People are missing the fact that prophets are not perfect; and are not necessarily perfect expositors or perfect interpreters of other prophets’ revelations. Prophets do not even have the authority to change what God revealed to them. They do not get revelations on everything, only on specific things. We must not make the mistake of rejecting what God has revealed through a prophet simply because we think them imperfect in their understanding of certain other matters on which they got no direct revelation.

A highly respected Union President once said: “An ounce of inspiration is better than tons of speculation”.

Good king Jehoshaphat said: “Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.” (2 Chron. 20:20).

The truth concerning God and Christ was revealed in vision to Ellen G. White in the Great Contoversy vision in 1858 while at a funeral service in Lovett’s Grove, Ohio. You can read how she got the vision and how Satan tried to kill her to prevent her writing it, in the book Spiritual Gifts Vol. 2 pgs. 265-272 (by Ellen G. White). You will read that she “could write at first but one page a day, then rest three”. In this condition she wrote what was revealed to her concerning the Great Controversy. The very first words she wrote were as follows:

“The Lord has shown me that Satan was once an honored angel in heaven, next to Jesus Christ. His countenance was mild, expressive of happiness like the other angels. His forehead was high and broad, and showed great intelligence. His form was perfect. He had a noble, majestic bearing. And I saw that when God said to his Son, Let us make man in our image, Satan was jealous of Jesus. He wished to be consulted concerning the formation of man. He was filled with envy, jealousy and hatred. He wished to be the highest in heaven, next to God, and receive the highest honors. Until this time all heaven was in order, harmony and perfect subjection to the government of God. 1SG 17.1

It was the highest sin to rebel against the order and will of God. All heaven seemed in commotion. The angels were marshaled in companies with a commanding angel at their head. All the angels were astir. Satan was insinuating against the government of God, ambitious to exalt himself, and unwilling to submit to the authority of Jesus. Some of the angels sympathized with Satan in his rebellion, and others strongly contended for the honor and wisdom of God in giving authority to his Son. And there was contention with the angels. Satan and his affected ones, who were striving to reform the government of God, wished to look into his unsearchable wisdom to ascertain his purpose in exalting Jesus, and endowing him with such unlimited power and command.” Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts Vol. 1 pg. 17

God is love. Love trumps unity. The Trinity teaches unity, but the truth teaches love.

Here is the love of God manifested:

“Said the angel, Think ye that the Father yielded up his dearly beloved Son without a struggle? No, no. It was even a struggle with the God of heaven, whether to let guilty man perish, or to give his beloved Son to die for them. Angels were so interested for man’s salvation that there could be found among them those who would yield their glory, and give their life for perishing man. But, said my accompanying angel, That would avail nothing. The transgression was so great that an angel’s life would not pay the debt. Nothing but the death and intercessions of his Son would pay the debt, and save lost man from hopeless sorrow and misery.” Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts Vol. 1, pg. 26.

Not even the prophet herself has the authority to contradict what God revealed directly. Thus saith the LORD…. above all human speculation.

The three powers of heaven are God, Christ and angels. The Comforter is a messenger sent by Christ from the Father, aided by other ministering spirits.

Like Abraham, when he was called to yield his only son, Isaac, God gave His only begotten Son. Christ was already His Son before coming to this earth.

Where in the Bible does it say that the one God is three persons?

IT IS TIME TO REPENT!

Think . . .Why were there pagan Trinities but none in Israel?

“God is one” (Deut.6:4) – not three.

“One God and Father of all, who is above all” (Eph.4:6).

“the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph.1:3).

I challenge any Trinitarian to show me the love of the Father in their Trinitarian philosophy.

I repeat: “An ounce of inspiration is better than tons of speculation”.

“Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.” (2 Chron. 20:20).

Ask yourselves, which Bible writer ever taught or ever articulated such an idea that God is three persons? Every Bible scholar knows that the entire concept was formulated between 325 AD and 381 AD during the period of apostasy that started with Emperor Constantine.

It is time to repent!

If Ellen White got nothing else right, she certainly got this one right. There is no question regarding the validity of this vision.

“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 11:15).

For further information, please visit Patience of the Saints at http://thecommandmentsofgodandthefaithofjesus.com/

Questions and comments may be sent by e-mail to: commandmentsofgodandfaithofjesus@yahoo.com

PENALTY REMAINS FOR SINS NOT REPENTED OF

There is a popular notion in modern Christianity that the death of Christ has paid the penalty for all sins, and that persons are lost only because they did not accept that their debt of sin has been cleared. But we should examine the Biblical teaching concerning this matter and consider the implications of this. Whoever said that Christ paid the penalty for all sins? Do not the wicked pay the penalty for their own sins in the lake of fire (Rev. 21:8)? And doesn’t Satan, as the Scapegoat, pay the penalty for the sins that he would have caused the repentant sinner to commit, when those confessed sins are placed upon him (Lev. 16:21, 22)? It does not suffice to say that the penalty was paid but people are lost because they did not accept that the debt is already paid, because many will claim to accept Christ, wanting salvation, even saying, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name?” and will still be lost because they did not do God’s will (Matt.7:21, 22).

It is the sin of Adam that had condemned us all that Christ paid the penalty for at Calvary. That is the free gift to all – “Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” (Rom.5:18);

But we must confess our own sins and repent of them to be forgiven of them – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9).

In addition to the free gift of forgiveness to all humanity for the sin of Adam that had condemned us all, and God’s offer of forgiveness for our individual sins, if we repent of them, God offers us a new heart and spirit that will empower us to live righteously – “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” (Eze. 36:26, 27). This new heart and spirit we can receive only by our conscious choice, whereas the free gift was given freely to all humanity when we were enemies, independent of any choice that we would have made or not made – “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” (Rom. 5:10).

The point is that there is a free gift that has been purchased for us that everybody has already received, by the death of Christ. That free gift gives each of us, including Adam, a second probation. We are all reconciled to God by that free gift – even while we are enemies – that is why we are alive right now, and Adam was not cut off instantaneously. But that free gift does not give us salvation from our own sins independent of us having to do anything. We must repent of those sins for ourselves or pay the penalty for them ourselves. Christ did not pay the penalty for those. Either we pay the penalty for them ourselves or Satan pays the penalty for them as the real culprit behind them. In other words, the death of Christ is not like an Indulgence against which Martin Luther protested – a free pass that allows you to sin as you like because the sins are already paid for.

The entire sanctuary service is all about how our confessed sins ultimately get placed on Satan, the Scapegoat, if we truly repent. And it is the death of Christ that makes that possible. For emphasis, Christ’s death makes it possible. It does not cancel all sins. If it did, then everybody would be free – good and bad alike. And it is not that everybody gets their sins cancelled but they just need to accept it. Many will genuinely think that they have accepted Christ but will be lost because they refuse to do God’s will. It is not just about accepting that it has already been done.

Ellen G. White had this to say:

“Death entered the world because of transgression. But Christ gave His life that man should have another trial. He did not die on the cross to abolish the law of God, but to secure for man a second probation.” (Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, TM134).

“Infinite wisdom devised the plan of redemption, which places the race on a second probation by giving them another trial.” (Ellen G. White, Testimonies Volume 3, p. 484).

“As representative of the fallen race, Christ passed over the same ground on which Adam stumbled and fell. By a life of perfect obedience to God’s law, Christ redeemed man from the penalty of Adam’s disgraceful fall. Man has violated God’s law. Only for those who return to their allegiance to God, only for those who obey the law that they have violated, will the blood of Christ avail. Christ will never become a party to sin. Bearing the penalty of the law, He gives the sinner another chance, a second trial.” ( Ellen G. White, 6BC 1092 – Manuscript 126, 1901).

“The instant man accepted the temptations of Satan, and did the very things God had said he should not do, Christ, the Son of God, stood between the living and the dead, saying, “Let the punishment fall on Me. I will stand in man’s place. He shall have another chance” (Ellen G. White, Letter 22, February 13, 1900). 1BC 1085.2

By His present life, as our Advocate and High Priest, Christ intercedes on our behalf before the Father and in the presence of the holy angels so that we can be forgiven of our sins and be empowered with spiritual gifts so that we can live righteously. He will receive the kingdom of this earth from His Father and will return at His second coming to receive us (1 John 2:1; Eph. 4:10-15; Rev.3:5; Heb.4:14-16; Dan. 7:13, 14; John 14:1-3).

So, let us repent and seek God’s forgiveness for our own sins and accept the power that He offers us to live righteously. Let us not think that we are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, when we are in God’s sight, “wretched, and miserable, and poor and blind and naked” (Rev. 3:17). Instead, let us seek God for gold tried in the fire that we might be rich, white raiment that we might be clothed, that the shame of our nakedness does not appear, and eyesalve that we might see (Rev.3:18).

Let us not think that all our sins are already paid for, and we are already saved, without us having a part to play – so that we can sin with impunity. If that were so, then all the wicked would also have a ticket (or Indulgence) that guarantees their place in heaven.

“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 11:15).

For further information, please visit Patience of the Saints at http://thecommandmentsofgodandthefaithofjesus.com/

Questions and comments may be sent by e-mail to: commandmentsofgodandfaithofjesus@yahoo.com

While it is true that the Three Angels’ Messages contain truth of a general nature – for example, “worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” – it is also important to note that the vision of three angels flying one after the other, represents a sequence of prophesied events.  These events were fulfilled at specific times, in a similar way as the four Beasts of Daniel 7 arose sequentially and represented four successive kingdoms.  Likewise, the Seven Churches are sequential in their prophetic fulfilment and represent God’s Church at specific times, some of which overlap with the periods represented by the three angels.

The first angel represents the initial stages of the Advent Movement, before the disappointment of 1844, as they preached a message of the second coming of Christ and the hour of God’s judgement approaching.  The second angel represents a later stage of the same Movement, starting in the summer of 1844, when the focus of the message was a call for people to leave Babylon, the churches that had rejected the message of the soon return of Jesus Christ.  The third angel represents the later Advent Movement that has been preaching the Sabbath and warning people against the Mark of the Beast, from shortly after the disappointment in 1844.

There is an overlap between the time period covered by the three angels and the time period covered under the last three of the seven churches, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.  It was said to Sardis that “thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”; to Philadelphia, “I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it”; and to Laodicea, “because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:1-17).  Unlike Sardis and Laodicea, there was no rebuke for Philadelphia.

Many persons view Philadelphia as the period covering what is known as the Great Awakening or the Evangelical Revival, extending up to the disappointment in 1844; and Laodicea, they see as the period from 1844 onward.    In this, they give God’s commendations of Philadelphia to a brand of Christianity that was considered by men to be alive, but which God’s message declared was dead.  The testimony concerning the churches that rejected the Advent Message before the disappointment was as follows:

“But the churches generally did not accept the warning . . . . . .  The message which God had sent for the testing and purification of the church revealed all to surely how great was the number who had set their affections on this world rather than upon Christ. The ties which bound them to earth were stronger than the attractions heavenward. They chose to listen to the voice of worldly wisdom and turned away from the heart-searching message of truth.

“In refusing the warning of the first angel, they rejected the means which Heaven had provided for their restoration. They spurned the gracious messenger that would have corrected the evils which separated them from God, and with greater eagerness they turned to seek the friendship of the world. Here was the cause of that fearful condition of worldliness, backsliding, and spiritual death which existed in the churches in 1844.”

– White, Ellen G., The Great Controversy, p. 379, 380.

The churches were dead, even though they were thought to be alive.  This was the period leading up to the disappointment in 1844.

Where then would Philadelphia fall?  Philadelphia comes immediately after the dead Sardis.  Consider what was said of Philadelphia: “I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it” and “thou hast a little strength”, “hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name” and “hast kept the word of my patience” (Rev. 3:8-10).  This is an apt description of the early Pioneers of the Adventist Movement just after the disappointment of 1844.  The testimony concerning the Pioneers was as follows:

“I was pointed back, and saw the condition of God’s people in 1844. Then God was pleased with them, and his love rested upon them.” – White, Ellen G., Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 2, p. 279.

“I saw a company who stood well guarded and firm, and would give no countenance to those who would unsettle the established faith of the body. God looked upon them with approbation. I was shown three steps—one, two and three—the first, second and third angels’ messages. Said the angel, Woe to him who shall move a block, or stir a pin in these messages. The true understanding of these messages is of vital importance. The destiny of souls hangs upon the manner in which they are received. I was again brought down through these messages, and saw how dearly the people of God had purchased their experience. It had been obtained through much suffering and severe conflict. Step by step had God brought them along, until he had placed them upon a solid, immovable platform.” – White, Ellen G., Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 1, p. 168, 169.

How long did this period of Divine approval last?  It did not last more than a few years.  The transition to Laodicea took place by 1857.  In that year, the situation was described as follows:

“In the spring of 1857, I accompanied my husband on a tour East. His principal business was to purchase the Power Press. We held conferences on our way to Boston, and on our return. This was a discouraging tour. The testimony to the Laodicean church was generally received; but some in the East were making bad use of it. Instead of applying it to their own hearts, so as to be benefited by it themselves, they were using the testimony to oppress others . . . . . .”

“I saw that the testimony to the Laodiceans applied to God’s people at the present time, and the reason it has not accomplished a greater work, is because of the hardness of their hearts.” – White, Ellen G., Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 2, p. 222, 223.

It is significant, what a main cause for this condition was.  We are told:

“And I saw what God marked above everything else was their contented state. They have the truth. None can successfully oppose, and they enjoy it, as if the Saviour had no work for them to do in the salvation of souls.” – White, Ellen G., Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 2, p. 279.

This point in time was not immediately after the disappointment when they were struggling to hammer out the truth by tireless study of the scriptures. They were now at a point when they had the truth and were contented that nobody could oppose them.  This was even before the organization was established.  By 1857, much of the severe hardship had already passed.  The account was:

“Could some be placed back ten or twelve years, and labor through the discouragements that then existed, they would find a great change in the labor now, compared with what it was then. Then the friends of the cause were few, their means limited, and it was a constant battle against error and fanaticism. Privation and want were then endured by God’s servants without murmuring.” – White, Ellen G., Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 2, p. 286.

The Church of Philadelphia was the Post-Disappointment, Pre-Organization Movement that had a short span from the end of the 2300 days in 1844, as was prophesied by Daniel, when the “open door” became applicable, to around 1856 when the Church of the Laodiceans started.  Daniel prophesied that at the end of the 2300 days God would start a work of restoring the truth that had been trampled underfoot.  Sure enough, on the very next day, after the disappointment at the end of the 2300 days on October 22, 1844, God started to reveal new light to those who had just “a little strength”, who had “kept” His word, and had “not denied” His “name”.  Starting with Hiram Edson’s vision, of Christ moving through the “open door” from the Holy Place to the Most Holy Place of the sanctuary in heaven, to the first vision of Ellen White (nee Harmon) later that same year, God restored the major truths that would keep His people grounded until the second coming of Christ.  By 1858 God had already revealed that “Step by step had God brought them along, until he had placed them upon a solid, immovable platform” and that “God looked upon them with approbation” – White, Ellen G., Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 1, p. 168, 169.

Establishing clearly the period that God in His wisdom described as Philadelphia, as distinct from the Sardis and Laodicean periods might seem like a small point, but it is very important.  It saves us from looking for inspiration from the wrong period.  Many Adventists today glorify the period of the so-called Great Awakening among Evangelicals, while speaking with derision of the early Adventist pioneers, not reckoning that, in God’s eyes, the first group was dead, while it was upon the latter group that God looked with approbation.

“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 11:15).

For further information, please visit Patience of the Saints at http://thecommandmentsofgodandthefaithofjesus.com/

Questions and comments may be sent by e-mail to: commandmentsofgodandfaithofjesus@yahoo.com