"Be not deceived; many will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. The omega will be of a most startling nature."
What was the nature of the Alpha of Apostasy? It involved the personality of
"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}
"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. The 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, ibid., p. 204.
"The Holy Spirit has a personality, else He could not bear witness to
our spirits and with our spirits that we are the children of God. He
must also be a divine person, else He could not search out the
secrets which lie hidden in the mind of God. "For what man knoweth
the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so
the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God."--Manuscript
20, 1906. {Ev 617.1}
"Personality of the Holy Spirit.--We need to realize that the Holy Spirit, who is as much a person as God is a person, is walking through these grounds.--E.G. White, Evangelism, pp. 616.
EGW says much about heresies (including the omega heresy) in the context of Kellogg's 'Living Temple'. The one thing that she had against the heresies in his book was that they destroyed the personality of God and the fact that the Father and Son were two different beings and had personalities of their own. She makes it absolutely clear that they were NOT one being. The heresy was over the presence and the personality of God. God was being made a non-entity and not a person. EGW wrote to Kellogg on March 16th 1903:
"You are not definitely clear on the personality of God, which is everything to us as a people. You have virtually destroyed the Lord God Himself." EGW letter 300 1903.
In a letter to Daniels, Kellogg told him that he believed the Holy Spirit was an influence. That notion was easily adaptable to Kellogg's pantheism. First you reduce the Holy Spirit from a person to just an influence, and then say that this influence pervades everything, and you have raw, unadulterated pantheism.
The Personality of God and of Christ
"I entreat every one to be clear and firm regarding the certain truths that we have heard and received and advocated. The statements of God's Word are plain. Plant your feet firmly on the platform of eternal truth. Reject every phase of error, even though it be covered with a semblance of reality, which denies the personality of God and of Christ." {RH, August 31, 1905 par. 11}
Omega Heresy: "I have been instructed by the heavenly messenger that some of the reasoning in the book Living Temple is unsound, and that this reasoning would lead astray the minds of those who are not thoroughly established on the on the foundation principles of present truth. It introduces that which is nought but speculation in regard to the personality of God and where His presence is [the Godhead]." E.G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 1, 201-202.
"The Holy Spirit has a personality, else He could not bear witness to our spirits and with our spirits that we are the children of God. He must also be a divine person, else He could not search out the secrets which lie hidden in the mind of God. "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God."--Manuscript 20, 1906. {Ev 617.1}
The Personality of God and of Christ is Involved
"I entreat every one to be clear and firm regarding the certain truths that we have heard and received and advocated. The statements of God's Word are plain. Plant your feet firmly on the platform of eternal truth. Reject every phase of error, even though it be covered with a semblance of reality, which denies the personality of God and of Christ." {RH, August 31, 1905 par. 11}
"Most startling messages will be borne by men of God's appointment, messages of a character to warn the people, to arouse them. And while some will be PROVOKED by the warning, and led to RESIST LIGHT AND EVIDENCE, we are to see from this that we are giving the TESTING MESSAGE for this time. Messages will be given OUT OF THE USUAL ORDER." E.G. White, Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 137.
"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" Manuscript Release, 1084.
"Adventist beliefs have changed over the years under the impact of "present truth." Most startling is the teaching regarding Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. Many of the pioneers, including James White, J. N. Andrews, Uriah Smith, and J. H. Waggoner, held to an Arian or semi-Arian view—that is, the Son at some point in time before the Creation of our world was generated by the Father….Likewise, the Trinitarian understanding of God, now part of our fundamental beliefs, was not generally held by the early Adventists. Even today a few do not subscribe to it." (William Johnsson, Editor, Adventist Review, January 6, 1994, pp. 10, 11)
George R. Knights Most Startling Admission
George Knight, Andrews University Seminary professor made the following statement in Ministry, the official Seventh-day Adventist journal for ministers: "Most of the founders of Seventh-day Adventism would not be able to join the church today if they had to subscribe to the denomination’s Fundamental Beliefs. More specifically, most would not be able to agree to belief number 2, which deals with the doctrine of the trinity." - Ministry, October 1993, p. 10.
Questions Based on the Above Data
- Do you believe that the Trinity doctrine that teaches the Holy Spirit is not the personal Spirit of Jesus Christ, affects the presence and personality of Jesus Christ?
- Do you believe that the Trinity doctrine teaching that the Holy Spirit is another person other than Christ affects the personality and presence of Christ in any way? For example, if the Holy Spirit is another person than Christ, who comes to us to be PRESENT (Presence) with us when the Holy Spirit comes to us? John 14:16-18, says that the Holy Spirit is Christ who comes to us, verse 18. The Trinity doctrine says that the Holy Spirit is another third person who has existed coeval with the Father and the Son eternally. Is the presence of Christ to us thus affected by the Trinity doctrine?
- Is it not true that if another person other than Christ comes to us as the Holy Spirit, according to the Trinity doctrine, that Christ's presence is not thus with us, and some other third person is with us? Can you see how the Trinity doctrine has altered the presence and personality of Christ?
- If the Holy Spirit comes to us as another person than Christ, does this affect the personality of Christ--Is some other personality coming to us other than that of Christ?
- If the presence and personality (person) of Christ comes to us, according to Scripture and Ellen White, who do you suppose the third person is that masquerades as the Holy Spirit, according to the Trinity doctrine?
- Since Satan was so jealous of Christ, do you suppose that He had tried to intrude himself into the Godhead by getting us to believe that the Holy Spirit is another third person, other than Christ?
"Satan appeared to be by the throne, trying to carry on the work of God; I saw them look up to the throne and pray, my Father give us they [Holy] Spirit; then Satan would breathe upon them an unholy influence; in it there was light and much power, but no sweet love, joy and peace. Satan's object was to keep them deceived, and to draw back and deceive God's children. I saw one after another leave the company who were praying to Jesus in the Holiest, and go and join those before the throne, and they at once received the unholy influence of Satan." E.G. White, Broadside1, To the Little Remnant Scattered Abroad, 04-06-46, pr. 7.
What does Martin Eldon, Lynnford Beachy, Allen Stump, Fred Allaback etc., teach the Holy Spirit is? They teach that it is not a person, but rather an influence. You have had fair warning. Beware!
The Trinity doctrine arrives at the same conclusion by saying that the Holy Spirit is a person other than the Holy Spirit of the Son of God that was sacrificed as an Atonement for the wages of sin, which is eternal death to something. In this case, it was eternal death to the purely divine state of the Son of God, in exchange for a DivinE Nature as combined with humanity FOREVER. To say that the Holy Spirit is other than the sacrifice of the Son of His purely Divine Nature is a lie. That sacrifice was made so that we could partake of His life; so that the life that WAS HIS could be ours, for the purpose of regeneration and for the purpose of paying the price sin which is eternal death to something, To say that the Holy Spirit is another third person than that of the Son's life and soul sacrificed for these purposes, is abomination of all abominations--the ultimate Omega Heresy.
Ron Beaulieu