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The reason why the world is in a great controversy today is because when rebellion began in Heaven, our Father did not immediately destroy those who turned away from His principles in favor of serving themselves. There were divine reasons, rooted in infinite love and infinite wisdom, for this decision. Freedom, love and worship are all inter-connected, and while there will be a judgment to cleanse the universe from sin, until that time arrives, despite a terrible cost, transgressors are allowed a time of choosing, a “valley of decision,” so that they might be redeemed from evil.
Sin hurts the Father and Son. It hurts the sinner, and it also hurts those around the sinner, especially those over whom Yahweh has given spiritual authority, whether they be wives, children, employees, Church members, and so on. It is because sin leads to suffering that the saints of the Most High hate it with a perfect hatred. Regardless of the motives, regardless of the extent, every transgression of the Law causes suffering to someone, somewhere, and in spiritual things the end never justifies the means.
One cannot do evil for “the greater good” and remain unstained from unholy principles. Either a choice is good, or it is evil. Of course, we do not know all the factors. We do not have all the information, and this is why our Father does not give us many rules; instead, He gives us principles. He gives us ideas to guide our choices so that, even with incomplete information, we can make good decisions. We are not condemned when we discover we have made an error. As it is written regarding Yah’s instructions to the righteous, “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do well…” (Isa 1:16, 17)
We note that when it comes to the actions of the converted, ceasing to do evil does not mean gaining full, immediate knowledge of righteousness. We do immediately “cease to do evil,” those things that we know are wicked, and then we must “learn to do well.” There are the two earthly elements of salvation described very concisely. When we are justified, made just in reality as well as by divine declaration, we “cease to do evil.” We do not commit sin, and have victory over it. Thereafter, in “learning to do well,” we are sanctified, made holy, through an ongoing, creative process that is not an evolution, not a series of gradual improvements, but of realizations, repentances, and atonements. The earth was created in six days, each with a distinct purpose and not through long, drawn out and uncertain ages. This is what sanctification, and thought processing, are like. We are called to examine, and identify, specific defects of character, and then to explicitly put them away as they are revealed. Diligence is required. We do not sit back and wait passively to be sanctified; that is the false Sabbath that the Jews held in the days of Christ’s earthly ministry.
The Pharisees were legalists, as the Scriptures describe them. They thought that as long as they kept the Law, and obeyed the commandments, their righteousness would naturally increase over time and through study. In obedience to the Law, and with supplemental grace by Yahweh, their holiness would improve as time went by. This is the heart of every false, works-based religion. The works, as James tells us, are the result of receiving grace, and being made righteous. Obedience to the Law is a gift that we receive when we are made just. We read, “Yea, a man may say, ‘Thou hast faith, and I have works.’ Shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” (James 2:18) John writes, “If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him.” (1John 2:29)
The righteousness comes first, and then the works. We are “born of Him,” that is the beginning, and the result of that is that everyone for whom this is true “doeth righteousness.” It is righteousness by faith, the faith that James tells us is revealed in works and this – all of this – is the result of Yahweh’s decision to delay the punishment for sinners, so that the universe may know His love in His redemption of mankind.
Yah has taken darkness, and out of it He has made light. He has taken evil, and out of it He has made goodness. The Scriptures ask, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.” (Job 14:4)
The verse here is speaking of human efforts, of human activities, as the context of that chapter makes clear. Job 14 begins by speaking of “man that is born of woman,” (Job 14:1) and spends several verses, including that verse 4, describing mankind’s limitations.
Only Yahweh can draw good from evil, but mankind cannot, no matter what our motives or intentions might be. Only Yahweh knows the limits of the human heart, and how to work with the conscience to sanctify the soul through trials and challenges. Only Yahweh knows how to measure the temptations he allows for each individual human being, so that in each case the judgment is fair, and so that He fulfils His promise to us, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but Yahweh is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1Cor 10:13)
The reason why I am speaking about this today is because it is an essential principle that every evangelist of the Gospel must understand, especially in this day of constant, overwhelming deceptions and close counterfeits to the truth, which have a form of righteousness, but none of its sanctifying power.
I recall a conversation we had last Sabbath following the study, in which I said to one sister, “I am glad that you were dis-fellowshipped from the General Conference SDA Church, otherwise you would have remained with them, rather than finding us.” I did not mean, and she understood that I did not mean, that I was happy that she had suffered. I did not mean that the General Conference, in discarding people who believe differently than they do over the Godhead, or any other doctrine, are doing good and holy work. In fact, let us be clear, it is the Beast that demands control over a human being’s relationship with Yahweh. It is the Beast that seeks to command conscience, and regulate religious sentiments and observances.
It is, quite explicitly, a mark of that Beast, an identifying sign of that Beast, that it will employ threats and force to achieve its goals, believing, as we were seeing before, that somehow the ends justify the means. “We must have a clean church, and a good reputation with the world,” they say, “So let us go to the world for its help. Let us lean on the arm of civil authority, because in the end, when we get rid of all the heretics, we will be able to teach people about Jesus in peace, and make sure their tithes arrive at the correct storehouse.”
Those of us who are of Yahweh can see the wickedness, the selfishness, the short-sightedness, in this way of thinking. The Scriptures say of the antichrist that He “opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” (2Th 2:4) He takes on the spirit of the “god of this world” and, thinking himself to be all-powerful, declares that he can draw good out of evil, and therefore is free to do as he judges best, regardless of what the actual principles of Heaven reveal. Persecution is fine, they say, as long as the result is “godly.”
Adventists have traditionally applied this concept to the Pope, but the “man of sin,” the “son of perdition” as he is called in the verse before, is a man – any man – that sins, including a Conference president; and it is often forgotten that it is the image of the beast, not the beast itself, that causes the final test for God’s people to emerge. The Third Angel’s Message warns against “the beast and his image,” (Rev 14:11) so beware any ministry that focuses on what Rome is doing, what Rome is teaching, and not what the fallen Protestant Churches are accomplishing under their very noses.
Anyone, any ministry, that claims to be drawing good out of evil through its independence from the Church is trying to usurp the authority of Yahweh. And how do I make an application of this idea? It is very simple, but it can also be very sensitive in the Adventism of this current day and age.
We must be wise in the way we understand and explain this, because it is easy to be misunderstood. Just as I may say to a sister, “I am glad you were kicked out of a Church,” and mean that lovingly rather than spitefully, so we need to be able to skillfully, gently, explain to many, many Adventists that much of what they are doing, even much of what they are doing correctly, is not preparing them for Heaven.
I gave the example last week of the Seventh-day Adventist Reform Movement. In fact, I have an article from 2008 called “1914 – A Reformation?” It looks at the way that the SDA Reform movement got started, through a dispute with the General Conference about a Christian’s place in armed conflict. Those who left the church did leave an already-falling organization. They left over a conscientious disagreement on a very important matter. They left fully confident that they were doing the right thing. And yet, God had not called them out of the SDA Church over disagreements on the military. You will not find a single verse in the Scriptures, or the Spirit of Prophecy, that justifies the existence of the SDA Reform Movement, and as a result they could not recognize when the Church they had left became an abomination of desolation. They could not understand their place in calling people out of her, lest they receive the Mark of that Beast. They had missed the Third Angel.
Now, how would I present the Gospel to a member of the SDA Reform Movement? How would I explain that while the Conference is fallen, and they should not be a part of it, they nevertheless transgressed Yahweh’s purpose by leaving for unbiblical reasons? I must do so very gently. I must show that the People of Yahweh are led by Three Angels, and that while it is possible to reject these angels, and lag behind, it is also quite possible to move too quickly… in the correct direction, but ahead of Heaven’s leadings, and such people, inspiration has told us, will need to retrace their steps in humility, and find unity with God’s holy company, His little flock that are traveling to Heaven together.
Paul writes, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Yahshua the Messiah, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” (1Cor 1:10) Remember, this was written to a Church that did not yet have all the light on righteousness by faith. It did not have the understanding of holiness that we are blessed to have in this generation… nevertheless, even then, Paul explained the importance of Christian Unity. He said, “I beseech you,” which means, “I beg you.” It is not easy to overstate the importance of absolute unity in the apostle’s inspired mind.
We are not speaking here of uniformity, or of exact patterns of behavior. There are three things that the apostle means when He speaks of Christian unity. The first is “speak the same thing.” If I ask Brother L for an explanation of faith, and I ask Sister J for an explanation of faith, I should get from them “the same thing.” I won’t get the same words. I won’t get the same Bible verses, and maybe no verses at all, but I should get the same “thing,” the same spiritual object that will bless me to hear and understand.
The second is “no divisions among you.” We are not to be divided in purpose, or our understanding of the foundation of our faith. We must necessarily agree on the message we are sharing with the world, and so if one of us explains the Three Angels’ Message a certain way, the brethren must agree with this, or we need to come into accord and clear up any misunderstandings. Paul asks, “For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” (1Cor 14:8) Right now, Seventh-day Adventists as a collective people are giving an extremely uncertain sound to the world. Who are they preparing for the judgment?
So, Christian unity, to Paul, comes from a people having the same Spirit, and as a result of this, it looks like a people who speak the same things, and are without division. Third, they are “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” And you might say, “Well, wait a minute. If they have the same mind and the same judgment, doesn’t that mean that they are in perfect conformity? Where does religious freedom and individuality of religion fit in?”
It fits in, because the “same mind” we have is not the same human mind. No human will say, “When you think just like me, you will be righteous.” No, we have “the mind of Christ,” that is the “same mind” we share, and His divine mind is large enough, broad enough, to accommodate a variety of personalities and gifts. The twelve apostles, after Pentecost, were perfectly united. We read, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” (Acts 2:1) They were “with one accord,” and the Bible uses a term which is translated as “with one mind” in Romans 15:6 – “That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify Yahweh, even the Father of our Lord Yahshua the Messiah.”
Even after Pentecost, however, we find the apostles acting in different ways, undertaking different aspects of the ministry, and even perceiving certain matters quite differently. We must understand the meaning of us all having the “mind of Christ,” while still maintaining the reason, intellect and personality that our Father has individually given us, as purified by His grace into its proper and balanced form. We must understand what Paul is saying when he is begging in the Spirit of Christ for a united, sanctified Church.
When it comes to doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, I have used the example of the SDA Reform Movement, but we know that this is hardly the current controversy within Adventism. The thing that has most independent ministries that we encounter these days all stirred up is the One True God message.
Here is the perfect example of scattered, divergent, unharmonious groups of people who are doing the right thing, for the most part. They are generally teaching proper and true Biblical doctrine. Their arguments may vary in accuracy or effectiveness, but they are very clear that they stand in opposition to the Trinity, and so far as that goes, that’s good. That is in agreement with the Scriptures, and the Biblical reasoning of most Adventist Pioneers. That is in accord with the descriptions of the Father and Son in inspired writings.
However… however, the right teachings on this have not always led to the right character, and in fact, it has often led to the image of the beast formed in the heart of those very ones who would be reformers. Now, this is a heavy rebuke that I am bringing. It is a harsh criticism, to say that those who teach against false views of the Godhead may end up, themselves, acting like beasts. Nevertheless, it is true. Those of us who have been advocating our Adventist Pioneers’ approach to the Trinity have been treated with every bit as much venom by these independent groups as the Conference has sometimes treated them.
The writings of Seventh-day Adventism’s early years reveals a balanced people. Because they were dedicated to the Word of Yahweh, their characters were approaching Christ’s, and although they were not called to a translation experience, they left a path for us to follow that led right up to the Gates of the Heavenly Jerusalem. When we see these men and women in their resurrected glory, we will thank them with great joy for the sacrifices they made, and the things that they endured to cut a trail for us through the wilderness. They are worthy of our appreciation, and our respect.
Now, they had very strong words to say about the Trinity. They were clear that it was of pagan origin, and most held that it was potentially dangerous to the sanctification of those who held it. But that is as far as they took it. They never, once, personalized it. The beliefs were pagan, but those who were deceived by it were not. The deception, like all deceptions, was inspired by Satan, but those who inherited it from their own religious traditions were not worshipping the Devil. Accordingly, those who held to the Trinity were never denied fellowship. They were counted among the commandment-keeping Christians if they were Sabbath-keepers, and they were considered brethren in the faith of Yahshua, thus meeting all legitimate requirements for being called a child of the Most High.
Somehow, this balanced point seems too incredible for many modern Adventists, a large number of whom have been ruined by the spirit of independent ministries. And by “incredible” I mean the word in its original sense: in-credible, unable to be believed. For many independent ministers of the One True God movement, the matter is utterly polarized. “Either you are Christian, or you are a Trinitarian,” they say. “Either you are in full agreement with the Godhead message just exactly how I teach it, or you are a heretic, no better than a Sunday-keeper in your rejection of the truth.” Some will be very particular about their wording, and your submission to what they are saying.
This is not Adventism. It is something else… something perverse that – just like the Pharisees – makes additional tests where Yahweh has not directed them to be made. Protestants should know their history. Martin Luther, in his day, was horrified at what people had done in his name. He was ashamed that those who claimed to be his followers would tear down religious images, chastise people for wearing crosses, and insult and abuse those who did not yet see Rome as the throne of Satan that they knew it to be. For the most part, their doctrines were correct. But the ends did not justify the means. They could not, through a short-tempered and violent approach, reach the hearts of those who were not yet able to perceive the light through the darkness.
Fanaticism only changes its mask, never its heart. The insecure in their own faith will become the loudest defenders of the doctrines that they accept, because for them it is the doctrines that make them righteous. It is not Christ in them, His gentle Spirit making them righteous, it is their ability to understand His teachings that becomes their source of pride. They are anti-Christ, putting themselves in His place, and attempting to draw good out of evil. Their actions, their extreme views on the faith and character of individuals who disagree with them… this is what defines them, and fixes their destiny, if they will not turn around and repent. And if you think I am making too big of an issue out of this, let me tell you, in the past two years, so short a time, I have seen the matter go from peaceful teaching to forceful insistence on orthodoxy concerning this matter. Before my very eyes, I have seen the change in those who teach against the Trinity. It is as if Satan, realizing that he could not stop people from awakening to his deception, decided to join them instead, and to push them effortlessly to the ditch on the other side of the road. He is nothing if not quick to seize on an opportunity.
Only those who do the right things, and teach the right things, for the right reason, recognize and avoid every deception of the enemy. Only those who have the Spirit of Christ overcome the cunning traps laid out before the saints.
And so, as Yahshua’s People, those who reflect His true heart to the world in the spirit and power of Eli-Yah, we have a delicate work to do. We must convince people that while many of their actions and teachings are correct, and Biblically sound, the way that they are expressing themselves does more to aid the enemy than the Savior. We know what the Scriptures say, “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not agape, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not agape, it profiteth me nothing.” (1Cor 13:2, 3)
Agape is that perfect love of Christ. Agape is the reason why we teach the world the truth; it is not to be “right,” not to prove our own spirituality, or to convince ourselves that we are on the correct side of every argument. I see people posting quotes, and studies, and proofs against the Trinity doctrine day and night on Facebook and other forums online. It is saturated. People are starting to tune it out.
No doubt, they are convinced that they are doing God a favor… and yet, that is their sole purpose for being. They do not teach even the first angel’s message, a call to judgment through victory over sin. They do not speak of righteousness by faith. They do not speak of the love to be found even there, in God’s judgment. They do not speak of loving kindness, and patience, and mercy. They do not reveal these things, because for the most part they don’t have them. And yes, I am painting with a broad brush here… I am not saying that every One True God style minister or ministry is equally fanatical. In fact, I am not condemning anyone at all. I am speaking of the ministries that they erringly believe are inspired by God. What I am identifying is what the Enemy is doing with this movement that could have been such a force for good… but because it stepped off the platform of Adventism, because it made of its understanding a test of Christianity, because it rushed past the Third Angel, they must all now recognize their error and repent. They must now meekly re-trace their steps, or they will never come into unity before probation closes on the human race, and they will find that they have been walking behind an unholy fire, and not the “Consuming Fire” that is our God.
How do we reach them? How do we get them to pause and ask, “Is this agape?” How do we get them to realize they have left the Three Angels’ Message behind in favor of some other teaching? How do we get them to acknowledge that the devils also believe in the One True God, but because they do not receive His character, their belief alone does not save them, but rather causes them to tremble? (James 2:19)
The General Conference Corporation is no longer the House of Yahweh. It has gone corrupt, and it has sealed its rebellion against Yahweh by marrying itself to the world. According to the Word of Yahweh, it can never again return to its first Husband. (Deu 24:1-4) This is a principle little understood by the world. If a woman leaves her husband and marries another, but later rekindles the original romance, the world is likely to say, “Oh, what a romantic story! They were soul-mates all along.” Here we see a difference between the divine and the merely sentimental. This return to a first husband after being remarried is one of three sins that the Scriptures say cause the earth to “cry out,” or to be defiled. The first is murder, (Gen 4:10) the second is homosexual activity, (Lev 18:22-25) and the third is this.
Should the General Conference repent of its sins, no doubt most of Adventism would say, “How wonderful. Let’s just replace the corrupted officials with men after God’s own heart, and we will have a perfect testimony of restoration.” There would quickly thereafter be a movement to reunite the independent ministries… but this would not be a part of Yahweh’s plan. As individuals, any member of the Conference church, any member of any Church, may be saved, but they must come apart from the fallen organizations and through repentance, faith, and baptism, unite with the Body of Christ.
The work of the saints involves calling people out of this fallen creature of flesh and darkness, this cage of unclean birds. But it is also important, for those who are being called out, that they come out for the right reason, understanding the right principles, and knowing where their new Home is, otherwise they will more likely scatter than drawing together. They will wander off alone, and we know that the wolves seek first those that are separated from the Flock, and from the protection of the Shepherd.
And we must also make it clear, those who have left the General Conference Church for some other reason than recognizing its Church-State union, or those who have been expelled because of the Conference’s own wickedness and intolerance… there is healing here. Obviously, we are not saying, “Go back to the Conference so you can leave it again.” That would be absurd. If you have found the Flock, that is a blessing, and it is only through Yahweh’s guidance. As it is written, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:44) Once you are safe, once you are home, you may look back and recognize the missteps, the danger of the road you have walked; even so, here you are. Only by Yahweh are we drawn from evil and into the light.
I did not become a CSDA because we are non-Trinitarian. I became a CSDA because it is the Church that teaches the Gospel of Yahshua the Messiah, and the gift of everlasting life that begins here on earth. Eternal life begins when we experience victory over sin, the wages of which is death. The only thing that ultimately causes death is sin, therefore the only Gospel of life is that which teaches salvation from, not in, transgression. But after that, after I had learned of righteousness by faith, it did not require any debate, any argument, any long-drawn out Bible study or multitude of Facebook quotes to convince me of the Biblical Godhead. No, once I had entrusted myself to Yahshua, He healed me… cleansed away all the cobwebs of tradition and false teachings, and I knew the truth. It was easy, and smooth. And this is why it is important that the Three Angels’ Messages be accepted in their right order. Any attempt to do otherwise results in disorder, conflict and, essentially what we see within Adventism today.
Regarding those who have left the SDA Conference Church for some reason other than the Third Angel, they have a misunderstanding to recognize, because that will align them once again with Yahweh’s purpose. The reason why I originally left the SDA Church was because I had gone back to the world for a time. Does that make the world, or my motives, righteous? Certainly not. Babylon was used by Yahweh to discipline His people in the days of Jeremiah. Did that make Babylon a holy nation? Certainly not. Our Father is the only One who can draw good out of evil. He used Solomon, David’s son with his partner in adultery, to lead Israel. He used Moses, educated in the pagan schools of Egypt, to bring freedom to His nation. He used me, and He will use you, none of whom have always made the best decisions in life, when we repent of our ignorance, when we humbly seek the Third Angel’s guidance, and when we join the saints in victory, in an understanding the loving character of our Heavenly Father, and in a united resistance to the Beast an its image in all forms, even when its agents appear as angels of light. Even when its agents are quoting the Word, and presenting a very convincing alternative to the actual commission bestowed upon us by Heaven.
Let us be about our Father’s business, as Yahshua was, (Luke 2:49) and do always, therefore, those things that please Him. (John 8:29) To the Law and to THIS testimony, this Testimony of Yahshua. If they speak not, and do not, according to this Word, “it is because there is no light in them.” (Isa 8:20)
David.
An Enduring Witness
“God is leading out a people, not a few separate individuals here and there, one believing this thing, another that. Angels of God are doing the work committed to their trust. The third angel is leading out and purifying a people, and they should move with him unitedly. Some run ahead of the angels that are leading this people; but they have to retrace every step, and meekly follow no faster than the angels lead. I saw that the angels of God would lead His people no faster than they could receive and act upon the important truths that are communicated to them. But some restless spirits do not more than half do up their work. As the angel leads them, they get in haste for something new, and rush on without divine guidance, and thus bring confusion and discord into the ranks.” [Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 1, p. 207]
“In the divine law, and in the gospel of the divine Son, are the tests of Christian character. And it is with an ill grace that those who have been splitting up into petty sects during the nineteenth century over forms of church government, matters of expediency, free and restricted salvation, trinity and unity, whether we may sing any good hymn in church, or only the Psalms of David, and other matters which constitute no test of fitness for Heaven, now pounce upon us, and display any amount of religious horror, simply because we regard strict conformity to the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus the only true tests of Christian character.” [James White, Review and Herald, Oct 12, 1876]
“Nothing can perfect a perfect unity in the church but the spirit of Christlike forbearance. Satan can sow discord; Christ alone can harmonize the disagreeing elements.... When you as individual members of the church love God supremely and your neighbor as yourself, then there will be no labored efforts to be in unity, there will be a oneness in Christ, the ears to report will be closed, and no one will take up a reproach against his neighbor. The members of the church will cherish love and unity and be as one great family. Then we shall bear the credentials to the world that will testify that God has sent His Son into the world. Christ has said, ‘By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one for another.’” [Manuscript Releases, Vol. 6, p. 361]