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What Harm Has Been Done?
The gospel is the answer to the most important
question that any inhabitant of the earth can ask: "What must I do to be saved?"
Jesus himself gave the perfect, brief, but complete answer to that question:
John 3:16 -- For God
so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life.
The only righteousness by which we can stand
before God in the judgment is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The historical fact
of His sinless life, His death and resurrection constitutes this "righteousness of
God." This and this alone is the good news of the gospel which is proclaimed as
a free gift to every sinner. By hearing this gospel we learn that Christ's perfect
obedience to the claims of the law and by His death its claims for our condemnation, as
sinners, was fully satisfied. It was all done in our name and on our behalf just as
if we had done it ourselves. This is the justification that we receive by faith
alone when we receive Christ as our Savior.
This is the gospel, pure and simple. It
is a historical event that is completed and can never be repeated. Nothing can be
added to it and declared to be the gospel. Paul in his letter to the Romans
describes the gospel. I like J. B. Phillip's translation, but they all say the same
thing:
Rom. 10:9,10 --
It is this word that is the burden of our preaching, and it says, in effect, "If you
openly admit by your own lips that Jesus is the Lord, and if you believe in your own heart
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
For it is believing in the heart that makes a man
righteous before God, and it is stating his belief by his own lips that confirms his
salvation.
Paul also describes the gospel in his letter
to the Corinthians. Note how, in each of his descriptions, they are in full harmony
with Jesus' statement in John 3:16.
I Cor15:1-4 --
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received
and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold
firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first
importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried,
that he was raised the third day according to the Scriptures.
In the book of Acts we find Paul given the
opportunity to answer that most important question. This occurred when Paul and
Silas were beaten and placed in prison with their legs in stocks. That night there
was an earthquake which caused every prisoner's shackles to come off and the prison doors
to open:
Acts 16:27-34 --
The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about
to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul shouted "Don't harm yourself! We
are all here!"
The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell
trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs,
what must I do to be saved?"
They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and
you will be saved -- you and your household..."
The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal
before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God -- he
and his whole family.
From these passages we can be assured that if
anyone or any church group preaches that we must fulfill conditions other than stated
above, they are not preaching the gospel as preached by Paul. These are not
preaching the gospel but a perversion of the gospel. A legalistic scenario
masquerading as the gospel.
Have we been given permission by our church
founders to study our doctrines in comparison with the Bible with someone who disagrees
with our position? Notice the counsel as penned by our most influential founder:
Do not
read the word in the light of former opinions; but, with a mind free from prejudice,
search it carefully and prayerfully. If as you read, conviction comes, and you see
that your cherished opinions are not in harmony with the word, do not try to make the word
fit your opinions. Make your opinions fit the word. Do not allow what you have
believed or practiced in the past to control your understanding.
Messages to Young People, pg. 260
When a
message comes in the name of the Lord to His people, no one may excuse himself from an
investigation of its claims. No one can afford to stand back in an attitude of
indifference and self confidence, and say; "I know what is truth. I am
satisfied with my position. I have set my stakes and I will not be moved away from
my position, whatever may come."
Counsels on Sabbath School
Work, pg. 28
No one
should claim that he has all the light there is for God's people. The Lord will not
tolerate this. He has said, "I have set before thee an open door, and no man
can shut it." Even if all our leading men should refuse light and truth, that
door will remain open. The Lord will raise up men who will give the people the
message for this time...
Suppose a brother held a view that differed from
yours, and he should come to you proposing that you sit down with him and make an
investigation of that point in the Scriptures; should you rise up, filled with prejudice,
and condemn his ideas while refusing to give him a candid hearing?
The only right way would be to sit down as
Christians, and investigate the position, in the light of God's word, which will reveal
truth and unmask error. To ridicule his ideas would not weaken his position in the
least if it were false, or strengthen your position if it were true.
If the pillars of our faith will not stand the test
of investigation, it is time we knew it. There must be no spirit of Phariseeism
cherished among us.
Gospel Workers, pg. 127
From these statements I believe
we not only have permission but a mandate in our '"inspired" church writings to
check with the Scriptures whether these things be so. It is with this mandate that I
proceed to discover if our doctrine of the gospel is Scriptural.
In discussing with Adventist ministers and
members about the contradictions of Ellen White with the Bible, and when this evidence
gets to the overwhelming stage, they come back with the common counter; "But what
harm has been done?" This is the answer given by the Mormons, the Catholics and
Jehovah's Witnesses. All claim that their extra biblical teachings are on the same,
or stronger, footing than the Bible, and call everyone to a higher and more holy calling.
In this study I would like to take some
writings of Ellen White, who is designated by her church as "The Spirit of
Prophecy," and I would like to show that the gospel, as the Bible presents it, has
never been preached and approved by the Adventist Church. If this is true, then the
harm produced has been immense indeed.
No man can rightly
present the law of God without the gospel, or the gospel without the law. The law is
the gospel embodied and the gospel is the law enfolded. The law is the root, the
gospel is the fragrant blossom of fruit which it bears.
Christ's Object Lessons, pg. 128
Only a person totally
unacquainted with the gospel could make this statement. From the time the Israelites
were redeemed from their slavery in Egypt until the time of the cross they were held in
slavery to the law. The law had sentenced them to the death penalty as they had all
sinned by breaking the law. The penalty for this crime was death. At the cross
Christ brought an end to this ministry which brought death, and introduced the gospel --
the ministry which brought righteousness and life. The fruit of the law was not the
gospel but wrath and death.
Rom. 10:1-4 --
Brothers, my hearts desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be
saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is
not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from
God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Christ
is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Rom. 4:13-15 -- It was not through
law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the
world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by
law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings
wrath.
And where there is no law there is no trans- gression
2 Cor. 3:7-11 -- Now if the
ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, (the ten
commandments for certain) came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily
at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of
the Spirit be even more glorious?
If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how
much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness
And if what was fading away came with glory, how much
greater is the glory of that which lasts.
The purpose of the law was to convict everyone
that they were sinners in need of a Savior. The more the sinner felt that he could
meet all of God's requirements in his own strength, the less he felt the need of a
Savior. This is the basis for every legalistic religious belief.
The ethics of the gospel
acknowledge no standard but the perfection of the divine character...
Character building is the work, not of a day, nor of
a year, but of a lifetime. The struggle for conquest over self,{ for holiness and
heaven, is a lifelong struggle. Without continual effort and constant activity,
there can be no advancement in the divine life, no attainment of the victor's crown.
The strongest evidence of man's fall from a higher
state is the fact that it costs so much to return. The way of return can be gained
only by hard fighting, inch by inch, hour by hour. In one moment, by a hasty
unguarded act, we may place ourselves in the power of evil; but it requires more than a
moment to break the fetters and attain to a holier life. The purpose may be formed,
the work begun; but its accomplishment will require toil, time, perseverance, patience and
sacrifice... should we come to the close of life with our work undone, it would be an
eternal loss.
No one will be borne upward without stern,
persevering effort in his own behalf. All must engage in this warfare for
themselves; no one else can fight our battles. Individually we are responsible for
the issues of the struggle.
Ministry of Healing, pp. 451-453
The first sentence of this
quotation is a true statement and ought to be sufficient to convince anyone of the
impossibility of our ever being able to accomplish this. "The ethics of the
gospel acknowledge no standard but the perfection of the divine character."
This is true and I'm so glad that this is included in Christ's robe of righteousness which
every born again Christian is given freely when he accepts Christ as his Savior.
That which follows this statement consists of
a long and tortuous list of things which we must do to earn this perfect character.
Does anyone really believe that we can do this? Anyone who truly believes this must
have a complete misconception of our character in comparison to God's character.
Every sentence of this long passage cries for
pages of response and refutation. Perhaps it is enough to compare this with the
multitude of Scriptures which contradict most every point.
The sanitariums which
are established are to be closely and inseparably bound up with the gospel. The
Lord has given instruction that the gospel is to be carried forward; and the gospel
includes health reform in all its phases. Health reform is to stand out more
prominently in the proclamation of the third angel's message...
The gospel of health is to be firmly linked with the
ministry of the Word. It is the Lord's design that the restoring influence of
health reform shall be a part of the last great effort to proclaim the gospel message...
Under the influence of the gospel, great reforms will
be made by medical missionary work. But separate medical missionary work from the
gospel, and the work will be crippled.
Counsels on Diet and Foods, pg. 75
Do you know of one text in the
Bible that states that health reform is any part of the great good news of the
gospel? If God has given instruction that this is so, why didn't He reveal this to
Paul whom He called to present to the world the unchangeable gospel of Christ?
Medical missionary work
is in no case to be divorced from the gospel ministry. The Lord has specified
that the two shall be as closely connected as the arm is with the body. Without this
union neither part of the work is complete. The medical missionary work is the
gospel in illustration.
6 Testimonies, pg. 240
There may be and there is danger of losing
sight of the great principle of truth when doing the work for the poor that is right to
do, but we are ever to bear in mind that in carrying forward this work the spiritual
necessities of the soul are to be kept prominent. In our efforts to relieve temporal
necessities we are in danger of separating from the last gospel message its leading and
most urgent features...
Because of the ever increasing opportunities for
ministering to the temporal needs of all classes, there is danger that this work will
eclipse the message that God has given us to bear in every city. The proclamation
of the soon coming of Christ. the necessity of obedience to the commandments of God, and
the testimony of Jesus.
This message is the burden of our work. It is
to be proclaimed with a loud cry and is to go to the whole world. In both home and
foreign fields the presentation of health principles must be united with it, but not be
independent of it or in any way take its place...
Then let no line be drawn between the genuine medical
missionary work and the gospel ministry. Let these two blend in giving the
invitation:
"Come; for all things are now ready."
Let them be joined in an inseparable union, even as the arm is joined to the body.
6 Testimonies, pg. 290-291
The same comments apply as to
the preceding. To say the least, this creates a perversion of the gospel. This
"gospel" bears no resemblance to the gospel preached by Paul.
Rom. 4:30-32 -- What then shall
we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a
righteousness that is by faith; but Israel who pursued a law of righteousness, has not
attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were
by work.
What is stated here as applying to the Israelites applies to
the Adventists in spades. Can anyone fail to see what harm has been done?
Immortal glory and eternal life is the
reward that our Redeemer offers to those who will be obedient to Him. He has made it
possible for them to perfect Christian character through His name and to overcome on their
own account as He overcame in their behalf. He has given them an example in His own
life, showing them how they may overcome.
3 Testimonies, pg. 365
There is hope for every one of us, but only in one way, and
that is by binding ourselves to Christ, and exerting every energy to attain to the
perfection of His character.
5 Testimonies, pg. 540.
The Bible presents Christ coming to this earth
where He lived a sinless life and paid our debt to the law with His death, and raised from
the grave to confirm our salvation. This He did as our substitute. The
legalist pictures Him living the sinless life as our example. In effect, telling us
that if He can do it we should be able to do it also.
In His teachings, Christ
showed how far reaching are the principles of the law spoken from Sinai. He made a
living application of that law whose principles remain forever the great standard of
righteousness -- the standard by which all shall be judged in that great day when
the judgment shall Sit and the books will be opened. He came to fulfill all
righteousness, and as the head of humanity, to show man that he can do the same work, meeting
every specification of the requirements of God.
Through the measure of His grace to the human agent,
not one need to miss heaven. Perfection of character is attainable by everyone who
strives for it. This is made the very foundation of the new covenant of the gospel.
The law of Jehovah is the tree; the gospel is the fragrant blossoms and fruit which it
bears.
1 Selected Messages, pp. 211, 212
This is stating that the very
foundation of the gospel is our successfully achieving perfection of character by our own
efforts. I believe we have already read from Scripture where the gospel is the work
of Christ in achieving our salvation for us.
Col. 2:6-8 --
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and
built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught and overflowing with
thankfulness.
See to it that no one takes you captive through
hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles
of the world (ten commandments) rather than Christ.
Most of the attempts to pervert the gospel are
through these two avenues:
1. Hollow and deceptive philosophy which
depends on human tradition. This applies to anything that is not based on Scripture.
2. Based on the basic principles of this
world rather than Christ. Paul always refers to the basic principles of the world in
reference to the ten commandments.
The quotation from Selected Messages
that we have just noted meets the criteria of both items that Paul warns us to be beware
of.
Gal. 2:16-21 (Phillips) --
(we) know that a man is justified not by performing what the law commands but only by
faith in Jesus Christ.
We ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus, so that
we may be made right with God by faith in Christ and not by obeying the law's
commands. For we have recognized that no one can achieve justification by doing the
"works of the law."
Now if, as we seek justification in Christ, we find
that we are ourselves as much sinners as the gentiles, does that mean that Christ is a
producer of sin? Of course not!
But if I attempt to build again the whole structure
of justification by the Law which I have demolished then I do, in earnest, prove myself a
sinner.
For under the Law I "died," and I am dead
to the Law's demands so that I may live for God. I died on the cross with
Christ. And my present life is not that of the old "I," but the living
Christ within me.
The bodily life I now live, I live believing in the
Son of God who loved me and sacrificed himself for me. I refuse to make nonsense of
the grace of God. For if righteousness were possible under the Law then Christ died
for nothing.
Rom. 8:l-4 -- Therefore, there is now
no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the
law of the Spirit set me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law was powerless to do in that it was
weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful
man to be a sin offering, and so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the
righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to
the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
Why is there no condemnation to the born again
Christian? Because Christ dwells within through His personal representative --
the Holy Spirit. Condemnation is received by breaking the Ten Commandment Law --
but "the law of the Spirit set me free from the law of sin and death."
Gal. 5:18 --
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. (Every born again
Christian is led by the Spirit)
Rom. 5:13 -- Sin is not taken
into account when there is no law. (When we are in Christ our sins are not
taken into account when we sin unintentionally. When we continue in deliberate sin
it is a sign we are not led by the Spirit and we come under condemnation.)
Rom. 7,8 -- For apart from law,
sin is dead.
1 Cor. 15:56 -- The sting of death is sin,
and the power of sin is the law. (What then was the purpose of the law?)
Gal. 3:19 (NEB) -- Then
what of the law? It was added to make wrong doing a legal offense. It was a
temporary measure pending the arrival of the '"issue" to whom the promise was
made.
Rom. 7:1-6 -- Do you not know
brothers... that the law has authority over a
man only so long as he lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her
husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of
marriage. So, then, if she marries another man while her husband is alive, she is
called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is
not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.
So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the
body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in
order that we might bear fruit to God.
But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been
released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way
of the written code.
When a woman's husband dies she is freed from
the law of marriage which has bound her to her husband. So we, when we are buried in
baptism and die to the law through the body of Christ. We do this in order that we
might now be bound to another -- to Christ. We were previously bound as
prisoners to the law, but now "by dying to what once bound us, we have been released
from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the
written code."
I believe that we can now see that the ten
commandments can not be any part of the everlasting gospel. The gospel is salvation
through Jesus Christ alone -- through Jesus Christ plus nothing.
Acts 4:12 -- Salvation
is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we
must be saved.
This must be coming clear that there is no
place in the gospel for the law.
Gal. 3:21-25 --
For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly
have come by law. But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of
sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given
to those who believe.
Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the
law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead
us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.
Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the
supervision of the law.
Now we come to another item to see if it is included in the gospel:
To those who keep the Sabbath holy it is the sign of
sanctification. True sanctification is harmony with God, oneness with Him in
character. It is received through obedience to those principles that are the
transcript of His character. And the Sabbath is the sign of obedience. He who
from the heart obeys the fourth commandment will obey the whole law. He is sanctified
through obedience.
-- Testimonies Vol. 6, p. 350
Where is there any scriptural basis for sanctification through obedience?
In the Book of Hebrews it speaks of the man who commits the unpardonable sin.
That is the sign against the Holy Spirit -- continuing in deliberate sin
after conversion.
Heb. 10:26-29 -- If we deliberately keep
on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is
left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and raging fire that will consume the
enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the
testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man
deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an
unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted
the Spirit of grace.
True sanctification can only be received through the blood of Christ.
We continue to grow in the sanctified life through Christ who dwells in us though
His personal representative, the Holy Spirit.
The unscriptural passage from 6T p. 350 is a removal of the finished act
of Christ, who through His sacrifice sanctified us, and replaced Him with the law and the
Sabbath to be perfectly obeyed by the works of man, to achieve sanctification
ourselves. Is this a perversion of the Gospel or not?
We are never to rest in a
satisfied condition and cease to make advancement saying, "I am saved."
When this idea is entertained the motives for watchfulness, for prayer, for earnest
endeavor to press onward to higher attainments, cease to exist. No sanctified tongue
will be found uttering these words till Christ shall come, and we enter in through the
gates into the city of God. Then, with the utmost propriety, we may give glory to
God and to the Lamb for eternal deliverance. As long as man is full of weakness --
for of himself he cannot save his soul -- he should never dare to say, "I am
saved."
1 Selected Messages, pg. 314
This is expressing the great
fear of the legalist -- that if we entertain even the concept that we are saved
it will distract us from our God appointed task of fighting and clawing our way to achieve
salvation and thus come up short. But God does not share in this conception.
He reveals this as a gift which we have and be assured of when we accept Christ as our
Savior:
1 Cor. 15:2 -- By this gospel
you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have
believed in vain.
Eph. 2:8,9 -- For it is by grace you have
been saved, through faith -- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of
God -- not by works, so that no one can boast.
Notice this salvation is in the past tense --
you have been saved -- through faith. This is the gospel
message. It is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. This
passage alone is sufficient to invalidate all those nonscriptural presentations of the
gospel that we have been examining.
1 John 5:13 -- I write to you who believe in the
name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
This is the assurance that we may know and say
that we have been saved. It isn't the reward we received from a lifetime of works,
but as a free gift to anyone who believes in the name of the Son of God and confesses Him
with his lips. When we give credit to Christ for our being saved, it is confessing
with our lips when we state that we are saved.
Now back to "what harm has been
done?" I believe it doesn't take a rocket scientist to discover
that we have been evaluating material that falsely claims to be a part of the everlasting
gospel. Since every quote that we have investigated was claimed by that author as
being revealed to her in vision, it is not necessary to find a few quotations that are
much less objectionable. Sufficient to say that none of these quotations have been
repudiated by the church because that would invalidate the claims of their
"prophet," and there are many more of similar content.
Gal. 1:6-9 (Phillips) --
I am amazed that you have so quickly transferred your allegiance from him who called you
by the grace of Christ, to another "gospel!"
Not that it is another gospel, but there are men who
are upsetting your faith with a travesty of the gospel of Christ.
Yet I say that if I, or an angel from Heaven, were to
preach to you any other gospel than the one you have heard, may he be damned!
You have heard me say it before, and now I say it
again -- may anybody who preaches any other gospel than the one you have already
heard be a damned soul!
Vss. l1,12 -- I do assure you, my
brothers, that the gospel I preached to you is no human invention.
No man gave it to me, no man taught it to me; it came
to me as a direct revelation from Jesus Christ."
No wonder Paul was so sure that anyone
preaching a different gospel than he preached could not be a representative from
God. His calling down on that one who would preach a different gospel --
that he (she) be a damned soul.
I don't recall Paul
using stronger language than that in any of his writings. He must have been inspired
of God to make such a strong denunciation due to the tremendous harm that such a perverted
gospel, to millions of believing adherents, would cause.
I hope this study will
cause the reader to see which gospel is genuine and which one rests under the curse
of God. It is impossible for both to be right.
(All Emphasis Supplied)
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