Issue: 2005 January

Lessons from the Children of Israel, Part I

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Perhaps, if you are familiar with my previous articles in LandMarks, you have already determined that my favorite portion of the Bible is the Old Testament. I love the Old Testament, because it provides a foundation and a depth for our understanding of where we are today. In the Book of Ecclesiastes, we are told this very thing: “The thing that hath been, it [is that] which shall be; and that which is done [is] that which shall be done: and [there is] no new [thing] under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9. Chapter 3, verse 15, says something very similar: “That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.” When we stop and think about this, history does have a way of repeating itself. If we do not learn the lessons that are in the past for us, that which has been will be. We will go back through those cycles again. God is working with us as a people to bring us to a point where we will not be repeating history.

But, on the other side, we find that just the opposite is true. “Satan is working that the history of the Jewish nation may be repeated in the experience of those who claim to believe present truth.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 111. This is why the Old Testament is a favorite of mine to study, because we need to learn the lessons from those things that have been. We need to see how the people conducted themselves then, what failures and victories their conduct brought, and how God dealt with them, so we can cling to the promises that He has for us as we make our way into the future, looking forward to the Second Coming of Jesus.

Spy Out the Land

Eleven days after leaving Mt. Sinai, the children of Israel arrived at a little place called Kadesh, which was in the wilderness of Paran, not too far from the Promised Land. If we were to draw a parallel to see how this may apply to us, we may find ourselves at Kadesh today. As the children of Israel arrived at this point, they were not too sure what the land of Canaan held for them. They knew that God was leading them; they knew what direction they were heading, but they really did not know very much about that land.

The people approached Moses with the idea that they needed to search this land so that they might know what was there. Moses was unsure how to answer this suggestion; he did not know whether to say yes or no. So, as when we do not know what to do, the best thing that we can do is to present the situation before the Lord and ask, “Lord, what would you have us to do?” This is what Moses did. The Lord told him that it was all right to go and to select one man from each tribe for this special job. (See Patriarchs and Prophets, 387.)

This brings us, in the story, to Numbers 13:17. “And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this [way] southward, and go up into the mountain: And see the land, what it [is]; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they [be] strong or weak, few or many; And what the land [is] that they dwell in, whether it [be] good or bad; and what cities [they be] that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; And what the land [is], whether it [be] fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring the fruit of the land. Now the time [was] the time of the firstripe grapes.” Verses 17–20.

So the story goes that the selected men went up; they surveyed the whole land, and they returned, after being gone 40 days, with their report. News of their return, as you can imagine, spread very rapidly throughout the camp, and the people rushed out to meet these messengers, anxious to hear what the Promised Land was like.

Tell Us About It

What would the interest be if Elijah or Enoch, who dwell in the heavenly Canaan, should come down into our midst? Would we have any interest in attending the meeting where they were going to share their experiences in the heavenly Canaan? We really do not know very much about heaven. We have some little vignettes of understanding that have been given to us in Scripture and by the Pen of Inspiration, but we look through a glass very darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12). We do not begin to understand just what it is that God has in store for us in heaven. If Elijah or Enoch or Moses were here, we would be very anxious to hear what they had to say.

The same thing was true for these spies who had now been in the land that God had promised to the children of Israel, and they wanted to hear the story. What was it like? Was it lean? Was it fat? Was it a land of plenty or not? “And they returned from searching of the land after forty days. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this [is] the fruit of it.” Verses 25–27. Now, we can imagine how the people of the congregation felt when they heard this news.

There is a whole background of information that comes with this. They had come out of Egypt as slaves. They owned nothing. Everything they had involved plunder; they had plundered the Egyptians and brought the goods with them. Everything they had formerly belonged to the Egyptians, and now they were coming into a land that was flowing with milk and honey, a land that was filled with plenty. Imagine the enthusiasm that was circulating amongst them when they heard this story! All they wanted at that moment was to fulfill the word of the Lord that they should go up and possess the land.

When I was a student at Walla Walla College (Walla Walla, Washington), having just been converted, there was nothing more that I wanted than to see the Second Coming of Jesus take place. I went through my four-year experience in two years and eleven months, because I just knew that Jesus was going to come before I could enter His work, and I wanted to have a part in it. I knew a little bit about what it would be like to be transported into the Promised Land, and I was anxious to get there. I wanted to get into the work, so I could have a part in bringing some sheaves with me. That is the way the children of Israel were in this experience. They had heard what the Promised Land was like; now they wanted to go over and possess that land. Probably they were not any more prepared to go into the Promised Land than I was when I was making my way through Walla Walla College. It has been a long time since then. A lot of refining experiences have taken place since then. God knows what is necessary for the development of our characters. What we have failed to learn in times of ease and prosperity, we will have to learn under the most discouraging and forbidding of circumstances. During the last movements of earth’s history, those learning experiences are going to rapidly take place.

Catch of Faith

The children of Israel wanted to go up and possess that land immediately. But there was a catch to it all. They could never move forward without faith. They were called upon to have faith in what God had said, but at this point, we find that their faith was failing. God had led them in a very marked way, no question about that. Their history had been recounted to them of the wonderful things that God had worked out in their behalf, but somehow they began to fail in their faith.

After describing all the beauty and the fertility of the land that they had seen, ten of the spies began to tell about the difficulties that they would come up against. They began to tell about the nations—how strong they were, how great the walled cities were, and how strong the people were. On top of all of this, they told them about giants being in the land. Their faith began to fail.

Interestingly, what has been, is destined to be again, and either corporately or individually we are destined to repeat these kinds of things, unless we are able to get above and beyond the circumstances that were prevailing then. Do we have any giants in our experiences? As we look out across the horizon, do we see giants out there and think that what God has asked us to do seems almost impossible? As we look out, do we see walled cities that are supposedly impervious? Really, we are no different than the children of Israel. We may not have physical giants with which to contend, but there are things that loom in our minds and make it seem almost impossible for us to move forward in the experience to which God is calling us. So we hesitate, and we begin to fail in our faith, and when that begins to happen, the devil moves right in and causes an upset in the whole program.

Verses 28 and 29 say, “Nevertheless the people [be] strong that dwell in the land, and the cities [are] walled, [and] very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.” The spies were telling that there were people everywhere, and it did not look like they would be able to get into the Promised Land at all.

Over the years, I have sat in board meetings and business meetings where, when some path that God has brought before us seems to be beckoning us, there are suddenly giants in the land. There are walled cities that seem impervious. I have seen people who have exercised faith and climbed mountains that seemed insurmountable. Always there were those people who would try to discourage anyone from climbing the mountain for God and gaining victory. There was always some reason given why we should not move forward, even though God had said so. All the bad things that they could, with the devil’s help, bring up, they would present and would begin to dwell on the negative side of things. The devil would be allowed to come in, and he would begin to take control of their minds to such an extent that the situation being considered looked like a lost cause.

Ellen White, writing of this situation, said, “Hope and courage gave place to cowardly despair, as the spies uttered the sentiments of their unbelieving hearts, which were filled with discouragement prompted by Satan. Their unbelief cast a gloomy shadow over the congregation, and the mighty power of God, so often manifested in behalf of the chosen nation, was forgotten.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 388. Has God done great things for you in the past? Or have you just kind of wandered along in the wilderness of Paran, wondering if indeed there is a Promised Land? Do you have any reference points to which you can actually anchor, acknowledging that, yes, God manifested Himself here, and because I know that, I am going to exercise faith, and I am going to go beyond the giants and walled cities in my mind and do what God has asked me to do, regardless of what the circumstances are or what consequences may come?

Forbidding Circumstances

That is no different than what the children of Israel were facing. They saw forbidding circumstances that would swallow them up, unless they just took God at His word, stepped out in faith, and went the direction that He wanted them to go. The judgments that were upon Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the manna in the wilderness, the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night were all forgotten. It was all forgotten because of what a few people had to say. Think about that for a minute.

All the experiences that you have had—that you have been able to mark down that God has done for you, that you have said, “God met me here”—under certain kinds of circumstances, can all be blown away because of what a few people say. It is something to ponder. History has a nasty way of repeating itself. Unless we learn the lessons that are there for us, we are destined to repeat those things.

Who is it that is there, trying to repeat that same kind of history? Who is it that is urging those things to take place? It is the devil. As noted previously, the devil is trying to repeat the history of the experiences of the children of Israel in those who are believers of present truth.

It is amazing how just a few people can cause real problems for the children of God—that is, if people will listen to them. Have you ever noticed that? Many times the conversation that comes from the few who try to discourage others from moving forward in God’s program does not provide enough time for us to reflect upon what God has given to us. But if we have taken the time to reflect, then our faith can continue and grow.

The children of Israel did not take time to reflect that, if God had done all of those wonderful things for them in the past and had brought them thus far, He would continue taking them on into the Promised Land. They had forgotten about all those things. They acted as if they had to depend upon their own force of arms.

That is not the way God works. He desires more than anything for us to develop a dependency on Him based upon what He has done for us in the past. He wants nothing to deter us from moving ahead and accomplishing the tasks that are yet before us. If we limit God’s power by our unbelief, as did the children of Israel, can God work for us at all? No, yet we find ourselves, so many times, doing the exact same thing. We limit God’s power as we begin to entertain the doubts and the thoughts about whether this is really what God would want for us. Can God really protect us? Can God really override circumstances and see us through a situation? We look at our lives, and we see that there are those things that we would like to accomplish or have, but they seem to be beyond our grasp. They are just too far away. Yet, all the while, God is there saying, “Move forward; move forward.” I can guarantee you this much: If God has ordained that something is to be, then He will empower us to see that it becomes a reality in our lives. It may appear to be impossible, but He can accomplish it.

Looking at the Negative

You see, the children of Israel were looking at those walled cities; they were looking at those giants, as if they had to go out and do all the conquering on their own. God said, “No, I am going to take care of all this for you. You just move ahead.”

The people, however, began to talk amongst themselves about the problem. The more they talked about the problem, the more their unbelief in God increased in their minds. As they faced the problem and as they began to exercise their unbelief, they began murmuring and complaining.

The servant of the Lord says that Caleb comprehended the situation and tried for all that he was worth to stand in defense of the Word of God. He tried to do everything in his power to counteract the evil influence of his unfaithful associates. (Patriarchs and Prophets, 388.) The spies had been in the Promised Land for 40 days. They had all been there together. Numbers 13:30 says, “Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they [are] stronger than we.”

There is always a process that takes place in situations such as this. Somehow, if we can recognize the circumstances of process, we can stop that process so that we do not get caught in the trap. There was a process taking place with the spies and the children of Israel.

“These men, having entered upon a wrong course, stubbornly set themselves against Caleb and Joshua, against Moses, and against God.” Ibid., 389. Do you know what was driving that process? It was driven by pride. That was the underlying foundation of the whole thing. Pride is of such a nature that it absolutely abhors failure.

To be continued . . .

Pastor Mike Baugher is Associate Speaker for Steps to Life. He may be contacted by e-mail at: mikebaugher@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Looking Backward . . . Looking Forward

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With the passing of the old year it is natural, and perhaps profitable, to review the record of [last year]. Although we cannot change the past, we may be able to draw from it encouragement and warning for the future. It ought to be clear to the observing and thoughtful that history is being made very fast in these days. Events of great significance follow each other in rapid succession, and the sensation of yesterday is overshadowed by the greater sensation of today. This has been true in almost every line of human experience. In this time of great light the minds of men have been stimulated to wonderful achievement, and the fruits of the intense life have been seen in the whole intellectual field. That which casts a dark shadow over the whole picture is the fact that the Bible and the God of the Bible have, with such increasing emphasis, been refused their place as the inspiration and the power for good; and as an inevitable consequence evil has become more and more rampant. That control in human affairs which is often called self-control, but which is really the restraining influence of the Spirit of God, has been in a large degree, rejected, and rapid progress has been made in that experience which will finally demonstrate to the universe the true nature of sin,—unrestrained sin,—sin in its real hideousness. . . . The backward view reveals mistakes and failures, but there are also victories and progress. Let us profit by these experiences, as we face the conflicts which are yet to come.

We are not prophets, but we have the words of the prophets. We are not stargazers and prognosticators, but we are expected to discern the signs of the times. We should not attempt to be wise above what is written, but “the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children.” [Deuteronomy 29:29.] In the light, therefore, which is cast upon our situation by the sure word of prophecy, and by attending to the voice of current events, we may be sure of some things in our forecast of the experiences of the coming year. We have no ground to expect an improvement in the general situation. On the contrary, we have every reason to expect that “evil men and impostors shall wax worse and worse.” [11 Timothy 3:13.] There are no indications that there will be a genuine revival of true religion among the great denominations of the day. The time of false revivals is at hand, and they may appear at any time; but there can be no true repentance and turning to God without a radical change in the whole attitude of Christendom toward the fundamentals in Christianity,—the Bible and the Lord’s Christ. And the day of their visitation seems not to have been perceived. Those who do not wish to be partakers of her sins must now come out from a fallen church. The current in the social and political world has gained too much headway in the wrong direction to make it easy to reverse it, and the array of facts and figures concerning the increase of lawlessness, . . . constitutes a terrible indictment against public morality. There is no power in the ethics and the philosophy of “the new evangelism” to cope with this situation, and peace congresses held by nations which are steadily increasing their fighting power are not likely to convert the world. The whole drift is toward the battle of the great day. The only hope for the world is in the third angel’s message. This message, we are confident, will make rapid progress during the coming year. If all the believers will heartily cooperate with God’s purpose concerning his people and work at this time, the next twelve months may witness such a revelation of the power and glory of God as has not been seen since apostolic times. For this the preparation has already been made. Only our own unfaithfulness will defer or dim the glory. The time demands whole-hearted service. Let the coming year be filled with it.

“Editorial,” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Washington, D. C., December 29, 1904, 3.

Peter’s Counsel to Parents, Part I : Western Normal Institute Address

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I am glad to see so many before me this morning. I desire that every one of you shall be so related to God that everything you do here shall be done as viewing Him who is invisible. You can keep your minds fixed upon God. Every one of you must individually form a character after the divine similitude.

A Choice

I do not know how many of you have made a profession of Christianity, but I trust that while you are here as students you will all give careful thought to this subject. You can choose whether you will have a hope that is confirmed in Jesus Christ, whether you will during your attendance at this school seek to prepare yourselves for the kingdom of God. In order to make it possible for you to have this advantage, Jesus Christ has given His precious life. If you do not avail yourselves of the privileges thus purchased for you, if through Christ you do not become partakers of the divine nature, you will in the day of final reckoning be found without excuse.

Schools Separate from the World

Why do we have schools separate from the schools of the world? It is that our youth may receive an education in right lines, that they may understand what is involved in the great sacrifice that has been made in behalf of fallen humanity. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” And the believer in Christ becomes a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. As it has been presented to me, it is the purpose of our educational institutions to teach students how they may be partakers of the divine nature. This instruction is not to be passed by as of secondary importance. The value of the education received depends upon how the student relates himself to this subject.

In our behalf Christ has made a tremendous sacrifice. He laid aside His royal crown, He laid aside His royal robe, and came to this world, born of humble parentage. Many were not attracted by the humility of His life, and He was despised and rejected of men. He suffered persecution, until at length He was crucified and died a shameful death. What does this mean to us? He came as the Saviour of every sinner that will accept of the divine sacrifice. He united in Himself divinity and humanity, that He might be the connecting link between fallen man and the Father. But will men accept of the conditions? Who of you will become partakers of the divine nature? There should be no delay in accepting Christ.

Importance of Influence

You will be subject to temptations here. There are brought together here many of various ideas and temperaments. You have come from homes where you have received different molds of thought and education. Unless you are partakers of the divine nature, there is danger that you will lead one another to forgetfulness of God. It were better for you to have your right hand cut off than that you should lead one soul in a wrong direction. In your education, seek for those principles that will help you to form the best possible characters in this life, thus fitting yourselves for the future, eternal life.

Now I will read a portion of the first chapter of second Peter. Notice who are addressed: it is those who have obtained something: “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”

Character and Future Destiny

“The righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ,” this is our dependence. Through the merits of Jesus, you can be made clean and white in character, if you consecrate yourselves to Him, with a determined purpose that right here in this school you will live a Christian life. You are now forming characters that will determine your future destiny, for life or for death. If there are those here that have never taken hold of Christ by living faith, I entreat of you to do this at the earliest possible moment; for you will suffer great loss if you neglect this.

“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you.” How, through your ignorance; through your acting like the world?—“Through the knowledge.” Now here is a knowledge that is worth more than silver or gold or precious stones. It is the “knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.”

Preparing the Children

“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” Then if you are lost, you will be left without excuse. The time is coming when your parents, if they have purified their lives by obeying the truth, will come up to the gates of the city of God, and the gates will open before them. Are their children preparing to enter with them? If the parents have worked out their own salvation with fear and trembling, if they have in the fear of God tried to help their children, their work will be accepted. But perhaps their children have refused to be helped, and have chosen to follow their own inclinations. Will you not, as young people, act in harmony with the knowledge that you have received, and join the army of believers to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling?

Universal Call

“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” Every one of you is called. Will you obey the call?

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” If you try to fulfill the Word, if you seek to do the will of God, you will have divine help.

Cultivation of Christian Principles

“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue”—a virtuous character—“and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance”—temperance in eating and in drinking—“and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity”—love.

“For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

“For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (11 Peter 1:1–11).

Eternal Life-insurance Policy

Here is a promise that is for every one of you. If you live on the plan of addition, adding grace to grace, you are growing up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and you may find in this promise an eternal life-insurance policy. This is a promise that will stand the test. It is worth far more than any life-insurance policy that can be purchased with money. It is a policy that has been provided by God Himself in giving His only beloved Son that through belief in Him, through accepting of His great sacrifice, you may obtain everlasting life. Having gained the victory, you may enter in through the gates of the city of God, and receive an immortal crown.

“Wherefore,” says the apostle, “I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.” Our profession of Christianity will not save us. We must be Christlike.

Plan of Addition

I desire that everyone in this school should form a character after the divine similitude, that you shall live upon the plan of addition, adding grace to grace. As you do this, you will be helping someone else. You will be giving an example that will be a help to those that are around you. You cannot afford to lose your interest in the great life-insurance policy.

There are here in this school young people of various character. There are some here of a light and trifling disposition, some who give very little heed to where they are standing spiritually. But we desire you to become decidedly in earnest in regard to your soul’s salvation; for it means everything to you. And it means much to the school, how you shall conduct yourselves. If you will determine to lay aside all folly, all vanity, and all frivolity, you will thus be helping to elevate this school to the position that God would have it occupy. You cannot afford to follow the inclinations of your own unconverted minds, and not try to obtain the victory that has been made possible for you through the sacrifice of Christ. We trust that you may see the King in His beauty.

Challenge to Live Consistent Lives

You will doubtless have difficulties to meet, but these difficulties are allowed to come to you, that by overcoming them you may be strengthened to take up the work of God. There is missionary work to be done by everyone connected with this school. Through the grace of God, we are to reveal that we are overcomers by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of our testimony. Will you not, by living consistent lives, show that you are living on the plan of addition?

I feel an intense desire that you shall put away all frivolity. Study your Bibles. Read over and over the wonderful lessons that Christ has given to animate you, to strengthen you, and to aid you in spiritual growth. Why, it is a wonderful thing to escape the corruptions that are in the world through lust; yet that is possible if you will comply with the conditions. It rests with you whether or not you will do it. You may have to face grave difficulties, but it is your privilege to be so grounded in the truth that not even the severest persecution can turn you aside from it.

Daily Faith Needed

What we need is a daily, living experience in the benefits to be derived by obedience to God. We are to encourage faith, to live by faith. This is our privilege, and if we do, then it is not in vain that Christ laid aside His kingly honors and came to this world to suffer and die. He will look upon the purchase of His blood, and will be satisfied. In that day the redeemed will cast their glittering crowns at the feet of their Saviour, and all heaven will ring with songs of praise. May we all be partakers of the divine nature, and be overcomers. I have tried to speak these words for your benefit, and now I will leave you to study this chapter for yourselves. May the blessing of the Lord rest upon you in the work you have to do is my desire and prayer.

(Manuscript 103, 1909. An address before the students and faculty of the Western Normal Institute, Lodi, California, November 7, 1909.)

Why is it so Difficult to Turn Around? Part 1

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God’s work is going to be finished soon, and I want to be part of it when it finishes—do you? In this article, I want to study with you about what the Holy Spirit can do in our lives. The best title, though, that I could come up with is, “Why Is It so Difficult to Turn Around?” There are many people for whom the Holy Spirit cannot do anything in their lives, because they will not turn in the right direction.

Gospel Order

In the early church, when the Holy Spirit was poured out, 3,000 people were converted in a day; many more accepted Christ, and God added to their numbers daily. (Acts 2:41, 47.) How did someone become a member of the apostolic church? When the people heard that they were the ones that crucified Jesus, they were pricked in their hearts and they asked, “What shall we do?” Peter told them, “Repent and be baptized.” (Verses 36–38.) All through the New Testament baptism is the door into the church.

We need to recognize that when the Holy Spirit comes, He never does away with gospel order. God always works in an organized way. That is why, before we have a baptism, it is our custom to entertain a motion that the baptismal candidates be accepted into church membership, subject to their baptism. That is orderly procedure. The Holy Spirit does not work in a disorderly way; the Holy Spirit works in an orderly way. Things were done this way in the New Testament. If a person was baptized and professed faith in Jesus, then he or she became a member of the church. But, the Holy Spirit cannot do anything for you or for me unless we turn around.

Turn Around

In the Bible, the basic meanings of the Greek and Hebrew words that are translated “to be converted” or “to repent” simply are “to change your mind” or “to turn around.” The Holy Spirit cannot do anything for us if we do not change our minds or turn around. Isaiah 45:22 says, “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! Because I am God, and there is not anybody else.” In other words, there is no other God. The first word of the verse, in my Bible, is turn, “turn to Me.” If we do that, we will be saved. Some Bible versions say, “look to me;” it means the same thing.

From this verse, we can see that it is vital that we turn to the Lord and look to Him, so we can be saved. Remember, I have entitled this article, “Why Is It so Difficult to Turn Around?” It is difficult to turn around, because from our memory banks, we have things in our minds that we have believed for a long time. After we have believed something for a long time, we are just sure that it is the truth, even though it may not be. That is what happened to the Jews in the days of Jesus. There were certain things that they had known for so long that they were sure that they were the truth, but they were not.

Believing an Error

“The Jews refused to receive Christ, because He did not come in accordance with their expectations. The ideas of finite men were held as infallible, because hoary with age.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 64. They had believed it for so long that they thought it was infallible.

That would never happen again, would it? Read the next sentence: “This is the danger to which the church is now exposed.” Ibid. What is the danger to which we are exposed? That we have believed certain things for so long that we just know that is the way it is.

No matter how long we have believed an error, at some point in time, we are going to be forced to recognize it was not so. A lot of people are not going to recognize until the end of the millennium that what they believed was not truth, but they are going to recognize it then. Every error that an individual has believed, he or she is going to be forced, at some point, to acknowledge, but it will be too late someday to be saved, even though the error is acknowledged.

“This is the danger to which the church is now exposed—that the inventions of finite men shall mark out the precise way for the Holy Spirit to come.” Ibid., 64, 65. What is the danger? That we will get in our minds the way that the Holy Spirit has to come, and if the Holy Spirit does not come the way that we think, we will not accept it. Ellen White goes on to write, “Though they would not care to acknowledge it, some have already done this.” Ibid., 65. That is alarming!

In another statement, Mrs. White wrote: “They [ministers, church leaders] will not open their eyes to discern the fact that they have misinterpreted and misapplied the Scriptures, and have built up false theories, calling them fundamental doctrines of the faith.” Ibid., 70. What are these false theories called? They are called fundamental doctrines of faith. Who was building up these false theories and calling them fundamental doctrines of faith? The leading Seventh-day Adventist ministers. We would never do that again, would we?

Well, read the following statement: “Even Seventh-day Adventists are in danger of closing their eyes to truth as it is in Jesus, because it contradicts something which they have taken for granted as truth . . . .” Ibid. How interesting! We are in danger of closing our eyes to the truth. Why? Because the truth contradicts something that we think is the truth, and we have thought it was the truth for so long that we are sure we know.

Know for Sure

Galileo threatened with imprisonment Let me ask you a question just to make you think. How many things do you know for sure that are not so? You cannot answer that. Since you know it for sure, you do not know which things that you know for sure are not so. If you study history, you know the story of Galileo. In the 1600s, the whole world was sure that they knew the truth—that the earth was the stationary center of the universe. Through his studies and research, Galileo discovered this theory was false, but his newfound knowledge directly contradicted the long-standing geocentric view held by the Roman Catholic Church. Galileo was threatened with imprisonment if he did not recant. The trouble was, he was right, and the whole world was wrong. (“Galileo Galilei,” www.About.com, cited October 5, 2004.)

There are many stories in the Bible like that. The most famous one, of course, is the one of Noah. People thought that Noah could not be right, because everybody else believed something else. I have stated it before, and I will state it again: The truth is never, ever dependent on numbers. Never. If you were the only person in the whole world who knew that the seventh day is the Sabbath, if there was not another person in the whole world that knew that the seventh day is the Sabbath, it would still be the truth. The truth is the truth whether anyone believes it or not.

“Many things will appear distinctly as truth which will not be acceptable to those who think their own interpretations of the Scripture always right. Most decided changes will have to be made in regard to ideas which some have accepted as without a flaw.” Ibid., 76.

An Adventist minister wrote a letter to a lady recently, stating, “Everybody (all the Adventists) believes this except ,” and he named a heretic who did not believe it. Does that make it right, because everybody believes it? We can never determine what the truth is just by how many people believe something. In the days of Christ, if we had done that, we would have rejected Jesus. We would also have rejected John the Baptist, Elijah, Noah, the apostle Paul, Martin Luther, and James and Ellen White.

It is vital that we each have an open mind and pray, “Lord, if there is some area in my life where I need to be willing to change my thinking about something that I have known all my life but that evidence now shows it to not be so, turn me around.”

Self-Exaltation

Did you know that error is more attractive than truth to the human mind? Did you know that truth is unpopular? Was truth unpopular when Jesus was here? It most certainly was. Why?

We may have trouble understanding why someone would not want to know and believe the truth. Have you ever given a Bible study to someone who told you, “I just want to know the truth”?

You say, “Well, good, let us study the truth.” You start to study with them, and after awhile they do not want to study anymore, because they found out something they did not want to hear. Have you ever seen that happen?

The fact of the matter is that error is more attractive to the human mind today than is truth. Ellen White gave an illustration as to why that is true. She said, “Truth was unpopular in Christ’s day. It is unpopular in our day. It has been unpopular ever since Satan first gave man a disrelish for it by presenting fables that lead to self-exaltation.” The Desire of Ages, 242. If space allowed, we could go through many, many, many of the false doctrines that are being proclaimed today, and we would see the connection between those false doctrines and self-exaltation. That is why the truth is unpopular. But it is not just self-exaltation; that is only one reason.

After we have believed something, if we are going to turn, the Lord says, turn, “Turn to Me and be saved.” Why is it so hard to turn? How many people have you met lately that like to acknowledge that they have been wrong? We each have what is known as pride of opinion. Please do not tell me that you are the only human being in the world that does not have that. That would be difficult for me to believe. This is a universal, human problem. We do not like to acknowledge that we may have been wrong on something, but remember, the devil has introduced myths and fables that lead to self-exaltation. It is humbling for us to admit that we have believed a fable.

This happens the most with fanaticism. One day, a long time ago, my brother Marshall and I were talking about fanaticism, and he told me, “The thing behind fanaticism is spiritual pride.” I had never considered that before, but after pondering that thought for a few years, I had to agree; that is exactly what it is.

If we know something that other people do not know, we have pride, because we have insider knowledge that not everybody has. We have the inside scoop. We feel better than those other poor folks who do not have the knowledge that we have. That is one of the driving forces of fanaticism. It leads to self-exaltation.

There are people who get rich telling other people that they will give them the inside scoop about this or that or something else. I get letters from such people all the time. The problem is, they always want money to give me the inside scoop, so I do not have the inside scoop about very much.

Who is in the most danger of getting involved in this special insider knowledge and fanaticism? Someone may say that it is the person that does not have very much education. That is 180 degrees wrong! The people that are in the most danger are people such as ministers, physicians, lawyers, and other people that are highly educated and very intelligent. Of all people, they are in the greatest danger of getting snagged into fanaticism and error. It is more attractive than the truth.

We Avoid Humiliation

We have already started to look at why error is more attractive than the truth and why it is difficult to turn around. We have seen that it is very difficult and humiliating for us to acknowledge that we have been wrong. It is hard to acknowledge that we have made mistakes. We are afraid that others will think less of us. Our pride is injured; we are humiliated. We desire to avoid this humiliation as long as possible. That is what leads to procrastination.

Have you noticed that, as you study the Bible with people and they come to understand some things that they need to change in their lives if they are going to come into harmony with the Bible, they put off making the changes? It is humiliating for them to acknowledge that they have been in error, so they stall as long as possible.

I worked with an evangelist one time who said, “Do not ever make the person that you are studying with the ‘goat’ of whatever you are talking about. If there is a problem, do not let them be responsible for it. Put it on somebody else, because they cannot take it.” It is difficult for us to turn around, because it is hard for us to acknowledge when we are wrong. It is hard to acknowledge our mistakes.

We do not want to be humiliated, so sometimes people do what the Jews did. The Jews started to resist the truth when John the Baptist was there, and then they resisted the truth more when Jesus came. After Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected from the dead, they could not refute it. You would think they would have turned then, but they did not. Have you ever wondered why they would not turn to the Lord when they had the evidence of the resurrection and the ascension? There were over 500 witnesses that could have said, “We saw Him, and we talked to Him.” (See 1 Corinthians 15:6.) Why did they not turn? Because they had developed a habit.

I am mentioning this, because I am frightened of Adventists developing a similar habit. If we develop a habit and promote and practice it long enough, it will become almost impossible for us to turn around. Our pride will be at stake. The time may come when we have resisted something so long that even if it is proven to us to be truth, we would continue to resist it.

Resisting Truth

“Every act of resistance makes it harder to yield. Being the leaders of the people, the priests and rulers felt it incumbent on them to defend the course they had taken. They must prove that they had been in the right. Having committed themselves in opposition to Christ, every act of resistance became an additional incentive to persist in the same path. The events of their past career of opposition are as precious treasures to be jealously guarded. And the hatred and malignity that inspired those acts are concentrated against the apostles.

“The spirit of God revealed its presence unto those who, irrespective of the fear or favor of men, declared the truth which had been committed to them. Under the demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s power, the Jews saw their guilt in refusing the evidence that God had sent; but they would not yield their wicked resistance. Their obstinacy became more and more determined, and worked the ruin of their souls. It was not that they could not yield, for they could, yet would not. It was not alone that they had been guilty, and deserving of wrath, but that they armed themselves with the attributes of Satan, and determinedly continued to be opposed to God. Every day, in their refusal to repent, they took up their rebellion afresh.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 74. That is why it is difficult to turn around—all of those reasons.

How to Turn

Now let us look at the good news of how to turn around, and what will happen if we do turn around. Jehovah said to Moses, as recorded in Numbers 21:8, 9, “Make for you a fiery serpent, and put it upon a pole; and it shall be that everyone who has been bitten and shall look upon it will live. And Moses made a bronze serpent, and he set it upon [a pole], and it was, if anyone had been bitten by a snake among men, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.” There was not any power in that bronze serpent to make anyone live, and he or she knew that. It was not the serpent; it was the fact that they chose to turn and to look at it. In other words, they chose to look in the right direction. They chose to look to the Lord, to turn and look toward Him. This Scripture applies to every person in this world, because we have all been stung. The Bible, in Revelation 12, talks about “that ancient serpent,” and we have all been stung by it. That serpent’s bite is lethal; it will kill us forever. Unless God’s divine power is exercised in our behalf, we are lost 100 percent of the time.

But what happened, when the serpent had stung the people, if they chose to look toward the bronze serpent? They lived! We do not need to make it complicated. That is what the Scripture says. There is Someone that, if we look to Him, can and will heal us from all the consequences of sin. He will take our sins away. If we do not turn to Him, He will not take our sins away; we will die forever.

I have noticed over and over again that the people who are involved in all kinds of sin are looked upon as the worst of human beings, yet they get saved, because they recognize that they have a problem. People who have not been involved in some kind of crime or other terrible sin—at least they do not think of what they do as a terrible sin—do not get saved, because they think they are pretty good already. They are like the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. The Pharisees today may say, “I have never robbed a bank.” An elderly man once told me that he had never told a lie! I thought, “Brother, I am not sure but what that is the biggest one you have told!”

Friend, if you say, “I have never lied; I have never robbed a bank; I have never taken any illicit drugs; I have never committed fornication; I have never done what other people do, so I am okay,” you might be the worst sinner in church, the worst sinner in the land! Jesus told the Pharisees that the prostitutes and the tax collectors would go into the kingdom before them, because they were victims of spiritual pride.

All Have Been Stung

The Bible teaches that the ancient serpent has stung every single human being. But there is Someone that can take all that away from us, and He will take it away, if we will look to Him. We cannot look to Him the way the Pharisees did. They never got saved. We have to look to Him the way the tax collector did, and say, “Lord, I need a Saviour. I need somebody to save me. I am in a pit that I cannot get out of.” The fact of the matter is that every single human being in the world is in a pit he cannot get out of without Jesus. The only difference is that some people know it, and some people do not know it. Sometimes the Lord has to let us get into big trouble, so we can find out our need.

The blood of Christ is so powerful that if we choose to trust in His merits, He is going to save us from every sin we have ever committed, and He is going to save us from the power of sin within. “As the high priest sprinkled the warm blood upon the mercy seat, while the fragrant cloud of incense ascended before God, so while we confess our sins and plead the efficacy of Christ’s atoning blood, our prayers are to ascend to heaven, fragrant with the merits of our Saviour’s character. Notwithstanding our unworthiness, we are ever to bear in mind that there is One that can take away sin and save the sinner.” Ibid., 92, 93. There is Someone—He can take our sins; He can save us, and He will do it, if we look to Him. The next sentence says, “Every sin acknowledged before God with a contrite heart, He will remove.” Ibid., 93. If we confess our sins before the Lord, He will take them away.

To be continued . . .

[Some Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

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

 

The Third Person of the Godhead in the Writings of Ellen G. White

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Everywhere we look, we see plenty of evidence that we are living in the last days of the earth’s history. As we look at the end-time period, we have to admit that this period is almost over, so we are living at the end of the end-time period. This is especially true if we recognize the signs of the times in the advent movement. There is not only apostasy of mainstream Adventism, but the increase of fanaticism we see everywhere shows us that we are in the time of shaking and sifting and that we are in a fierce battle with the archenemy of God. In Revelation 12, we find this war of Satan against the beloved church of God. In verse 17, it says: “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

That makes it very simple for us. All we have to be aware of is that our feet stand upon the Ten Commandments and the Spirit of Prophecy (Revelation 19:10). Sometimes we may be confused when we listen to a debate on a question of doctrine, and we may not know which position is right. But if we view it in the light of Revelation 12:17, it usually gets very simple again. No matter how convincing any argument may seem to us, if it leads us away from or brings us in opposition to the Ten Commandments or the Spirit of Prophecy, we should know that this position is wrong.

The Very Last Deception

This is especially true for the third person of the Godhead. In recent years, an increasing number of Seventh-day Adventists have refused to believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. They argue with the Bible and sometimes quote the Spirit of Prophecy. But as soon as they are shown quotes from Ellen G. White in which she calls the Holy Spirit the third person of the Godhead, they have no other argument than, “This quote has been changed.”

That shows that the real issue is not the Godhead but the Spirit of Prophecy. If we read anything in the writings of Ellen G. White and come to the conclusion that she is wrong and we are right, we can be sure that Satan has succeeded in his warfare against the Spirit of Prophecy, and we have been separated from the remnant that have the testimony of Jesus, which is the Spirit of Prophecy.

We have not been warned that the very last deception would be about the Godhead but about making the testimonies of none effect. “The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God. ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish’ (Proverbs 29:18). Satan will work ingeniously, in different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the confidence of God’s remnant people in the true testimony.—Letter 12, 1890.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 48.

This is what it is really all about. If you come to believe a lie that the testimonies concerning the third person of the Godhead have been changed, you are deceived by Satan. “The workings of Satan will be to unsettle the faith of the churches in them [the testimonies] . . . . —Letter 40, 1890.” Ibid.

These skeptics are comparable to soldiers believing that the commands of their general are a delusion of the enemy. If a pilot comes to believe that the commands he receives in his jet bomber come from the enemy, he will do the opposite of what he is told to do and will surely die. But you cannot be used in Christ’s army, if you do not do what He tells you. “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Luke 6:46.

“One thing is certain: Those Seventh-day Adventists who take their stand under Satan’s banner will first give up their faith in the warnings and reproofs contained in the Testimonies of God’s Spirit.” Ibid., Book 3, 84.

A Mystery not Clearly Revealed

In a letter from Brother Chapman, Ellen White was asked about his special view concerning the Holy Spirit. He believed that the Holy Ghost was not a person or a personality of the Godhead “but the angel Gabriel.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 14, 175. In rejecting this view, she makes clear that the nature of the Holy Spirit is not fully revealed to us.

“Some are ever seeking to be original, to bring out something new and startling. . . .

“Your ideas of the two subjects you mention do not harmonize with the light which God has given me. The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery not clearly revealed, and you will never be able to explain it to others because the Lord has not revealed it to you. You may gather together scriptures and put your construction upon them, but the application is not correct. The expositions by which you sustain your position are not sound. You may lead some to accept your explanations, but you do them no good, nor are they, through accepting your views, enabled to do others good.

“It is not essential for you to know and be able to define just what the Holy Spirit is. Christ tells us that the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, and the Comforter is the Holy Ghost . . . . [John 14:16, 17 quoted.]” Ibid., 178, 179. [Emphasis supplied.]

Ellen White points out that the nature of the Holy Spirit is a side issue and puts it into nice words that someone who believes the Holy Spirit is not a person who would serve the work of God more if he or she kept silent. She goes on: “There are many mysteries which I do not seek to understand or to explain; they are too high for me, and too high for you. On some of these points, silence is golden.” Ibid., 179. (See Deuteronomy 29:29.)

This thought is repeated in The Acts of the Apostles, 52: “The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. Men cannot explain it, because the Lord has not revealed it to them. Men having fanciful views may bring together passages of Scripture and put a human construction on them, but the acceptance of these views will not strengthen the church. Regarding such mysteries, which are too deep for human understanding, silence is golden.” [Emphasis supplied.]

People who think they have the burden to proclaim that the third person of the Godhead is a papal error should heed the closing words of Sister White to Brother Chapman: “Now, my brother, it is truth that we want and must have, but do not introduce error as new truth.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 14, 180.

Quotations Altered?

Now, take a closer look at some quotes referring to the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Godhead. Often it is said that the quotes in the book Evangelism are a fake. This book was first published several years after Ellen White’s death, so it is said that these quotations were added without her approval. Look at the first one:

“The Comforter that Christ promised to send after He ascended to heaven, is the Spirit in all the fullness of the Godhead, making manifest the power of divine grace to all who receive and believe in Christ as a personal Saviour. There are three living persons of the heavenly trio; in the name of these three great powers—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized, and these powers will co-operate with the obedient subjects of heaven in their efforts to live the new life in Christ.—Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 7, pp. 62, 63. (1905)” Evangelism, 615. [Emphasis supplied.]

This quote was first printed in 1905 in Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 7, page 63.1 In this edition, you read exactly the same words as in the book Evangelism. If you do a research on that in the original files, you find the same words.2

 

When Ellen White was in Australia, she helped to found Avondale School. In 1899, she addressed the students of the school: “We need to realize that the Holy Spirit, who is as much a person as God is a person, is walking through these grounds.—Manuscript 66, 1899. (From a talk to the students at the Avondale School.)” Evangelism, 616.

You cannot put it more clearly. The Holy Spirit is as much a person as is God the Father a person. If you look at the original file, you find it indexed as Manuscript 66, March 25, 1899. A copy of the original is shown in the end notes.3

Holy Spirit person

You will also find that quote in Sermons and Talks, vol. 2, 137; Manuscript Releases, vol. 7, 299; and The Faith I Live By, 52. If you take a closer look, you will notice that Ellen White read this text, as she was used to it, after it had been typed by her secretary, and she made some remarks. Sometimes she crossed out some words, but concerning the third person of the Godhead, she never did so. It was typed in exactly the way she wanted it to be. There is no fake at all.

Another quote we read in Evangelism, 617, is indexed as Manuscript 20, February 7, 1906. Ellen White had also read the original document, after it had been typed by her secretary. She gave her final approval by writing the words down: “I have read this carefully and accept it.”4

EGW read and accepted

In that document you find the words, “The Holy Spirit has a personality, else he could not bear witness to our spirits and with our spirits that we are the children of God. He must also be a divine person, else he could not search out the secrets which lie hidden in the mind of God. . . .” 5

divine person

In the same document, you find another quotation which has been published in Evangelism, 616. “The Holy Spirit is a person, for He beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God.” These words may be read in Mrs. White’s own handwriting.6

Holy Spirit is a person

One famous quotation, that is available in many Seventh-day Adventist homes, may be found in the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, 1074: “The work is laid out before every soul that has acknowledged his faith in Jesus Christ by baptism, and has become a receiver of the pledge from the three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (MS 57, 1900).” The same statement, in Ellen G. White’s handwriting, is shown in the end notes.7

three person

Another handwritten statement was published in Manuscript Releases, vol. 20, 324: “The Holy Spirit is the Comforter, in Christ’s name. He personifies Christ, yet is a distinct personality.” 8

Holy Spirit personality

No Room for Doubt

I could go on showing statement after statement. Study the references shown in the end notes9 to realize how many quotations have been given on this subject, and assure yourself that they are all reliable. Notice that there are plenty of quotes from periodicals released during Ellen White’s lifetime. They were widely spread throughout Adventism in her days. You may also look up facsimile reprints of periodicals like the Review and Herald or The Signs of the Times, if they are available, to see the original printing authorized by Ellen White personally. They were printed during her lifetime. See it with your own eyes. There is no doubt about it at all.

To those who still cannot believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead, I would like to ask: Why do you hesitate? Why do you doubt? Who put this doubt in your heart? Is it God who wants you to doubt His Word, or is it His enemy? God is displeased because you doubt the words of His prophet.

When you one day will stand before the throne of God, and He asks you why did you not believe the Holy Spirit to be the third person of the Godhead, you will have to admit that you did not trust His Word and believed it had been changed. God will then say to you, “You were the one who changed it for yourself. Could you not believe My words, ‘There has not failed one word . . .’ or ‘Thy testimonies are very
sure . . .’ ?” 1 Kings 8:56; Psalm 93:5.

No Diversions

Do you not believe that God is able to keep His Word unchanged for your and my salvation today? Has He told you to be the judge over His Word to decide what is true and what is not true?

Do not make this side issue a salvation topic. Ellen White says: “The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. Men cannot explain it, because the Lord has not revealed it to them.” The Acts of the Apostles, 52. By occupying your mind with this question, Satan diverts you from the Three Angels’ Messages.

“Here is your danger, of diverting minds from the real issues for this time.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 14, 180. These words were written to Brother Chapman who had some special ideas about the Holy Spirit.

“We are to pray for divine enlightenment, but at the same time we should be careful how we receive everything termed new light. We must beware lest, under cover of searching for new truth, Satan shall divert our minds from Christ and the special truths for this time. I have been shown that it is the device of the enemy to lead minds to dwell upon some obscure or unimportant point, something that is not fully revealed or is not essential to our salvation. This is made the absorbing theme, the ‘present truth,’ when all their investigations and suppositions only serve to make matters more obscure than before, and to confuse the minds of some who ought to be seeking for oneness through sanctification of the truth.” Ibid., 178.

The Pioneers

You might say that the pioneers did not believe in the trinity. By the way, Ellen White never used the term “trinity,” but she wrote about the “heavenly trio.” It is true that we do not believe in the trinity as the Catholics might do when they refer to one God with three heads. But we believe in “three living persons of the heavenly trio . . .—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7a, 441. The pioneers rejected not only the Catholic view, but they also rejected the idea of the Holy Spirit being the third person of the Godhead. They also rejected the belief, as Ellen White put it, that “Christ was God essentially, and in the highest sense. He was with God from all eternity, God over all, blessed forevermore.” Review and Herald, April 5, 1906.

James White, for example, referred to the trinity in 1846 as that “old unscriptural Trinitarian creed,” in 1852 as “the old Trinitarian absurdity that Jesus Christ is the very and Eternal God,” and in 1877 as the “inexplicable trinity” that was a less than helpful teaching. The Day-Star, January 24, 1846; Review and Herald, August 5, 1852; November 29, 1877.

Uriah Smith and J. N. Andrews also rejected the trinity. Smith did not only deny the personhood of the Holy Spirit, but also had an Arian or at least Semi-Arian view of Christ. In 1865, for example, he wrote, in his book, Thoughts on Revelation, that Christ was “the first created being, dating his existence far back before any other created being or thing.”

Ellen White did not openly discuss this issue with the leaders of the movement. This, some say, proves that Ellen White’s writings support the view of the pioneers. But they do not seem to be aware of the fact that Ellen White—unlike her husband and most other early Adventist leaders—did not make any explicit anti-Trinitarian or Semi-Arian statement. When she first touched this issue directly and clearly in the 1890s, she did not contradict her own previous writings.

Reaction to Inspiration

Ellen White is the Lord’s messenger, and the Lord knew when the time had come to reveal to His people the truth about the God-head, as He knew the right time not to touch this issue.

The important point is not what the pioneers believed before the 1890s but how they dealt with the revelation from the pen of Ellen White. This test came to the pioneers when The Desire of Ages was first published. Perhaps her most controversial and surprising statement for most Adventists in the 1890s was a sentence in her book on the life of Jesus in which she noted that “in Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived.” The Desire of Ages, 530. The forcefulness of that sentence caught many off guard. One was a young preacher by the name of M. L. Andreasen. He was convinced that she really had not written that statement, that her editors and assistants must have altered it. As a result, he asked to read her handwritten book manuscript. She gladly gave him access to her document files.

He later recalled: “ ‘I had with me a number of quotations that I wanted to see if they were in the original in her own handwriting. I remember how astonished we were when The Desire of Ages was first published, for it contained some things that we considered unbelievable, among others the doctrine of the Trinity which was not then generally accepted by the Adventists.’

“Staying in California for several months, Andreasen had adequate time to check out his suspicions. He was especially ‘interested in the statement in The Desire of Ages which at one time caused great concern to the denomination theologically: “In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived.’’ . . . That statement may not seem very revolutionary to you,’ he told his audience in 1948, ‘but to us it was. We could hardly believe it. . . . I was sure Sister White had never written’ the passage. ‘But now I found it in her own handwriting just as it had been published’ (MLA MS, November 30, 1948).” 10 [Emphasis supplied.]

The evidence is clear. If her handwriting and the original files do not convince those who doubt, even an angel from heaven or God’s own voice could not convince them. So I close with a Bible text urging you to take your stand with those who have the “testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 12:17) which is the “Spirit of Prophecy” (Revelation 19:10): “Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.” 11 Chronicles 20:20.

9 “Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead.” The Desire of Ages, 671.

“He determined to give His representative, the third person of the Godhead.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, 1053; The Signs of the Times, December 12, 1898, par. 2; The Watchman, November 28, 1905, par. 2; My Life Today, 36.

“Evil had been accumulating for centuries and could only be restrained and resisted by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Godhead.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 392, (Cooranbong, Australia, February 6, 1896); The Upward Look, 51; Special Testimonies for Ministers and Workers—No. 10, 25; Manuscript Releases, vol. 2, 34; vol. 4, 329; vol. 10, 63; The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 4, 1493.

“The eternal heavenly dignitaries—God, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit—arming them [the disciples] with more than mortal energy, . . . would advance with them to the work and convince the world of sin.—Manuscript 145, 1901.” Evangelism, 616.

“The prince of the power of evil can only be held in check by the power of God in the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit.”—Special Testimonies, Series A, No. 10, p. 37. (1897)” Ibid., 617.

“We are to co-operate with the three highest powers in heaven,—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,—and these powers will work through us, making us workers together with God.”—Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 7, p. 51. (1905)” Ibid.

“Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the third person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fulness of divine power.” The Desire of Ages, 671; Review and Herald, May 19, 1904, par. 3; November 19, 1908, par. 6. See also Special Testimonies for Ministers and Workers—No. 10, 25; The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 4, 1493.

“The three powers of the Godhead have pledged their might to carry out the purpose that God had in mind when he gave to the world the unspeakable gift of his Son.” Review and Herald, July 18, 1907, par. 3.

“The three powers of the Godhead, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are pledged to be their [those who have been baptized] strength and their efficiency in their new life in Christ Jesus.” Australasian Union Conference Record, October 7, 1907, par. 9.

“There are three living persons of the heavenly trio; in the name of these three great powers—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized and these powers will cooperate with the obedient.” In Heavenly Places, 336; Evangelism, 615.

“There are three living persons of the heavenly trio. In the name of these three powers,—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized, and these powers will cooperate with the obedient subjects of heaven in their efforts to live the new life in Christ.” Bible Training School, March 1, 1906, par. 2; Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 7, 63.

“The rite of baptism is administered in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. These three great powers of heaven pledge themselves . . . .” Manuscript Releases, vol. 6, 27.

10 George R. Knight, A Search for Identity: The Development of Seventh-day Adventist Beliefs, Review and Herald, Hagerstown, Maryland, 2000, 116, 117.

 

Dr. Hermann Kesten is a physician and elder of the Historic Seventh-day Adventist Church in Berlin, Germany. He may be contacted by e-mail at: hkesten@mefag.de. Check out his web sites at: http://www.historische-adventisten.de www.mefag.com

The Seven Churches, Part IV : The Church of Pergamos

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Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. I suppose that we have all memorized these seven names at some time. These churches represent the different periods of the church from Jesus’ death until His Second Coming. The names of the first and last churches, Ephesus and Laodicea, are always easy to remember, of course—like Genesis and Revelation. We have trouble remembering the ones in between.

Ephesus

The first church, Ephesus, started when Jesus ascended into heaven in 31 a.d. and continued until about the death of the last apostle. This was the apostolic church, and its timeframe was 31–100 a.d. The Bible says that these were the ones who were faithful to the truth. They were hardworking, but they were lacking one thing. (See Revelation 2:2–4.) The Scripture mentions about six good things about this church and one bad thing. What was it? They left their first love, that fervent love. For that and that alone, the Bible says, they would be removed from being a church before the Lord.

You see, no doctrine in the entire world is as important as love. As it says in 1 Corinthians 13, you can have faith to remove a mountain; you can understand all prophecy, but if you do not have love, you are worth nothing. It does not say nearly nothing; it says nothing. It says you can give all your goods to feed the poor and leave nothing for yourself; you can give even your body to be burned, but if you have not love, it does not do one bit of good—nothing. That should cause us all to stop and analyze our lives.

How would you like to give your tithes and offerings to a church and find out that it is worth nothing? I do not want to try to be earning my way to heaven. We cannot do that. But if I get to the end of my life and I find that I am lost, after trying to serve the Lord all my life, simply because I have not allowed Jesus’ character of love to come into my heart, that would be so sad.

Self Interferes

Jesus talked with His disciples about this love for three years, but they just could not seem to comprehend. They would not be broken from self. They thought they were pretty good, because they were doing a lot of work, and they were doing what was right and preaching the truth. But in Luke 22 is recorded the very last weekend Jesus had with His disciples. At the Last Supper, “He took bread, gave thanks and broke it.” This is the last night Jesus had with His disciples. In less than 24 hours from this time, He would be dead. But what does it say in verse 24? “Now there was also a dispute among them . . . .”

Jesus was giving His life for them, and we read that there was rivalry. Can you imagine? When Jesus was getting ready to give His life for them, they were striving as to who was the greatest! Who was the greatest? Who was going to be the first? What led to this rivalry, this seeking for position, this arguing over who was the greatest and climbing the ladder? It was a lack of love. They had a lot of love for themselves, but the dispute was caused by a lack of love for one another and for Jesus.

Jesus told them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ But not so [among] you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who [is] greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? [Is] it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves. But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials.” Verses 25–28. So Jesus said, “I come as a servant, and if you want to really be great, become a servant.”

Desire to be First

No one will ever get to heaven by being first. You cannot get into heaven by crowding in ahead of someone else. The Bible says the last shall be first, but the first shall be last. (Matthew 19:30.) Yet the selfish, sinful human nature seeks to be first. That is what it means to be broken—when we learn to put self out of sight and put God first and others before ourselves. We cannot do that of ourselves, can we?

The disciples did not. It only happened when they saw Jesus bruised and bleeding and dying for them. Jesus told them, when He left, “This is how you will know that you are My disciples, when you have love for one another.” (John 13:35.) They had not yet developed that love. This was the hardest thing in all the world for them to do. No matter what Jesus said, it seemed to make no difference. He could change their thinking on theology; He could get them to go out and work; He could counsel them on a lot of other things, but no matter what He said about being broken or about learning to love one another, it never worked. Jesus’ own example did not work until they saw Him bleeding on the cross; then their hearts were broken.

Just as the disciples had not learned from Jesus, so the converts the disciples brought into the church had the same problem as had the disciples. No matter what they said, it did not seem to make any difference. The disciples could get the converts to work; they could get them to understand theology; they could get them to be firm for the gospel, but they could not get the converts to really love one another and to love the Lord with all their hearts. They could not seem to understand it. Of course, if you had asked them about love, they would have said they had love. Why else would they be doing all this work?

Smyrna

It took persecution to finally convert the church of Ephesus. That separated the chaff and the wheat; the unconverted left the church. The church was left pure, and that began the next church. That church was called the church of Smyrna, and it existed from 100 a.d. until 323 a.d. when, at the conversion of Constantine, persecution ceased. For over 200 years there was serious persecution at the hands of the Roman emperors. You have surely read or heard the stories of the amphitheater of Rome and how Christians were cast to the lions, and some were dipped in tar and then placed up on posts and set ablaze to provide light for the emperor’s garden in the Coliseum.

The church of Smyrna was the opposite of the last church, the church of Laodicea. Not one good thing was to be said about the church of Laodicea. There is not one bad thing said about the church of Smyrna. They were told to be faithful, and they would receive the crown of life. This was a church at the purest state. As long as they were pure, Satan could not destroy them no matter what he did. He tried everything to destroy them, but nothing worked. So Satan developed a different plan.

“Although Satan rejoiced because of the sufferings of the saints, yet he was not satisfied.” Early Writings, 210. As the saints were being clawed and chewed to death by the lions there in the amphitheaters, Satan rejoiced, but it was not a very good rejoicing. He was not satisfied, because they went down to their graves as champions, as conquerors. He could not get them to relinquish their faith and their love for one another. “He wanted control of the mind as well as the body. The sufferings that they had endured only drove them closer to the Lord, leading them to love one another.” Ibid. What is it that finally brought the church to love one another? Suffering and persecution. What a shame it took that! Could they not learn it without that suffering? But that is what it took.

“[The sufferings caused] them to fear more than ever to offend Him. . . . Although thousands were slain, yet others were springing up to supply their places. Satan saw that he was losing his subjects. . . . Satan therefore laid his plans to fight more successfully against the government of God and to overthrow the church.” Ibid. Satan found that persecution did not work, so what did he try? “He led the heathen idolaters to embrace a part of the Christian faith.” Ibid.

Constantine’s “Christianity”

Constantine was one of the great heathen idolaters who was led to embrace Christianity. Constantine, in 321 a.d., made the first Sunday law, but he was not a Christian. It was to honor the venerable day of the sun. Two years later, he embraced Christianity. He did not change any habits; he declared that all of his soldiers were now Christians—after he marched the whole army through the river and then proclaimed they were all baptized Christians! How wonderful! Everyone was a Christian! It was suddenly popular to be a Christian.

These Christians professed to believe in the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ. They proposed, without a change of heart, to unite with the followers of Jesus. Oh, the fearful dangers of the church at this time. This, then, began the third period of the church. There was first the apostolic period; that was the church of Ephesus. Then, the church, during the first persecution period, was the church of Smyrna. Then came the popular period and the church of Pergamos. It went from 323 a.d. until about 538 a.d.

Pergamos

Our study about the church of Pergamos in prophecy begins with Revelation 2:12:

“And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, ‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword.’ ”

In the church of Smyrna, the church about which God had nothing bad to say, who was carrying the sword to that church? The devil was carrying the sword of persecution. In verse 10, we read the message sent to the church of Smyrna: “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw [some] of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

The Bible says the devil was carrying the sword of persecution to the church of Smyrna. But now Jesus has the sword of the Word. Things have changed a little bit. Would you rather suffer from Satan’s sword or from God’s sword? That is a question everyone will have to answer in the last days before Jesus comes, because in the last days, it is not going to be Satan’s sword and then Jesus’ sword; they will both be here on the earth at the same time. We could read a number of verses in this respect, but in Revelation 12:9, we read, “The great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan.” Then verse 17 says, “The dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

The next chapter tells how the people who do not receive the mark of the beast or worship his image will be killed (Revelation 13:12–15), and how they will not be allowed to buy or sell (verses 16, 17), unless they have received this mark in their right hands or their foreheads.

Chapter 14 goes on to explain what God says about those who do receive the mark. Man will kill those who do not receive the mark of the beast. Verses 9 and 10 tell us what will happen to those who do receive the mark: “Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives [his] mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God.’ ”

Whose Sword?

Oh, what a predicament the people in the last days are going to have. They will all be under a sword; it is just a matter of whose sword. It will either be man’s sword or God’s sword. They will have to choose whether they fear God or whether they fear man, whether they have respect to God or whether they have respect to man. They are either going to be condemned to death by the human tribunals or they are going to be condemned to death by a divine tribunal. Who do you fear, God or man? By whom do you want to be condemned, God or man? It is going to be one or the other. If you have to choose, who are you going to choose to offend, God or man?

The disciples had to choose whom they would respect and obey. They said, “We must obey God or man; we cannot do both, because they are going in two different directions. Who are we going to obey, God or man?” They decided they should obey God rather than man. (Acts 5:29.) That is the choice that all of us have to make before Jesus comes.

The church of Smyrna pleased God, and they came under persecution by man. The church of Pergamos pleased man, and they came under God’s condemnation.

Satan’s Throne

Why was it that God said He was going to fight against the church of Pergamos? Well, He does say a few good things about them, before He tells us why He was going to come at them with a sword.

In Revelation 2:13, we read: “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne [is].” Where is Satan’s throne in prophecy? From the prophecy of Revelation 12:4 and 13:2 we know that Satan’s throne is Rome.

We find, in chapter 13:2 that Satan—the dragon—gave his throne to the next power that came along. In the chapter before, we find that that throne was the capitol of the pagan world. It was from pagan Rome that Satan ruled the world for centuries. Then, again, it was from Rome where, through false Christianity, Satan wielded the sword throughout the Middle Ages. At the time after Constantine’s conversion, Rome very quickly became the predominant Christian center of
the world. For a long time, it was Alexandria and Rome, but because Constantine was from Rome and had been the head of the pagan church, he was the pontificate maximus; that was his title. That title, of course, was taken over by the bishop of Rome some years later, and he became the pontificate maximus. Constantine was called the pontificate maximus, and he was used to being in charge of the church. After he became a Christian, he did not see any reason why he should quit. He immediately declared that the church in Rome was to have predominance, preeminence, above all the churches of Christianity. The Council of the Bishops settled questions of doctrine in Rome. The church in Rome began to bear rule over all the churches.

Papa and Antipas

The head of the church of Rome began to be called papa. In fact, all of the bishops began to be called papas. Today, the term is used to refer to the pope.

Jesus had something to say about this title of papa. Papa in Latin is father. In Matthew 23:9, Jesus said, “Do not call anyone on earth your father [or your papa]; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.” Not all of the Christians readily assented to calling the head of the church papa or the bishops papas. Some of those who did not immediately give reverence to these leaders were martyred. Now, instead of the pagans martyring the Christians, it was the Christians martyring their fellow Christians who would not come under the authority of the leadership of the church.

Revelation 2:13 says, “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne [is]. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas [was] My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells” there in Rome. Who was Antipas? The historians have searched and searched for someone by the name of Antipas, perhaps someone who was martyred. They have never found anyone.

Remember that these books are symbolic, and each symbol has meaning. When it says, “where Satan’s throne is,” we have to compare Scripture with Scripture to find “where Satan’s throne is.” Antipas comes from two words, anti and pa or papa, which in the plural would be pas. William Miller, in his lectures, stated: “It is supposed that Antipas was not an individual, but a class of men who opposed the power of the bishops, or popes, in that day, being a combination of two words, anti, opposed, and papas, father, or pope; and at that time many of them suffered martyrdom in Constantinople and Rome, where the bishops and popes began to exercise the power which soon after brought into subjection the kings of the earth.” Miller’s Lectures, 138, 139. That is what William Miller believed Antipas meant.

There was a faithful remnant who refused to compromise in order to have peace. This verse indicates that the core of those who refused to compromise were the church. Neither Satan nor his throne was ever considered in these prophecies to be the church any more than Ahab was the church in the Old Testament. However, these false leaders affected the church.

“From the beginning, faithful souls have constituted the church on earth.” The Acts of the Apostles, 11.

(I want to tell you, though, that faithful souls are often influenced by leadership, by those around them, and by society.) Who were these faithful souls, many of whom were martyred such as Antipas was—not Antipas as a person but, as the Bible indicates here, by the symbolic Antipas? A little bit of the history that took place during this time has been given to us by Ellen White:

“It required a desperate struggle for those who would be faithful to stand firm against the deceptions and abominations that were disguised in sacerdotal garments and introduced into the church.” The Great Controversy, 45.

To be continued . . .

Pastor Marshall Grosboll, with his wife Lillian, founded Steps to Life. In July 1991, Pastor Marshall and his family met with tragedy as they were returning home from a camp meeting in Washington state, when the airplane he was piloting went down, killing all on board.

Editorial – Counsel from the True Witness, continued

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In last month’s editorial, we saw the condescension of God in attempting to save the chief of sinners. However, we can only be saved if whatever problem we have with sin is completely dealt with on this earth. Therefore, God deals directly with sin. We continue the letter Ellen White wrote to a brother who was in deep trouble. God wanted to save him, as He wants to save you. There is no partiality of persons with Him.

This letter shows us several common problems that we human beings have: (1) the difficulty of making confession; (2) trying to cover up the evil; (3) trying to get sympathy for oneself and against whoever has reproved the evil; and (4) the great difficulty God has getting sinners to acknowledge their problem, confess it, and forsake it.

“When I tried to show you the aggravated character of sin in the sight of God of a watchman upon the walls of Zion, you did not seem to feel or to sense the sin, but you seemed as unimpressionable as a stone. I know you are seeking to cover your ways from the Lord. I did not then open them to you, as I have done now, with my pen. And I do not wish to have this opened to others, for I do hope that you will see and sense the evil and confess your sin to God and to your brethren and make clean work, that you may have this foul blot removed from you by the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. You have not confessed your wrongs. You have done great wickedness; you have committed adultery, broken the seventh commandment.

“I have carried this heavy load upon my soul all this time. When we had the meetings in you knew just what you ought to confess. You knew the warnings were sent of God; you knew the communications I sent to you from Europe were truth. And when I carried the burdens until my soul seemed crushed, you obtained [the] sympathy of your friends by leaving the impression upon their minds that I was not just, but partial, and very severe; that you were suffering under accusations which were very difficult to bear; that the testimonies I had given were my own judgment, my own words; that I had wronged you; and that false reports had been brought to me. But my brother, nothing could be more deceptive than this.

“You stated at the camp meeting and since then, that you had not been guilty of any moral wrong, and that was the reason why you persisted in your course, notwithstanding counsel and warnings had been given you. You will remember I met your remarks promptly.

“I showed you that your position as a minister of the gospel would make any such course as you had pursued a reproach to the cause of God, a matter of scandal, and your actions a savor of death rather than of life. . . .

“What can be more dreadful than a minister of Jesus Christ a commandment breaker? I see only one way for your escape—break with the temptations of Satan at once, and rush for the light! Even ministers who claim to believe the truth are only blind guides if the truth is not enthroned in the heart, and a thorough transition from darkness to light has [not] taken place. . . .” Manuscript Releases, vol. 21, 160, 161.