Doctrine

The Meaning of the Cross

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Ellen White tells us that we are going to spend all eternity studying the meaning of the cross; it is the focal point of everything else. My freshman composition teacher used to say that when you are writing a paper, you need to limit your subject so that you can cover it adequately; but the cross is a subject that we can never fully cover. We still need, however, to understand all that our minds can grasp.

There was a theory going around in the days of Jesus that the soul, or the spirit, hovered over the dead body for three days after death. Jesus, however, waited and did not arrive at Lazarus’ home until he had been dead four days. Thus, even according to the false theories of the Jews, he was really dead. Because Lazarus was raised in the presence of a large group of people, there was no way to deny what had taken place. Some of those present related to the Pharisees what had taken place. A meeting of the Pharisees and chief priests was quickly called. The record of that meeting begins in John 11:45 and continues to the end of the chapter.

“If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.” John 11:48. They were afraid of the Romans. Are people afraid of the Romans, today? Yes, they are. God’s true church is afraid of the Roman power today just as the people in Jesus’ day were afraid of the Romans. Interestingly, the very thing that they believed would bring the Roman power to destroy them was the thing that would have delivered them from its power. It is an amazing thing.

On this occasion, the church leaders decided they were going to have to kill Jesus to prevent the Romans from destroying them. Ironically, by that very act, they brought destruction on themselves by the Romans. As we continue our study, keep in mind that something similar could happen again.

“And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish.’ Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.” John 11:49–52. What is the reason that the apostle John gives for the cross? The children of God were scattered all over the world, but John said that Jesus was going to die so that all of the people of God who were scattered abroad could be brought together into one. What a wonderful thought.

God’s people are still scattered all over the world; and we are going to continue to be so for a little while, because Ellen White said, concerning the 144,000 during the time of trouble, that they will be scattered all over the world. But when Jesus comes again, they are going to be gathered together into one church. I love to think about it.

Have you noticed that people sometimes do not like it at one church, so they go to another one? It is not usually because they did not like the building but because they did not get along with some of the people. Have you ever seen that happen? I have never seen anybody decide to go to another church because something was wrong with themselves; but I have seen a lot of people want to go to another church because they said that something was wrong with someone else. Well, now here is my question, What if this were to take place in heaven? This has to do, friends, with the meaning of the cross. You see, as a result of sin, people are alienated from one another. According to the apostle John, God’s children will be gathered into one.

The Bible is a spiritual book, and when it says that God’s children will be gathered into one, it is not speaking of them being gathered into one building. “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” 1 Corinthians 6:17. “For He Himself is our peace, Who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation.” Ephesians 2:14

I have always had a fascination to understand the American Civil War. It was the most disastrous war the United States has ever fought. As I was in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the whole matter became crystal clear in my mind. At the time of the war, our whole country was separated into two armed camps that were totally alienated from one another. All wars are the result of alienation. By the way, there is a great deal of alienation in the world today. There is even alienation among the professed people of God.

Is the cross just a story, or are we experiencing its spiritual meaning? Let me tell you something—this is something very serious—if there is one other person in this world from whom you are alienated, at least one of you is not going to heaven unless that problem is solved. It is just that simple. Now it could be both of you, but it might only be one. You might have somebody who is alienated from you and you might not be at fault at all; but if there are two people who are alienated, there is something wrong with at least one of them, and they cannot go to heaven unless that situation is taken care of. The purpose of the cross is to destroy this alienation and bring reconciliation.

Today, with many Christians, the cross is just like the law was for the Jewish nation. The Jewish nation taught the law, talked the law, and yet Jesus said to them, “Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?” John 7:19. Today, wherever I travel, I see crosses on churches; I see crosses around people’s necks; but people fail to understand what it means. If the cross has not destroyed the enmity in your heart, it has not done the work in your heart that must be done if you are to be saved.

“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled.” Colossians 1:19–21

Why did Jesus have to go to the cross? “Christ died for our sins.” 1 Corinthians 15:3. Now, when I understand that, if I choose to sin, what have I chosen to do? I have chosen to do the very thing that sent Jesus to the cross. By wicked works I am alienated, expressing hatred for the Son of God. You cannot love sin and love Jesus. “You who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.” Colossians 1:21, 22. When we come to the cross and we see the spiritual meaning of it, the sin that we used to love we learn to hate. Everyone who has that experience, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is going to be reconciled into one.

“Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry [or service] of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For, He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:18–21

Oh, friend, is the story of the cross just a story to you, or have you had this experience? Have you been reconciled to God so that you are no longer at enmity with Him, so that you can be taken to heaven and will feel perfectly at home there because you are in harmony with the whole system? We are living in a time when we need to get down on our knees and say, “Lord, I am choosing to surrender, to submit to the cross of Jesus Christ.”

When you are no longer alienated from God, you are in a position to be reconciled, not only to God but to your fellow man. You will no longer live for self but for Him who died for you.

“Satan is the originator of sin. In heaven he resolved to live to himself. He resolved to be leader. He determined to make himself a center of influence. . . . Head he would be, to control, not to be controlled.” Review and Herald, April 14, 1901. It is this character trait, or desire, in people that splits up churches. When I was a young man, they used to have a popular song in which the words went something like this: There are too many chiefs and not enough Indians around this place. This is the root cause of all manner of troubles.

It is said that Julius Caesar was once walking along a mountain road when, in the distance, he saw a small village. He is said to have remarked, “I would rather be number one in that village than to be number two in Rome.” This is why Julius Caesar was willing to kill millions of people—he wanted to be number one.

If space permitted, we could go through the gospels and see that this was the same problem that the disciples had. They never got over it until Jesus was crucified. After that, you never again find them contending as to who would be the greatest. Though they had been alienated, they were reconciled by the blood of His cross.

If you have a desire in your heart to control other people, you have the same problem. It is possible for you to be the most respected person in town and still have this problem. If you have this desire to control other people, you have not yet been reconciled. The person who lives for himself is not a Christian because he has never experienced the cross. “No one can live for himself and at the same time be united with Christ. Conformity to the world, attachment to the world, manifests a decided denial of Christ.” Signs of the Times, June 13, 1892

When His disciples were struggling and quarreling over who would be next to Him in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus said; “The princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister.” Matthew 20:25, 26 KJV

In the English speaking countries, we are not used to having servants, so we have only one or two words to express the concept. We talk about servants and slaves and that is about all; but in the Roman Empire, they had many servants of various categories and used a number of different words to denote a servant. There were some servants who were what we would call managers. It was one of these, by the way, who struck Jesus when He was being tried before Caiaphas. This was a high-class servant, someone who had some authority. There was, however, a lower level of servant. The Greek word for these servants is deakenos. This is where we get the word deacon. Jesus said, “He that will be great among you, let him be a deakenos.”

In the Roman Empire, there was one category that was the lowest of all servants. They would be what we would call slaves. In the old King James Version, this word is usually translated servant, and in modern translations, it is translated as bond servant or slave. It is the lowest category of servanthood. The Greek word is doulos. Jesus said, “He that will be great among you, let him be a deakenos [that is a middle level of servant], but the one that will be first among you, let him be a doulos [that is the lowest level of servant], even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister [Or, a more literal translation, “Even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.”], and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:26–28

Philippians tells us how Jesus followed this principle. He started out as the highest, “but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Philippians 2:7, 8. I say this reverently, friend, He went lower for you and for me than we will ever be able to go for Him. You will never be able to go as low for Jesus as He has already gone for you. And I want to tell you, once the Holy Spirit drives that thought home into our consciousness, we will never be the same again. We cannot go on in this alienated form of life, fighting and bickering, with all that is going on among professed Christians today. We cannot do it!

The apostles did not all think the same on every matter after the cross. The cross did not take away their ability to think, but they were no longer alienated from one another.

Friends, there is going to be a people when Jesus comes who are no longer alienated. They are no longer going to be fighting. The 144,000 will be perfectly unified, in harmony. It is going to happen, all right. The question is, Who is going to experience the experience of the cross so that they can be part of it?

He died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and rose again. Oh, friend, is this your experience? The cross must be an experience, no longer just a story. It must change the inner wellspring of the life so that we no longer live for ourselves. This is such a big problem in human nature that our daily prayer to God needs to be that He will divest us of selfishness. See Our High Calling, 242.

The servant of the Lord would not tell us to pray that every day if we did not need to do so. We are talking about a big problem. This is why we need to go to the cross over, and over, and over again, until the message soaks in. I want to invite you, just now, to kneel down and pray that through the power of the Holy Spirit, this will be your experience.

The End

Erecting Monuments

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“Few realize that, in their lives, they constantly exert an influence which will be perpetuated for good or evil.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 2, 1032.

Approximately twenty years ago, two young men from a church next door to our home came over to “convert” us. We agreed to participate in doctrinal studies with them in hopes of “converting” them to our beliefs.

Early one morning, I was studying Matthew 5 and read, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Verse 19. Oh yes, these young men are teaching people to break the commandments of God! Shortly after this self-righteous thought entered my mind, another idea, new to me, came to mind. Joan, everything that you do and say is teaching someone to keep or break the commandments of God. This was a startling thought. But Lord, I am a Seventh-day Adventist. I have the truth. I am not teaching error. “The gospel of Christ is the law exemplified in character.” Maranatha, 18. “God’s law is a transcript of His character.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 207. By every thought, word, and action, I was teaching someone to keep or break the commandments. What an unsettling thought that by an un-Christlike character, I might be leading others to break God’s holy Law!

A Lesson from Solomon

“Hundreds of years had elapsed since Solomon caused those idolatrous shrines to be erected on the mount; and, although Josiah had demolished them as places of worship, their debris, containing portions of architecture, were still remaining in the days of Christ. The prominence upon which those shrines had stood was called, by the true-hearted of Israel, the Mount of Offense.

“Solomon, in his pride and enthusiasm, did not realize that in those pagan altars he was erecting a monument of his debased character, to endure for many generations, and to be commented on by thousands. In like manner, every act of life is great for good or evil; and it is only by acting upon principle in the tests of daily life, that we acquire power to stand firm and faithful in the most dangerous and most difficult positions.

“The marks of Solomon’s apostasy lived ages after him. In the days of Christ, the worshipers in the temple could look, just opposite them, upon the Mount of Offense, and be reminded that the builder of their rich and glorious temple, the most renowned of all kings, had separated himself from God, and reared altars to heathen idols; that the mightiest ruler on earth had failed in ruling his own spirit. Solomon went down to death a repentant man; but his repentance and tears could not efface from the Mount of Offense the signs of his miserable departure from God. Ruined walls and broken pillars bore silent witness for a thousand years to the apostasy of the greatest king that ever sat upon an earthly throne. . . .

“It was this prophecy of impending ruin (see 1 Kings 11:11) that had awakened the apostate king as from a dream, and had led him to repent, and to seek to stay, so far as possible, the terrible tide of evil that during the later years of his reign had been rising high and still higher. But at the time of his repentance, only a few years of life remained to him, and he could not hope to avert the consequences of long years of wrongdoing. His course of evil had set in operation influences that afterward he could never fully control.

“Especially was this the case in the training of the children born to him through marriage with idolatrous women. Rehoboam, the son whom Solomon chose to be his successor, had received from his mother, an Ammonitess, a stamp of character that led him to look upon sin as desirable. At times he endeavored to serve God, and was granted a measure of prosperity; but he was not steadfast, and at last he yielded to the influences for evil that had surrounded him from infancy.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 2, 1032, 1033. [Emphasis supplied.]

Idolatry Today

Are you teaching your children to erect monuments of a holy character? If you have begun wrong, take courage.

“To parents who have begun their training wrong, I would say, Do not despair. You need to be soundly converted to God. . . . It is of the highest importance that you bring the attributes of Christ into your own life and character, and educate and train your children with persevering effort to be obedient to the commandments of God. A ‘Thus saith the Lord’ should guide you in all your plans of education.” Child Guidance, 69.

Provide for your children a training that will help them erect the monument of a holy character. It will stand throughout eternity!

The World-Class Straw Man, part 3

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To point out all of the errors and distortions of truth in the new book, The Nature of Christ, by Roy Adams, associate editor of the Review, would require a volume at least as large as the original. This would surpass both our time and our interest. We trust that the samplings of grevious errors that have been provided in our first two articles will satisfy those who have a concern for accuracy and truth. In this final article, we wish to simply identify some of Adams’ major disagreements with the Bible and with the Spirit of Prophecy. We believe this evidence will make it clear that Adams is not really fighting Jones, Waggoner, and Andreason. His real enemy is the inspired writings, especially the Spirit of Prophecy.

Adams seems to be deeply offended by two closely related concepts in the inspired writings:

  1. That victory over sin by God’s power is possible in this life.
  2. That there will be some persons who will stand before God without a mediator in the last days.

As we have seen, he endeavors to make us believe that the first concept regarding victory (sanctification) has not come to us from the inspired writings but from Jones and Waggoner through Andreason.

Here is a suggestion. Take a pen in your hand and mark with a V for victory the following verses in your New Testament:

  • Matthew 5:48
  • Romans 1:16
  • Romans 5:21
  • Romans 6:18, 22
  • Romans 8:4
  • Romans 12:2
  • 1 Corinthians 10:13
  • 2 Corinthians 5:17
  • 2 Corinthians 7:1
  • 2 Corinthians 10:5
  • Galatians 2:20
  • Ephesians 1:4
  • Ephesians 3:20
  • Ephesians 4:22–24
  • Ephesians 5:26, 27
  • Philippians 2:5, 15
  • Philippians 4:13
  • Colossians 1:22;
  • 1 Thessalonians 3:13
  • 1 Thessalonians 4:1, 7
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:23;
  • 2 Thessalonians 2:13
  • 1 Timothy 6:14
  • 2 Timothy 2:19, 22
  • 2 Timothy 3:17
  • Titus 2:3, 12–14
  • Hebrews 6:1
  • Hebrews 13:20, 21
  • James 1:4, 21
  • James 4:7, 8
  • 1 Peter 1:15, 16, 22
  • 1 Peter 2:11, 12
  • 1 Peter 5:10
  • 2 Peter 3:11
  • 1 John 2:6, 29
  • 1 John 3:3, 7, 22
  • 1 John 4:4
  • 1 John 5:3, 4
  • Jude 24, 25
  • Revelation 3:21
  • Revelation 14:12
  • Revelation 22:14

Then ask yourself the question, Is the victory doctrine biblical or not? Next, borrow or purchase a copy of our second research volume, Tell of His Power, and examine the 2,500 victory statements and references there which were gleaned from a total of more than 4,500 such statements in Ellen White’s writings. Then ask yourself the question, Is the victory doctrine supported by God’s chosen messenger, Ellen White, or is it not?

In his bitter opposition to the concept that there will be a group who will stand without a mediator, Adams argues that the idea originated with Andreason (see previous article) and that it is a false concept because it would require God to deal with the final generation in a different manner than He has dealt with previous generations. But does God expect no more of us than He did of previous generations? Here is a sampling of Ellen White’s several comments on that subject:

“Our responsibility is greater than was that of our ancestors. We are accountable for the light which they received, and which was handed down as an inheritance for us, and we are accountable also for the additional light which is now shining upon us from the Word of God.” The Great Controversy, 164.

We have, beyond question, the greatest spiritual light that any generation has ever had. For God to hold us responsible for the light that He has graciously given to us is nothing new in the plan of salvation. It has always been true. Adams states that the people he admires most are “those who never dwell on the subject of perfection or sinlessness.” The Nature of Christ, 120. When we remember how frequently Ellen White did dwell upon these subjects, going into print more than 4,500 times, often in entire articles, we recognize that Ellen White could have no place on the list of persons whom Adams admires most. One of her most inspiring statements is found in Christ’s Object Lessons, page 69:

“Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then he will come to claim them as His own.”

Adams devotes three and a half pages to arguing that this statement does not mean what it says, and even dares to rewrite it: Here are his words: “. . . we may now rephrase the first statement as follows: 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 Nature of Christ, 128.

“No focus here on sinless perfection,” writes Adams. Indeed? In the second paragraph before her inspiring statement, Ellen White had written:

“The graces of the Spirit will ripen in your character. Your faith will increase, your convictions deepen, your love be made perfect. More and more you will reflect the likeness of Christ in all that is pure, noble, and lovely.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 68.

And in the third paragraph before this she had written: “Christ is seeking to reproduce Himself in the hearts of men; and He does this through those who believe in Him. The object of the Christian life is fruit bearing—the reproduction of Christ’s character in the believer, that it may be reproduced in others.” Ibid., 67.

If this is not a focus on character perfection, pray tell, what is it? And how can Adams be justified in applying the principle of fruit bearing only to concern for others when she applied it to the reproduction of Christ’s character in the believer? In the book Christ’s Object Lessons, thee are actually a total of 62 statements that focus on character perfection. Perhaps the most relevant of them is on page 331:

“Let no one say, I cannot remedy my defects of character. If you come to this decision, you will certainly fail of obtaining everlasting life. The impossibility lies in your own will. If you will not, then you cannot overcome. The real difficulty arises from the corruption of an unsanctified heart, and an unwillingness to submit to the control of God.”

We would earnestly recommend that Dr. Adams give this passage his careful and prayerful attention and not attempt to solve his problem by “rephrasing” it. As for the colossal effrontery of daring to rewrite the Spirit of Prophecy, Ellen White has spoken on that subject also.

“My Instructor said to me, Tell these men that God has not committed to them the work of measuring, classifying, and defining the character of the testimonies. Those who attempt this are sure to err in their conclusions.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 49.

We may well pause to consider the seriousness of this man’s condition. He not only presumes to rewrite the testimonies but the rewriting itself is hideously incorrect and consists of gross misrepresentation. I do not recall that I have ever borne against any work such a strong testimony as I am now bearing against this man’s work, but I feel that I have no choice. As I complete my analysis of the Adams book and note its appalling distortions of the Scriptures, distortions of the Spirit of Prophecy, and even distortions of the history of our church, I am filled with dismay. When I consider that it was written by an associate editor of the Review, printed by the Review and Herald Publishing Company, and carries on its back cover recommendations from officers at the highest level of Adventist officialdom, I am driven nearly to despair. But God has promised that He will preserve His people in a purified church, so we must persevere, regardless of how dark are the prospects before us. We need to remember that most of the apostasies in Israel were initiated by church leaders. Why should we expect it to be different in our time?

But the report of my analysis is not finished. On page 90 of his volume, Adams writes of Andreason’s “facile admonitions to ‘get rid of sin’ and ‘do it now, today.’” We have already noted that Ellen White issued such “facile admonitions” several thousand times. Here are some samples:

“We can overcome, fully, entirely.” Signs of the Times, November 18, 1886.

“There is no reason why we should not be overcomers.” Signs of the Times, March 9, 1888.

“It is our privilege to be overcomers by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.” Review and Herald, April 8, 1909.

And thousands more. But we must go on. On page 89, Adams faults Ron Spear for teaching that the Holy Spirit gives power to keep the repentant soul from sinning. Ellen White testifies to this truth 102 times, like this:

“When the people of God yield themselves to be controlled entirely by the Holy Spirit, in them will appear that Christlikeness which is in accordance with the richness and grandeur of the truth.” Signs of the Times, May 8, 1893.

“The omnipotent power of the Holy Spirit is the defense of every contrite soul.” Ministry of Healing, 94.

On page 85, Adams writes, “We are not saved by trying to duplicate (Christ’s) victory.”

Ellen White testifies 41 times like this:

“We can, we can reveal the likeness of our divine Lord.” Review and Herald, April 4, 1912.

“Christians must be like Christ. They should have the same spirit, exert the same influence, and have the same moral excellence that He possessed.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 249.

On page 97, Adams assures us that victory over some sins is impossible and that God bears with them until the end. Ellen White again disagrees. She not only assures us that we can fully overcome (see above), she also warns that a failure to do this will disqualify us for heaven.

“We must conquer in the name of Jesus, or be conquered.” Signs of the Times, June 10, 1903.

“We shall either overcome our evil traits of character, and become like Christ, or we shall cherish our defects, and fail of the divine standard.” Review and Herald, March 17, 1891.

Many more such disagreements with Ellen White are found in Adams’ book, but we cannot detail them all here. How does he deal with these problems? By a technique that has been used by virtually all of the Calvinistic writers among us. He writes of Ellen White’s seemingly conflicting statements” (page 116), her “apparently conflicting statements” (page 119), and her “apparent contradictions” (page 119). We affirm in response that Ellen White is not disagreeing with herself; she is disagreeing with her Calvinistic interpreters and “rephrasers”, as she should.

Adams does not even shrink from proposing that his readers challenge us with the lunatic question, “Are you perfect?” Although other Calvinists have done this, I still find it so incredibly inane that I marvel when I see it. To ask this question is to betray an enormous incompetence in the Scriptures, in the Spirit of Prophecy, and even in common sense. In the oldest book in the Bible, Job testified, “Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul.” Job 9:21. Ellen White offers similar testimony 25 times:

“Those who are really seeking to perfect Christian character will never indulge in the thought that they are sinless.” Review and Herald, January 18, 1881.

“Those whom Heaven recognizes as holy ones are the last to parade their own goodness.” Youth’s Instructor, June 5, 1902.

As for common sense, how would you estimate your own humility? Shall I say to people, “You know folks, one thing I like about me is that I am so humble? I am probably the most humble minister in this conference. If you want to see a man who is really humble, just take a look at me!” What kind of sense would that make? Yet Calvinists continue to think that they have confounded us when they ask this senseless question. Is not their condition desperate?

In a chapter entitled, “What Is Sin?” Adams divides sin into four categories and argues that two of the categories can be overcome but the other two cannot. Over against this we have the testimony of Ellen White that we may attain to the full stature of men and women in Christ (36 statements), that we can reflect His likeness (41 statements), that we can live lives of holiness (70 statements), that we can reach moral perfection (135 statements), and that we can reflect the moral image of God (135 statements). She then warns us in 48 statements that there will be no change of character when Christ comes. How did Adams miss all of this?

On page 23, Adams faults Joe Crews for affirming that emphasis was intended by the writer of Hebrews 2:14 in the words “HE—ALSO—HIMSELF—LIKEWISE” took part of the same flesh and blood that we have. [Emphasis by Crews.] Adams says that this emphasis is improper since “the apostle did not write in English” and the words are “merely a matter of English idiomatic style—now nearly 500 years old.” But the words are all there in the Greek.

Observe:

Kai—autos—paraplesios

Also—He himself—likewise, in like manner

The Greek lexicons define autos like this:

“Self, intensive, setting the word it modifies off from everything else, emphasizing and contrasting.” Gingrich [Italics mine]

“Self, as used to distinguish a person or thing from or contrast it with another.” Thayer
“Of oneself, by oneself, alone.” Liddell and Scott

“Of oneself, of one’s own motion, alone.” Greenfield

Did Adams suppose that we had all lost our Greek New Testaments? This is a 2,000 year-old Greek idiom, not a 500 year old English idiom.

We could go on, but we cannot afford to spend overmuch time chasing the devil’s rabbits. We trust that enough evidence has been presented to demonstrate the character of Dr. Adams’ book, The Nature of Christ. And we must sadly admit that it is not essentially different from the other Calvinistic writings that have preceded it. Calvinism began in the Seventh-day Adventist Church through a statement about the nature of Christ in the book Questions on Doctrine that was a methodological monstrosity and an historical fraud. Calvinism has been maintained and promoted in our church by writings that have not departed from that pattern of distortion and misrepresentation, as we now see in the Adams book.

It is with an enormous sense of relief and refreshment that we turn from this to the pure waters of life in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. Let others find their satisfaction in the contaminations of Calvinism if they so desire. We have something better. We have no need to drink from broken cisterns. We have a cause that will carry us through to the kingdom of God and will plant our feet upon the sea of glass. We have a truth that shines more brightly from every conflict with error and will emerge totally victorious in the end. It is a truth that is more precious than life itself. Let us hold it fast!

“The time has come when things must be called by their right names. The truth is to triumph gloriously, and those who have long been halting between two opinions must take their stand decidedly for or against the law of God. Some will take up with theories that misinterpret the Word of God, and undermine the foundation of the truth that has been firmly established, point by point, and sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit. The old truths are to be revived, in order that the false theories that have been brought in by the enemy may be intelligently met. There can be no unity between truth and error.” Upward Look, 88. {Emphasis mine.]

In closing, let us permit Ellen White to ask a few questions:

“Why should we not perfect a Christlike character?” Youth’s Instructor, February 20, 1896.

“Shall we not give up our sins, and let them go?” Review and Herald, Mary 5, 1904.

“Shall we now, at once, cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God?” Review and Herald, January 31, 1893.

“Why should we not walk with God, as did Enoch? Why should we not have the transforming grace of Christ daily?” Review and Herald, January 31, 1893.

And the most solemn question of them all:

“And you that have not sanctified your souls by obeying the truth, do you expect that Christ at His appearing will make you ready? There will then be no atoning blood to wash away the stains of sins.” Review and Herald, August 17, 1869. [Emphasis mine.]

We are forced to recognize that there is hopeless disagreement between Adams and Ellen White, a problem that Adams seeks to solve by rewriting her messages and changing her words to make them agree with his Calvinistic errors. Shall we imperil our souls by following Adams, or shall we put our confidence in the words of God’s chosen messenger?

What would you recommend?

The Close of Probation

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Probation is going to close suddenly, when we least expect it, and it will be too late then to decide to be saved. Even when an event is expected and does not happen exactly the way you thought it would, it can easily be missed.

This was the experience of the Jewish nation. They were diligent students of the Old Testament and knew of a Messiah that would come. Prophecy had foretold His birthplace and where His headquarters would be, yet they completely missed it. This experience is going to be repeated by those claiming to be the people of God when they discover that probation has closed. The only security is to be ready at all times. Jesus said, “Be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Matthew 24:44. Time for the second coming of Jesus has far exceeded the expectation of most Seventh-day Adventists, and we are in more danger than ever before that it will come as a surprise.

In Daniel chapter 5 is recorded the story of a Babylonian king, Belshazzar, who witnessed the closure of Babylon’s probation. There have been many people, my own maternal grandfather included, who ridiculed the authenticity of the Bible account of this king. In the twentieth century, archeologists found evidence that showed that a man named Belshazzar did in fact exist; he was a grandson to Nebuchadnezzar and second in line in the kingdom. This history gives insight to why Belshazzar told Daniel that he would make him the third ruler in the kingdom if he would give the interpretation of the message written on the wall by the fingers of a man’s hand.

When my grandmother became a Seventh-day Adventist, my grandfather was very upset, particularly that the church she attended worshiped on what he considered the wrong day. He became so upset that he decided to prove my grandmother wrong. At the library, he researched history books on everything he could find about the change of the Sabbath to Sunday issue. To his great chagrin he discovered that he was wrong, along with the rest of the Christian world, and my grandmother was right. So one Sabbath morning to the surprise of his family, he dressed in his suit and tie and from that time he worshiped with her.

The truth is the truth, whether anybody believes it or not. Belshazzar’s existence was a fact, even though for many years there was no record of him other than that of the Bible. There are yet many mysteries to be revealed. If there is something in the Bible or the Spirit of Prophecy that you do not understand, don’t throw away your faith, for in time it may be revealed.

My grandfather also believed that there was no such thing as a Hittite. He had learned in the German schools that they were a mythological tribe or nation made up in the Bible. However, in the twentieth century, archeologists dug up more evidence proving the Biblical account. Not only did the Hittites exist, but they were a very powerful nation for hundreds of years. Today, many of those skeptical ideas have been proven wrong. The archeologists have proved the authenticity of the Bible and the skeptics are wrong. You can believe the Bible accounts. In fact, when archeologists are looking for some particular thing they go to the Bible to discover the area where they should dig.

However, that aside, the biggest evidence for belief that the Bible is true is not because of history or archeology. When you surrender your life to Jesus Christ and make Him your Lord and Saviour and ask Him for the Holy Spirit, He will give it to you. The Holy Spirit will cause you to be born again, and the result will be that you begin to live a new life, one that you can never live on your own. You will be a new creation. A changed life with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is indisputable evidence of a loving God and the truth of the Bible.

Belshazzar’s probation closed suddenly. He was celebrating and had made a great feast. His wives and concubines and a thousand of his lords were in attendance. He sent for the sacred vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem so that he and his guests could drink from them while praising his gods. “In the same hour the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.” Daniel 5:5.

Notice, it was “the fingers of a man’s hand” that wrote. When you and I write, we write by hand. We take hold of the pen with our fingers and write with the hand. It is called handwriting. However, God does not write with His hand. There are three specific times mentioned in the Bible where God wrote something.

  • God wrote the Ten Commandments with His finger.
  • Jesus stooped and wrote with His finger in the sand when the woman was taken in adultery.
  • A hand appeared, and a finger wrote on the wall.

Belshazzar was terrified. “Then the king’s countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other.” Verse 6. The wise men and soothsayers were called and were offered many gifts if they could interpret the writing but none were able and, to the astonishment of his lords that were present, Belshazzar was scared to death.

The queen mother who remembered Daniel was called and she knew what to do in this situation. She said to Belshazzar: “O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your countenance change. There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God. And in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and King Nebuchadnezzar your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. Inasmuch as an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles, and explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, now let Daniel be called, and he will give the interpretation.” Verses 10–12.

Daniel, his name meaning God is my judge, was summoned to interpret the writing and was offered many gifts in return. “Then Daniel answered, and said before the king, ‘Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another; yet I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation. O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom and majesty, glory and honor. And because of the majesty that He gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whomever he wished, he executed; whomever he wished, he kept alive; whomever he wished, he set up; and whomever he wished, he put down. But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. Then he was driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses. But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified. Then the fingers of the hand were sent from Him, and this writing was written.’ ” Verses 17–24.

It should be remembered that life comes from God; He holds your very breath in His hand. He holds your spirit and your heart does not just go on beating by itself. People think they inherit just so much vital force when they are born and will live until it gives out, causing them to die. No, without the direct interposition of God, we would all die instantly. No man or woman keeps himself or herself alive. In vision, Ellen White saw some of these things, and she did not know how to write it. We do not understand the power of God for it is a mystery. If He moved His finger, all the inhabitants of the earth would be as though they never were.

Daniel, with holy boldness, told the king, “And this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting [or lacking]; PERES [that’s UPHARSIN]: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and the Persians.” Verses 26–28.

It is from this story that we get the expression, “weighed in the balances and found wanting.” Where are the balances? The balances are in God’s sanctuary in heaven. Many times in the Spirit of Prophecy, Ellen White speaks of these balances or scales in the sanctuary.

But what is being weighed in the balances in heaven? In Testimonies, vol. 3, 370, we are told: “God is weighing our characters, our conduct, and our motives in the balances of the sanctuary. It will be a fearful thing to be pronounced wanting in love and obedience by our Redeemer.”

In rebuking Elkanah’s other wife, Peninnah, her rival wife, Hannah, the mother of Samuel said, “Talk no more so very proudly; let no arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is the God of knowledge; and by Him actions are weighed.” I Samuel 2:3.

“All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits.” Proverbs 16:2.

“When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come and see.’ So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.” Revelation 6:5. This indicates that all are being weighed, and when probation closes, the weight will determine eternal destiny.

No one is saved by works. They are saved only by faith in Christ by His grace, but you can be lost by your works. What is being weighed? “Angels are watching the development of character and weighing moral worth. All our words and acts are passing in review before God. It is a fearful, solemn time.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 242.

“God’s eye is upon you; He reads every motive and weighs you in the balances of the sanctuary.” Ibid., vol. 5, 154. “Satan is now seeking to hold God’s people in a state of inactivity, to keep them from acting their part in spreading the truth, that they may at last be weighed in the balance and found wanting.” Ibid., vol. 1, 260. It is the devil’s plan to have you preoccupied with the things of this world, though some be important, and be inactive in spreading the truth. The Bible does not teach that you can do nothing for Christ and still go to the kingdom of heaven.

Another is found in Testimonies to Ministers, 440. “Men are weighed in the balance and found wanting when they are living in the practice of any known sin.” “The moral worth of every soul is weighed in the balance of the heavenly sanctuary.” That I Might Know Him, 255.

We need to understand how God weighs things. In Luke 21:1–4, it says, “And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, ‘Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.’ ”

God weighs differently than man does. If you consider the percentage of the widow’s income that she gave, it was far greater than all the others. Jesus weighed the motive that caused her to give all she had. Why would a widow put so much money into God’s work that she would be dependent on a miracle to provide for her necessities? She gave sacrificially because she loved God’s work. In The Desire of Ages, 615, Ellen White says, “It is the motive that gives character to our acts, stamping them with ignominy or with high moral worth.” God weighs motives. Man cannot read the heart of man as God does, so man can never be sure of the true motive.

Ellen White wrote: “The Lord is coming; the alarm must be sounded. The people who profess the truth are unready. Should their probation close now, they would be weighed in the balance, and found wanting. Some have not made earnest efforts to overcome; they have not realized the danger of continuing in sin, and have become almost content where they are. …

“Many who nominally assent to the truth will fail to enter the kingdom of God, because they do not in their daily life practice that which they profess.” The Review and Herald, November 13, 1883.

It is dangerous to be complacent and be comfortable in sins; probation is going to close at an undisclosed time, and you must not be living in sin when probation closes or you will be in the same situation as Belshazzar.

Job was a person who when weighed by God was found to be a perfect man. Job 29:12–17 says, “I delivered the poor who cried out, the fatherless and the one who had no helper. The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind, and I was feet to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the case that I did not know. I broke the fangs of the wicked, and plucked the victim from his teeth.”

“Have I not wept for him who was in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?” Job 30:25. Notice what he says in Job 31:6: “Let me be weighed on honest scales, that God may know my integrity.” “If I have despised the cause of my male or female servant when they complained against me, what then shall I do when God rises up? When He punishes, how shall I answer Him?” Verses 13, 14. “If I have kept the poor from their desire, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or eaten my morsel by myself, so that the fatherless could not eat of it (but from my youth I reared him as a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow); if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or any poor man without covering; if his heart has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, when I saw I had help in the gate; then let my arm fall from my shoulder, let my arm be torn from the socket.” Verses 16–22.

“If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted myself up when evil found him (indeed I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for a curse on his soul); if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who is there that has not been satisfied with his meat? (But no sojourner had to lodge in the street, for I have opened my doors to the traveler.’ ” Verses 29–32.

Job lived the kind of life God approved, and when he was put on the scale, God said to the devil, “He is a perfect man.” God judges people by their character. Job is an example of the kind of man who was daily ready for his probation to close.

Another man whose outcome was opposite to Job when weighed by God was Achan. His story can be found in Joshua 7:10–13 and 19–26. When the children of Israel took over Jericho God told them that they were not to take anything. It was a divine victory and they were not to keep any of the spoil for themselves. It was the first city to be taken and the spoil was to be a tithe that belonged to God. But Achan became covetous and took some gold, some silver, and it says, in the King James Bible that he took a “Babylonish garment,” a garment from the land of Shinar.

While ever there was open sin in the camp the Lord could not bless the Israelites. Achan’s sin was directly responsible for the thirty-six men who died when the army attempted to take Ai. Joshua, rooting out the sin in the camp, narrowed things down until the lot fell on Achan, who then confessed of his sin. “Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor. And Joshua said, ‘Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.’ So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day.” Joshua 7:24–26. Achan will not be in the kingdom of heaven. He was weighed in the balance and found wanting. The items he stole did him no good in this life and cost him eternal life. Is there something in this world that you covet that prevents you from loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind? Jesus said, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.” Matthew 16:26, 27. Are you rich toward God?

Another man who lost his soul was the covetous rich man. In Bible times, and up until a hundred years ago, retirement was almost unheard of and was only invented in the twentieth century, mainly in the 1930s. I only know of one person in the Bible who retired, and that was the rich man, the rich farmer in Luke 12. He had so much grain he decided to pull down his barns and build greater barns. “And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:19–21.

If probation closed and you were weighed in the balances today, which way would the scales tip? Soon you will be weighed and the result will determine your eternal destiny.

Luke 16:10–13 says, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon [money or property], who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

One thing is certain, every character will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and it will be the motives that determine true character.

Are you rich toward God? Can you say today, like Job said, I wish I could just be weighed in a balance and then God would know that I have integrity. Now is the time to get ready; do not waste another minute. Go to the Lord, and say, “Lord, I want to be ready for the weighing time when probation closes. I want to be ready. I don’t want to be found wanting, lacking in love, lacking in obedience, lacking in character.” Jesus died on the cross so that He would have the right to forgive your sins, to wipe out all of your guilt, and take you to heaven. However, He cannot take any to heaven who are not fit to be in the presence of holy beings.

Search your heart and pray as did David, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23, 24.

(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 Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

State of the Dead

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The first deception which fastened itself upon the mind of man was the idea that man could live out of harmony with his Creator and never die. Though this assertion went directly contrary to that which God had stated, it was accepted in the place of God’s Word and acted upon. This false concept was ultimately accepted within the professed Christian church and is part of that wine of Babylon with which she had made the nations drunk. “Babylon has been fostering poisonous doctrines, the wine of error. This wine of error is made up of false doctrines, such as the natural immortality of the soul, the eternal torment of the wicked, the denial of the pre-existence of Christ prior to His birth in Bethlehem, and advocating and exalting the first day of the week above God’s holy and sanctified day.” Testimonies to Ministers, 61.

The servant of the Lord has told us that in the closing struggle of the great controversy, there are two issues on which Christendom will unite.

“Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul, and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. While the former lays the foundation of Spiritualism, the latter creates a bond of sympathy with Rome.” The Great Controversy, 588.

In view of the rapidly approaching crisis, it is imperative that each one of us be thoroughly grounded in the truth. The editors of Historic Adventist LandMarks think that it is a good idea to review, from time to time, some of our basic doctrines. This will not only be an excellent review, but will also provide an outline for marking your Bible, a help in giving Bible studies. –The Editors

Creation of man: “And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.” Genesis 1:26, 27.

Question: In what condition is man in death?

Job 14:12–14—”So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor be roused from their sleep. Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, that You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, that You would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change comes.” NKJV. Note: The most common definition found in the Bible is that it is a sleep.

Psalm 13:3—”Consider and hear me, O LORD my God; enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.” NKJV.

Jeremiah 51:39, 57—”In their excitement I will prepare their feasts; I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep and not awake,’ says the LORD. . . . ‘And I will make drunk her princes and wise men, her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men. And they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not awake,’ says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.” NKJV.

Daniel 12:2—”And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.” NKJV.

John 11:11–14—”These things He said, and after that He said to them, ‘Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.’ Then His disciples said, ‘Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.’ However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead.’” NKJV.

Acts 13:36—”For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption.” NKJV.

I Corinthians 15:51—”Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” NKJV.

Psalm 104:29, 30—”Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled: Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth Thy spirit, they are created: and Thou renewest the face of the earth.” KJV.

Job 27:3—”All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils.” KJV.

Genesis 3:19—”In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” KJV.

Question: Is this sleep with dreams, or consciousness, or is it totally unconscious?

Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10—”For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun. . . . Whatever your hand find to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.” NKJV.

Psalm 49:12–20—”Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah. Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave form their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave; for He shall receive me. Selah. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself. He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light. Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.” KJV. Note: A man that is given honor after he is dead has no knowledge of it.

Isaiah 38:18,1 9—”For Sheol cannot thank You, death cannot praise You; those who go down to the pit can not hope for Your truth. The living, the living man, he shall praise You, as I do this day; the father shall make known Your truth to the children.” NKJV. Note: The dead do not know God’s truth. They cannot praise God; they are unconscious; they know nothing.

Psalm 6:5—”For in death there is no remembrance of You; in the grave who will give You thanks? NKJV.

Psalm 115:17—”The dead do not praise the LORD, nor any who go down into silence.” NKJV. Note: The Bible teaches this truth over and over again. God must have known that there would be some misunderstanding on this subject.

Ecclesiastes 3:19, 20—”For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.” “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” Ecclesiastes 12:7 KJV. Note. As we have already seen, Solomon has already told us that the dead have no consciousness. Certainly he will not, a few chapters later, contradict himself. What then, is meant by the spirit returning to God?

There is one difference, however, between man and beast, according to Ecclesiastes 3:21. “Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?” At death, the spirit of man goes back to God so that He can preserve them in their unconscious state until the resurrection day when the righteous will be brought back to life. “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” I Corinthians 15:51, 52 KJV.

I Corinthians 15:17, 18—”For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” KJV.

Question: When do we go to heaven?

John 14:1–3—”Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” KJV. Note: Jesus said that after He prepares a place, He will come to the earth again to take the righteous to the mansions prepared in Heaven. We do to be with Christ when He returns, and not before. This is why the Second Coming of Christ is so important to the New Testament believers.

Question: What does Paul say would happen to the dead if there was no resurrection?

I Corinthians 15:12–23—”Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ: whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the Firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” KJV. Note; If for 4,000 years the righteous have gone directly to heaven at death, how could Paul have said that if there is no resurrection, those who have fallen asleep in Christ are perished? What need would there be for a resurrection.”

Question: What further does Jesus say about the future life?

John 5:28, 29—”Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which 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.” KJV.

John 6:39, 40—””And this is the Father’s will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise Him up at the last day.” KJV. Note: The dead are going to be raised at the last day [the resurrection]!

John 11:23, 24—”Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” KJV.

Question: What does Peter say about the future life?

I Peter 5:4—”And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” KJV.

Acts 2:29, 34, 35—”Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, for he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. . . . For David is not yet ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make Thy foes Thy footstool.” KJV.

Question: What did Job say about a future life after death?
Job 19:25–27—”For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” KJV.

Question: What did Paul say about the future life?

II Timothy 4:7, 8—”I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.” KJV.

Acts 13:36, 37—”For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: but He, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.” KJV.

Acts 24:14, 15—Again, from the apostle Paul: “But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” KJV.

I Thessalonians 4:14–17—”For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 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. For the Lord Himself shall 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.” NKJV. This describes the resurrection.

I Corinthians 15:51–55—”Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’” KJV.

Question: Will the resurrection be a secret and invisible event, or will it be noticed by all?

I Thessalonians 4:16–18—”For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” KJV.

The World Class Straw Man, part 2

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In the previous issue, we drew attention to the astonishing distortion of Seventh-day Adventist history that is being attempted in the recent publication, The Nature of Christ, by Roy Adams, associate editor of the Review. In this volume, we who are trying to cling to the historic faith of our church in regard to the human nature of Christ and in regard to the doctrine of sanctification are charged with many faults. It is represented that we are neither following the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy nor yet the mainstream of historic Adventist theological opinion. It is alleged that we are rather following the individual and erroneous thinking of A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner, as amplified and promoted by M. L. Andreason.

In our last article, we presented part of the mass of historical evidence that negates this incredible fantasy and described it as a “world-class straw man.” We promised that in this article we would examine some of the bundles of straw that were used in the erection of the structure.

The Reviling Straw Bundle

Adams represents himself as attempting to write with no ill will toward those whom he accuses. Was this attempt successful? Let the reader decide. He applies the following terms to us, either directly or indirectly:

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, wrong-headed, steeped in their cherish position, impenetrable to any theological logic, irresponsible, almost dishonest, deluded self-appointed prophets, turn-coats, charlatans, and scoundrels.

He applies the following descriptive terms to our reasoning:

Mumblings, innuendoes, broken faith with the church, specious theology, perfectionistic 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, manipulate, 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.

Can you feel the warm Christian love in this language? For some reason, I cannot. But should this surprise us? By no means. We have been forewarned:

“Men of talent and pleasing address, who once rejoiced in the truth, employ their powers to deceive and mislead souls. They become the most bitter enemies of their former brethren. When Sabbath-keepers are brought before courts to answer for their faith, these apostates are the most efficient agents of Satan to misrepresent and accuse them, and by false reports and insinuations to stir up the rulers against them.” The Great Controversy, 608.

We are not yet seeing the entire fulfillment of this prediction, but it is certainly coming into view, both in Adam’s book and in the tragic Issues book, which he applauds. This is a foretaste of what we must be prepared to endure in the last days.

We are reminded of Christ’s warning against reviling others, in Matthew 5:22, and of His own example in refusing to bring a railing accusation against Satan himself (Jude 9). We remember also that Adams repeatedly refers to Andreason and the Historic Adventists of our time as persons who are intensely angry. We ask, where in our writings can there be found language that can be remotely compared to the venom of Adams’ irritation?

And why? What is our crime? Simply that we wish to cling to the purity of our historic faith. For this we must needs be buried under an avalanche of personal abuse and false accusation, which reaches its climax on page 106 of Adams’ book:

“Human society cannot move forward unless people are prepared to leave the past behind. Wherever a people or a society finds this impossible, there is bloodshed and backwardness. Look at the Middle East today. Look at Northern Ireland. Look at Yugoslavia. Look at Sudan. Yet this is what people like Wieland and Short wish on us.”

The sheer enormity of this viciously false accusation makes comment unnecessary, but it may be taken as a sampling of what we can expect from false brethren in the future. We note, in passing, the great difference between Adams’ thinking about the past and the thinking of Ellen White when she wrote: “We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 162.

The Casuistry Straw Bundle

The word casuistry may be simply defined as subtle and evasive reasoning, deception by degrees. It is a technique that is used to avoid the resistance that might be aroused by more bold and direct deception. In his attempt to make it appear that M. L. Andreason was a disciple of Jones and Waggoner, Adams encounters a problem. The writings of Andreason do not support such a theory. Adams inadvertently reveals this in the following ingenious statement:

“Why M. L. Andreason did not more openly flaunt his connection with these two luminaries is not quite clear to me.” (Translation: Adams found no support for his theory in Andreason’s writings.)

But the lack of evidence did not deter him. He continued to enlarge on his theory by alleging that there is a fundamental theological similarity between the position of Jones and Waggoner regarding sanctification and the position of Andreason. What he does not tell his readers is that there is a much stronger similarity between Andreason’s views and those of Ellen White, as well as other church leaders.

Adams next endeavors to show that Andreason got his concept of the “final generation” who will stand without a Mediator in the last days, not from Ellen White, who originated the idea, but from some unidentified persons who, after World War I, were speculating bout the nearness of Christ’s return. The result is a classic demonstration of casuistry, making it appear that evidence exists where in fact it does not exist. Notice the carefully leading and manipulative statement on page 39:

(Andreason) “did not participate in these deceptions”

“He despised the fantastic speculations”

“Their manifest failure must have impressed him”

“leading him to articulate a theological reason for their delay”

“Andreason’s theology developed against the background of those controversies and was shaped by them.” [All emphasis supplied.]

This is an insult to the reader’s intelligence. It could be argued with equal logic that Adams’ theology was shaped by the thinking of Wieland and Short. Adams would undoubtedly pronounce that kind of reasoning utterly nonsensical—and so do we. And are we to suppose that Andreason had never read Ellen White’s description of that “final generation” in her well known The Great Controversy, 613–634; in Patriarchs and Prophets, 195–203; and in Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, 467–476? This would be rather peculiar in view of Adams’ own characterization of Andreason as a “self-confessed expert” on the writings of Ellen White.

Continuing his attempt to separate Andreason from the Spirit of Prophecy, Adams alleges that on the matter of character perfection, Andreason “followed in Ballenger’s footsteps.” He thus attempts to discredit Andreason by linking him with a man who later apostatized. We who knew Andreason would consider it preposterous to describe him as following in any man’s footsteps. But in any case, Ellen White’s views on this point, written and published at least 4500 times, were essentially the same as Ballenger’s before his apostasy, as well as Andreason’s and the other leaders of the church. Then to paint us with the same brush, Adams adds that the views of the Historical Adventists of our time on this subject are “virtually identical to that held by Andreason and Ballenger.” This has all the logical strength of an argument that because Ballenger believed in God and in the Second Coming of Christ, we who now believe those doctrines are followers of Ballenger.

Having used this casuistry to condition his reader’s minds, Adams then proceeds to openly picture Andreason as dishonest. (Pages 52, 53.) I had heard Adams make this charge against Andreason in a public meeting and wondered what could be its basis, since I had known Andreason as a man of sterling character and strict integrity. I am astonished at Adams’ “evidence.” It consists of nothing more than Andreason’s understanding of Ellen White’s use of the word passions, and is presented as if she only used the word in one way. In our The Word Was Made Flesh, we provide a seven-page word study of Ellen White’s uses of the terms “passions” and “propensities” (which Adams dismisses with a sneer.)

The evidence makes it clear that Ellen White did not always use these terms in the same sense or with the same identical meaning. Consider:

“He had all the strength of passion of humanity.” In Heavenly Places, 155.

“. . . not possessing the passions of our human, fallen nature.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 509.

This is in accordance with her own recognition that:

“Different meanings are expressed y the same word. There is not one word for each distinct idea.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 20.

In our word study, we record 28 uses of the word passions by Ellen White and draw conclusions that are in harmony with the evidence. We will refer the reader to The Word Was Made Flesh for details, but will here simply state that we regard Adams’ accusation against Andreason as grossly unfair, far beyond the boundaries of responsible scholarship, and altogether unchristian. I find it mind-boggling that Adams, who professes to have suffered great personal distress over Andreason’s alleged dishonesty, applauds the Issues book with its manifold misrepresentations.

Continuing in this unpraiseworthy work, Adams paints Andreason as a “self-confessed expert” on Ellen White’s writings (page 52) and tells us that Andreason “claims to be an authority on her writings.” (Page 67.) Such braggadocio would be impossible to harmonize with the modest and unpretentious character of Andreason, as we knew him. We therefore, sought for the basis of these accusations and were amazed to find that it was nothing more than this line from a letter Andreason had written to Elder Figuhr:

“In my more than sixty years of official connection with the denomination, one of my chief aims has been to inspire confidence in the Spirit of Prophecy. The last two hears I have spoken on the subject 204 times.” (Page 52.)

What kind of a mentality would construe this earnest and innocent statement to be boastful self-exaltation? And what kind of a mentality would refer to Andreason’s legitimate concerns about the discussions between Walter Martin and some of our leaders like this:

“Almost certainly one reason for Andreason’s reaction was that he had not been consulted.” Page 45.

To complete his hatchet job on the character of a great and good man, Adams purports to have found a deathbed confession of wrongdoing by Andreason. The document, however, is undated and unsigned. No committee of scholars and no court of law would tolerate it as evidence for a single moment. But it was apparently good enough for Adams’ work of character assassination.
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.” Isaiah 5:20.

The Sneer Straw Bundle

Since reference has been made to our 365 page research report, The Word Was Made Flesh, we will here mention our mystification at Adams’ failure to deal with the evidence there presented. We found and recorded 1200 statements published by our church leaders during the one hundred years 1852–1952 that Christ came to this earth in the human nature of fallen man. Four hundred of them were from the inspired pen of Ellen White. This is manifestly the evidence that Adams has to overthrow in order to maintain his position. But instead of addressing this material as a scholar should, he by-passed it and selected a modest thirty page tract by Joe Crews as his target.

How does he deal with the mass of evidence presented in The Word Was Made Flesh? Only by sneers. Here are the nine sneers that he directs at our fully and carefully documented research:

  • “. . . startling allegation . . . patently unfounded.” Page 20.

 

  • “. . . claims on its title page . . .” page 21

 

  • “. . . counters again and again. . .” page 22

 

  • “. . . assumption. . .” page 26

 

  • “. . . ingenious theological gymnastics. . .” page 53

 

  • “. . . labored, forced, and unconvincing. . .” page 69

 

  • “. . . gone to great lengths. . .” page 72

 

  • “. . . far-fetched . . . ingenious . . . totally fabricated. . .” page 72

 

Not a shred of evidence is offered in support of any of these sneers. May we respectfully suggest that it will take more than sneers to overthrow the 1200 statements that are brought together in our research report?

The Breathtaking Straw Bundle

We come now to the two most astounding propositions that Adams puts forth in his rewriting our history. They are so bold and brazen as to be utterly breath taking. In the first, he soberly assures us that the Christological problem that we have been grappling with since 1957 is actually imaginary. Here are his words:

 

  • “I don’t run into many Adventists defending a prelapsarian position.

 

  • “And in all the samplings I’ve done in preparation for this book, I’ve not seen a single instance in which one of our concerned or disaffected brethren has managed to produce a direct prelapsarian statement from a contemporary Adventist author.” Page 27.

 

  • May we respectfully recommend the following sources:

 

  • Ministry, September, 1956

 

  • Questions on Doctrine, page 650

 

  • Movement of Destiny, L. E. Froom, page 497

 

  • Christ Our Substitute, Norman Gulley

 

  • The Man Who is God, Edward Heppenstall

 

  • Perfect in Christ, Helmut Ott

 

We find it difficult to understand why Adams, with his position of advantage at the heart of our work, would have trouble laying his hand on any of these sources, not to mention materials published in the Review. But if that proposition is astonishing, the next is stunning:

“We believe—and have always believed—that Christ did take upon Himself the form and nature of fallen human beings.” Page 27.

When you have recovered your breath, you may have some questions. Why, then, was Andreason so bitterly denounced and so ruthlessly dealt with? Why was the opposite view affirmed in Questions on Doctrine? Why is this not being taught at our seminary and in our colleges? Why is it so difficult to find a pastor who believes it? And why does Adams’ own book vilify those who believe it?

Here is a suggestion. Show that statement to your pastor, your conference president, or your college Bible teacher. Watch his reaction, and draw your own conclusions. Someone is wildly out of touch with reality. In our final article, we will examine some specific differences between Adams and the Spirit of Prophecy. Meanwhile, let us remember the words of James Russell Lowell:

“Though the cause of evil prosper, yet ‘tis truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.”

The World Class Straw Man, part 1

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The “straw-man” technique has been very widely used in recent years by those who are laboring to introduce Calvinistic doctrines into our Seventh-day Adventist faith, but never on such a grand scale as in the recent publication, The Nature Of Christ, by Roy Adams, associate editor of the Review.

We pause to explain that in dialogue and debate, the straw-man technique is used like this: First, you misstate and misrepresent the position of your opponent, thus setting up and artificial “straw man” of your own creating. Second, you vigorously attack your misrepresentation, your straw man, and shoot it to pieces. The hoped for result is that the listeners to or readers of your attack will conclude that you have demolished the position of your opponent, when in fact you have only demolished your own misrepresentation, your artificial straw man. It must be conceded that his is an effective debating technique, but its use creates troubling ethical questions in many minds.

Previous Examples

It was the straw-man technique that was being used, for example, when the anonymous writers of the huge Issues book, which Adams endorses, alleged that:

We Historic Adventists are attacking the church, when we are actually attacking apostasy in the church;

We are setting ourselves up as examples, when we are actually setting up Jesus as the example;

We are defending our personal opinions, when we are actually defending the historic faith of our church as set forth in all of its published statements of faith, and in the new SDAs Believe, etc.

But these straw men are only dwarfs of pygmies by comparison with the world-class straw man that is being set before us in the recent volume by Adams, which requires nothing less than a rearrangement of the realities of our history, a replacement of facts with fantasies.

The Roots Question

Adams directs our attention to the two major theological issues that are troubling our church today regarding the nature of Christ and character perfection. He then poses the question, Where did these problems originate? The theses of his book is that their roots are found in the teachings of A.T. Jones and E.J. Waggoner in the 1890s, were learned from them and urged upon the church by M.L. Andreason, and were foisted upon the modern church by Robert Wieland. This places a newer and richer meaning upon the phrase “simplistic reasoning.” Here are his words, as found on the first page of a chapter entitled “Examining the Roots, the Legacy of Jones and Waggoner:”

“My thesis throughout is that the theology of these three men [Jones, Waggoner, and Andreason] has provided the spawning ground for the position on righteousness by faith and perfection held by certain Adventists today….

“Without a doubt, the roots of the present agitation go all the way back to Jones and Waggoner.” —page 29
And again on page 37:

“The perfectionist agitation within the Seventh-day Adventist Church today had its genesis in the post-1888 teachings of A.T. Jones and E.J. Waggoner. In this chapter I wish to show that the linkage of sanctification, perfection, and Christ’s nature that has become dominant among certain groups is a direct legacy of M.L. Andreason’s theology.”

To those who know that God’s chosen Messenger to the Adventist people, Ellen White, published far more material on these subjects than any or all of these men ever did, these are indeed bold and breath-taking assertions. Were the teachings of Jones and Waggoner actually the roots, the origin, of the doctrine that Christ came to earth in the human nature of fallen man and the doctrine that character perfection through God’s power is possible? Had the church members no previous acquaintance with these teachings? Can evidence be produced that they held other or opposite views? The answer to all of these questions is No.

The Evidence

Let the evidence speak. Jones and Waggoner set forth their views on these subjects primarily during the ten year period of 1891-1901. Ellen White had been vigorously promoting the same doctrines for well over thirty years, since 1858. By the end of the year 1898, she had gone into print regarding the nature of Christ a total of 141 times. (The publications, the dates, and the statements are all recorded in our research volume, The Word Was Made Flesh.)

Had all of these publishing endeavors failed of their purpose? Did they all escape the attention of the Adventist people? The journals in which she wrote were primarily the Review and the Signs, to which were added her own books. Did these journals and books have no circulation among the Adventist people? and were they unknown to Jones and Waggoner?

Not exactly. In the year 1895, when Jones made his major presentation on the subject of the nature of Christ at a General Conference session, he quoted the following lines from an as yet unpublished manuscript of Ellen White’s The Desire of Ages. (What does his possession of this manuscript indicate about his relation to her beliefs?)

“In order to carry out the great work of redemption, the Redeemer must take the place of fallen man….

“When Adam was assailed by the tempter, he was without the taint of sin. He stood before God in the strength of perfect manhood, all the organs and faculties of his being fully developed and harmoniously balanced; and he was surrounded with things of beauty, and communed daily with holy angels. What a contrast to this perfect being did the second Adam present, as He entered the desolate wilderness to cope with Satan. For four thousand years the race had been decreasing in size and physical strength, and deterioration in moral worth; and in order to elevate fallen man, Christ must reach him where he stood. He assumed human nature, bearing the infirmities and degeneracy of the race. He humiliated Himself to the lowest depths of human woe, that He might sympathize with man and rescue him from the degradation into which sin had plunged him….

“Christ took humanity with all its liabilities. He took the nature of man with the possibility of yielding to temptation, and He relied upon divine power to keep Him.”
(There are six other places in The Desire of Ages where Ellen White testifies to her belief about the human nature of Christ. See pages 25, 112, 117, 174, and 311.)
The simple fact is that Jones and Waggoner, like virtually all of our church leaders, had been guided in their thinking about the two doctrines of the nature of Christ and character perfection by God’s special messenger, Ellen White. This is clearly attested by two evidences that are a matter of record and can be easily verified by anyone who cares to visit the archives. These two evidences are, 1.) Ellen White published profusely her convictions that Christ came to earth in the human nature of fallen man and that character perfection, by the power of God, is possible; and, 2.) our other church leaders accepted these doctrines as correct and responded by publishing articles and books of their own which echoed her testimonies, and not infrequently quoted from them.

By the end of the year 1898, other church leaders had published their own views on the nature of Christ, not different from hers, a total of 76 times. (See The Word Was Made Flesh.) This number does not include statements from Jones and Waggoner. It does include statements from such other church leaders as James White, Uriah Smith, Stephen Haskell, W.W. Prescott, J.H. Waggoner, M.C. Wilcox, R.A. Underwood, Alton Farnsworth, Elgin Farnsworth, W.H. Glenn, J.E. Evans, William Covert, J.H. Durland, G.C. Tenney, G.E. Fifield, and others. These writers did not mute their messages. The total includes nine editorials and five front page editorials.
Are we to believe that all of these writers, some of whom published before Jones and Waggoner, found the roots of their beliefs in the teachings of Jones and Waggoner? And what of Ellen White? Were their teachings the roots of her beliefs? Or was it actually the other way around, that they all, including Jones and Waggoner, drew their inspiration from the writings of God’s messenger?

And let us not overlook the fact that while Jones and Waggoner were co-editors of the Signs of the Times (1885-1891), they published in that journal three statements by Ellen White that Christ had come to earth in the human nature of fallen man. In the years 1890-91, Waggoner, as sole editor of the Review (1887-91), published eleven such statements in that journal.

The Mainstream

Jones and Waggoner, far from being innovators or teachers of new doctrines, were actually standing firmly in the mainstream of Seventh-day Adventists theology regarding the nature of Christ and character perfection. Their teachings were emphatically not the root of those doctrines; they were rather the fruit.

In the years following 1901, other church leaders united with Ellen White in propaganda these doctrines with ever increasing emphasis and clarity. In our The Word Was Made Flesh, we document 1200 statements on the nature of Christ that were published by our church leaders between the years 1852 and 1952, 400 of them by Ellen White. During that same period, until her death in 1915, Ellen White published 4500 statements regarding character perfection. (See Tell of His Power.)

A Host of Witnesses

This leads us directly to the other proposition in the structure of straw erected by Adams. Was M.L. Andreason a person who accepted strange and new doctrines from Jones and Waggoner and urged them upon the church, or was he only one among a host of witnesses to generally accepted truths? The number of names presented in the previous paragraph should answer that question. We would only add enough names to the previously supplied list to demonstrate that those whose voices joined with the voice of Andreason were among Adventism’s first line of leadership.

In regard to the nature of Christ, we have documented statements by General Conference presidents Daniells, Watson, Branson, and McElhany; vice-presidents Underwood, Farnsworth, Slade, and Turner; local conference presidents Farnsworth and Evans; Signs and Review editors and associate editors M.C. Wilcox, G.C. Tenney, W.H. Glenn, Uriah Smith, F.D. Nicholl, Oscar Tait, Alonzo Baker, C.M. Snow, and F.M. Wilcox; the first president of our theological seminary M.E. Kern; seminary teacher L.E. Froom; college president W.E. Howell; other teachers and leaders including T.M. French, Merlin Neff, L.C. Wilcox, Meade Macguire, C.L. Bond, and J.E. Fulton; and many, many others. Statements in regard to the generally accepted truth of character perfection are simply too numerous to collate or count.
To view the question from its other side, in the massive research project that we engaged in and reported on in our The Word Was Made Flesh, we did not find a single evidence that any of our leaders or believers held a different view from the mainstream on either the nature of Christ or character perfection until the mid 1900s—not one. And let it be remembered that we made it our goal to examine every article or book that had been published in the English language during the period 1852-1952. We had no CD rom, we examined every page. On the basis of what we saw on those pages, we view the announced purpose of George Knight, whose work Adams applauds, to prove that before the 1920s our people held Calvinistic views of the gospel as utterly preposterous.

Simplistic Reasoning

So in the construction of his world-class straw man, Adams has apparently arbitrarily selected two persons, Jones and Waggoner, from among a large group of Adventist thought leaders, including Ellen White, and assigned to them the responsibility for creating doctrinal attitudes that were actually shared by them all and had been witnessed to by some of them before Jones and Waggoner came along. In similar fashion he selected M.L. Andreason from among an even larger group and assigned to him the responsibility for propagating views that were, in fact, shared and earnestly taught by them all. To cap the strange structure, he has then looked at the Historical Adventists of our time and selected from among them an individual minister named Robert Wieland who holds to certain views about corporate personality and corporate repentance that very few among the Historic Adventists share with him, and has set him forth as the type of and spokesman for us all.

The Technique

This is the traditional first step in the use of the straw-man technique, the use of misstatement and misrepresentation in order to set up an artificial straw man which is alleged to be the position of your opponents. The second step is to vigorously attack the straw man of your own creating in the hope that observers will believe that you have demolished the position of your opponents, whereas you have actually only demolished you own artificial straw man.

Adams faithfully follows the formula and devotes many pages to arguing against the ideas of Jones, Waggoner, Andreason, and Wieland. But what does this have to do with us? Really, nothing. Our faith is not fastened to the thinking of any of these men. Our faith is firmly anchored in the Bible and in the Spirit of Prophecy, and we may rest secure in the confidence that these bulwarks will never be overthrown.

In our next article, we will examine some of the individual and specific straw bundles that are used by Adams in the construction of his world-class straw man.

The End

Two Thrones

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“As is perhaps natural, the enemy of truth seems most persistent in trying to trouble and unsettle minds in reference to the sanctuary; for that is the citadel of our strength.” Uriah Smith, Review and Herald, August 5, 1875

The word citadel combines the concepts of a fortress and a dwelling place, such as a castle or palace. It would naturally be the target toward which an enemy would direct his most formidable assaults. Smith suggests that for Seventh-day Adventists, the citadel of our theological strength is our doctrine of the sanctuary and that we should not be surprised to find this doctrine heavily attacked by the enemy. Ellen White apparently agreed, as she wrote in 1905:

“Satan is striving continually to bring in fanciful suppositions in regard to the sanctuary, degrading the wonderful representations of God and the ministry of Christ for our salvation into something that suits the carnal mind. He removes its presiding power from the hearts of believers, and supplies its place with fantastic theories invented to make void the truths of the atonement, and destroy our confidence in the doctrines which we have held sacred since the third angel’s message was first given. Thus he would rob us of our faith in the very message that has made us a separate people, and has given character and power to our work.” Counsels to Writers and Editors, 53, 54

In the 1980s we saw just such an attack formed around the challenging question, “Where did Christ go in A.D. 31?”

It was alleged that since the Scriptures state that He went to the right hand of God, this could only mean that he went to the Most Holy Place in the heavenly sanctuary and that the pioneers of our church were such careless and naive Bible students that they overlooked this obvious fact.

An astonishing number of Seventh-day Adventist ministers and church members were bewildered, confused, and discomfited by this challenge, so much so that some gave up their faith and separated themselves from our church. They abandoned the citadel and were easily taken by the enemy.

This was in the 1980s. In the 1880s it could hardly have happened. Our pioneers, far from being ignorant of the scriptural statements about where Christ went in A.D. 31, made extensive use of those scriptures in defense of the citadel. They not only knew where Christ went in A.D. 31, they knew full well what He was doing there. This was an essential and integral part of their doctrine of the sanctuary. If the attack of the 1980s had been launched in the 1880s, the Seventh-day Adventist ministers of that generation would doubtless have laughed it to scorn.

It is the purpose of this article to set forth a pioneer Bible study and to provide the reader with documentation whereby the depth of the perception of our early pioneers on this point may be easily ascertained. The material for this study has been taken from the following sources: Please take notice of the dates.)

  • Review and Herald, April 15, 1858, an article from F.M. Brag, “Jesus Reigns Upon Two Thrones.”
  • Review and Herald, September 12, 1871, an article by J.N. Andrews, the brilliant scholar for whom Andrews University was named.
  • Review and Herald, September 12, 1871, an article by J.H. Waggoner, the father of E. J. Waggoner of 1888 fame.
  • Review and Herald, July 29, 1875, an editorial by Uriah Smith, “Questions on the Sanctuary.”
  • Review and Herald, August 5, 1875, an editorial by Uriah Smith, same title as above.
  • Signs of the Times, September 18, 1893, an article by Mrs. M.E. Steward, “Our Priest King.”
  • Signs of the Times, December 10, 1894, an article by M.H. Bowen, “The True Tabernacle.”
  • Signs of the Times, April 18, 1895, an article by E.J. Waggoner.
  • Review and Herald, June, 1910, a series of four articles by J.N. Loughborough under the title, “Two Thrones.”
  • Australian Signs of the Times, December 23, 1929, an article by W.W. Prescott, “ThePriest Upon the Throne.”
  • And last but not least, comments on the subject by Ellen White in The Great Controversy, 415-417.

The Two Thrones
A Pioneer Bible Study

We will borrow the title to our study from J.N. Loughborough, and we will begin the study with a typical use of the oft-quoted Revelation 3:21:

“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.”

As our pioneers did, we will note that there are clearly presented two thrones, the Father’s and the Son’s. There are also two enthronements at two different times, one described as past and one described as future. Past: I am set down with My Father on His throne. Future: You will sit down with Me on My throne.

With these words of Jesus as an introduction, we will “begin at the beginning” by turning to Psalm 110, where we read an invitation from God the Father to God the Son:
“The LORD said unto my Lord, ‘Sit Thou at My right hand….’”

Hundreds of years later on the great day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter was to apply these words to the risen Christ. (See Acts 2:34.) He obviously understood “the Lord” to be God the Father and “my Lord” to be God the Son, Jesus Christ. But before leaving Psalm 110, we will make two more observations.

The invitation from God the Father to God the Son has a time frame.

“….Sit Thou at My right hand until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.”

The invitation from God the Father to God the Son has a purpose.

“Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Remembering that Melchizedek, unlike Aaron and his sons, was both a king and a priest, we now have the complete picture before us. God the Father is represented in David’s prophecy as inviting God the Son to sit down with Him on His (the Father’s) throne as a King and a Priest for a stated period of time, which will end when the Father finally and ultimately disposes of the enemies of the Son.

As sang David, so sang Zechariah in his beautiful prophecy of the Messiah:
“And speak unto him, saying, thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, ‘Behold the Man whose name is the BRANCH; and He shall grow up out of His place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:

“Even He shall build the temple of the LORD; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between Them both.’” Zechariah 6:12, 13

Here we see the Priest on the throne, the King-Priest. As various of our pioneers pointed out, if this were not the Father’s throne, there could hardly be a “counsel of peace between Them both.” We cannot picture the Son counseling with Himself, but rather with the Father.

We turn, now, with our pioneers, to the New Testament to hear the testimony of the various witnesses.

“So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.” Mark 16:19

“Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, ‘The Lord said unto my Lord, “Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make They foes Thy footstool.”’” Acts 2:33-35

Note that Peter is here quoting Psalm 110 and applying it to Christ. Note also that the expression “by the right hand of God exalted” could with equal validity be translated “to the right hand of God exalted,” since the Greek locative, instrumental, and dative cases are spelled alike. Peter testifies again in Acts 5:31:

“Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”

Again, we observe that the words “with His right hand” could with equal validity be translated “to His right hand.” Now we hear the testimony of Stephen:

“But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.’” Acts 7:55, 56

The testimony of the apostle Paul is equally clear:

“Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” Romans 8: 34

What kind of a person makes intercession for us? Obviously, a priest. So Paul’s concept is clearly that of a priest who sits on God’s throne as Priest-King. He continues to testify:

“Which He wrought in Christ, when he raised Him from the dead, and set Him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 1:20

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” Colossians 3:1

“Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when he had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:3

We see that Paul, like Peter, quotes Psalm 110 and applies it to Christ.
“But to which of the angels said He at any time, Sit on My right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?” Hebrews 1:13

In Hebrews 7, Paul again invokes the 110th Psalm and makes two uses of its reference to Melchizedek:

“For he testifieth, ‘thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.’” Hebrews 7:17, 21
His summary statement in Hebrews 8 admits of no misunderstanding:

“Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” Hebrews 8:1, 2

Continuing his application of the 110 Psalm, in chapter 10 Paul makes reference to the time frame within which the Priest-King ministers:

“But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made His footstool.” Hebrews 10:12, 13

Paul concludes his testimony with the beautiful exhortation of Hebrews 12: 1, 2:

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Returning to the testimony of the apostle Peter, we find his final statement in 1 Peter 3:22:

“Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him.”

To all this evidence may be added the testimony of John the Revelator:

“And she brought forth a man Child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her Child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.” Revelation 12:5

These scriptures were used by our pioneers as an essential part of their sanctuary doctrine and were by no means overlooked. Our pioneers had no doubts at all regarding where Jesus went after His resurrection in A.D. 31. They believed that he went directly to the throne of God, where He sat at the Father’s right hand in performance of the offices of both Priest and King. But, they did not make either of the two mistakes that some are now making. They did not erroneously conclude that the throne of God was in the Most Holy Place. They took careful note of the description in Revelation 4, in which the throne of God was seen in that apartment of the heavenly sanctuary where the seven lamps were burning, obviously the first apartment, or the Holy Place.

“And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire buring before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” Revelation 4:5

And they did not lose sight of the time frame within which our Saviour would minister as both Priest and King, a time period which was bounded by the words “until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.” This harmonized with their understanding from other scriptures that the priestly ministry of our Lord would eventually end and that He would henceforth function only as a King, no longer as a Priest. Thus the words of Jesus in Revelation 3:21 would be perfectly fulfilled when His overcoming followers would sit with Him on His own throne. That throne, they taught, would be the throne of glory (see Matthew 25:31), whereas the throne of the Father on which Christ now sits as Priest-King is the throne of grace. (See Hebrews 4:16.)

Some carefully worked their way through the rather challenging array of personal pronouns in 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 and found that this scripture was in perfect harmony with the other uses in their study. J.N. Loughborough, in the second of his four articles entitled “The Two Thrones,” offers this clarification.

“Then [at the resurrection of the righteous at Christ’s second coming] cometh the end, when He [Christ] shall have delivered up the kingdom [the kingdom of grace, His position on His Father’s throne], to God, even the Father; when He [the Father] shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For He [Christ] must reign [on his Father’s throne] till He [God] hath put all things under His [Christ’s] feet. But when He [God] saith all things are put under Him [Christ], it is manifest that He [God] is excepted, which did put all things under Him [Christ]. And when all things shall be subdued unto Him [Christ], then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him [God ] that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.”

We have seen that far from being unaware of these scriptures that tell where Christ went in A.D. 31, our pioneers made them part and parcel of their doctrine of the sanctuary. Further evidence in support of this position is found in Ellen White’s The Great Controversy, 415-417, in a chapter entitled, “What Is the Sanctuary?” From these pages, we quote the following lines:

“He ‘shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne.’ Not now ‘upon the throne of His glory;’ the kingdom of glory has not yet been ushered in. Not until His work as a mediator shall be ended will God ‘give unto Him the throne of His father David’ a kingdom of which ‘there shall be no end.’ Luke 1:32, 33. As a priest, Christ is now set down with the Father in His throne. (See Revelation 3:21.) Upon the throne with the eternal, self-existent One is He who ‘hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrow,’ who ‘was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin,’ that He might be ‘able to succor them that are tempted.’ If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.’ Isaiah 53:4; Hebrews 4:15, 2:18; 1John 2:1. His intercession is that of a pierced and broken body, of a spotless life. The wounded hands, the pierced side, the marred feet, plead for fallen man, whose redemption was purchased at such infinite cost.

“’And the counsel of peace shall be between Them both.’ The love of the Father, no less than of the Son, is the fountain of salvation for the lost race. Said Jesus to His disciples before He went away: ‘I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father Himself loveth you.’ John 16:26, 27. God was ‘in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.’ 2 Corinthians 5:19. And in the ministration in the sanctuary above, ‘the counsel of peace shall be between Them both.’ ‘God so loved the world, that He gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ John 3:16.”

Uriah Smith was right. The sanctuary is the citadel of our strength, and there is safety in the citadel. Now, as in previous years, those who abandon the citadel are as easily taken by the enemy. Those overcomers who will finally sit with Christ on His own throne, the throne of glory, will be those who could not be lured or tempted by any means whatever to abandon the sanctuary, the citadel of our strength. “I know that the sanctuary message stand in righteousness and truth, just as we have held it for so many years.” Gospel Workers, 303

The End

Sinfulness of Sin

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When our teacher would ask for someone to choose a favorite song, Bruce would usually choose number 174 from the Singing Youth “Whosoever Meaneth Me.” This seemed to be the favorite song of this schoolmate of mine back in the Seventh-day Adventist Elementary School in Longmont, Colorado. Since that day, the words from the refrain have again and again coursed through my mind—”Whosoever, surely meaneth me.” These words have been etched deep into my mind and have often brought me the courage to press ahead in faith towards Jesus, in spite of my awareness of my great unworthiness.The inspiration for this song probably comes from Revelation 22:17. “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.” [All emphasis supplied] What a wonderful promise. It can bring total and complete restoration to the worst wreck of humanity, even though we must say with Paul, “I am the chief of sinners.” But whosoever will may find healing and victory in the grace of Jesus! Christ’s grace is sufficient—for even me!Recently while reading from John, chapter 8, I connected another verse with the word whosoever in this song. In John 8, Jesus was having a discussion with the Jews. As usual, He had given offense to them. But some were impressed with His words and believed on Him. “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31, 32. On, how irritated they were at this statement! “These words offended the Pharisees. The nation’s long subjection to a foreign yoke, they disregarded, and angrily exclaimed, ‘We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest Thou, ye shall be made free?’ Jesus looked upon these men, the slaves of malice, whose thoughts were bent on revenge, and sadly answered, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.’” The Desire of Ages, 466

The word whosoever triggered my mind to the words from the old favorite song, “Whosoever, Surely Meaneth Me.” For a moment the solemn connection of this song and the words of Jesus did not dawn on me. But soon the absolute reality tripped my mind—”Whosoever, surely meaneth me.” “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:34-36

“Whosoever” does mean me. If I sin—in thought, word, or activity—I am the servant of sin. “God’s method of dealing with sin is not in harmony with the views cherished by a large class who occupy a prominent position among the professed followers of Christ. Many of these men cherish sin, and laud the benevolence and long-suffering of God, and dwell upon the loving character of Jesus—all mercy, all tenderness,—while they pass over the threatening of God’s wrath against sin and sinners, and our Saviour’s scathing denunciations of hypocrisy and self-deception.” Signs of the Times, January 6, 1881

Are you free of sin? Am I free? Or are we standing under the threats of God’s wrath against sin? As long as sin is in the life, we are in bondage. The Pharisees were bitterly angry that Christ would offer them freedom. They did not like the obvious inference that they were captive. The thought that since they were children of Abraham, they already were free and had a perfect right to all the blessings of God, including possessing the promised land. But Jesus denied their claim to be Abraham’s seed. He said, “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill Me, a Man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father…ye are of your father the devil.” John 8:39-41, 44. Jesus’ words were straight as an arrow. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow.” Hebrews 4:12

Was Jesus contradicting Himself a few moments later when he said, “Your father Abraham”? (See John 8: 56.) How could it be that in the same discussion Jesus said that their father was the devil and moments later their father was Abraham? The key to understanding is found in verse 34. “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” “The Pharisees had declared themselves the children of Abraham. Jesus told them that this claim could be established only by doing the works of Abraham. The true children of Abraham would live, as he did, a life of obedience to God…A mere lineal descent from Abraham was of no value. Without a spiritual conection with Him, which would be manifested in possessing the same spirit, and doing the same works, they were not His children.” The Desire of Ages, 466, 467

Jesus was most concerned about us learning this same startling reality. In fact, it was the all absorbing thought in His mind as He hung upon the cross. “Christ was the prince of sufferers; but His suffering was from a sense of the malignity of sin, a knowledge that through familiarity with evil, man had become blinded to its enormity. Christ saw how deep is the hold of sin upon the human heart, how few would be willing to break from its power. He knew that without help from God, humanity must perish.” Ibid., 752, 753

The all important question that must be settled in every heart is this: Do my thoughts, words, and actions testify that my spiritual father is the devil or Abraham? “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:29. “Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power. He is not his own. He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery. He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan. While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness. Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul.” The Desire of Ages, 466

Friend, could it be that we do not have the view of the exceeding sinfulness of sin? Could it be that we have fallen into the same mind set as the Jews: ‘because in times past the Lord had shown them so great favor, they excused their sins”? Ibid. 106. Are we deceiving ourselves that God will excuse sin in us because of how markedly the Lord has blessed us in the past? This, we are told, will be the condition of many: “In the day of judgment many will be shut out of the city of God by sins which they supposed to be unworthy of notice.” Signs of the Times, December 17, 1896. That makes me cry out in anguish of spirit to the Lord. “Lord, take my heart; for I cannot give it. It is Thy property. Keep it pure, for I cannot keep it for Thee. Save me in spite of myself, my weak unchristlike self. Mold me, fashion me, raise me into a pure and holy atmosphere, where the rich current of They love can flow through my soul. Christ’s Object Lessons, 159

You see, the Jews knew that sin was terrible in the Gentiles. Though the Pharisees accepted that there were certain lower classes of Jews who were sinners, such as Zachaeus and Mary Magdalene, they saw themselves as better than other men. They had studied the Old Testament Scriptures. “The Jewish leaders had studied the teachings of the prophets concerning the kingdom of the Messiah; but they had done this, not with a sincere desire to know the truth, but with the purpose of finding evidence to sustain their ambitions hopes. When Christ came in a manner contrary to their expectation, they would not receive Him; and in order to justify themselves, they tried to prove Him a deceiver.” The Desire of Ages, 212. And so with the assurance that their cause was right, “They sent messengers all over the country to warn the people against Jesus as an imposter.” Ibid., 213

Just imagine the Bible studies that these messengers gave in hundreds of homes all over Judea and the Bible based sermons that were delivered in vast numbers of synagogues throughout the land, all to prove that Jesus was an imposter. “Many who were convinced that Jesus was the Son of God were misled by the false reasoning of the priests and rabbis. These teachers had repeated with great effect the prophecies concerning the Messiah, that He would ‘reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously;’ that He would ‘have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.’ Isaiah 24:23; Psalm 72:8. Then they made contemptuous comparisons between the glory here pictured and the humble appearance of Jesus. The very words of prophecy were so perverted as to sanction error. Had the people in sincerity studied the Word for themselves, they would not have been misled.” Ibid., 458

“The Jews had misinterpreted God’s promise of eternal favor to Israel: ‘Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is His name: If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever. Thus saith the Lord: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord.’ Jeremiah 31:35-37. The Jews regarded their natural descent from Abraham as giving them a claim to this promise. But they overlooked the conditions which God had specified. Before giving the promise, He had said, ‘I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. Jeremiah 31:33, 34” Ibid., 106

Friends, when will we ever learn that God’s promises are given only on condition of obedience? When will we learn that sin is exceedingly sinful and no many, no institution, no church can harbor sin and still claim God’s promises and God’s ownership? There is no half-way point. The choice lies between sin and righteousness, between eternal death and eternal life. “To a people in whose hearts His law is written, the favor of God is assured. They are one with Him. But the Jews had separated themselves from God. Ibid.

This is why the Lord’s messenger gave us the following counsel: “The exceeding sinfulness of sin is to be held before the people just as it is.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 10, 296. Every sin, however small, if held on to and not overcome, will bar us from the city of God. Instead, we will be faced with eternal death. My mind tries to take it in, but the Lord has told us, “We must be terribly in earnest to impress upon every soul that there is a heaven to win and a hell to shun. Every energy of the soul must be aroused to force their passage, and seize the kingdom by force. Satan is active, and we must be active too. Satan is untiring and persevering, and we must be the same. There is no time to make excuses and blame others for our backslidings; no time now to flatter the soul [that] if circumstances had only been more favorable, how much better, how much easier [it would be] for us to work the works of God. We must tell even those who profess to believe in Christ, that they must cease to offend God by sinful excuses.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 12, 336

Have you recently considered the solemn fact that we have a heaven to win and a hell to shun? Each one of us will live forever in heaven or face hell, and after that eternal death—that is to never, never live again. Only as we grasp this realization, can we begin to understand the burden Jesus carried as He looked upon the Jews in their deceived condition. “He carried the awful weight of responsibility for the salvation of men. He knew that unless there was a decided change in the principles and purposes of the human race, all would be lost. This was the burden of His soul, and none could appreciate the weight that rested upon Him. Filled with an intense purpose, He carried out the design of His life that He Himself should be the light of men.” The Desire of Ages, 92

Unless we gain the reality of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, we most certainly will fit the description of the people Jesus addressed. “In view of the light they had received from God, they were even worse that the heathen, to whom they felt so much superior.” The people whom God had called to be the pillar and ground of the truth had become representatives of Satan.” Ibid., 106, 36

We are warned that Seventh-day Adventists could also become the representatives of Satan. “The Lord would have His people divested of everything unscriptural in regard to the ministry. The men called to the ministry should not be made idols of; they should not be looked upon with superstitious reverence; and because of the power vested in them more exceedingly sinful, for in committing sin they make themselves the ministers of sin, the agents of Satan, through whom he can work with success to perpetuate sin.” 1888 Materials, 1644

I am fearful of our tendency to excuse our “little” sins because we know that we have the truth of the three angels’ messages for the world. We tend to take pride in the fact that we have stood against the great celebration apostasy and that we have firmly resisted the encroachments of worldliness into the church. But beyond these things, we must also overcome anger, impatience, fretfulness, disorder, worship of men, love of the world, and a myriad of sins listed under selfishness.

Friend, do not think that it makes any difference that you are a Seventh-day Adventist if you harbor sin in your heart. It will only be held against you in the day of judgment.

Where can we get this view of the malignant nature of sin that was the source of Jesus’ great concern for us? “The exceeding sinfulness of sin can be estimated only in the light of the cross.” The Faith I Live By, 60. Where is the only place we can rightly estimate sin? At the cross. The word only is an absolutely restrictive word. There we will learn how terrible sin is. “Upon Him who knew no sin, must be laid the iniquity of us all. So dreadful does sin appear to Him, so great is the weight of guilt which He must bear, that He is tempted to fear it will shut Him out forever from His Father’s love. Feeling how terrible is the wrath of God against transgression, He exclaims, ‘My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death’” “Could mortals have viewed the amazement of the angelic host as in silent grief they watched the Father separating His beams of light, love, and glory from His beloved Son, they would better understand how offensive in His sight is sin.” The Desire of Ages, 685, 693

Jesus had always before clearly taught that He and the Father are one, that without the Father He could do nothing. He had plainly stated, “The Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that He Himself doeth.” John 5:20

But as Jesus became the Substitute for man, this blessed unity between the Father and the Son was not realized by Christ. This quotation bears careful study. “And in that dreadful hour Christ was not to be comforted with the Father’s presence. He trod the wine press alone, and of the people there was none with Him.” The Desire of Ages, 753. “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

Christ knew the right value to place upon sin. “He feared that sin was so offensive to God that Their separation was to be eternal.” Ibid., 753. Amid the awful darkness of Calvary, “apparently forsaken of God, Christ had drained the last dregs in the cup of human woe. In those dreadful hours He had relied upon the evidence of His Father’s acceptance heretofore given Him.” Ibid., 756. But He was willing to undergo all of this because of love for us. “All that He endured,—the blood drops that flowed from His head, His hands, His feet, the agony that racked His frame, and the unutterable anguish that filled His soul at the hiding of His Father’s face,—speaks to each child of humanity, declaring, it is for thee that the Son of God consents to bear this burden of guilt; for thee He spoils the domain of death, and opens the gates of paradise.” Ibid., 755

“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4. And, friends, we must be partakers of Christ’s sufferings and death. We have a cross to take and follow in His footsteps. Paul said, “I die daily.” But we are also to share in His resurrection power and be raised to walk in newness of life. “and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead.” Ephesians 1:19, 20. Only in this resurrection power can we live forever. Whosoever will, to the Lord may come. Yes, and “whosoever” surely meaneth me. But, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” John 8:34

“Whosoever, surely meaneth me, surely meaneth me, oh, surely meaneth me. Whosoever, surely meaneth me, whosoever meaneth me.”

The End

Ordinances in the Lord’s House

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In June and July of 1897, Ellen White wrote a number of articles in the Review and Herald about the ordinances of the Lord’s house and the symbols that Christ has given to us. They are simple and they can be easily and plainly understood.

There are the three ordinances of the Lord’s house in the new covenant. One is the foot washing service, or the ordinance of humility; one is the communion; and the other is baptism.

The sacramental service that we call the Lord’s Supper has the deepest significance. Ellen White said that this service, instituted by Jesus, was to take the place of the Passover. “Christ left for His church a memorial of his great sacrifice for man. ‘This do,’ he said, ‘in remembrance of Me.’ This was the point of transition between two economies and their two great festivals. The one was to close forever [that is the Passover of the old covenant]; and the other, which He had just established, was to take its place, and to continue through all time as the memorial of His death.” Review and Herald, June 22, 1897

This service is so important that we find it recorded in a number of places in the Bible. I suppose that everyone has his favorite places where this event is described. Matthew 26:26-30 is mine. It is also recorded in Mark 14:22-26 and in Luke 22:14-23. The apostle John in writing his gospel does not record in detail the Lord’s Supper, but he records in great detail the ordinance of humility that precedes it. In fact, John 13 is dedicated almost wholly to recording this event. This is so important that it is recorded in other places in the Bible in addition to the gospels.

Many ministers, when they conduct a communion service, use 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. This passage is probably the one most commonly used and is not in the gospels at all. The apostle Paul says, “The Lord instructed me about this,” and then goes on to describe the service.

Jesus said, “This do, in remembrance of Me.” Do you have anyone in your life of whom you have some remembrances? The other day while working at the office, I reached into my pocket and felt a slide. I knew I would not have placed it there if there had not been a reason to do so, and immediately I said to myself, “It is a picture of Marshall.” I pulled it out and held it up; and sure enough, it was a picture of my brother.

You have remembrances of people that include both those who are with you now and those you used to know who are new dead. Possibly, you have a book or a picture or a letter that they wrote to you, or you have other things that remind you of them. When Jesus instituted this service, he said, “Do this, to remember Me.” This is a remembrance of Him; and every time we celebrate this service, we do it as a commemoration of our Lord, our Master. When we do this, we may know that God comes sacredly near to us.

One of the wonderful things about the story of Jesus is that it helps us to understand the character and the personality of God. We learn that he loves us so much that He sent His Son to this world when we were ruined, to save us. And if we appreciate what He has done, he says, “do this in memory of Me.”

When Jesus was here, he invited all men to come to Him. This is why, as Seventh-day Adventists, when we conduct this service, we do not exclude anyone. Anyone who desires may participate. Jesus was not exclusive, so neither are we.

As we meditate upon the meaning of this symbol, our heart needs to be broken and the selfishness and pride need to be cut away from our life. All sin needs to be removed. That is why, in the Passover service, they were not allowed to have anything in the house that was fermented. Now we ferment our bread. Yeast plus sugar produces carbon dioxide and alcohol. The carbon dioxide is what makes the bread raise, which is why the yeast is used. Of course, as the bread bakes, the alcohol is baked off and what traces of it remain after baking will evaporate if the bread is allowed to sit for twenty-four hours before it is sliced.

Before the fermentation process is a symbol of sin, unleavened bread is the only correct representation of the Lord’s Supper. And we must use only pure grape juice of the grape, or unfermented wine. This is what we call grape juice and is in harmony with the Scriptures.

If you look at Matthew 26:29 in the Greek language, it is very clear indeed. Now in the English it says, “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new.” New is the word in English, and it means fresh, or just squeezed. That word can never be used in regard to fermented wine. We do not know that they had fresh-squeezed grape juice when Jesus instituted this service, but they had ways of preserving grape juice in those days just as we do. Jesus said, “I’m going to drink it the same with you in heaven.”

As we participate in this service, we cannot do it without thinking about the cross. The cross has a dark side. It is the most terrible thing that the human race has ever done; but Ellen White tells us that when we come to the communion service, “We are not to stand in the shadow, but in the saving light of the cross.” Review and Herald, June 22, 1897. What is the bright side of the cross? It is the side where you see the love that Jesus has for you. His eye looked down the stream of time, down to where you would be in the world. He went to the cross for you because He loves you. And when we come to this service, we are not to allow ourselves to spend all the time thinking about the sorrow and agony of the cross. We are to concentrate our mind on the love that was manifested for us at the cross. When we receive that love into our heart, it changes our life.

“On these occasions,” Ellen White says, “heaven is brought very near.” Ibid. Isn’t it wonderful to know that heaven is very near? In fact, Ellen White says that Jesus is there in person. “They,” that is, those who participate, “are brought into sweet communion one with another. These things we are never to forget. The love of Jesus, with its convincing power, is to be kept fresh in the memory. We must not forget Him who is our strength and our sufficiency.” Ibid.

Only by love is love awakened. As we receive His love for us, we respond to it; and when two, three, six, or a whole church full of people start to respond to His love, then he says to us, “This is My commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.” That is the miracle of the Christian’s religion. People have to see that Christians love each other the way Christ loves them. This is the greatest witness that can be given to the world.

Every communion service is a reminder. We are participating in this as a remembrance of Him until he comes. So it is a memorial and a reminder of His second coming. When Jesus instituted this service, there was dissension among the disciples as to who should be the greatest. Their hearts were not ready to have communion with each other or with their Lord. Sometimes as human beings, we try to teach someone something when their heart is not ready to be taught, and we meet with failure. Jesus understood that, and he did not institute the communion supper until He had prepared them with the foot washing service to enter into communion with Him.

“Christ gave His disciples to understand that the washing of their feet did not cleanse away their sin, but that the cleansing of their heart was tested in this humble service. If the heart was cleansed, this act was all that was essential to reveal the fact.” Review and Herald, June 14, 1898

Is your heart cleansed? The ordinance of foot washing or humility is a time for us to search our hearts and to say, “is there any sin cherished in my heart that needs to be cut away by confession?” One of the most wonderful things about Jesus is that if you choose to confess and make things right by going to Him, or going to a brother or sister, when you take one step toward Him, He takes more than one step toward you. It is not a fifty-fifty relationship. “The first look, the first act, of contrition and repentance that you direct toward Christ, does not escape His notice. The first step you take toward Him will bring Him more than a step toward you. All things, especially on this occasion, are ready for your reception. He will meet you in your weakness, repenting, broken-hearted soul, with His divine strength; he will meet your emptiness and spiritual poverty with his inexhaustible fullness.” Ibid.

None need to feel that they are so spiritually poor that they cannot participate. If you realize that you are spiritually poor and if you choose and say, “Lord Jesus, I’m choosing to come to You,” no matter how spiritually poor you are, the first look is noticed. He takes more than one step toward you. There is no one who is so spiritually poor that they cannot receive a blessing from Christ. Surrender your heart to Him, open your heart to Him, and He will give you a wonderful spiritual blessing.

Today we are in a time of theological controversy. Perhaps you have noticed a theological controversy that has developed over such things as the feast days. I want to share with you some very plain statements from the Spirit of Prophecy about the feast days. They have to do with the ordinances of the Lord’s house in the new covenant. I want you to notice how clearly Ellen White spells out the difference between what we are to do in the time of the new covenant and what the Jews did.

“In this ordinance,” she is writing about the Lord’s Supper, “Christ discharged his disciples from the cares and burdens of the ancient Jewish obligations in rites and ceremonies. These no longer possessed any virtue; for type was meeting antitype in Himself, the authority and foundation of all Jewish ordinances that pointed to Him as the great and only efficacious offering for the sins of the world. He gave this simple ordinance that it might be a special season when He Himself would always be present.” Ibid. Do you know what it means to be discharged because that one time, he was discharged from the army. It means that you are no longer responsible to that whole system. You are discharged. Notice that in this ordinance, Christ discharged them from all of these Jewish rites and ceremonies.

Now if that was the only sentence you had, you should be able to figure it out; but here is another one. (All of these sentences appear in this same series of articles that she wrote in June and July of 1897 in the Review and Herald.) “It was Christ’s desire to leave His disciples an ordinance that would do for them the very thing they needed,—that would serve to disentangle them from the rites and ceremonies which they had hitherto engaged in as essential, and which the reception of the gospel made no longer of any force.” Ibid.

Do you know what the word disentangle means? It means that you just completely cut loose form something.

Now that statement is quite clear, but I want you to especially notice the next sentence. Notice what she says, “To continue these rites would be an insult to Jehovah.” What does it mean to continue to participate in these Jewish rites and ceremonies? She says that it is an insult to Jehovah. Do you want to insult the Lord?

Here is a third statement. “The great Teacher’s wisdom in limiting the measure of our researches in earthly directions, called the attention of all to His legislation from the very foundation of our world,—to a code of morals, pure, simple, and practical, unencumbered by the long years of types and sacrifices, which passed away when the only true Sacrifice, Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, was offered for the sins of the world. His lessons to his disciples are received by all who would become His disciples , to the end of time. These lessons discharged His followers from the bondage of the ceremonial law, and left them the ordinance of baptism to be received by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as the only One who can take away sin. The ceremony of feet-washing and the Lord’s Supper, in its simplicity, and spirituality, is to be observed with true true solemnity, and with hearts full of thankfulness. It s participants are not to exhaust their powers of thought or their physical powers on outward forms and ceremonies.” Ibid., June 21, 1898

There are people spending their time studying Jubilee cycles, the 6,000 year theory, and all manner of mathematical numbers, signs and symbols. They are seeking to determine when probation will close and when Jesus will return. Friend, what is important for you and me is to have our heart changed so that we will be ready in character for Him to come. The central issue for us to understand is the necessity of entering into communion with Jesus. We are to stand in the saving light of the cross, receiving His love into our hearts, entering into communion with Him. The result of this is that we will each one be led into communion with all of the other people who are having the same experience with Jesus.

Concerning the disciples, we are told, “When they were so eager to pluck from the tree of knowledge, He presented them with the fruit of the tree of life. They found every avenue closed to them, which should not advance them in spiritual understanding of the narrow way, leading to eternal life. They found every fountain sealed, save the fountain of eternal life.” Ibid.

Oh, friend, do not let the devil trap you into spending your whole life seeking the fruit from the tree of knowledge, trying to figure out things that God has warned us not to. You know that the Lord has told us in the Spirit of Prophecy that we are not to know when probation will close and when the Second Coming will occur; nor are we to spend our time trying to figure that out! That is not our job! Our job is to enter into communion with Jesus.

What does Jesus see when He looks into your heart today? “The Lord understands all the defects in human character. He desires to save man. It was for this purpose that He came to this world. In Him all sufficiency dwells. In Him dwells all ‘the fullness of the Godhead bodily.’ The defective characters that remain thus, when One is among them who came to our world for the express purpose of taking away the sin of the world, make manifest that they do not appreciate the attributes of Christ sufficiently to hunger and thirst after righteousness.” Ibid., June 28, 1898. One of the great lessons of the communion supper is that if you hunger and thirst after righteousness, Jesus says that He will fill you with Himself.

Do you know that you do not have a single craving in your heart that Jesus cannot satisfy. “No man, woman, youth, or child can say, I have cravings that he cannot satisfy. All cravings that He does not fill are supplied with a superior sufficiency, which is for the perfection of Christian character.” Ibid. The communion supper is a symbol of the fact that if you come to Jesus, you are going to be satisfied. Have you ever thought of the fact that among the saved, throughout all eternity, there will never be a time when you will hear one person desire something that they cannot have. It will never happen. In Jesus, all will find satisfaction for every craving of the soul. There is no one else who can do this, but Jesus; and the communion supper is a symbol of that fact.

When the disciples met, they had been striving as to who would be the greatest. After He had waited a little while, Jesus got up from the table, filled a basin with water and began to wash their feet. I do not know of any place in the whole Bible where the Lord of Glory has given to the human race a greater rebuke. The disciples were so ashamed.

Do you know what is going to happen when we go to heaven? Ellen White saw it in vision. Jesus will say to his people, “Come, My people. You have suffered for My sake. Sit down. I am going to serve you.” The only way that you will be able to accept a service like that is if all of the pride is gone and you have a servant’s heart yourself. In the Christian religion, as we read in Ephesians 5, we are all to be in submission or in subjection to each other; that is, we serve each other. That is the way heaven is.

When the disciples saw Jesus washing their feet, they were so ashamed and humbled that they became teachable. They quit their dissension about who should be the greatest.

Is there any danger in the Christian Church today of dissension? Listen to this sentence, “Dissension always creates hatred.” Ibid., July 5, 1898. Did you know that? That is why dissension is so dangerous. If dissension is among us and we do not correct it, it will develop into hatred. That is one of the great reasons for the ordinance of humility. If there is any dissension among us, if we have something against each other, if there is something between us that we do not straighten out, it will develop into hatred every time.

This humble service is to recover man from the difficulties of sin. I want to have the experience that this service symbolizes, do you? We must not procrastinate till some future time. We do not know if we even have that future time. We need this experience today. Let us pray that the Lord will work this miracle out in our hearts.

The End