wieland and Donald Short: “Look at the Middle East today. (There was war there.) Look at Northern Ireland. Look at Yugoslavia. Look at Sudan. Yet this is what people like Wieland and Short wish on us.” Ibid., 106.

This is too contemptible to deserve comment, but it may well remind us of Ellen White’s prediction that when apostasy in our church has reached its climax, our greatest enemies will be the false brethren who once walked among us. And what is the crime that we have committed, that has called forth such venomous language? Simply that we want to remain faithful to Adventism, and not change our faith to Calvinism. Visualize a court scene in which faithful Seventh-day Adventists are being put on trial for their faith. The prosecuting attorney calls Dr. Adams to the witness stand. Need we question what hatred and false accusations will pour forth from his lips?

We have said that Dr. Adams even presumes to rewrite Ellen White’s words in order to make them serve the purposes of Calvinism. He was displeased by the following statement by Ellen White in Christ’s Object Lessons, 69.

“When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as his own.”

Dr. Adams “rephrased” it like this: “When the spirit of unselfish love and labor for others will have fully ripened in the character of His people, then He will come to claim them as His own.”

The words “character of Christ” have been removed, and the words “spirit of unselfish love and labor for others” have been put in their place. Why? Is there something wrong with the character of Christ being reproduced in His people? And what of the thousands of other references in Ellen White’s writings that testify to character perfection by the power of God? Will Dr. Adams undertake to rewrite them all? Do we need to have the Spirit of Prophecy rewritten for us? And is Dr. Adams qualified to rewrite the Spirit of Prophecy? What do you think?

Dr. Adams writes on page 120 of his book: “The people I most admire—whether within the Adventist church or out of it . . . are those who never dwell on the subject of perfection or sinlessness.”

That clearly excludes Ellen White. And it forcefully reminds us of that strange manner of madness, that mental impairment, that is described for us by Ellen White and by the Apostle Paul, the madness that begins with “They received not the love of the truth,” and ends with “They are unable to distinguish between truth and error, right and wrong, light and darkness.”

We are clearly approaching the long awaited crisis in Seventh-day Adventist history. We observe that the hatred toward the truth manifested by these afflicted persons grows more intense as they go along. We cannot doubt that there will be more. We must prepare ourselves to encounter worse manipulation of evidence, more ludicrous self-contradictions, more brazen falsifications of evidence, greater violence to the Spirit of Prophecy, and more viciously and maliciously false accusations.

Under these circumstances, it is imperative that we take a clear-eyed look at the situation. Let us not deceive ourselves that these strange actions are only human error. They go far, far beyond that definition. Men who do things like this are either dishonest persons who are deliberately trying to deceive us, or they are suffering from the self-induced mental impairment, the manner of madness, that the inspired writers have warned us about. We have to believe one or the other, and neither is a happy choice. Whichever view is correct, the result is certain to be some very difficult times ahead of us. Only in the power of God and by the grace of God can we hope to survive.

“The prudent man foreseeth the evil.” Proverbs 27:12.

Th evil looms largely and clearly ahead of us. How imperative then that we know the truth, love the truth, and learn to trust God even in the most forbidding circumstances. We must learn to “put not your trust in princes.” We must not follow a multitude to do evil, and we must never let ourselves lose sight of the final result of this great conflict. The truth will ultimately triumph, and triumph gloriously. We must triumph with it. May God bless you.

The End

The Hellish Torch of Satan

by

Author’s introductory note: I have spent much time thinking about how to make the material unmistakably clear, and how to avoid giving shocks that the reader could not endure. There has been a need for a comprehensive statement of the grim realities of Calvinistic theology in a simple and concise form, so that our people could gain an understanding of the real nature of the issues between Calvinism and Adventism without reading a large number of books.

The book The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination by Lorraine Boettner was written as a defense of the doctrines of Calvinism with statements from recognized leaders in Calvinistic thought. The author has granted permission to anyone to make use of the materials he gathered.

All statements by Boettner himself, that appear in this article, are identified by the letter “B” and a page number. Statements by other theologians that are quoted in his book are identified by that theologian’s name, plus a “B” and a page number indicating the place in Boettner’s book where the statement is found. All emphasis is mine.

Without making any comparisons between Seventh-day Adventist theology and Calvinistic theology we will limit ourselves to taking a clear hard look at the central pillars of Calvinistic theology. Prepare yourself for a series of shocks. May the righteous God add His blessing to this attempt to defend His character and honor His Name.

– Ralph Larson

What is the hellish torch of Satan? How can we recognize it, and how can we recognize the torches of false prophecy that are kindled from it? This is surely an urgent need, and fortunately we need not be in doubt. An abundance of information has been supplied to us. What could be more hellish than to ascribe to a righteous and holy God the very attributes of Satan? Nothing, of course. That would be the supreme evil, which nothing could possibly surpass. But has such a thing happened? Indeed it has. Satan’s hellish torch has been set before us with unmistakable clarity, both in the inspired writings, and in the bold and brazen declarations of those who are holding the hellish torch aloft.

As our first package of evidence, our first unit of thought, we ask you to consider what Ellen White has to say about Satan’s attempt to create a rebellion that would drive God from His throne. Madness? Yes—but this entire article is about madness.

“Satan’s method of misrepresenting the character of God is to attribute to Him his own characteristics.” 1888 Materials, 1062.

“Satan has misrepresented the character of God. Our good and gracious Lord has been presented before the people clothed with the attributes of Satan.” 1888 Materials, 386.

By whom has this been done? Who has presented God in this manner to the people? Not Satan himself. He does not preach to the people personally—he has to use human agents. Who have these human agents been? Please be patient. The answer will become clear as we go along.

“Satan has misrepresented the character of God. He has clothed Him with his own attributes. He has represented Him as a being of inflexible sternness.” Signs of the Times, April 15, 1889.

“The Creator has been presented to [men’s] minds as clothed with the attributes of the prince of evil himself—as arbitrary, severe, and unforgiving—that He might be feared, shunned, and even hated by men.” In Heavenly Places, 8.

“The cruelty inherent in [Satan’s] own character is attributed to the Creator; it is embodied in systems of religion.” Great Controversy, 569.

“Satan had declared that God knew nothing of self-denial, of mercy, of love, but that He was stern, exacting, and unforgiving.” Review and Herald, March 9, 1897.

“By the same misrepresentation of the character of God as he had practiced in heaven, causing Him to be regarded as severe and tyrannical, Satan induced man to sin.” Great Controversy, 500.

So Satan has represented God as a Satanic god who is:

· Arbitrary

· Severe

· Tyrannical

· Cruel

· Exacting

· Unforgiving

· Stern

· Knowing nothing of self-denial, mercy, or love.

All of these are the attributes of Satan himself! But these are only accusations. How could Satan prove them? What evidence could he set forth in support of these accusations against God? Again we ask you to be patient. This question will be clearly answered before we are through. But we must recognize that some have already accepted as true these accusations against God, because these horrible teachings are described as having been “embodied in systems of religion.” Can it be true? Could there actually be churches that have accepted as true, Satan’s accusations against God, that He is arbitrary, cruel, unforgiving, tyrannical, and so on? Keep those words in mind as we go on to our next package of evidence, our next unit of thought. This will consist of a series of statements from Calvinistic theologians about the arbitrary decrees of the God whom they worship. (Arbitrary means for no reason other than one’s own will.)

The Satanic God of Calvinism

All things happen because he makes them happen.

1. “God did from eternity . . . ordain whatever comes to pass.” Westminster Confession, B, 13.

2. “He hath foreordained whatever comes to pass.” The Shorter Catechism, B, 17. (To ordain something means to order it. This is not at all the same as to permit. That which is ordained is ordered and established as an act of one’s will. Notice the all-inclusive language as we go on.)

3. “Nothing can come to pass apart from His sovereign will.” B, 30.

4. “Nothing can come to pass contrary to what He expressly decrees.” B, 14.

5. “God has an eternal plan in which is predetermined every event that comes to pass.” B, 23.

6. “His decree . . . extends . . . to every event in human history.” B, 13.

7. “All things, without exception, indeed, are disposed by Him.” B, 31. (You are probably already gasping and thinking, ” Surely this means only good things,” but this is not the case. It includes bad things as well.)

8. “He gives peace and fruitful seasons, prosperity and happiness, or He sends the desolations of war, famine, drought, and pestilence.” B, 37.

Is this staggering? It should be. The Satanic god of Calvinism orders, ordains, foreordains, decrees, expressly decrees, and predetermines everything that happens, whether it be good or whether it be evil. As we struggle to comprehend the enormity of these statements, let us remember that these words express the desire, the intention, the purpose, the will of the Calvinistic god. It is not that he permits or allows them. They happen because he wants them to happen and makes them happen.

And what has he wanted to happen? Everything that has happened. Satan’s rebellion in heaven. All of the wars that have brought death to hundreds of millions. All of the plagues that have devastated nations. All of the religious persecutions with their torturing of innocent people. All of the floods. All of the earthquakes. All of the hurricanes and typhoons. All of the famines. The slaughter of several million Jews in Europe. All of the world’s false religions. All of the human sacrifices of paganism. All of the vices in all of the world. All of the crime in all of the world. He wanted them all to happen and ordered them all to happen. The above listings are not just words. They are unspeakably gruesome experiences, such as people being herded into a deep trench, machine gunned, and then buried by a bulldozer; people standing in line to be hanged and then burned in a gas oven, people being stretched on the rack, burned at the stake, fed to wild animals in the Roman arena, and so on. And as we think about these horrifying things, we must remember that according to the Calvinistic doctrines that we have just read, each individual incident of torture was ordained and decreed by the Satanic god of Calvinism.

Does this mean that every individual robbery, every kidnapping, every murder, every rape, every fraud, every deception, every lie, every broken promise, every ruined marriage,—each was individually caused to happen by the Satanic god of Calvinism? That is precisely what it means.

We do not Overstate the Case

In our next package of evidence, our next unit of thought, we will see that the Satanic god of Calvinism is not content with causing huge catastrophes that bring suffering and death to millions. He also personally supervises every individual crime on earth. His attention is given to creating suffering on the smallest scale as well as on the largest scale.

“The foreordination of God extending to all events both great and small.” B, 17.

10. “God is seen as the great and mighty King who . . . directs the course of history even down to its minutest details.” B, 13.

11. “A divine ordering of the whole course of history to the veriest detail.” B, 14.

12. “History in all its details, even the most minute, is but the unfolding of the eternal purposes of God.” B, 25.

13. “God’s providential control extends to all events, even the most minute.” B, 21.

14. “Minute enough to concern itself with the smallest details . . . nothing, however small, however strange, occurs without His ordering.” Warfield, B, 23.

15. “His all-wise providence hath before appointed what bough (the sparrow) shall perch upon; what grains it shall pick up; where it shall lodge and where it shall build; on what it shall live and where it shall die.” Toplady, B, 37.

So this Calvinistic god orders, directs, purposes, and controls every human action, whether it be good or whether it be evil. We remind the reader again that this is not permission. He does not just permit these things to happen. He makes them happen. Human beings perform incredibly cruel, vile, and evil actions because this god wants them to, and orders them to. They have no choice. They must do what he ordains, commands, and controls. We have been reading thus far about human actions, but the picture of the Calvinistic god is not yet complete. His will controls the inner being as well as the outer being. This will be our next package of evidence, our next unit of thought. According to Calvinistic doctrines:

He Controls all Thoughts, Feelings and Impulses

16.”Not only the works we do outwardly, but even the thoughts we think inwardly . . . there is no such thing as chance or fortune.” Melancthon, B, 15.

17. “God is the Sovereign Ruler who governs even the intimate thoughts and feelings and impulses of men.” B, 342.

18. “It is He that . . .creates the very thoughts and intents of the soul.” B, 31.

This Includes Even Sinful Thoughts and Sinful Actions

19. “Plainly the fall of Adam and all other sins . . . were in [His] plan.” B, 24.

20. “Even the fall of Adam, and through him the fall of the race, was not by chance or accident, but was so ordained in the secret counsels of God.” B, 234.

21. “Even the sinful acts of men are included in [His] plan.” B, 24.

22. “That the sinful acts of men have their place and a necessary place in [His] plan is plainly seen in the course of history.” B, 252.

23. “He also perfectly controls all the depraved and impious affections of the wicked, and turns them as He pleases.” B, 230.

24. “When we get the larger view we see that even the sinful acts of men have their place in the divine plan.” B, 239.

25. “All evil forces are under His absolute control.” B, 239.

26. “The murderer is kept in life and is indebted to God for the strength to kill his victim, and also for the opportunity.” B, 239.

27. “Unless sin occurs according to the divine purpose and permission of God, it occurs by chance.” B, 240. (The possibility of sin occurring by chance is here introduced only to be firmly rejected, for we read on the next page:)

28. “Over sin as over all else, God reigns supreme.” B, 241.

Thus there is no escape from the hideous reality that these statements place before us. The god of Calvinism is the god of sin. He is a Satanic god who causes, creates, and perfectly controls every thought, every feeling, every impulse, and every action of every man and every woman, even including the most sinful, degenerate, depraved and degraded. Do you worship the god of Calvinism? I do not.

According to this theology, or this demonology, if you prefer, you may have thought that you decided what church you would attend this week, but you didn’t. The Calvinistic god decided that for you, by creating the thoughts and impulses of your mind. While he was making that decision for you, he was also placing in the drunkard’s mind the impulse to seek more strong drink; he was putting into the dope peddler’s mind the impulse to seek more victims for his drugs; he was putting into the murderer’s mind the impulse to kill again, he was guiding the murderer in the choice of a victim and the choice of weapons, and was providing him the opportunity to strike, because he wanted it to happen. It was part of his decree, part of his plan.

Think of this when you read in the newspaper that a man in another state has raped a teenage girl, then took an ax and chopped off both of her arms below the elbow; or that a woman has shut her two small children into a car and run the car into a lake so that they were drowned. And then remember that according to Calvinistic theology both the man and the woman did these things because the Satanic god of Calvinism ordered and decreed it, putting the thoughts and the impulses into their minds. They had no choice.

I question whether we can really internalize all of these unbelievable things in a single attempt, so I am going to ask you to please turn back and read again the above statements of Calvinistic theology, beginning with number 16.

Although this is getting ahead of the logical progression of our case, we pause here to set forth a spin-off from this horrible doctrine as presented by Dr. Edward Heppenstall in a class for ministers conducted at the Southeastern California Conference office in December, l962. He provided copies of his notes to the ministers, in which we find on page 3:

“It is by the wisdom, not by the impotence of God, that no believer is ever perfect here below. The Lord so conducts the saints in this life that there should always remain something to either freely give them when they ask, or to pardon them mercifully when they confess to Him.”

Consider carefully: The Lord so conducts our lives that there will always be something to forgive us for. We are never perfect here below because He is too wise to let us be perfect. Therefore we sin because He wants us to sin.

Where do these ideas come from? From the Satanic god of Calvinism. But we haven’t seen the entire picture yet. It gets much, much worse as we proceed. Here is our next package of evidence, our next unit of thought.

The Satanic God and the Non-Elect

According to Calvinistic theology, the Satanic god decided before the world was created that some persons would never be permitted to repent and be saved. These are called the non-elect. We have seen, in the previous section, that the Satanic god makes these persons sin. They have no choice in the matter. We will now see that the Satanic god sternly judges and condemns them for the very sins that he has made them commit.

1. “Eternal life is foreordained for some and eternal death for others.” Calvin, B, 15.

2. “It was foreordained . . . who should be condemned.” Luther, B, 15.

3. “The Reformed faith has held to the existence of an eternal, divine decree which . . . separates the human race into two portions and ordains one to everlasting life and the other to everlasting death.” B, 83.

4. “By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestined to everlasting life, and others are foreordained to everlasting death.” B, 84.

5. “In matters pertaining to his salvation, the unregenerate man is not at liberty to choose between good and evil.” B, 62.

6. “He at the same time, and by the same means, or ordination, withholds from them the opportunity and power of believing and being saved.” Cunningham, B, 91.

7. “The doctrine of absolute Predestination of course logically holds that some are foreordained to death as truly as some are foreordained to life.” B, 104.

8. “We believe that from all eternity God has intended to leave some of Adam’s posterity in their sins.” B, 104.

So Calvinism’s Satanic god predestines the non-elect to be lost, giving them no choice, creates their sinful thoughts and sinful actions, giving them no freedom, judges and condemns them for the sin that he has forced them to commit, permitting them no repentance, then punishes them for the sin that he has forced them to commit.

And what of the punishment? This is our next package of evidence, our next unit of thought.

Calvinism’s Satanic God Tortures the Non-Elect Forever

1. “[Predestination] brings us into contact, on the one side, with a subject so awful and overwhelming as the everlasting misery of an innumerable multitude of our fellow men.” Cunningham, B, 7.

2. “[Predestination] extends . . . to every event in human history from the creation to the judgment, and includes all the activities of saints and angels in heaven and of reprobates and demons in hell.” B, 13.

3. “The final torments of the wicked . . . are indescribably awful . . . In the next world the wicked, with all restraint removed, will go headlong into sin, blaspheming and cursing God, growing worse and worse as they sink deeper and deeper into the bottomless pit.” B, 79. (Remember that they curse and blaspheme because the Satanic god makes them do it. They have no freedom and no choice. Even the Calvinists admit the awfulness of this doctrine.)

4. “Calvin admits that this doctrine arouses very perplexing questions in the minds of some, for, says he, ‘they consider nothing more unreasonable than that of the common mass of mankind, some should be predestined to salvation, and others to destruction.’ ” B, 85.

5. “It may seem absurd to human wisdom that God should harden, blind, and deliver up some men to a reprobate sense; that he should first deliver them over to evil, and (then) condemn them for that evil; but the believing, spiritual man sees no absurdity at all in this.” Luther, B, 106. (This has to be one of Luther’s most utterly incomprehensible statements.)

6. “It is hard for us to realize that many of those right around us (in some cases our close friends and relatives) are probably foreordained to eternal punishment.” B, 125.

7. “Yet Calvinism is nearer to the facts, however harsh and forbidding those facts may seem.” B, 49.

8. “This doctrine of the total inability of man is terribly stern, severe, forbidding.” B, 80.

9. “This is admittedly an unpleasant doctrine.” B, 108.

10. “Calvinists do not shrink from discussing (this doctrine); yet naturally, because of its awful character, they find no satisfaction in dwelling upon it.” B, 124.

11. “It may be asked, Why does God save some and not others? But that belongs to His secret counsels.” B, 96.

12. “His reasons for saving particular ones while passing by others have not been revealed to us.” B, 97.

13. “Let it be remembered that we are under no obligation to explain all the mysteries connected with these doctrines.” B, 124.

14. “The condemnation of the non-elect is designed primarily to furnish an eternal exhibition, before men and angels, of God’s hatred for sin, or in other words, it is to be an eternal manifestation of the justice of God.” B, 121.

We must remember that the decree of the Satanic (Calvinistic) god, made before the world began, was that some would be foreordained to eternal torture. This would include persons of all ages, from infancy to maturity. Their torturing will never cease, but will go on forever and forever and forever. As long as the Satanic (Calvinistic) god lives, he will continue to take delight in the agonies of his helpless, suffering victims. And as the surpassing outrage to reason, the author of our book supplies this line: “No injustice is done to the non-elect.” B, 113.

Be prepared for the fact that Calvinistic writings abound in ludicrous self-contradictions, which are an insult to the intelligence of the reader. In Boettner’s book it is argued, for example:

· That although their god creates, directs, and controls every impulse, thought and action of man, nevertheless the will of man is totally free.

· That although their god creates and controls the sinful thoughts and sinful actions of man, that nevertheless their god is not the author of sin.

· That although their god creates, directs, and controls every thought and impulse of man, nevertheless man is totally responsible for his own sinning.

· That although their god tortures forever the helpless non-elect whom He has forced to sin, that this is no injustice to the non-elect.

· That although before the world was created God predestined who would be saved, in such a manner that their salvation had no dependence upon either their choices or their behavior, nevertheless Christ had to die for their salvation, etc., etc.

Unfortunately, the writings of those Seventh-day Adventist ministers who are trying to bring Calvinistic doctrines into our church also abound in ludicrous self-contradictions, but that is a subject for another article.

Is it no injustice to the non-elect to foreordain them to be lost, with no possibility of escaping their doom? Is it no injustice to force them to sin? Is it no injustice to punish them for sins that they are forced to commit? Is it no injustice to torture them—men, women, and children— forever and forever, throughout all eternity?

Is not this the hellish torch of Satan? Reading these statements makes us feel as if we were taking a guided tour through the bottomless pit. If this is not clothing God with the attributes of Satan, what could fulfill these words? Can anything worse be imagined than a god who deliberately creates human beings for no other purpose than to supply his torture chamber with victims? And who keeps these agonizing victims alive so that the torturing may go on forever? Would not the cruelest human whom the world has ever seen, eventually weary of the torturing and let the struggling, screaming victims die?

But the Satanic god of Calvinism will never tire of hearing the screams of the damned—the persons who were created without their will, were predestined to damnation without any choice, were never given any chance to repent, and whose very sins were created by the creator’s will. A million years of torturing will be followed by another million years of torturing, and another and another and another—forever.

And the end is not yet. Let us pause to remember that according to the Calvinistic doctrine of unconditional election, those who are saved have absolutely nothing to do with their salvation. They are saved because they were predestined to be saved, and nothing that they could do, or that anyone else could do, would have any bearing on their salvation in any way whatever. That is the meaning of the term unconditional.

Then Why did Christ Die?

Why did Christ endure the agonies of a slow and torturous death? According to Calvinistic theology, His death had nothing to do with anyone’s salvation—that had been decided before the world was created, by the decree of predestination. The Calvinists may answer that God planned it that way, as part of the plan of salvation—but this is no answer, for there was no need for such a plan to be made. It is just another ludicrous self-contradiction. Their Calvinistic god may have planned for his son to be tortured and die, but according to their own reasoning, this had nothing to do with anyone’s salvation. We repeat, the salvation of “the elect” had been settled by the decree of predestination before the world was created. The death of Christ on the cross could neither add anything to that decree nor take anything away from it. We are confined to the conclusion that the Satanic god of Calvinism slaughtered his own son for the same reason that he tortures the non-elect throughout all eternity—simply because he is a fiend, a monster, who delights in such torture.

We draw back in horror from such a conclusion, but we cannot escape it. We have just seen an abundance of statements that the Satanic god of Calvinism decided before the world began who would be saved, and that every act, thought, and feeling of every human being is directed by the Satanic god, even including their sins. Why, then, did men spit in the face of Christ? Because they were so directed by Calvinism’s Satanic god. They had no choice. Why did they put a crown of thorns upon His brow? Why did they flog Him? Why did they nail Him to a cross? Let the Calvinistic theologian answer:

“The murderer is kept in life, and is indebted to God for the strength to kill his victim, and also for the opportunity.” B, 239. This is Calvinism. This is the hellish torch of Satan. This is not theology, it is demonology.

This is one of the systems of religion that Ellen White made reference to when she wrote that Satan had clothed God with his own attributes, and that this was embodied in systems of religion. It is beyond question embodied in the Calvinistic system of religion. We are not suggesting that all the members of Calvinistic churches are fully aware of these horrors of their own theology, but the theologians obviously are aware of them. They set the horrors forth proudly, and boast about them. Boettner’s book abounds in Calvinistic self-congratulation about the doctrines that clothe their god with the very characteristics of Satan. We must now consider the very centerpiece of Satan’s accusations.

The Centerpiece

Consider Satan’s problem. In order to convince the universe that God is not a God of love, but is actually arbitrary, cruel, exacting, stern, severe, tyrannical, and unforgiving, a God who knows nothing about self-denial, mercy, or love, Satan needed to present some evidence in support of these charges. The universe had never seen any such faults in the character of God. The very opposite was true in regard to every point of accusation, even including forgiveness. Satan himself had been offered forgiveness, as the universe well knew. Unless Satan could produce some evidence to support his accusations, they would be summarily dismissed as manifestly ridiculous, having no substance of reality at all. Satan desperately needed some evidence, some ground of accusation. What could it be? What could he do?

At last he thought of something that would become the centerpiece of his accusations against the character of God. Let Ellen White describe it to us, and notice how Satan’s accusations against God are clustered about the centerpiece, that God had given a law that His subjects could not obey. “Here is the evidence,” Satan had proclaimed. Notice Ellen White’s response:

“Since the fall of Adam, men in every age have excused themselves for sinning, charging God with their sin, saying that they could not keep the commandments. This is the insinuation Satan cast at God in heaven.” Review and Herald, vol. 4, 303.

Notice the accusation, then notice the evidence. And “charging God with their sin.” This would make God the author of sin. Does it sound like the statements we have been reading from Calvinistic theologians? And even from a Seventh-day Adventist theologian?

“Satan represents God’s law as a law of selfishness. He declares that it is impossible for us to obey its precepts.” Desire of Ages, 24.

Again, notice the accusation, and then notice the evidence.

“[Satan] has clothed the character of God with attributes that are satanic . . . he has pictured Him as a being full of revenge, as a lawgiver whose law is beyond the power of man to keep.” Review and Herald, vol. 3, 464.

Yet again, notice the accusation, then notice the evidence.

“Satan had represented [God] to man as arbitrary, stern, and unforgiving. All the misery and suffering he had brought upon man, he charged to God. He declared that man could not keep the law, and that God was arbitrary and cruel in demanding of him something that he could not do.” Youth’s Instructor, 446.

And still again, notice the accusation, then notice the evidence. “Satan declared that it was impossible for the sons and daughters of Adam to keep the law of God, and thus charged upon God a lack of wisdom and love. If they could not keep the law, then there was fault with the lawgiver. Men who are under the control of Satan repeat these accusations against God, in asserting that men cannot keep the law of God.” Signs of the Times, vol. 3, 264. Once more, notice the accusation, then notice the evidence.

Look now at the total list of Satan’s accusations against the character of God: God’s character is alleged to be faulty, lacking in love, cruel, lacking in wisdom, selfish, stern, unforgiving, arbitrary, and satanic. Now look at the evidence that Satan put forth in support of every one of these accusations. It does not vary. It stays the same in every case. Like the monotonous ringing of a bell, the same message of Satan is intoned over and over again.

· God has given a law that His subjects cannot obey, therefore God is cruel.

· God has given a law that His subjects cannot obey, therefore God is selfish.

· God has given a law that His subjects cannot obey, therefore God is stern.

· God has given a law that His subjects cannot obey, therefore God is severe.

· God has given a law that His subjects cannot obey, therefore God is arbitrary.

· God has given a law that His subjects cannot obey, therefore God is unforgiving.

· God has given a law that His subjects cannot obey, therefore God is satanic.

· God has given a law that His subjects cannot obey, therefore His character is faulty.

· God has given a law that His subjects cannot obey, therefore He is lacking in wisdom.

· God has given a law that His subjects cannot obey, therefore He is lacking in love.

This is beyond question the centerpiece of Satan’s false accusations against God, and this accusation is being echoed by many who stand in Seventh-day Adventist pulpits today.

Ellen White foretold it with unerring accuracy: “Many will stand in our pulpits with the torch of false prophecy in their hands, kindled from the hellish torch of Satan.” Testimonies to Ministers, 409.

Can we question who these ministers are who have kindled their torches from the hellish torch of Satan? We cannot question if we believe in the Spirit of Prophecy. Look again at Ellen White’s words:

“Men who are under the control of Satan repeat these accusations against God, in asserting that men cannot keep the law of God.” Signs of the Times, vol. 3, 264.

Under the Control of Satan

Perhaps we should reflect a bit about this. Let us not make the mistake of thinking that it is a difficult thing to get one’s self under the control of Satan. You don’t have to work at it. And the condition is not always evidenced by crude physical demonstrations of one kind or another. Please notice:

· The mind: “Either God or Satan controls the mind.” Review and Herald, vol. 1, 455.

· The world: “The world at large are under the control of Satan.” Great Controversy, 47.

· The people: “All who are not decided followers of Christ are servants of Satan.” Great

Controversy, 508.

· The churches: “[Satan] has gained control of the apostate churches.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 472.

And what of our church? It cannot be denied that some within our church have been at times under the control of Satan. We need only think of the apostates who have left us, in order to recognize the truth of that statement. They were not faithful one day and apostate the next day. There was a long process during which their minds were coming more and more under the control of Satan, before they made their final departure from the truth. And during that time they were as poison to all who felt their influence. Bit by bit they were coming under Satan’s control. For documentation on this point, and for specific examples, read Special Testimonies, Series B.

It is even so today. The hellish torch of Satan has been manifestly set forth before us in the statements of the Calvinistic theologians, who are uniting with Satan in clothing God with Satanic attributes.

And we now have a simple and accurate means of recognizing and identifying the men who are described by God’s chosen messenger as standing in our pulpits, having their torches kindled from the hellish torch of Satan. It is sobering indeed to remember Ellen White’s testimony that they would be, not a few, but “many.” And their identifying characteristic will be that they are uniting with the Calvinistic theologians and with Satan himself in declaring that God is selfish, arbitrary, and cruel because He gave to us a law that we cannot obey.

Bit by bit they have accepted the doctrines of Calvinism, and bit by bit they have come to be under Satan’s control. Men may claim that they can say it is impossible to obey God’s law without accusing God, but Ellen White says, “No, you can’t.” Read her solemn warning again:

“If they could not keep the law, then there was fault with the lawgiver.” Signs of the Times, vol. 3, 264.

And it would thus be proven that Satan’s accusations against God were true. If men have not clearly understood this, Satan has. He has reaffirmed the accusation again and again.

· In the beginning: “In the opening of the great controversy, Satan had declared that the law of God could not be obeyed.” Great Controversy, 761.

· In heaven: “This is the insinuation Satan cast at God in heaven.” Review and Herald, vol. 4, 303.

· In Adam’s time: “Satan had pointed to Adam’s sin as proof that God’s law was unjust, and could not be obeyed.” Desire of Ages, 117.

· In Enoch’s time: “Satan was urging upon men the belief . . . that it was impossible for men to obey the divine statutes.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 89.

· In Christ’s time: “[Satan] hoped to establish the claim put forth when he rebelled in heaven, that the requirements of God were unjust, and could not be obeyed. Even Israel, he declared, did not keep the law.” Desire of Ages, 29.

· In our time: “Satan represents God’s law of love as a law of selfishness. He declares that it is impossible for us to obey its precepts.” Desire of Ages, 24.

· For all time: “The Saviour’s life of obedience maintained the claims of the law; it proved that the law could be kept in humanity, and showed the excellence of character that obedience would develop. All who obey as He did are likewise declaring that the law is ‘holy, just, and good.’ On the other hand, all who break God’s commandments are sustaining Satan’s claim that the law is unjust, and cannot be obeyed. Thus they second the deceptions of the great adversary, and cast dishonor on God. They are the children of the wicked one, who was the first to rebel against God’s law.” Desire of Ages, 309.

· “The children of the wicked one:” “Men who are under the control of Satan repeat these accusations against God, in asserting that men cannot keep the law of God.” Signs of the Times, vol. 3, 264. Why, then, should we be surprised at these words?

So how shall we relate to the ministers among us who are throwing Satan’s accusations at God? By all means show enough Christian love for their souls to speak to them and warn them, and if possible place a copy of this article in their hands. We must remember that some of our younger ministers have been taught Calvinism in the academy, in college, and at the theological seminary. We trust that our righteous God will keep this in mind as He deals with them. I would not want to be in their position. My personal appeal to all of them would be to be done with this madness before it is too late. There is mercy with the Lord.

And How Shall We Deliver Our Own Souls?

First: let us by no means join them in their foolhardy enterprise, making accusations against God, clothing God with the attributes of Satan. Let us resolve that we will have nothing to do with the Satanic god of Calvinism, or with any of his false teachings. Let us leave this Satanic monster-god in the bottomless pit where he belongs, and renew our loyalty to the holy and righteous God of Adventism.

Second: let us not expose ourselves to the deadly error of those who are falsely accusing God. We cannot afford to listen to such preaching or such teaching, or take such poison into our systems. Our God has warned us through His chosen messenger:

“Error is never harmless. It never sanctifies, but always brings confusion and dissension. It is always dangerous.” Counsels to Writers and Editors, 47.

“Error is falsehood and deception. Those who partake of it must suffer in consequence, as did Adam and Eve in Eden.” Upward Look, 125.

“There is in error and unbelief that which bewilders and bewitches the mind.” Selected Messages, vol. 1, 46.

“God is displeased with us when we go to listen to error, without being obliged to go, for unless He sends us to those meetings where error is forced home to the people by the power of the will, He will not keep us. The angels cease their watchful care over us, and we are left to the buffeting of the enemy, to be darkened and weakened by him and the power of his evil angels, and the light around us becomes contaminated with darkness.” Early Writings, 124.

None of us are strong enough to take risks like these. We must worship without exposing ourselves to deadly error, even though it be at the cost of inconvenience, time, and money. It will not be for long. “Yet a little while and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” Hebrews 10:37.

Summary:

The Unveiling of the Monster-god

· The first veil is removed: We see a god who orders, ordains, decrees, expressly decrees, and predetermines, everything that comes to pass without exception. We ask, What about sin? The unveiling just proceeds.

· The second veil is removed: We see a god who applies all of the above words to the small details of the personal life, the minute, the most minute, the smallest details, the veriest details, who ordains what bough the sparrow shall perch upon, what grains it shall eat, where it shall build its nest, and where it shall die. We ask again, What about sin? The unveiling proceeds.

· The third veil is removed: We now learn that this god ordains, predetermines, and actually creates every thought, every feeling, every impulse of the soul. We cry out, What about sin? What about sin!? The answer is finally given as the fourth veil is removed.

· The fourth veil is removed: Brazenly, boldly, and with unmistakable clarity, the Calvinistic theologians tell us that sin, like everything else, is ordained, predetermined, ordered, and controlled, because it has a necessary place in their god’s plan. This is specifically applied to even the experience of the murderer.

· The fifth veil is removed: We now gaze upon a god who creates some people for torture, and only for torture, and that he will never stop torturing them throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. The torturing will go on forever and forever and forever.

· The sixth veil is removed: But this time not by the Calvinistic theologians. It is removed by God’s chosen messenger, Ellen White. She tells us that it is Satan’s purpose to clothe the true God with his own attributes, and falsely accuse Him.

· The seventh veil is removed: Again by Ellen White, and we learn that the centerpiece of Satan’s accusations against God is that He has given a law that His people cannot keep.

Conclusion

The monster-god of Calvinism is a craven, contemptible, despicable, and loathsome creature, and the theology that has created him is a river of raw sewage. And it seems that even the fumes from this river are intoxicating. We are forced to recognize that, tragically, some of our own ministers and church leaders have lingered on the banks of this river until they have become intoxicated, and are not only drinking from the river of raw sewage, but are urging us to join them in drinking from it. Why should we, who have been privileged to drink from a fountain that has flowed to us directly from the throne of God, turn from that fountain to drink from a river of raw sewage? Can you think of any good reason? I cannot. May God deliver us.

The End

The Disciples’ Message Forgotten

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The foundation of the disciples’ message to the whole world was the opening of Christ’s ministry as our High Priest in the Holy Place of the sanctuary in heaven. This message was so powerful that in Acts 17:6 we are told that this message had “turned the world upside down.” Nobody had to go to the earthly sanctuary anymore to offer a sacrificial lamb. They could now go directly to Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary to confess their sins and Jesus would cover those sins with His blood. But by 1844 this message, that had turned the world upside down, was no longer remembered by the church.

What happened to the sanctuary message and why did it have to be restored? We will begin our search for the answer at the ascension of Jesus Christ.

In Revelation chapters 4 and 5 we are shown the throne room of the sanctuary in heaven in 31 A.D. These two chapters should not have a chapter division because they are about the same event. In Revelation 5:6 we get a picture of Jesus coming as a Lamb slain before the Father. We know that this is an accurate interpretation of this verse. The Desire of Ages, 830–835, is a description of this same event, and gives us more details.

When Jesus ascended 40 days after His crucifixion He went in before the Father as a Lamb slain. “He enters into the presence of His Father. He points to His wounded head, the pierced side, the marred feet; He lifts His hands, bearing the print of nails. He points to the tokens of His triumph; … Before the foundations of the earth were laid, the Father and the Son had united in a covenant to redeem man if he should be overcome by Satan. They had clasped Their hands in a solemn pledge that Christ should become the surety for the human race. This pledge Christ has fulfilled.”

Then Jesus was presented to John not as a Lamb slain, but as our High Priest in the Holy Place. John recorded a description of Jesus as our High Priest in the Holy Place of the sanctuary in heaven in Revelation chapter 1:12–16.

“And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.”

On the Day of Pentecost, God sent the Holy Spirit down to the 120 disciples that were assembled in a meeting. The Holy Spirit told them that the inauguration of Jesus as their High Priest had been completed in the sanctuary of the New Covenant in heaven. He then instructed them to go forth and tell the world that sanctuary is now open and waiting to receive their petitions. That was the message that the disciples were to take to the world during the early years of the apostolic church. After Christ’s death and resurrection, nobody had to go to the earthly sanctuary anymore to offer a sacrificial lamb. They could now go directly to Jesus in the Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary to confess their sins and Jesus said He would secure their pardon.

“The blood of Christ, pleaded in behalf of penitent believers, secured their pardon and acceptance with the Father.” The Great Controversy, 421.

This was the good news proclaimed by the apostolic church. Even the Gentiles later on recognized the power of this message because in Acts 17:6 we are told that this message had “turned the world upside down.” Such was the power of the message of Jesus’ ministry in the heavenly sanctuary.

Satan and the fallen angels saw the power of this message and they saw that this message was going to destroy their kingdom of rebellion. They had to do something to counteract this message. Satan and his angels set about to attack the Christian church and lead it into apostasy. All of the major writers of the New Testament tell about the apostasy that came into the Christian church. It became so bad that by A.D. 538, the papacy took control of the church. In Revelation 13:2 we are told that Satan gave him his power, authority and seat.

Immediately Satan set the Pope up as the head of the church in place of God. The Pope then claimed that he was the mediator between God and man. This was the work of the papacy throughout the Dark Ages. For 1260 years Satan continued his attack on the ministry of Jesus in the Holy Place of the sanctuary in heaven. Even at the present time the people in the Roman Catholic Church are taught to confess their sins to the priests.

The sanctuary message was lost because the people were directed to the priests for their salvation instead of Jesus Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. When the great Second Advent Movement began in the early 1840s, nobody knew about the sanctuary in heaven. They thought that the sanctuary was this earth. The papacy did away with the knowledge of Jesus Christ’s ministry in the sanctuary in heaven by instructing the people to confess their sins to the priests in the church on earth. “It set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host; it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was brought low.” Daniel 8:11, NIV.

The good news in Daniel 8:14 is that the sanctuary message would be restored to its rightful place. “And he said to me, for two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored.” NASB.

The restoration of this message has been fulfilled in the Second Advent Movement. In The Great Controversy, 409, we are told, “The scripture which above all others had been both the foundation and the central pillar of the advent faith was the declaration: ‘Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.’ Daniel 8:14.” The sanctuary message was to be restored and was to become the foundation and central pillar of the message to the world in the closing scenes of the great Second Advent Movement.

This restoration of this message is paramount because the heavenly sanctuary is the place where Jesus carries out the terms of the New Covenant. When Jesus moved from the Holy Place to the Most Holy Place in the heavenly sanctuary in 1844 to begin the investigative judgment, His faithful followers were thrilled to learn the truth and followed Him into the Most Holy Place. Christ’s disciples in the great Second Advent Movement will again take up the message as did the first disciples.

“The third angel closes his message thus: ‘Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus’ (Revelation 14:12). As he repeated these words, he pointed to the heavenly sanctuary. The minds of all who embrace this message are directed to the most holy place, where Jesus stands before the ark, making His final intercession for all those for whom mercy still lingers and for those who have ignorantly broken the law of God. This atonement is made for the righteous dead as well as for the righteous living. It includes all who died trusting in Christ, but who, not having received the light upon God’s commandments, had sinned ignorantly in transgressing its precepts.” Early Writings, 254.

During the latter rain this message will be at the heart of the call to “come out of her (Babylon).” It is through the ministry of Jesus in the Most Holy Place where they can be freed from sin as they come out of Babylon.

Daniel 8:14 truly is the foundation and pillar of the Advent faith. It is a prophecy fulfilled. The ministry of Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary was a message forgotten during the Dark Ages. It has been restored according to the prophecy of Daniel 8:14 and we must keep it alive, never to be forgotten again.

Maurice Hoppe is Director of the Steps to Life Training Programs and a member of the Steps to Life Board. The Training Program for Ministers and Church Leaders is a correspondence course that prepares individuals to serve as a pastor or Bible worker. Preparing for the Final Conflict is a correspondence course for the laity. Both of these courses teach present truth that will be an anchor for the soul during the storm of opposition and persecution just ahead. He and his wife also have a correspondence course offered through Revelation Ministry. He can be contacted at: mauricehoppe@stepstolife.org.

The Sabbath

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A clear understanding of the origin and purpose of the seventh-day Sabbath and the part it occupies in the lives of God’s faithful people is necessary in the closing scenes of the great controversy between Christ and Satan.

The Sabbath was set apart on the seventh day of creation and is also the fourth commandment, which is evidence that the law of God was given to Adam and Eve on the very day of creation and was in effect at creation. The seventh-day Sabbath has also been a very prominent commandment all through the history of the controversy between Christ and Satan. It says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20:8–11 NAS.

The sojourner and the Gentile are also advocated to keep the commandments, and if they are in your home, they are to keep the Sabbath with you. All ten commandments are for everybody, not just the Jews.

The Sabbath was introduced at creation. It has been in effect and will be in effect throughout eternity, “from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord.” Isaiah 66:23. All will gather from one new moon to another in the new earth, from one Sabbath to another.

The only ones that do not want to keep the Sabbath are the rebellious of this earth who are the minority in this universe. Sabbath keepers belong to the great majority of people in the universe. On this earth it looks like you are the outcasts, but in comparison to the whole universe and with God and with His Son, we are the great majority of Sabbath keepers. So be of good courage.

In Genesis 2:2 we are told that God rested on the seventh day. “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.”

In Patriarchs and Prophets, 47, it says, “The great Jehovah had laid the foundations of the earth; He had dressed the whole world in the garb of beauty and had filled it with things useful to man; He had created all the wonders of the land and of the sea. In six days the great work of creation had been accomplished. And God ‘rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made’ (Genesis 2:2, 3). God looked with satisfaction upon the work of His hands. All was perfect, worthy of its divine Author, and He rested, not as one weary, but as well pleased with the fruits of His wisdom and goodness and the manifestations of His glory.”

This is a very clear statement of where the Sabbath came from and its purpose. So it was on the seventh day of creation that He set aside the Sabbath day as a day of rest.

We are told in Genesis 2:3 there were three things that God did for the seventh-day Sabbath that He did not do for the other six days. It says, “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.”

God blessed the seventh day; He sanctified it and then He rested on it.

Often some people will say that they worship every day of the week, or they keep every day holy. Nobody can keep a day holy that God has not sanctified or made holy. But the seventh-day Sabbath He sanctified and therefore you can keep it holy because it is a holy day. The other six days do not have that blessing; they were not made holy. You cannot keep holy something that is not holy.

Many people recognize the association of the seventh day with the seventh-day Sabbath, but to avoid it they worship on Sunday in honor of the resurrection as justification. It is up to us to strive for holiness each and every day of the week, but there is only one Sabbath day. We are preparing for heaven, and in heaven the occupants keep the seventh-day Sabbath, and we want to fit into that heavenly environment. We need to understand the depth of meaning in the Sabbath.

God told us to remember. It is man’s duty to rest on the seventh-day Sabbath; he is to reflect upon God’s great work of creation and to behold the evidences of God’s wisdom and goodness. As we do this, we will be filled with love and reverence for our Maker. By observing the seventh-day Sabbath we acknowledge that God is our Creator and that we are the work of His hands and are subject to His authority.

The fourth commandment points to God as the Maker of the heavens and the earth, and it also gives the law its authenticity and binding force because it contains the seal of God which shows His authority as Creator and His claim to reverence and worship above all others. This seal gives the name of the Lawgiver, which is the Creator, and it identifies His territory, which is the heavens and the earth.

In Patriarchs and Prophets, 307, we are told: “God has given men six days wherein to labor, and He requires that their own work be done in the six working days. Acts of necessity and mercy are permitted on the Sabbath, the sick and suffering are at all times to be cared for; but unnecessary labor is to be strictly avoided. ‘Turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and … honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure.’ Nor does the prohibition end here. ‘Nor speaking thine own words’ (Isaiah 58:13), says the prophet. Those who discuss business matters or lay plans on the Sabbath are regarded by God as though engaged in the actual transaction of business. To keep the Sabbath holy, we should not even allow our minds to dwell upon things of a worldly character. And the commandment includes all within our gates. The inmates of the house are to lay aside their worldly business during the sacred hours. All should unite to honor God by willing service upon His holy day.”

We find specific principles showing us that we are not to get involved in things that involve our worldly needs. We are to turn our thoughts heavenward.

  • We are not to do our own ways.
  • We are not to find our own pleasure; this includes sports and things like that.
  • Man’s own work is not to be done on the seventh-day Sabbath.
  • Unnecessary labor is strictly forbidden.
  • We are not to discuss business matters or lay plans.
  • Our minds are not to dwell upon things of a worldly character.

One of the big snares that Satan has introduced into God’s remnant people is the Saturday night entertainment, because many times the thoughts, especially with young people, are, throughout the Sabbath hours focused on “What is going to happen tonight?” Having parties for children and showing films are the talk of the day, and it is very hard for them to keep their minds upon things of eternal value when those kinds of incentives or plans are made for their entertainment. This does much to desecrate the Sabbath in the lives of the youth and the adults.

Looking at the law of God in a positive manner is a blessing to us. If we followed His commandments we would have a very safe society; we would not need police or jails because society would be living at peace with everybody and respectful toward each other’s needs. The law of God is a blessing to us, and we need to approach it as God would like us to. It is a wonderful blessing for the people of God and to all who observe the seventh-day Sabbath.

In The Desire of Ages, 285, we are told: “Christ would teach His disciples and His enemies that the service of God is first of all. The object of God’s work in this world is the redemption of man; therefore that which is necessary to be done on the Sabbath in the accomplishment of this work is in accord with the Sabbath law. Jesus then crowned His argument by declaring Himself the ‘Lord of the Sabbath’—One above all question and above all law. This infinite Judge acquits the disciples of blame, appealing to the very statutes they are accused of violating.”

Looking at the positive side of the law, this is to be a blessing to the fallen race. The whole purpose of God is to restore man to freedom from sin and to restore him to the kingdom of glory. Anything that can further that objective is appropriate to do on the Sabbath. That is another principle, and God leaves it up to us to decide the actual things we should or shouldn’t do in light of that principle. The things necessary to be done on the Sabbath for the accomplishment of the redemption of man is in accord with the Sabbath law. The law is a positive blessing.

“They were performing those rites that pointed to the redeeming power of Christ, and their labor was in harmony with the object of the Sabbath. But now Christ Himself had come. The disciples, in doing the work of Christ, were engaged in God’s service, and that which was necessary for the accomplishment of this work it was right to do on the Sabbath day.” Ibid., 285.

Isaiah 58:13 tells us, “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words.”

There are also several other things that are appropriate to do on the Sabbath.

  • Acts of necessity and mercy. Ask yourself if this is something that is a necessity to help somebody in their physical needs, etc.
  • The sick and suffering are at all times to be cared for.
  • We are to call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and honor Him in His character, doing those things that He would like to see us doing to help in the plan of redemption.
  • All should unite to honor God by willing service.

We do not want to get into the area of making statements for what to do and what not to do. The Jews got into that and became all mixed up and then missed the true meaning of the Sabbath. We need to look at the general principles and ask ourselves if this can help in the plan of redemption or help somebody in their necessity or needs. We need to understand what can be done on the Sabbath, because someday we will be tested. Many are watching us, and we may need to give a reason for the things we do and not do. We need to stand with the principle that it is lawful to do good and to promote the plan of redemption and to work with Jesus in the saving of souls.

God calls the Sabbath a “sign between me and you.” “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.” Exodus 31:13.

Keeping the seventh-day Sabbath is a sign that we believe in the new covenant and that Jesus is ministering in the Most Holy Place of the sanctuary of the new covenant in heaven. Here is the reason this is true. To keep the Sabbath holy the individual must be holy himself. We are all sinners, unholy. To become holy we must have our sins removed. We can be freed from our sins in one way only. That way is to go to Jesus in the Most Holy Place, confess our sins and plead with our Redeemer to atone for these confessed sins with His blood. Jesus is just and will cleanse us from these sins and also give us strength to keep from committing sin. He then presents this humble one to the Father as if he had never sinned. God the Father now sees him as one “of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.” Revelation 14:12 NIV. The sinner is now free from sin and can keep the Sabbath holy because he is holy.

The Sabbath is a time to spend with the Lord. How are you going to know that He is the Lord and how are you to know that He is holy unless you spend time with Him in His word and keep your thoughts on things of eternal value? You will not know unless you observe the Sabbath.

Maurice Hoppe is Director of the Steps to Life training programs and a member of the Steps to Life Board. The Training Program for Ministers and Church Leaders is a correspondence course that prepares individuals to serve as a pastor or Bible worker. Preparing for the Final Conflict is a correspondence course for the laity. Both of these courses teach present truth that will be an anchor for the soul during the storm of opposition and persecution just ahead. He and his wife also have a correspondence course offered through Revelation Ministry. He can be contacted at: mauricehoppe@stepstolife.org.

A Right to the New City

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The book of Revelation predicts that just before the end of the world, everyone will receive a mark. For some it will guarantee their destruction, but for others it will guarantee their deliverance. Then it will be clear to everyone just which mark he or she has.

God has just one simple test that will divide the whole world into two classes. On the very night that He was betrayed, Jesus said to His disciples, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15.

Referring to Jesus, Paul says, “Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” Hebrews 5:8, 9.

This one simple test decides the mark by which God will know who has accepted Jesus as their Saviour and has become His child through obedience. Do we love and trust Him enough to obey Him and to do what He says? Do we love, keep and respect His law? The apostle Paul spoke about it this way: “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slave whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” Romans 6:16.

Jesus predicted that there will be many Christians who will come right up to the end of the world and tragically find out that while still claiming their Christianity they are lost. He said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ ” Matthew 7:21–23.

Somehow, these Christians believed that they could make their own decisions in life as to how they would be saved. They thought that even though they were practicing lawlessness and violating God’s law, they were regular church attendees each week and doing wonderful things. But Jesus says, “You didn’t obey Me. You thought you could earn your way to heaven by your own works, but because you did not obey Me, you are a disloyal subject and your religion is not worth anything. My will has been made clear and not open to your own interpretation. Depart from Me, I never knew you!”

Some people think that, because of their sincerity, God will accept them no matter what they do. But, the fact of the matter is that all who are really sincere will inquire of God’s will and apply it to their lives. That is the sign by which the whole universe will know of their sincerity. We are not left to guess God’s will and how we are to demonstrate sincerity. The apostle John writes about this so plainly: “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.” 1 John 2:3–5.

These are strong words that say those who do not keep His commandments are liars. John continues to say, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” 1 John 5:2, 3.

Today, many voices are heard giving excuses as to why they either cannot or do not have to obey God’s law.

Excuse #1

People say, “The Christian church today is not under the law but under grace.” Let’s take a closer look at Romans 6:14. It says, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

Before we go further we should be sure that we understand what sin actually is. “Sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). Sin is breaking God’s law. Paul says that sin, or breaking God’s law, will not have dominion over you for you are not under the law but under grace. But then he goes on to say, in the very next verse, “What then? Shall we sin [break God’s law] because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!” Romans 6:15.

Paul makes it very clear he is not teaching that because you are no longer under the law but under grace you can break the law. In fact, the only people who are not under the law are those who are keeping it. The people who continue to break God’s law are actually under the law. The Bible says, “We know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Romans 3:19.

This makes everybody in the world under the law of God and because of that, all are condemned to death. But the gospel makes a way possible so that all who believe can be delivered from the penalty of the law—being condemned to death. Deliverance is available through the grace of Jesus Christ, but that grace does not give permission to continue living a life of sin and disobedience. Paul makes this very clear as he begins this discussion in Romans 6:1, 2. He says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin [break God’s law] that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin [stopped breaking God’s law] live any longer in it?” Clearly, the apostle Paul was not teaching that because you are not under the law, but under grace, you are free to go and break God’s law. Only those people who keep the law are not under it, but under grace. Those who continue to break the law remain under it, as we read in Romans 3:19.

Excuse #2

People say, “I don’t need to keep the law anymore because Jesus fulfilled the law, thereby doing away with it.”

Jesus said, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.” Luke 16:17.

A tittle is the smallest stroke, just part of a letter. Jesus said it would be easier for the whole universe, heaven and earth to pass away than for a part of a letter of the law to fail. This is very, very strong language when you understand Who is talking, because Jesus Christ was the one Who made the heavens and the earth and everything in it (John 1:3; Hebrews 1:1; Colossians 1:15).

John says that Jesus made everything that was made and without Him nothing was made. And when He came to dwell in this world in human flesh, it would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a part of a letter of the law to fail. The only way of escape from death was for somebody Who was above the law to pay the penalty for us. Jesus did not come to pay the penalty for our sins so that we could continue sinning. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:2–4.

Excuse #3

People say, “Well, it is impossible to keep the law.” The accusation here is that God made a law that nobody can keep.

It is true that the unconverted person cannot keep the law of God. Paul says, “The carnal mind [the unconverted mind; the fleshly mind] is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” Romans 8:7. This describes the unconverted person, but when you come to Jesus and accept Him as the Lord of your life and as your personal Saviour from sin, so that you receive the Holy Spirit into your life, it is now possible for you to keep the law.

John says, “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” 1 John 3:4–9.

This passage of Scripture is unpopular with many people; however, it cannot be denied that it is still in the Bible. Notice what John continues to say in 1 John 5:18, “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.”

The Bible is very clear. It says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23. But the very fact that we have sinned proves that the law of God is still in existence, because sin is the transgression of the law as we have just seen in 1 John 3:4. “Sin is not imputed when there is no law.” Romans 5:13. For example, you cannot be given a ticket for breaking a speed limit if there is no speed limit!

Excuse #4

People say, “I understand from the Bible that I am now under the new covenant of grace and not under the old covenant of works, so I am no longer under an obligation to keep the law.” The Bible also answers this objection.

Paul, in the book of Hebrews, says something very interesting about the new covenant. “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them.” Hebrews 10:16.

If you are under the new covenant, God’s law is written in your heart. It is written on your mind. The new covenant cannot be separated from God’s law. No one who refuses to keep the law of God is, in fact, under the new covenant. Many people who think that they are under the new covenant today are merely under the condemnation of sin.

Excuse #5

Some say, “The letter of the law kills, but the Spirit gives life. Therefore, the law is not applicable to us who have the Spirit.” This quote is taken from 11 Corinthians 3:6, but what is this talking about when it says, “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life”? Look at what Paul says, “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.” Romans 7:9. Then, in Romans 8:7 and 8, he says, “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

The reason the law kills is because all have sinned. All have broken the law and the wages of sin is death. The reason the Spirit gives life is that the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to keep God’s law, as can be understood clearly by reading Romans 8:1–14.

Jesus forgives past sins when you come to Him with repentance, but the Holy Spirit gives the power to keep God’s law. Receiving the power to keep God’s law is evidence of true conversion. Read the following carefully:

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Romans 8:1–14.

Excuse #6

Some say, “All you need to keep is Jesus’ law, not God’s law.” This is a very interesting objection to having to keep the law. Notice what the New Testament says about it:

“There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.” James 4:12. There is only one Lawgiver—not two laws, one from Jesus and one from the Father. James says that this one Lawgiver is able to save—Jesus Christ is the Saviour. He is also the only One able to destroy. Jesus described His relationship to His Father, saying, “I and My Father are one.” John 10:30. When He said that, the Jews were incensed at His so-called blasphemy and wanted to stone Him.

Jesus said, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.” John 14:10.

Now we come to what some people think is the perfect excuse or the perfect reason why they do not need to keep the law.

Excuse #7

They say, “The New Testament teaches that the law was nailed to the cross.”

Before looking specifically at that objection, we should read a couple of Bible verses. As stated earlier, Jesus said it would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for even a part of a letter of the law to fail (Luke 16:17). And concerning whether or not the Lord was going to change any part of His law, it says in the Old Testament, “My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.” Psalm 89:34. If you look up the context of that verse, the covenant this refers to is the Ten Commandments. “So He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tables of stone.” Deuteronomy 4:13.

That was the law that was spoken by God Himself on Mount Sinai. In fact, that is all that was spoken. He spoke the Ten Commandments, and He spoke no more. And the Lord says, “My covenant I will not break, and the words that have gone out of My lips, I will not change.” With this in mind, then what was the law that was nailed to the cross? It was not the moral law. It is just as wrong today to steal as it was 5,000 years ago (eighth commandment). It is just as wrong today to lie as it was 5,000 years ago (ninth commandment). It is just as wrong today to murder as it was 5,000 years ago (sixth commandment). And it is just as wrong today to worship idols, or to swear, or to worship images as it was 5,000 years ago (second and third commandments).

The law that was nailed to the cross, Paul says, was the law of ordinances (Ephesians 2:15). And it is for that reason we no longer offer animal sacrifices or go to an earthly sanctuary. There is no more need to go to a human high priest or observe the ceremonial feast days or the ceremonial law. These ordinances were nailed to the cross, but the moral law continues forever as stated in both the Old and New Testaments.

Unfortunately, after answering all these objections from Scripture, somebody will still say, “Well, I don’t think it is important.” This is an interesting objection, but notice what Jesus said about it: “He answered and said, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” ’ ” Matthew 4:4.

He also said, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?” Matthew 15:3.

Those who deliberately break the law of God cannot be under the new covenant and will not have God’s mark of deliverance in the last days. Only those who have the seal of God (Revelation 7) will be protected from the desolations that are coming upon our world, especially on the cities in the last days. The big test is about to be made, and only those who obey all of God’s commandments, including the fourth, will be protected from the great destruction and disasters that are coming upon the earth. Then, the words of Psalm 91 will be fulfilled to them.

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.’ Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. Because he has set his love upon Me therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.”

Whether or not you will be among that number depends on whether you love God enough to keep His commandments. Remember, Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Those will be the ones who will have the right to enter the new city Jerusalem and to the tree of life.

(Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Free Seventh-day Adventist Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

The Reformation and the New Covenant

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Protestantism failed to adhere to the principles that were stated during the Protestant Reformation and because of that, the second angel’s message was pronounced against them.

Ellen White describes the foundational principles of the Reformation as follows: “We protest by these presents, before God, our only Creator, Preserver, Redeemer, and Saviour, and who will one day be our Judge, as well as before all men and all creatures, that we, for us and for our people, neither consent nor adhere in any manner whatsoever to the proposed decree, in anything that is contrary to God, to His holy word, to our right conscience, to the salvation of our souls. …

“This word is the only truth; it is the sure rule of all doctrine and of all life, and can never fail or deceive us. He who builds on this foundation shall stand against all the powers of hell, while all the human vanities that are set up against it shall fall before the face of God.” The Great Controversy, 202, 203.

As Jesus, on the walk to Emmaus, directed the minds of the disciples back to the word of God to understand the ministry of Jesus in the sanctuary of the new covenant, so the Protestant reformers also directed the people back to the Bible as the foundation of their faith.

There are two very important, basic principles contained in the protest of the princes. They are recorded as follows: “The principles contained in this celebrated Protest … constitute the very essence of Protestantism. Now this Protest opposes two abuses of man in matters of faith: the first is the intrusion of the civil magistrate, and the second the arbitrary authority of the church. Instead of these abuses, Protestantism sets the power of conscience above the magistrate, and the authority of the word of God above the visible church. In the first place, it rejects the civil power in divine things, and says with the prophets and apostles, ‘We must obey God rather than man’ (Acts 5:29). In presence of the crown of Charles the Fifth, it uplifts the crown of Jesus Christ. But it goes farther: it lays down the principle that all human teaching should be subordinate to the oracles of God.” Ibid., 203, 204.]

The importance of these two principles to the success of the Reformation is emphasized in the following statement: “Had the Reformation, after attaining a degree of success, consented to temporize to secure favor with the world, it would have been untrue to God and to itself, and would thus have ensured its own destruction.” Ibid., 204.

As noted in the following quotation, the Protestant reformers had built on Christ, the word of God: “The Protestant Reformers had built on Christ, and the gates of hell could not prevail against them.” Ibid., 210.

Unfortunately, those that followed did not continue to maintain the high standards set by the reformers. The following statement confirms that in later years these new leaders departed from their foundation of truth: “In our time there is a wide departure from their [the reformers] doctrines and precepts, and there is need of a return to the great Protestant principle—the Bible, and the Bible only, as the rule of faith and duty.” Ibid., 204, 205.

There is a prophecy about these Protestant churches in the book of Revelation in the message to the Sardis church, which represents the period of church history from the Reformation to the opening of the great second-advent movement. Revelation 3:1, 2 states: “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”

The early reformers were “alive” to Christ (the Truth), but as new leaders came in, they began departing from the word of God, replacing those precious truths with the false teachings and traditions of men.

It is important that we understand what took place during the period of the reformation that is a fulfillment of this prophecy. During the rise of Protestantism, it set “the power of conscience above the magistrate, and the authority of the word of God above the visible church. In the first place, it rejects the civil power in divine things, and says with the prophets and apostles, ‘ “We must obey God rather than man.” In presence of the crown of Charles the Fifth, it uplifts the crown of Jesus Christ. But it goes farther: it lays down the principle that all human teaching should be subordinate to the oracles of God.’—Ibid. [D’Aubigne], b. 13, ch. 6. The protesters had moreover affirmed their right to utter freely their convictions of truth. They would not only believe and obey, but teach what the word of God presents, and they denied the right of priest or magistrate to interfere. The Protest of Spires was a solemn witness against religious intolerance, and an assertion of the right of all men to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences.” Ibid., 204.

This protest was so important that it was registered in the books of heaven. “The declaration had been made. It was written in the memory of thousands and registered in the books of heaven, where no effort of man could erase it. All evangelical Germany adopted the Protest as the expression of its faith. Everywhere men beheld in this declaration the promise of a new and better era.” Ibid.

In this protest they had “a reputation of being alive.” The question that is before us is, Why did God say they were dead?

Let us see how this great change of being “alive” at time of the protest of the Princes to being “dead” at the time when the great second-advent movement began in the 1830s and ’40s took place.

“Rome withheld the Bible from the people and required all men to accept her teachings in its place. It was the work of the Reformation to restore to men the word of God; but is it not too true that in the churches of our time men are taught to rest their faith upon their creed and the teachings of their church rather than on the Scriptures?” Ibid., 388.

One of the first steps in separating from the pure truth is to substitute the teachings and traditions of the church for the word of God. Charles Beecher made a very interesting comment of the importance of men’s writings in the present religious world: “Said Charles Beecher, speaking of the Protestant churches: … ‘The Protestant evangelical denominations have so tied up one another’s hands, and their own, that, between them all, a man cannot become a preacher at all, anywhere, without accepting some book besides the Bible. … There is nothing imaginary in the statement that the creed power is now beginning to prohibit the Bible as really as Rome did, though in a subtler way.’ ”—Sermon on ‘The Bible a Sufficient Creed,’ delivered at Fort Wayne, Indiana, February 22, 1846.” Ibid., 388, 389.

The warning is given: “The same unswerving adherence to the word of God manifested at that crisis of the Reformation is the only hope of reform today.” Ibid., 204.

Let us review the definition of the word creed. The meaning of creed in the 10th edition of Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary is defined as follows:

  1. a brief authoritative formula of religious belief,
  2. a set of fundamental beliefs.

In The Great Controversy we find this clear explanation of what took place in the Protestant churches later in the Reformation: “Has not the same process been repeated in nearly every church calling itself Protestant? As the founders, those who possessed the true spirit of reform, pass away, their descendants come forward and ‘new-model the cause.’ While blindly clinging to the creed of their fathers and refusing to accept any truth in advance of what they saw, the children of the reformers depart widely from their example of humility, self-denial, and renunciation of the world.” Ibid., 385.

When these descendants came forward and “new-modeled the cause” they stepped from the foundation principles that the Reformation was founded upon. They established a creed or statement of beliefs and refused to consider any new light (truth), which the Lord was pleased to reveal. Thus, when the second-advent awakening began with the preaching of the first angel’s message and Daniel 8:14, they were unprepared to receive the new light (truths) that God was pleased to send to them. The following quotation explains how the Protestant churches responded to the first angel’s message and the preaching of Daniel 8:14:

“As his work tended to build up the churches, it was for a time regarded with favor. But as ministers and religious leaders decided against the advent doctrine and desired to suppress all agitation of the subject, they not only opposed it from the pulpit, but denied their members the privilege of attending preaching upon the second advent, or even of speaking of their hope in the social meetings of the church.” Ibid., 376.

Those who desired to hold to the two great principles of the Protestant reformation found this to be a very distressing situation. The following is a description of the dilemma this put the true believers in and how they responded: “Thus the believers found themselves in a position of great trial and perplexity. … But as they saw the testimony of God’s word suppressed and their right to investigate the prophecies denied they felt that loyalty to God forbade them to submit. Those who sought to shut out the testimony of God’s word they could not regard as constituting the church of Christ, ‘the pillar and ground of the truth.’ Hence they felt themselves justified in separating from their former connection. In the summer of 1844 about fifty thousand withdrew from the churches.” Ibid.

Because of the creeds the Protestant churches established, they were not prepared to receive the new light the Lord was pleased to send them in the proclamation of the first angel’s message and the time of the judgment announced in Daniel 8:14. As a result, they separated themselves from God and cut themselves off from the benefits of the new covenant. “In refusing the warning of the first angel, they rejected the means which Heaven had provided for their restoration.” Ibid., 380.

In Revelation 14:6, the first angel proclaimed far and wide the eternal gospel. “Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel [the very foundation of the Christian faith] to proclaim to those who live on the earth.”

The ministry of Jesus in the sanctuary of the new covenant in heaven where the terms and conditions of the new covenant formed by God the Father and Christ is the only place in the universe where our confessed sins are atoned for by the blood of Christ.

Revelation 14:7 states: “He said in a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come.’ ” The judgment, set by Daniel 8:14, is the last event under the new covenant plan of salvation. It prepares the way for the complete restoration of the kingdom of glory.

“And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days [Hebrew–evenings and mornings]; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed [restored to its rightful state].” Daniel 8:14 KJV.

This verse is the foundation and central pillar of the Christian’s faith and of the true church. “The Scripture which above all others had been both the foundation and the central pillar of the advent faith was the declaration: ‘Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.’ (Daniel 8:14).” The Great Controversy, 409.

Had the Protestant churches accepted the message of the sanctuary it would have opened to them “a complete system of truth, connected and harmonious, showing that God’s hand had directed the great advent movement.” Light from the sanctuary would have “illumined the past, the present, and the future.”

In their rejection of these messages, the Protestant churches virtually rejected the foundation and central pillar of the Christian faith and became “dead,” the churches represented by the message sent to Sardis.

In this rejection of the “everlasting gospel” and the announcement of the judgment to begin, we see the reason why the second angel’s message was pronounced against them in the summer of 1844. “The second angel’s message of Revelation 14 was first preached in the summer of 1844, and it then had a more direct application to the churches of the United States, where the warning of the judgment had been most widely proclaimed and most generally rejected, and where the declension in the churches had been most rapid.” Ibid., 389.

Since Jesus has begun His atonement ministry in the most holy place in the sanctuary of the new covenant in heaven on October 22, 1844, Satan has successfully led almost the whole world to reject this message again. Only a remnant remains who are giving a clear message concerning the ministry of Jesus in the most holy place of this new covenant sanctuary. They are described in Revelation 12:17: “Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

Another description of them is recorded in the third angel’s message: “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.” Revelation 14:12.

We know from these verses that this remnant people believe in the true sanctuary message. The first evidence is that they keep the commandments, which are in the most holy place. They recognized that they had broken these commandments and were sinners, but they have gone to Christ to plead for His atoning blood to cover their sin. Then they trusted in Jesus to provide them with His strength to help keep them from sin and to obey the commandments. So, we see that those who keep the commandments believe in the true sanctuary message. Secondly, they “hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

We know from Revelation 19:10 that the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy. In the book, The Great Controversy, there is a complete description of the sanctuary of the new covenant and the atonement ministry of Jesus in the holy place. Therefore the remnant that holds to the testimony of Jesus will also hold to the true sanctuary message contained in that testimony.

Let us again turn our attention on the Protestant world that rejected the first angel’s message and the 2300 year time prophecy. The Bible says that the second angel’s message was immediately pronounced against them.

“In Revelation 14 the first angel is followed by a second proclaiming: ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication’ (Revelation 14:8). The term ‘Babylon’ is derived from ‘Babel,’ and signifies confusion. It is employed in Scripture to designate the various forms of false or apostate religion.” Ibid., 381.

There remains one remedy for them by which they may be restored to the favor of God. It is as follows: “The same unswerving adherence to the word of God manifested at that crisis of the Reformation is the only hope of reform today.” Ibid., 204.

But, to the present time, there has been no evidence of reform or acceptance of the new covenant sanctuary message among the fallen Protestant churches. So, we see that Satan is continuing to be very successful in his warfare against the ministry of Jesus in the new covenant sanctuary. He continues to hold the Roman Catholic Church in rejection of the new covenant sanctuary truth since the Dark Ages and still continues to direct the people to confess their sins to priests in the place of their Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Satan continues to lead the whole world to reject the new covenant and the ministry of Jesus in the sanctuary above. But let us be of good courage; the prophecy in Daniel 8:14 states that, “the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.” The two great principles of the Protestant reformers will be revived and this will be done by the faithful believers described in Revelation 12:17 and 14:12.

This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New International Version.)

Maurice Hoppe is Director of the Steps to Life Training Programs and a member of the Steps to Life Board. The Training Program for Ministers and Church Leaders is a correspondence course that prepares individuals to serve as pastors or Bible workers. Preparing for the Final Conflict is a correspondence course for the laity. Both of these courses teach present truth that will be an anchor for the soul during the storm of opposition and persecution just ahead. He and his wife also have a correspondence course offered through Revelation Ministry. He can be contacted at: mauricehoppe@stepstolife.org.

Three Steps to Glory

by

In Paul’s writings, he classes individuals into three different groups:

  • Those without law
  • Those under law
  • Those under grace

By carefully examining his references to these three groups, we can determine the characteristics of those who composed each in Paul’s day and gain insight into who composes the corresponding groups today.

The first group we will examine that Paul spoke of were those “without law,” or apart from the law. He refers to them in two different places.

To the Romans, he wrote in Romans 2:12, “For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law.”

In I Corinthians 9:21, he refers again to those “without law,” noting that he became “to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law.” Notice that he added a very important caveat: although he became “as without law” to more readily empathize with those without law, he understood that he remained “under law toward Christ.”

Before quoting this text in Gospel Workers, 117, Ellen White wrote, “The minister must not feel that the whole truth is to be spoken to unbelievers on any and every occasion. He should study carefully when to speak, what to say, and what to leave unsaid.”

She expressed much the same principle in The Southern Watchman, 76: “All zeal and earnestness are to be retained; but at the same time some features of our faith, if expressed, would, by the elements with which you have to deal, arouse prejudice at once.” The “elements with which you have to deal” are those who at the time are without law, who have not yet had that rebirth experience and who perhaps do not yet understand or feel their need of such an experience.

In Paul’s day, those without law were primarily pagans. They are referred to in the King James Version as strange, outlandish, or foreign, and in the New King James Version as pagan.

While such still exist today, there are some who would probably be quite upset if referred to by any of those terms, although their belief system is essentially the same as was that of the pagans in Paul’s day.

Individuals in this group are unregenerate (not reborn) rebels against God; in most instances, not only have these individuals not had the rebirth experience, they do not want that experience. There are several titles applied to such people today. One would be atheist.

Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities of any nature or type. Most inclusively, atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist at all.

Another term for those “without law” is Humanist.

According to Wikipedia, “When the first letter is capitalized, ‘Humanism’ describes the secular ideology that espouses reason, ethics, and justice, while specifically rejecting supernatural and religious ideas as a basis of morality and decision-making.” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/humanism)

Humanists believe that there is something inherent within the mind of human beings that somehow gives them the ability to be reasonable, ethical, and just without any external, objective yardstick. A simple review of any single day’s newspaper would reveal the folly of such an idea.

The second group are those whom Paul refers to as being under law. In Paul’s day, these were the Jews who professed to be doing God’s will while rejecting Christ. Paul describes himself as such prior to his Damascus road experience. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were among this group, as indeed were Christ’s disciples before their rebirth experience.

Today, we might call these people legalists. Though they profess to be doing God’s will, they are much like the children of Israel at Sinai: “All that the Lord has said we will do” (Exodus 19:8). They fail to realize that in and of themselves, they have no power to obey. Scripture frequently describes this class as wise, or the natural man. Clearly wisdom is a double-edged sword. There is indeed a divinely inspired wisdom, but there are also those who are wise in their own conceits, or more literally, wise within themselves. (See Romans 12:16.)

Paul goes further in his letter to the Galatians, noting that “every man who becomes circumcised … is a debtor to keep the whole law,” having “become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” Galatians 5:3, 4.

There is yet another aspect of being under law, perhaps more appropriate today—and more easily understood and applied—than was the usage that Paul made.

Undoubtedly in your travels you have at one time or another passed someone who had been stopped by a highway patrolman, sitting in his car as the patrolman was writing out a ticket for some violation of the traffic law. This individual was, at that time, under law. You, however, because you had not violated the law at that time, were not under such condemnation. Although you may have violated the law at some time in the past and either not been caught or had been caught and had paid the penalty, you were at this point in time under grace, having made restitution for your transgression.

As regards the violation of the moral law, however, there is no way the sinner can make restitution. Thus we need the grace of God, provided so abundantly and so freely by the sacrifice that Christ made when He laid aside His royal robe and assumed the nature of fallen man. When the sinner accepts that sacrifice as the propitiation for his sin, confesses, and repents, he immediately becomes a member of the third group Paul refers to—those under grace.

“In the matchless gift of His Son, God has encircled the whole world with an atmosphere of grace as real as the air which circulates around the globe. All who choose to breathe this life-giving atmosphere will live and grow up to the stature of men and women in Christ Jesus.” Steps to Christ, 68.

Those in this group could be from either pagan or Jewish backgrounds, but they have accepted Christ as the only “name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12. KJV.

In Romans, Paul makes very clear what he means when he uses the term, “under grace”: “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!” Romans 6:14, 15.

Just as the obedient driver in the previous example is not free to violate the traffic laws with impunity, neither is the forgiven sinner free to live wantonly and hope to remain under grace. He immediately becomes under the condemnation of the law and in need of a Saviour when he commits transgression.

“When a sinner becomes sensible of the fact that only through Christ can he gain eternal life; when he realizes that obedience to God’s word is the condition of entrance into the kingdom of God; when he sees Christ as the propitiation for sin, he comes to the Saviour in humility and contrition, confessing his sins and seeking forgiveness. His soul is impressed with a sense of the majesty and glory of God. The blessedness of an eternal life of peace and joy and purity is felt so deeply that an entire surrender is made.” The Colporteur Evangelist, 68, 69.

Then, and only then, will the sinner find himself “under grace,” awaiting that glorious day when the kingdom of glory will be restored.

There is a natural progression toward the kingdom of glory outlined in Paul’s descriptions of these groups.

In the first stage of this progression, many live without regard to the great moral law, perhaps not even realizing that there is a moral authority, far more eternally significant than any law that man may write. The Holy Spirit is constantly appealing to these individuals, leading them to acknowledge the law that God has written on human hearts.

Once this acknowledgment occurs, many strive to keep this law through their own feeble efforts, falsely thinking that their legalistic obedience will merit their salvation. Those in this group fail to recognize that salvation is a free gift, secured to all through the sacrifice of Christ. They have put the proverbial cart before the horse, thinking that God will love and save them if they are obedient, rather than obeying because they realize the infinite love of God toward them. They do not recognize that true obedience springs from a desire to show love to God for the incredible gift that made salvation possible. “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Once an individual realizes that it is impossible for him to keep the law through his own efforts, he flees to God in his weak and sinful state, pleading the blood of Christ as propitiation for his sins. Claiming Christ as his Saviour, he falls helpless at the foot of the cross, exclaiming as did Isaiah, “Woe is me, for I am undone (Isaiah 6:5). Job, Daniel, and Peter each had this same overwhelming experience when confronted with the pure sinlessness of Jesus. (See Job 42:6, Daniel 10:8, and Luke 5:8.)

“The nearer we come to Jesus, and the more clearly we discern the purity of His character, the more clearly shall we see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the less shall we feel like exalting ourselves. Those whom Heaven recognizes as holy ones are the last to parade their own goodness. Men who have lived near to God, men who would sacrifice life itself rather than knowingly commit a wrong act, men whom God has honored with divine light and power, have confessed the sinfulness of their own nature. They have put no confidence in the flesh, have claimed no righteousness of their own, but have trusted wholly in the righteousness of Christ. So will it be with all who behold the Saviour.” The Youth’s Instructor, June 5, 1902.

These are they who have progressed successfully from being without law to that state of grace wherein they give thanks to God for the victory provided through Christ (I Corinthians 15:57).

“Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12).” Here are those who are prepared to enter into the glory of the Lord when He returns to gather His saints.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

John Pearson is the office manager and a board member of Steps to Life. After retiring as chief financial officer for the Grand Canyon Association, Grand Canyon, Arizona, he moved to Wichita, Kansas, to join the Steps team. He may be contacted by email at: johnpearson@stepstolife.org.