A
Blasphemous Statement by Jan Paulsen, President of the
Click to go to our Home PageDear Reader, What follows is a most blasphemous comment by the
president of the Seventh-day Adventist church, in light of the seriousness of
the issue. He stated that he would not urge a restudy of the sensitive points
of the human nature of Christ on his watch. Ellen White said that this issue
means EVERYTHING to us. Paulsen
said: “I just cannot imagine a post-modern person in
Europe, a business man in Asia or
Latin America, any more than a farmer in Africa will care one iota whether
Christ had the nature of man before the fall or after. The realities of the
world in which we live have other concerns and other priorities which occupy
us." Apparently, in spite of Paulsen’s blasphemous
proclamation that the issue would not be restudied at his urging during his
watch, SDA leaders have decided to restudy the issue. It is most interesting
that the president of the SDA church would state that there are other
concerns and priorities which occupy us to the point that post-modern persons
would not care one iota about this all-important issue that should mean
EVERYTHING to every Seventh-day Adventist. Paulsen’s statement demonstrates the spiritual
wantonness of the man who is leading the apostate Seventh-day Adventist
church, and every member is corporately responsible, for they support their
leader(s) by a representative (voting) system and their sacred tithe and
offerings maintain him in his office. SDA leaders wanted a liberal who for
their “king,” and they got what they wanted in the person of Jan Paulsen. But
the ultimate price will be high. Why does the Nature of Christ mean EVERYTHING to us?
Because Christ’s overcoming of sin as a human in our likeness proved that we
can overcome by the same course He overcame by dying to self and subscribing
to the aid of the Holy Spirit on a moment by moment basis. Christ possessed
what we must “buy,” gold tried in the fire (faith that works by
self-sacrificing love). This is the truth of the message to Laodiceans everywhere. And yet, Paulsen would denigrate this all important issue to something
he would not urge on his watch were it his choosing! Nothing could better demonstrate
the spiritual bankruptcy of the man who is leading the SDA church at such an
important time in history Paulsen’s statement demonstrates the paradigm shift
in the church from the teaching that Christ is our example as well as our
substitute, to the current apostate focus on forensic substitution ONLY, or
pardon for a continuum of sin rather than the inclusion of POWER to overcome
sin. The “greatest good, crowning gift that heaven could
bestow,” according to Ellen White, was the gift of Christ’s Divine Nature
Holy Spirit, whereby we can overcome every propensity to sin this side of
glorification. That gift is promised in 2 Peter 4:1. 2Pe 1:4
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. That “greatest good, crowning gift” for the
regeneration of man back into the image of God, and as a cure for the sin
problem, levels the playing field when it comes to any proposed differences
between us and Christ! Every time you witness an SDA leader or laymen trying
to describe the differences between us and Christ, a huge red flag should go
up in your mind, because the gift of Christ’s Divine Nature renders any
differences as moot and an attempt by Satan to ensnare one into the lie that
there is a continuum of sin without a cure this side of glorification. Thus,
Satan wars against the “greatest good, crowning gift that heaven could
bestow,” without which Christ’s sacrifice on the cross would have been of no
avail except to pardon sin forever. "Christ declared
that after his ascension, he would send to his church, as his crowning gift,
the Comforter, who was to take his place. This Comforter is the
Holy Spirit,--the soul of his life,
the efficacy of his church, the light and life of the world. With his Spirit
Christ sends a reconciling influence and a power that takes away sin. In the gift of the
Spirit, Jesus gave to man the highest good that heaven could bestow.... The Spirit was given as
a regenerating agency, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have
been of no avail.... It is by the Spirit that
the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of
the divine nature. Christ has given his Spirit as a divine power to overcome
all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress his own
character upon the church." E.G. White, Review and Herald Articles, May 19, 1904, vol. 5, p. 42. Questions
on Doctrine "The
humanity of the Son of God is EVERYTHING to us. It is the golden chain that
binds our souls to Christ,
and through Christ to God. This is to be our study. Christ was a real man. He
gave proof of His humility in becoming a man. Yet He was God in the flesh.
When we approach this subject, we would do well to heed the words spoken by
Christ to Moses at the burning bush, 'Put off thy shoes from off they feet,
for the place where on thou standest
is holy ground.' We should come to this study with the humility of a learner,
with contrite heart. And the study of the Incarnation of Christ is a fruitful
field, which will repay the searcher who digs deep for hidden truth."
E.G. White, The Youth's Instructor,
Oct. 13, 1898. 50th Anniversary
Conference 1.
Home 2.
Schedule 3.
Presenters 4.
Registration No other book has
aroused so much controversy in the history of the For Leroy Edwin Froom, one of the authors of Questions
on Doctrine, the book "completed the long process of clarification,
rectification of misconceptions, and declarations of truth before [the
Christian] Church and the world." But M. L. Andreasen, a theologian and author on the
sanctuary doctrine, saw the book as "the most subtle and dangerous
error" and "a most dangerous heresy." Hence, historian
George Knight has noted that Questions on Doctrine "easily
qualifies as the most divisive book in Seventh-day Adventist
history," while theologian Herbert Douglass has observed that
"most, if not all, of the so-called 'dissident' or 'independent' groups
of the last 45 years are direct results of the explicit and implicit
positions espoused by [Questions on Doctrine] on the atonement and the
Incarnation." On October 24-27,
2007, 50 years after the publication of Questions on Doctrine,
scholars, church leaders, and pastors across the theological spectrum of
Adventism, along with guest scholars from the evangelical world, who have
given careful study to the theology of Questions on Doctrine and
Adventist history of the past half-century, will convene at Andrews
University for an engaging, reflective, scholarly dialogue. |