The
Destiny of a Movement
by
Fred T. Wright
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COVER PICTURE The sun hangs low on the horizon on this
wintry day in Wisconsin, U.S.A. The study of religious history confirms that
no spiritual revival has ever maintained the pure principles of truth beyond
the third and fourth generations. In Joshua's day, "Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua,
and all the days of the elders that overlived
Joshua, ." Joshua 24:31. Then came the repeated apostasies of the period
of the Judges. Samuel's uplift of God's people was
followed by the dark days of Saul's reign, while those of good King David
gave place to the Baal worship of his successors. How short-lived was the
noble work of Ezra and Nehemiah, while the wonderful spiritual life infused
into the church through Christ and the apostles, did not survive even the
lifetime of John the Beloved. See the tragic pattern repeated in the ministry
of the Reformers, Wycliffe, Luther, and Wesley. In every case, in the most subtle
way, the heart was taken out of the great truths which had, at the outset,
separated them from Babylon. They returned again to antichrist's fold and
fellowship. Yet, all the while, the appearance of separation was carefully
sustained, together with the most solemn and earnest avowals that God still
led and blessed them, even though in no sense whatever was God any longer
among them. In the light of what, without
exception, befell those movements before us, it would be stupidly and
dangerously foolish to assure ourselves that it could not happen again today,
especially when it is seen that this self-assurance featured in every previous
collapse. This is the unbroken pattern of the past. It is also the history of
the present. In the middle of the last century, there arose like the glory of
the morning sun, a movement described by Inspiration as being the most free
from human imperfection since the days of Pentecost. See The Great Controversy, 401. The founding fathers fought with urage, faith, and prayer for the faith once delivered to
the saints. But, glorious as was the rising of that sun, the day for its sad
setting has come. Great and compromising changes have been made, turning the
movement of promise back into the fold and fellowship of antichrist. Deciding
to believe that this is not so, will not change e fact that it is so. Our
only eternal safety lies in seeing and relating ourselves to things as they
actually are. Contents 1. First Words 1 2. Last Day Deceptions 3 3. The Test Of Deception 19 4. Try Those Spirits 25 5. We Can Obey To Perfection 31 6. What The Incarnation Proves 44 7. Christ Is
Truly God 49 8. Christ Is
Truly Man 59 9. His Tent And Ours 73 10. From The Depths 84 11. The Two Deaths 97 12. Seeming Contradictions 109 13. The Papacy Is Antichrist 119 14. Why It Is
So 130 15. The Modern Protestant Churches Are
Antichrist 134 16. More Than A Mere Confrontation 143 17. More On The Real Issues At Minneapolis 156 18. Waggoner Misrepresented 164 19. Waggoner Was Not In Error 171 20. One Giant Step Too Far 180 21. Adventism
Identified With Antichrist 195 22. Teachers Of The Immaculate Conception 204 23. The Wine Of Babylon 211 1 First Words The whole world is on the
move, socially, morally,
politically, materially, scientifically, and religiously. The pace is
so rapid, the trends so radical, the abandonment
of the old moral values and standards so irresponsible, defiant,
and carefree, that there is every justification for seeing in all this
the harbingers of that final disaster which will bring about the end of the
world. With the open
pages of the prophetic Word before him, the child of God observes these
developments with intense and watchful interest. He knows that, on one hand,
they are the stern warnings of the need of the closest personal preparation
for the events which are coming, and, on the other, they are the glad tidings
of the coming end of sin and the revelation of the Saviour and Deliverer.
Everything depends on his ability, through the study of the Word of God under
the guidance and tutelage of the Holy Spirit, to rightly evaluate and analyse
the happenings in the world. Failure to do so is to be caught off-guard, with
all the attendant fatal consequences. The final and coming conflict will be
the last great show-down between the powers of light and the forces of
darkness. It will be essentially religious in character and nature.
Therefore, the true child of God will understand that the events which need
to be watched most closely are those in the religious world, not only in the
fallen churches but also in the church of God itself. It is beyond the scope of this
publication to examine all today's thrilling developments which
are portentous of the
coming glory of Christ's appearing in the clouds of
heaven. Rather its purpose is to examine one such event, to rightly analyse
its significance, and thus be led to understand more distinctly the point
reached in the order of last day events. This event is the publication of a
volume by the Review and Herald Publishing Company, entitled Movement of
Destiny, by LeRoy Edwin Froom. It
contains 672 pages and was released during 1971. The author was a leading
Seventh-day Adventist researcher, scholar, and writer. The 2 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT book has been
fully acclaimed by the church as being a very reliable reflection of its thought
on the subject under consideration. It is to be understood by the
readers of this booklet that
this analysis does not consider
Movement of Destiny to be the thought only of its author but of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church as an organization and the majority of its
membership. It is doubtful that any loyal
Seventh-day Adventist would question or challenge the universal acceptance
and endorsement of Movement of Destiny within the ranks of the church, yet it
is important that we make the point nonetheless. The facts are that it is
published by the leading publishing house of the organization, which does not
publish any but the literature which is the thought and belief of the church;
it is sold throughout the world by the Seventh-day Adventist Book and Bible
houses, which are the sales outlets of the church and its publishing houses;
it is enthusiastically received and
acclaimed by Seventh-day
Adventist leaders and
members everywhere; and there is no evidence of objection to it, or
protest against it arising anywhere in the church. These facts leave only one
conclusion: the book is a statement of the present position of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church. It is not merely the thought and belief of the
one man who wrote it. He is but the spokesman for the church at large. The
publication of Movement of Destiny is an event of considerable interest and
significance. It is either an advance step in the right direction, bringing
the church to where she is better placed to play her role in finishing the
work, or it is a retrograde step which will diminish or even cancel her
appointed place in God's plan. Either way, the event is significant to the
point where its appearance cannot be dismissed as of no consequence.
Naturally, the total significance of any development cannot be seen and
appreciated until the matter is carefully investigated in the light of Bible
prophecy. Failure to carefully study an event such as the appearance of this
book, will leave a person unaware of what has taken place, and he will fail
to take such steps as are his consequent responsibility. Ultimately this will
lead to the loss of his soul; the
blame resting upon himself for his
carelessness and inattentiveness. The
more significant the
event, the greater the peril
involved in a failure to be aware of its vital implications. This analysis is
to show that the appearance of this book is of such significance that every
person interested in his eternal welfare should be alerted to it. Even though
bound not to be appreciated by too many, it is an effort to give
the trumpet a
certain sound, warning
of the danger threatening. This
work is entered upon prayerfully and carefully. It is not in any sense an
attempt to criticize or to condemn. The facts are that certain things have
happened and it is the duty of each true child of God to carefully
investigate them to see just what they mean, so that he can rightly relate
himself to them, and thus be able to answer to God in the end as a faithful
watcher for truth. 2 Last Day
Deceptions At this stage of our investigations,
the opening of the book itself would be premature. The ability to correctly
evaluate the contents of Movement of Destiny is not possessed by any but those
who are soundly grounded in certain vital principles of the Word of God.
Therefore, it will be vitally necessary to lay down these principles first as
a reconfirmation of the message of living righteousness. Then and only then
can a true and accurate evaluation of the book be obtained. We shall begin
with a study of the warnings of the fearful subtlety of the last day
deceptions, which will sweep the vast majority of this world's inhabitants
into eternal loss and ruin. It is all too easy to be deceived. A little
carelessness; a failure to watch unto prayer; a neglect to study for one's
self; or a willingness to let the preacher do all the thinking, all open the
door to one's being carried forever captive by the deceptions of the enemy.
All too late will come the fearful awakening; all too late will come the
dreadful realization that we have been seduced into eternal, irrecoverable
ruin. Then how each one will wish that he had been watchful and careful. In
spite of the copious and clear warnings given in the Word of God, there seems
to rest upon the vast majority the firm assurance that, while others around
them may be deceived, they, being a member of what they firmly believe to be
the church of God, are secure. Such do not realize their peril, yet so deep
is the stupor upon them that it seems impossible to rouse them to an
awareness of the danger in which they stand. Well and truly written are the
warning words of Scripture, "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall." 1 Corinthians 10:12. Satan's last desperate
effort to overthrow the church of God will be the masterpiece of deception.
It will not be sprung upon the world or the church in a moment, but will be
woven with masterful subtlety, thread by binding thread, until it is
impossible to extricate one's self from its deceptive power. The fact is that
this work is already well advanced and thousands of those who think
themselves secure, are even now enmeshed in the snares 4 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT of Satan's
final delusion. If already partially deceived, how can it be expected that
they will escape the final masterpiece of deception when it is fully formed? Let us turn to some of the Scriptures
which reveal something of what is to be faced. Revelation 13:4 prophesies the
rise of the beast and his image in these last and closing events of this
world's history. Chapter 13 begins with the leopard-like beast with the mouth
of a lion, the feet of a bear, and the body of a leopard, declaring with
infallible certainty, that once again he is to rule over every nation,
kindred, tongue, and people. Then comes the eleventh verse, which introduces
the image of the beast. "And I beheld another beast
coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as
a dragon. "And he exerciseth all the power
of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell
therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. "And he doeth great wonders, so
that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, "And deceiveth them that dwell
on the earth, by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the
sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should
make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. "And he had power to give life
unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak,
and cause that as many as would not worship
the image of the beast should be killed. "And he causeth all, both small
and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right
hand, or in their foreheads: "And that no man might buy or
sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of
his name. "Here is wisdom. Let him that
hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a
man, and his number is Six hundred threescore and six." Notice that he does great wonders and
deceives those who dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he
had power to do. These miracles are not mere pretensions and trickery. They
are real miracles, for he has the power to do them. The comment on these
verses as found in The Great Controversy, 553, reads thus: "No mere
impostures are here foretold. Men are deceived by the miracles which Satan's
agents have power to do, not which they pretend to do." That is well
worth remembering. Satan's miracles in the last days will be genuine miracles,
real miracles, and
they will be
incontrovertibly supernatural. But God's people are not to be deceived
by this, because such evidences are not the test of truth. Let the warning
words of Christ ever ring in our ears, "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, LAST DAY
DECEPTIONS 5 and shall shew
great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall
deceive the very elect." Matthew 24:24. What are these
signs and wonders? Naturally we tend to look for miracles of a spectacular
nature such as healing the sick, bringing down fire from heaven, etc., as the
kind of things which Satan will do, and be assured that he will do these
things, but not these alone. The deception is to come much closer than this.
The counterfeit is to be of the message and work which the Lord Himself will
do in these last days, so that it will be made to appear that Satan's work is
the work of God. It will be shown from the Scriptures that the counterfeit
always comes before the true. Those who are not able to distinguish the false
or counterfeit message of righteousness by faith from the true, will be
deceived into following the false, and will reject God's righteousness as the
work of the devil. Having been deceived into giving their allegiance to a
false god, they will follow his dictates and directions.
Yet, they will be fully persuaded that they are doing the will of God and
serving the Lord Himself. Let us gather the evidence which
declares that this is so. That Satan comes to us as an angel of light is
clearly shown by the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:12-15. "But what I
do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion
from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found
even as we. "For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. "And no
marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
"Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as
the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their
works." An angel of light speaks the truth of God and brings with him
the gospel of Jesus Christ. If Satan is to come as an angel of light, then he
must appear to speak the truth of God. To every appearance it must look like
it, and sound like it, just as a counterfeit banknote looks like, and feels
like the real thing. But, just as the counterfeit note is not the real note,
despite its deceptive appearance, so the message of the false Christ can
never be the message of the true one. It takes skilled and minute examination
by the investigator to discern the counterfeit note from the true one, and so
likewise it takes skilled and painstaking investigation on the part of God's
children to distinguish the false from the true message in the gospels being
presented in these last days. Let no mistake
be made in regard to this. Do not suppose that because there are some
clear-cut doctrinal differences such as the Sabbath versus Sunday, infant
baptism versus adult baptism, soul sleep versus immortality, and so on, that
this clearly distinguishes the false from the true. The test will run deeper
than this, and, in the end, it will be found that you can hold any of the
above doctrines and still be on the wrong side, deceived and lost. When
antichrist is abroad in the earth, he is there to all appearances as 6 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT Christ,
Himself. He will appear to bring the very gospel of Christ, without it being
the actual gospel itself. "The last great delusion is soon
to open before us. Antichrist is to perform his marvelous
works in our sight. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true, that it will be impossible to distinguish
between them ..." The Great Controversy, 593. Did the full impact of those words
break upon your mind? "So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true
..." Here is brought to light the
revelation of a counterfeit so nearly perfect that its differences from the
true cannot be discerned. So reads the
statement quoted above. If the sentence stopped where we left off quoting it,
there would be no hope of any one of us escaping deception. But the statement
goes on to make the one and only exception, "except by the Holy
Scriptures." This means
that our eyes will tell us that Satan's counterfeit is the work of God; our
ears will declare the same; every sensory organ will believe it to be the
work of God, and all too many will tragically depend upon the witness of
their senses. But not so with that little company, the very elect. They will
take a second look; this time, not through their senses, but through the
witness of the Word of God. When it tells them differently, they will believe
the Word and not what they see and hear. By the testimony of the Holy
Scriptures, "every statement and every miracle must be tested." ibid. As the average Adventist reads those
words, he tends to think to himself, "Well, I believe in the Seventh-day
Sabbath; I belong to the S.D.A. Church; I
understand that Sunday is the mark of the beast; I understand that when the
time comes, anybody who bows to the image will lose his eternal life as he
receives the mark of the beast. So I'm secure. I'm sure I won't be
deceived." As we go forward in this series of
studies and read what has been written in Movement of Destiny, we will be
sobered as we realize that this comes much closer than we think. Already
thousands upon thousands of people who think they are secure have been
deceived; and if deceived today, then what will be their fate tomorrow when
the greater deceptions come? As the Word of God says: "If thou hast run
with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend
with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst,
they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?"
Jeremiah 12:5. In the
statement under
consideration, we have
reference to the counterfeit and the true. As each one living in these
last days is to be tested by this counterfeit, it is important for us to
understand what it is going to be. If we know just where to look, then we
will be better able to see it when it appears. LAST DAY
DECEPTIONS 7 An illustration giving point to this
argument is when counterfeit money is in circulation and the warning goes
out. That warning will specify which notes have been counterfeited. Should they be ten dollar notes, then
everyone carefully inspects each ten dollar note they are handed to see if it
is true or false. Likewise, if we are warned what area of the truth is being
counterfeited, we can watch that area with special care. The revelation of which area is to be
the special subject of counterfeiting in the last days is brought out in the
following statements. "Notwithstanding the wide-spread declension of
faith and piety, there are true followers of Christ in these churches. Before
the final visitation of God's judgments upon the earth, there will be, among
the people of the Lord, such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been
witnessed since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be poured
out upon His children. At that time many will separate themselves from those
churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for God and His
word. Many, both of ministers and people, will gladly accept those great
truths which God has caused to be proclaimed at this time, to prepare a
people for the Lord's
second coming. The enemy of souls desires to hinder this work; and before the
time for such a movement shall come, he will endeavor to prevent it, by
introducing a counterfeit. In those churches which he can bring under his
deceptive power, he will make it appear that God's special blessing is poured
out; there will be manifest what is thought to be great religious interest.
Multitudes will exult that God is working marvelously
for them, when the work is that of another spirit. Under a religious guise,
Satan will seek to extend his influence over the Christian world." The
Great Controversy, 464. Note the facts brought to view in
this statement. The events described here are to take place "before the
final visitation of God's judgments upon the earth . . . " The final
visitation of God's judgments are the seven last plagues which do not fall
until after the close of human probation at the end of the loud cry period.
That which is to take place before that time is "such a revival of
primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times. The
Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children." This will
result in the coming out of ministers and people from the fallen churches to
take their stand with the true people of God. There is nothing Satan desires less
than to see this happen. He hates the work of salvation because it delivers
souls from his power and deceptions, so he will muster every skill and power
he has to counter this work and make it of no effect. This is how he has
worked from that very time when he confirmed himself in his rebellion against
the Lord in heaven, and it is how he will work until the end. It is not enough to know that he will work against truth and righteousness. We must be aware of what
tactics he uses in this warfare. Note the words in the previous quote which
reveal how he will go about it. 8 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT Let the full impact of them sink into
the mind so we shall never forget them. "... before the time for such a
movement shall come, he will endeavor to prevent it, by introducing a
counterfeit." There, for
every student to read, is the revelation of the method Satan will use to circumvent the loud
cry. He will introduce a
counterfeit. A ounterfeit
is never an original. It is always an attempted reproduction of the real. But
it is not the real. It is only designed to look like it. The aim of the
counterfeit is to lead away from the real loud cry. Therefore it would have
to be a counterfeit of the true loud cry. In every aspect it would have to
appear to be the true loud cry itself. It must look like it; it must sound
like it; and it must be attended with a
power like it. No other conclusion can be drawn from this statement. The
remainder of the paragraph makes this very clear. "In those churches which he can
bring under his deceptive power, he will make it appear that God's special
blessing is poured out; there will be manifest what is thought to be great
religious interest. Multitudes will exult that God is working marvelously for them, when the work is that of another
spirit. Under a religious guise, Satan will seek to extend his influence over
the Christian world." ibid., 464. Let it be
clear in the minds of all who would escape the delusions of the antichrist,
that the counterfeit work of the devil will be a counterfeit of the loud cry
itself. Therefore the message of the
false loud cry will be a counterfeit of the true, in which it will so
"resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between
them except by the Holy Scriptures." This is a fact which must be very
sobering to every child of God. We cannot expect to find obvious differences
between the message to be preached by God's true people and the false
teachers during this critical and climactic period. Not only does it impose
upon us the danger of deception for ourselves, but it will make the work of
preaching the truth so much harder. To many minds, we will be but preaching
the same as the rest, and they will deride us as deluded fanatics for making
such an issue at the time when that mighty protest is given. Thus it is
established in our knowledge that the message of the false loud cry will be a
counterfeit of the message of the real loud cry, and that the resemblance
will be so close that only those who are truly diligent students of the Word
will be able to discern the wolf in sheep's clothing. To know what the
counterfeit is to be, we have only to ask what the message of the true loud
cry will be. This is revealed in Revelation 18:1-5, from which we will quote
the first two verses. "And after these things I saw another angel come
down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his
glory. "And he cried mightily with a
strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become
the habitation of devils, and the hold of every
foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." LAST DAY
DECEPTIONS 9 The average Bible student reads these
words and sees in them a description of a message which is a direct
pronouncement of the fall of Babylon the Great. Thus to him, it is
essentially a message of exposure and denunciation, to be followed by a call
to come out of those churches. With this concept, the principle involved in
the work of revealing the presence and character of the last masterpiece of
deception is overlooked. A deceiver
cannot be effectively exposed just by someone declaring that he is one. This
is even true of God. If He could have exposed the real nature of Satan's work
by simply declaring it, then the whole problem could have been solved as soon
as it started. Lucifer could have been isolated and destroyed. But this was
not possible. There is only one way to fully expose iniquity and that is by
the presentation of righteousness. Only by the light shining in the darkness
can the character of the deception be fully and truly revealed to all. Only
where righteousness shines at its best, can sin be seen at its worst. First
and foremost, the
message of the loud
cry must be the presentation of the gospel of Jesus
Christ at its brilliant best. Only by this means can the sins of Babylon be
exposed and the conviction be carried to earnest hearts that Babylon is
fallen, is fallen. Not only is the above conclusion
consistent with the principles involved in the great controversy, but it is
also the plain declaration of the Word of God itself. We have only to read the
first verse of Revelation 18 to see this. The angel is described as having
great power and the earth is lightened with his glory. The power which this
angel has is the power of God. According to Romans 1:16 the power of God is
the gospel of Jesus Christ unto salvation from sin. Furthermore, the earth is
lightened with his glory. The glory of the angel is God-imparted; it is
primarily the glory of God. The glory of God is the character of God, as is
revealed in the experience of Moses. When he asked the Lord to show him His
glory, God did not reveal a wonderful outshining of mighty power and
splendour, but rather the essential nature of His character. See Exodus
33:18-23. Again the evidence of God's glory is shown in John 1:14, "And
the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
When Christ was upon the earth, the glory of God was seen in Him. That which
was seen was not the wonderful outshining of a radiant light. The glory referred to
here is something other than physical radiance. What men saw was the
character of God, which is the righteousness of God. When the Bible says that
the earth is lightened with the glory of God as the Revelation 18 angel comes
down, then we know that the earth is lightened with a presentation of the
righteousness of God. This means that the message of the loud cry is the
message of righteousness by faith, and, as that is preached, it discloses the
fact that Babylon the Great is fallen. 10 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT This is the testimony of the Word of
God showing the message of the real loud cry. With such a concept, the Spirit
of Prophecy is in perfect accord. In the year 1888, two men sent of God to
the Adventist people brought a living presentation of righteousness by faith
which was described as being the very message of the loud cry. The names of
those two men were E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones. After they had preached
for four years and the message had taken effect on the hearts of some, the
Lord through His messenger declared
as follows: "The time of test is just upon
us, for the loud cry of the third angel has already begun in the revelation
of the righteousness of Christ, the sin pardoning Redeemer. This is the beginning
of the light of the angel whose glory shall fill the whole earth."
Review and Herald, November 22, 1892. Note that this statement does not say
that the loud cry had begun with the direct declaration of the fall of
Babylon, but with the presentation of the righteousness of Christ. The
following statement is equally clear. "The Lord in His great mercy sent
a most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones. This
message was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour,
the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It presented justification
through faith in the Surety; it invited the people to receive the
righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the
commandments of God. Many had lost sight of Jesus. They needed to have their eyes directed to
His divine person, His merits, and His changeless love for the human family.
All power is given into His hands, that He may dispense rich gifts unto men,
imparting the priceless gift of His own righteousness to the helpless human
agent. This is the message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is
the third angel's message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and
attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure." Testimonies
to Ministers, 91, 92. These statements, along with the
witness of the Word of God in the Bible, leave no doubt that the message of
the loud cry is the revelation of Christ's righteousness. It will be the
clearest and most powerful presentation of righteousness by faith ever given
in this world's history. Those who believe that this message will be
essentially the presentation of the Sabbath versus Sunday issue, may object
to this point. It will be an issue, but not in the sense of merely proving which
day is the Lord's day. The contest will go much deeper than that. It will be
a controversy over the principles for which these days stand. The Sabbath is
the symbol of the power of God which is the righteousness of God, and Sunday
is the symbol of the power of Satan which is the unrighteousness of our
mighty foe. Thus it will not be the Sabbath as a cold, legal requirement that
will be preached by God's true people during the loud cry, but a living
Christ in the Sabbath as the revelation of God's righteousness. LAST DAY
DECEPTIONS 11 A little time
and space has now been consumed in establishing that the true loud cry will
be the presentation of the message of righteousness by faith which is the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Why was that necessary? Because we are anxious to
know the nature of the counterfeit to be presented as the masterpiece of
Satan's deception in the last days. Having found that the true message of the
loud cry will be the presentation of righteousness by faith, we can know the
counterfeit message will be a presentation of a counterfeit doctrine of
righteousness by faith. This will be so like the real that it will be
impossible to distinguish between the true and the false except by the Holy
Scriptures. Of this, we must be thoroughly aware and fully persuaded. This revelation should be a very
sobering thought to us, but is it? Rather, the reaction of the average person
will be one of false assurance for it is the common belief that, if there is
one thing we are established upon, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ, so that
there is little danger of being deceived by a counterfeit. The only purpose of this publication
is to alert all to the danger which threatens us individually, to sound the
alarm in the face of the present and coming peril. Therefore, we say in the
most earnest and solemn manner that anyone who thinks he knows the gospel and
is in little danger of being deceived by a counterfeit, is in a most
dangerous position. All too many are already deceived by the counterfeit gospel.
The appearance
of Satan's masterpiece is no longer a thing of the future. It is here
already. As surely as you believe that the loud cry is in the immediate
future, so surely must we know that the counterfeit is already among us, and
the witness of this time is that the majority are deceived by it. The
statement quoted earlier from The
Great Controversy, 464, describing
the mighty power of the coming latter rain and loud cry, told how Satan
desires to hinder this work and how that before the true came, the
counterfeit would be presented. Evidence upon evidence tells that the loud
cry is the very next great event in the history of the true church of God. As
surely as that is so, the counterfeit must already be here. Yet the average
person is not even aware of this. He is still expecting in the future that
which has already come upon us. Nothing could please Satan more; nothing could be more
dangerous to ourselves. Already so many are deceived in the very area where it
is thought that we are most secure. The assertion that so many are already
deceived by Satan's counterfeit is one which many will challenge. But it is a
fact nonetheless and clear proof of it can be tendered. It is urged that the
most thoughtful, prayerful, and serious consideration be given to the
evidences which follow. The loud cry of the third angel by which the work in
all the world will be finished is an event, at the time of this writing,
still in the future. It is generally and correctly understood that it can be
expected at any time now. 12 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT According to The Great Controversy,
464, before that message goes forth, the counterfeit will appear. Therefore,
the false is already here. There is no excuse for failure to recognize this
counterfeit now that it is actually present. Detection is assured simply by
applying the tests provided in the Scriptures. However, some may feel
uncertain about just how to apply the tests. This can be a problem, but we
are greatly assisted by the fact that the present is a re-run of the past.
The loud cry began once before. Therefore, the final counterfeit has also
been in the world. That preview took place back in the years 1888-1893 for
then, for the first and what should have been the last time, the true
"loud cry of the third angel" had "already begun in the
revelation of the righteousness of Christ, the sin-pardoning Redeemer."
The Review and Herald, November 22,
1892. As surely as the true loud cry did begin back there, even though it was
to be lost for many years, the false had to precede it. This is what prophecy
said would happen, and it did. The counterfeit was in the fallen churches in the years immediately
preceding the loud cry in 1888. Thus, we have a perfect preview of what is
happening in our own time. It is always easier to see the true identity of
each side in the struggle when it is all in the past. Thus, we are provided
with the means not only of readily identifying the character of the
counterfeit in the present, but also of seeing how easily the professed
people were deceived in the past. This will serve, hopefully, as a warning to
save us from being deceived today in like manner. Let us search to find the
appearance of the great counterfeit back there. Where shall we look for it?
"In those churches which he can bring under his deceptive power"—in
other words, the Sunday keeping churches, who, having rejected the third
angel's message, will be the instruments through whom Satan will manifest his
final deceptions. What shall we find there? We shall
expect to see in those churches, the preaching of what had every appearance
of being a truly Christ-centred message, attended with what appeared to be
the power of God itself, and received with tremendous religious interest and
fervour. Was there such a movement in the fallen Protestant churches in the
period immediately before the appearing of the message of the loud cry in
God's true church of that time? There most certainly was! What was that
movement? It was the mighty evangelical tide
which rolled over the western world under the leadership of D. L. Moody,
between the year 1873 and the year of his death in 1899. In making this
declaration, we are quite mindful of the fact that D. L. Moody is almost
universally regarded throughout the Adventist Church as well as the
Protestant churches as being a great man of God. It is firmly believed that
he was filled with the Spirit of God and that he won thousands of souls to
Christ. Just because this is so firmly believed by so many does not prove
that it is true. Rather, as the evidence about to be tendered will LAST DAY
DECEPTIONS 13 show,
those who believe
that are already
deceived by Satan's masterpiece—the counterfeit loud
cry and message—which came before the real one. If you have been deceived
into believing that Moody was a man of God, then before you is the evidence
that your present knowledge and experience has not been sufficient to keep
you safe from the deceptive work of Satan. Unless you are able to take a lesson
from this and work and study thoroughly until you are so grounded in the
great principles of the advent message that you can detect the deceiver in
his disguise, you can be assured that in the closing scenes you will be so
deceived by the counterfeit message of righteousness by faith, that you will
be on the wrong side of the controversy and will lose your eternal life. We
are not discussing incidentals in this book. We are discussing things which
concern your present and eternal welfare; things which only a foolish person
would choose to ignore and pass by as being inconsequential. Some clear-cut
and decidedly strong statements have been made above. It is essential that
they be substantiated. Consider the argument used in support of D. L. Moody
as being called of God, the story of which is as follows: " The
world has yet to see,' remarked Henry Varley in
1867, as with some friends attending a conference of Christians he walked in
a Dublin garden, 'what God will do with, and for, and through, and in, and
by, the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.' One visitor from America, a young man of
thirty summers, overhearing, reasoned with himself thus: 'He did not say a
great man, nor a learned man, nor a rich man, nor a wise man, nor an eloquent
man, nor a smart man, but simply 'a man.' Then in his heart he responded:
'God helping me, I will be that man.' " The Man Who Moved Multitudes, by
R. D. Johnstone, page 9. Over and again this story
is told as a challenge to young people to give their lives to God as did
young Moody, so that they might be used by God as was Moody to win many souls
to Christ. Thus it is, by uttering these sentiments, that Moody is presented
before the church as God's great man of that hour. "There," it is
declared, "is a demonstration of what 'God can do with, and for, and
through, and in, and by the man who is wholly consecrated to Him.' " Some clear thinking must be done
about this proposition to see whether such a position is consistent with God
and His way of doing things. The date when D. L. Moody began his ministry is
extremely important as far as we are concerned, the year being 1873. It is
important because 1873 was at a time after 1844 when God had given His people
the first, second, and third angels'
messages. The second angel's
message had declared that Babylon is fallen, and boldly, plainly, and
distinctly named the fallen denominational churches of Protestantism as being
the Babylon of that day. Any professed Seventh-day Adventist who does not
believe this, is not really a Seventh-day Adventist. LAST DAY
DECEPTIONS 15 Those churches had become fallen
Babylon because of their hostile rejection of the special truths of the
advent message which had been sent to them by messengers of God's own appointment,
as a test on the one handand on the other as an
opportunity to take a giant step forward. At first, those truths were those
of the prophecy of Daniel 8:14 in connection with the sanctuary, which truths
developed after 1844 into the Sabbath, the state of the dead, the final
atonement in the sanctuary, dress, health, and educational reform, and the
Spirit of Prophecy. Those who had rejected the first
presentations of truth went on to reject the later developments and in so
doing they fell lower, and still lower. This is plainly stated in The Great Controversy, 389. "The second angel's message of
Revelation 14 was first preached in the summer of 1844, and it then had a
more direct application to the churches of the United States, where the warning
of the judgment had been most widely proclaimed and most generally rejected,
and where the declension in the churches had been most rapid." There is fact number one. The fall
took place at that time because the warning of the judgment was rejected.
That was serious enough, but it did not stop there. Things did not get
better; they became worse. "But the message of the second angel did not
reach its complete fulfilment in 1844.
The churches then experienced a moral fall, in consequence of their refusal of the
light of the advent message; but that fall was not complete. As they have
continued to reject the special truths for this time, they have fallen lower
and lower." There is fact number two. There has
been a continuation of this rejection and the churches have fallen lower and
lower and thus have departed further and further from God. What is more, the
message of Revelation 14:8 becomes increasingly applicable to them and should
be preached with unfaltering certainty. Thus, the situation as it was then,
is laid out before us in crystal clear terms. Out of the test and crisis of
that time emerged two distinct groups. The smaller loved and respected the
great advent message and advanced in it. They were the Seventh-day Adventist
people. The remainder hated and rejected that message. Furthermore, the
prophecies make it clear that the time will never come when they will accept
it. Those who rejected it are the fallen denominational or Protestant
churches. In the light
of these facts, in which of these groups is the Lord to be found? It is
evident that He will be found with those who have accepted His truths. In
which of these groups will His power be manifested for the conversion of
souls and the presentation of the message? Again it will be among the people
of the advent message. What shall be
said then if mighty power is manifest among those churches which have
rejected the special truths of this time? The only answer is that it cannot
be the power of God, but has to be the power of 16 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT Satan, for the
Lord does not give His power to the promulgation of error. There are those
who will protest that this is too partisan an attitude, for it is too much a
confining of the presence and power of God to a select people. It will be
argued that the Lord does have faithful people in all the churches, and
statements can be quoted to prove this. It will be emphasized that the true
people of God are not only to be found among the Adventists of that day.
Therefore, it will be argued that you cannot say that D. L. Moody was not a
man of God, for he could well have been one of those faithful ones in the
churches. Such thinking
is so weak it would not deserve answering except that so many seem to accept
it without second thought. There is no doubt that there are faithful ones in
those churches, people who are honest and true. But never let it be argued
that because there are these faithful few, the whole movement is still of
God. Let this distinction be seen. The movement is one thing. The individual
experience of a person here and there can be something quite different. One
cannot be held accountable for the other. Here we are concerned with the
movements and the leading men who formed and directed the thinking of those
movements as D. L. Moody did. Consider the place to which the movements had
come in the years after 1844. The crisis had come; the churches had rejected
the truth; the Spirit of God had left them, and God had directed the Advent
people to go forward and clearly and loudly declare that the fallen
denominational churches were Babylon and that the Lord was not in them. What D. L. Moody did would not have
surprised any Adventist who knew the prophecies, for the Word had warned that
just such men would arise with mighty power to preach in the fallen churches
under Satan's direction. If we are to regard Moody as being a
man of God, then there are some very serious implications. It would mean that
God had revealed to His people the condition of the fallen churches, and had
commissioned them to expose the state of those rejecters of truth, warning
them that God was not walking with those who failed to accept the special
truths for that time. But now something goes wrong with the settled
programme. Here is a young man who declares that as the world has yet to see
what "God can do with, and for, and through, and in, and by, the man who
is wholly dedicated to Him"—he will be that man. The story has it that
the Lord is so delighted with this consecration to Him, that He goes into the
midst of Babylon to empower
this Babylonian preacher
to preach Babylon's doctrines, to build up the
churches of Babylon for the whole of his life. Never at any time did Moody
accept and preach the Sabbath, the true doctrine of the state of the dead,
the Spirit of Prophecy, the sanctuary doctrine as it encompasses the judgment
of the dead, and the living, and the final atonement. At no time did he
preach these things, therefore, he LAST DAY
DECEPTIONS 17 was a rejecter
of these truths which were known and preached during that period. Does God work this way? Does He first
of all direct His people to declare that certain churches are Babylon and
then, when they are in the midst of that very work, go right over into those
churches and fill them with His power? Is the God whom we serve so unreliable
and capricious? Never! Yet, in the light of all this there are so many
Adventists today who believe that Moody was a great man of God. He was the
masterful counterfeit sent forth by the devil. Moody was so successful that
Adventists who thought they were the very elect believed that he was of God
exactly as Satan aimed that they should. In the light of this sobering and
frightening fact, how careful we should be not to grow complacent, assuming
that we shall never be deceived by the false gospel latter rain. If you
believe Moody to be a man of God, then you are already ensnared. A further consideration is, if the
Lord went into the fallen churches and gave Moody this kind of power because
he was a man wholly consecrated to Him, then there must have been no men in
the Advent Church who were totally consecrated. What an impeachment this is
on those dedicated pioneers of the Advent Movement. Think about that! Was
there ever a man more consecrated to God than James White? No! He gave his
money, strength, time, energy, and skill in undivided consecration and
dedication to God's service. Nothing was too hard, too humiliating or too
strenuous to do for God. He did the work, we are told, of three men, and
killed himself serving the Lord. Never
was there greater consecration. Yet we
are encouraged to believe that God by-passed this man, went over into Babylon because He heard
this young man Moody speak, and gave him a tremendous measure of power which
James White did not appear to have. Then He sent that young man forth to
preach Babylon's doctrine in the Babylonian churches to build up the strength
and power of Babylon for the rest of his life. Is that logical? Is this the
way God works? Of course not! God does not give His commission to a man like
James White and then abandon him and go to another church, the very church
which James White was called upon to expose and declare to be Babylon, and
give His power in the midst of that church. God does not do that; and those
people in the Seventh-day Adventist Church who say that D. L. Moody was a
great man of God are denying the mighty power of the second angel's message.
This argument should be sufficient, but it is not all the evidence which can
be presented. As stated already, the real loud cry began in 1888. We have
read the declaration from God that the counterfeit will come before the true.
Therefore the counterfeit message of righteousness by faith came before 1888.
It had to, or else the prophecy of The Great Controversy would be false. A study of the life and work of D. L.
Moody shows that he fulfilled every specification of this prophecy. His work
was within the churches 18 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT which, having
rejected the Advent message, were under Satan's power; there was manifested
what appeared to be the pouring out of God's special blessing; multitudes
exulted because they thought that God was working marvellously for them; but
it was the work of another spirit. The counterfeit was so like the true that
it was impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures. Yet despite the fact that he
fulfilled every specification of the prophecy; despite the fact that the Lord
had specifically warned that such a message and such a movement would arise
in the very churches where Moody appeared, the Adventist people have been
deceived by this counterfeit as if they had never been warned at all. This is
a very sobering thought, for if they were deceived, what assurance do we
have, that in these last times we will not be deceived. Do
not forget that
today we are
working against the
master counterfeiter of all time—that being who is so crafty as to be
able to make black appear white. He was able to deceive one-third of God's
loyal angels into following him completely. You know that you and I do not
compare to the glory of a wonderful angel. We do not have their strength,
intellect, or wisdom. We have not lived as long. We have never stood in the
light of the glory of God's presence. Therefore, how much more susceptible
are we than they! If the angels, with all their power
and strength, were deceived by Satan, and if Adam and Eve with all their
power and strength were deceived, then what about the situation in which we
find ourselves today? Can we afford to be confident? Self-assured? Hardly! Now
we can raise
the question. Has Satan's mind grown weaker through the years? I read now from
page 10 of the introduction to TheGreat Controversy: "For six
thousand years that master-mind that once was highest among the angels of
God, has been wholly bent to the work of deception and ruin. And all the
depths of Satanic skill and subtlety acquired, all the cruelty developed, during these struggles of the ages, will be brought to bear against God's
people in the final conflict. And in this time of peril the followers of
Christ are to bear to the world the warning of the Lord's second advent; and a people are to be prepared to stand
before Him at His coming, 'without
spot, and blameless.' 2 Peter 3:14. At this time the special endowment of
divine grace and power is not less needful to the church than in apostolic
days." In other words, Satan now has behind him six thousand years
of experience—six thousand years of training, six thousand years in which
satanic skill and subtlety have been acquired. So he has more now than he had
then, and all this is to be brought to bear upon God's people in these last
days. We are facing a struggle with satanic and deceptive agencies the like
of which cannot be expressed. 3 The Test Of
Deception The purpose of the chapter just
closed is to lay out in some of its reality the fact that there is coming
upon each man, woman, and child in these last days, the fearful test of
deception. It must be a self-evident truth that anyone who fails to penetrate
the deception will pay for this with his eternal life. This makes us realize
that the pathway from here to the kingdom is a perilous one indeed. Let none
tread this path with complacency and easy confidence. The stakes are far too
high. One may well
wonder why it is that each person who is to find a place in the heavenly
land, must successfully endure such stringent and close testing; for there is
no doubt that a counterfeit of the master qualities involved will not be easy
to recognize and reject. Surely, one would suppose, if an individual is
faithful to the truth of God, then he ought to have his place in the kingdom.
There is nothing more certain than that, but in order to be faithful to the
truth of God, one must be able to reject the counterfeits which are designed
expressly to lead one away from the truth. There was a time in the distant
history of the universe when there was nothing in existence but truth. At that
time, there were no alternative theologies or beliefs. One great pulse of
perfect harmony existed in the whole of God's kingdom. They had no knowledge
of evil. All that the angels and the inhabitants of the worlds afar needed to
do to maintain their place in the kingdom was to hold to the truth they
had—the knowledge of good only. But the time came when a new element was
introduced. The masterful power of deception, coming as it did, clothed in
the shining garments of the brightest angel in heaven, gave God the
appearance of being the evil one, and Lucifer the appearance of being the
saviour of the situation which was supposedly in existence. With great
cunning and skill, Satan professed to have found serious fault in the law of
God. He declared that there was error and imperfection, that God was partial
and unjust, and that there had to be a reformation in 20 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT God Himself.
With a profession of his most self-sacrificing interest in the well being of
the heavenly beings, he sought to enlist their support and cooperation in a
campaign to have God change things as he thought they ought to be. So
skilful, so subtle, so persuasive was this master of lies and counterfeiting,
that he was able to win a full third of the angelic host to his side while
the remainder, in order to maintain their positions in the kingdom of God,
had to discern the nature of the deception. If they did not, they were
lost. What does this mean? It means that
there is a difference between the condition of things as they were in heaven
before the fall, and the condition of things as they are after the fall.
Before the fall they had to have only the knowledge of good in order to have
heaven, but after the fall it was a case of having the knowledge of good and
the ability to detect the deceiver in his disguise so that they would know
what was truth from error. When Lucifer and the angels who rebelled with him
were cast out from heaven, this left a large gap in the heavenly kingdom
which had to be refilled. As angels neither marry nor are given in marriage
(Matthew 22:30), they do not have the power of reproduction. The gap could
not be filled by this means. The only way to overcome this was to bring into
effect a work of creation, and it was for this purpose that the world was
created and man placed upon it. "God created man for His own
glory, that after test and trial the human family might become one with the
heavenly family. It was God's purpose to re-populate heaven with the human
family, if they would show themselves obedient to His every word."
Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Volume 1:1082, Ellen G. White
comment. "All heaven took a deep and
joyful interest in the creation of the world and of man. Human beings were a
new and distinct order. They were made 'in the image of God,' and it was the
Creator's design that they should populate the earth." Review and
Herald, February 11, 1902. As a new and distinct order, the
human family had a power the angels did not have—the power of reproduction.
It seems evident enough that the necessity of giving man this power was
created by the different conditions involved at this time in maintaining a
place in the kingdom. Now there was the test of deception which had not been
there before. If, with that risk there, the Lord had directly created the
exact number of replacement angels and set them on the earth for their
training period before their filling up the vacated positions, and the evil
one had succeeded in seducing even a portion of them into sin, God's work would have been frustrated,
necessitating a further work of creation and in turn, a further risk of
losing a portion. But, by creating man with the power
to reproduce, this problem is solved, though not without the intervention of the
plan of salvation. Even THE TEST OF
DECEPTION 21 though the
vast majority of the people of this earth in all its history have been
deceived by the great counterfeit, there has always been a faithful minority
in each generation who have escaped the power of this deception. It is only a
matter of waiting till the numbers are fully made up by this faithful remnant
for God's purpose in re-populating heaven to be achieved. It also explains
why there will be no marrying and giving in marriage in heaven. The redeemed
will take the places of Lucifer and the angels who fell with him, so the
original perfect arrangement and balance of heaven will be restored. In order for
man to ascend to that position, he must have more than the angels had in
heaven before the fall. What they had was a knowledge of, and loyalty to the
truth, without it having been subjected to any test. But, since the
appearance of the great deceiver, conditions have changed. From that time on,
no one could remain in heaven and no one can enter there again, unless he has
proved by experience and demonstration that he can hold the truth in the face
of the most delusive arguments to the contrary. This knowledge gives a new
angle to the aim of achieving a place in the heavenly kingdom. We should all
awaken to a far more careful, prayerful, and watchful attitude as we face the
insidious temptations coming our way from day to day. Never could the need for watchfulness
be greater than it is today, and from here on into the final scenes. The reason
for this is that the time in which we now live is the time of all times for
the appearing of many false Christs and false
prophets. Of this the Scriptures are very plain in their warnings. Matthew
24:21, 22 speaks of the great tribulation: "For then shall be great
tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time,
no, nor ever shall be. "And except those days should be
shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those
days shall be shortened." The tribulation referred to is the
long night of papal persecution which lasted from A.D. 538, till almost the
end of the one thousand, two hundred and sixty years in 1798. This is made
clear in the same chapter by the text which says: "Immediately after the
tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not
give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven . . ." Matthew
24:29. These strange phenomena occurred around the close of the eighteenth
and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries, confirming that the
tribulation preceding these signs was the long night of the Dark Ages. Having referred to this period in the
verses quoted above, Christ warns as follows: "Then if any man shall say
unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs
and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very
elect. 22 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT "Behold,
I have told you before. "Wherefore if they shall say
unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the
secret chambers; believe it not. "For as the lightning cometh out of the
east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall
also the coming of the Son of man be." Matthew 24:23-27. The ones against whom we are warned,
appearing in plural numbers in these last days are false Christs
and false prophets. They come not as open enemies of the truth, but as
counterfeits of the real. Amongst those who are opposed to
God's living truth are men so polite, courteous, helpful, calm, and nice,
that you would ask yourself: "How could such a person ever be the enemy
of God? Outwardly he bears all the marks of conversion. Surely from all I can
see of this man he is a true child of God?" But do not be deceived. That
is not the test—the ministers of unrighteousness come amongst us as angels of
light to deceive and draw back God's
people. In this connection there is a
most enlightening statement which has been omitted from the record of
the vision as given in Early Writings, * but which appeared in the original
version of the vision and reveals that the miracles which the devil works are
actually miracles of apparent conversions. The subjects of his power appear
to have been truly converted. The unabridged version of the vision
is to be found reproduced in facsimile form in Ellen G. White and Her Critics
by F. D. Nichol, page 222, of the original article in Present Truth, August
1849, pages 21, 22. "I saw that the mysterious signs and wonders, and
false reformations would increase, and spread. The reformations that were
shown me, were not reformations from error to truth; but from bad to worse;
for those who professed a change of heart, had only wrapt about them a religious
garb, which covered up the iniquity of a wicked heart. Some appeared to have
been really converted, so as to deceive God's people; but if their hearts
could be seen, they would appear as black as ever." Let every soul who professes to be a
child of God recognize the warning given. Those who are Satan's agents will
appear to be really converted for a definite and specific purpose—to deceive
and draw back the people of God from the truth. Devilish indeed is the work
of Satan. He has neither mercy nor scruples and delights in the cruel
destruction of the people of God in particular. Be warned and on guard. When a person appears to be truly
converted, will he be courteous? Certainly! Will he be kind and patient?
Certainly! He will bear outwardly all the
apparent marks of conversion.
Satan is able to give people the ___________ *No attempt whatsoever is being made
here to infer that the omission from Early Writings, 45, of the greater part
of the statement quoted above, is the ulterior work of the publishers or such
like. Rather it seems to be the work of the author herself, for some reason
or the other. The omitted part begins with the words, "but from bad to
worse," and con tinues to the
end of the selection quoted above. THE TEST OF
DECEPTION 23 appearance of
conversion, but "if their hearts could be seen they would appear just as
black as ever." If you could be with them constantly they would appear
as they really are—just people who have wrapped around themselves the
deception of apparent conversion. In the last days we will have
miracles—genuine, undeniable miracles of apparent conversions—worked by
Satan's ministers. They will teach a message which appears to be the doctrine
of Christ. It will look the same and sound the same, but God's folk will know
by His Word that it is not the same because there are distinct differences. It would be serious enough if there
was only one false prophet or one false Christ to contend with, but the
Scriptures speak of them in the plural. "Beloved, believe not every
spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false
prophets are gone out into the world." 1 John 4:1. Each one of these will come with the
appearance of righteousness. They will be kind, courteous, sincere, zealous,
and loving, but we are not to accept them on these merits alone. We must
first test their credentials from the Word of God and then make our
decisions. A prophecy which pinpoints the
conditions of the time in which we live is found in The Review and Herald,
December 13, 1892. "After the truth has been
proclaimed as a witness to all nations, every conceivable power of evil will
be set in operation, and minds will be confused by many voices crying, 'Lo,
here is Christ, Lo, He is there. This is the truth, I have the message from
God, He has sent me with great light.' Then there will be a removing of the
landmarks, and an attempt to tear down the pillars of our faith. A more
decided effort will be made to exalt the false Sabbath, and to cast contempt
upon God Himself by supplanting the day He has blessed and sanctified. This
false Sabbath is to be enforced by an oppressive law." It is not difficult to see that this
statement is being fulfilled. Already, some of it is in the past. It begins
at that point of time when the truth has been proclaimed as a witness to all
nations. That was achieved in the early 1950's. You
may recall the declarations in the Review and Herald in which the Adventist
leaders showed that the message had gone to every nation, kindred, tongue,
and people, Tibet being one of the last countries to be entered by the truth.
What should happen next? The prophecy says that every conceivable power of
evil will be set in operation. Do we not recognize that immorality, vice, and
wickedness were released in the fifties as never before? What comes next? "Minds will be
confused by many voices" all claiming to have the message and great
light. Were there ever so many voices heard as in the 1950's, a man rising up here or a group there, or a
man somewhere else, many of them, every one saying "I have the message 24 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT from God, He
has sent me with great light and truth for this very time." Elijah, it
would seem, has appeared again and again although always with a different and
contradictory message. The words of Testimonies 5:80 are no longer a
prophecy. They are present truth. "The days are fast approaching
when there will be great perplexity and confusion. Satan, clothed in angel
robes, will deceive, if possible, the very elect. There will be gods many and
lords many. Every wind of doctrine will be blowing." These days are no longer fast
approaching for they have already arrived. Are we not experiencing these
things? Today there are "gods many and lords many." Every wind of
doctrine is blowing, with each and every man claiming that he has the message
from God for this time. Do all these men, and all these movements, have the
message of present truth? Is God the author of confusion, division, and
scattering? Of course not! Yet somewhere in it all, God has a voice. God has
a movement to whom He is teaching His truth, not just an individual here and
there. To find and to stand with that people to whom the Lord is teaching His
truth, and to hold to that truth and that people, is the task of all who are
truly concerned with eternal life. That there are so many voices claiming
they have the truth most seriously complicates the task, making it much more
difficult and dangerous. But it can and must be done if we would be saved. It
is not enough to have only what the angels had in the kingdom before the
fall. We must have that and the victory over the power of deception. This is
the great test which all must successfully pass. Failure will cost eternal
life, while success guarantees the bliss of an eternity in the earth made
new. Do not rest satisfied. Check your present position. You may already be
the victim of deception. Even now you may be heading into the folds of a net
from which there is no escape. It is not enough for this book to
warn of the present and increasing peril. It must also show the way of
deliverance. It must show how to detect the deceiver in his disguise, so that
every honest soul will be able to escape. We pray that in the chapters to
come this will be spelled out from the Word of God in words so clear and
convincing, that every reader will be able to endure the test and be found
among the happy throng upon the sea of glass. 4 Try Those Spirits This book will help you as it directs
you to the plain truths of God's Word. The recognition and acceptance of
God's evaluation of events presently still developing will be a powerful
factor in our salvation. Failure will assure eternal destruction. "Only those who have been diligent
students of the Scriptures, and who have received the love of the truth, will
be shielded from the powerful delusion that takes the world captive. By the
Bible testimony these will detect the deceiver in his disguise. To all, the
testing time will come. By the sifting of temptation, the genuine Christian
will be revealed. Are the people of God now so firmly established upon His
Word that they would not yield to the evidence of their senses? Would they,
in such a crisis, cling to the Bible, and the Bible only? Satan will, if
possible, prevent them from obtaining a preparation to stand in that day. He
will so arrange affairs as to hedge up their way, entangle them with earthly
treasures, cause them to carry a heavy, wearisome burden, that their hearts
may be overcharged with the cares of this life, and the day of trial may come
upon them as a thief." The Great Controversy, 625, 626. If "only those who have been
diligent students of the Scriptures, and who have received the love of the
truth, will be shielded from the powerful delusion that takes the world
captive," there must be in the Scriptures that which will give them the
power and ability "to detect the deceiver in his disguise." The
Lord has laid down measuring lines and detection tests whereby we can know
with certainty whether the teaching being urged upon us is of God or Satan. It is our task
to search out these guide lines and become so familiar with them that we can
apply them quickly and successfully. In doing this it must be remembered that
the test in each case is a test of the teaching being offered to us, not a
test of the character or the motives of the individuals involved. Only God
can judge character and motive, but we are required to 26 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT test and judge
the teachings of men, and to be able to evaluate the positions which they
have taken, together with their implications. God's requirement is:
"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits
whether they are of God." 1 John 4:1. To try, means to test and examine. We must do this
and decide whether the man who claims—be it verbally or simply by inference
of his activities—to be sent of God, speaks the truth. We did this earlier in regard to D.
L. Moody. We tried his credentials and declared on the basis of the
information given in the Word of God that he was not of God. Doing this is
not outside the command of God. We did not say that he was a bad man with
evil motives and character. We only said that he and his message were not of
God. To many this will have come as an
unacceptable assertion. They will object on the grounds of the command of
Christ, "Judge not, that ye be not judged." Matthew 7:1. The
Word of God
does not contradict
itself. Therefore, there can be nothing in
this verse to nullify the plain command of God, to "try the spirits
whether they are of God." Looking a little further we find that when the
early church obeyed that command, they received a strong word of commendation
from God for having done so. "I know thy works," the Lord said,
"and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them
which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are
not, and hast found them liars." Revelation 2:2. These evidences leave no doubt that
the Lord not only expects us to test and try those who claim they are of God,
but has actually commanded this. If we do not follow this command and become
deceived by the counterfeits and deceptions in the world today, the loss of
our own soul will be our fault entirely. When testing these teachers and
their teachings, let us be careful to stay within the limits set down by
Christ when He said, "Judge not, that ye be not judged." It is not
given to us to judge their motive, their character, their zeal, or their
sincerity. That is the province of God alone. Observe that the very people
who charge us with having no right to declare that Moody was not a man of God
are condemned by their own fallacious reasoning. In the very fact that they
adamantly declared Moody to be a man of God, they have judged him. It is true
that most folk think of judging as condemnation, but a judgment is any
conclusion drawn as a result of an investigation. If, in a court of law, the
judge declares a man to be innocent and therefore free, he has passed
judgment just as certainly as if he had declared the man guilty. When those who support Moody declare
that he was a man of God, they have passed judgment on him as surely as we
have when we declare that he was not a man of God. If the text they use has
condemned us, it condemns them also. TRY THOSE
SPIRITS 27 At this point, we wish to emphasize
some facts which must be kept in mind. There will be some straight things
said in regard to the teachings of certain men and churches in the coming
pages. To many, these declarations will be unacceptable. However, they will
only be the conclusions drawn from the careful application of the tests given
in the words of Scripture. What we do, will be done in strict obedience to
the command, "Try the spirits," and see "whether they are of
God." We will not judge the character,
motives, sincerity, or the heart of any man or church. We leave the Lord to
take care of that. If the reader remembers this and understands these principles,
the book will be a blessing, even though the words may apply: "This is
an hard saying; who can hear it?" John 6:60. Otherwise the heart will
rise up against the message and condemn it. We are commanded to "try the
spirits," to see "whether they are of God," or not. Let us
obey! There is nothing the devil fears more. There is nothing we need to do
more urgently than this. The Bible gives a series of tests
whereby we can identify the antichrist and detect the deceiver in his
disguise. The first
mentioned here is the one spoken by Jesus. "Beware of false prophets,
which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Ye shall know them by their fruits." Matthew 7:15, 16. Another test is
given in the Old Testament. "To the law and to the testimony: if they
speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in
them." Isaiah 8:20. Then there is the witness of the
prophetic word which traces the development of antichrist and shows us where
to expect him to arise and operate. The careful
application of these tests will enable any honest seeker for truth to
identify the antichrist in his disguise, and thus be preserved from the
delusions of these last days. We could do well to spend time and space on
each of these tests, but there is yet another with which we are more
concerned in this study, because it is the one especially applicable in this
case. It is found in 1 John 4:1-3. "Beloved, believe not every
spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false
prophets are gone out into the world. "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of
God: "And every spirit that
confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this
is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and
even now already is it in the world." It is vital to establish that the
test here given is valid for all time. This observation is made because there
are those guilty of teaching the very doctrine of antichrist, who, when faced
with this test, immediately leap to 28 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT the defence
that it was only applicable to a situation which existed in the days of John, and does not apply now. Such an objection is so obviously
self-defensive that it is hardly worth a reply, but as it is made it must be
answered. The statement itself makes it plain that the test is for all time.
The declaration that Christ does not come in the flesh, is the revelation of
the spirit of antichrist. The spirit of antichrist is the very nature of that
God-hating power, which has never changed from earliest times when it was
first manifest in the heart of Lucifer whilst yet in heaven, to this moment.
The spirit has not changed, the tactics have not changed, and the warfare and
its objectives have not changed. They are the same in every age and
generation. "The
Roman Church now presents a fair front to the world, covering with apologies her
record of horrible cruelties. She has clothed herself in Christ-like
garments; but she is unchanged. Every principle of the papacy that existed in
past ages exists today. The doctrines devised in the darkest ages
are still held.
Let none deceive
themselves. The papacy
that Protestants are now so ready to honor is the same that ruled the
world in the days of the Reformation, when men of God stood up, at the peril
of their lives, to expose her iniquity.
She possesses the same pride and arrogant assumption that lorded it
over kings and princes, and claimed the prerogatives of God. Her spirit is no
less cruel and despotic now than when she crushed out human liberty, and slew
the saints of the Most High. . . And let it be remembered, it is the boast of
Rome that she never changes." The Great Controversy, 571, 581. This is the reason why the Bible
calls the antichrist of the New Testament by the same name as it called the antichrist of the Old
Testament. That name is Babylon. The Babylon of Daniel's day was the Babylon
of John's day, and it is the selfsame Babylon today. True, the geographical
boundaries have changed; the political powers which gave her their support
have passed away to be replaced by others; her disguises and subterfuges have
become even more subtle, but in spite of all, she is still the same, she
still possesses and manifests the same spirit. In the days of John, the
beloved apostle, it was the outworking of that spirit to deny that Jesus
Christ came in the flesh. To gain the full force and implications of that
fact, let it be remembered that like produces like, so wherever that spirit
is to be found, it will still produce the same result, and will still deny
the same truths. In John's time, it denied the truth that Christ had come in
the flesh. Today it will do the very same still. The spirit of antichrist has
not changed in the least. The Spirit of
God has not changed either. He is "the same yesterday, and today, and for ever." Hebrews 13:8. In the days of John, the
Spirit of God declared that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. Not only was this
the truth then, but it was the means whereby the Spirit of God could be
identified TRY THOSE
SPIRITS 29 then. That
truth has not altered since that time and the Spirit of God still speaks the
same truth now. If it was the means of identifying the true Spirit of God
then, it will most certainly be the means of identifying the true Spirit of
God today. In John's day there were just two
spirits in the world. The Spirit of Christ and the spirit of antichrist.
Those two spirits are still here today and they have not changed. What they
did and taught then, they do and teach today. What they denied then, they
deny today. The means by which they were identified then, are the same means
by which they can be identified today. Then, it was true that "Every
spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of
God." Today it is equally so. Then, it was true that "Every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of
God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it
should come; and even now already is it in the world." And today, it is
just as reliable and infallible a test. There is no exception. "Every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of
God: and this is that spirit of antichrist..." It does not matter how
clearly a church may have been called of God in the first case, how zealous
she may be in her efforts to preach her message, how vocal and definite her
claims, and how widespread her influence; she must measure up to that test to
have the spirit of God. If she denies in the least that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh, then she has the spirit of antichrist and not the spirit of
God. She is Babylon and God's people must separate from her. How kind and
all-providing is our Heavenly Father, who, when looking down the ages and
seeing the counterfeit and deceptive work of the great antichrist, supplied
us with a test whereby we can know the true from the false spirit. He has
given us a measuring line, by which we are to measure the claims and
teachings of every spirit which comes our way. This is a God-given test,
therefore it is an infallible one on which can be placed the fullest and most
trusting reliance. It will never fail us provided that it is applied with the
care and thoroughness required by the Word of God. So infallible and accurate
is this criterion that it can be truly said "Hereby know ye . . ."
We will know, if we have faith in God's Word and if we take and use that
measuring line. This test and the requirement to
apply and live by it is not to be regarded lightly. The Word of God does not
so regard it. John, writing again in his second epistle, verses 7-11, spoke
out in very strong language. "For many deceivers are entered into the
world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a
deceiver and an antichrist. "Look to yourselves, that we lose not those
things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. "Whosoever transgresseth, and
abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the
doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 30 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT "If there
come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your
house, neither bid him God speed: "For he that biddeth him God
speed is partaker of his evil deeds." These verses, dealing with the
means by which antichrist seeks to deceive the world, are worthy of the closest
and most careful consideration. Verse seven declares again that the teaching
that Christ has not come in the flesh, is the work of a deceiver and an
antichrist. God knows that this eaching represents
a real danger to the believers, for they could lose the message which they
had been taught. "Look to yourselves," John warned, "that we
lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full
reward." Does it not follow that this teaching
of antichrist, that Jesus did not come in the flesh, is a very subtle one
indeed when even the believer in the true doctrine of Christ is in danger of
losing it? It must not appear to be an evil teaching, but rather the very
truth itself. Mark it well. This doctrine does not deny that
Christ came. It does not deny that Christ came in flesh, but that He came in
the flesh. Being, as it is, the doctrine of antichrist, it will be a
counterfeit and therefore as like the real as it is possible to be. Only
those who can apply the test as a result of being careful and honest Bible
students, and because they have a personal experience in the power of God,
will be able to know the true from the false. Having warned
of the danger of losing those things which are the truth, John makes
clear the consequences of
such a loss.
"Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of
Christ, hath not God." It is plain that the doctrine of antichrist is
the teaching that Christ did not come in the flesh. This "doctrine of
Christ" is the teaching that Christ did come in the flesh. There is the
measuring line which will distinguish the counterfeit from the true. Let us
learn to use it for the salvation of our souls, and for the finishing of the
work in all the world. 5 We Can Obey To Perfection Discerning and distinguishing the
doctrine of Christ from that of antichrist, or in other words, applying the
test of Christ and of antichrist, requires more than a technical or
theoretical approach to the problem. "The natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can
he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned. . . . If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are
lost: In whom the god of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image God, should shine unto them." 1 Corinthians 2:14; 2 Corinthians 4. When Christ had asked the disciples
who men said that He was, and they had replied that some declared Him to be
John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or
one of the prophets, Christ then asked
them who they thought Him to be. When Peter had shown by his reply that he
recognized that Christ was God in the flesh, Jesus said to him, "Blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath
not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven." Matthew
16:17. Peter saw and understood the doctrine
of Christ. He knew, even though it may
have been dimly, that Jesus was not just a mere man as most people thought,
but that He was God in the flesh. Jesus assured him that this understanding
did not come as a result of human reasoning, but by spiritual illumination.
Likewise today, the true understanding of the nature of Christ is gained by
the illumination of God's Spirit. It brings more than mere theoretical or
technical knowledge that He came in the flesh. There has to be point and
purpose to His coming in that fashion, giving such an understanding to the
nature and the objectives of the incarnation that we shall be able to
understand why the denial of the truth that Christ came in the flesh,
signifies the spirit of antichrist and hostility to Christ and His Word. 32 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT To develop such an understanding we
must look into the very nature of the great controversy, to see what Satan is
seeking to achieve and what Christ in turn must do to "destroy the works
of the devil." 1 John 3:8. "From the very beginning of the great
controversy in heaven, it has been Satan's purpose to overthrow the law of God.
It was to accomplish this that he entered upon his rebellion against the
Creator; and though he was cast out of heaven, he has continued the same
warfare upon the earth. To deceive men, and thus lead them to transgress
God's law, is the object which he has steadfastly pursued. Whether this be
accomplished by casting aside the law altogether, or by rejecting one of its
precepts, the result will be ultimately the same. He that offends 'in one
point,' manifests contempt for the whole law; his influence and example are
on the side of transgression; he becomes 'guilty of all'. "In
seeking to cast contempt upon the divine
statutes, Satan has perverted the
doctrines of the
Bible, and errors
have thus become incorporated into
the faith of thousands who
profess to believe
the Scriptures." Now we will pause a moment before we
quote the next sentence. So far we have learned that from the very beginning
of the great controversy in heaven, it has been Satan's purpose to overthrow
the law of God, and he has continued that work upon the earth. That takes
care of the past. What about the future? It reads: "The last great conflict between
truth and error is but the final struggle of the long-standing controversy concerning
the law of God. Upon this battle we are now entering,—a battle between the
laws of men and the precepts of Jehovah, between the religion of the Bible
and the religion of fable and tradition." The Great Controversy, 582. Here we are warned that the last
great conflict between truth and error is the final struggle of the
long-standing controversy over God's law. This battle is between the laws of
men and the precepts of Jehovah. It is between the religion of the Bible and
the religion of fable and tradition. Previously, we have read that the
last great conflict is to be fought out on the issues of the message of
Christ and His righteousness which to some appears to contradict the
statement that the last great conflict is an issue between the law of God and
the laws of men. To them this suggests two different areas of battle
altogether. But this is not so. The law cannot be separated from the gospel.
The purpose of the gospel is to produce perfect obedience to the law of God,
and its work begins with the assumption that the law can be kept by human
beings who have been transformed by the creative power of God into newly born
creatures and who depend upon the sustaining power of God to keep them every
day. When, in the
last times, Satan goes out to war against the doctrine of Christ, he is
assuredly and directly warring against the law of God which he desires
everyone to break. So far, this study makes it plain that Satan's WE CAN OBEY TO
PERFECTION 33 work is
effective through the power of deception. He deceives in order to overthrow
the law of God, but we need not be in ignorance of what that deception is. Christ declared the character of
Satan to be that of a liar and a murderer. This character is laid bare as we
understand and see his workings in the world of sin. Said Jesus to the
Pharisees of His day: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of
your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not
in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he
speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." John 8:44.
A counterfeit is a lie. A deception
is also a lie. Satan is the great counterfeiter, he is the great deceiver,
and therefore he is the great liar. It follows that every lie which Satan
seeks to perpetrate upon the human family is designed to deceive and bring
about the counteraction of God's work. Jesus came to give God's children
life! "I am come that they might have Life, and that they might have it
more abundantly." If Jesus came to give us that, and Satan seeks to
destroy the works of Jesus Christ, then what does Satan seek to bring us? He
seeks to bring us death! Death is the portion of those who are deceived by
his sophistry. Satan seeks to seduce the human family
with many deceptions. But we wish to take up the one at the very heart of the
controversy which began back in heaven and which has continued here upon this
earth ever since. It will be the subject of the last great battle between
good and evil. This controversy concerns the law of God which is inextricably
related to the doctrine of Jesus Christ. " 'He that covereth
his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh
them shall have mercy.' If those who hide and excuse their faults could see
how Satan exults over them, how he taunts Christ and holy angels with their
course, they would make haste to confess their sins and to put them away.
Through defects in the character, Satan works to gain control of the whole
mind, and he knows that if these defects are cherished, he will succeed.
Therefore, he is constantly seeking to deceive the followers of Christ with
his fatal sophistry that it is impossible for them to overcome." The
Great Controversy, 489. Read this last sentence again to get
the full impact and meaning. Satan knows that if known defects of character
are retained, then he can control the entire mind and overthrow the soul
completely. In order to achieve this, he is constantly seeking to deceive or
to perpetrate a lie upon a certain class of people. Who are they? The
followers of Christ! If you profess to be a follower of Jesus Christ, then you are the specific target of Satan's
deceptive work. You are the one whom Satan is continually endeavouring to
deceive with this fatal sophistry. The work of deception is to be
carried forward by a sophistry, and it is a fatal one. Consider what a
sophistry is. It is a lie of the most cunning and 34 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT plausible kind,
looking and sounding like the real thing. Of all things evil it is the most
likely to pass as the truth. To be deceived by such a lie is always costly.
It is costly enough when it robs us of money, loved ones, reputation, or the
like. But when it robs us of life itself, that is the end of the road. There
could be a no more dangerous kind of sophistry than this. Fatal means ending
in death, and the death referred to here is not just the first death, but the
eternal death from which there shall be no resurrection. If, as a child of
God, I am the continual target of Satan's deceptive work, designed to bring about my eternal
destruction, could there be anything
more important than knowing what that lie is? No! This deception, this fatal
sophistry, is the teaching that it is impossible for us to overcome sin or to
keep God's law. It is Satan's lie that it is impossible for you to be kind,
loving, patient, generous, forbearing, the victor over appetite, passion,
lust, affection, and so on. I know from my own experience, and you can
testify to this too. When you have been held in the grip of some habit for
ten, twenty, or thirty years and at last come face to face with it, recognize
its sinfulness and desire to put it away, and in working to get rid of it, realize
its power, its grip, and its strength, then what do you find yourself
thinking? "I can't give this thing up, it's so much a part of me; it's
been a part of me so long; I've fought against it so hard, and yet fight and
pray as I will, this thing comes back again." And there comes to your
mind this suggestion, this belief: "This is one thing which I can't give
up, it will remain with me forever."
You will know
who the author of that thought is. Satan! It is Satan's lie that you cannot
be perfect, Satan's lie that you cannot overcome sin. God declares that there
is no temptation, no sin, no weakness, no frailty, no defect, and no
deficiency, which cannot be overcome through the mighty power of the gospel
of Jesus Christ—not one! As believers, we are to know that. Whenever you hear
a man stand up and preach that the law cannot be kept in its entirety and
perfection, you can know that that man is echoing Satan's sentiments. An experience which opened my eyes
took place in the late fifties. On this particular Sabbath morning I was the
teacher of a fairly large Sabbath School class, the lesson for that day
containing the text, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which
is in heaven is perfect." Matthew 5:48. Because of the revival of the
message of true righteousness by faith as brought by Waggoner
and Jones in 1888,
there was quite
a deal of controversy over this text, so I
determined to approach the question with care. When we came
to it in the lesson, I said to the class, "Here is a Scripture which is
the centre of some debate and controversy. But it is here in the Word of God
and therefore contains a message for us. What do you think it means?" WE CAN OBEY TO
PERFECTION 35 Instantly one of the brethren, a
leading church elder, spoke up. "Every day we are going to do battle
with the devil, and every day we're going to be defeated. Every day you can
expect to commit sin. It's inevitable. But the fact that you have committed
sin does not mean that you have changed sides; you're still loyal to God; He
understands, He forgives you, and gives you a fresh start every day." This reply was
so typical of all those who rejected and resisted the message of Waggoner and
Jones, that I could not restrain myself from asking him what certain other
Scriptures meant when they said, "Sin shall not have dominion over
you." "Awake to righteousness, and sin not." "There hath
no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way
of escape, that ye may be able to bear it." "Now unto Him that is
able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the
presence of His glory with exceeding joy." Romans 6:14; 1 Corinthians
15:34; 10:13; Jude 24. Then I paused and waited for their answer. The class had become deathly still.
After a moment or two the church pastor began to speak in a low voice without
looking up. "We must be very careful not to uphold a standard so high as
to discourage God's people." I found it very hard to believe that
someone actually said the words I heard next, and I will never forget them.
He said, "I don't know exactly what those Scriptures you have quoted
mean; but this I do know: they do not mean just what they say." I was so
stunned by that reply that I did not know what to say. I passed from that
text to the rest of the Sabbath School lesson, and it ended when the bell
summoned us back to the main assembly. It does not matter to me from whom
those words come. When I find a man declaring that every day I am going to
commit sin inevitably, and the Word of God does not mean just what it says, I
hear a man who says it is impossible to keep the law of God. As surely as I
hear that man, I know on whose behalf he is speaking. Satan's lie, his fatal
sophistry, is this—it is impossible for us to overcome. This we have already
read in the Word of God, but there are further texts and statements to this
effect. "Satan represents God's law of love as a law of selfishness. He
declares that it is impossible for us to obey its precepts." The Desire
of Ages, 24. Note what Satan says. He declares that it is impossible for us
to obey its precepts. In order to convince us of this, he points to the sins
of the house of Israel, the people to whom the law of God had been given and
who claimed to be obedient to it. If they could not obey it, was not this
clear proof that the law could not be kept? This argument is a false one. It
would be well if the children of God could better penetrate the falsity of
such assertions. It was true that Israel had not kept the law. But the fact
that Israel did not keep it was not proof that they could not have kept it.
This 36 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT distinction
should be kept in mind. For millenniums man never flew through the air like a
bird, but because he did not was not proof that he could not, as was finally
demonstrated. On the other side of the argument
though, the fact that the law was kept, even if by only one man, is sure
proof that it can be kept by mankind. While Israel
as a nation had failed the Lord, God was not without His witnesses that
the law could be kept. In the Old Testament there are lives against whom there
exists no record of disobedience. In this connection we refer to men like
Joseph, Daniel, Enoch, and Job. Of these men, Job was given the high
privilege of proving to the Lord's satisfaction and the devil's dismay that
the law could be kept even under the most trying and forbidding
circumstances. This story is a great blessing and encouragement to us. It is
especially helpful as it records an occasion when Satan came right out and
declared his position on the keeping of the law. God's evaluation of His
faithful servant is found in the book of Job. "There was a man in the
land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was
perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil." There
follows a description of his substance, his sons and daughters, his cattle,
lands, and houses, and how great a man he was because he had received the
marvellous blessings of obedience. In Job 1:6 the drama begins. "Now there was
a day when
the sons of God came to
present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. "And the Lord said unto Satan,
Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord,
and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in
it." Apparently there was a council
meeting when all the sons of God, the first-born sons of each planet, came
together to meet with God somewhere in the universe. Satan had become the
prince of the earth since Adam's fall and
came to present himself as the representative of this earth. So God asked him
"Whence comest thou?" Satan answered,
"From going to and fro in the earth." "And the Lord said unto Satan,
Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the
earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth
evil? "Then Satan answered the Lord,
and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? "Hast not Thou made an hedge
about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?
Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in
the land. "But put forth Thine hand now,
and touch all that he hath, and he will curse Thee to Thy face." Job
1:8-11. WE CAN OBEY TO
PERFECTION 37 This is a serious declaration and it
needs more than another declaration to counter it. Otherwise it would only be one person's
word against another's. A demonstration though,
cannot be countered.
This fundamental principle is easily recognized in man's quest for
flight. For thousands of years the majority of men did not believe that man
could ever fly. But finally two young men went to work and proved forever
that man could fly like the birds and even higher. These two young Americans
were the first to pilot a heavier-than-air machine. How did they prove that
flight is possible—by making speeches and producing formulae on a lecture
tour around the country?
No, they simply
went ahead and flew. Their demonstration proved forever that it
could be done. Job kept the
law of God and was a perfect and an upright man; this constituted a daily
demonstration that Satan's assertion was a deception. God's question amounted
to this proposition: "Satan, you're spending all your time and energy
going to and fro to promote this lie that the law cannot be kept, but here is
the exposure of your lie in the life of My servant Job. What do you have to
say about that?" God was not gloating over Satan. He was not saying,
"Aha, I've won the argument." He does not work that way. Rather,
God was extending a loving appeal to Satan to save him from causing more trouble
for himself and for the human race. But Satan's reply, "Doth Job fear
God for nought? ..." further embedded him in his course of evil. Here Satan referred to his own
experience in heaven. He is saying, "I know that Job is giving You very
faithful service, but didn't I do that too? I served You for millenniums
until I discovered Your real character, then I found it impossible. You are
prospering Job as You once prospered me. You are giving him all his heart
desires. He is blinded by these gifts and does not see Your oppressive,
self-centred character. But," Satan said to God, "You just take
away these blessings; show Yourself as You are, and just as I ceased to obey
You, Job will do the same." Curiously enough, God did not take away Job's
possessions. He allowed Satan to do
it. Job of course, could not see behind the scenes. It appeared that it was
God who had taken away these blessings and brought this fearful and terrible
calamity upon him. In this way Satan seeks to cover his destructive work. In one day Job's sons and daughters
were taken away. Those of you who have lost just one son or daughter in
death, or a husband or wife, know the sorrow which comes from a bitter blow
like that, especially if they are taken away in the prime of life without
warning of any kind. Job lost more than that. There were seven sons and three
daughters—the children all died in one day. His flocks, herds, servants, and
buildings were also taken, leaving nothing. Can you imagine a more terrible
and devastating experience? Yet he said patiently, "The Lord gave, and
the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." 38 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT That was faith
to be envied, and faith to be copied. Satan
came again and
persistently refused to
acknowledge Job's integrity, so
God permitted him to smite Job from head to toe with terrible boils. We have all experienced boils at one time
or another. What a discomfort they
are! We can sit or lie only in certain positions and long to be released from
the continual agony. But here was Job with boils from head to toe. No matter
how he sat, lay or stood, he had to bring pressure upon some of those awful
inflammations. What unspeakable misery and suffering he went through. All he
could do was gather a pile of soft ashes to sit on and get some relief in
that way. In the depths of his misery, his
children, possessions, and health gone, three ministers of religion, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite came
to him. These
men were respected theologians of the day. They
should have been the mouthpiece of God as they professed to be. But God's
evaluation of these men is found in the closing chapter of the book, where
God speaks to Eliphaz the Temanite:
"My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye
have not spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job hath."
Job 42:7. If those three men had not uttered that which was right in regard
to God, the God of truth, what had they spoken? A lie. If these men spoke a
lie, whose servants were they?
Satan's servants. They claimed
to be preachers of religion; they displayed a great knowledge of God's Word;
they were respected by the people. But
that did not make them God's servants. No one can ever be God's servant while
speaking the lies of Satan. Such would be a witness, not to God's, but to
Satan's power. The words of God to Eliphaz show
where that man stood and who his master was. That being established, his
words in Job 4:12-21 can be better understood. This man claimed that he
spoke, not his own words, but words of inspiration. "Now a thing was secretly
brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. "In
thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth
on men,
"Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. "Then a spirit passed before my
face; the hair of my flesh stood up: "It stood still, but I could not
discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence,
and I heard a voice, saying, . . ." Naturally, he claimed his
inspiration as being from the God of heaven and would want all who heard him
to think likewise, so that his words would carry more weight. While we know
that Eliphaz claimed inspiration, the words of God
in the last chapter of Job prove that God had not spoken by Eliphaz. If it was not the Spirit of God which had spoken
to Eliphaz in the WE CAN OBEY TO
PERFECTION 39 night
vision—for a spirit did speak to him—whose spirit was it? It could only have
been the other spirit, the spirit of Satan. Eliphaz's
words are Satan's words. They are his sentiments, his message, his philosophy, his lie. As
such they give the earnest student of the Bible an insight into Satan's lie
so he can recognize and avoid it like the plague. Here is that lie. "Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his Maker?" This is the rendering of the
Authorised Version of the Bible. Most translations render it "Can mortal
man be righteous before God?" Such a question is not an inquiry but
rather a theoretical question designed to scorn any but a certain answer
which would be, "Of course not, for that would be an
impossibility." The intent of this question becomes
clear when Eliphaz answers it himself. "Even
in His servants He puts no trust, and His angels He charges with error; how
much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed before the moth." Revised Standard Version. When Eliphaz
said to Job, "Can mortal man be righteous before God? Can a man be pure
before his Maker?" he was really saying, "Job, do you mean to tell
me that you could possibly believe that a man can be pure and righteous?
Surely you are not that far removed from the truth as to entertain such ideas
and thoughts! Look and see that even the angels were charged with folly and
expelled from heaven as a result. If angelic perfection failed to meet the
standards of God's requirements, then how much hope does mortal man have of
keeping up to the standards of God's expectations?" Such
arguing presents God
as being a
hard taskmaster whose capricious desires could never be
satisfied by anyone. There was some truth in the evidences presented in this
argument. Certain angels were charged with folly, but that was because they
had entered a path of sin. This they need not have done, but once they had
moved out of the realm of obedience and co-operation into rebellion and
deceit, their course of action so endangered the whole kingdom of God that
the Lord had no choice but to expel them from heaven. That they had
done this did not prove they had to do it. It did not prove that they had to
enter upon a course which God would have to condemn, not because it offended
Him personally, but because their behaviour was such as to bring ruin upon
themselves and all others who might join them. Notice that Satan made no
reference to the "ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of
angels" who remained loyal to God and that in them the Lord found no
fault and did not charge them with error. The fact that these had not fallen
into sin, proves that the rest could have stood likewise. 40 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT In the light
of these facts which reveal the fallacious nature of Satan's argument through
his servant Eliphaz, let the question be raised
again, "Can mortal man be righteous before God? Can a man be pure before
his Maker?" How would
you answer? Would
you hesitate, uncertain, undecided? Would you answer
quickly as most people do, that a man could not be pure before His maker? Or
could you, with strong and living faith in the transforming, keeping power of
the gospel of Jesus Christ, declare
that a man can
be righteous in God's sight
according to His requirements? What
would you honestly say? This is an excellent test of your faith and belief
and of your identification with Christ or antichrist. "Can a
man be righteous before God, can a man be pure before his Maker?"
He certainly can if he wills to, and if he has the faith to believe the
promises of God to take away the old stony heart condition and give him a new
life in place of the old. It is not in man of himself to do it, for that is
an impossibility. But the question before us is whether man can do it at all.
The answer is that he can through the means made available by virtue of
Christ's sacrifice upon the cross. It is Satan who says that it cannot
be done. But what is he? He is a liar and has been from the beginning when he
rebelled against God. If he is a liar, then we will find no safety in
believing him. He declares the law of God cannot be kept, that it is
impossible for us to overcome, that we cannot be perfect in this life, and
that we will sin every day. The Lord has never said this but declares the
contrary. As He is the truth and never speaks a lie, our only safety is in
believing Him and Him alone. Lay
the Word of
God beside Satan's
charges to see
what the controversy is about.
It is well expressed in Deuteronomy 30:11, 12, 14. "For this commandment which I
command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. "It is not in heaven, that thou
shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that
we may hear it, and do it? "But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy
mouth, and in thy heart, that thou
mayest do it." The
commandment referred to here is the ten commandment law given by God through
Moses to His people at Mt. Sinai. At the beginning of Moses' discourse, he quoted
it to them as found in Deuteronomy 5:6-21. The wording is almost identical
with the rendition in Exodus 20. Having quoted the commandments, Moses, in
his last great sermon, proceeds to explain and amplify those laws to them.
Here is the standard which the Lord has laid down as the only rule for
success and for life itself. It is the very code which Satan says cannot be
kept by any created being. But, in Deuteronomy, Moses,
as God's mouth-piece, declares
that this very commandment "is not hidden from
thee, neither is it far off." Being "not hidden" from us,
indicates that it is not beyond our reach, and it is not too difficult for us
to keep. The Revised Standard Version WE CAN OBEY TO
PERFECTION 41 reads:
"For this commandment which I command you this day is not too hard for
you, neither is it far off." This message declares that the law of life
and liberty can be kept to perfection. It is not beyond the reach of the bornagain Christian. We can do it. This is not the only place in the
Word of God where the Lord has declared that His commandments can be kept.
Again and again He has said that they are to be obeyed and that we are to be
perfect. Such commands
suppose that what the Lord calls us to do is not beyond possibility. Consider how 'unjust and unloving God would
be if He continually expected us to obey a law which could not be obeyed or
kept, and then condemned us as disobedient when we failed to keep a law which
could not be kept anyway. There are those theologians today who
dwell much upon the love of God. This is a favoured sermon theme. Yet, at the
same time, they declare that the law of God cannot be obeyed, that it is a
yoke of bondage, that we are all imperfect, and that we must and will sin
every day. Consider how great a contradiction such preaching is. In the first
case, there is no love in making a law so tough that it cannot be kept. Then,
as in the case of Lucifer and those who followed him, to be thrown out of
heaven because of failure to keep this unkeepable
law, manifests even less love. For the human family the situation is
the same. By transgressing the law we have been expelled from Paradise, and
we shall not return until we have passed the examination of a judgment
designed to discover whether we have learnt to keep the law or not. "But after thy hardness and
impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath
against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; "Who will render to every man
according to his deeds: "To them who by patient continuance in
well-doing seek for glory and honour and
immortality, eternal life: "But unto them that are
contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation
and wrath, "Tribulation and anguish, upon
every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
"But glory, honour, and peace,
to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: "For
there is no respect of persons with God. "For as many as have sinned without
law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law
shall be judged by the law; "(For not the hearers of the law
are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified . . .
)" Romans 2:5-13. "For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in
his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." 2
Corinthians 5:10 42 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT "And as
it is appointed unto men once to die,
but after this the judgment. Hebrews 9:27. Every
man, woman, and
child on earth must pass the searching scrutiny of the judgment in which
their deeds will be examined and they will be judged according to what they
have done, whether it be good or evil. The ten commandment law will be the
standard of that judgment, the means by which every case will be examined.
How much love would there be in God if it was impossible for man to keep the
law by which he is to be judged? Absolutely none. Such a God would be
sadistic and cruel. God is not like that, yet that is the character
attributed to Him by those who declare the law cannot be kept. Let it be understood by all who
profess to love the Lord that the law can be kept to perfection by every
child of God who has been delivered from the bondage of sin and transformed
in nature, in order to bring forth the good fruits of righteousness. This is
God's declaration in the matter, which runs completely counter to the
declaration made by Satan. These are the two sides of the great controversy.
While God not only claims that the law can be kept in its entirety and seeks
to bring men back into full obedience to it, Satan claims that it cannot be
kept and seeks to maintain man in a continual state of disobedience. Satan
uses various devices in this warfare.
One of his favourite weapons is to suggest that we can do certain
things, but that it is not possible to obey in every thing.
The average person is able to keep clear of the major open sins such as
murder, theft, and the like, but the supposed little things like impatience,
appetite, and malice are different. Thus, Satan seeks to fix in mind the
concept that the law cannot be kept. This is the belief in which he desires
to see all firmly grounded. This is a most successful tactic, for
if you believe that it is impossible to keep the law, you will not have the faith that it can be
done. All righteousness, which is
perfect law-keeping, is attained only through faith; if you do not have the
faith, you will not be able to be righteous. All hope of achieving righteousness
begins with the firm conviction that the law can be kept, even though you may
not have found the way to keep it and may not succeed in your quest for quite
some time. Whatever happens, it is essential during that period of searching,
that you never surrender the firm conviction that the law can be kept. If
success has not come, it is only because the knowledge of how the law can be
kept is still lacking. Before
everyone stands the choice. We can believe and live the lie
of Satan or we can believe and live the truth of God. On which side shall we
stand? Shall we believe Satan's lie and suffer eternal death, or shall we
accept God's great truth and, through His saving power, be led into that obedience
which brings eternal life. That is the question—the question each WE CAN OBEY TO
PERFECTION 43 has to face,
the question which will be the great issue in the final controversy. That is what
began the great controversy in heaven, and with that it will culminate in the
closing scenes of this earth's history. There are men who have been ministers
for many, many years, men who have given their lives in service for the
church, devoted men, apparently
sincere men, men with an obvious
breadth and depth of knowledge in many things who can express that knowledge
and yet stand up and boldly say that the law of God cannot be kept. Am I to
believe them? Are you to believe them? Does their position carry any weight
in this argument? Does their long experience, their knowledge and devotion,
carry any weight? Never! Whosoever in any way declares or even
suggests that the law of God cannot be kept, is not a messenger of God but of
Satan. While there are times when these men will say in so many words that it
cannot be kept, more often the denial is somewhat disguised. They will even
begin the sermon with the statement that we must be perfect and close it with
the assurance that it cannot be done anyway. They will stress the
imperfections of the human nature, state that every day we will fall under
the power of sin, but that is no cause for concern for it does not mean that
we have passed to the enemy's side. There are some fragments of truth
woven through such sentiments, but the overall message is one of defeat and
death. Know for sure that such breathings are the voice of Satan, they are
the mark of antichrist. At this stage in our study it may
seem that we have drifted far away from the test outlined in 1 John 4:1-3. As
we proceed further, the intimate relationship between this question of the
great controversy and the subject of the nature of Christ in the incarnation
will be shown. The ground work laid down here is very necessary. It would be well to reflect upon the
facts so far shown. It is the mark of antichrist to deny that Christ came in
the flesh. It is the mark of Satan, who is the great and principal
antichrist, to declare that the law of God cannot be kept. Rightly
understood, it will be seen that these two distinguishing marks of antichrist
are not two separate and different identifications. They are one and the
same. 6 What The Incarnation Proves Satan can point to the unnumbered
hosts of this world who do not obey God's law, as sure proof that his claim
is right. To make matters worse, he can also point to the professed people of
God who likewise fail to manifest the true Christian spirit in all their
dealings. He argues that these people, who profess to be God's children, do
not keep the law of God, claiming this as certain evidence that it cannot be
kept. The fact remains that the majority
who stand on Satan's side are a deceived majority and therefore do not
constitute a vote in favour of his position. But God has done
far more than simply make a declaration. He knows that nothing can be proved
by this alone. If so, God could have declared His case when Lucifer, with a
perfect mind, perfect body, and perfect spiritual life, in the perfect
environment of the kingdom of heaven, was tempted and fell into sin. Adam and
Eve with a "perfect human nature and the divine life of God in that
human nature, with perfect minds and a perfect environment, likewise were
tempted and fell into sin and apostasy. If the declared Word of God had been
sufficient at that time to keep angels and men from sinning, then the Word of
God would be sufficient today. One would expect that the declared Word of God
would carry such finality and authority as to settle the matter once and for
all. But this is not so. If it could have been settled just by God saying
what is right and what is wrong, the matter would never have become a
controversy in the first case. But there came a time when Lucifer lost faith
in God's word, so it no longer held authority for him. He deceived a third of
the angels and then man, with the result that the declarations of God are
insufficient to settle the question. Something more is needed—the evidence of
an irrefutable demonstration. According to the laws of aerodynamics—as far as
scientists understand them—the bumble bee has no hope in the world of flying,
but it flies anyway. What do we believe—the declarations of the scientists or
the demonstration by the bumble bee? WHAT THE
INCARNATION PROVES 45 God
has provided the
demonstration of perfect
obedience in the incarnation of Jesus
Christ. Jesus did not come only to die for the lost. That, though a most
essential part of His work, was not His whole mission. He came to live a life
of perfect obedience in the selfsame flesh and blood as you and I, so that
the question of whether it can be done is eternally settled and our salvation
is assured; for if the devil is able to prove his point that the law cannot
be kept, the kingdom of God is destroyed and there will be salvation for
none. " 'God with us' is the surety of
our deliverance from sin, the assurance of our power to obey the law of
heaven." The Desire of Ages, 25. To gain something of the force of this
statement, we need to understand the expression "God with us". It
is another way of expressing the idea of God in the flesh. Inasmuch as it is
"God with us", the flesh must be exactly the same flesh as ours,
otherwise He could not truly and fully be with us. Over and again this
thought is repeated in the revelations of God's Spirit. Jesus Christ as both
God and man, having placed Himself on the same footing as man, gave a perfect
example of the obedience which God expects from us. The whole point of that
demonstration as given by Christ in this situation is that we too, in the
same flesh and blood, and in the same situation, can
render the same obedience
to God to our profit and advantage. "Satan represents God's law of
love as a law of selfishness. He declares that it is impossible for us to
obey its precepts. The fall of our first parents, with all the woe that has
resulted, he charges upon the Creator, leading men to look upon God as the
author of sin, and suffering, and death. Jesus was to unveil this deception.
As one of us He was to give an example of obedience." The Desire of
Ages, 24. This paragraph is too clear to be
misunderstood. First it states Satan's claim that the law cannot be obeyed by
the sons of men and further, that this claim is a deception. Jesus came to
"unveil this deception" and it immediately tells how it would be
done. "As one of us He was to give an example of obedience." Every word in that last sentence is
meaningful and important. Each word means just what it says. "As one of
us" states the same truth as "God with us" in both cases the
truth of it being that Jesus was not different from human beings.
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He
also Himself likewise took part of the same" (flesh and blood as the
children). "Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto
His brethren." Hebrews 2:14, 17. As "one
of us" He gave an example of obedience. For whom was it given? For the
human family which is struggling to overcome sin problems so as to be
admitted into heaven. Unless Christ had in fact been made in all things like
unto those whom He came to save, His life, no matter how 46 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT perfectly He
may have lived it, could never have been an example of obedience for the
struggling ones. This is further revealed and emphasized in the continuation
of the paragraph partly quoted earlier. "As one of us He was to give an
example of obedience. For this He took upon
Himself our nature, and passed through our experiences. 'In all things it
behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren.' Hebrews 2:17. If we had to
bear anything which Jesus did not endure, then upon this point Satan would
represent the power of God as insufficient for us. Therefore Jesus was 'in
all points tempted like as we are.' Hebrews 4:15. He endured every trial to
which we are subject. And He exercised in His own behalf no power that is not
freely offered to us. As man, He met temptation, and overcame in the strength
given Him from God. He says, 'I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy
law is within My heart.' Psalm 40:8. As He went about doing good, and healing
all who were afflicted by Satan, He made plain to men the character of God's
law and the nature of His service." Note the next sentence: "His life testifies that it is
possible for us also to obey the law of God." The Desire of Ages, 24. The
statement previously quoted
from The Great
Controversy establishes that the war in heaven began over the keeping
of God's law. From the very beginning, Satan had declared it could not be
kept. If the controversy began with that contention, with that charge against
the justice of God, where must the work of Christ begin? With refuting that
lie. To do this, Jesus must come down to this earth as a man, possessing all
the weaknesses, frailties, and tendencies toward sin of the same human nature
which we have at this present time. This shows that the law of God can be
kept to perfection, by God's dwelling in the flesh. There
is an inseparable
connection between the
subject of the incarnation of
Christ and the question of obedience to the law of God. The previous chapter
closed with the thought that it is the mark of antichrist to declare that the
law could not be kept, and it is the mark of antichrist to declare that
Christ did not come in the same flesh and blood as the children. Contrawise, it is the
mark of God's truth that the law can be kept and that Jesus did come in the
flesh. It is impossible to believe that Jesus did not come in the flesh and
at the same time uphold the law as the attainable standard of obedience. The
inseparable connection between these truths is apparent. The law of God can
be kept to perfection and Jesus came in the selfsame flesh and blood as the
children to keep the law, proving that it can be kept by anyone who has the
faith to keep it through God's power in God's own way. "God's
ideal for His children is higher than the highest human thought can reach.
'Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.'
This command is
a promise. The
plan of redemption WHAT THE
INCARNATION PROVES 47 contemplates
our complete recovery from the power of Satan. Christ always separates the
contrite soul from sin. He came to destroy the works of the devil, and He has
made provision that the Holy Spirit shall be imparted to every repentant
soul, to keep him from sinning. "The tempter's agency is not to be
accounted an excuse for one wrong act. Satan is jubilant when he hears the
professed followers of Christ making excuses for their deformity of
character. It is these excuses that lead to sin. There is no excuse for
sinning. A holy temper, a Christ-like life, is accessible to every repenting,
believing child of God. "The
ideal of Christian character is Christ-likeness. As the Son of man was perfect in
His life, so His followers are to be perfect in their life. Jesus was in all
things made like unto His brethren. He became flesh, even as we are. He was
hungry and thirsty and weary. He was sustained by food and refreshed by
sleep. He shared the lot of man; yet He was the blameless Son of God. He was
God in the flesh. His character is to be ours. The Lord says of those who
believe in Him, 'I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their
God, and they shall be My people.' 2 Corinthians 6:16. "Christ is the
ladder that Jacob saw, the base resting on the earth, and the topmost round
reaching to the gate of heaven, to the very threshold of glory. . . ." Now we read these important words:
"If that ladder had failed by a single step of reaching the earth, we
should have been lost. But Christ reaches us where we are." It does not say Christ reaches us
where Adam was. It says Christ reaches us—where?—where we are. "He took our nature and
overcame, that we through taking His nature might overcome. Made 'in the
likeness of sinful flesh,' He lived a sinless life. Now by His divinity He
lays hold upon the throne of heaven, while by His humanity He reaches us. He
bids us by faith in Him attain to the glory of the character of God.
Therefore are we to be perfect, even as our 'Father which is in heaven is
perfect.' " The Desire of Ages, 311, 312. It follows then that the upper
half of this ladder is the divinity, while the lower half is the humanity of
Christ. The test of Christ's doctrine is that Christ, and this applies
directly to His divinity, came in the flesh. Think of a ladder, say a
fire-escape ladder on a tall building. It may reach to the top floor, but if
someone comes and disconnects the bottom half, what will happen to the
unfortunate folk in the building when a fire breaks out? They cannot reach
the ground and the ladder does not save them. If, on the other hand, it only
reaches half way up the building, again they will perish. The ladder, in
order to be an effective means of salvation, must reach from the point of
need to the point of safety. There are
churches today which cut off one or the other half of this ladder, but
seldom, if ever, both halves. The Roman Catholic Church cuts off the bottom
half by denying the complete humanity of Jesus Christ. She 48 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT does teach
that He came in flesh, in human flesh too, but not in the flesh stipulated in
the Word of God. The Jehovah's Witnesses cut off the divinity of Christ by
declaring Him to be a created being with a beginning, unlike God, the eternal
Father, who has no beginning. The
effectiveness of this holy ladder is destroyed if one end or the other is
wholly or even partly cut off. The true presentation of the doctrine of
Christ by which alone we are clear of the charge of being antichrist,
involves teaching the fullness of the divinity of Christ as well as the
fullness of His humanity. Nothing less than this is laid down in the
specification that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. Only those who teach
that Christ has come in the fullness of the flesh, teach the truth. It was
fullness of divinity which dwelt in fullness of humanity. Christ was both God
and man in the fullest sense of what each of those beings are. This is how it
had to be. What if Jesus Christ as God, had not taken humanity fully and
completely as it was when He came to this earth? What if He took humanity as
it was when man was first created? Then He could never have been tempted in
all points like as we are tempted, could never have overcome as we have to
overcome, and could never have been the complete and perfect example we need
to refute Satan's lie. Today the controversy is not centred
on whether or not Christ is God as it was in the days of His sojourn among men.
The churches generally, including the Roman Catholic Church, believe in the
eternal pre-existence of Christ as God. Only certain sects such as the
Jehovah's Witnesses and the modernistic churches deny the full divinity of
Christ. The controversy generally centres around the humanity of Christ.
While all will acknowledge that He came in flesh, they will not believe that
He came in the same flesh and
blood as the children of Adam. Therefore, in the subject of the
divinity of Christ, we are passing over ground on which there is general
agreement and it may seem superfluous to deal with it. However, it is
important that we state what we believe, and it is essential to stress that
it was God who came in the flesh. The subject must be viewed in the whole of
its scope and not in some one-sided and meagre way before proceeding to study
the humanity of Christ. 7 Christ Is Truly God Jesus Christ is truly God. He is the
Creator, distinct from the creature which is the product of His creative
power. No truth is
more clearly revealed or more firmly established. It is essential that it be
understood. It is taught in the Old Testament as well as the New, giving full
authority, power, and effectiveness to the mission of Christ as the Saviour
of the world. This theme, even within the limits of what has been revealed in
the Scriptures, is still infinite, thus precluding any possibility of
exhausting it in this series of studies. The only need is to establish the
fullness of the divinity of Christ. An outstanding Scripture in this
connection is Isaiah 9:6. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given: and the government shall be upon
his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." There can be no question to whom this
refers. It says, "For unto us a child is born." These words settle
the identification of the One who is the subject of this prophecy. Jesus
Christ is the One who is born unto us. Without the least hesitation this
Scripture ascribes to this same Jesus, the titles of the deity, Mighty God
and Everlasting Father. These titles we tend to associate with the Father
only, but here they are equally ascribed to Christ. This leaves no doubt that
Jesus Christ is really and truly God. Thus the great, wonderful, and
essential truth of the full deity of Christ is taught in the Old Testament
and just as fully in the New. Paul sets it forth again and again. Here is his
teaching to the Colossians. "Who is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn of every creature." Colossians 1:15. If this text
was the only one in the Bible on this subject, we might be confused into
thinking that Jesus Christ was not a Creator, but a creature. The expression,
"firstborn" seems to convey the idea that He was the first 50 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT one to be born
into God's universe. There is such a teaching, generally termed Arianism after the man who had propagated this in the
years following the crucifixion of Christ. He taught that Christ was the
first created being and therefore was not and could not be the Eternal God.
But Paul clarifies what he means by, "the firstborn of every
creature." "For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven,
and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and
for Him: "And He is before all things, and by Him all things
consist." Colossians 1:16, 17. Paul was not teaching that of all
creatures, Christ was the first to be born. In that case He would have been a
created being. He taught that every
creature obtained its
first birth through
Christ. No other understanding could be obtained from
his words. If all things were created by Christ and He was also a created
being, He would have had to create Himself. This is an impossibility. The Apostle
John witnesses to the same truth. "In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. "The same
was in the beginning with God. "All things were made by Him;
and without Him was not any thing made that was
made." John 1:1-3. If Jesus Christ was not a created
being but was indeed the great Creator, He is without beginning even as His
Father. To the finite human mind, it is impossible to understand how anything
has no beginning. But even though we cannot understand it, the Scriptures
declare that God, and herein is included Jesus Christ, is absolutely beginningless. He is as eternal in the past as He will be
in the future. There never was a time when God did not exist and there will
never be such a time. While our minds cannot grasp the fact
that God has no beginning, we can appreciate that this must be. If God did
have a beginning, who gave it to Him? There has to be somebody who has no
beginning in order to give all other things their beginning. The being is
God. Let us not try to fathom this. Let us accept it because the Word of God
says it and in the nature of the situation that is how it must be. There is abundant testimony of the
eternity of God in the Bible. In the Old Testament Micah speaks of it in his
prophecy of the coming of Christ to be born in Bethlehem. "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He
come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old,
from everlasting."
Micah 5:2. The marginal reading renders this,
"from the days of eternity". "In Christ is life, original, unborrowed,
underived." The Desire of Ages, 530. CHRIST IS
TRULY GOD 51 Such declarations make plain the
eternal pre-existence of Christ. "In speaking of His pre-existence,
Christ carries the mind back through dateless ages. He assures us that there
never was a time when He was not in close fellowship with the eternal God. He
to whose voice the Jews were then listening had been with God as one brought
up with Him." The Signs of the Times, August 29, 1900. In The Desire of Ages is a wonderful
chapter entitled "God with Us", based on
that precious text from
Isaiah, "His name
shall be called Immanuel, . . .
God with us." "By coming to dwell with us,
Jesus was to reveal God both to men and to angels. He was the Word of
God,—God's thought made audible. In His prayer for
His disciples He
says, 'I have
declared unto them
Thy name,'—'merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,'—'that
the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.' "
Page 19. The point here is, if Jesus Christ
was to reveal the glory and the fullness of the Father both to men and
angels, He must Himself be the expression of God's own character. He must be God
in order to reveal God completely. It is true that the work of creation and
the ministry of the angels reveal the character of God to an extent, but only
dimly and inadequately, just as the moon reflects but dimly the glorious
light of the sun. "But turning from all lesser representations, we
behold God in Jesus. Looking unto Jesus we see that it is the glory of our
God to give." Page 21. He who had been with the eternal God
from the days of eternity was in actual fact equal with the Father. So much is
Jesus Christ God, that to see Christ is to see the Father. The disciples were
slow to understand this truth, as we read: "If ye had known Me, ye
should have known My Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him, and have
seen Him. "Philip saith unto Him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it
sufficeth us." To this Jesus made reply, "Have I been so long time
with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath
seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" John
14:7-9. Thus, Jesus made it forever clear that to see One was to see the
Other; so equal and identical is Each to the Other. Paul continues to make this clear in
Hebrews. His first chapter deals exclusively with the deity of Christ,
setting forth His equality with the eternal God and then comparing Him, as
the Creator, with the creatures He has made. "God, who at sundry times and in
divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, "Hath in these last days spoken
unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also
He made the worlds; "Who being the brightness of His
glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the
word of His power, when He had 52 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT by Himself purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." Hebrews
1:1-3. These three
initial verses lay the groundwork for all that follows by first establishing
the full deity of Christ. He is "the brightness of" God's
"glory", which glory is His character, "and the express image
of His person". He is the One by whom the eternal One made all the
worlds. His sustaining power also maintains them in their life and course
moment by moment. Paul realized he was speaking to the Hebrews who had a
prejudice against Christ as the Messiah. To give support and force to his
argument, he drew heavily on the evidences of the Old Testament in which the
faith of the New rests. This proves that there is a great distinction between
Christ who was to be born in Bethlehem, and the angels who came to worship
Him there. "Being made so much better than
the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than
they. "For unto which of the angels
said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee? And
again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son? "And again, when He bringeth in
the first begotten into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God
worship Him." Hebrews 1:4-6. Angels never worship angels. They would
not even receive worship from human beings. Revelation 19 records how John
was about to fall down and worship the angel who had given him the revelation
of Jesus Christ. The angel quickly checked him with the caution that he was
to worship God, not another creature like himself. "And I fell at his feet to
worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy
fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship
God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Revelation
19:10. Here then is a rule by which it is
possible to distinguish the angels which appeared to men as angels and the
Angel, who is Christ, when He appeared to men. If the angel refuses
to receive worship from men, then he is an angel only, but if the Angel does
receive the worship of men, He is Christ, the Archangel. For instance, we
know that the Man who appeared to Joshua was Christ, for He accepted Joshua's
worship: "And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and
said unto Him, What saith my Lord unto His servant?" Joshua 5:14. The Old
Testament verse quoted declares that all the angels of God were to worship
Christ when He appeared a helpless babe in Bethlehem, which proves that even
then, in human form, Christ was God. The contrast between the strength and
physical glory of the angels and the absence of strength and glory in Christ
as a babe at this time, gives added force to the truth of the divinity of Christ.
To all outward appearances He was a being CHRIST IS
TRULY GOD 53 infinitely
inferior to the angels at that time. It is a rule of life that the inferior
worship those whom
they think to
be superior to
themselves. The distinction,
however, is only apparent. The spiritual eye sees God dwelling in that tiny
baby body, and recognizes that even there in that state, in Bethlehem, Christ
was truly and eternally God, the Creator and Sustainer of all. Therefore, He
received the worship of all, including the holy angels who gathered around
the manger in Bethlehem. Thus, on the basis of the worshipper
and the worshipped, the evident superiority of Christ as Creator above the
position of the angels as creatures,
is established. But this is not all. Christ is a King. The angels are
servants as it is written: "And of
the angels He saith, Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a
flame of fire. "But unto
the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever
and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom."
Hebrews 1:7, 8. The contrast is evident. The angels are ministers; they are
servants of God. But Jesus Christ is King; He reigns up a throne, and that
throne, "O God, is for ever and ever".
Paul is preaching a very fine sermon from the Old Testament and quotes it
liberally and freely to build up the strength of his argument. "Thou hast loved righteousness,
and hated iniquity; therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the
oil of gladness above Thy fellows. "And, Thou, Lord, in the
beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the
works of Thine hands: "They shall perish; but Thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; "And as a vesture shalt Thou
fold them up, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same, and Thy years
shall not fail." Hebrews 1:9-12. Once again the contrast between
creation and Creator is stressed. Paul refers to creation passing away,
waxing old like a garment, decaying and finally disappearing. But
while created things
disappear through the marring of sin, the Creator Himself is
untouched by sin and can never and will never pass away. "Thy years
shall not fail." Because He is God, He possesses eternity in the past.
His eternal existence is neither changed nor marred by the entrance of sin,
even though He came to earth, accepted fallen, sinful human nature and thus
died upon the cross. Whatever sin has touched fades away and dies, but He
cannot be touched by sin and will never fade away and die. He is as eternal
in the future as ever in the past. The closing argument of the chapter
declares that the angels have never been commanded to sit on God's right hand
as has Jesus Christ, for "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent
forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Hebrews
1:14. 54 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT The whole
intent and purpose of the Epistle to the Hebrews as with every other
message in the Bible, is to set forth knowledge essential to knowing Christ.
We must know Him, as He is. It is vital that Christ is understood to
be truly God and equal with God. He is as eternal as God; as powerful as God,
as wise, wonderful, just, and true. He is the Creator, distinct from all the
creatures in the universe, possessing within Himself the power to give life,
for He has within Himself "life, original, unborrowed, underived." Knowledge of
the deity of Christ is an essential truth because "The divinity of
Christ is the believer's assurance of eternal life." The Desire of Ages,
530. It is the assurance of life to the repentant because He who would bring
salvation must be equal with the law to be able to pay the debt owed to the
law. There was no- life other than the life of God which was equal to the
heights and depths of that "law, which is the transcript of His
character". (Review and Herald, January 28, 1909.) Only the life
of Christ measures with the life of God, and therefore only the life of
Christ equals the debt to the law. He who would be our Saviour also required
the power of a Creator God to replace the life which was lost through sin. It
required this power in the first creation and no less in the second.
Therefore "the divinity of Christ is the believer's assurance of eternal
life." The whole work
of sin has been to separate man from God. It is the work of Jesus
to bridge that gulf to bring God and man together again. To do this He must
be able to reach both. This is beautifully expressed in Ephesians 2:12-15. "That at
that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no
hope, and without God in the world: "But now
in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ. "For He
is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of
partition between us; "Having
abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so
making peace." It might seem
that Paul is speaking only of the wall of partition between Jews and
Gentiles. In a larger sense it must be realized that the partition between
Jew and Gentile is only symbolic or indicative of the partition between God
and man. It is only because God and man are separated, that man and man are
separated. In order for Christ to make peace between man and man, He must
first make peace between man and God. If one does not have peace with God,
one certainly cannot have peace with man. Once peace with God is made, then
the rest will take care of itself. This thought is well expressed by A. T.
Jones in sermon number eleven as recorded in the 1895 General Conference
Bulletin. "All men CHRIST IS
TRULY GOD 55 were separated
from God, and in their separation from God, they were separated from one
another. True, Christ wants to bring all to one another; He was ushered into
the world with 'Peace on earth; good will to men.' That is His object. But
does He spend His time in trying to get these reconciled to one another, and
in trying to destroy all these separations between men, and to get them to
say, 'Oh, well, let all bygones be bygones; now we will bury the hatchet; now
we will start out and turn over a new leaf, and we will live better from this
time on'? "Christ might have done that. If
He had taken that course, ther2 are thousands of
people whom He could have persuaded to do that; thousands whom He could
persuade to say, 'Well, it is too bad that we acted that way toward one
another; it is not right, and I am sorry for it; and now let us just all
leave that behind, and turn over a new leaf, and go on and do better.' He
could have got people to agree to that but could they have stuck to it? No.
For the wicked thing is there still that made the division. What caused the
division? The enmity, their separation from God caused the separation from
one another. Then what in the world would have been the use of the Lord
Himself trying to get men to agree to put away their differences, without
going to the root of the matter and getting rid of the enmity that caused the
separation? Their separation from God had forced a separation among
themselves. And the only way to destroy their separation from one another,
was of necessity to destroy their separation from God. And we ministers can
get a lesson from this, when churches call us to try to settle differences.
We have nothing at all to do with settling difficulties between men as such.
We are to get the difficulty between God and man settled; and when that is
done, all other separations will be ended." No. 11. page 5. How does Jesus break down that middle
wall of partition which separated God and man and thus separates man from
man? He does it by abolishing the enmity and making, "in Himself of
twain one new man." Who were the two of whom Christ makes in Himself one
new man? It was certainly not a Gentile and a Jew. Christ was never a
Gentile. He was a Jew. The two of whom Christ was made are God and man. He
fused His eternally pre-existent divinity with the body of sinful, fallen man, making a new man altogether. He
became one with the human family, thus making it one with the heavenly
family, so making peace between God and man, and man and man. This chapter
has examined certain evidences indicating that Jesus Christ was God from the
fullness of eternity. He is the omnipotent Creator, whose life equals the
Father's and the high standards of the law. This Being came down and dwelt in
human flesh to demonstrate that the law could be obeyed even by men and women
still dwelling in fallen, sinful flesh. It is a self-evident and Bible truth
that Christ's demonstration would be valid only CHRIST IS
TRULY GOD 57 TOGETHER IN ONE PERSON "For He
is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken
down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in His flesh
the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances;
FOR TO MAKE IN
HIMSELF OF TWAIN ONE NEW MAN, SO MAKING
PEACE." Epheslans 2:14, 15. When the answer is understood it will
be seen that, far from possessing an advantage over us by virtue of the fact
that He was actually God, it was a serious disadvantage which made the
task more difficult for Him than it is for us. Jesus laid aside that divine
power and refused to use any other than is freely available to us. Yet He
knew that that omnipotent power was right within His reach all the time. The
temptation to lay hold upon it was constantly before Him. If He had used it
in the least degree, He would have broken the contract and. ceded the victory
to Satan with all the fearful consequences. This temptation was ever before
Christ, pressing upon Him something of which you and I know nothing. Of us Jesus truthfully said, ".
. . without Me ye can do nothing." John 15:5. We are in a position of
helplessness and are dependent upon a Saviour to rescue us from the power of
evil surrounding us every day. But of Himself He said, "The Son can do
nothing of Himself... I can of Mine Own Self do nothing." John 5:19, 30.
This was the position of helplessness and dependence in which He placed
Himself in this world of sin so that temptation was as real and terrible to
Him as to any of us. Further evidence of this is found in the following
words: "When Jesus was awakened to meet the storm, He was in perfect
peace. There was no trace of fear in word or look, for no fear was in His
heart. But He rested not in the possession of almighty power. It was not as the 'Master of
earth and sea and sky' that He reposed in quiet. That power He had laid down, and He says, 'I can
of Mine own self do nothing.' John 5:30. He trusted in the Father's might. It
was in faith—faith in God's love and care—that
Jesus rested, and the power of that word which stilled the storm was the power of God. "As Jesus rested by faith in the
Father's care, so we are to rest in the care of our Saviour." The Desire
of Ages, 336. "The
Saviour was deeply anxious for His disciples to understand for what purpose
His divinity was united to humanity. He came to the world to display the
glory of God, that man might be uplifted by its restoring power. God was
manifested in Him that He might be manifested in them. Jesus revealed no
qualities, and exercised no powers, that men may not have through faith
in Him. His perfect humanity is that which all His followers may possess, if they will be in
subjection to God as He was." The Desire of Ages, 664. What a picture
of the most marvellous condescension ever to be seen in the entire history of
eternity! It is beyond the mind of man to fathom such love and sacrifice made
for the salvation of the kingdom of God. How plain and explicit those words
are; "Jesus revealed no qualities, and exercised no powers, that men may
not have through faith in Him." As He went out to battle with
temptation, He carried, on His divine side, no advantage over any who will
lay hold upon the divine attributes and aid offered. Therefore, 58 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT "His
perfect humanity is that which all His followers may possess, if they will be
in subjection to God as He was." It is to be
understood that in his unregenerate state, man does not possess the
divine nature and is not in the position where he has the same qualities and powers which Jesus had.
To him must be fulfilled the promise contained in 2 Peter 1:2-4. "Grace
and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of
Jesus our Lord, "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: "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." 8 Christ Is
Truly Man The Scriptures teach that Christ is
essentially and eternally the preexistent God. This
was a quality He had to possess if He was to save mankind from the power and penalty of
sin. But it is only one quality and alone it was not and never could be
enough. He who was eternally and truly God,
must also become truly man, for only He who was God and at the same time was
able to reach all the way down to man, could be the Saviour of the world. Therefore, the
incarnation of Christ is the appearing of God in the flesh, not just of God
alone. "This is life eternal, that they
might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent." John 17:3. To know Christ only as God, is not to fully know the Christ
sent to the world. A church may spell out in clear terms her belief in the
divinity of Christ and yet not know the Christ that was sent to the world.
Such do not know Christ at all. They teach His divinity without fully
presenting His humanity. Only a church which presents
both the fullness of His divinity and the fullness of His humanity can claim to be of God and
secure from the charge of being antichrist. In this connection it is worthy of
interest to note that both E. J.
Waggoner and A. T. Jones who were sent by God with the true message of righteousness by faith in 1888,
spelled out the fullness of both the divinity and the humanity of Christ.
Christ and His Righteousness by the former and The Consecrated
Way to Christian Perfection by the latter are two books where this has been done with
great care and clarity. In the previous chapter, Christ was presented as the eternal, preexistent Creator God—He whose name is "Wonderful,
Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of
Peace." Isaiah 9:6. It is now essential to present the fullness of His
humanity. A rich source of study on the deity
of Christ is in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. However, the revelation of Christ does not
stop 60 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT with that
chapter. It continues in the second chapter with the revelation of His humanity.
The two chapters are complementary, the first laying the basis for the
second. "The first chapter of Hebrews
reveals that Christ's likeness to God is not simply in form or
representation, but also in very substance; and the second chapter as
clearly reveals that His likeness to men is not simply in form or in representation, but also in uery substance. It is likeness to men as they are in all
things, exactly as they are. Wherefore, it is written: 'In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . And the Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us.' John 1:1, 14. "And that this is likeness to man as he
is in his fallen, sinful nature, and not as he was in his original, sinless
nature, is made certain by the word: 'We see Jesus, who was made a little
lower than the angels for the suffering of death.' Therefore, as man is since
he became subject to death, this is what we see Jesus to be, in His place as
man. "Therefore, just as certainly as
we see Jesus lower than the angels, unto the suffering of death, so certainly
it is by this demonstrated that, as man, Jesus took the nature of man as he
is since death entered; and not the nature of man as he was before he became
subject to death. "But death entered only because of sin: had not sin
entered, death never could have entered. And we see Jesus made lower than the
angels for the
suffering of death. Therefore we see Jesus made in the nature of man, as man is since man sinned; and
not as man was before sin entered. For this He did that He might 'taste death
for every man.' In becoming man that He might reach man, He must come to man
where man is. Man is subject to death. Therefore Jesus must become man, as
man is since he is subject to death." The Consecrated Way to Christian
Perfection, by Alonzo T. Jones, 21, 22. Emphasis original. Jesus Christ
is truly man, possessing the same nature as man, the same body, the same
mental powers, the same flesh and blood exactly—not just "in the
likeness of" as that text is normally understood, but in the very same
nature and substance as man is, here
upon earth. This thought is particularly
developed from the tenth verse of Hebrews 2 and onwards. There, perhaps more
than anywhere else in the inspired Word, the true extent to which Jesus
accepted human nature is revealed. Nobody who is prepared to read the Word of
God and to accept it as it reads will have difficulty in
knowing just what kind
of flesh and blood the
Saviour possessed during His life on earth. " 'For it became Him, for whom
are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory,
to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.' Hebrews
2:10. "Thus, in becoming man, it
became Him to become such as man is. Man is subject to sufferings. Therefore,
it became Him to come to the man where he is,
in his sufferings. CHRIST IS
TRULY MAN 61 "Before man sinned, he was not
in any sense subject to sufferings. And for Jesus to have come in the nature
of man as he was before sin entered, would have been only to come in a way
and in a nature in which it would be impossible for Him to know the
sufferings of man, and therefore impossible to reach him to save him. But
since it became Him, in bringing men unto glory, to be made perfect through
sufferings; it is certain that Jesus, in becoming man,
partook of the nature of man as he is since he became subject to suffering, even the
suffering of death, which is the wages of sin." The Consecrated Way to
Christian Perfection, 22. The argument advanced by A. T. Jones
in this paragraph is well worth special consideration, for the truth of it
must not be lost or overlooked. "And for Jesus to have come in the
nature of man as he was before sin entered, would have been only to come in a
way and in a nature in which it would be impossible for Him to know the
sufferings of man, and therefore impossible to reach him to save him."
This is the truth. Today, a doctrine is abroad that Jesus came in the nature
of man as it was before man fell. Yet the proponents of this teaching declare
that Jesus was, in fact, tempted in
all points like as we are and experienced, vicariously, all that the tempted ones experience. That such a self contradictory
doctrine could ever be accepted by intelligent people who profess to love and serve the Lord is
indeed a great mystery. Yet the same people would never think it possible to
experience the sensation of flying high above the clouds without
actually flying; experience marriage without being married, or suffer the
sorrow of bereavement without having lost a loved one.
Only those who have actually passed through these experiences can truly and
fully know what it is to be in such situations. This is aptly illustrated by Eric B. Hare in his
book Fullness of Joy, 208, 209. "Many, many years ago a young man and
his wife were appointed to a certain mission field. It was not the field of
their own choice, but they gladly accepted the call, left father and mother
and brothers and sisters for Christ's sake, and went across the seas to the
distant land. For a year and a half all went well. They were busy with
language study and preparation for greater responsibilities. Then suddenly
their first baby died, and they followed its little coffin to its resting
place in the cemetery on their second wedding anniversary. "It all seemed too cruel. The darkness
of despair fell upon them. In discouragement they cried, 'O God, why? Why did
this happen to us?' In the bitterness of their souls they could not pray.
There seemed no comfort from any source.
Their fellow missionaries could only say they were sorry, for they had not known the sorrow of
the death of a child. And this young couple needed no pity; they needed
sympathy. Three weeks went by. Their hearts
were cold, bitter, and dark, and then one Sabbath afternoon there came a knock on the door. 62 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT "The young man opened the door
and said, 'Come in.' A humble little sister from the church entered and sat
down. Within his heart the young man said, 'All right, say it. Preach
at us, and get it over with as soon as you can. Then go and leave us alone.' "But the humble little sister
didn't begin to preach. She didn't begin to read the
Testimonies to them. She sat quietly for a moment,
then overcome with emotion, she cried, 'I can't say it. I don't know
what to say. But my heart has been bleeding for you for three weeks. I want
you to know that I know how you feel, for I lost my first baby.' "Oh,
what wonderful words! The poor heartbroken young mother who for three weeks
had been too bitter for tears, threw her arms around the humble little sister
and sobbed her heart out. Here was someone who knew how it felt. In just a
minute the cold, hardhearted young husband was kneeling at her knee, and that
little woman prayed them back to faith and trust in, and
love for, God again. The preacher couldn't do it. The fellow missionaries couldn't do it, but that
little sister who had gone victoriously through the valley herself brought
them comfort and assurance." It is our comfort to know that Jesus Christ
was not made as man was before he
fell, when he was not subject to sufferings, but as man was after the fall. Jesus Christ knew for
Himself what it meant to possess fallen humanity. He experienced in that
humanity all that we experience in the selfsame humanity—fallen, degenerate,
and sinful. To teach, as the doctrine mentioned
above, that Jesus Christ was tempted in all things as we are tempted, and yet
declare that He came in the nature of Adam as that nature was before the fall
of our first parents, is to teach a doctrine which initially has the
appearance of truth, but which actually denies what it appears to teach. This
is the peculiar characteristic of Satan's deceptive doctrines. His strategy
is to bring the wolf clad in the garments of the sheep so that every
appearance suggests that the wolf is a sheep. Thus the unsuspecting victim
who fails to keep careful watch for the wolf in any garb, welcomes the wolf
in the expectation that he will serve as a sheep would, only to find himself
torn and destroyed in the end. This teaching gives the deceptive appearance
of being the truth by testifying that Jesus was tempted exactly as we are.
That satisfies the average mind which does not look any deeper, or that somehow
is able to do such mental gymnastics as to reconcile the unreconcilable.
Beneath the appearance is the fact which is the true measure of the doctrine.
The teaching that Jesus did not come as we, subject to sufferings and in the
same flesh and blood as we have, is a declaration that Christ was not in all
points tempted like as we are. It would be impossible for Him to come in the
nature which Adam had before he fell and, at the same time, be tempted in all
points like those who have a very different nature from the one Adam enjoyed
before sin entered his life. No amount of conjecture or argument can
change this fact. Therefore, it is vitally important that no one CHRIST IS
TRULY MAN 63 searching for the truth with a desire
to obtain salvation, rests content with the appearances of a doctrine. Search
out the implications which underlie the
declarations. Then it will be found whether things really are as they appear to be. Either the declaration and
doctrine related to it are in harmony and thus support each other, or they
are in opposition, so that one destroys the other together with those who
become deceived by it. For example, the following two statements, the first
relating to Christ's human nature, the second to the temptations it was
subject to, must be in harmony and support each other. "Forasmuch then
as the children are partakers of
flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; [flesh and blood as the
children]" and "For we have not an High Priest which cannot be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin." Hebrews 2:14; 4:15. But the following
theory and Scripture are not in harmony for they do not and cannot support
each other. One of them is the wolf; the other is the sheep's clothing:
"Jesus Christ took the nature of the first Adam as it was before he
fell" and "For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like
as we
are, yet without
sin." Hebrews 4:15. These
two ideas are incompatible. The first can only use
the second as a deceptive garb to deceive and destroy the blind and unwary. The only way Christ could be tempted
in all things like as we are tempted, was to be made, "in all
things" "like unto His brethren." Hebrews 2:17. "If He was not a partaker of our
nature, He could not have been tempted as man has been." Selected
Messages 1:408. How true this is. If He only partook of Adam's nature
before the fall and not of "our nature" as it is after the fall, He
could be tempted as Adam was, but "He could not have been tempted as
man" after the fall. "For both
He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which
cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren." Hebrews 2:11. To gain
the full message in this verse it is necessary to identify the parties to
which reference is made. These are "He that sanctifieth," and
"they who are sanctified." There should be no difficulty in seeing
who the Sanctifier is. It is the Saviour, Jesus. While the Holy Spirit is
also referred to as the Sanctifier (Romans 15:16; 1 Corinthians 6:11), this
office is primarily that of Jesus, whereas the Holy Spirit carries into
effect the work of the Saviour. The sanctified
ones are those who have been made holy. In no sense can it refer to Adam as
he was before he fell. It refers to Adam and his children after they had
fallen and been redeemed by the saving power of Jesus. It does not refer to
the unregenerate for they possess a different origin from Christ, nor to the
mere professor of religion, but to those who have experienced the
transforming miracle of the regeneration. They are 64 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT those who,
having actually been born again, are made in heart into the likeness of God and are described by
the Lord as being holy or sanctified. This is not to say they have holy or
sanctified flesh for this they do not possess, but their hearts have been made
new and they are truly children of God. Here then are
two readily identifiable persons, the Sanctifier and the sanctified. They are
both of one, or as the Revised Standard Version puts it, "have all one
origin'. It is for this cause that He, the Sanctifier, is not ashamed to call
them brethren. Only when men have common parentage are they able to claim
they are brethren. When two men have different parents, they certainly cannot
claim this. Jesus said to the Pharisees of His day, "Ye are of your father
the devil," to show plainly that they were not His brethren for the
simple reason that they had a different parentage. They had no common origin.
They were born of Satan; He was born of God. The origin of the sanctified
ones and Christ is identical. They are all of one. Therefore they are
brethren, as the Pharisee could never be while he remained as he was, a son
of Satan. The measure of
brotherhood in this instance is common spiritual parentage. This
does not deny that Jesus Christ is, in a sense, brother to all men even in their sinful condition;
for on the human side, He does share a common origin. All men are born of
earthly parents and possess fallen, sinful, degenerate flesh; as did Christ
to the extent that He is brother to all men everywhere and in every era. While all men
can claim brotherhood with Christ in the physical sense alone, they cannot
claim fullness of brotherhood as can the sanctified ones, who are of one
origin with Him. Their identification with the family of Christ is not
limited to oneness of flesh; they have oneness of spirit too. A study of the
origin of Christ as the Incarnate One in comparison with the origins of the
truly sanctified, will reveal the wonder of the commonness of their origins,
so that it can be seen how full and complete is the identification of Christ
with the human family, "for which cause He is not ashamed to call them
brethren". Before this
study is begun however, it is important to note that the use of the word,
"origin," in connection with Christ, does not deny the thought of
His eternal pre-existence as set forth in the first chapter of the Epistle to
the Hebrews. Jesus Christ was always God, but He was not always man. As man,
He did have a beginning, an origin. Nowhere in the chapter dealing with the
fact that He is God do we find any such word as origin being used, but here
in the second chapter of Hebrews dealing with His humanity, the word is used.
In Christ Jesus we find the combination of divinity and humanity. Both had
their origins, the divinity from the fountain of its eternity in the courts
of heaven above and the humanity from the sinful, fallen, degenerate flesh of
an earthly parentage. That was His origin 66 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT as He appeared
upon this earth, and that is the origin of every truly born again Christian,
for they "have all one origin". In studying the origin of the
Sanctifier and sanctified and comparing their humanity and divinity, we are
bound by the strict law expressed in the words of Christ to Nicodemus.
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit." John 3:6. Like begets like. What is born of the
flesh will be a replica of that flesh. It cannot be a different, higher, or
purer kind of flesh. We know this by our own experience as we are burdened
and handicapped with the same weaknesses and
tendencies to sin which beset our parents. When we marry and our children come into the world,
we can discern in them the repetition of our own flesh and its weaknesses and
tendencies to sin. The truth of Jesus' words, "That which is born of the
flesh is flesh," is before us every day. We know the origin of our flesh
and we know the kind of flesh which came from that origin. The Word of God declares that the
origin of Christ's flesh is one with the brethren whom He came to save. His
flesh came from the same origin as theirs. This being so, it must be
the exact same flesh as theirs, weak, fallen, degenerate, sinful, and subject
to suffering and death. No other conclusion can be drawn. Yet the
teaching is widespread that Jesus came with a different flesh and blood from
that which His brethren, the sanctified ones, have. The Roman Catholic
Church does this, but as far as Christ's birth was concerned, they do not
ignore the principle that what is born of the flesh is flesh. They achieve
their desired result by giving the mother of Jesus a different flesh and
blood from any other woman ever born, so that she could impart to Christ a
holy, immaculate flesh. Giving Mary a different and holy flesh is termed the
doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. While they recognize the principle
that what is born of the flesh is flesh, so far as the birth of Christ is
concerned, their teaching violates that principle in the birth of Mary.
Though born of the flesh, she did not have the same flesh and blood as her
parents. For the sake of the teaching that
Jesus came in a different kind of flesh and blood, they must break the
principle that what is born of flesh is flesh. The average
professed child of
God today rejects
the immaculate conception doctrine
in regard to the birth of Mary but believes it in regard to Christ. However,
what is the resulting difference? There is none. They are just two
variations of the doctrine of antichrist. What does not appeal to one mind will be readily accepted by
another. But what saith
the Scriptures, the one reliable guide to truth? "That which is born of
the flesh is flesh," and "Both He that sanctifieth and they who are
sanctified are all of one." The Bible is completely silent on any
suggestion that Mary had a different flesh and blood from those around her. CHRIST IS
TRULY MAN 67 She had the same flesh as any other
person and as surely as that which is born of flesh is flesh, the flesh of
which Christ was born was exactly the same as any of ours; fallen, sinful,
degenerate, human flesh and blood, subject to sufferings and death. Clear, convincing, and final as these
arguments are, the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews does not leave the
matter there. As if foreseeing the controversy to rage over the question in
future generations, especially in the last days, he goes on to spell out further
the certainty that it was the same flesh and
blood, acquired in the same way, with which Christ was handicapped and burdened during His
earthly sojourn. So he wrote further. "Forasmuch then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the
same." (Flesh and blood as the children.) Hebrews 2:14. A. T. Jones notes in The Consecrated
Way, 22-23, that this text is one in which all the words that could be used
to make clear and positive that Christ in His human nature took the same
flesh and blood that men have, are put there in a single sentence. This is an
observation well taken. No other verse
expresses this vital truth more emphatically. "And so it is written:
'Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also
Himself likewise took part of the same.' Verse 14. He, in His human nature,
took the same flesh and blood that men have. All the words that could be used
to make this plain and positive are here put together in a single sentence. "The children of men are
partakers of flesh and blood; and, because of this, He took part of the same.
"But this is not all: He also
took part of the same flesh and blood as that of which the children are
partakers. "Nor is this all: He also Himself
took part of the same flesh and blood as that of which the children of men
are partakers. "Nor yet is this all: He also
Himself likewise took part of the same flesh and blood as that of which men
are partakers. "Thus the Spirit of inspiration
so much desires that this truth shall be made so plain and emphatic as to be
understood by all, that He is not content to use any fewer than all the words
that could be used in the telling of it. And, therefore, it is declared that
just as, and just as certainly as, 'the children are partakers of flesh and
blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same'
flesh and blood. "And this He did in order 'that
through death He might . . . deliver them who through fear of death were all
their lifetime subject to bondage.' He took part of the same flesh and blood
as we have in the bondage of sin and the fear
of death, in order that He might deliver us from the bondage of sin and the fear of death. 68 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT "And so, 'Both He that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed
to call them brethren.' " The Consecrated Way, 22, 23. Emphasis
original. Thus, in Jones' characteristic way,
he has emphasized the point until no doubt can be left in the mind of what
the Scripture is saying. Perhaps the strongest word in the verse is,
"likewise". It is the word used to declare the way in which Jesus
acquired the same flesh and blood as the children, meaning in the same
manner, or by the same procedure. The children, as distinct from the
father, Adam, who was not born but created direct,
received their flesh and blood by the normal process of a natural human
birth, strictly subject to all the laws of human heredity. In fact it is
impossible to be born of
the flesh and, at the same time, to escape the laws of heredity. This is the way in which the children
receive their flesh and blood, and it is forever certified by the words of
Scripture that Jesus partook of the same flesh and blood in the selfsame way.
"Like every child of Adam He
accepted the results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these
results were is shown in the history of His earthly ancestors. He came with
such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us the
example of a sinless life." The Desire of Ages, 49. "Christ did not
make believe take human nature; He did verily take it. He did in reality possess human nature. 'As the children are partakers of
flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same.' He was the son of Mary; He was
of the seed of David according to human descent." The Review and
Herald, April 5, 1906. "For verily He took not on Him
the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed
of Abraham. "Wherefore in all things it
behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful
and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make
reconciliation for the sins of the people. "For in that He Himself hath
suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted."
Hebrews 2:16-18. These verses
leave no room for the teaching that Jesus came in the flesh of Adam
as it was before the fall, or any other flesh different from ours. The only teaching admissible in
the light of these verses is that Jesus received in the same way as every
child of Adam, the selfsame flesh and blood which every child of Adam has.
He was tempted in that flesh and blood, and was subject to both sufferings
and death as every child of Adam is subject. Adam was never subject to this
until he sinned and fell. In an effort
to deny the
truth of the
Redeemer's marvellous
condescension to the only level at which it was possible to save us, it has
been argued that if Christ accepted sinful flesh. He would have been under
eternal condemnation and would have needed a Saviour. As no one else could be
a Saviour, it would mean that both He and we would have been lost. CHRIST IS
TRULY MAN 69 This argument is an example of taking
a part-truth too far. The conclusions
drawn from it would never be possible if the proper distinctions were
understood. Jesus came into a flesh and blood which was subject to the
condemnation of death, as can be most readily proved. The question has but to be asked, Which comes
first, sin or death? The answer is
that sin comes first and, until it appears, death certainly does not appear.
There was no death in Adam until he sinned, but, when he did, death appeared, to reign over the human family ever since.
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin;
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Romans
5:12. If Jesus had come in the same sinless and holy flesh as Adam before his
fall, death could never have touched Him. He could not have died. But He did.
He came into sinful flesh which was under the condemnation of death. This was
effected at Calvary. His sinful humanity went down into the grave and it
never came out again. When Jesus rose, He was invested with immortal,
sinless, holy flesh as will all the redeemed on the glad day when He shall
return to take His faithful ones home to the kingdom above. No one could save
that flesh from the sentence of death. It died eternally to rise no more. The objection mentioned above so far
and if taken no further, only supports the message of truth. It becomes an
objection only when it fails to recognize the distinction between sinful
flesh, which is obtained by heredity through birth to man, and the carnal
mind which is inherited from Satan. The latter, Jesus never had or took as
His own. He was born of God, and was sinless and holy on that side, and as
such could be the Saviour of men. In the first instance, we are all born of
Satan and man. We are born into Satan's kingdom and are under his power and
dominion. It is not the fact that we are born of man, or that we have sinful
flesh that makes this so, but that we are
born of Satan. One can be born of man and have the sinful flesh of humanity, without being under the dominion of the
kingdom of darkness. This is the distinction which must be borne in mind when
dealing with the nature of Christ in the incarnation. Every born
again child of God in whom the presence of the eternal life has been
placed, still retains the sinful,
fallen, human flesh until Jesus appears in
the clouds of heaven to confer on
him incorruption and immortality. This does not mean that he
is under Satan's dominion or the condemnation of eternal death. We are not
lost because we dwell in sinful, fallen, human flesh. Human flesh is only a
vessel. It is what is in that vessel; it is
what dwells in
fallen, sinful humanity
that determines our condemnation
or justification before God. The state of the sanctified ones is exactly
that of the Sanctifier when He was upon the earth. Divinity dwelt in humanity
and that divinity is sinless, holy, perfect, and immortal. As such it can
never die, while humanity is fallen,
sinful, and unholy, and as such it cannot live. 70 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT This is true in regard to the
sanctified ones and is made plain in Scripture. Speaking of the divine life,
born in all those who come to receive the living presence of the Word in the
soul, Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My
word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not
come into condemnation; but is passed from death
unto life." "Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life. "I am
that bread of life. "Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness, and are dead. "This is the bread which cometh down from
heaven, that a man may eat thereof,
and not die. "I am the living bread which
came down from heaven: if any man eat of this
bread, he shall live forever."
John 5:24; 6:47-51. The promise is that if we shall eat
of this bread, which is partaking of the divine nature, we shall never die.
This does not point to a time when this will be so, but to the present, for Jesus
did not say we shall have everlasting life but that
we have it. This is the present tense and we believe it in that tense. The Protestant
churches have taken
these verses to
teach the immortality of the
soul as a conscious entity regardless of whether the life that is in us be sonship with Satan or sonship
with God. They overlook that the soul, as they refer to it, cannot have any
life if it is not of God. If our inner life is a son of Satan, then it has no
eternal life in it. Christ was not referring to
that life, but to the life born of God. It is immortal and incapable of dying. Those who believe in the
soul being immortal as a conscious entity forget that the soul cannot find
expression or activity except through the instrument of a body mechanism which
is the means of thinking, deciding, and acting. A splendid illustration is the
electric current supplied through wires to the light which illuminates a
room. If there is no globe in the socket, the current cannot produce light. Put a
globe in and light is produced as the current finds a mechanism through which
to work. Smash the globe and the light goes out, but the current does not
cease to exist. This illustrates well the eternal life which Christ gives us
when we lose our sonship with Satan by having the
old life taken from us, and gain sonship with God.
The life which we then receive from God is His own. It is a sinless, holy,
and eternal life which cannot die. The moment it takes up residence in us, it
begins to produce activity which continues as long as the body survives. The
moment the body dies, consciousness ceases completely and the life of God
returns to Him. Like the electric current it does not cease to exist, but
ceases to find
conscious expression because
the means it
used for expression have been
destroyed. CHRIST IS
TRULY MAN 71 In the great
resurrection day when the body mechanism is recreated, God will give back the
life which He has held for us till that time. In that moment, memory will be
returned and conscious activity will begin again. This is the life which will
not die, and Christ's words as quoted above do not mean that there is a
conscious continuance of our lives apart from the body after death. After the body of a
faithful one dies, the eternal life God gave him continues unconsciously in
God's hands, until the resurrection day. Divinity in us cannot sink and die
for it is sinless and holy. It is the life of God, immortal
and eternal. This point has been stressed to
assist in understanding the dual natures of Christ. His disciples lost much
by their failure to understand this great truth. "Looking upon Him in
His humiliation, as He walked a man among men, they had not understood the
mystery of His incarnation, the dual character of His nature. Their eyes were
holden, so that they did not fully recognize
divinity in humanity." The Desire of Ages, 507. Christ was, as is every born again
Christian, a combination of two different natures each with its own
character. The one nature, His divinity, was sinless, holy, immortal, and
eternal. While upon this earth, that nature found its expression through the
other nature, the human, fallen, sinful, and mortal. The former, being
sinless, could not be touched by death. At the cross of Christ, it was not
His divinity but His humanity which died eternally, never to rise again. A
sinless, holy flesh arose on the resurrection morning which death could never
touch. "Was the human nature of the Son of Mary changed into the divine
nature of the Son of God? No; the two natures were mysteriously blended in
one person—the man Christ Jesus. In Him dwelt
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. When Christ was crucified, it was His human nature
that died. Deity did not sink and die; that would have been impossible."
"When the voice of the angel was
heard saying, Thy Father calls Thee,' He who had said, 'I lay down My life,
that I might take it again,' 'Destroy this temple, and in three days
I will raise it up,' came forth from the grave to life that was in Himself.
Deity did not die. Humanity died, but Christ now proclaims over the rent sepulchre of Joseph, 'I am the resurrection, and the life.' In
His divinity Christ possessed the power to break the bonds of death. He
declares that He had life in Himself to quicken whom He
will." S.D.A. Bible Commentary 5:1113. The objection that Jesus could never
have been our Saviour and would have needed one Himself if He had had sinful,
fallen, degenerate human flesh, ignores
the dual character of His nature. It is not the sinful flesh Christ dwelt in which brought Him under
eternal condemnation. Cross or no cross, the flesh does not condemn anyone
even though it is under the condemnation of eternal death. The indwelling sin
nature of the devil is the condemning factor. That sin nature Jesus never
had, just as every child of God is free from that condemnation. 72 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT So it is written, "For both He
that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause
He is not ashamed to call them brethren." "Forasmuch then as the
children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same [flesh
and blood as the children];
that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." "For verily He took not on Him
the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. "Wherefore in all things it
behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful
and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. "For in that He Himself hath
suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them
that are tempted." Hebrews 2:11, 14, 16, 17, 18. It has been
emphasized that any true presentation of the doctrine of Christ must include
His eternal pre-existence and equality with God as God, and His complete
identity with humanity. To present one without the other, no matter how
lucidly, or to present one with but a limited view of the other, fails to
present the doctrine of Christ as a saving reality for the believer and is
being guilty of preaching the terrible doctrine of antichrist. The writer of
Hebrews could never be charged with this.
He has mustered the strongest arguments based on the most reliable
evidences to show the fullness of Christ's divinity. With equal emphasis he
shows that Christ was
fully and truly man, sharing a common origin with His brethren, partaking of the
same flesh and blood as they. He was made, not in some, nor in many, nor even in most, but in
all things like unto His brethren, subject exactly as they to temptations,
suffering, and death. In doing this, Paul shows us the model of the teaching
which we are to follow and present. It is small wonder that when Elders
Waggoner and Jones came with a message from God, which was justification by
faith in very truth, both of them presented not only the fullness of Christ's
divinity, but the
fullness of His humanity also. Any teaching today which fails to
present the subject of the incarnation in this way and to this fullness, is a
deception of Satan designed to mislead and destroy souls. With such we must
have no part. 9 His Tent And
Ours The great fact of the incarnation
then is that the eternal, pre-existent, self-existent, sinless, and holy God,
came down to dwell in the fallen, mortal, sinful
flesh of a common human being. To most, it seems incomprehensible
that the sinless God could unite Himself with a sinful human nature. More
than that, the idea is positively repulsive to them. The concept of God held
by such is that He is so pure and immaculate that He must remain forever at a
distance from sinful humanity, thus making it impossible for Him to dwell in
sinful flesh. Therefore, they believe that He must and did come in a
holy and immaculate flesh and blood such as
none of the fallen children of Adam have. This concept is so strong in their
minds that they will persist in believing it despite the clear declarations
in God's Word to the contrary. "Forasmuch then as the
children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same [flesh
and blood as the children]." "For verily He took not on Him the
nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. "Wherefore
in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren. ..." Hebrews 2:14, 16, 17. "He took upon His
sinless nature our sinful nature ..." Medical Ministry, 181. All these statements are from the New
Testament period. The New Testament is the book of declarations of truth,
while in the Old the great truths are in
pictorial form. There is no declaration of truth in the New Testament which does not have its
corresponding picture in the Old. Therefore, the great truth of the
incarnation is not new to the New Testament, but is also found in clearly
pictured form in the Old. Amongst other places, the sanctuary stands forth as
the clearest picture to be found of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. To my
mind, the picture 74 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT given here is so simple, so clear,
and so convincing, that it stands as an anchor to my soul in this question.
When I am assailed by arguments to the effect that Christ came in sinless
flesh; when it is made to appear that the words of Scripture testify that He
did, I have only to recall this picture to allay all
doubts and uncertainties. It provides an anchor immovable, a fortress of truth impregnable. God, in His great wisdom,
understanding the difficulties encountered by the human mind, provided the
sanctuary as a lesson book in pictorial form,
so that men would have every assistance in understanding the wonder of the incarnation
of Christ. To Moses He said, "Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may
dwell among them." Exodus 25:8. God did not, as He might well have done,
make the sanctuary Himself and hand it down to man. There is coming a time
when He will do this. The New Jerusalem
will be the work of His hands, but the sanctuary in the wilderness was to be
the work of man s hands. The Lord said "Let them make ..." In obedience to these directions, the
people made the sanctuary. Every part of it was the product of human bodies.
True, the powers and the skills were those given them by God, but God did
none of the work Himself. All of it was committed to the hands of men and
they made the building after the pattern
given to them through Moses. This, then, is the first important point to remember in regard to that
building. HIS TENT AND
OURS 75 The second is that the building was
constructed entirely from the dust of the earth. Make a list of all the
materials used in the building—gold, silver, linen, timber, skins, and so on,
and it will be seen that all are from the dust of the earth with no
exceptions. But this is not all. The dust from which those materials were
made was the same dust from which their bodies were made. It was the dust
upon which the curse of sin rested. It was not the same immaculate and pure
dust found in the Garden of Eden from which the earthly
bodies of Adam and Eve were made. It is evident that it would have been
a very simple matter for God to have given them materials direct from heaven
for the construction. Again, in His wonderful foresight, He could have
preserved materials from the Garden of Eden, and given these to them for
building the sanctuary. But He purposefully did not do either of these
things. The sanctuary was designed to teach a certain lesson. For God to have
provided for its construction, materials upon which no curse of sin rested,
would have destroyed any possibility of the desired lesson being taught. It
would have made the sanctuary not a teacher, but a contradictor of reality. To
teach the lesson the Lord desired, it had to be entirely the product of human
bodies and had to be
made from materials formed from the dust of the earth upon which rested the curse of sin. It is worthy of note that the
materials from which the sanctuary was made were taken from that part of the
earth upon which at that time the greatest curse of sin rested. They were
direct from the land of Egypt. To summarize: 1. The
sanctuary was built by human bodies; 2. It was built from materials upon
which the curse of sin rested; 3. The
materials came from the most sinful nation on the earth at that time. The building therefore, could only be
temporary. It would wax old and decay and in due time pass away to be
replaced by another. Yet, within that building
dwelt the presence of God Himself. Here is the picture of the One who is eternal, sinless,
pre-existent, and self-existent, dwelling in that which was temporary,
sinful, and of human origin. In doing this, God provided a picture
of what each and every child of God is to be. In the first instance, no one
should have any difficulty in seeing that each person is made by a human body
through the powers of reproduction given to man by God. Not one of us today
is a direct creation from the hand
of God as was Adam. Nor are we physically born of God. We do not have any kind of immaculate
conception due to the intervention of the Holy Spirit at the point of our
conception. Secondly, our
bodies are made today from the dust of the earth upon which the curse of sin
is resting so heavily. Therefore, they are temporary, sinful, and of human
origin. They wax old and will inevitably pass away. 76 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT There was a decided difference between
the soil in the Garden of Eden and the soil as it was in Moses', Christ's, or
our own day. After the fall, sin's curse rested not only upon man, but upon the whole of the earth's kingdom.
It may be questioned, "Why did all nature have to suffer because of Adam
and Eve's sin?" Adam ruled this earthly kingdom. The moment Satan
overcame him, the whole kingdom naturally passed into Satan's possession.
The evil of the devil then lay with heavy weight upon all he touched. Thus, inevitably, the whole
of creation suffered on account of man's sin. God declared to Adam and Eve the
changed conditions which were the result of their course of action.
"Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of
thy life; "Thorns also and thistles shall
it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of
the field." Genesis 3:17, 18. The curse is
the curse of sin. It is only there because of the sin committed. As the dust
of the earth has on it the curse of sin, it is changed from that of the
garden of Eden. It now lacks the vitality of the original soil and its
predominant tendency is to produce thorns and thistles with ease and
abundance. It has to be disciplined and worked with great and diligent effort to
bring forth the good fruits essential to human life. So it is with
our flesh. It is very different from the flesh of our first parents before
the fall. Weak and frail, lacking the wonderful vitality theirs had, it has a prevailing tendency or
disposition to sin rather than to do righteousness. Without discipline or
control, our flesh will produce only evil, but if subjected to control and
discipline, it can be made to obey the will of God. We know by first-hand knowledge the
flesh we are afflicted with. Even after we have been born again, we still
have the same flesh, weak, sinful, mortal, and prone to do evil. We know it
is made from the dust of the earth as it now is,
and is not free from sin's curse as in the Garden of Eden. Yet, within this earthly tent or
tabernacle, God is to dwell just as He did back there in the wilderness. This
is what the Christian is during the period of this earthly sojourn. It is to
be emphasized that reference is made here to those who have become true
Christians, not to those who merely profess to be such. That this is so is made plain in
these words: "Through Christ was to be fulfilled the purpose of which
the tabernacle was a symbol—that glorious building, its walls of glistening
gold reflecting in rainbow hues the curtains inwrought with cherubim, the
fragrance of ever-burning incense pervading all, the priests robed in
spotless white, and in the deep mystery of the inner place, above the mercy
seat, between the figures of the bowed, worshiping angels, the glory of the
Holiest. In all, God desired His people to read His purpose for
the human soul. It was the same purpose long afterward set forth by the apostle Paul, speaking
by the Holy Spirit: HIS TENT AND
OURS 77 " 'Know
ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in
you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the
temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.' 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17." Education, 36. This is further confirmed by these
words: "In the cleansing of the temple, Jesus was announcing His mission
as the Messiah, and entering upon His work. That temple, erected
for the abode of the divine Presence, was designed to be an object lesson for
Israel and for the world. From eternal ages it was God's purpose that every
created being, from the bright and holy seraph to man, should be a temple for
the indwelling of the Creator." The Desire of Ages, 161. These two statements make very clear
what the temple of God is. That temple is the human body, which, as we have
seen, is made as was the sanctuary of old. Within that body temple is to be
the very presence of God even as God dwelt in the building made by human
hands in the past. But it was not only as a representation of the Christian
that the sanctuary was built. As surely as God tells us through Paul that
Christ took the same flesh
and blood as the children, that He took on Him the seed of Abraham and was made in all things
like unto His brethren, the sanctuary also provides us with a picture of the
incarnation of Christ. This is fully
confirmed by Inspiration. "God commanded Moses for Israel,
'Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them' (Exodus 25:8),
and He abode in the sanctuary, in the midst of His
people. Through all their weary wandering in the desert, the symbol of His
presence was with them." The Desire of Ages, 23. Thus is described in brief the
building of the sanctuary back there. Having made this description, the next
sentence begins with the word "So ..." The appearance of this word
at this point conveys the expectation that what follows will be a parallel of
what has just been stated and so it is. As the sanctuary was made by human
hands from the sin-cursed dust of the earth, "so . ."—in like manner—by
the same procedure—in the same way—not in any different
way—"Christ set up His tabernacle in the midst of our human encampment.
He pitched His tent by the side of the tents of men, that He might dwell
among us, and make us familiar with His divine character and life. The Word
became flesh, and tabernacled among us (and we
beheld His glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father), full of grace
and truth.' John 1:14, R.V., margin." ibid. Jesus Christ is the eternal God who
has shared the throne of the universe with the Father from the eternity of
the past. He needed to come down among men
in order to save them. To do that, He needed a tabernacle or tent in which to
dwell just as He had needed one in the wilderness in the days of ancient
Israel. That tent was a human body even as our bodies are the temple either
of the true God or of the devil. 78 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT A timely reminder here is that there
is no dispute over the fact that Christ did come in a tabernacle or tent
which was His humanity. Even the Roman Catholic Church believes that Christ
came in human form. The question is what kind of humanity it was in which He
came. He came either in the sinless flesh and blood of Adam as Adam was
before the fall, or in the fallen, sinful
flesh of the sons of Adam as that flesh was under the curse of sin. . The object
lessons provided by God are not vague, loose, or indefinite. They are accurate and to the point.
Therefore, had it been God's plan for Christ to come to this earth to tabernacle
in the sinless flesh of the unfallen Adam,
He would have instructed Moses,
and provided him with the materials, to construct the tabernacle so as
to accurately picture that. This would have involved the Lord's preserving
from the Garden of Eden materials upon which the curse of sin had never
rested. In that case, the statement quoted above from The Desire of Ages, 23,
could never have truthfully been written. But it was written and plainly states
that, exactly as the wilderness tabernacle was built, so the human body of
Christ was prepared for His abode while upon this earth. The body
of Christ was formed in the body of another human being according to the
natural operations of the flesh. That body was built cell by cell of the
sinful, cursed dust of the earth and was not in the least different from the
flesh and blood of any other human being this side of the fall. But into that
tabernacle came the presence of God. No one,
in looking back to the ancient sanctuary, will have any difficulty in seeing the
distinction between the tabernacle, and the presence of God in that
tabernacle. The tabernacle was of this earth, was temporary, and had no
holiness of itself. But the God in that tabernacle was from heaven, was and
is eternal, and is holiness itself. It was a combination of the heavenly and
the earthly, exactly as Christ upon
this earth was the combination of divinity and humanity. Many find difficulty in making the
clear distinctions necessary to correctly
understand both Christ's
incarnation and true
Christian experience. This is in spite of the clarity shown in the
sanctuary illustration. They are unable to see the distinction between the
fallen, sinful flesh and the evil nature which dwells in that flesh.
Consequently, when it is taught as in
this book, that Christ tabernacled in sinful flesh,
they conclude this to mean that He therefore was
unholy and a sinner. The sanctuary exposes the falsity of this reasoning.
There, God came and dwelt in a building made by human hands from the cursed
dust of the earth. But this did not make the God of heaven unholy or a
sinner. If God did not become unholy and sinful by dwelling in the wilderness
sanctuary, then Christ did not become unholy and sinful by dwelling in sinful
flesh. On the contrary, the building—even though its materials were not
changed by HIS TENT AND
OURS 79 God's
presence—became a sanctified place when God was there. The combination of the
heavenly with the earthly resulted in a building which was entirely devoted to
the service of God and revealed in a most marvellous way the beauty, the
power, and the perfection of the gospel. Likewise, when Jesus came to the
earth, the combination of divinity with humanity produced a life entirely and
perfectly devoted to the service of God. It was a life in which the beauty,
power, and perfection of the gospel was fully revealed. That is clear enough. However, the
sanctuary clarifies the problem even further. There were times when God had
to leave that sanctuary because of the apostasy of the people. When that
happened, the building did not remain empty. The presence of Satan filled it.
One such occasion for instance, was when Christ came to the temple at the
beginning of His ministry. When He found the courtyard to the temple filled
with the din and bustle of
commercial activity, He knew, and we know, that there was nothing of God's presence there at
all. We likewise know that Satan was very much there, activating those
selfish men in their work of extortion. As surely as that building was filled
with Satan's presence, so surely were the hearts of those present filled with
the unholy traffic of sinfulness. "The courts of the temple at
Jerusalem, filled with the tumult of unholy traffic, represented all too
truly the temple of the heart, defiled by the presence of sensual passion and
unholy thoughts." The Desire of Ages, 161. Here then are two possible
situations, both of which represent a
condition in the human life. The first is when the presence of God is in the
sanctuary and the second when the presence of Satan is there. What must not
be overlooked is that while the presence of God is exchanged for the presence
of Satan, the building itself does not change. The same building is either a
tabernacle for God or for Satan. Even though it was made by human bodies from
the cursed dust of the earth, this does not make it unholy or sinful. That
condition is determined by who is dwelling in the building. However, while the building does not
change, the defiling presence of Satan in the sanctuary and in our flesh does
have an effect. Reference to the days of King Hezekiah shows that after a
period during which the presence of Satan was in the sanctuary, the building
was in a bad state of disrepair and uncleanness. It required from the first
to the eighth day of the first month to restore the building for God's
service. The story is found in 2 Chronicles 29:1-9. But the building in
disrepair and uncleanness was still the same building. It had not changed
into another at all. So the presence of Satan in the human life has a
corrupting effect upon the human
body. It becomes unclean, falls into the disrepair of ill health, and loses its effective powers, but
it does not become a different body. It is still the same fallen, sinful,
mortal flesh and blood. In the change from the 80 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT life devoted to Satan's service to
the Christian life there is no change in the flesh except for its
improvement. The change is in the power which resides in that flesh. We obtain the presence of the life of
God in our mortal bodies by the process of spiritual birth. This is not the
birth of the flesh and therefore does not change it. Rather, "It is a
supernatural work, bringing a supernatural element into human nature." The
Desire of Ages, 324. This does not mean that God
personally and bodily resides in the believer. God is a Person. He dwells in
the heavens above. What happens is that His nature and character are
reproduced in the individual so that the very
same life and
spirit which is
the basis for
God's actions of righteousness, become the directing
force in the Christian. This explains how God can be an individual and yet,
at the same time, dwell in the hearts of all His children. The law of
reproduction makes this possible. How often we hear someone remark, "I
can certainly see your father in you." At the same time the father may
be standing by, listening to the statement which no one takes literally as
meaning that the father is bodily in the son. It is
understood that the father has transmitted to his son the life which is in
himself. There is the same nature, disposition, talents, and general
appearance. This reproduction is physical or human. The father cannot
impart to him the spiritual life of God. That is as far beyond human power to do as it was for the
Israelites to put God into the sanctuary. But, just as the humanity of a
person is the result of the law of physical reproduction, so the spiritual
nature in man is the result of the law of spiritual reproduction. "By
the transforming agency of His grace, the image of God is reproduced in the
disciple; he becomes a new creature." The Desire of Ages, 391. "When the character of Christ shall be
perfectly reproduced in His people, then He
will come to claim them as His own." Christ's Object Lessons, 69. What seems to be generally overlooked
is that the law of spiritual reproduction works in two directions—good and
evil. Just as surely as the Christian has in him the spiritual life of his
Father, God, so the unregenerate have in them the spiritual life of their
father, the devil. This means that every one of us was born into the world
with a physical parent and a spiritual parent. From the physical parents, our
earthly father and mother, we obtained
the tent or tabernacle in which the spiritual dwells. From Satan we obtained
the evil spiritual nature with which we are born. Christ recognized and taught the
truth of this. To the Pharisees He said, "Ye are of your father the
devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of
it." John 8:44. 82 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT Every one of us enters this world
with both the human heredity from sinful fallen man, and the spiritual
heredity from Satan. For those who have been born again, the satanic heredity
has been removed and replaced by the divine heredity. It must be clear that
the old spiritual inheritance from Satan must be eradicated for Satan and God
are never in the sanctuary together. For God to be there, Satan, if he has
been there previously, must be evicted first. Only then can the presence of
God come in. In the case of Christ, at no time was Satan ever His father. He,
the only-begotten Son of the sinless God, came down to tabernacle in a body
which was not the work of the Holy Spirit or of God, but the product of human
reproduction. He came to this earth as a new born man—the Son of God by
spiritual, and the Son of man by human reproduction. It was God tabernacled in human flesh. The two natures were quite
distinct. They did not fuse into one. The divine nature in the person is
one thing. The human temple in which that spiritual nature is resident, is
another. In the sanctuary, the distinction
can be clearly seen. It is a distinction vital to understanding the incarnation of
Christ, and the
kindred and inseparable
subject of righteousness by faith.
In the experience of Christ, this
distinction is made plain. "Was the human nature of the Son of Mary
changed into the divine nature of the Son of
God? No; the
two natures were
mysteriously blended in
one person—the man
Christ Jesus. In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. . ."
The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 5:1113. "Laying aside His royal robe and
kingly crown, Christ clothed His divinity with humanity, that human beings
might be raised from their degradation, and placed on vantage-ground. Christ
could not have come to this earth with the glory that He had in the heavenly
courts. Sinful human beings could not have borne the sight. He veiled His
divinity with the garb of humanity, but He did not part with His divinity. A
divine-human Saviour, He came to stand at the head of the fallen race, to
share in their experience from childhood to manhood. That human beings might be partakers of
the divine nature, He came to this earth, and lived a life of perfect obedience." The Review and Herald, June 15, 1905. "In Christ, divinity and
humanity were combined. Divinity was not degraded to humanity; divinity held
its place, but humanity by being united to divinity, withstood the fiercest
test of temptation in the wilderness." ibid., February 18, 1890. These statements show that the
picture of the sanctuary is accurate when it reveals the divine presence of
heavenly origin as being distinct from the earthly thing in which it was
housed. The divine nature of Christ and the flesh in which
it was found were two different entities. The former was entirely of heaven; the latter,
entirely of the earth in which He lived. HIS TENT AND
OURS 83 Words convey much. Pictures reveal a
thousand times more. Men may and do dispute the meaning of the statements made in regard to
the incarnation,
but the picture of the incarnation of Christ as given in the sanctuary is too clear and simple to
be misunderstood. The unchangeable and unimpeachable facts are these: 1. The sanctuary was built by fallen,
mortal humanity; 2. It was built from
materials on which the curse of sin rested; 3.
The materials came from the most sinful nation on the earth at that time—Egypt. Those are
significant facts. Because the sanctuary is the direct picture of the way in
which the body of Christ was formed, they apply to Him too for: 1. His body
was made by fallen, sinful humanity; 2. It was made from the dust of the earth on
which the curse of sin rested; 3. He came to the world to be thus made when
sin had reached its very height. Such was the flesh of Christ. It,
being of this origin, was fallen, sinful, mortal, and imperfect. But, in it
dwelt the very God of heaven, exactly as it was in the
wilderness sanctuary. That divine presence in that mortal, human flesh sanctified the body
temple for a service to God which was perfect, sinless, and wholly acceptable
to God. So too it may
be with us. 10 From The
Depths It would have been impossible for
Christ to come to this earth with Satan's evil nature residing in His flesh
and blood. To have done that would have placed Him where He also would need a
Saviour, and thus be unable to save us. If He had come as an evil tree, He
could have produced only evil fruit which would have rendered Him, in His
entirety, under eternal and
irretrievable condemnation. It was never the purpose of the
incarnation to prove that an evil man, while he remained in that condition,
could obey the law of God. If Jesus had come to prove that, He would have
made God's Word untrue. He came to
demonstrate that a
man who has
been freed from
Satan's dominion and given the blessing of sonship with God, can obey every one of God's
requirements. For Christ to prove that such a person could keep the law, He
must come to where that man is and be exactly as that man and, in that position, demonstrate
that it can be done to perfection. This is clearly shown in the Word. However, this was not enough. It did not fully meet the need of perishing
man, nor does it completely answer Satan's charges that a sinful man cannot
find salvation. Christ must, without Himself becoming evil in His spiritual
nature or surrendering His divine nature, descend to where lost man finds himself. In that pit, He
must experience all the
darkness, discouragement,
despair, and hopelessness of
every guilty sinner. Everyone who finds salvation comes
out of that pit by faith alone. Christ too, must by faith and faith alone
come out of that darkness into the light of heaven. By so doing He shows the
way of salvation from the darkest depths of iniquity into the full light of
deliverance and leaves no man, however deep and dark the pit, with an excuse
for not finding his way to complete deliverance. The purpose of this chapter is to
show the fullness of the depths to which Christ descended in His determined
and successful mission to save mankind. FROM THE
DEPTHS 85 "Christ is the ladder that Jacob
saw, the base resting on the earth, and the topmost round reaching to the
gate of heaven, to the very threshold of glory. If that ladder had failed by
a single step of reaching the earth, we should have been lost. But Christ
reaches us where we are." The Desire of Ages, 311,
312. When Jesus comes to us, He does not
come to find converted, born again men and women. He came to save the
unconverted. Therefore, if that ladder
reaches us where we are, it must have come down into the pit of sin where we stand in an unsaved
condition. Christ must have experienced for Himself everything known and
understood by a man. This would seem a contradiction to the truth already
established that Jesus Christ did not take the carnal mind and the evil
heart. If He did not take such and was not born of Satan,
how could He
possibly experience what
a son of Satan experiences? Yet this statement
says He came down to us in the pit of sin. Evidently, this is another one of
those apparent contradictions in Scripture, the answers to which are always
available to the honest Spirit-taught child of God. The record that Jesus did actually
descend into the pit is stated prophetically in Psalm 40. That these words
are pointing forward to an experience of Christ is verified in
verses 6-10. "Sacrifice and offering Thou
didst not desire; Mine ears hast Thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering
hast Thou not required. "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the
book it is written of Me, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy
law is within My heart. "I have preached righteousness in the great
congregation: lo, I have not refrained My
lips, O Lord, Thou knowest. "I have not hid Thy
righteousness within My heart; I have declared Thy faithfulness and Thy
salvation: I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth from the great
congregation." A
reading of Hebrews 10:6-9, shows
that Paul unquestionably understood that these verses
were a direct prophecy of the experience and ministry of Jesus. "In burnt offerings and
sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure. "Then said I, Lo, I come
(in the volume of the book it is written of Me,) to do Thy
will, O God. "Above when He said, Sacrifice and
offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin Thou wouldest
not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by
the law; "Then said He, Lo, I come to do
Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that He may establish the
second." He did not
quote and make an application of every part of the Psalm to Christ for he was
concerned with one particular aspect of Christ's ministry. This was spoken of
in one part of the Psalm only, which he quoted. The whole of the Psalm is
spoken in the first person by the same person. There 86 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT is no change in the subject matter or
in the person of the subject matter. If it is proved that one part of the
Psalm is a direct prophecy of the work and experience of
Christ, then every other part is too. A. T. Jones declares that all the
Psalms are a prophecy of Jesus Christ. "We are now to study another
phase of this great subject; First in the Psalms,—Christ in the Psalms,—that
we may see how entirely the Psalms mean Christ, and that the One whose
experience is recorded there is Christ." The 1895 General Conference
Bulletin 15:1. This is logical, for the experiences
recorded in Psalms are the experiences of God's dealing with man. Inasmuch as there is no
experience through which man has passed that Jesus has not also passed, it
would be impossible for the Psalms not to be a portrayal of the experiences
of Jesus. "I waited patiently for the
Lord; and He inclined unto Me, and heard My cry. "He brought Me up also out of an
horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set My feet upon a rock, and
established My goings. "And He hath put a new song in
My mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall
trust in the Lord. "Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust,
and respecteth not the proud, nor
such as turn aside to lies." Note
especially verse one which reads, "I waited patiently for the Lord; and
He inclined unto Me, and heard My cry." We know from our own experience
that, when we are down in that pit of sin, we long to be brought out and
released. We go through that Romans 7 experience of struggling, searching,
and pleading, and we persevere and patiently wait for God to bring us out
of the pit. After a period of anguish and agony, we are finally delivered. We can testify: "He
brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my
feet upon a rock, and established my goings." With beautiful
accuracy these words describe the experience of every person who, by living faith, is saved
from the pit of sin and has his feet placed upon the Rock of God's salvation.
This Psalm is not primarily about us, but about Christ. It is His
experience which is being described. There was a time when He was down in
that pit; when He waited patiently upon the Lord until His cry was heard and
He was lifted up to have a very different song
put into His heart, and upon His lips. Had He not been, He could not have been tempted in all
points like as we are, and could not have succoured us from all temptation. In the light of these Scriptures
there can be no question but that He did descend into the pit to suffer those
terrible hours of darkness as we must. When and how did He do it? In
The Desire of Ages, 685, in
the wonderful chapter
entitled "Gethsemane" is opened before us the picture of
Jesus Christ experiencing what it actually was to be a lost
sinner. The Lord's supper is over; the FROM THE
DEPTHS 87 apostles together with Christ have
left the upper room and are walking toward the garden. "In company with His disciples,
the Saviour slowly made His way to the garden of Gethsemane. The Passover
moon, broad and full, shone from a cloudless sky.
The city of pilgrims' tents was hushed into silence. "Jesus had been earnestly
conversing with His disciples and instructing them; but as He neared
Gethsemane, He became strangely silent. He had often visited this spot for
meditation and prayer; but never with a heart so full of sorrow as upon this
night of His last agony." Note these
next words: "Throughout His life on earth He
had walked in the light of God's presence. When in conflict with men who were
inspired by the very spirit of Satan, He could say, 'He that sent Me is with Me:
the Father hath not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please
Him.' " This describes the experience of Christ's entire lifetime up to
this point. It is not the picture of someone who is down in the pit, but of
one whose feet are established upon a rock. "Throughout His life on
earth He had walked in the
light of God's presence." Is that the pit? Certainly not! Throughout that time Jesus had been
walking upon the high road and solid ground which every sanctified brother
walks. Constantly He gave a convincing
demonstration of how every person who has divinity living in sinful, fallen
humanity, can live a sinless life. It was not during this period that Christ
was down in the pit, but some time subsequent to this. This is indicated in the
next verse which begins with "but". Introducing "but" as the
first word in a sentence indicates that a picture of contrast follows. The
previous picture showed Jesus walking on solid ground in the light of God's
sustaining presence. In the picture now introduced, He is down in the pit
with the transgressors, feeling all that the condemned and lost feel.
"But now He seemed to be shut out from the light of God's
sustaining presence. Now
He was numbered
with the transgressors.
The guilt of fallen humanity He must bear." Where is the transgressor found?
Walking in the light of God's presence, or in the pit of sin? He is in the
pit, shut out from the light of God's sustaining presence. Around him is
deep, impenetrable darkness, a great sense of hopelessness, despair, and a
sense of being totally lost. "Upon Him who knew no sin must be laid the
iniquity of us all. So dreadful does sin appear to Him, so great is the
weight of guilt which He must bear, that He is tempted to fear it will shut
Him out forever from His Father's love. Feeling how terrible is the wrath of
God against transgression, He exclaims, 'My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even
unto death.' " So real, so personal and so actually His own, did your
sin and my sin appear to Jesus, that He felt just as if He were a lost
sinner. 88 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT "For innumerable evils have
compassed Me about: Mine iniquities have taken hold upon Me, so that I am not
able to look up; they are more than the hairs of Mine head: therefore My
heart faileth Me. "Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
Me: O Lord, make haste to help Me." Psalm 40:12, 13. Jesus said, "Mine iniquities
have taken hold upon Me." Mine iniquities? Did Christ ever sin?
Certainly not! Then why did He not say, their iniquities have taken hold upon
Me? Jesus Christ gives us His righteousness as if it were our own and He also
took our sins which became His as if actually committed by Him. When He takes
something, it becomes His possession. Jesus could
and did say, "Mine iniquities
have taken hold upon Me" because, at that time, He felt just
as the guilty sinner feels. When the guilty human being suffers the agony of
the condemnation of his sins, they are sins committed by himself. This burden
of guilt crushes out the life forces and eventually ends in death. When Jesus
took upon Himself those iniquities, He was not bearing the sins of one, but
of every man who ever lived. Such a burden is beyond the power of the human
mind to assess or understand. If the single burden of our own sins means such
a weight of discouragement and horror to us, what must the effect of the
whole world's accumulated sins have been upon Christ's human frame? His
humanity could not long endure the fearful, life-crushing burden before
expiring under its sheer weight. Jesus felt the utter sense of separation
from God exactly as the sinner, only infinitely more so. These words poignantly describe the
trial and sufferings of Christ at this time. "As they approached the garden,
the disciples had marked the change that came over their Master. Never before
had they seen Him so utterly sad and silent. As He proceeded, this
strange sadness deepened; yet they dared not question Him as to the cause. His
form swayed as if He were about to fall. Upon reaching the garden, the
disciples looked anxiously for His usual place of retirement, that their
Master might rest. Every step that He now took was with labored effort. He
groaned aloud, as if suffering under the pressure of a terrible burden. Twice
His companions supported Him, or He would have fallen to the earth. . . "He went a little distance from
them —not so far but that they could both see and hear Him—and fell prostrate
upon the ground. He felt that by sin He was
being separated from His Father. The gulf was so broad, so black, so deep, that His spirit
shuddered before it. This agony He must not exert His divine power to escape.
As man He must suffer the consequences of
man's sin. As
man He must
endure the wrath
of God against transgression. "Christ
was now standing in a different attitude from that in which He had ever stood
before. His suffering can best be described in the words of the prophet,
'Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man FROM THE
DEPTHS 89 that is My
fellow, saith the Lord of hosts.' As the substitute and surety for sinful man, Christ was suffering
under divine justice. He saw what justice meant. Hitherto He had been as an
intercessor for others; now He longed to have an intercessor for Himself. "As Christ felt His unity with
the Father broken up, He feared that in His human nature He would be unable
to endure the coming conflict with the powers of darkness. In the wilderness
of temptation the destiny of the human race had been at stake. Christ was then conqueror. Now the tempter
had come for the last fearful struggle. For this he had been preparing during
the three years of Christ's ministry. Everything was at stake with him. If he
failed here, his hope of mastery was lost; the kingdoms of the world would
finally become Christ's; he himself would be overthrown and cast out. But if
Christ could be overcome, the earth would become Satan's kingdom, and the
human race would be forever in his power. With the issues of the conflict
before Him, Christ's soul was filled with dread of separation from God. Satan
told Him that if He became the surety for a sinful world, the separation
would be eternal. He would be identified with Satan's kingdom, and would
nevermore be one with God." The Desire of Ages, 685-687.
These words are a message of life to
the perishing. They bring the comfort of knowing there is nothing we can ever
suffer in our human nature, tempting us to believe that the power of sin is too
great, that Jesus did not suffer more so. His human nature was just as weak
and sinful as our own. Where we know real fear, He, too, knew real fear.
"As Christ felt His unity with the Father broken up, He feared that in
His human nature He would be unable to endure the coming conflict with the
powers of darkness." Bearing the full weight of transgression, He felt
in Himself the terrible, agonizing fear that He would never see His Father's face again and
that the separation would be eternal. Is there any experience through which
a human being can pass, more terrible than that? The ultimate terror and
suffering is the fear of eternal separation from God. When a sin-burdened man
sees yawning before him a bottomless gulf from which there
appears no rescue, and no deliverance, he experiences the worst thing a man
can suffer. Every lost soul shall suffer this at the
end of the thousand years when he reads his irrevocable sentence of eternal death. He will
see that he has lost all this world can give and must suffer eternal oblivion
and separation from God. The darkness of that horror
shall come upon every mind, and each will suffer as Jesus did in the garden of Gethsemane. It is essential
that the sinner in the pit has faith in God's power and willingness to
deliver him from that situation. The fearful pressure of temptation is to
abandon himself to the apparently hopeless nature of his case. He is tempted
to feel that others can be saved but not he; that sin's power is too great to
escape and the burden of his guilt too black to be 90 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT pardoned. This was the pressure of
temptation upon Christ. If He had given up the struggle and surrendered to
temptation, all would have been lost. Every sinner would have been forever
justified in assuming that sin is stronger than
righteousness and Satan stronger than God. If the sinner had only to face the
black discouragement of his burden of guilt, that would be bad enough. But
wherever a soul seeks pardon and deliverance, Satan aggravates the temptation
by relentlessly pressing the hopelessness of the situation upon him. The
revelation of Satan in this role of accuser of the brethren is given in
Zechariah 3:1-3. "And he shewed me Joshua the
high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his
right hand to resist him. "And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke
thee, O Satan; even the Lord that
hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is
not this a brand plucked out of the fire? "Now Joshua was clothed with
filthy garments, and stood before the angel." The filthy garments symbolize the
sinfulness of the petitioner. His only hope is in Christ. To be saved, he
must have faith that the Saviour will forgive his sins and deliver him from
bondage. It is here that Satan presents the sins of
the sinner in a magnified and exaggerated light to appall
him with horror as he views the evil of his
nature. The devil seeks to terrify him with the thought that he dare not
trust the Saviour to heal and restore him. For the sinner it is a terrible
and trying experience. He is battling with a persistent and powerful sin
problem from which he longs to be saved but from which there seems to be no
salvation. Darkness and hopelessness surround him. His hungry heart searches
for a ray of hope and light; a strength and faith that will connect him with
the Deliverer. But as he looks up to the Saviour, he finds only a black,
impenetrable cloud over his head. Satan has interposed himself between the
suppliant and the Master. He argues that the sin is too great to ever be
pardoned; that the Saviour has been grieved beyond the point where He could
ever consider the man's plea. He reminds him of the experience he once
enjoyed; how he received many blessings from God, but now he is labouring
under the fearful burden of guilt. He presents a God so pure that He is
unable to look upon sin; One who is harsh, just, and exacting. With every
devious argument his cunning brain can invent, Satan seeks to make the most
of the sinner's situation in a desperate
effort to prevent
the outreach of
faith which will
bring deliverance. This is what makes the experience of
those seeking to escape from the pit, more difficult and arduous. It is the
experience described and illustrated in the enacted parable of Joshua and
the Angel. For Jesus to
be a full and complete Saviour, He had to experience, while down in that pit
of sin, the added weight of the Joshua and the Angel experience also. Although the burden already placed upon Him
was heavy, terrible, and far beyond what any human being has ever been called
FROM THE
DEPTHS 91 upon to bear, He must also take the weight
of the devil's special temptation at this time. Satan made the most of the
opportunity by presenting the sins to the Saviour
in the worst possible light. Hear his
subtle arguments at this time. "And what
was to be gained by this sacrifice? How hopeless appeared the guilt and
ingratitude of men! In its hardest features Satan pressed the situation upon
the Redeemer: The people who claim to be above all others in temporal and
spiritual advantages have rejected You. They are seeking to destroy You, the
foundation, the center and seal of the promises made to them as a peculiar
people. One of Your own disciples, who has listened to Your instruction, and
has been among the foremost in church activities, will betray You. One of
Your most zealous followers will deny You. All will forsake You. Christ's
whole being abhorred the thought. That those whom He had undertaken to save,
those whom He loved so much, should unite in the plots of Satan, this pierced
His soul. The conflict was terrible. Its measure was the guilt of His nation,
of His accusers and betrayer, the guilt of a world lying in wickedness. The
sins of men weighed heavily upon Christ, and the sense of God's wrath against
sin was crushing out His life." ibid., 687. The greatest comfort to any Christian
is to know that no experience, no temptation, comes to him that Jesus has not
experienced. Parents who have laboured for years to raise up children in the
truth, suffer the terrible anguish of seeing their sons and daughters go out
into a world of sin and turn aside from the faith. This is a bitter
experience for parents. How often they are tempted to give up and say,
"It's not worth it. I might just as well go with them." When that
temptation comes, remember that Jesus suffered that for you. See Him in the
garden of Gethsemane, contemplating that one of His disciples would be
foremost in betraying Him; their quarrels and contentions; their sleeping
when they ought to have been praying. They would all forsake Him and flee for
their lives in the hour of His betrayal. See Him contemplating the Jewish
nation to whom God had given the light of life, searching for His life; they
who ought to have understood His sacrifice, being the very ones to sacrifice
Him upon the tree. After three and a half years of self-sacrificing ministry,
He looks around and finds not one man or woman in the entire world upon whom
He can rely or look upon as the fruits of His labours. Can you think of a
more desperate and discouraging situation—a more terrible pressure of temptation
than Jesus suffered at this time? A great sense of separation from God;
around Him only the awful, terrible darkness of sin; beside Him an evil
tempter pressing the whole situation upon Him in its worst and darkest
features. There was no man with Him, but
rather, a picture of complete misunderstanding, hatred, and total desertion. During all
this He is bearing the sins of the world. Think of it! When you are down in
that pit, whose sins do you bear? Only your own. Jesus knew all the darkness,
discouragement, hopelessness, and separation from God 92 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT that my sins
could bring upon Him. But that was not all. He took the sins of the entire world, of the rebellious
Jewish nation, of the Gentile Roman world, of the heathen world; sins of
every age and generation. The depth of His pit
went far, far deeper than ours—beyond a depth that human words can ever describe. He bore and
took it all. He experienced it for Himself. More important still, He triumphed over
the fullness of that temptation and came out of that pit by a living faith in
His Father's power to save Him. Not only did He experience the full pressure
of the temptation as every man must, but He did not have any advantage over
us in coping with and obtaining
deliverance from it. As we must wait patiently upon the Lord until He hears our cry, Christ had to wait
patiently upon the Lord until His cry was heard. By faith alone we are
enabled to lay hold upon the deliverance. By faith alone Jesus was saved out
of that pit. No matter how
dark and discouraging a sinner's situation may be; no matter how great the
burden of his guilt and the terror of his condemnation; no sinner can say
that it is too much, that salvation cannot be for him. As proof, witness the
experience of Jesus who was truly "in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin". The victory gained by Christ from
that dark and dismal pit, is the greatest ever gained in the history of the
universe. It is the assurance that we may have the same victory and triumph
over the realms of darkness. Prophetically, the victory is revealed and
described in Psalm 22:1-5. "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
why art Thou so far from helping
Me, and from the words of My roaring? "O My God, I cry in the daytime,
but Thou hearest not; and in the night season, and
am not silent. "But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. "Our fathers
trusted in Thee: they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them. "They cried
unto Thee, and were delivered: they trusted in Thee, and were not
confounded." Jesus, as He hung on the cross, could
look back on the experience of the fathers—Abraham, David, Moses, Jacob—and
remember the wonderful answers to prayer which those men received. He could
remember their being forgiven
and delivered from their sins. Though understandable and acceptable
it was no comfort to Him, for as He measured Himself by them, they appeared
virtuous and righteous by comparison. He could only say in despair, "But
I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people."
As such there seemed no hope that He could be saved. In this, He
was experiencing what so many of us experience at one time or another. Our
sins are real and present to us. Looking on others who seem to have an
experience of sunshine and victory, we gloomily believe that they can easily
be saved, but that it is different for ourselves. We are to take comfort.
Jesus felt this temptation and overcame it to show us how FROM THE
DEPTHS 93 that device of
Satan's can also be overcome. We are inclined to argue that for Jesus it was different. He was
the Son of God; He never sinned. He was faithful and strong; but we are in
another class. More and more we see and understand that it was not different
with Him. It was not easier but harder. His life leaves us without any excuse
for sin. This is further revealed as we hear
Christ's lament over His desperate condition on the cross. "But I am
a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. "All they that see Me laugh Me
to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, "He trusted on the Lord that He
would deliver Him: let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him. "But Thou art He that took Me
out of the womb: Thou didst make Me hope when I was upon My mother's breasts.
"I was cast upon Thee from the
womb: Thou art My God from My mother's belly. "Be not
far from Me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. "Many bulls have compassed Me:
strong bulls of Bashan have beset Me round. "They
gaped upon Me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. "I am poured out like water, and
all My bones are out of joint: My heart is like wax; it is melted in the
midst of My bowels. "My strength is dried up like a
potsherd; and My tongue cleaveth to My jaws; and
Thou hast brought Me into the dust of death. "For dogs have compassed
Me: the assembly of the
wicked have enclosed Me: they pierced
My hands and My feet. "I may tell all My bones: they
look and stare upon Me. "They part My garments among them, and cast lots
upon My vesture. "But be not Thou far from Me, O Lord: O My strength,
haste Thee to help Me. "Deliver My
soul from the sword; My darling from the power of the dog. "Save Me from the lion's mouth:
for Thou hast heard Me from the horns of the unicorns." Psalm 22:6-21. While Jesus
was down in that pit, He had absolutely no power in and of Himself to escape.
He had laid that aside when He left the heavenly courts to fight the battle
as man must fight it. He could have chosen to reach out and lay hold upon
that power again, thus delivering Himself from the situation, returning to
heaven, and leaving us to perish. The pressure to do so was tremendous, and
the temptation to adopt this course was terrible. "The awful moment had
come—that moment which was to decide the destiny of the world. The fate of
humanity trembled in the balance. Christ might even now refuse to drink the
cup apportioned to guilty man. It was 94 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT not yet too late. He might wipe the
bloody sweat from His brow, and leave man to perish in his iniquity. He might
say, Let the transgressor receive the penalty of his
sin, and I will go back to My Father. Will the Son of God drink the bitter cup of humiliation and
agony? Will the innocent suffer the consequences of the curse of sin, to save
the guilty? The words fall tremblingly from the pale lips of Jesus, 'O My Father,
if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy
will be done.' " The Desire of Ages, 690. While He refused to take hold of His
Godhead and abandon humanity, He had no power to rise out of that pit. Just
as you and I must look by faith beyond the dark cloud and trust in God to
deliver us, so Jesus Christ had to be saved by
faith. He testified of His experience in Psalm 40. "I waited patiently for the Lord; and He
inclined unto Me, and heard My cry. "He brought Me up also out of an horrible
pit, out of the miry clay, and set My feet upon a rock, and established My
goings." There is a tendency to think of Christ only as a Saviour and
not as one of the saved. But, let it not be forgotten that there is no
experience through which we can pass that Christ has not been through. By
this we know that He too, experienced salvation from sin—not His but ours.
"Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and
supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him
from death, and was heard in that He feared." Hebrews 5:7. It was for
salvation that Jesus sought and prayed. Only One could save Him—His Father
who is in Heaven. He pinned His faith on His Father's promises and love and,
by that faith. He obtained deliverance. In Psalm 22 is pictured the most
wonderful and astonishing victory of faith ever recorded. It is both the
model for our outreach of faith and the assurance of its success. There is an entirely different note in
Psalm 22:22-31 from that in the previous verses. Here is the assurance of
triumph, the ringing note of confidence and
victory. When these sentiments were expressed, Christ was not yet released from the dreadful
darkness and burden of sinfulness. Conditions had not changed from when He
had uttered those dismal words at the beginning of the Psalm. He was strung
up between the earth and the heavens. Around Him were the mockers; upon Him
was the full burden of sin; there was scarcely anyone who expressed confidence
in Him. His plight was the most desperate, yet His faith reached out of the
depths of darkness, penetrating into the very presence of God. It enabled Him
to see beyond the tomb to the certainty of the resurrection and the ultimate
defeat of Satan. "I will declare Thy name unto My
brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee. "Ye that fear the Lord, praise
Him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify Him; and fear Him, all ye the seed of
Israel. "For He
hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; FROM THE
DEPTHS 95 neither hath He hid His face from
Him; but when He cried unto Him, He heard. "My praise shall be of Thee in
the great congregation: I will pay My vows before them that fear Him. "The meek shall eat and be
satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek Him: your heart shall live for ever. "All the ends of the world shall
remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall
worship before Thee. "For the kingdom is the Lord's:
and He is the governor among the nations. "All they that be fat upon earth
shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before
Him: and none can keep alive his own soul. "A seed shall serve Him; it shall
be accounted to the Lord for a generation. "They shall come, and shall
declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He hath done
this." That was
victory! It was the
victory of faith! You know when you are down in the dark
pit of discouragement and there is a great sense of separation between you
and God, that that is the most difficult time to praise God and
believe in His salvation. Yet, as Christ hung upon the cross and went through
the final depths of what He had begun to experience in the garden of
Gethsemane, there broke forth from His lips that incredible testimony of
praise, thankfulness, and confidence in God that He would rise from the tomb,
He would speak the name of God in the great congregation to a people yet
unborn, and God's salvation would be experienced by people of every nation,
kindred, and tongue. That was faith—living faith. It broke through the
visible evidences around Him and, laying hold upon God's word, trusted and
believed that word. It gave Jesus the same victory.we
must gain to find our part and place in the kingdom of Heaven. In the garden
of Gethsemane, and upon the cross of Calvary, Jesus Christ experienced what
we shall experience in the dark pit of Jacob's trouble, when human probation
has closed and there is no Intercessor. As we look upon the wonder of the
incarnation and see what Jesus did, every excuse for sin is swept away. There
is no basis for any doubt that we could be
saved, or that the power of God is insufficient to lift us up from the depths of degradation and sin. Jesus took our
sinful, fallen, human flesh. Bearing the sins of the whole world, He suffered
as every man must. By faith alone, looking up through the dark clouds
separating Him from God, He waited patiently for God to save Him and was
rewarded. He was delivered from sin to have His feet placed upon a rock. He
overcame in the darkest hour of this world's 96 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT history.
" 'God with us is the surety of
our deliverance from sin, the assurance of our power to obey the
law of heaven." Listen to His voice in that dark hour
when the thief upon the cross said, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." And Jesus said unto him,
"Verily I say unto thee today. . ." Which day? That day of darkness
and despair with no visible evidence to give Christ the assurance that He would
rise from the tomb. Today, He said, from the very pit of darkness I say to you, "Thou
shalt be with Me in paradise". That was faith, the faith of Jesus. It is
the faith which all those must have who will be finally victorious over sin
and the devil. It lifts from the pit of sin, penetrates the darkness around,
and denies the charges and discouraging insinuations of Satan. It places our
feet upon the rock. We have seen
that the human nature of Christ, the flesh and blood body in which
His divine nature resided, was sinful, fallen flesh. Every tendency of that nature leaned in the
direction of sin exactly as our flesh does even though we are born again Christians.
That flesh represented to Him as it does to us, a terrible handicap in the
battle against evil. Jesus did not in the least degree experience any
advantage over us. He felt
temptation as a converted man feels and understands it, and overcame as a converted man may overcome if he
will. But for Christ
to be a perfect Saviour or even one at all, it was not sufficient to
suffer temptation only as a converted man suffers it. It was the lost whom
Jesus came to save. Therefore He must also experience the power of temptation as an unconverted
man feels it, and gain the victory as that man can if he will. The problem in
the minds of many is how this could be
possible when Christ
never had the
carnal mind of
which the unregenerate in spirit
is possessed, controlled, and dominated. Neither had He ever sinned to feel
the destructive power of the guilt complex. If He never had the carnal mind,
and never sinned, how could He experience what it meant to have those things?
We must consider His experience in
Gethsemane to see how this was done. The sinfulness of man was so placed upon
Him that He bore it as // it were His own. So actually and really was this
done, that He experienced the sinfulness of that evil as every lost person
experiences it. He was within the deadly
clutch of fear that victory was impossible, that sinful humanity could never endure the pressure of
the hour of trial. The nature of
Christ upon this earth in these positions is generally incomprehensible to
the average person. They cannot see that the sinless, divine nature of God
could and did reside in the sinful, fallen, human nature of man. All are
aware that we have sinful, fallen human natures which have led us into
grievous sins, and it is assumed that it is impossible not to sin while we
are in this flesh. But, if this is so, then Christ would have to have sinned,
for He had the same flesh and blood as we have. His life proves that no
matter how great the pressure of temptation, there is still no excuse to sin
even while handicapped with sinful, fallen, flesh. 11 The Two Deaths
Any difficulty in seeing this
disappears by recognizing the distinction between two different natures—the carnal
mind on the one hand, and the mind of Christ on the other. Failure to make
distinctions such as this one is common among religious people. The Jews
utterly failed to see two different comings of Christ. The result was their
rejection of Him with consequent loss of eternal life. Likewise, the modern
Protestant world denies the distinction between the moral and ceremonial
laws. Therefore, they discard the moral law along with the ceremonial, thus
disqualifying themselves for
eternal life. Either the
carnal mind dwells in our fallen, sinful flesh and rules events or the divine mind of Christ occupies
the body temple. The former sanctions
and stimulates every fleshly desire, while the latter subdues and controls the fleshly lusts. The regenerate and the unregenerate
both have the same fallen, sinful flesh and blood. Christ stood in the place
of the regenerate, thus having the same
flesh and blood
as both the
regenerate and the
unregenerate possessed. But, both of these classes have another power
in them apart from the power
of their human natures. With the unregenerate, it is the power of the carnal mind, while with
the regenerate, it is the power of Christ's divine mind or life.
Understanding these distinctions is vital to comprehending the nature of
Christ in the incarnation. In Romans, chapters 6-8, these truths
are revealed and confirmed. Consider firstly Romans 8:7. "Because the
carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be." What is the "carnal mind" referred to
in this verse? There is sufficient information given to establish its
identity. It is a power not merely at enmity against God, but which is, in
itself, enmity with God. Furthermore, it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. Some people add that it is only
without Christ that it is not possible for this power to be subject to the
law of God. But this is adding to the 98 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT Scriptures.
They do not say that it cannot be done except by Christ. They simply assert
it cannot be. The same is true of the thorn bush.
It is by nature enmity against fruit bearing and is not subject to this law
neither can it be made to be. Not even God will bring forth apples on a thorn
bush for this would require His abolition of a law essential for our
protection and blessing. Therefore, the carnal mind cannot be our flesh and
blood intellectual mind, for this, while it can be at enmity against God, may
be brought into peace and harmony with Him. Likewise, while there was a time
when it was not subject to the law of God, this passes when it becomes
converted to God. Then it does become subject to God's law and will. Thus,
there is the carnal mind which is at enmity against God and cannot come into subjection
to Him, and the fleshly mind which can be at peace with God
and be subject to the law. They therefore cannot be one and the same. Romans 7 pictures a man whose natural
or reasoning mind and will have been converted to the law of God. He desires
nothing more than to serve that law, but he cannot because he is dominated by
an indwelling power which is his absolute master. "For I delight in the
law of God after the inward man." He understands what the law of God
requires. In it, he sees justice,
righteousness, reason, and beauty and longs to obey and keep it. His mind and will have been converted
to the truth as he testifies in verse 18, "for to
will is present with me." But despite this, there is still no obedience
to the law. Why? Because the presence of another power
in his members wars against and rules over the power of his own mind and
will. "But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of
my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my
members." Romans 7:23. Study this picture. There is another law in his
members which warred against the law of his mind. This other law is not the
flesh and blood body for it is
described as being in the members. It is something dwelling in those members, just as a sickness or
disease dwells within the human organism and rules over it. Neither is it the
man's mind, for this power in him warred against the law of his mind. This verse sets out the existence of
three things making up a person at the same time. The law or power of sin
resident in the members; the law or the power of
his own mind; and the flesh itself. Many fail to see the three distinct
things in this verse. This leads to confusion as to what the new birth is and
likewise a misunderstanding of the mystery of Christ's incarnation. It was
stated earlier that a distinction must be made between the two different
natures, and that two must be seen where usually one is seen. The reference
to three things here does not contradict that, for the third item is not a
nature, but rather the mind or will. Either the carnal mind rules in the
fallen, sinful, human nature, or the divine nature rules, just as either the
good or evil tree grows in the same soil. THE TWO DEATHS 99 That there are three distinct aspects
is shown in the Bible illustrations of God's work in delivering us from the
bondage of the old master. That power which wars against the law of the mind
and brings us into captivity, is called a law. A law can never go to war, and
bring into captivity unless it is a power to be
reckoned with. We can then refer to the law as the power of sin which is in our members. The role of this power is illustrated
in the Bible object lessons of redemption. In the bondage of the Israelites
in Egypt, "The deliverance of Israel from Egypt was an object lesson of
redemption, which the Passover was intended to keep in memory." The
Desire of Ages, 77. God is a wise and skilful teacher. He knows the dullness
of the human mind drugged by the destructive effects of generations of
sinning, so He makes His lessons as simple and clear as possible. There is no
better method of teaching than by object lessons where the spiritual truths
to be taught are
illustrated by objects. The bondage of the Israelite in Egypt is a picture of bondage to the sin master.
If this is an exact object lesson, and there are three factors involved in
the sin problem, we will find them in the illustration of the Egyptian scene.
First there was the flesh and blood
body of the Israelite slave. All the talents, skills, and energies of that
body were employed in doing the service of Satan for it was his kingdom that
their labours established. That service was an arduous one under which the
Israelite groaned continually, but the satisfactions for the flesh which went
with it, leeks, garlics, and so on, were very
desirable. When they were deprived of them, some wanted to return to that
bondage so they might have those lusts satisfied once again. Then there was
the mind or the will of the man. This was different from the fallen,
sinful human nature of that slave. Think of those who were truly conscientious believers and really desired
to serve God. This class of person would have a real conviction that what he
was doing was against God. He would hate what he was doing and have an
intense desire to stop. He would not be a rebel against God any more than is
the man in Romans 7, yet, despite the will not to, he would still serve
Pharaoh day after day. The reason for this was the third factor; the power of
another mind ruling over him. This was the power of the slave master. While
he was in bondage to that power, he had no hope of even beginning to do God's
service, no matter how much he may have hated the service of sin, nor how
much he desired to serve God and set his will to obey Him. This is no sphere
for exercising the will because it is not the solution to this problem. In
this object lesson of bondage and deliverance, the slave master, Pharaoh, is
the counterpart of the carnal mind which is not subject to the law of God.
When the Word of God came to Pharaoh, that Word which is the highest and most
final authority in the universe, he did not and would not obey it. One
dreadful scourge after another was levelled at him. Again and again he
promised to obey, but this promise must be distinguished from 100 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT actual obedience, for the Bible does
not say that the carnal mind cannot promise to serve God. It can and will
make such promises. What the Word says is that the carnal mind cannot
serve God, and this it cannot do, just as nothing would change Pharaoh's
mind. Despite everything, he steadfastly refused to serve the God of heaven. How often we
see men and women brought face to face with death and disaster, promising to
serve the Lord if only He will deliver them from this calamity. The Lord
often does, but the promises are forgotten, and the same sinful life is
pursued as before. It is one thing to promise—anyone, even with the carnal
mind can do that—but another thing to actually do what has been
promised. The solution to this problem is not
the setting of the will, for it is powerless
under the slave
master's grip. Neither
is it pleading
for forgiveness of sins committed during
the day, even though that does have its essential place. Consider the following situation. At
the end of the day's service in the fields of Egypt, the conscientious slave
comes home bearing a burden of guilt for the day's work. He kneels by his
bedside and confesses that, during that day, he
has spent all his time, talents, and energies in building up Satan's kingdom. This confession is
as truthful as it is sincere. He pleads to be forgiven for what he has done
and, by faith, believes he has received pardon. But, has his problem been
solved? It has not. As he goes to bed, he is a slave, to arise in the morning
still a slave. He will be forced to do the same as he did the previous day. He
will live a life of sinning and
confessing, sinning and confessing, over and over again. A solution must come
other than merely seeking to be forgiven for the actions of sin which are the
result of his bondage. He must be delivered from sin's power, and this can
only be accomplished by the death of one of the three entities.
Distinguishing the existence of the three entities is essential to
understanding the problem. That one of them must die is the key to victory
over sin. This is taught in the procedure by
which the children of Israel were freed forever from Egyptian servitude.
There were six distinct and essential steps they had to pass before they were
free. If just one was omitted they could never
have had their freedom. It is
characteristic of counterfeit gospels today to teach all but one of
those essential steps. They look like the real thing,
but falling short
on one essential,
they cannot provide deliverance from sin. Before any male or his family could
partake of the Passover, he had to be circumcised. "And when a stranger
shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised,
and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall
be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof." Exodus 12:48. THE TWO DEATHS 101 Circumcision was the God-given symbol
of the everlasting covenant. It was instituted at that point when Abraham
finally ceased from his own works in seeking the fulfillment of
the promise and accepted God's works by faith. God said to him: "And God
said unto Abraham,
Thou shalt keep
My covenant therefore, thou,
and thy seed after thee in their generations. "This is My covenant, which
ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after
thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. "And ye shall circumcise the
flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt Me
and you. "And he that is eight days old
shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that
is born in the house, or bought with money of any
stranger, which is not of thy seed. "He that is born in thy house,
and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and My
covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting
covenant. "And the uncircumcised man child
whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off
from his people; he hath broken My covenant." Genesis 17:9-14. Abraham's efforts to bring forth the
child of promise had resulted in Ishmael, whom God could not accept. His own
efforts had produced only failure. From these he had to turn
away and fully and uncompromisingly, accept God's works before success could
be his. The same conditions governed the
successful departure of Israel from Egypt. Only God could devise a plan
assuring their release. Had they, in any particular, introduced any of their
own ways, the plan would have failed. To
ensure that there was no frustration of God's purpose, the people had to solemnly covenant to
submissively obey every divinely given particular. Their
reviving the rite of circumcision was their personal dedication to do this. Likewise, only God has the wisdom to formulate
the plan of salvation. Our task is to learn exactly what God has worked out
and obey with unquestioning
submission. This is
not natural to humans
who have developed a
disposition to manage their own affairs. Therefore, a positive decision to
surrender their own ways must be taken before salvation can be effected within
an individual. In
the days before
the crucifixion, circumcision
was required as the outward sign that this step had been taken. The outward sign is no longer
required, but the dedication to utterly forsake our own ways is still just as
essential. The next step
was to select the lamb, which was done on the tenth day of the first month.
Exodus 12:2. This is the symbol that all who would be saved must choose
Christ to be their Saviour. There are millions who have done that. But to
choose Christ to be our Saviour is not enough to ensure that we have been
saved. Was the Israelite free as soon as he had selected 104 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT the lamb? No,
and he could not be, until certain further steps had been taken. He had to
personally slay the lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month. This was
symbolic of our sins having slain Christ on Calvary to effect
our salvation. The slaying of the innocent victim by the sinner himself not
only confirms that our sins crucified the Son of God, but was an act
signifying the whole-hearted trust in, and acceptance of, that atonement.
This point is generally well understood by religious people today and
millions have accepted
the sacrificial atonement on the cross as being essential for their salvation. Consequently, it has
become the most popular theme in the churches, the subject of countless
sermons in unnumbered denominations, the theme of song, chorale, and poem,
and the content of earnest prayers. But while this is essential to salvation,
it is not sufficient. No Israelite obtained his freedom from Egypt at the
moment the lamb was slain. There were further steps yet to be taken. So,
trust in Christ's wonderful and allsufficient
sacrifice is not enough to bring deliverance from the bondage of sin. There
is more yet to be accomplished before this is gained. The Israelites had to
sprinkle the blood upon the door so that the death angel would pass over and
not destroy those within. Exodus 12:7, 23. Today, we need the imputed
righteousness of Christ to protect us from the deserved penalty of the sins
which are passed. Again, this was not enough, for those
people were not free when they had sprinkled the blood nor even when they stood under its protection
within their houses. Two more things had yet to happen. There had to be
another death; not the death of the lamb, but in symbolic form, the death of one
of the three entities. One may object that it was the first-born of Egypt who
died, not the individual slave masters specifically. It must not be
overlooked that, in those days, the first-born was heir to all the wealth and
power of the land, so, when he was slain, that which comprised Egypt was
slain. The character and spirit of Egypt is that of the slave master, so it
was by death that the power of the land to hold the people was broken. What
the Word of God given in direct command could not do, was accomplished by the
death of the first-born of Egypt. When
the first-born were dead and not before, Pharaoh called the leaders of Israel
and told them they were free; he had no more power to hold them. They went,
never to perform another day's service in that wicked land. It was not enough that the slave
master's power should be broken through the death of the first-born. The
Israelites, girded to go, must also eat the flesh of the Passover lamb,
as the death angel passed over them. The life of the lamb became the life of
the person, for what we eat today, walks and talks tomorrow. The lamb
symbolized Christ. Eating it indicated the receiving of Christ's life in
place of the old life. The Israelites could have done five
of those six things without the death of the first-born taking place, but
they still would have been forced to THE TWO DEATHS 105 continue the same life of servitude.
One of the three entities had to die and a new life take the place of the
old. Only then would the problem have been solved, the old life of servitude
ended, and the new life of service to God begun. Tragically,
the people of Israel did not profit from the object lesson. While they
experienced physical deliverance from temporal bondage, they did not
experience the spiritual deliverance which God designed they should. They
took Egypt with them in their hearts. We are to look to the lesson, not what
they made of it, in seeking to understand what the Lord designed. Let us
learn where they failed by seeing in the lesson what they should have
seen. Today, there
are churches which say that we must follow God's plan of salvation; accept
Christ for our Saviour; put our faith in His death upon the cross; stand
beneath the protection of His applied blood; and have Him dwelling in our
hearts, but they do not teach the existence of those three entities, that one
of them must die, and how it is to be put to death. To preach what
they do gives the message a strong Scriptural basis and leads the hearer to believe that the church
and its preachers are of God, but this is a deception, for there is no more
salvation in such preaching than there would have
been deliverance for the Israelite if the first-born of Egypt had not died. The object lesson from Egypt teaches
exactly what is taught in Romans 7 and 8. Three separate entities are
involved in the sin problem and one must be put to death before
deliverance can come. Another illustration of this truth is
provided by disease. In Bible times the dreadful scourge of leprosy was
recognized as portraying sinfulness "deep-rooted, ineradicable,
deadly, it was looked upon as a symbol of sin." The Desire of Ages, 262.
The explanations of the gospel found
in this book, are based upon the truth that there are three separate, though
closely inter-related entities involved—the physical, the mental,
and the spiritual. We have observed their presence and role in both the
Romans 7 experience and in the Egyptian problem. They are just as
readily recognizable in the situation where a person is in bondage to
disease. The sickness is resident in the body
though not actually a part of it, just as the sin-nature dwells in the human
nature. The leper knows his condition,
longs to be free of it, and desires to return to his loved ones and human
society again. But not until the leprosy is erased from his system is this possible.
Likewise, before the slave master in Egypt died, the Israelites were powerless to be free from
bondage. Another example
confirming • the power of
an alien sickness
to dominate a person against his will is the experience of a lad who,
for weeks in advance of a special picnic day, prepared for the happy event
only to be stricken with illness at the last moment. The night before the
long-awaited 106 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT day, he went to bed filled with happy
anticipation, but with the morning came a raging fever. Knowing the
power of sickness, his heart filled
with the dread of disappointment, but his will and mind determined that he
would still go. He tried to get up, but found that the presence of that
sickness in him was his real master so that he was forced against his will to
remain in bed for the day. The difference
between the lad's will and the power of that disease is understood by
all who have been sick. It cannot be said that the disease is the human nature, the flesh and blood
organism, but something which dwells in those members, feeds upon it, and controls
it against the will. So with the sin problem. The indwelling presence and
power of sin is not the flesh itself
but something which dwells in, feeds
upon, and controls it against the will of the person. That lad could not go on the outing unless
he was first delivered from that sickness, just as there was no hope of the
leper entering human society again unless he was first cleansed
from the presence of his leprosy. No one can ever cease from sin and do the
things he knows to be right, unless he is first delivered from the presence
and power of the sinful nature within him. An entity must die and be replaced
by a new life. Failure to teach this is literally to teach a cross-less
gospel, substituting it with a cross which is merely historical, distant, and
unsaving. Christ never
had that third sinful entity. He never had the carnal mind or enmity against
God and His law. What battle had He to fight against sin? The answer lies in
the fact that the removal of the disease, the slave master of Egypt, and the
carnal mind, does not take away that other entity, the fallen, sinful, human
nature. That will remain until the second coming of Christ when this
corruption must put on incorruption, and this
mortal, immortality. In that flesh is the potential for every sin, especially
as it has been depraved and deranged by the effect of millenniums of sinning.
The potential for sin is even in the flesh of sinless beings as demonstrated
by the fall of the perfect Lucifer in the perfect environment of heaven. No true
Christian will claim that he has holy flesh such as Lucifer had. As did the holy apostles, he will
confess the sinfulness of his human nature and every day battle with its
evils. Christ had to do this too. The highest exercises of
faith and the determined setting of the will, will be called forth in this real
and terrible battle. Many find this difficult to
understand. The objection is raised that, if a person has the divine life of
God in him, and has become pure and holy so far as this nature is concerned,
how can he ever sin again? They conclude that because Christ was God on
earth, He could hardly have sinned; that for Him it was impossible. The obvious answer is that
individuals who were filled with the life of God, and were pure and holy, did
fall into terrible sins. Reference is made THE TWO DEATHS 107 to Lucifer and the vast throng of
angels who followed him, and to Adam and Eve. That they had a perfect nature
did not save them from sinning. There must be another factor involved. This
is the will of the individual. God did not create a universe full of
automatons but of intelligent creatures with the freedom to choose whether or
not to serve Him. The difference between the man of Romans 7 and that of
Romans 8 is that the
former has the carnal mind which is the dominating power of sin ruling by force. This power overrides
the will, to serve every desire and lust of the flesh. The man is an evil
tree and has no hope but to serve sin every day. It is virtually automatic. The man of Romans 8, being a truly
born again Christian, does not possess this carnal mind but has the mind of
Christ. This mind is the power, life, and character of God which has
become his own life and character. The man is a good tree and it is assumed
that automatically he will produce only good fruit. But there is a
difference between the carnal mind's nature and the nature of Christ's mind.
The nature of the carnal mind is to compel and control against the
individual's will with no regard for him whatsoever. This is not the nature
of God and Christ. Their nature is to serve, lovingly, freely, and
fully. The Lord will do nothing without our co-operation and consent. In a
certain sense, the divine nature in us serves the will. We do not use the divine nature which is
the Spirit of God. That Spirit is there to work His will
and deliver us when we, in living faith, look to it in the hour of temptation.
The divine nature in us serves the will to subdue, control, discipline, and deny the lusts and
appetites of the flesh. When one has been delivered from the carnal mind's
controlling power, everything depends upon the right action of the will. When
Satan brings his terrible temptations against the flesh, the Lord can do
nothing unless and until we make a definite decision not to yield to that
temptation. That decision must be made in the
power of a living faith in the capacity of God to save from temptation. Just
because a person has the sinful, fallen, human nature, is not a guarantee
that he will sin. He does not need to sin at all. With the carnal mind he has
no choice, but when delivered from the presence of that power, he has the
living power of God in him. If he will watch unto prayer to discern the
nature of Satan's temptations, and resolutely set his will against them in
the sure knowledge of, and faith in, God's power to save him, he will not
sin, but have complete victory. Jesus had the selfsame flesh and blood with
which we are afflicted. Satan could and did come to Him with every incitement
to that flesh to assert itself and lead Him into sin. Christ knew the power
and pressure of every temptation as we know it, but He set His will in the
knowledge of God's power to save Him. This was how He maintained a complete
and permanent victory
over the flesh, the world, and the devil. This is the victory the Saviour gained and which
we are to gain. He came with no power beyond what is freely offered to us and
accepted the sinful flesh with 108 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT which we are handicapped. That He
triumphed, is the believer's assurance of success in the same battle. "Some may have thought, while reading thus far, that we were depreciating the character of
Jesus, by bringing Him down to the level of sinful man. On
the contrary, we are simply exalting the 'Divine power' of our blessed Saviour, who Himself
voluntarily descended to the level of sinful man, in order that He might
exalt man to His own spotless purity, which He retained under the most adverse
circumstances. His humanity only veiled His Divine nature, by which He was
inseparably connected with the invisible God, and which was more than able
successfully to resist the weaknesses of the flesh. There was in His whole
life a struggle. The flesh, moved upon by the enemy of all righteousness,
would tend to sin, yet His Divine nature never for a moment harbored an evil desire, nor did His Divine power for a
moment waver. Having suffered in the flesh all that men can possibly suffer,
He returned to the throne of the Father as spotless as when He left the
courts of glory. When He lay in the tomb, under the power of death, 'it was
impossible that He should be holden of it,' because
He 'knew no sin.' " Christ and His Righteousness, 28, 29. 12 Seeming
Contradictions The
incarnation of the Son of God into fallen, sinful, human flesh and blood, is a
sublime and wonderful truth worked out in the minds of the Infinite Ones. It cannot be fully
expressed within the limited framework of human language, yet as far as
possible, it has been revealed to the human family. It is not surprising if there are
certain expressions of this revelation which are difficult to understand and
seem to contradict the general pattern. We recognize the existence of this in
other subjects. From our previous experience we have learned the care which
needs to be taken in the study of the incarnation. An example of this is
found in the question of the soul's
mortality. A Seventh-day Adventist knows and understands from the overall picture of Scripture
revelation, that the soul of man is not immortal and that the lost do not
suffer endless torments in hell fire. But some Scriptures appear to teach
that the lost do suffer eternal fiery punishings.
"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented
day and night for ever and ever." Revelation
20:10. Those who understand Bible teaching on the immortality of the human
soul will understand that this Scripture, in the light of all others on the
subject, does not mean that the wicked are to burn forever and ever, in the
sense given in our modern languages. Tragically,
some take a verse like this and build their whole belief on it, despite clear
Scriptural teachings to the contrary. Those who understand the subject
clearly, are saddened to see this deplorable kind of approach to Bible study. The
preponderance of Scripture witness shows that Christ came in our sinful, fallen
humanity and not in the holy flesh of the unfallen Adam. However, there
are several statements which seem to tell quite a different story. Those who reject the concept
that Christ came in the same flesh and 110 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT blood as the children, lean heavily
upon these statements. We will see what they really do say, so that it can be
understood by all who will, that there is no contradiction in God's Word. The Second
Adam Firstly, consider the statements used
to teach that Christ came in the same condition of spotless perfection of the
flesh as Adam had before he fell. "Christ came to the earth,
taking humanity and standing as man's representative, to show in the
controversy with Satan that man, as God created him,
connected with the Father and the Son, could obey every divine requirement." The Signs
of the Times, June 9, 1898. The key words, "as God created
him," refer to unfallen man as he was in the Garden of Eden. Let care be
taken not to make this statement say more than was intended. The statement
does not directly say that Christ came as man was when first created. Does the statement infer, or say
sufficient to warrant this conclusion being deduced from it? The inference
could be taken that as Jesus came to prove that man, as God created him,
could keep the law, Jesus would have had to come in the same state, to give
that proof. If Christ came as man was first
created and kept all the law, it would have proved that this man could also
have kept the law to perfection. But if Christ came with the immeasurably
greater handicap of sinful, fallen flesh, and kept the
law to perfection under those conditions, would that not, in a more decided and emphatic way, prove
that man, as God created him, could keep all the law? It certainly would. This statement does not tell us which
condition of flesh Christ was in. It simply states that He gave the proof
that man as God created him, could keep all the law to perfection. Let no
effort be made to have the statement say more than that. The Lord has not left us in ignorance
of the condition of Christ's nature in comparison to Adam's. The Desire of
Ages, 117, explicitly states that Christ did not come with a flesh and
blood body in the same condition of perfection enjoyed by Adam in the
Paradise Garden. "Satan had pointed to Adam's sin
as proof that God's law was unjust, and could not be obeyed. In our humanity,
Christ was to redeem Adam's failure. But
when Adam was assailed by the tempter, none of the effects of sin
were upon him.
He stood in the strength of
perfect manhood, possessing the full vigor of mind and body. He was
surrounded with the glories of Eden, and was in daily communion with heavenly
beings. It was not thus with Jesus when He entered the wilderness to cope
with Satan. For four thousand years the race had been decreasing in physical
strength, in mental power, and in moral worth; and Christ took upon Him the
infirmities of degenerate humanity. Only thus could He rescue man from the
lowest depths of his degradation." SEEMING
CONTRADICTIONS 111 The first statement tells that Christ
came to show that the law could have been kept by Adam. The second one shows
the great differences between Adam as he was in the Garden of Eden before he
fell, and Christ when He came four thousand years later to give a
demonstration of faultless
obedience. Jesus proved that man as God created him could keep all the law, not by merely coming in
the same advantageous situation enjoyed by Adam, but in the perilous position
of fearful disadvantage suffered by men and women four thousand years after
the fall. This proved conclusively that Adam could have done it in the Garden
of Eden. The Difference
Between Where and How "Christ is called the second
Adam. In purity and holiness, connected with God and beloved by God, He began
where the first Adam began. Willingly He
passed over the ground where Adam fell, and redeemed Adam's failure." The Youth's
Instructor, June 2, 1898. "He vanquished Satan in the same
nature over which in Eden Satan obtained the victory." The Youth's
Instructor, April 25, 1901. "He began where the first Adam
began," is immediately interpreted to mean that He began in the same
condition. If this was the intended meaning, the statement, to be accurate,
would have read, He began as the first Adam
began. The word where, could mean at the same place as far as actual condition is concerned, but it
is not the only possible meaning. It can also mean the
beginning was at the same point in each case with no reference to
the comparative conditions of each beginning. Illustrating this is the following
account of beginning a modern journey as compared to two hundred years ago.
"Settling into the air-conditioned comfort of
the express, we
began the journey
where great-great grandfather
had begun his trek to his first homestead far to the north." The word
"where" indicates nothing more than the geographical point from
which each journey began. Beyond this there is little in common, for the two
conditions are vastly different. The first journey long ago was under most
trying conditions, while the modern one is made in the greatest comfort and
convenience. We must look further than this
statement to find if "where" means in the same condition, or
something else. Reference to the statement from The Desire of Ages, 117, and
others of like nature, shows there is a vast difference in the condition of the
two Adams as they began their battle with temptation. The statement cannot be
interpreted to mean that the second Adam began as the first Adam. To take
this meaning one would have to ignore other statements given by inspiration,
or admit that the Word of God was contradictory. Christ did
begin where the first Adam began. This is not a point of geography but an
identical spiritual battle ground. Adam's first great test was on the
question of appetite and it was on this battle ground that Christ 112 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT first met and conquered Satan. On
that same point where the battle began for Adam, it began for Christ.
"With Christ, as with the holy pair in Eden, appetite was the ground of the first
great temptation. Just where the ruin began, the work of our redemption must
begin. As by the indulgence of appetite Adam fell, so by the denial of
appetite Christ must overcome." The Desire of
Ages, 117. This statement clarifies the one
under consideration and shows in what sense, and in what respect, Christ
began where Adam began. In the last statement Christ gained the victory in
the same nature over which Satan
triumphed in the Garden. That nature was human nature. The statement assures us that Christ
did not come to this earth as an angel to fight
the good fight of faith, but as a man. The nature He took was the same as
that of Adam's in the sense that both natures were human nature, but it was not in the same
condition of perfection and purity, as other statements show. This distinction
is the key to understanding these otherwise
difficult statements. The Second
Adam Christ is the second Adam. Of this
there is no question. It is a sad error to reason that because He is, He must
be exactly like the first Adam. The position in which Adam would have
continued forever to be father of the human race unto eternal life was very
different from where Christ took up the same work.
Therefore, the second Adam had to be different from the first. The sanctuary shows that
Christ was not made of the same dust of the earth of which Adam was made.
When God made Adam He took the dust which then was, to make him—a dust
upon which lay no curse, no death, and no tendency to produce thorn or
thistle or any such thing. This is not the dust from which the second Adam's
body was made. His body was made
from the dust of the day in which He lived. The dust had borne the curse of sin for four
thousand years and was prone to grow every kind of thorn,
thistle, and evil thing. The flesh of Christ—not His divine nature, but
His flesh—was as prone toward sin as the flesh of any of us. During His whole lifetime He
experienced the struggle to keep that flesh and blood under perfect control
and to deny even to death, every desire for its sinful
gratification. No legitimate argument can be raised
to deny that "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and
blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the
same [flesh and blood as the children]; . . . For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but
He took on Him the seed of Abraham." Hebrews 2:14, 16. Every child of God must cling with
irresistible tenacity to this truth. To lose this grip is to lose eternal
life and join the ranks of antichrist, for " 'God with us' is the surety of our
deliverance from sin, the assurance of our power to obey the law of
heaven." The Desire of Ages, 25. Had Christ SEEMING
CONTRADICTIONS 113 come to us as
Adam before the fall, then He could never have taken over the role of father of the human race
unto eternal life. He could do this only by taking upon His sinless nature
our sinful nature. Because it had to be done and because He did it that way,
we have the assurance of eternal life. No
Propensities The next
statement is used by those who believe that Christ came in perfect and holy
flesh just like Adam's flesh in the Garden. It is one of their strongest
supports. "Be careful, exceedingly careful as to how you dwell upon the
human nature of Christ. Do not set Him before the people as a man with the
propensities of sin. He is the second Adam. The first Adam was created a
pure, sinless being, without a taint of sin upon him; he was in the image of
God. He could fall, and he did fall
through transgressing. Because of
sin his posterity was born with
inherent propensities of disobedience.
But Jesus Christ was the only begotten Son of God. He took upon Himself human nature, and was
tempted in all points as human nature is tempted. He could have sinned; He
could have fallen, but not for one moment was there in Him an evil
propensity. . . . Never, in any way, leave the slightest impression upon
human minds that a taint of, or inclination to, corruption rested upon
Christ, or that He in any way yielded to corruption . . . let every human
being be warned from the ground of making Christ altogether human, such an
one as ourselves; for it cannot be." Seventh-day Adventist Bible
Commentary 5:1128, 1129. This is an extract from a letter
written specifically to a certain Evangelist William L. H. Baker of Australia
in 1895. No record is available to tell what this man was teaching. It would
be much easier to understand what teaching of error was being met by this
letter from Sister Ellen White if there was. Hearing this statement is like
listening to a person speaking to another on the telephone. You can only hear
one side of the conversation and this does not make much sense if any. This
places the statement into a different category from
that of straightforward doctrine. Nevertheless, the statement is worthy
of consideration. Thought must be given to the word propensity as it may have
application in more than one area. The
dictionary definition is inclination, bent, or tendency. It signifies a leaning or drawing in a
certain direction. In dealing with our experience, there
are two types of statements setting out the way propensities are to be
overcome. One statement speaks of doing away with them. The other, of
controlling them. "We must learn
of Christ. We must know what He is to those He has ransomed. We must realize
that through belief in Him it is our privilege to be partakers of the divine
nature, and so escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. Then
we are cleansed from all sin, all defects of character. We need not retain
one sinful propensity. Christ is the sinbearer;
John pointed the people to Him, saying, 'Behold the Lamb of God, 114 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT which taketh away the sin of the
world.' And Paul declared, 'You hath He quickened, who were dead in
trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, .
. . and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. .' As we partake of the divine nature,
hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong are cut away from the
character, and we are made a living power for good."
Review and Herald, April 24, 1900. The language in this extract is clear
in that the propensity or tendency is not to remain, but to be removed or cut
away from the character. This is distinct and different from controlling it.
If the propensity is no longer there, it cannot be controlled. It would be
contradictory to say that a propensity was to be controlled and at the same
time eradicated. It has to be one or the other. By contrast, this next statement
speaks of control as the way to cope with the problem. "The greatest
triumph given us by the religion of Christ is control over ourselves. Our
natural propensities must be controlled, or we can never overcome as Christ
overcame." Testimonies 4:235. One statement speaks about the doing away
of propensities and the second
with the control
of them. So
there are two
categories of propensities,
tendencies, bents, and drawings toward evil which have to be taken care of in
the Christian life. A distinction here must be understood, just as the
distinctions between the two comings of Christ, the two laws, and other sets of two things called by
the same name but which are different. Some will say, "A propensity is a
propensity and you cannot go along splitting straws over definitions."
The Jews said that the coming of Christ or the Messiah was the coming of
Christ and there was no point in splitting straws over definitions of a first
and second coming. Those who kept this view point, lost their eternal lives.
They provide the warning that we must understand the differences between
those things which are different and yet called by the same name. The first of
these two, telling us that we need not retain one sinful propensity,
indicates that as we get rid of these we become more and more like Christ.
"Ever learning of the divine Teacher, daily partaking of His nature, we
co-operate with God in overcoming Satan's temptations. God works, and man
works, that man may be one with Christ as Christ is one with God. Then we sit
together with Christ in heavenly places. The mind rests with
peace and assurance
in Jesus." The
Review and Herald, April 24, 1900. SEEMING
CONTRADICTIONS 115 If, by getting rid of these
propensities, we become more and more like Christ, it follows that He never
had them in the first place. It would also be concluded that Evangelist Baker
taught that Christ did have these evil propensities
which we must get rid of, to be as He was upon this earth. What such evil propensities need to
be eradicated from the life? "Selfindulgence,
self-pleasing, pride, and extravagance must be renounced. We cannot be Christians and gratify these
propensities." The Review and Herald,
May 16, 1893. Such propensities in the form of an
active, living spirit of self-pleasing, self-indulgence, and extravagance,
will not be found in a true Christian any more than in Christ. If such a
spirit had been found in Christ, He would have had the carnal mind, would
have been at enmity with God, would have been lost Himself, and therefore
totally unable to save us. These listed propensities are the ones we are not
to retain. We are to be delivered from them to become like Christ as He was
upon this earth. Apart from those to be eradicated, there are those which
must be controlled.
"Our natural propensities ..." In this there is some significant
truth. "The greatest triumph given us by the religion of Christ is
control over ourselves. Our natural propensities must be controlled, or we can
never overcome as Christ overcame." Testimonies 4:235. If we control these natural
propensities or inclinations to evil, we shall overcome as Christ overcame. The word "as" indicates that we shall overcome in the
same way as Christ. What does this mean? If, by controlling our natural
propensities, we overcome as Christ overcame, He must also have had natural
propensities and must have overcome by keeping them
in perfect control. "His humanity only veiled His
Divine nature, by which He was inseparably connected with the invisible God,
and which was more than able successfully to resist the weaknesses of the
flesh. There was in His whole life a struggle. The flesh,
moved upon by the enemy of all righteousness, would tend to sin, yet
His Divine nature never for a moment harbored an
evil desire, nor did His Divine power for a moment waver. Having suffered in
the flesh all that men can possibly suffer, He returned to the throne of the
Father as spotless as when He left the courts of glory. When He lay in
the tomb, under the power of death, 'it was impossible that He should be holden
of it,' because He 'knew no sin.' " Christ and His Righteousness, 28,
29. When Sister
White was speaking to Evangelist Baker and admonishing him not to set Christ
forth with the propensities of evil, she was speaking of the former category
which must be eradicated from us and which Christ never had; not of the
latter which must be controlled. The distinction here is as real as the
distinction between the two comings of Christ and the two laws. Salvation for
the Jews depended on understanding this distinction. 116 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT Salvation for the Protestant world depends,
among other things, on understanding
the distinction between the moral and ceremonial laws. Understanding the
nature of Christ, essential to our present and eternal welfare, depends,
among other things, on understanding the distinction between those
propensities which Christ never had and the ones He did have. We do not
consider it too much for the Jews to have understood that there were two
separate comings of Christ, nor
unreasonable for the Protestants to understand that there
are two separate laws. Therefore, it should not be considered too difficult
to understand the distinctions between the two different categories of
propensities. While we can never set forth Christ as having the evil spirit
of self-pleasing and the like, He did have the natural propensities of the
sinful, fallen, human nature. The real problem lies in the inability to
understand another distinction, between the carnal mind and the human nature
in which that mind dwells. They are generally seen to be one thing, and the
conclusion is drawn that the moment the carnal mind is removed, we have
sinless, holy flesh. This is not so. Those who have been truly born again,
and no longer retain the sinful propensities, know that they do not have
sinless and holy flesh, but human nature which they cannot trust. That Jesus did not possess the evil
propensities, does not mean He had holy flesh—anything but that. The
incarnation is God dwelling in fallen, sinful human nature, the same nature
as the children have. The Roman Catholics and the rest of the antichristian
world may teach that God came in sin/ess flesh, but the true people of God must ever
understand and teach that Christ came in the same flesh
and blood as the children He came to save. Such An One As
Ourselves The statement in the previous section
closes with, "Let every human being be warned from the ground of making
Christ altogether human, such an one as ourselves, for it cannot
be." Now once again let it be seen what
this statement is not saying. It is not saying that we are to be warned from
making Christ's human nature altogether the same as our own. If it
said this, it would be denying the teaching of the Scriptures which declare,
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He
also Himself likewise took part of the same [flesh and blood as the
children]; . . ." Hebrews 2:14. Furthermore, Sister White would have
been denying what she had written in other parts of her works. The Lord does
not contradict Himself through His earthly messengers. The statement
says that we are not to make Christ as a
whole, altogether human. Anyone understanding the message so far will
have seen the stress laid upon the fact that Christ was not altogether human.
He SEEMING
CONTRADICTIONS 117 was God, and had been so from eternity.
In the fullest and truest sense He was, is, and ever will be God; the One of
whom it is written, "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is
given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The
Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6. Even though His human nature was
altogether such as ours, He could never be altogether such as we, for He is
God, the eternal One, which we can never and will never be. He is beginningless: we have a beginning; He is the
Creator: we are His creatures; He never sinned: we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. .
It is impossible to make Him "altogether human, such an one
as ourselves, for this cannot be." Not the
Sinfulness There are further statements which
assure us that, while Jesus took the selfsame nature as we have, He never
entered into the sin of which all others of the human family have been guilty
in lesser or greater degree. "In taking upon Himself man's nature in its
fallen condition, Christ did not in the least participate in its sin. . . .
We should have no misgivings in regard to the
perfect sinlessness of the
human nature of
Christ." Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary 5:1131. Those who want it believed that
Christ came in the sinless perfection of Adam's human nature, take these
statements to mean more than the author ever intended. They are taken to mean
that Christ did not take a human nature in the same condition as any other person,
that is, that His nature was not in itself sinful in its condition. But the
statement says He took upon
Himself man's nature "in its fallen condition". It assures us that despite this, which was a terrible
handicap to bear in the hour of temptation and trial, He never committed a
single sin. We can believe and know with a wonderful sense of relief and joy,
that even though Christ's human nature had every potential for sin, never
once did He allow temptation to lead Him to participation in sinful ways and
practices. No Real
Problems The Word of
God is not confused, misleading, or contradictory. Any person prepared to
honestly study the subject, first deciding from the weight of evidence to
leave the difficult and obscure statements till clearer light comes, will
have no real problem in understanding what the Lord wants us to know. It is
too much to expect the human mind to grasp all the mysteries of the divine
mind in one contact with the living Word of truth. The truth is never really
understood in the mind alone. It must be experienced before its power and
beauty can dawn upon the mind and its clarity and simplicity be appreciated. None of these statements justify the
belief that Jesus came in a different flesh and blood human nature from the
one we have to bear as a fearful 118 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT handicap and
burden in the battle against sin. Only when they are taken to mean
more than they say can they appear to teach what was never intended. Jesus Christ, the
eternal God who came and dwelt in human nature in its
fallen and sinful
condition, did not participate in
the sins of that humanity, but,
resisting and overcoming, He triumphed over sin, death, and the grave.
He lives forever more as our Saviour, Priest, and Redeemer. Understanding
and experiencing these truths, is life and salvation to every needy soul. 13 The Papacy Is
Antichrist At an early point in this study, it
was asserted that it would not be possible to correctly evaluate the issues
in the present and final scenes of the great controversy, nor would it
be possible to penetrate the disguises in which antichrist would finally
appear unless first the truth on the doctrine of Christ was clearly
understood. For this reason, the space so far occupied has been largely
devoted to a study of the doctrine of Christ, which is the study of the
natures in which He appeared, and what He accomplished by coming as He
did. It was God's intention that, in the
beginning, man should know only good and be forever blessed in that
knowledge. He specifically warned him against entering into an acquaintance
with good and evil by admonishing him not to eat of the forbidden tree. It
would have been forever well with man if he had limited himself to the
knowledge of good. But the situation today is quite different from that which
existed in the Garden of Eden. Mankind, in Adam and Eve, chose to enter into
the knowledge of evil
and thus has
exposed himself ever since
to the deceptions of the evil one. Man failed on the test of rejecting
error in the first Paradise, and not one of us shall ever enter the Paradise
restored except we overcome where our first parents failed. In the beginning,
man chose to know
good and evil, and therefore from that time forward we have to face the test of error and
deception. From this there is no escape. It follows then that it is not
enough to know the doctrine of Christ. We must also be able to recognize the
doctrine of antichrist, and to resolutely reject it because of what it is. If we are not able to do this, then
the penalty will surely be destruction, for " 'God with us' is the
surety of our deliverance from sin, the assurance of our power to obey the law of
heaven." The Desire of Ages, 25. If we are robbed of that truth, then as
surely are we robbed of eternal life, because heaven is for the overcomer,
the one who knows a living deliverance from the power of sin. 120 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT So important and serious is it that we
be able to distinguish between the truth and the error so that no man takes
away from us the doctrine, "God with us," that it is written: "Beloved, believe not every
spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false
prophets are gone out into the world. "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh is of God: "And
every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is
not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that
it should come; and even now already is it in the world." 1 John 4:1-3.
Nothing could be more clearly stated than the truth that there is more than
one spirit in the world today. One is the Spirit of God, and the other is the
spirit of Satan which is the spirit of antichrist. While the former comes to
bring life eternal, the latter comes to destroy through the subtlety of gross
deception. A clear and vital fact which must be faced is that the Lord does
not automatically protect us from the power of deception. There is a definite and specific part we
have to play, which, if neglected or left undone, will result in our being deceived into
Satan's snares and into subsequent eternal death. The specific
part we have to play is to test the spirits to see whether they are of God or
of the devil. God supplies the tests.
He tells us how to distinguish one from the other, and He will supply the
Holy Spirit as the Guide and Teacher
in this work
to give us
spiritual perception and discernment, but the actual work of
applying the test and coming to a decision is our work and ours alone. Not
even God Himself will do the work for us. It must be faithfully borne in mind
that Satan is as much aware of this requirement for us to test the spirits,
as he is aware of what those tests actually are. He knows that every
spirit that confesseth that Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every
spirit which denies this is of himself. Therefore, it must be expected that
he will seek to make it appear that his agents do
fulfil the test of Christ even though they deny that He came in the flesh. Let neither the truth of this
nor the seriousness of the implications be overlooked by anyone living in
these highly critical times. Awareness of this will lead
each to examine
with close and
guarded care the
enemy's pretensions until the real nature of the teaching is truly
seen for what it is. This will require a sense of the danger and subtlety of
the deception; it will call for close and careful study; it will demand much prayer and deep
searching of heart; and it will necessitate that we individually have an
experience within ourselves of the power of Christ's doctrine. This is time
for neither complacency nor self-confidence, but only for the most careful
and studied appraisal of the situation as it does exist. Some object that Jesus said,
"Judge not, that ye be not judged. "For with what judgment ye
judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye
mete, it shall be measured to you
again." Matthew 7:1, THE PAPACY IS
ANTICHRIST 121 Jesus meant this to be understood
exactly as He said it. By the same Spirit the words of 1 John 4:1-3 were
written, where we are told to try the spirits to see whether
they are of God or not. If it is argued that the last
statement cancels out the other so that we are to obey it rather than both,
then this is charging that the Scriptures are contradictory.
It is saying that God is in confusion, on one occasion giving certain instructions and on another,
something quite the opposite. He is not that kind of God. If there is any
apparent contradiction between these two passages it is not in the
Scriptures, but in the reader's mind. We have to understand Christ's words in
the sense He meant them, and the words of the other Scriptures in the sense
they are meant. This is not difficult, for the Scriptures show what is to be
done. Christ's words are concerned with judging the character and motive of
other individuals. This involves reading the heart which only God can do.
Therefore Jesus said we are not to judge our fellow men. The instruction in 1 John 4 is not
concerned with judging motives or character but with the specific teaching
espoused. We are to test and try the teaching, not the individual. When the
teaching is found false, the bearer must be a
false teacher also. This does not mean that we question his motives, sincerity, or enthusiasm. It
means that we cannot entertain that man as a teacher of truth. To do so, is
to expose ourselves to the subtle and eroding
influences of false teaching. Christ's words do not cancel the
instruction to test and try the Spirits. God
requires this and will
warmly commend those who
obey this instruction.
Jesus, in The Revelation, spoke approvingly of the church in Ephesus.
"Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars
in His right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
"I know
thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them
which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are
not, and hast found them liars." Revelation 2:1, 2. These are genuine
words of commendation. They were spoken by the True Witness who never speaks
a lie. The impartiality of this Witness is revealed when He told the same
people wherein they were walking in error. Therefore, if the Ephesians in
their judging of the false prophets' teachings were disobeying Christ's words
in Matthew 7:1, 2, "Judge not, that ye be not judged," then Christ
would not have commended them for doing so. The fact that He did approve,
confirms that they did as they ought to have done. How would it be possible for those
who believe that testing the spirits is unchristian, to participate in giving
the last warning message during the loud cry, when
that message is an exposure and denunciation of Babylon the Great? To know this, one has only
to read the strong and forthright words of Revelation 18:1-4. 122 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT "And after these things I saw
another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was
lightened with his glory. "And he cried mightily with a strong voice,
saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is
fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of
every unclean and hateful bird. "For all nations have drunk of the wine
of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication
with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance
of her delicacies. "And I heard another voice from
heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her
sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."
Are these bold and pointed words?
They certainly are! Are they a specific exposure of a specific power at a
given time? Yes! Will they be given under the direction and by the power of
the Spirit of God? They will be given with a measure of the Spirit's power
and a closeness of direction never before
known in human history. It will be right to do this; not a contradiction of Christ's instruction
to judge not. What will be said of the exploits of
the great men of Bible and church history—Elijah, John the Baptist, Christ,
Paul, Wycliffe, Huss, Jerome, Luther, Wesley, and a host of others? In the
boldest terms, and without hesitation, they openly declared the apostate
leaders of their time antichrist, Babylon, the troublers of Israel, whited
sepulchres, a generation of vipers, and the sons of the father of all liars.
It would seem that this was passing judgment upon
that generation. But it was not judging the individuals so much as the doctrines they held and
the teachings they espoused. No one would condemn these men for the
declarations they made. Neither were they breaking Christ's command to judge
not. We offer no apology for speaking
plainly in regard to certain systems and organizations in the world as those
systems are evaluated from the tests given to us in the Word of God. We do
this because we are commanded, and must obey, not because of any motive of
self-interest or superior righteousness.
It is essential that this command be obeyed for those vast systems of religion make the strongest claims to being God's
chosen instrument in the world today. These claims create critical issues
which must be settled. The Lord, knowing the need of His people, has handed
them a measuring line by which they can know the real nature of these claims.
No one needs to be in doubt about these things. This may be illustrated by a
situation where two people are arguing about the length of an object. One
says it is so long, but the other contends that it is larger or smaller than
that. A third person comes with a measuring rule in his hand, which he offers
the contenders, with the statement, "Hereby you will know the length of
this object." If they take
the offered measuring rule and use it to measure the object, they will know
exactly how long it is. There will be no argument left. THE PAPACY IS
ANTICHRIST 123 Today there are those debating
whether this or that organization is of God. The argument rages back and
forth, but there is no need for this. The Word of God offers an infallible
measuring line, "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God."
If we take this rule and measure the teachings of today's churches with their claims of being the true
children of God, we will know with certainty whether these claims are true or
false. When the Lord says, "Hereby know ye,"
it cannot be argued that He has given a test impossible to apply. That
is not the way the Father operates. This is the
infallible test along with others given in the Word of God whereby we can
distinguish Christ from antichrist. "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of
God: "And
every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is
not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that
it should come; and even now already is it in the world." 1 John 4:2, 3. Having set forth the importance and
seriousness of the need to apply this test, the time has come to make some
specific applications of it so that we can understand the implications of the
publication, Movement of Destiny, by L.
E. Froom. The first step will be to take the
teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and see how they specifically show
that she is the antichrist of history, by applying the measuring line given
in 1 John 4:1-3. It is tremendously important for the true
child of God to know and be confirmed in this, for Bible prophecy reveals
that this church and this power will again play the leading role in the last
days, oppressing and seeking to utterly destroy God's people. It was
tremendously important for the reformers to know it in their time. Without
that knowledge they could never have achieved the
great works of reformation they did, and we could never have had the blessings
we do have, as a result. Had the Roman Church had her way then, we would still be locked in
the ignorance and slavery of the Middle Ages. No careful
student would deny that the reformation, as spearheaded by Wycliffe, Huss,
Jerome, and Luther in their respective times and lands, was a direct conflict
with the Roman Catholic Church and an effort to be delivered from the bondage
of her deceptive teachings and power. This determined effort to find
deliverance stemmed from the fact that they had discovered from the living
Word of God that the Roman Church was the antichrist of history. They found
this when they saw her hatred of the gospel which had set them free. They
read it in her spirit of persecution; they applied the test, "By their
fruits ye shall know them," and read in the fruits which abounded
wherever she went, the message of a corrupt and evil church at war with God;
they saw that she did not speak according to the law and the testimony, by
which they knew there was no truth in her at 124 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT all; as final and full confirmation
of it they read the great prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation and saw the
rising of that power predicted with great accuracy long in advance of her
full appearance. Out of the great struggles of the
Middle Ages there emerged the Protestant conviction that the Roman Church is
the great antichrist of history. Those who have held
steadfastly to that conviction have also seen the certainty that she will
recover her lost power and use it with greater ruthlessness than ever before.
Before she employs that power in the work of persecution, she will use all
the deception she can to ensnare the mind of every man, woman, and child
possible. Only those who know the truth as it is in Jesus will be able to
resist that deception. We will not reiterate all the
evidences which show the Roman Church to be the antichrist. The reader ought
to be well established on this. We are concerned with the way the test of 1
John 4:1-3 certifies and vindicates the position of
the reformers that Rome is the antichrist of history; the power above all others of which we must be
aware and against whom we must be on guard. This is not inferring that the
Roman Catholic Church alone has to be
watched. Today, Rome's
influence has spread so far that she is manifested in a thousand different
disguises appearing in every false religion in the world. In this broader
area she is to be seen and guarded against. The great Bible tests of antichrist apart
from 1 John 4:1-3, told the Protestant reformers, and tell us,
that, unquestionably, the Roman Catholic Church is the greatest antichrist of
history, the enemy of God, His truth, and people.
This being so, she will fail to pass the test of 1 John 4:1-3. She denies that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh. As already
observed, both Satan and the papacy are aware of the Bible tests for identifying antichrist. The
enemy knows he will work much more effectively if his true identity remains
hidden. Therefore, he works to make it appear that within the Roman Catholic
Church the doctrine of Christ, not of antichrist, is being taught. This means
she will apparently proclaim that Christ is come in the same flesh and blood
as the children. But, behind and beneath these assertions lies the real
doctrine of that church. This is where the actual, effective dogma lies.
There it will be seen that she denies that Christ is come in the flesh and
thus she bears the mark of antichrist. She will not be a clumsy imposter in
this work of deception. It will be a most clever and skilful counterfeit. It
will appear that she has the living truth. To
many, the Roman Church has been represented as an imposture so obviously at variance with the
truth that anyone could see it, but this is a grim mistake. In the test
given to us in the Word of Christ, "Ye shall know them by their fruits,
do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" the Roman Church
is well able to make it appear that she produces the finest of fruit.
Expressed in her writings are the highest standards of morality, virtue, and THE PAPACY IS
ANTICHRIST 125 the need to put away all sin. Her
"good works" are in the marvellous devotion and self-sacrifice of
her missionary priests and nuns spending the whole of their lives in some
isolated African village, Amazon jungle, or Eskimo wilderness. See the long hard hours worked, the multiplied orphanages, hospitals, and
schools. Consider the total sum of the "good" done through this
sacrifice and devotion in these institutions. It must be agreed that there is
no other church or organization which does so much "good" in the
world. Surely such "good fruits" declare this test well and truly passed?
If the investigator seeking for the true church of God upon the earth looks only at these things, he
must admit that here is the fruit he is searching for. But superficiality in
these things is death. The search must be more penetrating and careful. The
fruit of the teaching of a church must actually produce the fruit of the
Spirit which is in-built love, joy, peace, gentleness, and such like. It is
one thing to uphold the highest standards but another to teach and uphold a
gospel which actually produces what is taught to be right. Many cannot see
this. They interpret energetic preaching on the standards as evidence that
God is really in the message of the church. If this was so, practically every
church would be of God. There would be no antichrist. As the church of Rome is very concerned
to make it appear that she fulfils every Bible test, she also goes to great
effort to make it appear that she passes the test of 1 John 4:1-3. As
evidence of this, in A Catechism for Non-Catholics
by Reverend Martin Farrell, published by the United Book Service, Box 127, Orland Park,
Illinois, U.S.A., November 5, 1961, the question is raised; "Is Christ a human being the
same as you are?" Page 14. Knowing that the Roman Catholic Church is
antichrist, and denies that Christ is a human being the same as we are, we
would expect the answer to say that He
was not altogether a human being the same as we are. Yet, this church carefully and cleverly strives
to make it appear that she teaches the truth, so she makes a blanket
statement to the opposite effect. "Christ is really a human being
the same as you are. Christ was born of a woman, ate, slept, suffered, and
even was tempted by the devil. You will see Christ the man in heaven."
Emphasis ours. On the face of it, this evidence
shows that the Roman Catholic Church did teach that Christ came in the same
flesh and blood as the children. Antichrist denies this. It must be conceded
that if this was in reality the teaching of the Roman Church, and all she
taught was consistent with this, she could not be the antichrist. If one is
not prepared to search deeper, and accepts this as the real Catholic
teaching, one must lose all faith in the Protestant
principle that the Roman Church is the antichrist. Those who have learned that it is not
that simple to penetrate Satan's disguises will look deeper to find what the
real teaching is. This must be done to escape sharing the plagues with
Babylon. It is soon seen that 126 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT Babylon or antichrist has two
tongues. With one she makes statements which, in themselves, are the truth,
providing a facade of righteousness. Behind this she spells out in some
detail the real nature of her teachings. This careful
spelling out denies the bold statements, and must be taken as the real message of the church. It is
the effective doctrine which makes the church and those who follow, what they
really are. We will investigate what the church
really does teach, not in a single loose statement to non-Catholics, but in
the declaration of her teachings on the nature of Christ. This will take us
into the area of the Immaculate Conception, which doctrine as espoused by the
Roman Church, is declared to be official
dogma concerned with the nature with which Christ came into this world. Another more extensive Catholic
publication in which this doctrine is spelled out is The Faith of Millions,
by John A. O'Brien, (R.C.), published in 1962 by W. H. Allen, London. "It is to be noted that the Immaculate
Conception does not refer to the miraculous conception of Christ in the womb
of the Virgin Mother without the
intervention of a human father, as many non-Catholics imagine, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of
her mother without the stain of original sin." Page 509. There is good reason for the claim
that it was Mary, not Jesus, who was born contrary to the laws of
nature. This reason recognizes that
like produces like. It is impossible for a human parent or even for God
Himself to give his
offspring what he himself does not have. As Mary did not differ in her humanity from that of her
parents or any other human being, Jesus inherited, by the process of a normal
birth, the same flesh and blood human nature which she had. "Forasmuch
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself
likewise took part of the same." (Flesh and blood as the children.)
Hebrews 2:14. The Roman Church recognizes this
principle and states it in these terms: "In like manner, as far as the
sublime mystery of the Incarnation can be
reflected in the
natural order, the
Blessed Virgin, under
the overshadowing of the
Holy Ghost, by communicating to the Second Person of the Adorable Trinity, as
mothers do, a true human nature of the same substance with her own. is
thereby really and truly His Mother." ibid., 508. This is the
truth as the Scriptures say: "God sent forth His Son, made of a
woman." Galatians 4:4. It seems that the Roman Church recognizes this
truth in setting forth the
doctrine of the Immaculate
Conception, as evidenced by
emphasizing that Jesus received from His mother, "a true human nature
of the same substance
with her own."
By making a statement of this nature, the Roman
Church has given its doctrine the appearance of strict conformity to a Bible
truth. This is true. They do teach that Christ was born of a woman and that
this birth was so true and real that THE PAPACY IS
ANTICHRIST 127 THE ROMAN
CATHOLIC DOCTRINE OF THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST Holy Spirit The papal church teaches that Mary's
flesh and blood body was not born of
sinful, fallen flesh as are the bodies of all other humans. It was the product of a creative miracle
by the Holy Spirit. It was therefore perfect, holy, and sinless. Mary She, in turn,
provided the human body in which Christ, the eternal God, was to dwell. She
could only give Him the same flesh as she had. The papacy,
by establishing first the sinless nature of Mary's flesh, thereby
teaches Christ that Christ
came in sinless flesh. THEREFORE: she
teaches that: "Forasmuch then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself" DID NOT
"likewise take part of the
same." "For
verily He took". . ."on Him the nature of angels; but He took"
NOT "on Him the seed of Abraham." "Wherefore in all
things it behoved Him to be" NOT "made
like unto His brethren." Hebrews 2:14,
16, 17. NOTE WELL: This diagram is dealing
only with the humanity of Christ, not His divinity. 128 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT He received from her a human nature
the same as her own. We believe this to be God's truth on the subject. Where then
lies the error
in the doctrine
of the Immaculate Conception? How does it teach
that Jesus Christ did not come in the same flesh and blood as the children?
Simply by teaching that Mary, the mother of Jesus, had a different human
nature from every other person born since the fall. By first giving her a different and exempt
human nature, then stressing the Bible truth that He was
born of a woman and received all the humanity of that woman, they effectively
teach that Jesus did not come in the same flesh and blood as the children of
men. It is clearly stated in the Immaculate Conception doctrine that Mary had
a different humanity from any other
person. "The third
prerogative of the
Blessed Virgin is
her Immaculate Conception. Not
only was she free from the slightest strain of actual sin, but by a singular
miracle of divine grace she was free also from original sin, with which all
the other children of Adam are born into this world. It was eminently fitting
that she who was destined to be the Mother of Christ, who was to give Him
flesh of her flesh and blood of her blood, should be undefiled by even that
slight shadow of Adam's fall. To her alone, among all the members of the
race, was granted this singular immunity." ibid., 508, 509.
Emphasis ours. In clear terms, the Roman Church has
stated that Mary was born into this world through a miracle which rendered
her human nature different from any other. If this was true, she never had
the same flesh and blood as the children.
This is exactly what has been said in this statement. From these facts we will compare the
inevitable conclusion with the Scripture test to see if it is in harmony or
disharmony with the Scriptures. Their teaching is that Jesus had a human
nature exactly like His mother and her human nature was different from any
other person this side of the fall. So, if His human nature was identical
with hers, He must also have had different flesh and blood from that of the
children. It is the teaching of the Roman
Church that "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and
blood, He" did not "also
Himself likewise" take "part of the same [flesh and blood as the
children]." They deny that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, so they are
certainly antichrist. Fortunately, the Roman Church came to the place where
she did spell out her belief on this question in an official dogma.
"This dogma of the Roman Catholic
Church was defined as 'of faith' by Pope Pius IX in the Bull Ineffabilis
Deus (December 8, 1854) in the following terms: The doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin.
Mary, from the first instant of her conception, was, by a most singular grace
and privilege of Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the
Redeemer of the human race, preserved from all stain of Original Sin, is a
doctrine revealed by God, and therefore to
be firmly and steadfastly believed by
all the faithful.' The THE PAPACY IS
ANTICHRIST 129 definition imposed no new doctrine on
Catholics but merely declared that what had always been believed by the
faithful had its origin in revelation as found in Scripture
and tradition. The traditional belief had been thoroughly investigated by a special papal
commission, which finally reported that the doctrine could be defined and
that the time was opportune." Encyclopedia Brittanica, Volume 12:106, 1963 Edition. For centuries the dogma was not
stated in words but this did not mean it was not already there. When we
examine other branches of Babylon today and apply the same test, we find that
though their doctrine is absent from these
teachings, sufficient evidence will be found to show that they deny Christ came in the flesh. The Word of God teaches then, that
the Roman Church is antichrist. Establish this clearly in mind so that no
matter what clever disguises and subtle arguments she may bring forward,
we shall not be swayed into believing otherwise for, to be deceived by
Babylon, is to be ensnared into her clutches and destroyed with her. 14 Why It Is So Why is a church or an individual
marked for possessing the spirit of antichrist if they deny the truth that
Christ came in the flesh? Is it because God has dogmatically or whimsically
decided that this will be the test, or is this their
inevitable fate? It cannot be the former for the Lord
God does nothing without purpose. The denial that Christ came in the flesh
is, in the nature of the case itself, an antichristian
doctrine. Its very essence is against Christ, the
work He came to do, and the objectives He is working to achieve. To teach
this doctrine is to be put immediately on the wrong side of the controversy
as a supporter of the Prince of Darkness. To understand
this, the actual issues of the great controversy must be understood. This is
the issue over righteousness which is the keeping of God's law. "From
the very beginning of the great controversy in heaven, it has been
Satan's purpose to
overthrow the law
of God. It
was to accomplish this that he
entered upon his rebellion against the Creator; and though he was cast out of
heaven, he has continued the same warfare upon the earth. To deceive men, and
thus lead them to transgress God's law
is the object
which he has
steadfastly pursued." The
Great Controversy, 582. Wherever the devil is at work, sin
abounds. Wherever the truth of God is to be found, righteousness and law-keeping
increase. Our own eyes declare to us
that Satan is devoted to warring against the law of God and to leading men into its total and wanton
transgression. To achieve
this purpose, one of Satan's most
commonly employed arguments is that the law is too difficult for a man to
keep. (See chapter five.) As the controversy began over whether the law could
be kept or not, God's answer to Satan's charges must begin, not with paying
the price for the debt incurred, but with conclusive proof that God's law can
be kept in its entirety to the blessing and benefit of mankind. This was the
first essential demonstration Christ had to give. If He could not do it, then
Satan was WHY IT IS SO 131 correct in his
charges that God had formulated a law which could not be obeyed by human beings. So conclusive
and perfect was Christ's demonstration, that the devil and his hosts could
find no fault in that life. Jesus did obey the law to faultless perfection.
Satan had argued that angels could not keep the law and cited himself and his
followers as proof. He pointed to the fact that perfect man had not kept it
and argued that this certified that he could not keep it. The Jewish Church,
which had been so especially called and particularly blessed, had broken
every one of the commandments. This, Satan tendered as further evidence to
establish his claim that the law could not be kept. All the evidence
presented was true. He and his angels, Adam and Eve and the Jews had all broken
the law. But, while the evidence was true, the conclusions drawn therefrom were false. The truth was that they had not
kept the law, but this did not prove that they could not keep it. Yet it was
not sufficient to point out the simple falsity of this reasoning. Proof had
to be given that the law could be kept, not only by angels and unfallen
men, but by
fallen men. It
was left for
Christ to prove
by demonstration what the others had so dismally failed to do. Had He
also failed or refused to bear the full burden of the fallen, sinful flesh of
man necessary to make
the demonstration complete,
Satan would have triumphed and
the cause of God would have been lost forever. But Christ did not fail. Thus Satan
was deprived of the last argument he wished to obtain, the argument that
Christ could not keep the law either, and that therefore, every possible
proof which God might bring forward was exhausted. But,
even though the final proof has been given, Satan does not surrender.
He cannot argue that Christ did not keep the law, for it is too well known that He kept it to
perfection. Instead, he seeks to dismiss the demonstration made by Christ as
invalid. He does this by arguing that Christ did not do it on the same level
and under the same conditions as we have to. This is a terrible and subtle attack
on Christ's doctrine, for, if Satan can establish this argument, he gains a
double advantage. Firstly, he can argue that, inasmuch
as Christ dared not descend to the level of sinful flesh to keep the law, this is proof that it
cannot be kept by man in that condition. Secondly, he can declare that God is
a liar when He says that man can keep the law, and unjust in calling upon man
to keep it, with the threat of destruction if he does not. The vast majority of the religious
world is convinced of the truth of these arguments of Satan's whereby Christ
is robbed of the power of the demonstration given in His living a
sinless life in sinful flesh. This is, in itself, the doctrine of antichrist,
for it is so completely against the very thing Christ came to prove. It is
anti-truth, anti-Christ, and anti-God. 132 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT But this is not all. For God to
refuse to permit Christ to give the demonstration under the handicap of the same,
fallen, sinful flesh as we have, would be an admission on God's part that it
could not be done under those
conditions. Such an admission would have fearful and far reaching implications. It would mean that God
was denying what He had previously stated to be the truth. This would mean
that God was declaring Himself to be a liar, which, in turn, would be to
admit that Satan was speaking the truth. Could any doctrine be more
anti-Christ than that? This is what Satan is seeking to achieve when he declares
that Christ did not come in the same flesh and blood as the children and, in
this effort, the vast majority in the world give him full support. Lest some
have failed to see the point, the following illustration is given. Imagine a man
standing at the foot of a high mountain so difficult to ascend that he does
not believe he can climb it. Furthermore, he has to carry a heavy burden on
his back. As he stands there, another man comes along, burdenless
and equipped with the best climbing gear. He tells the first man that the mountain
can certainly be climbed, and offers to demonstrate. He is about to start off with his
sophisticated climbing equipment and free from any encumbrance, when the
first man protests that climbing the mountain under conditions superior to
his own, will not constitute any proof. He tells him to divest himself of the
advantages and to take on an equal load. If the second man willingly and
confidently does this, it will be clear proof that he has faith that it can
be done under those conditions. If not, this is an admission that it cannot
be done. In the illustration, the man who
stands at the foot of the mountain represents us. The mountain is the symbol
of the heights of righteousness to which the Lord directs us to ascend. But,
as we stand at the bottom with all that above us,
we are handicapped by the great burden of our sinful, fallen humanity, which we must bear in this
life until Christ comes again. This makes keeping the law vastly more
difficult. As we stand
there, the Lord not only declares that the law is not too hard to keep—the
mountain can be climbed—but makes it clear that He expects us to keep that
law. This is the voice of God speaking from the top of the mountain, the
pinnacle of absolute righteousness. The voice from that point could not and
did not prevent the entry of lawbreaking in the beginning so it alone will
not settle the issue now. Christ steps down to the foot of the mountain and
takes His place with the fallen sons of men. He declares that the law can be
kept—the mountain can be climbed—and as proof He will
climb it. Only if Christ
accepts the load we bear, with no power or advantage not freely offered to
us, and, under those conditions, climbs the mountain, does He give us
conclusive proof that it can be done. Such an action on His WHY IT IS SO 133 part gives full support and proof to
God's position in the controversy. This is the doctrine of Christ and it
inspires to full victory and achievement anyone who believes this great and precious
truth. Should Christ decline to accept the
full load that we have to bear and appropriate some power not available to
us, this would be an admission on His and the Father's part that it could not
be done. This would admit that Satan is right and God, the liar. This is precisely what the teachers
in Babylon do. They say that Jesus Christ came with a flesh and blood human
nature different from any of us and vastly superior; a human nature so pure
and holy that it was like Adam's in the Garden of Eden. By teaching this,
they place themselves on the archdeceiver's side. With him, they declare that God did
not dare let Christ come down to the level of
fallen man and prove at that level that the law could be kept. By this they
declare that God has admitted it cannot be kept. To them, Satan is the
truthful one and God, the liar. Like the angels who fell and the Jews who
crucified Christ, they place themselves on Satan's side and are anti-Christ,
or against Christ. They are careful not to show these
implications. One of sin's evils is that it always hides the end result of
its teachings and way of life. Sin only shows its pleasant present, never its
evil ending. The doctrine of antichrist is made to look as if
it exalts Christ by declaring His superiority and holiness. It sounds and
looks good, as sin always does in its early stages, but, traced to its end, the real nature is seen. The
devil does not wish anyone to see this until he is so thoroughly entangled
that it does not matter anyway. Escape has become impossible. For this reason it is of great value
to trace the implications of a teaching to its end, so its nature can be seen
for what it truly and really is. One can then see
whether the teaching should be held or discarded. The doctrine of antichrist, in its
very nature, is antichristian. It is directly opposed to the work and
teaching of Christ and is a destructive message to all who embrace it. The
mind must grasp for itself why the doctrine of antichrist is the doctrine of
antichrist. It is not sufficient to know that a thing is so. It must be
understood why it is so. 15 The Modern
Protestant Churches Are Antichrist
In Revelation 17:5, Babylon is called
the mother of harlots, by which we know that there are also
daughters. These daughters are harlots, so they must possess the same
character as their mother and be part of the great family of antichrist or
Babylon. Babylon, the mother, has been identified, so it is
now time to identify the daughters.
In connection with the investigation being made of
Movement of Destiny, it is vitally important that the daughters
are identified and seen for what they are. The prophecy
of the 2,300 years ended in 1844. At that time the judgment began
in the most holy place of the sanctuary in heaven. Such an event was always preceded by the
blowing of the trumpets in the Old Testament sanctuary, so that the people
were warned of the coming day of atonement. In the antitype, the warning must
also go forth before the judgment began,
the heralding of
which message is
foretold in the prophecy of Revelation 14:6, which announces that the hour of God's
judgment is come. This is the first angel's message. It
is the preaching of the everlasting gospel, and is followed by the second
angel's message announcing the fall of Babylon. "And there followed
another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because
she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication."
As this message follows that of the
first angel, it cannot be a revelation of a truth existent before the advent
of this first angel. This fall is the result of the coming and the rejection
of the first angel's message and must refer to those who, at
that time, heard and rejected it. There was a message prior to this time, regarding Babylon's fall
which referred to the mother church of papal Rome. It had been in a fallen
condition for centuries before this time. Although this
second angel made
a fresh announcement which
was definitely present truth, his message could not and did not refer
to the fall of the papacy. It referred to the Protestant bodies who had
specifically heard and rejected the first angel's message. A point to be
emphasized is that what they rejected there, they could no THE MODERN
PROTESTANT CHURCHES ARE ANTICHRIST 135 longer have and certainly could not
preach. This is a clear-cut principle which needs to be kept in mind,
especially since many in the Adventist Church possess the idea that the
Protestant churches certainly preach the gospel but differ from the
Adventists in such areas as the Sabbath, the sanctuary, the
state of the dead, and the actual nature of the second advent. This is a
serious delusion for the Protestant churches today do not have the gospel of Jesus Christ. The
wording of the three angels' messages makes this plain. They became Babylon because of their
rejection of the first angel's message—the everlasting gospel. As already stated,
they cannot hold what they have
rejected and have since continued to reject. As they rejected the gospel then, they do not have it
today. To take this further, as surely as
they are Babylon, they are antichrist, and being that, they deny the doctrine
of Christ. How could anyone deny the doctrine of Christ and at the same time
have the gospel of Christ? It would be impossible. It is not correct to say
that true Adventism and the Protestant churches are united on the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the only areas of difference being in the realm of the
"peculiar" doctrines of the Advent faith, such as the sanctuary,
the investigative judgment, the state of the dead, and such like. When these
doctrines are correctly understood and taught, they constitute the preaching
of the gospel itself. In 1844, it was
the gospel which divided true Adventism from Protestantism as it was then, and as
it is today. The two parties divided and no genuine Adventist will ever unite
with those fallen churches again. "God has called His church in this
day, as He called ancient Israel, to stand as a light in the earth. By the
mighty cleaver of truth, the messages of the first, second, and third angels,
He has separated them from the churches and from the
world to bring them
into a sacred nearness to
Himself." Testimonies
5:455. A cleaver is an instrument used to
divide one part completely from the other so that there is no possibility of
a reconnection. The message of the three angels
was the great cleaver which separated Adventist people from the apostate churches of the world.
This must be understood in view of certain arguments which incorrectly
propose that other and justifiable things in the Adventist church caused the
outside churches to shun and condemn Adventism. Mistakes were made later by
the Advent people which the churches seized upon to justify their attitude to
the Advent message, but the great separation between the two groups was
caused in the 1844 period by the preaching of the gospel. If this is kept in
mind it will serve as a safeguard against erroneous thinking. To establish
this point we go to the beginning of the preaching of the three angels'
messages. At first, the message was regarded with favour by the ministry as
it tended to fill the churches, but when they discovered just what was being
taught, the preachers changed their attitude and set to war against the
message. The history of this is in The Great Controversy, 376. 136 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT "As his work tended to build up
the churches, it was for a time regarded with favor. But as ministers and
religious leaders decided against the advent doctrine, and desired to
suppress all agitation of the subject, they not only opposed it from the
pulpit, but denied their members the privilege of attending preaching upon
the second advent, or even of speaking of their hope in the social meetings
of the church. Thus the believers
found themselves in a position of great trial and perplexity. They loved
their churches, and were loath to separate from them; but as they saw the testimony of
God's word suppressed, and their right
to investigate the prophecies denied, they felt that
loyalty to God forbade them to submit. Those who sought to shut out the
testimony of God's word, they could not regard as constituting the church of
Christ, 'the pillar and ground of the truth.' Hence they felt themselves
justified in separating from their former connection. In the summer of 1844
about fifty thousand withdrew from the churches." Specifically, this paragraph begins
with a description of William Miller's work, who, at this time, preached only
the first angel's message, the everlasting
gospel. This was in the setting of the judgment, but it was the gospel nonetheless. It was this which
the ministry hated and shut out of their churches. Having rejected the first
angel's message, they would go on to reject the
second and the third. Only those who received the first angel's message could ever receive the second
and third. This progressive rejection is
outlined in Early Writings, 258-261. First is laid down the importance of the
three angels' messages with stress on the fact that
"the destiny of souls hangs upon the manner in which they are received." "I saw a company
who stood well guarded and firm, giving no countenance to those who would
unsettle the established faith of the body. God looked upon them with
approbation. I was shown three steps,—the first, second, and third angels'
messages. Said my accompanying angel, 'Woe to him who shall move a block or
stir a pin of 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.' " There follows a description of the efforts made by some
to overthrow the messages, after which there is the return to the experience
of the Jewish people in their rejection of the gospel taught to them by
Christ and the apostles. "I was
pointed back to the proclamation of the first advent of Christ. John was sent
in the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare the way for Jesus. Those who
rejected the testimony of John were not benefited by the teachings of
Jesus. Their opposition to the message
that foretold His coming placed them where they could not readily receive the
strongest evidence that He was the Messiah. Satan led on those who rejected
the message of John to go still farther, to reject and crucify Christ. In
doing this they placed themselves where they could not receive the blessing
on the day of Pentecost, which would have taught them the way into the
heavenly THE MODERN
PROTESTANT CHURCHES ARE ANTICHRIST 137 sanctuary. The rending of the vail of
the temple showed that the Jewish sacrifices and ordinances would no longer
be received. The great Sacrifice had been offered, and had been accepted, and
the Holy Spirit which descended on the day of Pentecost carried the minds of
the disciples from the earthly sanctuary to the heavenly, where Jesus had
entered by His own blood, to shed upon His disciples the benefits of His
atonement. But the Jews were left in total darkness. They lost all the light
which they might have had upon the plan of salvation, and still trusted in
their useless sacrifices and
offerings. The heavenly sanctuary had taken the place of the earthly, yet they had no knowledge of
the change. Therefore they could not be benefited by the mediation of Christ
in the holy place." Early Writings, 259, 260. The key point in the history of that
time is that those who refused to receive the gospel as preached by John the
Baptist, at no subsequent time could or did receive any further light. John
preached the great gospel of repentance and deliverance from sin. In the
ministry of Christ, this was further revealed in the incarnation as it was
demonstrated and preached before them every day. Then there was the still
richer revelation of the gospel in the cross and finally the gospel in the
sanctuary. None of the gospel's further revelations were seen by the
unbelieving Jews, because they refused to receive the first presentation. The
following paragraphs draw the parallel between this point in that history,
and the history of the rejection of the advent message, showing that the same
principles apply there. It is shown that those who rejected the first presentation
of the gospel did not accept the added light as it was given progressively
thereafter. "Many look with horror at the course of the Jews in
rejecting and crucifying Christ; and as they read the history of His shameful
abuse, they think they love
Him, and would not have denied Him as did Peter, or crucified Him as did the Jews. But
God who reads the hearts of all, has brought to the test that love for Jesus
which they professed to feel. All heaven watched with the deepest interest
the reception of the first angel's message. But many who professed to love
Jesus, and who shed tears as they read the story of the cross, derided the
good news of His coming. Instead of receiving the message with gladness, they
declared it to be a delusion. They hated those who loved His appearing, and
shut them out of the churches. Those who rejected the first message could not
be benefited by the second; neither were they benefited by the midnight cry,
which was to prepare them to enter with Jesus by faith into the most holy
place of the heavenly sanctuary. And by rejecting the two former messages,
they have so darkened their understanding that they can see no light in the
third angel's message, which shows the way into the most holy place. I saw
that as the Jews crucified Jesus, so the nominal churches had crucified these
messages, and therefore they have no knowledge of the way into the most holy,
and they can not be benefited by the intercession
of Jesus there. Like the Jews, who offered their useless sacrifices, they
offer up their useless 138 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT prayers to the apartment which Jesus
has left; and Satan, pleased with the deception, assumes a religious
character, and leads the minds of these professed Christians to himself,
working with his power, his signs and lying wonders, to fasten them in his
snare. Some he deceives in one way, and some in another. He has different
delusions prepared to affect different minds. Some look with horror upon one
deception, while they readily receive another. Satan deceives some with
Spiritualism. He also comes as an angel of light, and spreads his influence
over the land by means of false reformations.
The churches are elated, and consider that God is working marvelously
for them, when it is the work of another spirit. The excitement will die away
and leave the world and the church in a worse condition than before."
Early Writings, 260, 261. The key point in this outline repeats
that of the former. "Those who rejected the first message could not be
benefited by the second; neither were they benefited by the midnight cry,
which was to prepare them to enter with
Jesus by faith into the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary." At the sounding of the first angel's
message, the parting of the ways began to take place. This parting grew wider
and wider as the message developed and extended. It was the
gospel as revealed in the first, the second, and third angels' messages,
which was rejected and caused the division
between Adventism and
Protestantism, and the
hatred of Adventism manifested
by the Protestant world. Time has not changed this situation.
As the years have passed, the gulf has widened between true Adventism and the
churches of the world. There is no possibility of friendship or
alliance between them except where Adventism is prepared to surrender the
gospel as taught in the advent message. The Protestant world has not become
more Christian as the years have gone by. Today, there is a mighty miracle-working
power manifested in certain areas of the Protestant world, but this is not
the power of God. It is the long-foretold emergence of Satan's power in those
churches. What is happening there is exactly what the prophecies have
predicted. There is a wonderful, new establishing of friendly relations
between the Adventist Church and the Protestant bodies, but this is not the
result of any change for the better in Protestantism. They have not changed
from, or surrendered, one of their principles. To believe that they have is
to be unaware of the truth of the following statement: "The second angel's message of
Revelation 14 was first preached in the summer of 1844, and it then had a
more direct application to the churches of the United States, where the
warning of the judgment had been most widely
proclaimed and most generally rejected, and where the declension in the churches had been most rapid.
But the message of the second angel did
not reach its
complete fulfilment in 1844.
The churches then experienced a moral fall, in
consequence of their refusal of the light of the advent message; but that
fall was not complete. As they have continued to 140 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT reject the special truths for this
time, they have fallen lower and lower." The Great
Controversy, 389. Take particular note of this last
sentence. "As they have continued to reject the special truths for this
time, they have fallen lower and lower." What are the
special truths for this time? They are the judgment hour message in connection with the final
atonement in the heavenly sanctuary, beginning with the close of the 2,300
year prophecy in 1844; the Sabbath of God; the non-immortality of the soul as
it rests in death; the second advent of Christ at the beginning of a thousand
years of uninhabited desolation upon this earth. These are the everlasting
gospel's great truths which the churches rejected in the 1844 period and ever
since. Look at the great Protestant bodies of the world and find one, if
possible, which is teaching these great truths as a connected whole. There
are some who uphold the seventh-day Sabbath, and others believe in the soul's
sleep, but to teach one of these truths is vastly different from teaching the
three angels' messages. They are a connected whole which must be taught as an
entity. The churches of today are not
teaching that message, and have fallen lower and lower. The lower they fall,
the more we can expect to see in them the manifestation of Satan's power
as a miracle-working healer and such like. This is being seen increasingly
today. We are not to be deceived by these
manifestations of power, especially as we have been warned that they will
appear. Revelation 13 is explicit on this point. "And he doeth great
wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on
the earth in the sight of men, "And deceiveth them that dwell
on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the
sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on
the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did
live." Verses 13, 14. "No mere impostures are here foretold. Men are deceived by the miracles which
Satan's agents have power to do, not which they pretend to do." The Great Controversy, 553. For several
reasons, the presence of the power to work miracles which in appearance will
look like the power of God, is not to be accepted as meaning that this is the
power of God and that these churches do have the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Firstly, they have rejected and continue to reject the three angels' messages
which are the everlasting gospel in verity. Secondly, the second angel's
message announces from heaven that they are fallen Babylon. If so, they are antichrist
and deny the doctrine that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This doctrine
is the fundamental heart and truth of the gospel. It is the power in the
gospel and if the churches do not have that, they cannot possibly have the
gospel of Jesus Christ! They do not have the doctrine of
justification by faith either. THE MODERN
PROTESTANT CHURCHES ARE ANTICHRIST 141 They do have clever counterfeits of
this and can make it appear that they have the real thing. Satan is no clumsy
imposter. He is the false or counterfeit god who, through his
agents upon earth, "... as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." 2 Thessalonians
2:4. His doctrines are designed to trap the unwary into thinking they are the
real truth of God when this is not so. As surely as the Protestant churches,
along with the mother Rome, are deniers of the doctrine of Christ and have
not the gospel, they do not have either the Father or the Son. This is the
undeniable teaching of 2 John 9. "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son." Reference to the previous verses will
show that what John refers to as being the doctrine of Christ, is the
teaching that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. If a church does not have
this teaching, it is evidence that she has neither the Father nor the Son.
Therefore, she has the devil and his angels and is joined with Satan in his
deadly warfare against God's church and people.
Between such churches, their teaching, and the true people of God, there can only be an
unbridgeable gulf and outright enmity. Consequently, each true child of God
will view with alarm any situation where Babylon is able to approve any
doctrine he teaches. Let it be said this way. Supposing you were to sit down
with a Roman Catholic priest who was totally loyal to the system and well
versed in the teachings of the papal church. You told this man what you
believed in regard to the gospel of justification by faith. As you proceeded,
he asked searching questions to make sure that he did understand what you
were teaching. If, after several hours or even days of candid and forthright
discussions, with a beaming smile he declared he could find nothing to
quarrel with, how would you react? Delighted or alarmed? You should be alarmed, for the
evidences strongly suggest that you have lost the true gospel and have taken
hold of the doctrines of Babylon. One might suspect that the priest is pretending
he agrees, so as to disarm you and make you more susceptible to his thinking.
This is unlikely. He is more likely to express his true feelings of what has
been presented. The religious teachers of John the Baptist and Christ's day
certainly expressed their true feelings in regard to the message. When the
gospel was preached in the Spirit's power in the Pentecostal period, there
was no friendship towards it on the part of the Jewish theologians of that
time, nor was there in the days of Wycliffe, Luther, Wesley, or Miller.
Today, it is no different. When the true gospel is preached in the power of
the Spirit, it will be met with bitterest opposition. There will be no
beaming smiles from the theological thinkers; no friendly embrace and the
testimony that this is the doctrine of Christ. That preaching can be nothing
less than Babylonian, for there is no
fellowship between light and darkness. 142 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT These
facts and principles
are essential to understanding the great truths for this time. The last battle
between truth and error is soon to be fought and we
must know the truth before we enter it. The mother and her daughters are Babylon. They are
antichrist and, as such, deny the doctrine of Christ and do not have the gospel.
16 More Than A
Mere Confrontation The material
laid down so far is the essential background for the analysis of Movement of
Destiny by LeRoy Edwin Froom. If the reader has seen no light in what has
already been set forth, he will not agree with the conclusions about to be
drawn in regard to the book itself. Based on what has already been said,
these are the only conclusions which can be drawn. The book's appearance in
1971 is an event of considerable significance even though this might not have
dawned upon the majority. It might be correct to observe that the majority in
the Seventh-day Adventist Church and more so in the Protestant churches, are
hardly aware that the book has appeared. This is not to be taken as an
admission that they are escaping the effects of this book having appeared in
print. Its message will have a profound influence on the ministry of the
church. This in turn has its unconscious influence upon the laity. Irrespective of how far reaching this
influence may be, the appearance of the book is most significant. In the
closing of the last day events, what happens within the church is of greater
importance than what happens in the world. The end can never come until the
church has reached a certain state of readiness. The events in the world,
held in check by the four angels holding back the four winds of strife, will
be curtailed until such time as the church has caught up. The Lord might have
come long ago and would have but for the failure of the church to fulfil her
appointed tasks. In watching the developments in the church there are two or
possibly three areas which need to be kept under observation. First is the
church of the world which the Bible terms Babylon, in which movements and
developments are taking place that are to be closely watched as heralds of the coming
crisis and climax. Next is the Seventh-day Adventist Church which has been called to finish the
work. Her continuation in that role is dependent upon her strict faithfulness
to her charges. Should she be
unfaithful to her divine commission, there comes a time after repeated and
patiently given calls to repentance, when, if she still refuses to turn away 144 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT from the world, she will be cast
aside as were the Jews in the past. The tasks will be given to another
people. The end cannot come while the
Seventh-day Adventist Church is neither totally for the Lord nor cast off
from the Lord because of persistent unfaithfulness.
She must go one way or the other, for God cannot finish the work through her while she is not
wholly for Him. Nor can He give the work to others while she is still not
beyond redemption. Therefore it is important to watch the situation within
that church very closely. The positions and arguments set forth in Movement
of Destiny are a declaration of the present relationship of the Seventh-day
Adventist Church to the doctrine of Christ and the three angels' messages. It
provides a clear testimony of the point to which that church has chosen to
come. It reveals whether she has come to the place where she is wholly for
God, as she claims to have done; whether she is still in the state of being
neither for the Lord nor cast off by Him, or if she has gone beyond the point
of no return and joined the ranks of Babylon. This book is not the thinking of the
author alone. It is the position of the church at large. Evidences to this effect are found in the
following undeniable facts. Firstly, L. E. Froom is one of the
most respected and highest ranking scholars
in the Seventh-day
Adventist Church, commanding
some authority. The book was published by the leading Adventist press,
the Review and Herald Publishing Association of Washington D.C., and is promoted and
sold by Adventist Book and Bible houses throughout the English speaking world. The foreword is written by the
General Conference President who should and does know better than anyone what
modern Adventism stands for. In this
foreword he speaks very highly of both the author and the book. Note the positive nature of his
words. "LeRoy E. Froom, scholar and longtime
leader in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is well qualified to refresh our
minds on the history of this Church. For many years Dr. Froom has been close
to the administrative heartbeat of the Church. He has lived and moved with
many of those men of God who, under divine leadership, prayed and preached
this movement from obscurity to a church of worldwide dimensions and destiny."
Thus he speaks on behalf of the
author of the book, which he could not do if he did not believe in, or
approve of, what the author wrote. In like manner he approves of the book and
urges that "Movement of Destiny is a must for every worker,
every theological student,
and every church officer—in
fact, for every church member who loves this message and longs to see it
triumph in the near, very near, future." Movement of Destiny, 13. Thus the book carries the imprimatur
of the highest officer in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the then General
Conference President, Robert H. Pierson. Such an action on his part is his
clear declaration that MORE THAN A
MERE CONFRONTATION 145 this book is a
true and accurate portrayal of the history covered, and an equally reliable and accurate
portrayal of the position of the church today in its relation to the message
of 1888, the doctrine of Christ, and to the Protestant churches. More than this, the book is not just the
individual effort of LeRoy Froom. It is asserted that he was commissioned by
the church to undertake its preparation as revealed in the preface which was
written by VicePresident Neal C. Wilson,
who was also Chairman of the Guiding Committee for Movement of
Destiny. "The preparation of this
volume began about
forty years ago, when the author was alerted by church leaders to prepare himself for this
particular long-range assignment." This book did not begin because of
the author's own original burden to write it, but because it was
an assignment from the church leadership. They wanted this particular message to be brought
out, developed, and set before the
membership of the church. It contains what they believe the church should
stand for and preach today. Not only was the book originally an
assignment from the church, but the author had the help of a church-appointed
guidance committee with membership of some standing as is evidenced by the
fact that the chairman was a Vice-President of the General Conference. This chairman claims that the Lord
was in the business. "At the most unexpected times God providentially
saw to it that needed materials were sent to, or secured by, the author from
the most unexpected sources." He says also that the timing of its
production was under the control of the Lord so that it appeared in print
just at the time when most needed. "There seemed to be so many
roadblocks, and there were scores of times when it seemed likely that the
value of this book might never be recognized.
But now, in retrospect, we can see God's timetable and wisdom. He
knew exactly when the Remnant Church, and its leadership, would be under attack. He knew when
this book would be needed most!" Movement of Destiny, 15. Thus the book and its author carry
the endorsement, belief, and backing of the highest officers in the
Seventh-day Adventist Church. These are
responsible men who
do not move
as units but
only in close collaboration with the church itself,
so we can be assured that this book is the thinking
of the leadership of the church and the church in general. Added weight is given by the fact
that the book has been well received throughout the world and did not
generate a single voice of audible protest from within
the church itself. No one can say, in the light of these
facts, that this book does not represent anything more than the opinion of
one man and is not to be taken as the position of the church today. Movement
of Destiny will be studied and analysed with the view that it presents the
church's present attitude to the true 1888 message, the doctrine of the
nature of Christ, and its relationship
to the Protestant churches. 146 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT It will be
countered that there are those within the church, including men in high
places, who do not agree with what
this book teaches. Evidence to this effect is found in the editorials under
the name of Herbert E. Douglas, associate editor of the Review and Herald,
which editorials appeared in
the December 23, 30, 1971, and January 6, 1972 issues under the title of The Humanity of
the Son of God is Everything to Us. These articles set forth a view on the
nature of Christ which is opposite from that presented in Movement of Destiny.
Here is one man at least who does not agree with the new view. This does not constitute any real
protest, for he sits silently by and allows the book to be distributed and
accepted by the Adventist people generally, without pointing out the implications
as an Elijah. Nor does this deny that the
church as a whole is in acceptance of the book and the positions it sets forth. This book does intend to point out
the implications of Movement of Destiny and to call for the rejection of
every doctrine which is of the great antichrist, no matter who may hold to
it. The time has come to investigate the arguments of
Movement of Destiny. We will not investigate every chapter and argument, but
get right to the point
and see what it really is attempting to say. Movement of Destiny represents the
last of a series of books printed to date by various authors, with the
objective of proving that the Seventh-day Adventist
Church did accept the message of righteousness by faith as brought to the church by God's
servants, Elders E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones in 1888 and after. The first
of these, published by F. G. Clifford in Australia 1959, contains
sixty pages, and
seeks to establish that
the message of 1888 was never rejected
except by a few. A book by Norval F. Pease
followed, entitled By Faith Alone in 1962. It contained 248 pages and was
distributed world-wide whereas the book by F. G. Clifford was circulated only
in Australia. Its theme was the same
and was further amplified by A. V. Olsen in the next book appearing in 1966,
entitled Through Crisis to Victory, containing
320 pages. Movement of Destiny is the fourth in
the series. Its purpose is not only to underline the arguments of the
previous books, that the Seventh-day Adventist Church today holds and
preaches the message of righteousness by faith as given by God's own
messengers in 1888 and onwards, but to take the reader into the future to
show where he supposes this will lead. The effort to cover the significance
of the past, the present, and the future in Movement of Destiny, is
summarized in the diagram printed across pages 74 and 75. The history of the
Adventist Church is divided into three periods, the first being from 1844
until 1888, the second on to 1931 and the third from that time to the Advent
of the Saviour. To each of these periods are
given certain characteristics of development which,
it is declared, lead up to the
certainty of finishing the work through the Adventist Church, "the
movement of destiny". MORE THAN A
MERE CONFRONTATION 147 During the first forty-four years,
the positions of the Advent believers are divided into two classifications
known as the Testing Truths and the Eternal Verities. The Testing Truths of
the Advent faith were the special doctrines
of the Advent message: the Sabbath,
the Sanctuary, Nonimmortality,
the Spirit of
Prophecy, the Three
Angels' Messages, Prophecies,
and the Imminent Advent. It is correctly argued that belief in these positions
was mandatory if one was to remain within the fellowship of the Adventist Church. The Eternal
Verities covered such subjects of the everlasting gospel as the Deity of
Christ, the Trinity, Sinlessness of Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Atonement
in Relation to the Cross. What one believed in these areas was optional;
one's position on the deity of Christ for instance could be quite the
opposite from that of a brother without incurring the risk of church discipline. Adequate proof of this is given by
citing the beliefs of Uriah Smith, noted Bible teacher, writer, and leader in
the earlier days of Adventist history. This man, even though this may
surprise many, held the Arian view that Christ was not an eternally
pre-existent God but a created being. Despite this, he held the post of
editor of the Review and Herald for many years, and his book Thoughts on
Daniel and the Revelation stood as the standard Adventist publication on
Bible Prophecy for decades. Moreover, he plainly published those Arian views
in the book Daniel and the
Revelation, the 1865 edition, pages 14 and 59 reading in part as follows: " 'From Him which . . . was, and
which is to come,' or is to be: an expression which signifies complete
eternity, past and future, and can be applicable only to God, the Father.
This language, we believe, is never applied to Christ. He is spoken of as
another person, in distinction from the being thus described." "Not the beginner, but the beginning, of the creation, the first created being,
dating his existence far back before any other created being or thing, next
to the self-existent and eternal God." L. E. Froom's comment on these
words is, "The intent cannot be mistaken. Christ is here explicitly set
forth not only as the first 'created being,' but before 'any other created
being.' Smith later clearly repudiated that position, and said that Christ
was not a 'created Being.' But even then he still maintained that the Son of
God had a beginning, and that His was a derived life. Smith continued to hold
that there was a time when He 'was not'—and then He appeared. That, of
course, is the modified semi-Arian view. Whereas
Stephenson's 1854 book had little influence, this 1865 edition of Smith's book has often
been used against us, even to this day—especially the words 'created being.'
" Movement of Destiny, 159. This comment is quite true. The view
expressed by Uriah Smith here is Arian, and, as such, a denial of the vital
truth that Jesus Christ is and ever was the eternal God. 148 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT Another person
of minor consequence who held the same views as Uriah Smith was James M.
Stephenson. Another of more considerable fame and influence was E. J.
Waggoner's father, J. H. Waggoner. These men set their beliefs in print, providing
a record of their position for all to read. They also shared certain views on
the atonement in relation to the cross with which Froom takes issue, but we
cannot digress into this added field. These men
represented one line of thought in the Advent movement prior to the coming of
the message of 1888. On the other side were men like James White, E. J.
Waggoner, and A. T. Jones. The writings of the Spirit of Prophecy supported
the eternal pre-existence and deity of Christ. In the church there existed
two entirely opposing views on one of the most fundamental doctrines—the
deity of Christ. Was He truly, eternally, and fully God, or only the first
and pre-eminent among the created beings? The author of Movement of Destiny
gives sufficient evidence that these two schools of thought did exist in the
Seventh-day Adventist Church. We do not question this. We are more concerned
with what Froom makes of these facts. It was inevitable as time went by and
each of the proponents of the different views not only hung tenaciously to
their positions, but boldly and powerfully
wrote them into immortal print, that there would have to be a confrontation between the two forces.
A decision would have to be made leading to a totally unified church. In two chapters
entitled respectively, Developments
Make Confrontation Inevitable
and "Atonement" Volume Hastens Confrontation, Froom
discusses the movement towards the battle over this great issue, which, he
claims, took place in 1888. E. J. Waggoner he names as the great champion on
the side of the truth that Jesus came with "all the fulness
of the Godhead," while on the other side stood Uriah Smith. J. H.
Waggoner was in Europe in 1888 and died the following year, so he did not
figure in this battle. James White had died earlier still in 1881. As is well
known, Sister White stood solidly behind Waggoner and Jones at the
Minneapolis Conference. On this, Froom
makes the following comment taken from page 168 of the book: "No
unification of viewpoint could come until there was first a
confrontation between Bible
truth and un-Biblical
error over these positions. And that began openly at
the Minneapolis Conference of 1888, through the E.
J. Waggoner presentations. At that time some of these concepts, it should be noted, were
not so much the area of open discussion as of underlying differences." As we read
Froom's evaluations of the Minneapolis Conferences, it is clear that
he saw those
meetings as being
nothing more than
a confrontation between those who believed Christ to be truly God and
those who believed Him to be the first created being. With this was the issue
of the atonement in relation to the cross but this did not figure prominently
until MORE THAN A
MERE CONFRONTATION later "at and following 1894". Page 149 168. Therefore, we shall confine ourselves to
the nature of Christ as the main theme of this analysis and investigation.
In chapters
11, 12, 13, and 14, he discusses in some detail the message given by E. J. Waggoner, and its
reception. He shows that there were those who made vigorous opposition. Some
of these maintained that opposition, while others were charmed and converted
by the messages. Others took the message right from the beginning and still
others seemed to waver in between. Out
of this the church, he claims, emerged triumphant, rid of errors, and open for future
clarifications of the eternal verities essential to fitting up a people for
finishing the work. Here are Froom's assertions: "The epochal Minneapolis
Session stands out like a mountain peak, towering above
all other sessions in uniqueness and importance. It was a distinct turning point. Nothing like
it had occurred before, and none has since been comparable to it. It
definitely introduced a new epoch. After its initial conflict a period of revival
and heart searching followed. And that which brought this about was the
message of Righteousness by Faith in Christ as 'a// the fulness
of the Godhead'—an expression that became a virtual keynote,
stressed at the stormy session. "Christ was uplifted before the
Conference as never before in our history,
with a fullness that had not heretofore been envisioned or proclaimed.
That was the crux of it all. 1888 therefore came to mark the beginning of a new note and new day,
the significance of which was not fully sensed at the time. "1888 was not a point of defeat,
but a turn in the tide for ultimate victory.
It was the
beginning of decades
of clarification and advance—despite struggles and setbacks.
It eventuated at last in a unified platform of 'Fundamental Beliefs,'
preparatory to the grand climax of the Movement, assuredly destined to come.
The Eternal Verities were coming into their rightful place. God was
definitely leading, despite the continuing stubbornness of 'some'. That is the deeper significance of
'1888.' " Movement of
Destiny, 187. The reader is asked to note carefully
the assertions made in this extract from Movement of Destiny, for they form
an integral part of the book's argument. "1888 was not a point of
defeat, but a turn in the tide for ultimate victory. It was the beginning of
decades of clarification and advance—despite struggles and setbacks."
Froom is saying that the present positions of the church are the sure
outgrowth of what the church gained in Minneapolis and in this he is entirely
correct. What the church today holds is the result of the reception she gave
the message back there. Froom is claiming
that what the
church holds today
and what Waggoner and Jones
taught then are the same. It will be recognized that if the church did take
the message as sent by God, and has upheld it ever since, then
what is taught today will be the same as brought by those 150 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT messengers. But if, in comparing the
messages of Waggoner and Jones with what the church today is teaching, it is
found that the messages are not only different but actually opposed to each
other, one must question the veracity of
the arguments presented in Movement of Destiny. We cannot accept without question
what LeRoy Froom has to say simply because he is one of the most renowned
scholars in the Adventist Church, and
because the book bears the imprimatur
of the General Conference President; was a church assignment watched over by
a special guidance committee; was printed by the leading Adventist Publishing
House; and was accepted with enthusiasm by men and women in high places and
low. No matter who publishes, endorses, or
sells a book, each person must assess and evaluate its arguments for himself.
If he does not do this, he is letting another do his thinking for him and
will surely be led astray. No man can afford to commit the keeping of his
soul into another's hands. Every reader is urged to take the arguments and
carefully weigh and consider them on their
own merits. Do not reject them because the book has not been published by an
"approved" publishing house, or written by an author who is on the
payroll of the "church". If you do have confidence in the author,
do not accept what is written just because he said it. Check for yourself to
see if it is the truth. Before we proceed, some questions
must be raised in respect to what Froom argued as being the build-up to 1888
and what took place there. Is Froom correct in his assertion
that the experiences of 1888 were the result of reaching the inevitable
confrontation between the two schools of thought on the deity of Christ? His
position is that these two areas of conflicting fundamental gospel belief
carried by strong men on either side, resulted in pressure mounting until
confrontation was unavoidable. E. J. Waggoner and
A. T. Jones, backed by the Spirit of Prophecy, gave so powerful a presentation
that it established the truth that Christ was God, not merely a created being. Froom has reduced what God did in
1888 to a battle between two contrasting areas of theology. He has
made the purpose and intent of that critical and wonderful hour much less
than it really was, by presenting it as a time when the
Lord desired to clear the church of certain errors to pave the way for ultimate development of the
Eternal Verities in fullness of truth. There were two schools of thought in
the Adventist Church prior to 1888 as described in Movement of Destiny. One
was a deadly error, and it is true that there was a confrontation in 1888 but
it is absolutely false to say that the Minneapolis Conference was held only
as the result of these forces in the church. If the Minneapolis Conference was
more than Froom reduces it to, then what was it? At that point of time, the
Lord sent the angel of Revelation 18 with added light to finish the work. It
would have come at that time and place
irrespective of differences in the church. MORE THAN A
MERE CONFRONTATION 151 The Lord makes it plain that in 1888
the mighty angel of Revelation 18 came down, the loud cry commenced, and the
end was very near. "The time of test is just upon us, for the loud cry
of the third angel has already begun in the revelation of the righteousness
of Christ, the sin-pardoning Redeemer. This is the beginning of the light of
the angel whose glory shall fill the whole earth." The Review and
Herald, November 22, 1892. The
Lord, through His prophet, declared
that the light of the Revelation 18 angel, whose glory
shall fill the whole earth, was shining during the Minneapolis Conferences.
The righteousness of Christ was the message of Waggoner and Jones and that
was the fourth angel in actual fact. "The Lord in His great mercy sent a
most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones . . .
It presented justification through faith
in the Surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in
obedience to all the commandments of God . . . This is the message that God
commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel's message, which is
to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His
Spirit in a large measure." Testimonies to Ministers, 91, 92. When speaking of the reception which
the message of that hour received, Sister White again referred to it as the
light which is to fill the whole earth with its glory, by which we know that
she was referring specifically to the message of the Revelation 18 angel.
"That light which is to fill the
whole earth with its glory has been despised by some who claim to believe the present truth. Be careful
how you treat it. Take off the shoes from off your feet; for you are on holy
ground." Testimonies to Ministers, 89, 90. This is what
the Lord was doing in 1888. It was far more than a mere confrontation between
two schools of thought in the Adventist Church. Unless its real significance
is considered, no true evaluation of what took place could be made and no
understanding of whether it was a victory or defeat. This is not denying that
there was a confrontation, for there was, and will always be where living
truth is presented in any established church. Those in the church who did not
believe that Christ was truly God, were at variance with the message before
it was even given. The conflict was based on those who opposed and hated the
message and they derided those who gave it. The real cause of the confrontation
must be understood. Whenever the Lord sends a fresh message in the church, it
will always find opposition from those who
have held to errors. When Christ appeared as the Messiah to
give the living message of righteousness, there was a confrontation between
Him and the Pharisees. This does not
mean that there had been a controversy brewing in the church in the previous years, for the
Jewish Church was largely united on the points of error they held,
particularly the belief that the Messiah would come as a glorious, conquering
king. 152 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT Those who
claim to be of the Great Second Advent Movement, should better appreciate the
significance that each of the angels of Revelation follow each other and in
turn, bring a message not fully preached by the foregoing angels. The third
angel does not finish the work until he is joined by the fourth
angel of Revelation 18:1-4. The first
angel came in 1833 with the special presentation of the everlasting gospel, that the hour of
God's judgment had come. He did not bring sufficient light to finish the work
although it was all there in basic form. The second angel had to follow with
his announcement that Babylon had fallen. But
the first and the second who now flew on together, could not and did not finish the work even
though the believers expected they would. The third angel had yet to come
with his warning against the worship of the beast and his image, but even he,
in joint effort with the first and second, could not and did not finish the
work. There had yet to come the angel of Revelation with his flood tide of
light which would flood the whole world with the glory of God. None of these angels simply came with
a re-emphasis of the messenger before them. Each came with a mighty
advancement of truth not preached by those who went before. Thus the first
angel had nothing to say about the fall of Babylon, while the first and the
second had nothing to say about the beast and his image. So the fourth brings
truths not unfolded under the teaching of the first, second, and third.
Nowhere did the earlier angels preach such a
revelation of the nature of Christ as the eternal God who came down to dwell in sinful, fallen
humanity; nowhere did the earlier angels unfold the relationship of the law
and the Gospel as did E. J. Waggoner in his studies on Galatians and Romans,
and A. T. Jones in his wonderful lessons on the life and ministry of Christ. This was not merely a confrontation
between two schools of thought. How could one think to reduce it to that,
when it was the glorious light of the mighty angel through whom the
work shall be finished as he floods the whole earth with the light and glory
of God. Movement of Destiny has produced a
very diminished, dimmed, and distorted picture of what really did happen in
1888, and therefore it is a false picture. It has robbed that
event of significance and glory. Its real importance has been dismissed in
the minds of those who have accepted the arguments propounded by Froom. The
evil result is that the average person will sink back into the self-satisfied
conclusion that 1888 has nothing for him, as it simply served to correct
errors from which he was long since delivered, for, after all, the average
modern Adventist has no trouble in believing that Christ was not a created
being, but God in fact. Had Movement of Destiny set forth the 1888 experience
as being the time when the mighty Revelation 18 angel came down to do his
work with the result that the end might have come speedily; if Froom had
shown that the opposition manifested against
that message by the General Conference MORE THAN A
MERE CONFRONTATION 153 President Elder Butler, Uriah Smith, and
others of like beliefs, was the natural consequence of the hatred which is
held against the truth of God, some of the true picture would have been
presented and the experience of Minneapolis would have been put in a
different light altogether. Movement of Destiny claims that 1888 was not a
defeat but a victory, a turning point from which the church emerged into
years of clarification, development, and advance. How can Elder Froom build
up a convincing case that it
was a victory when the witness of time and the testimony of the Spirit of Prophecy deny this? The technique employed is the simple
one of substitution, otherwise known as building up a straw man. In place of
the real purpose and issues involved in the 1888 experience, a different and minor situation is presented. The real need in 1888 was
the reception of the mighty message of the Revelation 18 angel. What is
substituted as the need in 1888 was correction of the idea that Christ was
only a created being. Having made this substitution of something far less
than what the problem and need really were, the Adventist Church emerged from
that period with this fault corrected, claiming that the need was filled, the
purpose accomplished, and a great victory won. The device of substitution, or
the building up of a straw man, is surprisingly effective as evidenced by the number of
people who fall for this type of deception. Only those who are aware of what 1888 really was,
will not be deceived by this kind of argument. We can discern the argument to be
false from the false premises upon which it is built, and we have witnesses
who really count—the Spirit of Prophecy was and is the voice of God to the
church and is the only witness which is really needed, plus the men who gave
the message because they, better
than any, knew what the message was and that it was
never received. While Movement of Destiny quotes from
a few men who testified that they had received and believed the message, it
does not give a testimony from the Spirit of Prophecy, nor from A. T. Jones,
of its reception apart from one or two which speak of a local acceptance
before that area felt the pressure of
unbelief upon them. Before giving
the testimony of the Spirit of Prophecy and the men who gave the message, we
will consider the validity of the argument that because some saw and accepted
the message, some opposed it bitterly, and the rest remained uncommitted, the
church did not reject the message. Consider a comparable situation. When
Christ came to this earth and began to preach righteousness by faith, a few,
including men in high places such as Nicodemus, accepted the message; some
manifested bitter hostility to it, and the masses were undecided. Yet, before
Christ and the apostles eventually found themselves outside the Jewish
Church, the Jewish people as a nation and church rejected the Saviour and His
message. It did not 154 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT require any official vote on the part
of the church as a whole. They simply took their stand against Him, or failed
to take their stand for Him. Either way it was flat rejection. In 1888 there
were two classes rejecting the message also. Some were openly hostile to it while the
majority did not know which way to go. To fail to accept is the same as to
reject, so the majority in the church
were rejecters of the message, as was the
majority in Christ's day. In presenting this case we do not limit the number
involved to those present at the Conferences, for the influence of the
messages went to the four corners of the
earth. The sermons
were reproduced in
the General Conference Bulletins after 1890 and the
delegates at the Conferences took their own views and teachings back to their
respective fields of labour. More important than this is the testimony of the
Spirit of Prophecy and A. T. Jones, who, with Waggoner, would know more than
any other man what the actual message was and whether it had been accepted or
not. We will not quote the testimonies given at the actual meetings for it
will be argued that this was only a picture of things as they were at that
moment, but in a short time there was a different reception which became
established in the church
as a believed and experienced
doctrine. The Spirit of Prophecy shows that in the Lord's view
the message was not accepted. Thirteen years after 1888, when time had given
opportunity for the real trends to be seen, Sister White had
this to say: "I feel a special interest in
the movements and decisions that shall be made at this Conference regarding
the things that should have been done years ago, and especially ten years ago,
when we were assembled in Conference,
and the Spirit and power of God came into our meeting, testifying that
God was ready to work for this people if they would come into working order.
The brethren assented to the light God had given, but there were those
connected with our institutions, especially the Review and Herald office and
the (General) Conference, who brought in elements of unbelief, so that the
light given was not acted upon. It was assented to, but no special change was
made to bring about such a condition of things that the power
of God could
be revealed among
His people." General Conference Bulletin at the opening of
the 1901 meetings. To assent to a thing and not actually
do it, is tantamount to rejection of the truth. The way in which God regards
this is shown in the parable of the son who said that he would go but went
not. "Words are of no value unless they are accompanied with appropriate
deeds. This is the lesson taught in the parable of the two sons."
Christ's Object Lessons, 272. The testimony of the Spirit of
Prophecy is echoed in the witness of A. T. Jones the same year.
"Thirteen years ago at Minneapolis God sent a message to His people . .
. What has been the history of this people and this work since that time? How
far has the truth been received—not merely assented to—but actually received?
Not far I tell you. For the past thirteen MORE THAN A
MERE CONFRONTATION 155 years this light has been
rejected and turned against by many, and they are rejecting and turning from it
today." A. T.
Jones in The
General Conference
Bulletin, April 18, 1901. 1888 was not a
great victory for the message of righteousness by faith. Much more evidence
could be given to support this from the statements given in the Spirit of
Prophecy when the event took place, but this has been dealt with in other
chapters. In this study, the interest lies more in the outgrowth of the
events which transpired then. They reveal the true nature of that event and
show to what point the church has come today in consequence. 17 More On The Real Issues At Minneapolis The presence in the Advent Movement
prior to 1888, of conflicting beliefs on the great verities, was
the fruit of a deeper problem. It was to correct this root of difficulty and
to effect in the believers the spiritual condition necessary to their obtaining
the final victory, that the fourth angel was sent. By late 1844, the Adventists had been
given the first, second, and third angel's messages which came to be known in
combined form as the third angel's message. But it was not very long before they
lost the message, though they
did not know they had. Subsequently, they preached the laws and doctrines of the message under
the title belonging to the message itself which is, in verity, justification
by faith, or the everlasting gospel. Thus, the mighty unifying power
contained in the real third angel's message was lost to them, permitting the
continuation and development of divisive theories among them. In order to correct the fault, the
third angel's message had to be reintroduced to them. Let it be stressed that
it was not a call to a re-emphasis of something they had held all along but
had allowed to become second place after prophecy and doctrine. Nor was it
merely a re-statement of what had been taught back in the 1840's.
It was a presentation of the third angel's message with a scope and
glory never before announced among the advent people. It was a message sent from God through His
chosen servants which
is the message to be given to the world and which is designated the third angel's message.
"The Lord
in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people through Elders
Waggoner and Jones. This message was to bring more prominently before the
world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It
presented justification through faith in the Surety; it invited the people to
receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to
all the commandments of God. Many had MORE ON THE
REAL ISSUES AT MINNEAPOLIS 157 lost sight of Jesus. They needed to
have their eyes directed to His divine person, His merits, and His changeless
love for the human family. All power is given
into His hands, that He may dispense rich gifts unto men, imparting the priceless gift of His
own righteousness to the helpless human agent. This is the message that God
commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel's message, which is
to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His
Spirit in a large measure." Testimonies to Ministers, 91, 92. When they
heard it, many Adventists were puzzled. They had never listened to such
teachings before and questioned the place for them in Adventism, the movement
commissioned to teach nothing but the third angel's message. They were assured
by the Lord that they were hearing the third angel's message in verity, even
though the message as they had been taught it, was
quite different from this. "Several have written to me,
inquiring if the message of justification by faith is the third angel's
message, and I have answered, 'It is the third angel's message in verity.' "
The Review and Herald, April 1, 1890. The language here is more emphatic,
assuring the reader that the truth then brought, was the real thing. There
were counterfeits abroad, one of which, as will be demonstrated in this
article, was even called by the name, the third angel's message, but the one brought by God's servants at
Minneapolis was the real thing, the message in verity. The message sent previously through
other servants of God, William Miller, Fitch and Litch,
Edson and Crosier, James and Ellen White, Joseph Bates, and
others, was also the third angel's message in verity. Assurance is given of
this because the message they proclaimed by that name came to them by
revelation from above and was confirmed by the Spirit of Prophecy. Therefore, the
message of justification by
faith proclaimed by Waggoner and Jones, was the same message
as delivered by the original pioneers. In short, it
was the everlasting gospel. Elder Waggoner both understood and preached this.
In 1891, he delivered a series of studies at the General Conference session
on Romans, at the end of which he told the audience that during the whole
period they had been studying the third angel's
message. He said, "Perhaps some in the
audience have not realized the fact that the lessons we have been studying
for the last dozen evenings on the book of Romans, have been nothing but the
third angel's message." Bible Studies on the Book of Romans, 47. This truth should be self-evident for
it is so plainly written in Scripture that the first angel flies "in the
midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach . . ."
Revelation 14:6. That is his message and therefore
that of the angels which follow him for they cannot deliver anything else but
the gospel. Waggoner explains this very clearly in his Bible Studies on
the Book of Romans, 48. 158 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT "The question
arises, If the third angel came along and added his sound to the cry of the
first and the second angel, do not we have something more to tell the world,
than those who labored under the first message had? Well, we certainly can
have nothing more to preach than the everlasting gospel. The second angel
announces a fact, that Babylon is fallen, because of her apostasy from the
gospel. Mark you, the second angel has no new truth to tell; merely a fact,
that something has occurred. The third angel merely announces the
punishment that will fall on the men who do differently from the truth
announced by the first angel. But the first angel keeps sounding, and the three go together; and since
the three keep sounding together, and the first is
telling the everlasting gospel,—that which is to prepare men to stand
blameless before God,—and the third angel is telling the punishment that will
befall them if they do not receive the everlasting gospel, it necessarily follows that the entire
threefold message is the everlasting gospel. "Mark it, the first angel
proclaims the everlasting gospel; the second proclaims the fall of every one who does not obey that gospel; and the third
proclaims the punishment that will follow that fall, and come upon those who
do not obey. So the third is all in the first,—the everlasting gospel. Yes,
that everlasting gospel carries with it all truth. It is the power of God. That
everlasting gospel, remember, is all summed up in one thing,—Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, and of course risen again. We have nothing else in this world to proclaim to the
people, whether we be preachers, Bible workers, colporters,
or canvassers, or simply people who in the humble sphere of
their own home let the light shine. All that any of us can carry to the world
is Jesus Christ and Him crucified." The statement
from the pen of inspiration that the third and not just the first angel's
message is justification by faith or
the everlasting gospel, confirms the truth of Waggoner's
arguments. Thus the three witnesses of Revelation 14:6, the Spirit of
Prophecy, and E. J. Waggoner testify that the third angel's message is the
everlasting gospel, the power of God to save from sin, and
prepare for eternity. But, let the average Adventist today
be asked what the third angel's message is and he will name a series of
doctrines such as the Sabbath, state of the dead, prophecies of Daniel and
the Revelation, the sanctuary, and so forth, as making up the message. Why
does he do this when the answer is manifestly wrong, even though those
doctrines have their place in the message? The gospel is the message, not the doctrines, so unless the doctrines
are taught as a living gospel presentation, they lack life and power and are
no longer a part of the third angel's message. The tragedy is that when the
gospel's light and power go out of the message, the people do not know it. They
then continue to preach the doctrines without the gospel, believing that there has been no
change from the original. This is what happened to the early Christian church
as described in Acts of the Apostles, MORE ON THE
REAL ISSUES AT MINNEAPOLIS 159 "But gradually a change came.
The believers began to look for defects in others. Dwelling upon mistakes, giving
place to unkind criticism, they lost sight of the
Saviour and His love. They became more strict in regard to outward ceremonies, more particular
about the theory than the practice of the faith. In their zeal to condemn
others, they overlooked their own errors. They lost the brotherly love that
Christ had enjoined, and saddest of all, they were unconscious of their loss.
They did not realize that happiness and joy were going
out of their lives, and that, having shut the love of God out of their hearts, they would soon walk
in darkness." There is no place for complacent
confidence in anyone's heart that he could not possibly have lost his first
love and thus the living heart of the message. It happened to the greatest
church of all time, the Spirit-filled apostolic
church, and it also happened in the
Seventh-day Adventist Church. Shortly after the great
disappointment, urgent warnings began to be sounded by God through the Spirit
of Prophecy. In 1855 came these solemn words, "I saw that the
Spirit of the Lord has been dying away from the church." Testimonies
1:113. In the remainder of the testimony,
the reasons for this spiritual decline were given. The believers were
diverting their energies and means to add house to house and land to land.
Unless they desisted from this, God would depart
from them and leave them to the selfishness they cherished in preference to the sacrificial spirit.
Apparently, the call went unheeded for, over the next year or so, the Spirit
of God pleaded with them to prepare to meet the Lord and to cease from
conformity to the world. Then in 1858, or very close to it, came this
sobering statement from the True Witness. "I was shown that the
testimony to the Laodiceans applies to God's people
at the present time . ." ibid., 186. The testimony to the Laodiceans is
the solemn pronouncement uttered with the authority of God, that the people
are lacking gold, white raiment, and eye salve, but, most dangerous of all,
they do not know their condition or need. To understand the seriousness of
the situation, consideration needs to be given to the symbolism employed in
the Laodicean call. "The True Witness counsels us to buy of Him gold
tried in the fire, white raiment, and eyesalve. The gold here recommended as
having been tried in the fire is faith and love. It makes the heart rich; for
it has been purged until it is pure, and the more it is tested the more
brilliant is its luster. The white raiment is
purity of character, the righteousness of Christ imparted to the sinner. This
is indeed a garment of heavenly texture, that can be bought only of Christ
for a life of willing obedience. The eyesalve is that wisdom
and grace which enables us to discern between the evil and the good, and to detect sin under any
guise. God has given His church eyes which He requires them to anoint with
wisdom, that they may see clearly; but many would put out the eyes of the
church if they could; for they would 160 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT not have their deeds come to the light,
lest they should be reproved. The divine eyesalve will impart clearness to
the understanding. .Christ is the depositary of all graces. He says: 'Buy of
Me.' " ibid., 4:88, 89. The gold is faith and love or as stated
elsewhere, "is faith that works by love." Christ's Object Lessons,
158. This is the faith which brings to the repentant sinner the blessing of
justification and is so essential that, without it, this experience cannot be
attained. Therefore, if the people are described as being destitute of this
gold, then they do not have the faith which brings justification and so are
an unjustified people. This is to say they no longer have the gospel and
consequently do not have the third angel's message. These are the only
conclusions which can be drawn from the facts presented from the testimony of
the True Witness. Christ declared that they had fallen into the Laodicean
condition and who is prepared to argue with Him? What He declares is so, is
so. He speaks the truth because He is the truth and He makes no mistakes, for
His knowledge is omniscient. Of course, they could not see it because it is
part of the Laodicean problem not to know the real state of affairs.
Even when they were positively told by the greatest and
most reliable authority in existence, they were not able to see, believe, or
accept it. Confidently they continued the work they were doing for God and
which they happily supposed He was gladly accepting of them, not knowing that
the light and power of the gospel had gone out of their lives and preaching
so that they no longer had the third
angel's message. But, they had something which they
called the third angel's message. This was the doctrines and prophecies which
they had previously preached as a living part of the message. Clear proof of
this is provided in the publication of
a book entitled, The Three Messages of Revelation 14:6-12, Particularly the Third Angel's
Message and Two-Horned Beast, by John N. Andrews. The preface to it was
written in 1877, when, no doubt, the first edition appeared. The fifth
edition was produced in 1892. John
N. Andrews was
and is regarded as being
an outstanding Adventist. He
served the Advent cause devotedly and sacrificially all the days of his life
and today the Adventist University at Berrien Springs, Michigan, is named
Andrews University in his honour. As such then, his book is representative of
Adventist thinking at the time, went through at least five editions, and its
claim as set forth in the title to its being a true statement of the third
angel's message was, as far as we know, never challenged. Inasmuch then as the third angel's
message is justification by faith in verity, it would be expected that John
N. Andrews' book would be a series of studies on this subject especially
when, in the preface he has these words to say about
the third angel's role. "By what means shall the saints
of God be gathered in one people and prepared for translation? What mighty
truths has God in reserve for the last generation, with which to accomplish
this great work?" Page iv. 162 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT These are excellent questions. The
answer given is also excellent. "In answer to these questions we cite
the fourteenth chapter of Revelation." ibid. This answer is the truth provided
that the message of Revelation 14 is seen to be the everlasting gospel or
justification by faith in verity. But, while we might expect that John N.
Andrews' book would be a detailed and living presentation
of justification by faith, there is not a single page in the book devoted to this topic. Instead, the
material covers prophetic developments in the rise of the Advent people and
of the two-horned beast pictured in Revelation 13. Thus the Adventists had
come to call something which was not the third angel's message, by that name.
By 1888, they had become so far
removed in time from the original message that they had quite forgotten what
the real thing was and were busily preaching the counterfeit. This is why,
when the real message of the third angel was brought by God's appointed
messengers in 1888, the church could not recognize it as
such. They compared what those men had to teach with what they had always
regarded as being the third angel's message and they correctly recognized
that they were not the same. This imposed upon them the necessity of making a
specific choice between what
they regarded as being the real message which they fondly referred to as being the old
landmarks, and what the True Witness told them was the message in verity. The
lapse into the Laodicean condition in 1858 or thereabouts, was not a
temporary one. It settled into a fearful permanency so that by 1888, they
were in a state of even worse spiritual poverty. "Since the time of the Minneapolis
meeting, I have seen the state of the Laodicean Church as never before. I
have heard the rebuke of God spoken to those who feel so well satisfied, who
know not their spiritual destitution. Jesus speaks to these as He did to the
woman of Samaria: 'If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith
to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldst have asked of Him, and He would have
given thee living water.' "Like the Jews, many
have closed their eyes lest they should see; but there is as great peril now,
in closing the eyes to light, and in walking apart from Christ, feeling need
of nothing, as there was when He was upon earth. I have been shown many
things which I have presented before our people in solemnity and earnestness,
but those whose hearts have been hardened through criticism, jealousy, and
evil surmisings, knew not that they were poor, and miserable, and blind, and
naked. Those who resist the messages of God through His humble servant, think
they are at variance with Sister
White, because her ideas are not in harmony with theirs; but this variance is not with Sister White,
but with the Lord, who has given her her work to
do." The Review and Herald, August 26, 1890. Therefore, they were no more able to
see what God was plainly telling and showing them in 1888 than they were back
in 1858. But, this did not MORE ON THE
REAL ISSUES AT MINNEAPOLIS 163 mean that their cases were hopeless,
that they had to cling to that which they regarded as being the real truth.
All they had to do was to trust in the Word of their divine Commander,
taking the attitude that if He says it is so, then even though they could not
see it, it is so. They would believe and accept it. But the leadership,
together with the majority, did not step out by faith. Instead, they chose to
walk where they could see, in what was to them, the old familiar paths. That
those were paths of death and darkness did not trouble them. This then was the real issue back in
1888, the question of whether the actual third angel's message would be
reinstated in the church which had unknowingly lost it, or whether the
counterfeit would remain. That was the issue and, as
history and the Spirit of Prophecy testify, the formalists won the day. Subsequent to the dying out of the
message and the departure of the messengers from the church, the doctrines
which have been regarded as being the third angel's message,
continued to be the message of the church. The result is that any Adventist raised
since then has been taught that laws and doctrines are the third angel's
message whereas in fact, justification by faith is the message. Therefore, he
has been taught that something other than the message is the message. This places him in the same
predicament as the Adventists in 1888. It has been instilled into him that a
certain message is the message in verity, whereas it is not. We may marvel at
the blindness of the Jews and the Adventists who refused to believe what God
told them, but will God's people today prove any more receptive to the divine
counsels? In 1888, God sent the real third angel's message. That and that
alone is the light which will finish the work and cut it short in
righteousness. No matter how sincerely we may believe otherwise, this is the
truth. Therefore, even though we cannot see what the Lord is telling us, let
us believe it just because He says it. In 1858, there was a tragic departure
from the real message which has directed our feet
unwittingly but surely, in the same pathway. Only by recognizing these
deviations and in being prepared to correct them so far as our own lives are
concerned, will it be possible to escape the
fearful consequences. 18 Waggoner
Misrepresented The principal argument presented in Movement
of Destiny is that in 1888 at Minneapolis, Minnesota,
there came at
last the inevitable confrontation between those who
believed that Christ was eternally and truly God, and those who believed He
was the first of all created beings. In setting up this case, L. E. Froom
projects E. J. Waggoner as champion for the former
position with Uriah Smith and others as the opponents. If 1888 was nothing more than a
divine effort to correct this error, the principal burden of Jones' and
Waggoner's message would be presenting the deity or divinity of
Christ—proving that He was forever and eternally God. It would not bring any
great new advances in truth such as the fourth angel would, but it would
emphasize truths already held that had been neglected and little preached.
This is what Froom argues as he takes the messages given by Waggoner at the
Conference and sets forth his view of what was presented to the Adventist
Church. The argument long presented by Adventist opposers of the present
revival of the 1888 message is that the messages brought in 1888 shifted
emphasis away from law and prophecy to the presentation of Christ and His
righteousness which had not been brought forward as God had intended. In this
way God's great work in 1888 is minimized and reduced. On the other hand, if 1888 is
understood to be the beginning of the loud cry of the third angel of
Revelation 18, then the message of Waggoner and Jones was something far more
than a mere effort on God's part to correct the errors in the church at that
time. It is not denied that there were errors which needed to be corrected if
the church was to finish the work. There were
errors in the churches when the first angel began to sound in 1833; in the Advent groups when the
second angel began his work; and when the third angel came. From this, it is
clear that the Lord does not wait till every error is corrected before He
sends the next angel with the corrections of the previous faults, and
advanced light. WAGGONER
MISREPRESENTED 165 In 1888 the church had serious errors
needing correction. The next mighty angel came with a message
which would not only correct the errors of the church but would have opened
up the wonderful vistas of the third angel's message such as had neither been
seen nor preached before by Adventists. Waggoner's message had to be more
than correcting the errors in the church and more than revealing Christ to be
eternally God. It had to present light that would fill the whole earth with
the glory of God. "This message was to bring more prominently before the
world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It
presented justification through faith in the Surety; it invited the people to
receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to
all the commandments of God. Many had lost sight of Jesus. They needed to
have their eyes
directed to His
divine person, His
merits, and His changeless love for the human
family." Testimonies to Ministers, 91, 92. These messengers of the Lord
brought the doctrine that Christ came in the selfsame flesh and blood as the
children whom He came to save. It is the teaching
that the ladder reached up to the very throne of God and down to the sinful flesh
of man. In The Desire of Ages, 311, 312, it is declared that if that ladder had come
short in the slightest degree, we would have been lost. If men had come presenting only the
divinity of Christ, they would have come preaching only God, instead of the
saving truth, "God with us," which is Christ in the flesh —the
doctrine of Christ. They would have presented the
top half of the ladder without the bottom half. This is not preaching salvation. It is no better
than the teachers of antichrist in the Roman Catholic and Protestant
churches. But they did not do this. They came preaching the fullness of the
Godhead dwelling in the fullness of humanity as it was upon the earth when He
came to it. One has only to read their writings to see the truth of this, and
as this reading progresses, it will be seen, as the wonderful beauty of the
truth they presented unfolds to the eager, spiritual mind, that they did
bring a message the like of which had never before been preached within the
Adventist Church. It was not merely a shifting of the emphasis; it was not
merely the correction of long-standing errors; it was not merely the reviving
of truths long held in the church. It was a declaration of a message beyond
that which had been preached by Adventists before, just as each of the former
angels presented light not taught by their predecessors. This is not the picture presented in
Movement of Destiny nor the argument it seeks to develop. It aims to prove
that the presentation was only for the correction of certain errors,
re-emphasis of what had been formerly held and taught, and shifting the
emphasis away from the law to the gospel. 166 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT Therefore we
can expect Movement of Destiny to emphasize the side of Waggoner's message setting
forth the deity and eternal pre-existence of Christ, while ignoring or
actually misrepresenting the side setting forth the fullness of
Christ's coming in fallen, sinful flesh. In this expectation we are not
disappointed for this is just what the book does do as an examination of it will show. On page 188 of Movement of Destiny is
the chapter heading, £. J. Waggoner's Actual Message at Minneapolis—No. 1.
Part 2 follows on page 202 and extends to page 217. The submissions made in
the first three pages explode the old argument that we do not have any record
of what was preached
at the first Minneapolis Conference. Here it is stated that Waggoner's book, Christ and His
Righteousness, is a true portrayal of the message preached by him at that conference.
It is good to know this, so it can be
accepted that this book by Waggoner does contain what he actually taught at that Conference. On page 191, Froom begins his
explanation of what he believed the messenger sent by God presented at that Conference.
The presentation of Christ must begin with setting Him forth as the eternally
pre-existent God. Waggoner, being a true messenger of the Lord, began at this
point and spent time developing this great truth. This was preliminary
and basic to presenting Christ as a human being as well, but Froom takes Waggoner's presentations
on the deity of Christ and makes that the whole message given. Froom passes
through paragraph after paragraph with such headings as All-Encompassing Transcendence of Christ,
Majesty and Pre-eminence as God, Possesses All Attributes and Prerogatives of
God, Comprises 'All the Fulness of the
Godhead,' Supremely God in Highest Sense,
Christ as Creator—Equal with Father, Christ Emphatically Not 'Created Being,'
Jehovah the 'Self-Existent' One. He dwells upon these thoughts and gives a
reasonably accurate picture of what Waggoner taught thus far. He had no
difficulty in accepting what has been presented under these headings. Neither
would anyone in the Roman Catholic or Protestant churches, for they all teach
this part of Christ's incarnation. Now comes the
problem. Waggoner passes on to show that the Christ who was and is
the fullness of God, came and accepted fallen, sinful, mortal humanity. In this area,
Waggoner is just as forthright, specific, and clear as he was on the deity of
Christ, devoting seven pages to the section, and many more to the implications of
this truth. In this section is the clear declaration that Jesus Himself took
the flesh and blood of a sinful, and not of a sinless man. Here is the
thought expressed by Waggoner: "A little thought will be sufficient to
show anybody that if Christ took upon Himself the likeness of man, in order
that He might redeem man, it must have been sinful man that He was made like,
for it is sinful man that He came to
redeem. Death could have no power over a sinless man, as WAGGONER
MISREPRESENTED 167 Adam was in Eden; and it could not
have had any power over Christ, if the Lord had not laid on Him the iniquity
of us all. Moreover, the fact that Christ took upon Himself the flesh, not of
a sinless being, but of sinful man, that is, that the flesh which He assumed
had all the weaknesses and sinful tendencies to which fallen human nature is
subject, is shown by the statement that He 'was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh.' David had all the passions of human nature. He says
of himself, 'Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother
conceive me.' Psalm 51:5." Christ and His Righteousness, 26, 27.
Emphasis original. These words leave no doubt that Waggoner taught and
believed that in the flesh of Christ were "all the weaknesses and sinful
tendencies to which fallen, human
nature is subject ..." This is certainly not holy flesh, but sinful, mortal, fallen flesh. Now, if Waggoner was teaching in this
that which was contrary to the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, Sister White
would never have stood beside him and supported him in his teachings. The plain
command of the Bible in 2 John 7-11 absolutely forbids that. Therefore, to
declare that Waggoner was wrong in this presentation of the humanity of
Christ, is to charge Sister
White with being disobedient to the instruction in God's Word which, in turn, is to class her as a
false prophet. In
any case, the heading of the chapter under consideration
in Movement of Destiny shows that the author is claiming to set forth the actual message of Waggoner at
Minneapolis. This would lead us to expect, now we know what Waggoner taught
on Christ's humanity, that Froom would inform us of Christ's humanity as
Waggoner teaches it. We would expect
in the light
of the previous
extract from Christ
and His Righteousness, that
Froom would reveal Waggoner's teaching that Christ came with "all the
weaknesses and sinful tendencies to which fallen human nature is subject
..." We would recognize that should he fail to do so, he would fail to
give the actual message Waggoner brought in 1888. Not only does he fail to
give Waggoner's true message in respect to Christ's humanity, but he inserts
a key word into the text of Waggoner's writings which gives it a different
meaning altogether. On page 197, he devotes one paragraph to the section on
the humanity of Christ under the heading, "Became Flesh to Bear Our Sins
and Redeem." The key paragraph in this section by Froom reads as
follows: "As to His humanity, Christ came in the 'likeness of sinful
flesh' (Romans 8:3, 4). God 'laid on Him the iniquity of us all.' He 'took'
all the 'weaknesses' of man, and 'suffered all the infirmities' of man.
(Pages 26, 27.) More than that, He was actually
'made'—vicariously—to 'be sin for us,'
that we 'might
be made the
righteousness of God
in Him' (2 Corinthians 5:21).
On this Waggoner comments: " 'Here is the same mystery as
that the Son of God should die. The spotless Lamb of God, who knew no sin,
was made to be sin. Sinless, yet 168 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT not only
counted as a sinner, but actually taking upon Himself sinful nature. He [sic]
was made to be sin in order that we [sic] might be made righteousness!'
Christ and His Righteousness, 27, 28." It is true that L. E. Froom quotes a
paragraph from E. J. Waggoner stating that Christ "actually" took
"upon Himself sinful nature." But this is neatly covered and
perverted by inserting a key word which does not appear in the section as
written by Waggoner and which changes the truth in the statement. It is the
word "vicariously". This word has a definition quite opposite from
"actually", which means that He took it literally and in reality.
"Vicariously" teaches that He did not take it literally but in some
mysterious kind of sympathetic sense.
Here Froom has produced one of those impossibly contradictory statements
which purports to make the matter clear, but which obscures it further.
Something cannot be actual and at the same time vicarious. Observe too that while Froom
does refer to Waggoner's statement saying that Christ took all the
weaknesses of man, he is careful to omit the next words in the same sentence which
say that the flesh which Christ assumed "had ..." "all the
sinful tendencies to which fallen human nature is subject
..." This sentence which Froom has so
carefully omitted, is one of the most important in the whole paragraph.
Throughout, Froom is doing his best to make
it appear that
today the church
teaches the same message
as Waggoner, but
this is the very sentiment in the doctrine of Christ's nature to which he is most opposed—the teaching
that Christ came in the same nature as we have, a human nature having
"all the sinful tendencies to which human nature is heir." As Movement of Destiny proceeds,
Froom emphatically rejects the idea that Christ came in the same flesh and
blood as the children. Yet he knows that the
Spirit of Prophecy endorsed Waggoner and Jones' teaching that Christ, who was the eternal God, came
down and accepted a flesh and blood human nature derived exactly the same as
any of the children of men, and therefore had as its very nature, all that
humanity has. Froom's task as commissioned by the church, is to prove that he
and the church are in perfect agreement with,
and zealously preaching a message with which they are really in complete
disagreement. That is quite a task and places before him quite a dilemma. How is such a
problem solved? It is solved
without difficulty if the tactics followed by the church are adopted. This
involves, with carefully calculated timing, the setting forth of the problem
under the halo of declared agreement, rather than with the chilling
atmosphere of direct rejection. Expressions of awe for the message Waggoner
brought complete the image of pretended approval. Then, by carefully omitting
vital key statements made by the Lord's messenger and inserting the word
"vicariously", an interpretation of Waggoner is projected WAGGONER
MISREPRESENTED 169 which makes
his message acceptable to the church. Thus Waggoner is made to be the supporter of deadly
error instead of the champion of truth which he really was. The timing of this presentation of
what Waggoner is alleged to have preached, is a critical factor in the
guarantee of its success. A great deal is made of the fact that when Elder A.
G. Daniells first spoke to Froom about writing the
book, he pointed out that while the work was to be commenced, it was not yet
time to present it to the world. Years went by until the time was finally ripe for the completion
and release of the volume. See Movement
of Destiny, 17. It was important that those who
really knew what the men of 1888 taught, be no longer there, having been
removed by death or the powers of the church. If E. J. Waggoner had still
been alive and was to read what this book credits
him with teaching, he would have shortly put the record straight. No one
would dare attribute a living Waggoner with the teachings ascribed to him in this volume.
Waggoner was guiltless of teaching the papal doctrine of Christ having
sinless, perfect human nature. The living prophet has passed away, and so far
the Lord has not raised another to guide and caution the church. Were the
living prophet alive today, we would have a voice of unquestionable authority
to declare the nature of the deception being practised upon the church and
world. It was necessary to wait until the voices of those within the church
who were not afraid to stand up and be counted, and who understood by living
experience what the men of 1888 taught, had been silenced. This was effectively
done during the struggles of the fifties and sixties. It was accomplished by
throwing the full weight of church authority against their witness and
testimony until they were expelled from church fellowship and were heard no
more among the church members. With these voices stilled, the church
comforted its members with the assurance that all was well. They assured all
that those who declared there had been a
rejection in 1888 were mistaken and deluded; the church believed just what Waggoner and Jones
taught; the necessary adjustments had been made; and the stage was now set
for the great and final triumph of truth. This is believed by the majority in
the church for they trust the leadership just as the average man trusts his
doctor. All those who
mistakenly believe that Waggoner and Jones taught that Christ came in the
sinless, perfect humanity of Adam before he fell, will also believe that the
1888 message was never rejected and is being taught in the church today. They
will accept the conclusions drawn by L. E. Froom as a valuable and true
evaluation of developments in Adventist Church history. But they are terribly
mistaken. We will summarize the evidences investigated so far. It is incorrect to evaluate the
Minneapolis Conferences as merely a confrontation because of growing pressure
between two schools of thought 170 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT over the deity of Christ. This is
tragic understatement, reducing and minimizing the coming of the Revelation
18 angel whose glory was to fill the whole
earth, and who brought light
Adventists had never known or preached before. Such a seriously incorrect evaluation
must lead to equally erroneous conclusions of what the message and its
developments actually were. The message of Waggoner and Jones was
not simply the presentation of Christ as the fullness of the Godhead. That
was only part of the story, for a Saviour who remained God, or even as God in
sinless flesh, could not save us. Both Waggoner and Jones taught emphatically
that Christ took the same flesh and blood as the children. It is serious
misrepresentation to say otherwise. It is incorrect to say that a great
victory was gained in 1888; that God achieved what He designed should be
achieved; that the movement was delivered from fatal errors and the stage set
for final and glorious victory. This is not
what happened. The loud cry began but was stifled to death and in that rejection of truths to which
they merely assented, the church was swung into the direction of the great
antichrist. This has become more pronounced as
the intervening years have passed. The picture of Waggoner and Jones'
message in the Minneapolis Conferences beginning in 1888, as given in
Movement of Destiny, is not a true and
accurate picture of what really happened. The discussion
in Movement of Destiny of consequent developments from those Conferences,
must also be an inaccurate and unreal evaluation of what has really taken
place. These developments will further certify that 1888 was not a
victory but a defeat for the forces of truth. We will move on beyond 1888 to
study the developments which
took place and
the evaluation of them given in Movement of Destiny. 19 Waggoner Was
Not In Error Movement of Destiny
sets forth an evaluation of the Minneapolis messages which minimizes the
significance and importance of that event. This is serious enough on its own,
but the book does not stop there. It even presents Waggoner's message on the
eternal pre-existence of Christ as being faulty and speculative in certain
respects. From these errors L. E. Froom asserts the church has been delivered and subtly conveys the
impression that our understanding is superior to Waggoner's at that time. But
is it? Was Waggoner wrong and the modern church correct in this particular
area? Have we come far beyond the truth given by this messenger from the
Lord? If the believers back there had accepted the message as modern Adventist leadership so
confidently claims, the church's understanding today would be far in advance of
Waggoner and Jones. If they did not accept the message then, they are not as
far advanced as those men, for the Lord sends no further light until what has
already been sent is truly received. If the church fails to accept that
light, it not only proceeds no further, but falls aside into some error. The
church will not realize this. It will be more confident than ever that it has
the whole truth. If we can show that Waggoner was
wrong in one area, and Froom correct in his criticism of Waggoner in this
field, we will have proof that L. E. Froom is ahead of Waggoner. This
will be a witness in favour of the claim that the church did not reject the
message back there. On the other
hand, if it can be shown that Waggoner was not confused or speculative in his
position, we have proof that Froom is incorrect in his evaluation of the same
subject and is far behind Waggoner's understanding. This will constitute a
witness to the belief that the church did reject the message given. While the
position as set forth by Froom will tend to reduce confidence in the
messengers God sent in 1888, and lead the members to lose any real desire to
study their writings, the position that Waggoner is 172 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT correct will have the opposite
effect. It will lead those convicted by the truth to distrust the modern
writer's evaluation of the message, thus encouraging them to go back and study those men's
works for themselves. It is to be understood that this writer is not making
any claim that Waggoner and Jones had all the truth. But what they did teach
was the truth, as far as the Lord had revealed it at that time. The chapter in Movement of Destiny
devoted to finding fault with Waggoner's message begins on page 281, and is entitled Retrospective Look
at Waggoner's Minneapolis
Message—No. 2. The opening
two paragraphs read as follows: "Confused by
Phrase 'Proceeded
Forth.'—In a couple of instances Waggoner ventured out onto the
thin ice of speculation, and broke through into waters of conjecture that
were over his depth—over anyone's depth, in fact. These
instances concerned the
same point. So
it was really a breakthrough at the same spot—over
the same issue. That this could be is not surprising, for it was a question
that had intrigued and puzzled Christian scholars throughout long periods in
the Christian Era. It had been agitated in the era of discussion concerning
Christ and the Godhead by inquisitive churchmen of the early centuries. It
again came under discussion both in Reformation and post-Reformation times. "Its reverberations could still
be heard in certain Protestant bodies in the early nineteenth century. It
even penetrated our own ranks in our earlier decades, when our men thought
anxiously concerning the Godhead and its relationships—especially as to
Christ. It centered on the intent of those Biblical expressions—'only begotten'
and 'Son of God,'
and 'proceeded forth' from the
Father (John 8:42). Just what did these expressions mean to Waggoner?
And how far back do they take us into the illimitable past? Were there two proceedings forth—one
in the unfathomable beginning, and one at the Incarnation? That was the
question." Here is the
assertion that on
this point Waggoner ventured
into speculation because there was no Bible support for his position.
It is inferred that he ought to have known better, for this was an area which
had engaged the thought and study of churchmen for centuries without any total
agreement being reached among them. Therefore, he ought to have left the subject alone. This point
was over the expressions, "only begotten," "Son of God"
and "proceeded forth from the Father." Froom questions what these
expressions meant to Waggoner, and how far they take us back into the
illimitable past. "Were there two proceedings forth—one in the
unfathomable beginning, and one at the Incarnation? That was the
question." The next eight pages of Movement of
Destiny are devoted to discussing the various beliefs of scholars down the
corridors of time, after which a more direct discussion of Waggoner's
position is begun. WAGGONER WAS
NOT IN ERROR 173 On page 291, Froom lists the
offending statements from Christ and His Righteousness, under the general
heading of" 'Goings Forth' Equated with 'Proceedeth Forth . . . From
God.' " He then says, "Here are Waggoner's two
questionable statements on Christ's origin in their context: " 'The Word was 'in the beginning.'
The mind of man cannot grasp the ages that are spanned in this phrase. It is
not given to men to know when or how the Son of God was begotten; but we know
that He was the Divine Word, not simply before He came to this earth to die,
but even before the world was created. Just before His crucifixion He prayed,
'And now, O Father,
glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.' John
17:5. And more than seven hundred years before His first advent, His
coming was thus foretold by the word of inspiration: 'But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands
of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings
forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity,' Micah 5:2, margin.
We know that Christ 'proceeded forth and came from God' (John 8:42), but it
was so far back in the ages of eternity as to be far beyond the grasp of the
mind of man.' (Christ and His Righteousness, 9.) " The Scriptures declare that
Christ is 'the only-begotten Son of God.' He is begotten, not created. As to
when He was begotten, it is not for us to inquire, nor could our minds grasp
it if we were told. . . [Micah 5:2 quoted.] There was a time when Christ
proceeded forth and came from God, from the bosom of the Father (John 8:42;
1:18), but that time was so far back in
the days of eternity that to finite comprehension it is practically without
beginning. " 'But the point is that Christ
is a begotten Son, and not a created subject. He has by inheritance [sic] a
more excellent Name than the angels; He is 'a Son over His own house.'
Hebrews 1:4, 3:6.' (ibid., pages 21, 22.)" Froom quotes a third paragraph but
before doing so he says: "In his anxiety to emphasize 'begotten Son'—for
he was arguing against the contention of some in his audience who had claimed
that Christ was a created being—Waggoner also made the following statement:
" 'It is true that there are many sons of God; but Christ is the 'onlybegotten Son of God,' and therefore the Son of God in
a sense in which no other being ever was, or ever can be. The angels are sons
of God, as was Adam (Job 38:7; Luke 3:38), by creation; Christians are the
sons of God by adoption
(Romans 8:14, 15); but Christ is the Son of God by birth.' (ibid., page 12.)" Froom comments
on these statements as follows: "Based on
Faulty Equations.—Waggoner clearly equates—in these statements—the 'goings
forth' of Micah 5:2 with the 'proceeded forth and came from God' of John
8:42, to which he adds the expression 'in the 174 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT bosom of the Father' from John 1:18.
He concludes that since Christ is declared to be 'the only-begotten Son
of God'—and that He 'proceeded forth and came from God' and His 'goings forth
have been from of old, from the days
of eternity'—therefore 'there was a time when
Christ proceeded forth and came from God,
from the bosom of the Father . . . , but that time was so far back in the
days of eternity that to finite comprehension it is practically without
beginning.' "From the strict Trinitarian
view, the eternal pre-existence of Christ is absolutely essential
to His Godhood.
Self-existence can brook
no intimation of beginning or derivation. If there was any point in
eternity when Christ came forth from the Father, then He had a beginning, and
is less than complete Deity—no matter how 'far back in the days of eternity'
this may have happened." Movement of Destiny, 291, 292. Waggoner did not limit the going
forth of Christ from the Father, to the incarnation in Bethlehem. He saw a
similar proceeding forth from God having taken place formerly in the
limitless reaches of eternity so far back that it was beyond the beginning of
all things. If this idea of Christ having a former point when He proceeded
forth from God is taken to say that He had a beginning, this denies that
Christ is truly God in the eternal sense. To be God, He must be as eternal in
the past as He is in the present and future. There must
never be any point of time when He cannot say "I AM". That Jesus was already the only
begotten Son of God before He became incarnate man in Bethlehem, is made
clear in Patriarchs and Prophets, 36. This statement describes a meeting
called by God before this world was even created. Then God presented Christ,
not as one to become the begotten Son of God, but as one who was already
that. This was not merely a title possessed by Christ. God presented Him as His
only begotten Son because that is what He was at that time. Thus this
statement fully supports Waggoner's position and denies that of Froom. Here is the paragraph: "The King
of the universe summoned the heavenly hosts before Him, that in their presence
He might set forth the true position of His Son, and show the relation He
sustained to all created beings. The Son of God shared the Father's throne,
and the glory of the eternal, self-existent One encircled both. About the throne gathered the holy
angels, a vast, unnumbered throng—'ten thousand times
ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,' the most exalted angels, as
ministers and subjects, rejoicing in the light that fell upon them from the
presence of the Deity. Before the assembled inhabitants of heaven, the King
declared that none but Christ, the only begotten of God, could fully enter
into His purposes, and to Him it was committed to execute the mighty counsels
of His will. The Son of God had wrought the Father's will in the creation of
all the hosts of heaven; and to Him, as well as to God, their homage and
allegiance were due. Christ was still to exercise divine power, in the
creation of the earth and its WAGGONER WAS
NOT IN ERROR 175 inhabitants. But in all this He would
not seek power or exaltation for Himself contrary to God's plan, but would
exalt the Father's glory, and execute His purposes of beneficence and
love." It is evident that Froom does
interpret Waggoner's words to mean that at the point of time when in the
illimitable past, Christ came forth from the Father, He had
a beginning. Froom equates being born of God as having a beginning and shows that he believes
this is what Waggoner had in mind and conveyed by this teaching. It is here that weakness is found in
Froom's understandings and strength is found in Waggoner's teachings.
Waggoner did not elaborate further
on the point
to show whether
he understood that if Christ proceeded forth from the
Father it meant that He had a beginning at that point of time. We do not know
what Waggoner believed in this final connection nor can we prove he believed
either way. Froom assumes that Waggoner
thought Christ did have a beginning, but we stress that this assumption cannot be proved. We are left to decide whether or not
it is error to declare that Christ did proceed forth from the Father as the
only begotten Son of God. If this is correct, then even though Waggoner may
not have understood all of the truth, what he said in itself would
not be the error which Froom declares it is. All we can do is decide from
what Waggoner actually said whether he was in error or not. We cannot go into
any assumptions as to how he might have interpreted what he said in the
unspoken concepts of his mind. By searching into the original words of the
Greek text, Froom tries to argue that these expressions do not mean any
literal physical birth on the part of Christ in the distant past, but are
used to convey the idea of uniqueness and difference between Christ and the
rest of the beings in existence. There is no point in going further into his
argument here. It can be read in his book by those who care to do so. We are
concerned only with seeing if Waggoner's statement was the truth, or a
limiting of Christ's pre-existence.
The eternal pre-existence of Christ,
the fact that God has no beginning and all that pertains to this, is a great
mystery which can only be understood so far as the
Lord has seen fit to reveal it to the human mind. Revelations have been given so that the
understanding of that mystery is much greater now than it was in the very
beginning. We can see this on the basis of Paul's testimony in
Ephesians. "For this
cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, "If ye have
heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: "How that by revelation He made
known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, "Whereby, when ye read, ye may
understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) 176 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT "Which in other ages was not
made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles
and prophets by the Spirit; "That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs,
and of the same body and partakers of
His promise in Christ by the gospel: "Whereof I was made a minister,
according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual
working of His power. "Unto me, who am less than the least of all
saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ; "And to make all men see what is the
fellowship of the mystery, which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: "To the intent that now unto the
principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the
manifold wisdom of God, "According to the eternal
purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." Ephesians 3:1-11. In these verses Paul speaks about the
mystery of Christ, which is all involved in God's eternal purpose in Jesus
Christ. This is the wisdom of God. It had not been truly understood
previously by men upon this earth, nor even by principalities and powers in
the kingdom of heaven amongst the unfallen
creatures in God's
great universe. But,
because of the revelation of Jesus Christ through
the ministration of God's church upon this earth, that mystery was becoming
clearer even to the principalities and powers in heavenly places. What is the mystery of God? In
Colossians, chapter one, Paul takes up the same theme and uses almost the
same words. "Whereof I am made a minister, according to the
dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; "Even the
mystery which hath
been hid from
ages and from generations, but now is made manifest
to His saints: "To whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:25-27. The mystery of
God then, is Christ, the sinless, eternal One, dwelling in us, the sinful and finite ones. It is divinity dwelling in humanity—the incarnation.
The incarnation was by no means complete when Christ came and dwelt in
sinful flesh, for that is not sufficient to effect
our salvation. It is complete only when Jesus comes and
dwells in our own sinful, fallen, human nature. That this can be done is the
mystery of God revealed now as never
before, even in the beginning of God's creation before sin marred the
perfection of God's universe. This
revelation of the mystery of God to an extent not seen even by the
principalities and powers in heavenly places is "according to the
eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." There is an
intimate connection between the mystery of God and His eternal purpose in
respect to Jesus Christ. These two must be studied with reference to each
other. WAGGONER WAS
NOT IN ERROR 177 What is the extent of an eternal purpose?
Eternity encompasses not only the unending future, but stretches as far back
into the past as it does into the
future—eternally. Therefore, this purpose involving the mystery of God, which
is Christ in the body of a creature, is not of a temporary nature, but is as eternal as God Himself. The
text does not merely say it is an eternal purpose, but that it is the eternal
purpose. The eternal purpose of God in which
is involved the mystery of God, was in existence long before man was created
or sin entered the universe. It was not there as something which God purposed
for Christ at a future time, for then it
could not be God's eternal purpose, but something eternally purposed instead. When Christ came to
this earth, He was fulfilling the eternal purpose of God to a new extent, in
a wider dimension and fuller degree than ever before. Christ was not doing
something new. He was carrying to a greater height, width, and depth that
which He had always done in the eternal purpose of God for Him. In the New
Testament we see Christ fulfilling the eternal purpose of God by coming as
both God and man that thereby man can approach unto God. Perhaps there is no
better understood nor widely accepted truth than that there is no way man can
approach unto God except through Jesus Christ. "Neither is there
salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among
men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12. It is God's purpose that man should
have communication and access to Him, for He is the fountain of all life,
joy, and happiness. Without Him, there can be no life and no continued
existence. It is impossible for there to be direct
communication between God and man. God is totally infinite while man is so finite and small a
part of the total creation and so far removed from God through sin, that he
could never provide a way to reach God. God must provide a way for man. The
man Christ Jesus fulfils that purpose. So it is
written "That in the dispensation of the fulness
of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are
in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him." Ephesians 1:10. The
purpose of God is to draw all things together in Christ, not only upon this
earth but in heaven. To us and the principalities and powers in heavenly
places, the greatest revelation of this purpose and mystery is found in the
incarnation of the Son of God working to draw sinful man back into oneness
with God. The salient truth necessary for this work's success is that Christ
must first be God, so that He can lift us all the way up to God and He must
be truly man in sinful flesh and blood to reach men where they are. "Christ
is the ladder that Jacob saw, the base resting on the earth, and the topmost
round reaching to the gate of heaven, to the very threshold of glory. If that
ladder had failed by a single step of reaching the earth, we should have been
lost. But Christ reaches us where we are. He took our 178 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT nature and overcame, that we through taking
His nature might overcome. Made 'in the likeness of sinful flesh' (Romans
8:3), He lived a sinless life. Now by His divinity He lays hold upon
the throne of heaven, while by His humanity He reaches us. He bids us by
faith in Him attain to the glory of the character of God. Therefore are we to
be perfect, even as our 'Father which is in heaven is perfect.' " The
Desire of Ages, 311, 312. While it is generally recognized that
man cannot approach unto God except through Christ, it has not been so readily
seen that the angels cannot approach Him directly either. They need an
Advocate who is one with them and one with the Father. "Heaven is a
ceaseless approaching to God through
Christ." The Desire of Ages, 331. The need for this is apparent when the
nature of God versus that of the angels is considered. Between the infinite
Creator of everything which exists, and the angels, each of whom is so small
a part of that vast creation, there is a great gulf so deep and wide that
direct communication is impossible. God's purpose was to draw all things in
heaven into one, just as on this earth. He had to provide the means to
establish communication. That means is
fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus Christ. For Christ to
provide the channel of communication between man and God, He had to be both
man and God. To provide the same between angels and God, He would have to be
both angel and God. Again that ladder must reach from God to the angels, not
coming short by a single step. In the New Testament where we see the
outworking of God's eternal purpose in the realm of man, Christ stands
revealed as both God and man. In the Old Testament where we see Him as He was
before He entered physically
into man's realm, He was the Mediator for the angels, being both God and angel. A study of heavenly messengers
appearing to men in the Old Testament, shows that often it was Christ Himself
who appeared. Christ was the Angel who wrestled with Jacob till daybreak. It
was Christ, the Angel of the Covenant, who went before the people of Israel
in the wilderness and who appeared to Joshua,
Gideon, Manoah and his wife. It
is Christ, the Archangel, who bears the name of Michael our prince. For Christ
who was eternally God, to become a man, He had to be begotten by God into the
form of a man, and for Christ to become an angel, He had to be begotten into
the form of an angel. How and when this was done we do not know, for it has
never been revealed to us. As soon as God created the angels, there was the
need for communication to be established between them
and Christ was willing to. fulfil God's eternal purpose in Him to draw all things into one in heaven
as later it was to be on earth. Therefore, just as there was Christ's first
work of drawing the angels into oneness with God, there had to be a further
extension of the identical work in drawing men into oneness with God. So
there had to be two occasions WAGGONER WAS
NOT IN ERROR 179 when Christ was begotten of God, the
first being into the form of an angel and the second into the form of man. But, the fact that Christ was
begotten into a new form, did not mean that He had a beginning at that point
of time. No one who believes the Bible truth of Christ's eternal
pre-existence has difficulty in seeing that when Christ was begotten into the
form of man, He only had a beginning as a man. He had descended from where He
had been and taken up a flesh and blood body as the tabernacle for His
eternal Spirit and Life. The fact that He was begotten into the form of an
angel as far back as Waggoner says He was, does not need to be understood
that begetting Him meant the beginning
of Him, for
it did not.
Before that, He
was God—eternally
so, infinite and beginningless. Waggoner saw more, much more than is generally
realized. He was not wrong in saying that Christ was the begotten Son of God
long before His appearance in Bethlehem. He did not venture "out onto
the thin ice of speculation,"
nor did he break "through into waters of conjecture that were over his depth." Instead, he
presented a sound Biblical truth on the position of Christ who is the One
through whom the Father has ever been, is, and ever will be, fulfilling His
eternal purpose of drawing all things together into one. When God sent E. J. Waggoner and A.
T. Jones with the mighty message of the fourth angel, it was a great and
wonderful light that they brought. The messages sent are still available in
their published works for all to study. The lesson learned from the
presentation of what another man thought they
taught, and from the pages of history generally, is that there is safety only in studying for yourself
to see what was taught back then. If the Lord sent "a most precious
message" to His people then—the message of the loud cry
to finish the work—we need that message today and should spare nothing in our quest for it.
There is great and wonderful light revealed there and it will be our fault if
that light is not seen, understood, and experienced as it should be. 20 One Giant Step
Too Far We
now return to
trace the development
of the arguments
in Movement of Destiny. The title conveys the author's conviction that
the Seventh-day Adventist Church is the
movement of destiny. For that body to fulfil its appointed destiny, Froom
correctly argues, it must first be purged from serious errors and equipped
with the real and living truth for this time, particularly in the field of
the Person and work of Christ. Seen by the author as a serious obstacle to
fulfilling this destiny was the presence in the Adventist Church after 1844,
of teachings which denied the full deity of
Christ. The first objective to be achieved was the correction of these errors.
Froom sees this as the great purpose of the messages given in 1888. Movement of Destiny gives no
revelation of the more glorious work Lord intended
to accomplish in had to be a period of time subsequent to of Varied
Advances Follows Headquarters Group
Studies Mark 1888. Deep-seated
errors are not corrected in a day or one short year. There 1888 for these
errors to be set straight in
the church. Froom traces his view of this in the chapters, Decade 1888,
beginning on page 313 through to
1930's,
ending on page 442, with several other
chapter headings between,
such as Resurgence
Gains Momentum by 1920, Daniells'
Contribution to the Resurgence, and 1931 Opens New Epoch of Unity and Advance.
Just as the first era of the
Adventist Church is designated by this book as lasting from 1844 till 1888, so
the second era is said to extend to 1931. This year is chosen by Froom as
being of special significance because unity was finally achieved on the
question of Christ's deity. The event to mark this point of time was the
appearance in the Yearbook of The Statement of Adventist
Beliefs. This formed the basis for the Baptismal Certificate which appeared ten years later. In the light
of these two events, Froom states, "While 1931 was the crucial year, it
was more accurately the decade—embracing the years 1931 to 1941—that marked
the pivotal turn of events for unity of belief in our ONE GIANT STEP
TOO FAR 181 post-1888 history. As seen, this
ten-year period was introduced by the appearance of an acceptable Statement
of Faith, now received by all. "The decade logically closed
with the adoption, in 1941, of the uniform 'Baptismal Covenant' and 'Vow,' in
Certificate form. This was definitely based upon, but elaborated and
accentuated, the now generally accepted 'Fundamental Beliefs' declaration of
1931." Movement of Destiny, 415. The important point Froom seeks to
make is that the work begun by the turning of the tide in 1888 by the
declaration of Christ's complete deity now came to completion so far as unity
within the church is concerned. "We now come [in 1931] to another in the
series of vital turning points in Adventist history. Or perhaps it might more
accurately be called a point of concurrence—one that marked the beginning of
a new epoch, a drawing together in a united front. After 87 years of
conflicting viewpoints over the Deity of Christ, the Trinity, and the
Personality of the Holy Spirit, a unified position that honored Bible
truth—and was in accord with the Spirit of Prophecy—came to be accepted by
both sides." ibid., 409. This is what Froom declares had been achieved
at this point of time. He saw in this the completion of the work which the
Lord planned to achieve in sending the message in 1888. According to his
thinking, the point to which the church had come was of preparation to go forth
as a unified movement preaching the
everlasting gospel to the world and to finish the work. "We were now ready, so far as an
acceptable Statement of Faith and Baptismal Certificate were concerned, to go to all the world with the Everlasting
Gospel message in a clearer and more compelling way. We were
no longer subject
to a legitimate
charge that on
the Eternal Fundamentals—the basic
principles, provisions, and
Personalities of redemption—we
were divided, or in conflict with the testimony of the soundest Christian
faith of the centuries. And in addition, that we ourselves were out of
harmony with the repeated and cumulative declarations of the Spirit of
Prophecy. "So it was that we passed the
last major theological roadblock in the series of obstacles that we have been
compelled to survey in tracing our history. The culminating events of the
decade 1931 to 1941 consequently marked the end of an old epoch, and the
beginning of a new day in unification and auspicious witness for us as a
Movement. It was definitely another major turning point in denominational
history." ibid., 421-422. So the church entered upon the final
section of her history according to the divisions set forth in the book,
namely, the period beginning with the decade 1931 to 1941. This becomes the
most significant section, for it shows the full maturing of what the
church did in 1888. Here, in the leadership's words, is revealed the
point and position to which the course adopted by the church in 1888 had taken
them, just as when a seedling first appears above the ground, it is often
difficult to discern what kind of plant it is, but when it comes to full
maturity, its real nature is clearly seen by all. 182 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT Movement of Destiny has claimed that
the church was rescued in 1888 from serious errors, and that the experience
was a great and wonderful victory for
the church. This is how the church views itself, but we will see as the
full development comes into view, that it was breaking down the
differences between the Adventist Church and Babylon, leading to a closer
unity and fellowship between them. Step
follows step and
no sooner had
the church published
her statement of beliefs and the "Baptismal Certificate" and
"Vow", than she moved on in the chain of events to the revision of
certain statements in books of the
past. Of this Movement of Destiny says: "The next logical and inevitable
step in the implementing of our unified 'Fundamental Beliefs' involved
revision of certain standard works so as to eliminate statements that taught,
and thus perpetuated, erroneous views on the Godhead. Such sentiments were
now sharply at variance with the accepted 'Fundamental Beliefs' set forth in
the Church Manual, and with the uniform 'Baptismal Covenant' and 'Vow' based
thereon, which, in certificate
form, was now used for all candidates seeking admission to membership in the church." Page
422. There were
such statements in Adventist books which did need revision and deletion.
Seventh-day Adventists certainly could not continue printing the sentiments
in Daniel and the Revelation by Uriah Smith which said that Christ was a
created being. As the true church of God advances into the greater light of
everlasting day, she will be obliged to discard errors once vigorously
taught, and revise her teachings accordingly. The church of the Middle Ages
taught and believed that the first day of the week was the true day of
worship but the time came when the advancing church saw its error and no
longer printed and distributed literature that gave Sunday any support. We take no issue with the need for
revision, but we do with how far that revision is taken. If, in deleting
error, truth is taken also, more damage than good has been done. If the
church comes to a crisis point in her history, when the Lord
offers truth, and she fails to accept it as time goes by, she may reject some points of error but
she will reject truth as well. This is another indication of whether there
was rejection or acceptance of the truth at
Minneapolis. If error only was deleted in the period we are now studying subsequent to 1941, we can be sure
that Froom is correct in his evaluation of what took place in 1888. However, if
the deletions and corrections took away sound fundamental truth, we know that
there was a rejection in 1888 and thereafter. Already one
can see that Froom has presented an imbalanced view of Waggoner's message. He
has projected Waggoner as teaching that Christ was eternal God, but also that
He came down to dwell in sinless, holy flesh, merely accepting our nature and
experiencing our trials and temptations vicariously. This is not what Jones
and Waggoner said. They taught that ONE GIANT STEP
TOO FAR 183 Christ took our human nature actually
and literally and in the selfsame way that we acquire ours. They teach that
the ladder did not fail by a single step of reaching us where we are. Tenaciously hold to and remember that
the doctrine of Christ is the teaching that God came down into human
nature—not merely that Christ is God or man but is God and man. If it is
taught that Christ was not truly, wholly, and eternally God, this denies the
doctrine of Christ. If there is the slightest
denial that Christ took the very same sinful, fallen, degenerate flesh and blood as the children, this
also is the doctrine of antichrist. The message of God and of 1888 was that
Christ, as all the fullness of the Godhead, came to dwell in all the fullness
of fallen humanity. The devil fears no teaching which presents the fullness
of one or the other, provided that the two are not linked together. It is the
nature of antichrist to deny one or the other, but not both. In Christ's day
the issue was over His divinity. They could see that He was truly a man, with
the same flesh and blood as they had, but they could not see that He was the
divine Son of God. The issue has swung to the other end of the ladder today.
To the body of fundamental Christians and even the Roman Catholic Church, it
is plain that Christ is truly and eternally God. What they cannot see is that
pure and spotless divinity can actually humble itself to dwell in fallen
humanity. Here is the Roman Catholic sentiment to this effect. "Disbelief in the immaculate
conception of the blessed virgin Mary would imply belief in the following
revolting consequences; namely, that He who is holiness itself, and has an
infinite horror of sin, took human nature from a corrupt human source."
Catholic Belief, 217. This statement says that the Saviour had the same holy,
sinless, and immaculate humanity of His mother
Mary, according to Catholic belief. If you present to a Roman Catholic well
versed in the theology of his church, the idea that
Christ did receive a corrupted human nature, to his way of thinking this denies the divinity of
Christ and makes Him a sinner. The mystery of the incarnation is a mystery
indeed, standing unrevealed to his mind. We shall see that the daughters of
Babylon share the same view. In their minds, to give Christ a sinful human
nature is to make Him altogether like ourselves, to take away His
divinity and eternal pre-existence. It is to disparage and destroy His Person
and work. Not only is
this the viewpoint and belief of Babylon but it is the identifying mark of
that vast, antichristian system. Wherever that view is found we find that
Babylon exists. Babylon, wherever she is to be found, cannot see and accept
that Jesus, the eternal Son of God, actually came and took as His very own, the same
weak, fallen, sinful human nature as the children of men. They reject such a
concept with horror, believing that it degrades the
Son of God. 184 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT The true child of God does not see
this as a degradation but as the glorification of the Son of God. "Some may
have thought, while
reading thus far, that
we were depreciating the
character of Jesus, by bringing Him down to the level of sinful man. On the
contrary, we are simply exalting the 'Divine power' of our blessed Saviour,
who Himself voluntarily descended to the level of sinful man, in order that
He might exalt man to His own spotless purity, which He retained under the
most adverse circumstances. His humanity only veiled His Divine nature, by
which He was inseparably connected with the invisible God, and which was more
than able successfully to resist the weaknesses of the flesh." Christ
and His Righteousness, 28. This is Waggoner's understanding, the
man sent of God with a message in 1888. It is not difficult to see that it is
the opposite of Babylon's thinking. In the eyes of Babylon, Waggoner and
Jones would belittle and disparage the Person and
work of Christ. However, this would not cause these men of God any distress. They would be
very anxious if Babylon could approve of what they taught. They would
seriously wonder whether their message was the truth or not. In fact, they
would know that if Babylon could and did approve of their message on the
nature of Christ, they had to be teaching the doctrine of antichrist with
Babylon. Babylon is antichrist—the deadly
enemy of Christ and His church. There can be no fellowship or agreement
between them, only unrelenting warfare. The more the church of God
is true to God's truth and her sacred trusts, the more hostile and deadly
will the warfare be. If LeRoy Froom and the Adventist
leadership backing the production of Movement of Destiny, truly believe in
the message brought by Waggoner and Jones, as
they earnestly claim, they will hold Waggoner and Jones' viewpoint on the
nature of Christ in the incarnation. They would not hold what are the teachings of today's
Babylonian churches, and would be
regarded by those churches as a people who would disparage and belittle the Person and
work of Christ. We
have already seen that Movement of Destiny failed to present
Waggoner's message as he taught it.
Froom's book makes it appear that Waggoner did
teach the doctrine of Babylon, for where Waggoner taught that Christ came in sinful flesh,
Froom presents him as teaching that Christ did this merely in a vicarious
way. Therefore, when the deletions were
going forward, the church would not stop with deleting Uriah Smith's
statements denying the fullness of Christ's deity, but would further
delete those which spoke of His taking the sinful human nature of man. This
is precisely what they did. The most significant of these
statements appeared in the 1915 edition of Bible Readings for the Home
Circle, pages 173, 174, under the heading of "A Sinless Life". Here
is a facsimile reproduction of the "offending" part of this
chapter. Immediately following are the same pages as they appear in the revised edition of ONE GIANT STEP
TOO FAR 185 These notes are worthy of careful
study. Those who understand the message of Waggoner and Jones and the true
doctrine of Christ will see that here in a
few words, is an accurate and truly wonderful statement on the incarnation of Christ. These
sentiments are in exact harmony with the message brought by the fourth angel
in 1888. Note how it distinctly states that
"In His humanity Christ partook of our sinful, fallen nature." If
this was not so, the writer argues, the Scriptures which teach that He was
"made like unto His brethren," was "in all points tempted like
as we are," arid overcame as we have to overcome, are totally denied. It immediately takes issue with that
papal teaching which states that Christ "inherited no tendencies to sin,
and for this reason did not sin," declaring that this removes Him from
the very place where He could effect our salvation.
Of special interest is the
distinction made between the divine nature of Christ and the human nature.
"On His human side—Christ inherited just what every child of Adam
inherits—a sinful nature." So much for that side of the story, but there
is the other divine side of Christ. This is distinguished from the sinful
human nature as being perfect and sinless. "On the divine side, from His
very conception He was begotten and born of the Spirit." This plainly
teaches that the eternal God dwelt in the same flesh and blood as the
children. The note concludes with the implications of this, which are simply
that Christ proved by demonstration that by laying hold upon His divine
nature we may gain complete victory over sin in our own sinful flesh. This is
a wonderful statement on the incarnation of Christ and it is evident that
Professor Colcord to whom Froom attributes this statement, understood and
believed the messengers sent by the Lord in 1888. This statement should be
treasured and held to by every Seventh-day Adventist in the world. But this is not the teaching of
antichrist. In the light of the discussion earlier in this chapter, it should
not be difficult to realize with what hostility and ridicule the churches of
Babylon would regard these words. As you listen again to the words of the
papacy, compare these sentiments with those of Bible
Readings. "Disbelief in the immaculate conception
of the blessed virgin Mary would imply belief in the following revolting
consequences; namely, that He who was holiness itself, and has an infinite
horror of sin, took human nature from a corrupt human source." Catholic
Belief, 217. The essential point in this statement is that Christ took a
corrupt human nature. In order to exempt Christ from this, He is born from a
mother who has been born of an immaculate conception. This is how Babylon,
the mother, denies Christ's
doctrine and bears the identifying
mark of antichrist. It is well
known that the daughters of Babylon, the Protestant churches, do
not arrive at the same conclusion that Christ had sinless flesh 186 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT by teaching that the mother of Jesus
had an immaculate conception. They give Christ the immaculate conception,
which gives Him exactly the same flesh and
blood as the Roman Catholic Church gives Him. Some
may conclude that
because the Protestant
churches do not believe in the immaculate conception of
Mary, their teachings on the nature of Christ are different. This is not so.
Their teachings are identical so far as the end result is concerned. The
Roman Catholic Church gives Christ an immaculate conception
by giving His
mother one first,
whereas the Protestant
churches give the immaculate conception to Christ directly. See how plainly the Protestants claim
this as shown in the following statement from Dr. E. Schuyler English, who
was in 1955 the editor of Our Hope Magazine and chairman of the committee for
revision of the Scofield Reference Bible. This
identifies him as an evangelical Protestant of some standing. " 'He [Christ] was perfect in
His humanity, but He was none the less God, and His conception in His
incarnation was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit so that He did not partake of
the fallen sinful nature of other men.' " Movement of Destiny, 469. Dr.
English could not have stated the teaching that Jesus
Christ was born of an immaculate conception more plainly. This is Roman Catholic theology and the
mark of antichrist. That he should
express such sentiments is not
surprising for the Protestant churches are Baby/on — the daughters of the
great mother. If Babylon, they are antichrist, and if
that, they certainly must and do deny that Christ came in
the flesh. They could not be Babylon and teach otherwise, nor could they teach
this and not be Babylon. These teachings are the direct opposite from those
taught by E. J. Waggoner and A. T.
Jones, and further repeated in the Bible Readings, 1915 edition. But what
else can be expected? Waggoner, Jones, and the Bible Readings set forth the
doctrine of Christ, whereas Babylon sets forth the doctrine
of antichrist. How could such
opposite teachings be
in harmony? It cannot be argued, as some are
attempting to do, that Waggoner and Jones brought the truth of righteousness
and justification by faith, but were astray on their teachings of the
incarnation of Christ. It is impossible to argue this
successfully, for the message of justification by faith and the incarnation of Christ are
inseparable. Our concept of one will determine our teaching on the other. If
one's belief on the incarnation is in error, one's belief of justification
and righteousness by faith is also in error. Waggoner and Jones were not in
error so far as justification by faith and the righteousness of Christ were
concerned, for this is the message God gave them to bring to the Adventist
people. Therefore, they were not wrong in their teachings on
the nature of Christ. Babylon could not see what they
taught, as the truth. They saw it as deadly error. It kindled anger and
hostility and more than ever led them to ONE GIANT STEP
TOO FAR 187 think of Adventists
as being a people who disparage and belittle the Person and work of Christ. The actual
writings of Waggoner and Jones were not given the wide circulation and
promotion by the church which they ought to have had. As time passed, the
books disappeared from circulation altogether, but Bible Readings was widely
circulated and did not disappear. It
was rightly regarded as being a highly representative Adventist publication.
So it was this book, not the writings of Waggoner and Jones, that the Protestants
looked upon as confirmation of the "unchristian" teachings of the
Adventist Church, as
they read that "offending" statement saying that Christ
"partook of our sinful,
fallen nature." That such a beautiful statement of
living truth should cause offence among the Protestants should not cause a
true Adventist the least distress. He should
boldly unfurl this flag of truth to the world and with conviction confess what he believes. For the true people of God, faithful
to His word, it is possible that the power-filled witness of Godly lives may
reluctantly wring from Babylon the admission that we are at least
Christians in our behaviour, but they will never confess that in our
teachings we are Christians. Nor should we expect them to. If we
find that the Babylonian churches commend as Christian our teachings on vital
issues, we will know that they have ceased to be Christian and have become decidedly
antichristian. There could be nothing more serious for the Church of God. It was the preaching of the first,
second, and third angels' messages which separated the people of God from the
fallen churches. "By the mighty
cleaver of truth, the messages of the first, second, and third angels, He has
separated them from the churches and from the world to bring them into a
sacred nearness to Himself." Testimonies for the Church 5:455. If this was the effect of the first
three angels, what must the effect be of the mighty angel who fills the whole
earth with his glory? What must be the effect of this angel who declares in
clarion tones the fall of Babylon? Will it close the gulf between Adventism
and Babylon? Never! It can only widen it further! In 1888, that other angel came to do
his work. Wherever that angel's message appeared in Adventist books as in the
Bible Readings, it would be the worst kind of offence to the Protestant
world, the daughters of Babylon. So that statement became "the oft-cited
note in the old edition of Bible Readings," (Movement of Destiny, 469) which was used repeatedly by those who wished to show that
Adventists were not Christians according to their evaluation of the case. This attitude
toward the statement can be expected from Babylon but hardly from
Seventh-day Adventists and
especially the responsible leadership among Adventists. It
would not be expected unless seen how Froom
in Movement of Destiny
has sought to
make it appear
that 192 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT Waggoner actually taught that Christ came
in sinless, holy flesh upon which He took our nature only
vicariously. After seeing this
distortion of Waggoner and Jones'
teaching, it is not surprising to find that the attitude of the present
Adventist leadership toward the truth set forth in Bible Readings is the same
as that of Babylon, terrible as the implications may be. As the pages of
Movement of Destiny are turned, it is found that the attitude of the modern
Adventist leadership towards the incarnation as actually taught by Waggoner
and Jones—not as Froom represents them as teaching—and
the truth as set forth in Bible Readings, is precisely the same as that of the Babylonian churches. On page 427, this statement from
Bible Readings is described as being an "erroneous note," an
"erroneous position," and a "definite error." Here is the
full text of the paragraph containing these words under the subheading
"Elimination of Erroneous Note in Bible Readings." "Erroneous
Position Injected by Colcord.—Cognizance must also be taken of the correction,
in 1949, of a definite error appearing in a note on the nature of Christ
during the Incarnation. For years it had appeared, unchallenged, in the
standard Bible Readings for the Home Circle. It was in the section on 'A
Sinless Life.' Apparently it was first written in by W. A. Colcord, in 1914,
It likewise involved one of those questions upon which there had been
variance of view through the years. Colcord had declared that during
His incarnate earthly life Christ 'partook of our sinful, fallen nature' (page 174)." Movement of
Destiny, 427, 428. Again on page 428 this wonderful note
from Bible Readings is referred to as an "erroneous note," an
"unfortunate note," an "inaccurate note," and "another error," so
that it was necessary to delete it from Adventist publications. The story of this deletion is told by
Froom on page 428 as follows: "Erroneous Note Deleted.—In 1949, Professor D. E. Rebok, then president of our Seventh-day
Adventist Theological Seminary, when it was still in Washington D.C., was
requested by the Review and Herald to revise Bible Readings for the Home
Circle. Coming upon this unfortunate note on page 174, in the study on the
'Sinless Life,' he recognized that this was not true. But in
eliminating the note he found that some still held with Colcord in his position. "However, a growing number of
explicit statements by Ellen White had appeared confirming the true position
that there was no 'bent' to sin, or 'taint' of
sin, or 'evil propensity' in Christ. He was like Adam before his fall, who
was similarly without
any inherent sinful
'propensities.' (See compilation of E.G.W.
Statements, Questions on
Doctrine, 650-660.) "So the inaccurate note was
deleted, and has remained out in all subsequent
printings. Thus another error was
removed through these revisions of the 1940's, as
concerned some of our standard and otherwise helpful books." ONE GIANT STEP
TOO FAR 193 It is interesting to note how Froom
claims that because of the Spirit of Prophecy witness on the incarnation of
Christ, they were able to make the change even though there were still those
who held the old view. In like manner, the Protestant churches claim they
have the Bible's backing for their view on eternally burning hell, on Sunday
observance, and on the doctrine of the nature of Christ. All the statements appearing in the
compilation referred to above, are sound, solid truth, but they are read by
the modern Adventist
through the coloured
glass of that
word "vicariously". What is stated in the words of
inspiration as being actual fact, is seen by them as only make-believe.
Professor Rebok did not have the backing of the
Spirit of Prophecy to delete that note from Bible Readings. On page 465 there
are further references to this note where it is described as "the
lingering 'sinful-nature-of-Christ' misconception," and "the
regrettable note," fit only to be expunged from Adventist literature.
"And the lingering 'sinful-nature-of-Christ' misconception was remedied
by expunging the regrettable note in the revised Bible Readings of
1949." On 469, it is referred to in similar
terms where it reads, "And further, that the old Colcord minority-view
note in Bible Readings—contending for an inherent sinful, fallen
nature for Christ—had years before been expunged because of its error . .
." Thus the failure to do no more than
give assent to the message of 1888 when it came to the church, has matured to
the point where the Adventist Church shares with Babylon the same attitude in
regard to the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Today, the Adventist Church has
the very attitudes and sentiments that the Babylonian world holds and
expresses. Most serious of all is that the area in which such unanimity now
exists is the infallible, divinely-given test of who antichrist is. It is
unbelievable, and thousands upon thousands of Adventists will not believe it
has happened. But facts are facts. The
words of Movement of Destiny leave no doubt of the stand of the Adventist Church today on the
doctrine of the incarnation. Anyone not prepared to face this fact; anyone
who allows preconceived ideas and opinions to be his guide and stay; anyone
who believes the leadership can do no wrong;
anyone who believes that the church will go through regardless; in
short, anyone who is not prepared to face up to things as they really are,
will lose his eternal life unless quickly delivered from such thinking. Today, the leadership and ministry of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church claim that the message of righteousness by faith
was accepted by the church when delivered by the mighty angel of Revelation
18, in 1888. This message was based upon the great truth that Christ, the
eternal God, came and dwelt in the same flesh and blood as the men and women
He came to save. But where does this claim stand when the truth as taught by
the messengers of that day, is
declared by the modern church to be erroneous, evident error, unfortunate, regrettable, and fit only to be 194 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT expunged from
Adventist publications? They did not stop with saying it should be expunged. They did expunge
it. Today it is not to be found in those publications. They have repeated what the
Roman Catholic Church did many
centuries ahead of the Adventist Church. The apostles as the messengers of
God, brought the great truth of Christ's incarnation to the church of their
day. But when
those pioneers had
vanished, the developing papacy deleted those truths from
the gospel. The monstrous mystery of iniquity grew into full maturity. Step
by step, the church of that time formed her fearful
destiny. Today, history is being repeated. The
pioneers are gone; Waggoner and Jones have passed to their rest; the prophet
sleeps her peaceful sleep; those who voiced the revival of the 1888 message
in the fifties and know just what the
message really is, have been expelled from the church where their voices can no longer be heard;
and the leaders have expunged from their books the great truths of the
incarnation of Christ just as the papacy did centuries ago. The ultimate outcome must be the
same. The mystery of iniquity is developing inexorably and irretrievably in
the Adventist Church. Her destiny is
being formed—fearful and terrible though it be. 21 Adventism
Identified With Antichrist By 1949 then, the changes had been
made in the representative Adventist publications which brought the doctrine
of the nature of Christ fully into line with the belief and teachings of the
Protestant, and also the Roman
Catholic, churches. Between the Adventist Church and the others, no practical distinctions remained.
The heart had been taken out of the three angels' messages. The third angel's message is a
separating message. "By the mighty cleaver of truth, the messages of the
first, second, and third angels, He has separated them from the churches and
from the world to bring them into a sacred nearness to Himself."
Testimonies 5:455. Those messages are first and foremost,
the everlasting gospel. The very heart of the gospel is the doctrine of
Christ, the teaching that the sinless, eternal God
came and dwelt in the sinful, fallen flesh of man. While that teaching had not been explicitly
developed in the early days of the advent message, it was there implicitly.
The power of that message was present, and it was this which caused that deep
and bitter enmity of the fallen Protestant
churches against the Adventists. We can now ask this question: When the
doctrine which is the heart and life of that gospel which caused the violent
separation from, and hatred of, Adventists
is removed, what can we expect to see? This is a very simple question which
requires only a simple answer. If the cause of the enmity is removed, then
the enmity will also be removed. Once the Protestant churches are convinced
that the change has been made, we would expect them to rewrite their
evaluations of the Adventist Church; to
regard the Adventists as being worthy of fellowship; to see a new era of co-operation; to see
friendly relations being developed; and to see mutual sharing of activity in
common causes. On the other
hand, if the Adventist Church has indeed, as Froom claims, corrected the
errors of the past, so that she now holds and teaches only the pure doctrine
of righteousness by faith, then what would we expect to see develop? There
could be only one outcome. The enmity would intensify, the gulf would widen,
they would regard Adventists as being DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT
196 unworthy of
fellowship, and there would be no mutual sharing of activity between them. This is the
only way it could be. The perfect life
of Christ is the convincing proof of this. He lived a perfect life. There
were no errors in His teaching whatsoever. Yet He was hated with an
implacable hatred by those who, in His day, were teachers of error and
darkness. Nothing can change or weaken the fact that "... all that will
live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2
Timothy 3:12. This leads to a further question. If
we make fundamental changes to our doctrines and then find that those whom
the Word of God plainly declares to be
Babylon, thereafter can endorse our teaching, and accept us into the body of Christ as they define
that body to be, then what should this say to us? There can be only one true answer.
Such a development should be an alarm signal of the greatest danger. It
should tell us that there has been the most grievous departure from the great
principles to which God called us. It should drive us to our knees to beg the
Lord to guide us back to safe paths once again. Then, when those safe paths
have been rediscovered, there must be the most open confession to the world
that it was a grave mistake to change the doctrines, but that the error has
been corrected. They will, of course, deride and hate us for it. But that is
the path the true child of God and therefore the church of God, must follow.
Look and see when, at any time in the past, the church held the truth in its
purity and power and was,
at the same time, loved and respected by Babylon. No such time will ever be
found. Rather, it will be seen that the world hated the church whenever it preached the truth
as it is in Jesus. It is, of course, very comfortable and pleasant to have
the approval of the powerful
churches of the world. It is much nicer to be within the warmth of the inner circle, than to be out
in the cold. It is easier to work when the other churches approve rather than
oppose. There is nothing that fleshly, human
nature could desire
more. But there could
be nothing more dangerous either. Having raised
these questions and
considered some of
their implications, we return to the history of the Adventist Church.
We have seen from the
book by Elder Froom, that by 1949, the changes in Adventist literature had been made. The
teaching on the nature of Christ in His incarnation had been
brought fully into line with the teaching of the Protestant
churches. What would we
now expect to see happen in the thinking of those churches? We would expect
them to rewrite their evaluations of Adventists after having made a careful
study to see if the changes had really been made. This is
precisely what happened. The historical record of it is set
forth in Movement of Destiny 465-468, in the chapter entitled "Changing
the Impaired Image of Adventism." In the opening paragraphs, Froom
refers again to the
changes made in the teachings and literature of the
church. ADVENTISM
IDENTIFIED WITH ANTICHRIST 197 Then he says,
"It is significant that once these were cared for—and even beginning
back in the late 1930's—searching questions began
to be asked with remarkable frequency, and vital contacts through inquiry
made by scholars as to the fundamental faith of Seventh-day Adventists in
relation to the
Eternal Verities. It
seemed to be
spontaneous and simultaneous,
and became a pronounced phenomenon. It was clearly the beginning of a new
outreach for understanding by non-Adventist scholars. "2. SUCCESSION OF
INVITATIONS ROLLS IN.—A succession of inquiries, with invitations to speak,
began to come from various quarters in the religious world. Along with
others, I had personal opportunity to respond to requests from many study groups to tell 'why I
am a Seventh-day Adventist'—with essentially
the same topic
always assigned. These invitations came from non-Adventist churches, colleges,
universities, seminaries—and even secular organizations. "The church groups included
Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Reformed,
Congregationalist, United Brethren,
and even Pentecostal and
Unitarian faiths—as well as an organization of converted Roman Catholic
priests. So I write from personal knowledge, for I spoke to each of these
groups. "Universities
such as Marburg (Germany), Rutgers (N.J.), and Pittsburg
(Pa.) extended unusual
invitations, with gratifying
results from the presentation opportunities, with question periods. And
following these came various dialogues with Roman Catholic student
priests—both groups and
individuals—which were highly fruitful and refreshingly frank. In one instance the contact was with thirty-eight
student priests-in-training from the Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C.—an
hour for presentation,
and an hour for questions. Out of this, smaller follow-up groups of five to
eight. Later, I was privileged to address a class of graduate students at the same 'Catholic U.,'
on the same theme." Movement of Destiny, 465, 466. Following
these observations are paragraphs under these headings, Unforgettable Contacts With Noted
Scholars, Opportunities Came Because Prepared, Wave of Sincere Inquiries Continues, Corrections in Encyclo pedias and
Reference Works, Contacts Come When We
Are Ready. Elder Froom is arguing through all this that these results are the
effects which followed the cause. The cause was the changing of the Adventist
doctrines. The effect was an entirely new attitude on the part of the Babylonian
churches. Without doubt he is correct in this
evaluation. They are the effects which followed those causes. It was making
the changes in the teaching of the Adventist
Church which removed the enmity of the churches against the Adventists. Such effects as these should have
instantly alerted the Adventist leadership and, in turn, the laity, to the
fearful peril into which the Adventist Church had moved. " . . . know ye
not that the friendship of the world is enmity with
God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." James 4:4. 198 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT "Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the
Father is not in him." 1 John 2:15. "Be ye
not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship
hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? "And what
concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with
an infidel? "And what agreement hath the
temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God
hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and
they shall be My people. "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye
separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive
you, "And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. There is a tendency to think of the
world as being those who make no profession of religion whatsoever. Those who
think this way do not think of the fallen
churches as being the world. This is a dangerous mistake. The world is composed of the atheist who
openly denies any responsibility to God, and the religious who profess to
love and serve God, but whose lives are wholly bent on the pursuit of the
things of this world. Friendship with either of these sections of the world
is enmity against God. There can be no harmony between the pleasure-loving
world, as such, and the true child of
God. Neither can there be any harmony
between the religious world and the true child of God. So impossible is it
for the true child of God and the true church of God to have friendship with
either, that the development of any friendship is evidence that the person or
the church so involved, has ceased to be a true child of God. This may seem a
very strong statement but it is only what the Scriptures say. To have formed
a friendship with the world is to have become an enemy of God. How can a
church or a person who is an enemy of God, be, at the same time, a true child
of God? This can never be. Therefore, when such friendly overtures
were forthcoming from the churches of the world, a great alarm should have
sounded through the ranks of Adventist leadership first of all, and through
the ranks of Adventists immediately thereafter. It should have been
recognized that this response from the
fallen churches was the clearest indication that erroneous steps had been taken. It should have been
seen that the cause had produced the wrong kind of results. But instead, the whole reaction from
the outside churches to these changes was hailed as the most wonderful
breakthrough. It was and is looked upon as the strongest evidence that the
right steps had been taken. Things could not have been more up-side down. No
greater blindness could have rested on the minds of those responsible, nor on
the minds of those who so
willingly followed them. Yet, once these results began to be
obtained, the church entered upon a course from which there seems to be no
turning back. LeRoy Froom ADVENTISM
IDENTIFIED WITH ANTICHRIST 199 recalls next the "Precedent-breaking
contacts with Dr. E. Schuyler English, the editor of Our Hope magazine."
Of this he writes as follows: "1. SIGNIFICANT EXCHANGES WITH
EDITOR OF OUR HOPE.—In order to understand the latter portion of this
and the next chapter, dealing with the conferences with Evangelicals Martin
and Barnhouse—and the resultant book, Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions
on Doctrine (1957)—it is necessary to go back to 1955, and certain
preliminary exchanges with Dr. English, of Our Hope. In an editorial note in
his January, 1955, issue, English stated, erroneously, that Seventh-day Adventists 'deny Christ's
Deity' (p. 409). And he added that we are a group that 'disparages the Person
and work of Christ' (p. 410). "As to the latter expression,
Dr. English based this misconception upon his understanding that we hold that
Christ, during His incarnation, 'partook of our sinful, fallen nature.' In
this expression he was clearly alluding to the then oft-cited note in the old
edition of Bible Readings. (E. Schuyler English letter to L.E.F.,
Mar. 11, 1955, p. 1.)" Movement of Destiny, 469. It is clear that Dr. English was
familiar with the statement in Bible Readings as reproduced on page 189 of
this book. This is a very wonderful and accurate statement on the nature of
Christ, but not in the eyes of Dr. English. Nor should we expect it to be.
His is a very different theology from that of the third angel's message. His is a Sunday-keeping, natural immortality of the soul, and one
apartment ministry in the sanctuary, creed. The very mark of that theology is
the denial of the truth written in the Bible Readings statement. Therefore, we must expect that he
would find himself in disagreement with that statement. More than this, it
should be to us, an evidence that our position is
correct when it is opposed by Babylon. In order to
really appreciate the situation, it must be recognized that Dr. English was
evaluating Adventism on the basis of what it was back in 1915. He was, at
this time, unaware of the changes which had been made in Adventist
theological writings as a reflection of their changed beliefs. The doctrine
of the nature of Christ as held by the Adventists in 1915, separated them
from the world and the churches of the world. This was rightly so. LeRoy
Froom recognized that Dr. English had not been acquainted with the
changes made and
so he wrote
at once to
correct this misconception.
Here is his account of this correspondence. "2. HONORABLE AND CHRISTIAN
RECTIFICATION.—We immediately wrote to Dr. English expressing
concern over his mistaken understanding of our teachings on these and other
points. Ample authoritative documentary evidence was furnished to show that,
instead of depreciating the Deity of Christ—as many Modernists in varipus denominations constantly do—we, as a Church, ring
as true as steel to the Biblical truth of the full and complete Deity of
Jesus Christ. And further, that the old Colcord minority-view note in Bible
Readings — contending for an inherent sinful, fallen nature for Christ—had
years before been expunged because of its error, and again furnishing incontrovertible evidence
to sustain these statements. This led to a highly gratifying and profitable
exchange of letters. 200 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT "At the close of the
interchange, extending over several months, Dr. English in a most manly and
truly Christian spirit stated that he was convinced that
he had 'certainly been mistaken in the charges,' and said that he would
assuredly 'acknowledge those mistakes through the columns of Our Hope.' " ibid. Consider very carefully the nature of
the argument used by LeRoy Froom. He did not deny that, in 1915, the position
was set forth in Bible Readings which gave Christ a sinful, fallen, human
nature like our own. Instead, he appealed to Dr. English not to judge
Adventists by what was taught back in 1915, but by what they believed in
1955. There had been a change. Proof of this was given among other things in
the expunging "because of its error," of "the old Colcord
minority-view note in Bible Readings —contending for an inherent sinful,
fallen nature for Christ." Froom contended that if Dr. English would
take Adventism as it was in 1955, he would find that he could and would be
able to identify Adventism with his own
church on the subject of the nature of Christ and the gospel truths. He would
find harmony and unity between the two. This Dr. English did in the most
thorough manner. In his position as editor of Our Hope with a very large
circulation throughout evangelical Protestantism, he could not afford to do
otherwise. So, for a full year, he studied the question very carefully. He
examined all the evidences given him. Then, at the end of that period, he
came right out in the same magazine, Our Hope, and gave a fresh evaluation of
Adventism. It was an evaluation opposite from that which he had presented the
year before. In this, he confirmed Froom's contention that he would find that
modern Adventism and Babylon did believe the same thing on the question of
the nature of Christ. Here is
Froom's narration of the event. "Dr. English honorably and
graciously fulfilled his
promise in the February, 1956, issue
of Our Hope. The editorial statement was candidly titled, 'To Rectify a Wrong.' In this
he referred to making a 'grievous mistake'
in the January, 1955, note,
in affirming that Seventh-day Adventists 'deny
Christ's Deity and
disparage His Person
and work' (p. 457). In this
editorial he told of 'several months' correspondence' with this writer,
and set forth the considered conclusion he had reached: " 'Seventh-day Adventists
believe implicitly in the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ' (ibid.). In support
he cited the various documentary items that had been furnished him." ibid.,
470. In Our Hope, January 1955, Dr.
English had made his statement of belief in the incarnation of Christ. This
is quoted on page 469 of Movement of Destiny. "He
[Christ] was perfect in His humanity, but He was none the less God, and His
conception in His incarnation was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit so that He
did not partake of the fallen sinful nature of other men." When Dr.
Froom read those words, he wrote to Dr. English confirming that his belief
was the same. Here are Dr. Froom's words. "That, we in turn assured him,
is precisely what we likewise believe." ibid., 470. ADVENTISM
IDENTIFIED WITH ANTICHRIST 201 Thus, in the clearest possible way,
Dr. Froom identifies Adventism with Babylon on that most important of all
Bible questions, the nature of Christ in the incarnation. It is the most
important for it is so integral a part of the gospel that it is provided as
the infallible test of Christ and antichrist. Therefore, Froom is saying in
fact, that Adventism is to be identified with the body of
antichrist. No other conclusion than this can be
truthfully drawn. The facts which support this conclusion cannot be changed.
They are as follows. The message of the second angel has
told us that the churches which reject the special truths for this time are
Babylon, and therefore antichrist. It is the mark of antichrist to deny that
Christ took the same fallen, sinful flesh and
blood as we have. Therefore, the fallen churches teach
that Christ came in sinless flesh and blood. Therefore, to assure such churches
that Adventists today likewise teach that Christ came in sinless flesh and
blood, is to declare that Adventists have also become part of the body of
antichrist. It must be emphasized here that we
are studying what Dr. Froom has to say and the implications of that. We are
not studying the position of the author of this book. The point is not a
matter of whether I am or am not saying that the Seventh-day Adventist Church
organization is antichrist. This is a study of Dr. Froom's statements and a
declaration that the implication of his assertions is that he has declared
that the Seventh-day Adventist Church today is part of the body of antichrist.
This is a very significant declaration to make. What is even more significant
is that the whole of modern Adventism has no quarrel with him for saying it.
The then General Conference President, Elder Pierson, endorsed the statement to the point
where he declared that the book "is a must for every worker, every
theological student, and every church officer—in fact, for every church
member who loves this message and longs to see it triumph in the near, very
near, future." ibid., 13. He evidently saw nothing dangerous at all in
its arguments, or he would have warned the Adventist world of the peril in
which they were being placed. Publishing house managers and their
scrutinizing committees, division, union,
and conference leaders
saw no problems
with it. Teachers, ministers, colporteurs, and
church members have raised no outcry against it. Ten years have now passed since
Movement of Destiny appeared. Thousands of copies have been scattered
throughout the world. These have been read and studied by
Adventists at every level. Ample time has elapsed for them to come through
with vigorous denials of, and protests against, the position which this book
assigns to Adventism today. But none has appeared. The very silence of the
multitude of the Adventist world proves their endorsement of it. From all this, the following
conclusions must be taken as the only truthful and correct possibilities. ADVENTISM
IDENTIFIED WITH ANTICHRIST 203 LeRoy E. Froom has gone on record in
immortal print to identify modern Adventism as a part of the great body of
antichrist and therefore at enmity against God. Elder Pierson, the then General
Conference President, by his strong endorsement and recommendation of the
book has thereby underlined the assertions of Dr. Froom. He, also, has
located Adventism today as being part of the
body of antichrist. The Review and
Herald committee of scrutineers, together with the
publishing manager, have added their sanction by passing it for publication. They
too, join the chorus declaring the Adventist Church to be antichrist. Beyond
this nucleus of influence and authority, there are the thousands upon tens of
thousands of "loyal" Seventh-day Adventist presidents, teachers,
pastors, Bible and other workers, and the laity who all, by their silence and
their consent, if not by their active teaching, collectively add strength to
the certainty that the church has indeed become a part of the body of
antichrist. Of course, they have not said it in
so many words. Babylon herself denies that she is antichrist. No professed
religionist is going to openly admit that he is antichrist. Such never have,
and never will until the day when the conviction finally fixes upon them and
they have no recourse but to do that. It will be in that terrible day when
the deceptive power of Babylon is forever broken. It is the very nature and
character of antichrist to profess to be
of Christ wholly and solely. Therefore, it is too much to look for
outright statements on the part of antichrist that she is such. Instead, it
is necessary to study the implications of her claims and professions. This is
what must be understood. In the case of the Adventist Church under study
here, it is not at all difficult to see the implications of her own
statements as they are made today. The Adventists have changed their doctrine
to agree exactly with that of Babylon and have then rightly declared that
they and Babylon are in perfect agreement on these doctrines. This is the
point to which Adventism has come today. Upon them rests the mark of
antichrist which is the denial that Jesus Christ
came in the same flesh and blood as the children. Having changed their doctrine into
perfect agreement with Babylon on this point, they have been most anxious
that the body of antichrist be aware of this and
accord them the position among those fallen churches which the Adventists rightly recognize as now
being their place. In this they have not been
unsuccessful. There is still a great deal of prejudice which has to be
overcome, but it will be in time. A new day has dawned for the Adventist
Church. It is a day of accord and fellowship with that of the
fallen churches of antichrist. What is the destiny of such a
movement as Adventism has become today? 22 Teachers Of The Immaculate
Conception There are two
statements made by Dr. English and quoted here by Dr. Froom which
are quite significant. Accordingly, a little further study on them is
necessary for a fuller understanding of the developments under consideration here. The first is
his declaration on the nature of Christ in His incarnation. "He
[Christ] was perfect in His humanity, but He was none the less God, and His conception in His incarnation
was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit so that He did
not partake of the fallen sinful nature of other men." The second is his re-evaluation of
Seventh-day Adventists. He wrote, "Seventh-day Adventists believe
implicitly in the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ." There is a very close connection
between these two statements. When this connection is better understood,
there will be clearer understanding of what the present position of the
Adventist Church really is. It needs to be remembered that Dr. Froom assured
Dr. English that the Adventist Church believed precisely what that statement
said. It was upon the basis of such assurances that Dr. English was able to
express the personal conviction after twelve months of study on the question
that "Seventh-day Adventists believe
implicitly in the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ." Consider then, the first statement.
This is a clear expression of the doctrine of the immaculate conception of
Jesus Christ. Naturally enough, neither the writer of it nor Dr. Froom has
titled it as such. The expression "The Immaculate Conception," is
associated with the Roman Catholic Church. This doctrine has been preached
against for too long in the past history of Adventism, for Adventists or even
Protestants to accept it under that name. Satan knows this well, so he is
happy to introduce the same doctrine without the stigma of that name. He is
not concerned about the name. That is
not the essential thing. It is the doctrine itself which does the damage. TEACHERS OF
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION 205 To help strengthen the disguise,
there is a variation to the teaching. With the Roman Catholic Church, it is
Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was given the immaculate conception by the
overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. This was given to her in papal
theology, so that she automatically passed on to Christ an equally immaculate
conception. Thus the Roman Catholic Church teaches the immaculate conception
of Mary so that she might teach the immaculate conception of Christ. Of the two, the former is not important. It
is the birth of Christ which is important, for He is the Saviour of the
world. Dr. English, as a spokesman for the
evangelical Protestant churches, arrives at the same end result, but without
going through Mary. In his theology, Christ obtained immaculate conception
directly through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit so
that the flesh and blood body in which His divinity dwelt was not like that
of other men. Thus, so far as
the end result is concerned, there is no difference between the teaching of
the Roman Catholic Church and those Protestant churches represented by Dr.
English. Both Catholic and Protestant believe in the
immaculate conception of
Jesus Christ. They
all deny that "Forasmuch then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the
same [flesh and blood as the children];" "For verily He took not on
Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. "Wherefore
in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might
be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make
reconciliation for the sins of the people." Hebrews 2:14, 16, 17. The immaculate
conception is not concerned with the divinity or the deity of Christ but with
His humanity. It is concerned with the kind of flesh and blood body which He
had. It is for this reason that the conception of Mary who was to contribute
the flesh and blood of Christ, was made immaculate in
the Roman Catholic
teaching. Likewise, Dr.
English specifically states that he is talking about the human nature
of Christ in this statement. He says, "Christ was perfect in His
humanity ..." Then he goes on to say that it was this humanity which was
overshadowed by the Holy Spirit so that Christ did not partake of the fallen
sinful nature of other men. In this way, Dr. English unmistakably declares
that the birth of Christ was an immaculate conception on the human side of
the incarnation. So, his is the doctrine of the antichrist as truly as is
that of the Papal church herself. Where then,
does this put the teachings of Dr. Froom and the Adventist Church of which he
is reporting and which supports him in his writing and reporting? He declares
that his belief and the belief of the church are precisely what Dr. English
believes. If the teaching of Dr. English is that Christ had an immaculate
conception, then Froom's being precisely the 206 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT same, must be
the teaching of the immaculate conception of Christ as well and as fully. Therefore, between the teaching of
the Roman Catholic Church on the humanity of Christ in His incarnation and
the teaching of the Adventist Church today as Froom has reported that
teaching to be, there is not a shadow of difference. The only difference
lies, not in the teaching of the nature of Christ, but the way in which it is
taught that the immaculate conception came to Christ. The Roman Catholic
Church teaches that it came through Mary. Dr. English and the Adventists
teach that it came to Christ
directly. The end result of such teaching is identical. Further confirmation of the position
of the Adventist Church today as re-evaluated by Dr. English is given by the
second statement which he made: "Seventh-day Adventists believe
implicitly in the Deity of our Lord Jesus
Christ." To the Catholic and the Protestant
mind, it is impossible for the pure and holy God to dwell in sinful flesh.
The very thought of it is anathema to them. To their
minds, Jesus Christ would have to cease to be the eternal, pure, holy sinless God, if He came to
dwell in the same sinful, fallen flesh as men have. Therefore, when they investigate
the teachings of a church, a group, or an individual, they will regard as
contradictory the position of any who, on the one side, teach the full deity
of Jesus Christ and on the other, teach that that deity was housed in fallen
sinful flesh. In other words, no matter how clearly and emphatically a man
might teach that Christ was truly the holy, eternal God, neither the Catholic
Church nor Dr. English would say that he believed "implicitly in the
Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ," if he taught that Christ came in sinful
flesh. No one ever taught more emphatically
that Christ was the eternal, sinless God than did Waggoner and Jones. But we
do not find Dr. English or the
Catholic Church declaring that Waggoner and Jones believed
implicitly in the deity of Christ. Nor would they, for both these men also taught that
that same sinless, eternally pre-existent God dwelt in sinful, fallen, human
flesh and blood. Likewise, if Dr. Froom and the
Adventist Church whom he represents and for whom he is reporting, taught that
Christ, the eternal God, came down and dwelt in sinful, fallen, human flesh
and blood, Dr. English would never have declared that "Seventh-day
Adventists believe implicitly in the Deity of our
Lord Jesus Christ." It was when he read their writings as
contained in the 1915 Bible Readings wherein, as can be read on
page 189 of this book, it is taught that the sinless God dwelt in sinful
flesh, that he declared that Adventists disparaged the Person and work of
Christ. To "disparage" is to belittle, to discredit, to
lower in esteem,
and to depreciate.
He accused them therefore, of presenting Christ as
being less than God. But, when they deleted the statement
which set forth the fullness of Christ's deity and His humanity, and taught
instead that He came with an TEACHERS OF
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION 207 immaculate conception, then Dr.
English had no difficulty in regarding them as teachers of the full deity of
Christ. A true teacher of the gospel of Jesus
Christ will, of course, believe implicitly in the deity of Christ. But, it is
one thing to believe in it and teach it and another thing to be recognized as
a teacher of it. To the true teacher as sent from God, such acknowledgement
is of value, but never if it comes from the lips of Babylon. To be judged by
the Babylonian mind as being a true teacher
of the nature of Christ, is to be judged according to the standard of their theology. No true
teacher desires to be judged by this. Only by the Word of God and those who
believe implicitly in the God-given truths of that Word does the man of God
wish to be judged. Let the Catholic and Protestant world condemn his
teachings as heresy and error! He knows that from them he can expect nothing
else. He knows that to seek approval from them is the most dangerously
compromising thing he can possibly do. Following the contact with Dr.
English came the conversations with Drs. Walter R. Martin and Donald
Barnhouse. What happened with these men was a repeat of what happened with
Dr. English except that it was even more thorough and long lasting. Dr. Froom
devotes pages 472-492 to this and the
resulting book Questions on Doctrine. It is not necessary for us to make a
close analysis of the work of Drs. Martin
and Barnhouse in
their investigation and
re-evaluation of
Adventism. What has already been said
in regard to Dr. English is applicable
to this later investigation for the same conclusions were reached in the same
way by these men, as had been reached by Dr. English. Their work and
reports are only further confirmations of the position to which the Adventist Church had come, namely, to
that place where, in the judgment of Babylon, they had become Christians. Let it be remembered that when Babylon
says you are to be regarded as a Christian because you have passed her
examination of your beliefs according to the Babylonian standard of theology,
then Babylon is saying that you are a "Christian" of the same
nature and character as she is. What is the nature and character of the
"Christianity" of the Papal and Protestant churches? It is
pseudo-Christianity. It is professed, a counterfeit, a masquerade. In short,
it is not Christianity at all but antichristianity.
It is not for God in the least but wholly and solely against Him. It is the
greatest piece of deception ever perpetrated upon the world and woe to that
man who is deceived thereby, for he will share her judgments and her plagues,
terrible as
they will be. As you read for yourself the history
of the contacts with Martin and Barnhouse and the resulting book Questions on
Doctrine, note especially on page 474, the following statement from Dr.
Martin. "Seventh-day Adventists believe without reservation, and in
the context of historic orthodox Christianity, the following
doctrines: (1) the complete authority of the Bible as
the sole rule of faith and practice and the inerrant Word of God; (2) the virgin birth of Christ; (3)
the eternal Trinity and Deity of Christ; (4) the personality of the Holy
Spirit; (5) the perfect sinless human nature of 208 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT Christ; (6) the sinless life and
vicarious atoning death of our Lord; (7) the physical resurrection and
ascension of Christ; (8) His intercessory ministry for man before
the Father; (9) the second personal premillennial
coming of Christ; (10) the everlasting bliss of
the saints; (11) the physical resurrection of the body; (12) justification by
faith alone; (13) the new creation; (14) the unity of the Body of Christ;
(15) salvation by grace apart from the works of the law through faith in
Jesus Christ." So it was that Dr. Martin, after his
very exhaustive inquiry into the present beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists,
found that they believed this list in the context of historic
Christianity. Historic
Christianity is one thing in the mind of such men as Dr. Martin. It is
another thing in the minds of those who have kept pace with the advancing
light. Dr. Martin, like Dr. English, is a rejecter of the special truths for
this time. He is part of the great body of antichrist and therefore his
understanding of what historic Christianity is, would be in line with the
teachings of Babylon and not truly in line with the real historic
Christianity. Therefore, when Martin states that Adventism is in line with
historic Christianity as he understands it to be, then he is saying that he
has found that Adventism today is the same as Protestantism today. Special
attention is called to point number five in the list. Here Martin testifies
that in the matter of the human nature of Christ, he has found that the
Adventist belief on this question is in line with his own and also with his
understanding of what historic Christianity is. Paul is part of the stream of
historic Christianity. He did not believe as Drs. English, Martin, Barnhouse,
and Froom believe. He believed quite the opposite in
regard to the human nature of Christ. So it was with the apostle John and all
the great men whom God called to be His messengers down through the ages. So it is then, that the Adventist
Church has made such changes as qualify her for recognition and acceptance
into the ranks of the great body which Babylon
proudly and confidently calls the body of Christ but which is in fact, the body
of antichrist. What is the
destiny of such a movement? Will it be the fulfilling of a
glorious and successful role in the finalizing of the message of the ages, or
will it be the disaster of receiving the outpouring of the plagues with Babylon? The way in which that question is
answered will depend upon the viewpoint of the person making the answer. This
is not to suggest that the answer given will influence the final outcome. The
church has stepped into a certain position. That is what will decide the
outcome, no matter what the prediction by one or the other may be at the
present time. As one considers the
entire development of argument throughout Movement of Destiny, one
sees that its whole burden is to prove that the Adventist Church could never
finish the work until the elements in the teaching of the
nature of Christ which
had been an
offence to the evangelical Protestant churches, who
are in turn antichrist and Babylon, had
been removed. Over
and again it
is emphasized that
until those TEACHERS OF
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION 209 changes had
taken place, the loud cry could never be given; the church could never enter
into the glowing hours of her glorious, divinely appointed destiny. It is to be expected then, that the
closing chapters would be challenging and warm affirmations of the expected
glory ahead. So they are. Froom paints a picture of a movement going on from
power to power and strength under direct leadership from above, the head and
not the tail, the bearer of the last great Christ-centred message of
salvation. He says, "Our greatest, most searching, and most glorious
days are clearly ahead. We stand on the threshold of the great final advance
outlined by Inspiration. The past that we have covered must be but the
prologue to our future role—with its destined climax as our impelling
incentive." Movement of Destiny, 655. "This Movement that began in a
whisper will finish as an impelling Loud Cry, reverberating to the ends of
the earth. It will assuredly compass its mission. . . . The gross darkness of
the last days will be penetrated by the light of God as the piercing rays of
the Sun of Righteousness break through the dense, blanketing clouds of the
final storm. They will reveal to mankind a people being prepared to meet
their God, as the light of Truth as it is in Jesus presses
back the enveloping darkness. "BLAZE OF GLORY; NOT TRAGIC
FADE-OUT.—That is the heartening message of Revelation 18:1-4. It is God's
inspired portrayal of the final triumph, the
final outburst of augmenting power, with the final issues brought out clearly, wisely, and
fully before the whole world, ere the Great Consummation. "The witness of God to the world
will close in a blaze of glory, not in a tragic fade-out. There is no failure
with God. And we are to be part of His outshining witness." ibid., 662.
This, then, is the picture of the
full and final destiny of the Movement of Destiny as Dr. Froom sees it. It is
a very grand, wonderful, and desirable picture. What
is more, it is a truthful picture provided the basis for it is sound. God's work will finish
triumphantly and gloriously. There will be the manifestation of the character
of God through a people who know their God and know Him truly. But the basis for Dr. Froom's
assumptions of future glory must not be forgotten. His predictions are based
upon the evidence that the Adventist Church has changed those things in her
teachings and writings which gave offence to the evangelical churches and
thus prevented access to the hearts of these people because of this. While
this situation existed, it would be impossible for her to fulfil her divinely
appointed destiny. What makes the whole argument still more plausible and
deceptive is that it is partly true. Certainly, there was the need to delete
Uriah Smith's statement in
Daniel and the Revelation because it erroneously taught his personal view that Christ was a
created being. It did give justifiable offence to the evangelical churches,
and constituted a barrier against access to them. But the statement in Bible Readings
stands in a different category altogether. It is the truth exactly as taught
in the Bible, the Spirit of 210 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT Prophecy, and as brought out so
clearly by the Lord's messengers, Dr. E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones. Its
expurgation from the book constitutes a rejection of
the very heart of the fourth angel's message. As such, it is a rejection of the former three. This statement
also gave offence
to Babylon, but
without the justification that
the statement in Daniel and the Revelation gave. Uriah Smith's statement was
error, but the one in Bible Readings was truth. When, in order to have
fellowship with and access to the hearts of Babylon, we have to expunge truth
from our literature and our teaching, then the whole basis for any
realizations of future dreams of glory is totally removed. But, according to
the carefully argued and well documented recital of Adventist history which
Dr. Froom has given us in Movement of Destiny, this is exactly what the
Adventist Church has done. Not only has truth been expunged. Error of the
most deadly kind has been instituted in its place. It is the very error which,
when held, marks that body as being possessed of the spirit of antichrist.
Like attracts like. It is no wonder then, that, when this change had taken
place in Adventism so that she taught the doctrine of antichrist, and was
therefore, according to the plain "Thus saith the Lord," possessed
of the spirit of Babylon, the other bodies of antichrist recognized her as
being of the same company as themselves. As surely as she has become a part of
that company, then just so surely does their destiny become her destiny. To
know the true destiny of modern Adventism then, we have but to read the
destiny of the body of antichrist as a whole. Their future
is that first of all they will combine to erect the image to the beast. They
will war against the living truth of God as it will be proclaimed by those
who have made no concessions to Babylon. They will be utterly defeated in
that warfare and will suffer the fearful outpouring of the wrath of God in the
seven last plagues. This is not a destiny of glory but of
disaster; not of triumph but of defeat; not of joy but of sorrow; not of life
eternal but of death everlasting. What a tragic repetition of the history of
the past. As one reads the history of ancient Israel, sees the great
commission given to them, studies the glorious destiny open to that people,
then witnesses the continual turning away from truth to join in the belief
and practice of the Babylonians of their day, one can only re-echo the words
of Inspired warning, "We are repeating the history of that people."
Testimonies 5:160. With unfailing consistency, every time they turned to join
in the worship of Baal, the judgments of God fell upon them with disastrous
severity. The lesson from it all is crystal clear, and not one of us has the
least excuse if we follow in those same footsteps. But, even at this late
hour it is not too late to repent. Let the mistakes and wrong turnings of the
past be utterly rectified. Let the present Adventist leadership with the
backing of the laity, openly declare in the most public way that they have
erred in making those concessions to
Babylon. Let this all be put right, no matter how terrible the consequences might appear to be. Then
the Lord will work for them and the true
destiny of the movement will be fulfilled. 23 The Wine Of
Babylon Arguments sufficient to fill volumes
could be advanced from the sacred records to prove beyond any doubt what the
true destiny of the movement is. But this, neither time nor space
will allow so far as the limitations of this volume are concerned. In conclusion
then, we will confine our study to one such evidence. There is only one sure
way to understand the outworking of the movements of the present and that is
to study the development of past movements. The record of movements in the
past is expressly given to us for this purpose. Some people strongly object
to the use of this kind of parallelism,
but they do so at the peril of
their souls and in direct disobedience of God's commands. "We need
to beware lest we suffer the same fate as did ancient Israel. The history of
their disobedience and downfall has been recorded for our instruction, that
we may avoid doing as they did. It has been written 'for our admonition, upon
whom the ends of the world are come.' If we pass by these cautions and
warnings, developing the same traits of character developed by the
Israelites, what excuse can we
plead?" Review and Herald, July 10, 1900. "We are standing on the
threshold of great and solemn events. Many of the prophecies are about to be
fulfilled in quick succession. Every element of power is about to be set to
work. Past history will be repeated; old controversies will arouse to new
life, and peril will beset God's people on every
side. Intensity is taking hold of the human family. It is permeating
everything upon the earth. . . ." Testimonies to Ministers, 116. Not only are we here warned of the
danger of following in the footsteps of ancient Israel, but we are told that
we are actually doing this. "We are repeating the history of that
people." Testimonies 5:160. "The work of God in the earth presents,
from age to age, a striking similarity in every great reformation or
religious movement. The principles of God's dealing with men are ever the
same. The important movements of the present
have their parallel in those of the past, and the experience of the church in former ages has lessons
of great value for our own time." The Great Controversy, 343. Without the least shadow of doubt, the
Seventh-day Adventist Church organization is an important movement of the
present. As surely as it is, 212 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT then it has
its parallel in the past. It will be found that this is not a singular instance but rather, a repeated one;
that again and again situations will have developed in the past which have
their counterpart in the present and future history
of this important movement. Therefore, in selecting one such
parallel, it is not to be inferred thereby that this is the only one, nor
that the message contained in it is different from the others. The message is the
same all the way through and it is when the doctrines of Babylon become the
teaching of those who were called to be the people
of God, that those people will share the fate of Babylon. Babylon, as well as the professed people of God, is
an important movement of the present and therefore as verily has her parallel
in the past. Thus it is that she appears in the prophecies of Revelation as
well as in those of Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, and Daniel.
In each and
every appearance her character, purposes, work, and
teachings are the same. For us, Babylon's final manifestation is the most
important, but she will be truly understood in that role only if, firstly, careful
study is given to her place and work in the past. In these last times, she
offers her wine to the peoples of the world who prove themselves only too
eager to drink it. "What is that
wine?—Her false
doctrines." The Review
and Herald, December 6, 1892.
To the people of the past she offered the same. They proved to be just as eager to drink
it. The people of God are those to whom
Babylon is most anxious to give her wine. With the cunning and patience of
the serpent, she relentlessly pursues this
objective. Thus God's
people are tested
with a proving involving eternal consequences for
life or for death. Daniel and his three companions faced
that test. When they were selected by the king of Babylon to be taught
"the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans," "the king
appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he
drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might
stand before the king." Daniel 1:4, 5. These four were not the entire
number of those selected in this way. We have no way of knowing how many
young Jews were chosen. We only know that there were more than the four, for
it is written, "Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah."
Verse 6. All told, there might have been twenty of them or fifty, or a
hundred, or even more. We do not know, nor do we really need to know beyond
the important fact that the four were but a minority among the larger
group. Before all of
them were placed the food and wine of Babylon. Four of them refused to touch
it. The remainder partook of it. It is doubtful if, at the time, any from
either group fully understood the significance of the choice they made. That did not alter the consequences or the
rewards of the respective
decisions. A great deal
of stress has been laid upon the fact that it was basically a test of
temperance, and this is entirely true. Much less emphasis has been given to the
other implications of the test. The food and the drink offered to them, had
first of all been presented to their idol gods and carried the THE WINE OF
BABYLON 213 supposed
blessing of those gods upon it. Therefore, anyone who partook of that
food was entering into the religious practices of the Babylonians. They had
become partakers of the false
doctrines of Babylon. That this is so is verified in these words: "But a
portion having been offered to idols,
the food from the king's table was consecrated to idolatry; and one partaking
of it would be regarded as offering homage to the gods of Babylon. In such
homage, loyalty to Jehovah forbade Daniel and his companions to join. Even a
mere pretense of eating the food or drinking the
wine would be a denial of their faith. To do this would be to array
themselves with heathenism and to dishonor the
principles of the law of God." Prophets and Kings, 481. Thus there were three courses open to
the faithful four and to the rest. They could openly eat and drink of the
provision brought to them from the king, as did the majority in the group.
Their doing that placed them where they became directly participant in the
worship of the gods of Babylon. They literally became a part of the body of
antichrist, and ceased effectually to be a part
of the body of Christ. Secondly, they might have refused to eat and to
drink, but only secretly, all the while by pretense
making it appear to the Babylonians that they were in fact partaking of it.
To have done that would still have been a denial of their faith and would
have been to array themselves on the side of heathenism. In other words, even
though they did not themselves actually partake of the food, giving the
impression that they had would still have constituted them part of the body
of antichrist and no part of the body of Christ. So far as the record
reveals, none of the young men did this, though it is possible that there
were those who, for a time at least, did pursue this course. The third and final option was to
calmly, courteously, but firmly reveal that no matter what the personal cost,
they could not, and would not, partake of the
king's bounties. This is what the four worthies did. This was the only course whereby they could
avoid being identified as a part of the body of antichrist and remain in the
body of Christ. It was the only way. This is the
inescapable truth as revealed in this paragraph. It is a truth which is as pertinent and applicable today
as it was then. Today, it is still the only way to remain in the body of
Christ and escape identification with the body of antichrist. This is indeed
a sober thought. Only he who is able to grasp the significance, the verity,
the gravity, and the urgency of it, and, at the same time, through the living
power of God pattern his life by it, will come through the last great test
unscathed by the corruption of Babylon. Only such will stand with Christ and
see the plagues destroy a thousand at his side and ten thousand at his right
hand. All others will perish eternally. It is sadly evident that modern
Israel has not seen the gravity and the seriousness of it all. Exactly as did
the Babylonians in Daniel's day, so the antichrist of today has offered the
wine of Babylon, the pernicious doctrine that Christ came in sinless flesh,
to the Adventist leadership and through them, to the people. 214 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT By the vast majority of the church,
the wine has been accepted and the doctrine of Babylon has become the doctrine
of the church. It is foolish to pretend that it has not. There may be some
who will believe such a denial, but no
careful, earnest student of the Bible and of Adventist history will quarrel with
the accuracy of
Froom's reporting. While
his own understanding of what
the message given in 1888 actually was, is quite wrong, and while he has lost
all grasp of the warning contained in the second angel's message, yet the
presentation of the historical data is sound, objective, and well documented.
His conclusion that the Adventist Church has become a confirmed subscriber to
the teaching that Christ came in sinless flesh, exactly as the fallen
churches teach, is attested to by the multiplied evidences to this effect. Consider the world wide support of
Movement of Destiny from the General Conference President down to the laity.
Add to this the absence of any objection
to the conclusions reached in the book.
Talk with the ministry, read the articles appearing
in current Adventist literature, and examine the material on this subject
taught to the theological students in the ministerial colleges around the
world. Such an investigation, if honest, candid, and thorough, will reveal
beyond any doubt that the doctrine that Christ came in sinless flesh is the
doctrine of the Adventist Church today. No possible question can remain. The
Adventist Church today is drinking the wine of Babylon. Of course,
such a charge is denied by any Adventist to whom you may make it.
In my own
personal conversations with
leading men in Washington D.C., I found that they
sought to lightly dismiss the book as being merely Dr. Froom's opinion. It
was just as personally his opinion as were the thoughts expressed by Uriah
Smith in Daniel and the Revelation on the deity of Christ. These men declared
that there were many who did not agree with the book and there was quite a
movement toward its withdrawal. If the book was purely a theological
discussion, then that would be one thing and some point could be admitted for
their arguments. It could be classed to
some extent at least, as being the personal opinion of Dr. Froom. Further support would be given to
such arguments if Dr. Froom found it necessary to have
the book published and distributed
by other than Adventist
channels. But the book is not a study in
theology. It is a history book, the work of a
chronicler, a reporter, a recorder.
It is the revealing of what has happened and the facts are true. Dr.
Froom is a very careful and thorough writer
whose documentation of
the historical presentation leaves
no question as to the veracity of the facts. Furthermore, we are not
dependent on Movement of Destiny alone for these facts. Dr. Froom stated that
there had been the expurgation of the "offending" note from the
1915 edition of Bible
Readings. Anyone who doubts this has only to compare the 1915 edition with the present edition to
see that it is so. Dr.
Froom reports a new evaluation of Adventists by evangelical
Protestants. That re-evaluation can be read in such books as The Truth THE WINE OF
BABYLON 215 About
Seventh-day Adventists by Walter R. Martin. Again it will be found that what Dr. Froom said happened,
did happen. However, it is neither to be overlooked
nor denied that Dr. Froom includes his own appraisal of these events. For
instance, he judges the change of attitude on the part of the evangelicals as
being a praiseworthy and desirable thing. Further back, he reduces the
revelations of the fourth angel's message in 1888 to a mere confrontation
over the deity of Christ. Not for one moment are we saying that these
opinions are true judgments of the significance of these events. We are not
saying that. What we are saying, is that the historical facts presented are
accurate. This leads to another fine but necessary distinction. While we deny
that Froom has formed the correct conclusions in regard to these
developments, yet, the very expression of his thought becomes an accurate
historical report. He was not alone in dealing with these men. There were
others with him and everything
was constantly reported
back to the
General Conference Committee with whom they all worked in the closest
liaison. Therefore, the expression of Froom's evaluation of the discussion
with Drs. English, Martin, and Barnhouse, is in truth, the reporting of the
Adventist leadership's general reaction in the whole affair, how they and the
evangelicals related themselves to it all. In his reporting of that as history, Froom is quite accurate and
reliable. At this point, a further important
distinction must be established. It is the difference between the
history itself and the report of that history. Movement of Destiny
is only the latter. As such, it is of little real significance. Let the
book be withdrawn from publication. This will change nothing. What has been
done in the developments of the years has been done, and nothing can change
the history of the past. Movement of Destiny was written to justify, in the
eyes of Adventists generally, the actions of the leadership in all of these
steps. It was not written for the evangelicals. They had read
all they needed to and
had made their adjustments with
Adventism to
the point where they were able to recognize it as being a part of the body of Christ as Babylon
understood that body to be. In order for Adventism today to come back into
the favour and service of God, much, much more than the mere withdrawal of
Movement of Destiny will be necessary. The principles laid out in the story
of the faithful four in the court of the king of Babylon reveals what must be
done, and the consequences of failure to do so. As already noted in that story, there
were three courses of action open to those young men. Firstly they could, as
the majority did, openly partake of the wine and food. To do this was
to identify themselves fully with the body of antichrist. Movement of Destiny
is the historical record of the Adventists having done the same thing
today. Secondly, they could have pretended
to eat of the king's provisions without actually doing so. To have done this
would also have aligned them fully on the side of Babylon against the God of
heaven. Finally, they could and should have done as Daniel and his three companions
did—quietly, respectfully, but firmly revealed that they stood 216 DESTINY OF A MOVEMENT solidly on the platform of truth, no
matter how hostile Babylon might be to that position. As in the days of
Daniel, the vast majority did not do this, but, and for this we can praise
the Lord above, there were those, few in number though they be, who in those
crisis days and to this moment, have stood firmly for the
great principles of the third angel's message, refusing to make any concessions to Babylon. It is not too late for any individual
in the church to rectify the wrongs of yesterday. Despite the betrayal of the
past, God's hand is still outstretched to save. For
the church at large to put the matter back where it should be, involves much
more than the quiet withdrawal of Movement of Destiny. There would have to be, initially, a
very genuine confession that wrong steps had been taken in the past. This
confession must be firstly by the leadership to the church and to the people
in Babylon until the whole world knows that Adventism has returned to the
faith of its fathers, and will have nothing to do with the doctrines of
Babylon. There was
great diligence to see that the Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish world were made aware of the
changes which had been effected in the church. Questions on Doctrine was
especially published for this purpose and "Its total circulation by
1970 had exceeded 138,000." Movement of Destiny, 489. Nothing less
than equal, or
even greater earnestness
would be necessary to carry to
the minds of such leaders everywhere, the corrections in the
Adventist position from error to the real truth once again. The insulted paragraph from Bible
Readings would need to be reinstated, along with deletions from other books.
Any worker, be he General Conference President or
lowly colporteur, who was not prepared to participate in this thorough work
of correction, would of necessity be relieved of his position in the church. Nothing less than this would be the
dashing of the goblet of Babylon from the lips of Adventism today. It would
require a fearful price to do it. It would result in awful humiliation in the
eyes of the whole world, and shattering divisions within the church, for not
all would be prepared to pay that kind of price. It would unleash the
hostility of the great body of antichrist against the people of God. It would
result in so great a shaking in Adventist membership as would disastrously
reduce the financial intake to the point
where many of the church's vaunted programs would have to close down. This is a fearful penalty
to have to suffer. But what is
the alternative? To find that answer, one has only to
study further into the history of Daniel and his three companions. There came a time when the king of
Babylon erected the great golden image on the plains of Dura. What he did
there will be repeated to the very letter in the erection of the image to the
beast in the very near future. "History will be repeated. False religion
will be exalted. The first day of the week, a common working day, possessing
no sanctity whatever, will be set up as was the image at Babylon. All nations
and tongues and peoples will be commanded
to worship this spurious sabbath. This is Satan's plan to THE WINE OF
BABYLON 217 make of no account the day instituted
by God, and given to the world as a memorial of creation. "The decree enforcing the
worship of this day is to go forth to all the world. In a limited degree, it
has already gone forth. In several places the civil power is speaking with
the voice of a dragon, just as the heathen king spoke to the
Hebrew captives. "Trial and persecution will come
to all who, in obedience to the Word of God, refuse to worship this false
sabbath. Force is the last resort of every false religion. At first it tries
attraction, as the king of Babylon tried the power of music
and outward show. If these attractions, invented by men inspired by Satan, failed to make men
worship the image, the hungry flames of the furnace were ready to consume
them. So it will be now. The papacy has exercised her power to compel men to
obey her, and she will continue to do so. We need the same spirit that was manifested
by God's servants in the conflict with paganism." Signs of the Times,
May 6, 1897. S.D.A. Bible Commentary 7:976. This
statement makes it
quite clear that
the image erected
by Nebuchadnezzar was a type of the image of the beast to be raised in
the last days. That image imposed a fearful test upon the people of God. So
will it be again. But, Satan is far too cunning to bring the great test of
the image as the very first
test. He prepares the world for it today as he did back there. Firstly, he provides them with the
wine of Babylon, gently and kindly inviting them to drink of it and they do.
Then he is satisfied, for he knows that, when he has them intoxicated with
this wine, they will bow to the image. In the records
of the Book of Daniel, only four young men are shown to have resisted the
wine of Babylon. No doubt, many a Jew argued that this was but a small
matter, that expediency insisted that they give some ground to the king to
lead him to respect their spirit of co-operation, so that when the big tests
came, such as the call to worship a Babylonian image, the king would grant
their request to be exempted. On the basis of that expediency so pleasing to
the flesh, they ate and drank of the things offered to idols, not realizing
that thereby they aligned themselves fully on the side of the great antichrist. One concession led to another. Each
compromise was followed by a further departure from strict rectitude. A few
short years passed and the king called the world to the foot of
the image. "Forming this great image, Nebuchadnezzar commanded that it
should receive universal homage from all, both great and small, high and low,
rich and poor." S.D.A. Bible Commentary
4:1169. On that day then, when the glittering
golden image towered above the plain, there were many Jews among the hosts
from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. But the only ones
in that vast multitude who did not bow to the image were those who had
refused to partake of the wine of Babylon earlier, together with any
who, like Daniel, were not present at the assembly. What is the
message of this to us today? DESTINY OF A
MOVEMENT 218 It is this. As surely as we drink of the wine of
Babylon today, then just so surely will we bow to the image tomorrow. This is the plain and irrefutable testimony
of the Holy Scriptures, the lesson designed for our admonition in the story of
the image of old. What, then, is the present destiny of
the movement known as the Seventh-day Adventist Church organization? The witness of the history as
recorded in the Movement of Destiny is that she has drunk deeply of the wine
of Babylon, numbers herself and is numbered by Babylon as being part of
the body of antichrist. Therefore, as surely as this is so, then just so
surely will she bow before the image when
it towers again above the world in the very near future. This is her destiny. This is where
she is going and nothing short of a total confession with all that that
involves, will save her from it. As terrible a betrayal of sacred trusts as
that will be, bowing to the image is not the final destination. It is but a
step towards that. That ultimate is contained in the warning of the third
angel's message. "If any man worship the beast
and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, "The same shall drink of the
wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of
His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence
of the holy angels, and in the presence
of the Lamb: "And the smoke of their torment
ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no
rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever
receiveth the mark of his name." Revelation 14:9-11. That is the end for all such. Beyond
it is nothing—cold, dark, and eternal nothing. There is not one person — no matter
if he has strayed from the path of God's righteousness—who needs to come to this
end. There is still time to repent and turn again. But it is an individual
matter. Anyone who waits for the church at large to be converted and to turn
again, will wait in vain and perish with the church. Dash Babylon's wine
glass from your lips, unfurl the banner of
truth for all to see, and take your stand with those who have already done that. God is never without the faithful few
who stand true to Him in witness to His power and His truth. They are
little-known, obscure people as were Daniel and his three companions, but
they are His chosen and faithful ones nonetheless. During those very years when the
conversations were taking place between the Adventist and evangelical
Protestant leaders, and while the masses of Adventists blindly followed their
leaders, there was a nucleus of faithful souls who would not go along with
this betrayal of sacred trusts. They are the Daniels, Hananiahs, Mishaels, and Azariahs of this day. They are scattered throughout the
world. They are the ones who believe and hold the third angel's message in
the verity in which Waggoner and Jones presented it in 1888 and thereafter.
They are the ones through whom the Lord will finish His work. |