Why Most Professing
Christians Keep Sunday Sacred
“By whom we have received grace and apostleship,
for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: 6Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus
Christ: Romans 1:5, 6.”
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The prime reason most Protestants keep Sunday sacred is
because they believe the ten commandment law was nailed to the cross and that
the disciples of Christ changed the day. That error is part of their false
gospel of defining grace as pardon only, rather than pardon and power given
for obedience to the law of God. We cannot co-labor with those who teach a false gospel. Paul
says to accurse any who come with another gospel. That does not mean trying
to co-labor with them. Gal 1:8 “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any
other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Gal 1:9 “As we said before, so say I now again, If any [man]
preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be
accursed.” How can one co-labor with one whose gospel he must accurse?
And accurse means anathema in this case. Look up the Bible definition of
accurse in these verses in a concordance. It would be a bit difficult to work
in liaison with anyone whose gospel you would have to continually accurse!
That is what SDA leaders must try to do with Rick Warren, Bill Hybel’s and other World Council of Church Babylonians
they have aligned with. But it is an impossible task and violates God’s command
to accurse any, even an angel, who should come with another gospel. Could you imagine Jesus co-laboring with the Pope? Jesus and
His followers did not teach two gospels.
This is the very reason it is not wise to begin with the
Sabbath issue in our efforts to convert prospective proselytes to Adventism.
They see the Sabbath as a non-sequitur if the law was done away with at the
cross. So the more basic issue to begin with is the law and God’s
expectations concerning His law. Then we can progress to a balanced study of
faith and works and what is expected of us. No true concept of the gospel can
be realized until we make these basics crystal clear and reach agreement
thereon. Then the Sabbath issue is automatically conceded to by any rational
person seeking truth. The most basic issue relative to Christ’s sacrifice for us is
the gift of faith and grace which was made possible by His highest good,
crowning gift of His Holy Spirit. These gifts were provided by His atoning
act in the heavenly Sanctuary at His Incarnation, and on the cross. But just
as mainline protestants consider only one element of grace, namely pardon, so
they consider only one element of the Atonement—the cross. They don’t
consider what occurred at the Incarnation, whereby the highest good, crowing
gift of all was provided—grace power in the form of Christ’s Divine Nature,
His Holy Spirit, the soul of His life before and
after His Incarnation. "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 [HIS
LIFE--THE SOUL OF HIS LIFE], Jesus gave to man the highest good that heaven
could bestow.... The Spirit was given as a
regenerating agency, and without this [Holy Spirit of Christ] 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. Grace Defined What a sad
mistake by most of professing Christianity that they understand grace as
meaning only pardon. The Bible itself defines grace as power for obedience
and apostleship. Romans 1:5, to wit: “By whom we
have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith
among all nations, for his name:
Romans 1:5. Obedience to what? The Holy Law of God, the only standard that
defines sin because sin is not imputed after the fact. God would not define
sin after we commit it. He defined it before man sinned. “They must
have His grace, the Spirit of Christ, to help their infirmities, or
they cannot form a Christian character. Jesus loves to have us come to Him,
just as we are—sinful, helpless, dependent.” Faith and Works, p. 38. “There must
be a power working from within, a new life from above, before man
can be changed from sin to holiness. That
power is Christ. His grace [the Spirit of Christ] alone can quicken the
lifeless faculties of the soul, and attract it to God, to holiness.” (ST, May
28, 1902, par. 3). "The
Power of God in the Third Person.--The prince of the power of evil can ONLY
be held in check by the power of God in the third person of the
Godhead, the Holy
Spirit.-- Special Testimonies,
Series A, No. 10, p. 37. (1897). “Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning
away every one of you from his iniquities.” Acts 3:26. What is
iniquity? It is sin. The Bible agrees with Ellen White wherein she says the
evil (iniquity) can only be held in check by the Holy Spirit of Christ. That
is why God sent His Son Jesus, to turn us away from iniquity. Iniquity is
sin. Sin is transgression of the law. If you can’t convince of this fact, you
will never convince of the Sabbath issue. A correct
understanding of the Godhead is of crucial importance as you can readily see.
Mainline Christianity understands only the cross sacrifice.
They don’t understand the highest good, crowing sacrifice made in the
Sanctuary in heaven at the Incarnation—the sacrifice of the Son in divesting
Himself of His Holy Spirit (DIVINE ONLY) life, and giving that life to us as
a regenerating power. In the
Sanctuary of Heaven, the Incarnation took place. At that Incarnation
sacrifice, the former Holy Spirit (DIVINE ONLY) existence (life) of the Son
was divested from the personality of His humanity and THEN became independent
of it. This sacrificial act made possible the “highest good, crowning gift
that heaven could bestow” – namely the Divine Nature life and soul of Christ
proffered to man in the form of the Holy Ghost of His former Being. This is
the greatest sacrifice of the son which resulted in a third person being
added to the Godhead. The Holy Ghost is not mentioned until the first chapter
of Matthew, for a good reason. The Ghost of the Son, His Holy Spirit, did not
accrue until the Incarnation sacrifice in the heavenly Sanctuary, when His
humanity was divested from His former Holy Spirit ONLY essence, substance,
because humanity cumbered that Holy Spirit Being, in which form He has
eternally existed. Mainline
Christianity denies the highest good, crowning sacrifice made in the heavenly
Sanctuary, and thus the Sanctuary/Atonement is rendered as gone, for without
that sacrifice, no regenerating agency would be available to man. The Trinity
Doctrine, Rome’s central doctrine, bypasses that Sanctuary/Atonement in heaven.
Thus, the entire Christian economy is swept away. The SDA church adopted that
doctrine in 1980. SDA pioneers never accepted the Trinity Doctrine. "The
darkness rolled away from the Saviour and from the Cross. Christ bowed His
head and died. In His Incarnation He had reached the prescribed limit as a sacrifice, but not as a
redeemer." E.G. White Manuscript
Releases Volume Twelve, p. 409. What was
the prescribed limit as a sacrifice in the Incarnation BEFORE THE CROSS? It
was by fulfilling the Testator’s covenant to die to something forever. What
He died to forever was His DIVINE ONLY EXISTENCE before His Incarnation, to
be forever after combined with humanity. He became our redeemer on the cross
by dying for our sins, but that would have been of no avail if He had not AT
HIS INCARNATION SACRIFICE, provided the means, the highest good, crowning
gift of the life of His former Holy Spirit as a regenerating agent that we
might overcome sin. His death on the cross was the pardon. His Divine Nature
Holy Spirit imparted is the CURE for sin. Testator’s
Covenant The
Testator’s Covenant is totally misunderstood by mainline Christianity. They
believe Christ could die for three days and nights and be resurrected again
and thus pay the penalty for our wages of sin which is eternal death. That is
a lie. Christ had to die to something forever, and what He died to forever
was His DIVINE ONLY STATE OF BEING before His Incarnation, after which He
became combined with humanity forever. That way He paid an eternal death for
our wages of sin. If He did not die to something forever, then the testament
is of no strength at all.
"No
one but Christ could redeem man from the curse of the law. He proposed to
take upon Himself the guilt and shame of sin,--sin so offensive in the sight
of God that it would necessitate separation from His Father. Christ proposed
to reach to the depths of man's degradation and woe, and restore the
repenting, believing soul to harmony with God. Christ, the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, offered Himself as a sacrifice and substitute
for the fallen sons of Adam, though in this offering all heaven was involved
in infinite sacrifice." {ST, December 15, 1914 par. 10} Again for
emphasis: "Cumbered with humanity Christ could not be in
every place personally, therefore it was altogether for their advantage that
He should leave them to go to His Father and send the Holy Spirit to be His
successor on earth. The Holy Spirit is Himself divested of the personality
of humanity and independent thereof. He would represent Himself as
present in all places by His Holy Spirit.” E.G. White, (Manuscript Releases Volume 14 (No’s 1081-1135) MR No.1084. Some, like Robert Sessler,
Nic Petula, Laval Picard, and others, fully deny
that Christ divested Himself of His past Divine Only Holy Spirit, to bequeath
it to us as heaven’s “highest good, crowning gift.” That is blasphemy of the
highest order, and yet such men claim to be giving the last message of mercy
to a dying world. The truth about the Godhead is the greatest supporter of
the Law of God, for it offers the only means for obedience to that law and
how and when that “means” was provided for, even before the cross. Such false
teachers render the Sanctuary/Atonement GONE, in the Omega, just as Ellen
White prophesied of the Alpha: Sanctuary Gone Atonement
Gone -- "In a representation which passed before me, I saw a certain
work being done by medical missionary workers. Our ministering brethren were
looking on, watching what was being done, but they did not seem to
understand. The foundation of our faith, which was established by so much
prayer, such earnest searching of the Scriptures, was being taken down,
pillar by pillar. Our faith was to have nothing to rest upon--the sanctuary
was gone, the atonement was gone." E.G. White, The Upward Look,
152. An improper teaching on the
Godhead thus sweeps away the entire Christian economy: "In a representation which passed before me, I saw a certain
work being done by medical missionary workers. Our ministering brethren were
looking on, watching what was being done, but they did not seem to
understand. The foundation of our faith, which was established by so much
prayer, such earnest searching of the Scriptures, was being taken down,
pillar by pillar. Our faith was to have nothing to rest upon--the sanctuary was
gone, the atonement was gone." E.G. White, The Upward Look, 152. The atonement is related to the Godhead issue. The Trinity Doctrine
obfuscates the Atonement by discounting the sacrifice of Christ in emptying
Himself of His Divine Nature in order to give it to us for regeneration.
Ellen White said without that sacrifice, the cross would have been to no
avail, and the Trinity Doctrine obviates that sacrifice by saying that it
NEVER TOOK PLACE because the Holy Spirit always existed as a third person.
That is blasphemy against the "greatest good and crowning
sacrifice" gift that heaven could bestow. The personality of God and
Christ is thus involved in the omega apostasy involving the Godhead vis a vis
the Trinity Doctrine. "The
spiritualistic theories regarding the personality of God [the Godhead],
followed to their logical conclusion, sweep away the whole Christian economy.
They estimate as nothing the light that Christ came from heaven to give John
to give to His people. They teach that the scenes just before us are not of
sufficient importance to be given special attention. They make of no effect
the truth of heavenly origin, and rob the people of God of their past
experience, giving them instead a false science." E.G. White, 1SM, p. 204. "Those who seek to remove the old landmarks are not holding fast
they are not remembering how they have received and heard. Those who try to
bring in theories that would remove the pillars of our faith concerning the
sanctuary or concerning the personality of God or of Christ, are working as
blind men. They are seeking to bring in uncertainties and to set the people
of God adrift without an anchor." {MR760 9.5} One Eternal
Spirit That Makes God ONE GOD All three persons to the Godhead have the same essence, substance,
THE ONE ETERNAL SPIRIT. That is what makes them ONE GOD. 1Cr 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
1Cr 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether
[we be] Jews or Gentiles, whether [we be] bond or free; and have been all
made to drink into one Spirit. Eph 2:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit
unto the Father. 1Cr 12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of
wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 1Cr 12:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit,
dividing to every man severally as he will.
1Jo 5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the
water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. Hbr 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God? Jhn 4:24 God [is] a
Spirit: and they that worship
him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth. “They have
one God and one Saviour; and one Spirit—the Spirit of
Christ” (9T p.
289) “Now the
Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is; there
is Liberty.” (2 Cor. 3:17) “For as the
Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in
himself.” John 5:26. "He (Christ) suffered the death which was ours, that we might
receive the life which WAS His." Desire of Ages, p. 25 1 Cor. 11:24-265, cf. John 6:53, 54,
Titus 3:5, 6. "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. If we cannot possibly keep the
commandments of God without the regenerating grace (HOLY SPIRIT GIFT) of
Christ, then how can any man boast of his goodness? Who gets the credit?
Christ does, but He imputes His righteousness to our account when we accept
the impartation of His Divine Holy Spirit Nature and let Him indwell us. This is what Paul meant when he said
we are saved by grace and not works lest any man should boast. If this were
not what he meant, he sure would have contradicted himself in the following
verses by him and Peter: 1Cr 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 1Th 4:3 For this is the will of God,
[even] your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: 1Th 4:4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in
sanctification and honour; 2Th 2:13 But we are bound to give
thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and
belief of the truth: 1Pe 1:2 Elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace
unto you, and peace, be multiplied. Hbr 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author
of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; If the law was nailed to the cross,
there is no standard to define sin. There would be no sin because God’s Word defines
sin as transgression of the law. If there is no law, there is no sin, because
God does not impute sin after the fact.
there is no need of grace as pardon and power
to overcome sin. 1. Romans
4:8 Our Dispositions Unchanged “If you would be a saint in heaven you must first be a saint
on earth. The traits of character you cherish in life will not be changed by
death or by the resurrection. You will come up from the grave with the same
disposition you manifested in your home and in society. Jesus does not
change the character at His coming. The work of transformation must
be done now. Our daily lives are determining our destiny. Defects of
character must be repented of and overcome through the grace of Christ,
and a symmetrical character must be formed while in this probationary state,
that we may be fitted for the mansions above.”--13MR 82 (1891). {LDE
295.1} “The Glory
that the Father gave to Christ is given to us: “Jesus is waiting to breathe
upon all his disciples, and give them the inspiration of his sanctifying
spirit, and transfuse the vital influence from himself to his people . . . Christ is to live in his human agents, and
work through their faculties, and act through their capabilities. Their will
must be submitted to His will, they must act with His Spirit, that it may be no more they that
live, but Christ that liveth in them.
Jesus is seeking to impress upon them the thought that in giving His Holy Spirit He is
giving to them the glory which the Father has given Him, that He
and His people may be one in God.” Signs
of the Times, October 3, 1892, par. 4. The Glory
that the Father gave to Christ is given to us: “Jesus is waiting to breathe
upon all his disciples, and give them the inspiration of his sanctifying
spirit, and transfuse the vital influence from himself to his people . . . Christ is to live in his human agents, and
work through their faculties, and act through their capabilities. Their will
must be submitted to His will, they must act with His Spirit, that it may be no more they that
live, but Christ that liveth in them.
Jesus is seeking to impress upon them the thought that in giving His Holy Spirit He is
giving to them the glory which the Father has given Him, that He
and His people may be one in God.” Signs of the Times, October 3, 1892, par.
4. “Christ
gives them the breath of His own
Spirit, the life of His own Life.”
Desire of Ages, p. 827, par. 3. “The Holy
Spirit is the breath of life in the soul. The impartation of the Spirit is
the impartation of the life of Christ. It imbues the receiver with the
attributes of Christ.” Desire of Ages,
p. 805. “They have
one God and one Saviour; and one Spirit—the Spirit of Christ—is to bring
unity into their ranks.” Testimonies, Vol. 9, p. 189. Our
Security: “Christ has made every provision for us to be strong. He has given
us His Holy Spirit, whose office is
to bring to our remembrance all the promises that Christ has made, that we
may have peace and a sweet sense of forgiveness. If we will but keep our eyes
fixed on the Saviour and trust in His power, we shall be filled with a sense of security; for the
righteousness of Christ will become our righteousness.” My Life Today, p. 45. “The Lord Jesus seeks the co-operation of those who will
become unobstructed channels for the communication of His grace. The first thing to be learned by all who would become
workers together with God is the lesson of self-distrust; then they are prepared to
have imparted to them the character of Christ. This is not to be gained through education in the most
scientific schools. It is the fruit of wisdom that is obtained from the
divine Teacher alone.” {DA 249.4} Did you ever wonder how and why
Kellogg’s pantheism swept away the entire Christian economy? It did so by
bypassing the Sanctuary/Atonement in the Heavenly Sanctuary. It taught that
the Holy Spirit was in everything. That is not true. It took the Incarnation
sacrifice in the heavenly Sanctuary to make the gift of the Holy Spirit
possible. So in saying that the Holy Spirit was in everything since creation,
or whenever, that was saying that there was always a third person, but that
did not occur until the divestation of the personality of Christ’s Holy Spirit
from His humanity at His Incarnation. The Trinity Doctrine does the same
thing. It bypasses the same heavenly Sanctuary/Atonement sacrificial gift
that constituted a cure for sin. Both of these spiritualistic theories of man
sweep away the entire Christian economy by teaching error that denies the
gift proferred for the cure of sin and paid the
eternal wages for our sin.
Pantheistic theories are not
sustained by the word of God. The light of His truth shows that these
theories are soul-destroying agencies. Darkness is their element, sensuality
their sphere. They gratify the natural heart and give license to inclination.
Separation from God is the result of accepting them. {8T 291.2} Our condition through sin has become
preternatural, and the power that restores us must be supernatural, else it
has no value. There is but one power that can break the hold of evil from the
hearts of men, and that is the power of God in Jesus Christ. Only through the
blood of the Crucified One is there cleansing from sin. His grace alone can
enable us to resist and subdue the tendencies of our fallen nature. This
power the spiritualistic theories concerning God make of no effect. If God is
an essence pervading all nature, then He dwells in all men; and in order to
attain holiness, man has only to develop the power that is within
him. {8T 291.3} These
theories, followed to their logical conclusion, sweep away the whole
Christian economy. They do away with the necessity for the atonement and make
man his own savior. These
theories regarding God make His word of no effect, and those who accept them
are in great danger of being led finally to look upon the whole Bible as a
fiction. They may Those who continue to hold these
spiritualistic theories will surely spoil their Christian experience, sever
their connection with God, and lose eternal life.” {8T 292.1} I pray that you fully understand why we cannot co-labor with
any who teach another gospel, and why it is not wise to begin witnessing with
the Sabbath issue. It would be better to begin studying about the full
meaning of grace, obedience (Rom. 1:5), the Laodicean message on faith that
works by love, the Godhead, the everlasting Covenant, the Testator’s
Testament, and the Sanctuary Service for God’s way is in the Sanctuary. —rwb |