Pioneer Adventists believed that the Trinity doctrine did serious despite to the Atonement, and whatever affects the Atonement affects the Sanctuary Message, because everything connected to either points to Christ and His Incarnation and His Human Nature. Thus, the Atonement; the Sanctuary Message; the Incarnation; and the Human Nature of Christ are intrinsically contingent upon one another. This treatise will demonstrate how the Trinity doctrine denies all of these important foundational pillars to the Kingdom of God and the gospel. This presentation is by no means exhaustive. Ellen White says that we will study the Incarnation and the Atonement FOR ETERNITY, and that new and deeper understandings will reward the seeker here and now.
"The Holy Spirit is the breath of spiritual 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. Only those who are thus taught of God, those who possess the inward working of the Spirit, and in whose life the Christ-life is manifested, are to stand as representative men, to minister in behalf of the church." Desire of Ages, 805.
"Christ gives them the breath of HIS OWN SPIRIT, the life of HIS OWN LIFE. The HOLY SPIRIT puts forth its highest energies to work in the heart and mind." Desire of Ages, 827.
Lev 17:11 For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it [is] the blood [that] maketh an atonement for the soul.
"The Holy Spirit is Christ's representative, but divested of the personality of humanity, and independent thereof. Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally. Therefore it was for their interest that He should go to the Father, and send the Spirit to be His successor on earth. No one could then have any advantage because of his location or his personal contact with Christ. By the Spirit the Saviour would be accessible to all. In this sense He would be nearer to them than if he had not ascended on high.
This promise belongs to us now as surely as it belonged to the disciples.... Let every church member kneel before God, and pray earnestly for the impartation of the Spirit." E.G. White, God's Amazing Grace, 191.
It is evident from the above statement that the only reason Christ could not be every place personally is because He became cumbered with humanity at the Incarnation. The direct inference is that Christ, if not cumbered with humanity, could be every place personally via His Spirit. This "Spirit" was not cumbered with humanity before the Incarnation. Therefore, one might reasonably conclude that before the Incarnation, Christ did not need the Holy Spirit as a separate entity to be His representative and that the Holy Spirit was Christ's inherent Spirit, and there were only two members of the Godhead. What the Trinity Doctrine blasphemes is the fact that Jesus shed His Holy Spirit FOREVER, to become invested with humanity. This is one of the greatest condescension's of the Incarnation, and the Trinity Doctrine denies this great sacrifice on the part of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Notice what New Movement Adventists teach on this:
"From eternity God the Holy Spirit lived within the Godhead as the third member. The Father, Son, and Spirit are equally self-existent. Though each is equal, an economy of function operates within the Trinity...." Seventh-day Adventists Believe, 27 Fundamentals, p. 61.
The Holy Spirit existed from eternity as the one ETERNAL, INNATE, INHERANT SPIRIT OF GOD THE FATHER AND THE SON, but it did not exist as a separate person entity until Christ's humanity was divested of the Holy Spirit, when He was first offered up His life in the Sanctuary in heaven, in order to be Incarnated into humanity. It was at this sacrificial offering that Christ was the perfect sacrifice without any physical blemish from the effects of 4,000 years of sin. Ellen White says that Christ was of greater stature before the Incarnation.
So, the Trinity doctrine denies one of the greatest condescension sacrifices Christ made for us, as well one of the greatest of Christ's gifts to us; the sacrifice of shedding His omnipresent Holy Spirit FOREVER, so that the Holy Spirit could be sent as a gift to us for the purpose of overcoming and being taught all truth. This sacrifice was essential to the ATONEMENT because Christ could not have become a man while possessing omnipresence. It was essential that He prove that Divinity, as well as humanity, could be self-sacrificing in order to overcome where Adam failed. In the denial of this FOREVER SACRIFICE at the Incarnation, Trinitarians do away with the ATONEMENT AND THE SANCTUARY SERVICE. They do away with Christ's Divine State before the Incarnation, as regards his investiture with the Holy Spirit, as inherent to His being. Christ would not have been the fullness of the Godhead prior to the Incarnation if He had not possessed His Holy Spirit inherently; rather than a third person representative, and thus He would not have qualified as the Testator to make amends for the broken covenant. Thus, again, the Trinitarian doctrine is full of serious error that is so serious as to disqualify the Atonement and the Sanctuary message.
Remember, Ellen White saw that Sanctuary GONE; the Atonement GONE, The Upward Look, 152:
"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.
Do you wonder that I have something to say, when I see the pillars of our faith beginning to be moved? Seductive theories are being taught in such a way that we shall not recognize them unless we have clear spiritual discernment." E.G. White, The Upward Look, 152.
Notice that the ministering brethren were looking on, watching what was being done, but they did not seem to udnerstand. The co-incides with Isaiah 56:10-12, where God says that the watchmen are shepherds "...that CANNOT UNDERSTAND." Ellen White reapplies this passage of Scripture in Testimonies, vol. 5, 211, wherein she mentions the dumb dog watchmen who will not bark. The only thing they bark against is truth, just like the Jewish leaders did, when they barked against Christ and His disciples, even saying that Christ had a demon!
All of the above affects the personality and presence of Christ before and after the Incarnation and the Atonement. It affects His personality before the Incarnation, in that His Holy Spirit was not part of Him, but a separate person, according to the Trinity Doctrine. If affects His personality and presence after the Incarnation and Atonement, because the Trinity Doctrine denies that the Holy Spirit is the following, but is rather an entirely different person:
"The Holy Spirit is the breath of spiritual 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. Only those who are thus taught of God, those who possess the inward working of the Spirit, and in whose life the Christ-life is manifested, are to stand as representative men, to minister in behalf of the church." Desire of Ages, 805.
"Christ gives them the breath of HIS OWN SPIRIT, the life of HIS OWN LIFE. The HOLY SPIRIT puts forth its highest energies to work in the heart and mind." Desire of Ages, 827.
Any denial of the above two statements, constitutes the perverted pantheistic teaching that some third person, other than the very life of Christ, is the Holy Spirit. The trinity doctrine teaches that this other spirit which is separate from Christ's breath of His own Spirit; His own life, abides in men, rather than the life of HIS [CHRIST'S] OWN LIFE. This is an abomination. This is blasphemy. This is antichrist.
Ellen White said that Christ would be "cumbered with humanity forever." This makes it clear that since the Incarnation, He has to send us His Spirit in the form of "another Comforter;" another Person, as His representative. Obviously, His Holy Spirit was laid off or shed before the Incarnation, because it was that Holy Spirit which looked after Christ after His birth as a babe. The only thing that cumbered that innate Holy Spirit, shared by both the Father and the Son, was Christ's humanity.
The Human Nature of Christ Connection
Trinitarians stress the substitutionary Divinity of Christ. They always stress the differences between Christ and us. They make him a super-human. Thus, they distance us from Christ. Ellen White said that Christ was FULLY HUMAN. We understand that to mean that He was human enough to be our example. Trinitarians do not give equal voice to the fact that Christ's humanity was enough like ours that He functioned also as our EXAMPLE. This is why Trinitarians teach grace for pardon, but not GRACE FOR OBEDIENCE AND APOSTLESHIP, Romans 1:5. They do not teach that Christ retains our humanity FOREVER, and that He thus DIED FOREVER to His FIRST ESTATE, as a DIVINE BEING ONLY. It was this death that satisfied and satisfies the Biblical requirements of death of the Testator: Notice:
Death of the Testator--Testament--Covenant Maker
Associated closely with the matter of the Godhead, are the following verses from Hebrews 9. Ellen White said that Jesus and God the Father were present on Mt. Sinai giving the covenant [Testament] to Moses. They were both thus the TESTATOR(S) of the Covenant. Jesus was not in the form of a man when this covenant was Testated. If the death of the TESTATOR was necessary to redeem man from his transgressions, did God die, or did only the humanity of God die? How could the humanity of God be the Testator, when the Testament was not made by a man, but rather the very God in the person of Jesus and the Father on Mt. Sinai? If God cannot die, then what does this passage mean? Why is it not mentioned that the Holy Spirit was at Mt. Sinai, if the Holy Spirit is God also? Would He not be THE TESTATOR ALSO? If not, why not?
Hbr 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions [that were] under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
Hbr 9:16 For where a testament [is], there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
Hbr 9:17 For a testament [is] of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth
The answer is that Christ's First Estate of Divinity ONLY, did die at the Incarnation in heaven, FOREVER. This satisfies the requirement of death of the Testator.
"God Himself was crucified for Christ was one with the Father." E.G. White, God's Amazing Grace, 189.
The Sanctuary Message Connection
The Sanctuary Message and its associated Day of Atonement (the antitypical Day of Atonement in our case) is totally denied by the Trinitarians in at least the following ways:
1. Because they do not teach that we are in the Antitypical Day of Atonement, in which all sin is to be put away, and that there is no excuse for continued sinning according to Ellen White and Scripture, Rom. 1:5, and 1 Peter 1:4-9.
2. When they distance Christ from us by stressing His Divinity and not His humanity that was to be our example in overcoming and thereby cleansing the Sanctuary of sin. This is why Trinitarians are high on grace for pardon, but nil on grace for obedience and apostleship, Rom. 1:5. Thus, they totally deny the requirements of the antitypical Day of Atonement, when all sin in the life is to be searched out and put away. What they actually believe and teach is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans or variations on the theme which are just as bad. For example, some types of Nicolaitan believers teach that we should overcome, but when pressed, they do not believe that we can overcome all sinful acts in this life this side of glorification. They teach that sin is more than acts, it is inherent in the nature. It is, but God's grace is sufficient not only to pardon sin, but to provide grace for obedience and apostleship, Rom. 1:5. God is not short on grace for pardon or grace for obedience and apostleship. Nicolaitan types believe He is short on grace for obecience this side of glorification. That is antichrist and everything Christ did to restore man to the image of Himself.
3. They do not teach the Great Condescension Truth that Christ gave up His Holy Spirit and His omnipresence at the Incarnation for us; to make an Atonement for us, and that prior to this there were only two parties to the Godhead in Heaven, the Father and the Son, each sharing the ONE Spirit, the ONE HOLY SPIRIT INNATELY, not as a separate person. So the SDA teaching that the Holy Spirit was a third person of the Godhead from the beginning is false. This denies the great Sacrifice Christ made for us, which demonstrates His great love toward us.
The above truths are all proven by the following statements:
Strong's following definition of ghost:
(Jesus' own) spirit 6,
(Jesus' own) ghost 2, misc 21; 385
And the following statements:
"The Holy Spirit is the breath of spiritual 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. Only those who are thus taught of God, those who possess the inward working of the Spirit, and in whose life the Christ-life is manifested, are to stand as representative men, to minister in behalf of the church." Desire of Ages, 805.
"Christ gives them the breath of HIS OWN SPIRIT, the life of HIS OWN LIFE. The HOLY SPIRIT puts forth its highest energies to work in the heart and mind." Desire of Ages, 827.
Lev 17:11 For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it [is] the blood [that] maketh an atonement for the soul.
One cannot separate the Atonement from the Sanctuary service. Destroy one and you effectively, in essence, destroy the other. That is what the Trinity doctrine achieves, by denying the Sanctuary Service as it applies to the Antitypical Day of Atonement and the putting away of sin by the power of Christ's blood.
Doctrine of the Nicolaitans--The Thorns Who Believe in Justification Without Sanctification
"The earliest extra-Biblical Christian writer to mention this party is Irenaeus (c. A.D. 185), who identifies the Nicolaitans as a Gnostic sect...
There is evidence also of a Gnostic sect in the 3d cent. A.D. bearing the name 'Nicolaitans.'
"...The doctrine of the Nicolaitans appears to have been a form of antinomianism (see SDACom 7:957). Nicolaitans of the 2d cent. seem to have continued and extended the views of the 1st-cent. adherents, holding to the freedom of the flesh, and teaching that the deeds of the flesh had no effect upon the health of the soul and consequently no relation to salvation." SDA Bible Dictionary, vol. 8 of the Commentaries, p. 770, 771.
"Thorns sprung up.--The thorns made it impossible for the wheat to mature (see Luke 8:14). In the same way secular interest prevent the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23) from reaching maturity. Religion is relegated to the subordinate position of being only one interest among many. For lack of cultivation it withers and eventually dies. That which the thorny-ground hearers lack is a moral transformation (COL 50). To them, justification is the sum and substance of religion, and they fail to realize that the Christian life consists essentially in the process known as sanctification--the process by which evil traits and tendencies are replaced by the perfect life-pattern of Jesus Christ." SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 405.
There are unwitting Trinitarians who do not know what they are supporting when they call themselves Trinitarians. For example, some SDAs support the notion of Trinitarianism while believing in sanctification. However, ignorance is not excuse for supporting such a doctrine that does despite to every foundational pillar of God's Kingdom.
The "unwitting Trinitarians" should not allow the thorn Nicolaitans to remain in the church as members, if they will not reform, for the thorns will then make it impossible for the wheat to mature. This is why we must separate from a church in which the thorns have taken over the crop, and become the leaders of the church. This has happened in New Movement Adventism. Everything you have just read is part and parcel of the Omega of Apostasy, and a New Movement, New Organization, FORMED AMONG, WITHIN, (Selected Messages, vol. 1, 204-5) and which we were never to join.
Thus, the Sanctuary is GONE. The Atonement is GONE, DESTROYED by gnostic beliefs. God has thus been REMOVED from the church, ibid., p. 205. Trinitarians also destroy the correct rendition of the Human Nature of Christ. They do not believe that Christ took our sinful nature; the fallen nature of Adam, and/or they believe and teach that Christ took the likeness of sinful flesh. They also teach that Christ took the pre-fallen nature of Adam. What likeness to sinful flesh did Adam have before his fall?!!! This is obvious error and this is antichrist.
Ron Beaulieu