Our Firm Foundation -1987_09

7/26/2019 Our Firm Foundation -1987_09

1/32

Our irm ound tion

The 7th Day Sabbath Immuta bl e Law of God

The Everlasting Gospel

Non-Immortality of the Soul Three Angels Messages The

Sanctuary

Vol. 2

No

Where

id

Pastor

Baker

Go Wrong?

Search the

Scriptures

The Three

Angels

Messages

Work

Education

September

1987

When the Cycles Stop

see page 8


2/32

I

d itor i l

EVERY

AGE man

has

had

a hard time

deciding whether

he would be obedient to God, or

follow his

own

inc l in t ions

Heretofore Satan

ha s

seemingly

been s atis fied with man s d oin g as

he pleased. so long as he did not

obey God .

BUI

in

the last

days

he

has intensified his efforts

and is

d eterm in ed th at

the

entire world

shall

follow him,

and

be branded

with n

mark of

loyalty to him.

From the beginning

of

the

world, Snbbnthkeeping has

been

a

sign of

loyalty to

God. The Sabbath

was

designed 10

turn man s

mind

to

the

Creator

of

the world,

and to

remind t ha l wor sh ip is du e

the

Crc:ltar. Salnn

seeks

to turn man

from God and obedience to His

law. In Ezekiel 20:12. 20 we read

thnt

the

Sabbath

is

God s

sign,

Or

seal, of loyalty. At

the

close of

the

patriarchal

age,

God called fo r a

reform

in

Sabbathkeeping before

I Ie

would a llow

is people

to

enter

the

Promised

Land.

Exodus 16:22

30.

At

th e close of t he Lev it ical

age, Chr is t H imse lf sough t to free

the Sabba th f rom t he fal se concep-

tions

heaped upon

it ,

whic h were

designed

1

obscure its real

place

:lnd purpose. In the last days of this

Christian age,

God

is calling

for yet

anOlher

reform

in

Sabbathkeeping.

The

S:lbbath

has

ever

been

a

test

of 10Y:llty to God. It is e ven more

so now. Many have ignoral11ly kept

Sunday f or

the

Sabba th , not know-

ing their error, and God accepted

their

motives

and t he ir

worship.

l3ut

berore His second coming, God will

have a people

obedient

to all of His

Inw a peopl e who will worship Him

intel ligently because

they

love and

serve Him with their whole

heart

and

soul an d

strength.

2 Our Firm llndalion September

1987

Satan is

determined

t ha t Sunday

and Sundaykeeping

shall

supplant

the

Sabbath and Sabbathkeeping. In

these I:I.Sl days Sat:m

will

seek to

force the entire world to accept

Sunday as the

Sabbath.

HllislOry will be

repeated.

False

religion will be exalted. The first

day of

the wee k a common work

in g

day, possessing no

sanctity

whatever,

will

be set

up as was the

image

at

Babylon. All nations an d

tongues

and

peoples will be COm-

manded to worship this spurious

sabbath. This is Satan s plan

to

make

of

no

account

the

day

in

stituted by God, and

given

to the

world

as

a memorial

of

Crc3tion.

T he

decree enforcing

the

wor-

ship of this day is

to go

forth to

all

the world.

Trial 3l1ct persecution will come

to

all who, in obedience

to

the

Word of God,

refuse to worship this

false sabbath. Force is th e

last

resort of every false religion.

At

first

it

tries attraction, as the king

of

Bnbylon

tried the power

of

music a nd outward show. If

these

a tt ract ions , inven ted

by

men

in -

spired

by

failed to

make men

wors hip the

image,

th e hungry

fbmes

of

the

furnace

were ready to

consume them. So it will be now.

The Papacy has

exercised

her power

to compel men to

obey

her, an d

she

will continue

lO do

so. We need th e

s ame spirit th at

was

manifested by

God s

servants in the conf lic t with

paganism.

Seventh day

Adventisl

Bible

Commellltuy vol. 7 .

976

T he Lord has

shown

me

clearly

that

the

image of

th e beast will be

formed before proba tion

closes;

fo r

it is to be the great

test

fo r

the

people of

God,

by which the ir eter-

nal

destiny

will be

decided.

This is the

test

that the

people

of God must h ave bef ore t hey

are

sealed. All who

prove the ir

loyalty

to

God

by observing

His law, an d

refusing

to

accept

a

spurious sab-

bath, will rank under the banner of

the

Lord

God Jehovah, and will

receive

the

seal

of the

living

God.

Those who yield

th e

truth of

heavenly origin and accep t

the

Sun-

day sabba th , will receive

the mark

of

the beas, -

Ibid.

Iany Seventh-day

Adventists

believe

that

no

one

who goes to

church

on Saturday will receive that

mark, but many will.

History

will

be repeated. In

the

pas t his tory of

the great con trover sy many have

given up

the

faith

when

upon

the

fagot or th e r ack . Their faith was

not f ounded upon th e rock , Christ

Jesus. They

thought

their relat ion-

ship

to God

was firm.

But when

they lo oke d into th e

fire

their

courage evaporated, an d they

yielded their

convictions

to save

their lives.

We read in

Testimonies

vol. 5

136

that the majority of church

members, ministers, nnd

leaders

will reject us nnd

join

t he enemy.

Again we

are

tOld that

very

few

Seventh-day Adventists

will endure

to

the end and

be scaled. See

Tes

timol/ies

vol.

1.608-609;

vol. 5, 10

50 80 81;

Testimonies

to

Ministers

409-410

They

failed

the

Sabbath

test

of

t rue worsh ip . A ll who regard the

Sabbath as a sign

between

t hem and

God, Showing that He is the God

who sanct if ies them, will represent

the principles of H is

government.

They

will

bring

into

daily

practice

the laws of His kingdom. Daily

it

will

be t he ir p rayer thaI the sanc-

tification of th e

Sabbath

may rest

upon them.

Testimollies. vol. 6.

353-354

The

saints

of God who welcome

th e

return

of

ou r lord and

Saviour

will

be tho se only who had 3

wor-

shipful r el at ionship with Jesus.

not

only

on

the

Sabbath

bu t also

day

by

day

who

spent many

days

searching

fo r p re sent

truth.

God

calls for

a

reform in S3bbnthkeeping.

The

time

of trial

is just

before us. How ready

are you to meet it? How

do

you

worship God on His holy

Sabbath?

This will be your test.

RON

SPEAR EDITOR


3/32

Vol . 2,

No.9

September

1987

Table of Contents

Work Educatioll H.R. and C.D. Standish

A necessary (and valuable) part

of

the

process

It

is the

miSSiOn

of

Hope Interna-

tional and

the

editors of ur irm

Foundalion

to

give the s traigh t tes ti -

mony

and

to

present Chr is t

and

Him

crucified. The days that yet r ema in

of

this world

are few, and what

we

do

we

must do

quickly.

We must

boldly

proclaim

the

truths

that

place us on so

firm a foundation in th e mid st of this

troubled world.-

THE

EDITORS

Editor Ron Spear

Managing

Editor Dave Fiedler

Associ.ale Editor Vern Jennings

Ass .

Ed. /Typography Arnet

Mathers

Ass .

Ed./Books

Jeff Crockett

Copy Editor Lila Rae Frederick

Asst. Copy

Editor

Lori Crockett

Editorial Secretary

Clarissa Fiedler

Contributing Editors Colin Standish,

Ralph Larson

Art Direclor Bob

Bresnahan

Layout Sharilyn Kendall

Circulat ion Joseph

Leatherman

ARTICLES

Where

Did

Pas tor Baker

Go Wrong'?

What

can

we learn from one man's mistake?

When

the Cycles top

A

careful

look at key Questions

Se'Hch th e Scriptures

Divine

guidelines on

how

to

proceed

The

Three

Angels'

Messages

The special message for

this

time

Th e Impossible

Partnership

Separat ion, uni ty , and maintaining

balance

Halph

Larson

Dave Fiedler

Ellen

G. Whil e

on pear

Paul

felt

4

8

16

20

24

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DEPARTMENTS

Editorial

Letters

Looking Back

Religious Liber ty Update

2

14

15

SI'lI\ley West 28

Melange 18

Line Upon Line 19

Food for Thought 23

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States US 14.50

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Copyright' 1987

Hope International

About

th e cover:

Our cover

depicts

some

of

t he more

noteworthy

cycles

of

sacred

history.

From top to

bottom,

Bob

Bresnahan

has

portrayed the

deliberations of

the

Jewish Sanhedrin as they contempla te the ir reac-

tions

to the issues which

fony

years

later

were to culminate in the

destruction

of

Jerusalem.

Christians replaced the

nation

of I srael as

t he Lord' s chosen ,

bu t pride

and

corruption

resulted

in

the haughly

grandeur

of

the

Papacy,

represented

here

by the ext ravagance

of St.

Peter's Cathedral and t he papal

court . Mar tin

Luther,

making good

use of

Johann Gutenberg's

newly

invented printing

press, led

the

Reformers

ou t of the Catholic communion by basing t hei r f ai th and

teachings solely on

the

Word of God.

Three

centuries later

the Lord

commissioned

Jam es and Ellen

White-among

oth rs to play

prominent roles in t he spread

of

t he t hr ee angels' messages. These

messages

and

the publications

which

made

them

known

were symbol-

ized by

jets

of l ight enc ircl ing the ear th . What will be the outcome

of this

latest

movement? See When the Cycles Stop on

page

eight.

September 1987 ur

i rm

FOUl dat ion


4/32

Where

i

Pastor

Baker

o

Wrong?

Ralph Larson

What would have been accomplished by

directing a corrective letter to a pastor

Tasmania and ignoring the continued

publishing

of

the error

the

Review?

D

URING

THE

years 1895 and

1896

Ellen White had been

putting

the

finishing

touches on

The

Desire of

Ages which she

planned to publish in

two

volumes.

On

May 6, 1896, she

wrote to

her

son Edson

that

th e f irs t volume was

completed (Letter 150, 1896). In

the

first c ha pt er s o f The

Desire

0/

ges whi ch would have been in the

first

volume, she had wri tt en :

He [God] g ave H im [Christ] 10

the fallen race.

25

(Emphasis

in

quotations

supplied throughout)

It would have been

an almost

inf in ite humil ia tion for the

Son of

God to take man s

nature. ellen

wlten

Adam

slood

il l

his innocence

il l

Edell. But Jesus accep ted

humanity

when tire race

had

been

weakened by

four 1hollsol1d years of sin.

Like

e ery

child

of Adam He accepted

the resul ts

of t he working of the

great law of heredity.

What t he se

results were is shown in t he h is to ry

of

His earthly ancestors. He

came

with such a heredity to share our

sorrows and

temptations,

and to

give

us the example

of

a sinless

life. 49

UNotwithstanding that the sins

of a

guilty

world were laid upon

Christ, notwithstanding

the Jwmilia

tioll of Laking upon

Himself

our

fa lle n nature

the voice from

heaven

declared Him

to be

the

Son

of the Eternal. 112

HFor four thousand years the

r ace had

been

decreasing in

physi-

cal

strength,

in mental

power , and

in moral worth; and Christ took

4 Our Firm Foundatioll septem er

98

upon Him the

infirmities

of degen-

erate humanity.

Only thus could He

rescue man from the lowest depths

of his

degradation.

Many claim

that

it was

impos-

sible

f or Chri st

to be overcome by

temptation. Then He cou ld not have

been p laced in

Adam s

position; He

could not

have gained the

victory

that Adam failed to gain. If we

have in any sense a more trying

conflict than had

Christ,

then He

would not be able to U cor us. But

ou r Saviour

took humanity, with

al l

it s liabilities. He

took

the nature

of

man,

with the possibi li ty

of

yield-

ing

to

temptation. We

have

nothing

to

bear which

He

has

not

endured.

117

As

t he image made

in

the like-

ness

of

the destroying serpents was

lifted up fo r t hei r healing, so Glle

made

i ll the likelless of si ll ful f lesh

was to be

their

Redeemer . Romans

8:3. 174-175

Her interpreter s

have proposed

that in the m id st of these publish-

ing events of 1895-96 Ellen White

learned

that

a

Pastor

Baker

in

Tas-

mania,

an island

to the south of

Australia, was teaChing t ha t Chr is t

had corne in the human nature of

fallen

man and wrote

him an

urgent

letter

for

t he purpose of correcting

his error, near the end of the year

1895.

This would appear to have been

a marvelously misdirected

effort.

If

the teaChing were

an

error

that

needed to be

corrected, would

not

the pages of the Review alld Herald

and of the Signs

of

the Times and

of

the

Bib le Echoes

be

the

ap-

propriate place

for

the correction to

appear?

And

would not the promi-

nent

church l eaders who were

COI1

tinuing

to publicly promulgate that

error be

the

persons

to whom cor-

rect ive t t rs should be ad-

dressed? A nd would

no t

Ellen

White s own par ticipa tion in the

promulgation

of that error in her

articles and in he r

The

Desire

of

Ages require a careful explanation?


5/32

Pastor Baker had more than ample

opportunity to become acquainted with

the opinion that Christ came to the earth

the human nature of f ll n man

What would

have been

nCCOI11

plished by

directing

a

corrective

letter

to

a pastor in

T as ma ni a a nd

ignoring

th e continued publishing

of the error

in

th e Revi ew alld

Heralcl

in

the Signs of the Times

:\Ild in

th e Bible Echoes a nd l ea vi ng

The Desir e o f ge s unchanged?

And why would she have ignored

the extensive discussion o f th e

sub-

ject

by

A .T. J on es

an d

W.W.

Pres-

cott at the

G e ne ra l C o nf e re n ce

in

February of

1895?

It

was fifty-odd years after

th e

Oaker

letter W S w ri tt en b e fo re th e

church

became

aware

of

it.

If it ha d

been intended as

a

warning to

th e

church it was a

dismal

failure, a

fJilure

that

Ellen White might

have

corrected

before

he r death

in 1915,

twenty years after th e leuer

wa s

wrillen.

If

Pastor

Oaker did

believe

which

I

do

no t

doubt) that Christ

came

to

th e

earth

in

th e h um an

na -

lure of

fal1en

man,

it

would

seem,

as th e

ol d

saying

goes, th:ll he

mi gh t h ave

come

by

t ha t o pi ni on

quite h on es tl y. P as to r B:lker ha d no

1::lck

of

opportunities

to

become

ac-

quninwd with that particubr view.

I Ie was

n

m e m b e r of

th e

S ev en th -d ay A dv en ti st C hu rc h

in

lown

and left that state

in 1882

to

become

associated

with

the church s

p ub li sh in g w or k a t t he P ac ifi c

Press

in Mountain

View,

California. As

nn Iowa

Adventist

he

would have

been

aware

or

t he evangel i st i c

work

conducted

in that Slate

by J.H.

Waggoner ,

whose strong opinion

that C hri st c am e to th e earth

in

th e

human

nature

of fallen ma n

had

been

published

in

th e

his

book, The

AlOllemelll

He

would have had the

opportunity

to

r ea d t hi s

book.

As a

reader of th e

Review

alld

Herald he

w ould h ave

ha d oppor-

tunity to

e xa mi ne f ou rt ee n s ta tc -

melllS th::tt

Christ

carne

to

the

e;:trth

in

the human nature of f alten man

t ha t w ere p ub li sh ed

in

t ha t j ou rn al

by Ellen White during

th e

years

1870-1882.

He

would

also

have

had

opportunity

to

read t he s im il a r

statements

in

he r

book Spirill lal

GillS

vol. I,

25,

1858), an d in

Spiritual GillS

vol. 4, 115,

1864).

In

1881

J H W a g g o n e r

succeeded James

W hi le ns

th e

editor

of

th e

Signs

of the

Times

the new

missionary journal for the western

s ta te s b ei ng p ub li sh ed a t

Ihe

Pacific

Press in

California.

In 1882

Baker

was

called to

assist Waggoner in

th e

p ub li sh in g w or k, a nd continued

his

association \vith

th e Pacific

Press

until

1887.

During

this

five-year

period

he was

associated wi th editor

J.H.

Waggoner during

th e

years

1 88 2- 18 85 ; w it h his son,

associale

editor and later editor

EJ

Wag-

goner, during

th e

years

1884-1887,

an d

w it h a ss oc ia te

editor

and later

co-editor A.T.

Jones

during th e

ye ars 1885-1887.

Th e

strong

convic-

tions of

E.J.

Waggoner an d T

Jones t ha t C hr is t

came to

th e earth

in

the human nature o f fallen

ma n

were

a

fundamental

part

of

their

teaching

on

righteousness

by

faith

a nd l at er r ec ei ve d

a

good

deal

of

at-

tention at

th e

General

Conference

sessions

of 1888,1891, an d

1895.

If

Baker had

t ak en t he t ro ub le to

read

th e journal which

was

being

published

wilh his

assistance,

he

would

h av e h ad

opportunity

to

con-

sider five

SlatementS

published

in

lhe

Siglls

01 Ihe Times by

Ellen

White

d ur in g t he y ea rs 1 88 2- 18 87 ,

that Christ came

to

the earth

in

th e

human nature

o f fallen man, no t

to m en ti on h er

si x

statements

pub-

lished jn

th e Review

and

Herald

during those same

years.

2

He

would

have had opportunity to

read

;:tnd

m ay hav e

proofread) he r

three il l l

ilar

statements

in

Tcstimollies

vol.

5, 204, 346

an d 746, since that

volume

was pub lish ed by the Pa -

cific

Pre ss in 1882.

In

1887

Baker

was

called

to

con-

nect

with

th e

publishing \\ ork in

Austr ali a, wher e th e Bible Echoes

a

missionary journal

started

by J.O.

Corliss an d

S.N. Haskell in 1886.

was still in its

infancy.

It is not

clear when

he left

t he p ub li sh in g

work

to

p io ne er t he church s nctiv-

ities in

Tasmania,

bu t he

w;:ts

an

occasional cont r ibutOr to th e Bible

Echoes

fo r

several

years.

Th e

strong

convictions

of Hnskell

that

Christ

came

to

t he e ar th

in

the human na-

ture

of

fa llen m an

appeared in

the:

journal

as wel1.

3

T h er e

wa s

an i nt er im d ur in g

which

th e

president of thc newly

fo rm ed A ust ra lia n C on fe re nc e,

G.C. Tenney, served

also as

editor

of

th e Bible Echoes Fo r

a

sampling

of

Tenney s strong

convictions

lhal

Christ came

to

th e enrth in the

human nature o f

fallen

man,

see

the

e di to ri al s f or Ma y

15, 1889,

an d

June

3, 1889.

Then the

editorinl

work

was

assumcd

by W.A.

Col-

cord.

His

s tr on g c on vi ct io ns

the\

Christ

came lO the earth

in the

human

n;:tture

of fallen

Il lJn s oo n

appeared

in

front-page

editorials

under

the dates of November

22.

December

I, a nd D ec em be r

8 , 1893.

A nd finally, during the

years

1892-1895,

Baker

would

have

had

opportunity

to

examine

eight state-

menlS

Ihat

Chrisl

came to t he e ar th

in

the humnn nature

of fallen man

that w ere p ub li sh cd

in

th e Sih/e

Echoes over

th e

signature of

Ellen

While.

4

It w oul d s ee m, therefore,

that

Pastor

Baker

w ou ld h av e h;:td

more

than

ample

opportunity

to become

acquainted wilh

th e

opinion

that

Christ

came to th e

earth in the

human nature

o f

fallen man.

Since

t he v ie w

would

have come

to him with the highest

of

recom-

mendations

from both

Americ::tn

and A ustralian

l eader s

o f hi s

ch u r ch , as well as from Ellen

White,

it

would

no t be

surprising

if

he had accepted

it.

It

would be

mther more surprising

if he had

not.

Bu t

he

s ur el y wo uld h ave

been

m or e t hn n

mildly

surprised to h::we

received

a letter

from

E ll en Wh it e

warning hi m

againsl

that view,

as

some

ar e no w i nsi st ing t hat

he

did.

September

1987 Our Firm FO ll datioll 5


6/32

use th e

bu t she

deity of

Ellen White s response to and refutation

of the opinions

of

Adoptionism are found

not

only

The

Desire of Ages

but

also

a personal testimony to W.L.H. Baker

AS

the student reflects

on these

matters

he

may

fin d h im se lf

in -

clined to believe that this proposed

interpretation

of

the Baker letter

the credulity

to t he break ing

point.

It

is

difficult to

understand

how such

a

p roposa l cou ld

ever

have been taken seriously.

What

then were the p ro blems

in

the

experience of

Pas to r W.L.H.

Baker that

called

forth t he l et te r of

counsel from Ellen White?

My

analysis of the Baker letter, pre-

sented in

the

next

few

pages, has

led me to the conclusion that Adop

Iiollism

was the error against which

Ellen

White

was

warning Baker.

It is common

knowledge that the

pioneers

of t he Adven ti st

Church

came f rom

a

wide var ie ty of reli-

gious

theological backgrounds,

and that

after the

great

disappoint-

ment

of 1844

they

devoted

much

lime nnd

study

to

th e

development

of a

platform

of Bible

truth

upon

which

they could unite.

In their

early Bible onf r n s they

reached a common

understanding

of

the

nature

of God, the nature of

man, the

Sabbath

and just i ficat ion

by

faith.

They did

not,

however,

successfully

resolve

all

of their dif-

ferent understandings of the

nature

of Christ.

Arianism

AS

late

as

the

turn

of

the

cen-

tury, there were

still a

few

voices

among

us

which

were advocat ing in

var ious ways limited views of the

divinity

of

Christ. These views,

general ly speaking, fell \vithin th e

category of wha t th eo logians have

called Arianism

after

a

certain

Arius who strongly advocated sim-

ilar opinions in the g re at Christo-

logical

controversies

of

the

fourth

century.

According to Arius,

and

those

who followed

his thinking,

Christ

had

not coexisted wilh the

Father

throughout all

etern

ity, bu t had

been created by the Father at

some

point

in t ime before

the

history of

the

world.

Christ was seen as the

g reat es t and hi ghes t

of

God s

cre-

a ted beings.

Thus

He was not very

God of

very

God,

bu t

a lower

and

lesser form of deity.

Ellen White

did no t

technical

term Ariallism

d id te st if y to t he e te rnal

Our

Firm

FOlmdalioll September 1987

Christ in

her great The Desire 0/

Ages in

such

a way

th at th e speci fi c

Christological

errors of Arianism

were unmistakably

refuted. Thus:

From the

days

of

eternity the

Lord Jesus Christ was

one

with the

Father.

The name of God, given to

Moses

to exp re ss th e idea

of

the

eternal presence,

had been

claimed

as His

own

by this

Galilean Rabbi.

He

had

announced -Himse lf to be

the self-existent One. 469-470

Hln Christ

is

l ife, original, un-

borrowed, underived. 530

In the

light

of this

clear

tes-

t imony the Arian Chr is to logica l er-

rors

gradually

faded

away, and

it is

doubtful that any Seventh-day Ad-

ventist

Bible

s tudent s now

believe

tha t Chris t

was a created being.

Adoptionism

In

like

manner, wi thout identify-

ing

the Chr istological error

by its

s pe ci fj c t ec hn ic al

name, Ellen

White

found

occasion

to r ef ut e th e

principles of AdopLionisnr This was

a view

that

Christ was no t

the

Son

of God at

birth,

nor during t he f ir st

phase

of

His

earthly life,

bu t

be-

came the

Son of God by

adoplion

This idea was taught in Rome dur-

ing

the

yeors 189 to 199

by

a

leather merchant from Byzantium

named

Theodotus. It was developed

and ampli fi ed

by Paul

of

Samosata

who served as bishop of Antioch

from 260

to

269.

Because

of Paul s

s trong inf luence ,

the

opinion

be -

came Quite popular in t he eas te rn

churches and

in th e

Armenian

c hu rc hes , where it was held fo r

centuries.

In

th e e ight h century

it

was advocated among the western

churches by

Elipandus

of Spain.

Alt hough t he re were nuances of

difference

in

the views

of

indi-

vidual Adopt ion is ts , t he re were

three

basic opi ni on s t ha t were gen-

erally

sh:lred. Ellen

White s response

to and

refutation

of these opinions

is

found

not

only

in

The

Desire

of

Ages bu t also in a per sonal t es -

timony to

W.L.H. Baker,

then

labor-

ing in the Tasmanian distr ic t

while

Ellen Whi te was living

in

Australia

and working

on

the

manuscript

fo r

The Desire of Ages.

In

this

interesting

letter

we find

(I ) a warning to Pastor Baker about

spending too much t ime in reading,

2

a

cau tion aga inst accep ting

the

traditions

of

the Fathers a term

whi ch , when cap ita li zed as in the

letter,

is

understood

to

refer to

the

church

Fathers ) and (3) a

warning

about t each ing specu la tive theories

that

would

not

be of benefit

to

the

church

members. She also presents a

specific, point-by-point refutntion

of

the errors

of

Adoptionism.

I Adoplionisl ViCIV:

Jesus was

not the Son of God at birth. He was

born of

a

woman

as all men are.

Though He

may

have been born of

a

v ir gi n, th is

fact wou ld h av e had

no theological significance. He was

born

as a

son

of

man, not

as

the

Son of God.

Ellen

While wrote to Baker:

But Jesus Christ was the only

begotten Son of

God.

His

birth

was

a

miracle of God ; f or , said

the

angel, e ho ld , thou

shalt

conceive

in

thy womb, a nd bring fo rth

a

son,

and

shalt call his name JESUS. He

shall

be great,

and shall

be cal led

th e Son of

the

Highest: a nd the

Lord Goel shall g ive unto him the

throne of

his

father

David: and he

shall

reign

over the

house of Jacob

fo r

ever; and of his kingdom there

shall be

no end.

Then said Mary

unto the angel, How shal l t hi s

be,

seeing I

know

no t a man?

And the

angel answered and said unto her,


7/32

Once it is recognized that the Baker

letter is a point-by-point refutation of

Adoptionism, Ellen White s line of

reasoning becomes crystal clear

The

Holy Ghost shall

come

upon

thee, and the power of t he Highest

shall

overshadow thee:

therefore

also

that

holy

thing which

shall be

born

of

thee

shall

be cal led the

Son

of

God.' [Luke

1:31-35]

These lVords do Jlot

refer

fa any

hl/nUll1 being.

excepl LO

the SOli of

the III/illite God. Letter 8, 1895

II-Adoptionist view: Jesus

was

not

the

Son

of

God during

the

first

phase

of

His

earthly existence,

He

was a normal

human being holding

exalted concepts

of

holiness

and

purity,

toward which

He

strove

heroically,

bu t He was in no sense

divine. During

this phase of His

ex -

istence, since He was

altogether

::1 l1d

exclusively human,

He

would have

had

the

same propensit ies

of sin,

and

t::lints

of

cor rupt ion, t ha t all

humans have. He

could have even

been

overcome

by temptation

and

actually

sinned. None of these

things,

in

view

of

His

continuing

heroic struggle ro achieve holiness,

\vould

have disqualified Him to be -

come the adopted Son

of

God at the

climax

of His

spiritual progress.

Paul of Samosata expressed it thus:

Mary

did not b ring fort h

the

Word,

for Mary

W3S

not before the

ages. But she brought

forth

a m3n

011 a level with ourselves.

Ellen While. II/I'Ole 10 Baker:

Let every human being be

wa rned from the ground of making

Christ aUogelher

humaJ/, such

Gil

olle

as

ourselves;

fo r

it

cannot

be.

Never, in

any

way,

leave

the

Slightest

impression

up on h uman

minds that a taint

of, or

inclination

to,

corruption rested

upon

Christ.

or

that

He in any way yi el ded to

corruption.

Do no t se t Him before th e

people

as a man with

the

propen-

sities of sin. He

could have

sinned,

He

could

have fal len, bu t

not for one moment

was

there

in

Him

an evil propensity. Ibid.

This interes ting express ion,

'not

for

one moment' would

seem

to in -

d icate tha t

Ellen Whi te was

recoil-

ing in

horror

from the above

smted

view of the Adoplionists. Perhaps

t hey cou ld contemplate with

equa-

nimity

the

possibility

of evil pro-

pensities, corruption, or even s in

in

Chr is t' s ear ly

life,

but

she could

not.

This appea rs to

be

her

chief

concern in th e letter to

Pastor

Baker. In it she affinT'ls

repeatedly

that Chr is t did

not sin,

mentioning

it a total

of

ten times,

and

carefully

ruling

ou t the

possibility

of

even

a

:> ingle yielding to

temptation

on His

part.

011 1I0l Jlle occasioll was there a

response to his

manifold

temptations. Ibid.

III-Acloptioll isl vielv: As a result

of His

heroic struggles to

achieve

holiness,

Jesus

was

eventually adop-

ted

to

be

the

Son of

God.

There

were

different

opinions

as to

when

this

happened. Some

saw it as a

gradual

process,

others

felt that it

happened at t he bap ti sm

of

Jesus,

and

still

others

at His resurrection.

After His

adoption, humanity

was

blended

with divinity.

Ellen

If/hire wrote to Baker:

T he

exocl lime when humanity

blended with divinity, it is not

necessary fo r

us to

know.

Ibid.

In addition to this precise

and

specific refutation

of

the

errors of

Adopliol/sim in her

Jetter to

Pastor

Baker,

Ellen White

expanded

on the

themes

of

the divinity

and

pre-

existence

of Christ as well as His

complete

sinlessness

throughout

His

entire

life in The Desire 0/ Ages.

Some have studied the letter

from Ellen White to Pastor

Baker,

and,

perhaps

because

of

a lack

of

familiarity with the specific Chris-

tological

errors of Adoptiol/ism that

she

was so fo rceful ly re jecting,

have had difficulty with the words:

Not for one moment

wns

there in

Him an evil

propensity.

Some have seen in this an evi-

d ence tha t she

believed

that Christ

assumed in His

incarnation

the na-

ture of Adam before hi s

fall.

Others, comparing it with her com-

ments

on

that subject

in The

Desire

of

Ages, have

drawn

the unfortu-

nate conclusion that she talked Oil

both s ide s

of

that

par ticular ques-

tion.

Neither conclusion

is

required

by

the

evidence. Once

it is recog-

nized that the Baker letter is a

point-by-point refutation

of

Adop-

liollism

which

Pastor

Baker

h

apparently become

involved in

through

his

reading

of the

church

Fathers, her

line of

reasoning in

that letter

becomes cryst al clenr.

And

we are certainly not r equi red

ro

use a

fragment

from

a

person::J.1

letter

to a

pastor to off-

se t

her statements about the hum::lIl

nature

of

Christ

as found

in

The

Desire of Ages, which

is

clearly her

conscious

and

deliberate Christo-

logical position

paper addressed

to

the

whole wor ld .

To

do thi s would

questionable hermeneutics,

to

say the

least.

From

the book

The Word

Was

Made

Flesh

105 -109 , 323 -327 .

This

volume, 3va il ab le

through

Hope Int ar na ti on :' l ,

is in

ou r

opinion

the

bes t s ingl e source

for

an understanding

of

the historic

Adventist tcaching

on

t he Incnrna-

tion.-EDITORS

l

tAli rtrcrcnces listNI

below

: Ire

avai1:. lblc for

sludy

in The Word filM

Hade

Flesh.-EclToRsJ

R('l'i('lI' alld HCI'-

aId

April

19,

May

31, 1870;

December

24,31, 1872;

January

21, 1873; Febru: . 'y

24,

July

28.

Augus t 4 .

18. 1874;

March

4,

April J. 29, M:1Y G

1875;

October

II ,

ISSI

2

Signs

of th Till/liS January 11,

April

12, ISS3; J:Hlu:. Iry J5,

October

29,

1885; Nov( l lIbe r 24 ,

1887;

RCFiclI'

alld

Herald

Febrllary

10. 1885;

M ly 25.

1886;

January 4, March 15, July 5, 1887

3.

Bible chvf s, March

15, 1889;

February 15, 1892

4. Ibid., September I. IS. 1892; No-

vember I, 15.

December

15, 1892; August

I, 1893; November 19. 1894;

April

22.

IS95

September

1987

Our Firm Foul/dwiun

7


8/32

When The Cycles Stop

HERE S

SOMETHI G fosci-

nating

about

the

future. e

all know it s

coming,

but what an

advantage

for

the

one who knows

ital

is

coming

ittle

wonder then

that

worldly

governments

spend bil-

lions on Hintelligence.

nd

little

wonder the Lord promised He

would do nothing without inform-

ing His servants the prophets.

Throughout

history the

prophets,

and sometimes the people of

God

as

well, had the advantage of advance

knowledge. Should it be

any

differ-

ent

t oday? In the

Spirit of

Prophecy

we

find

oft

repeated admonitions

to

be informed and ready for what is

coming. And if the plain predic-

Our irm oundation September 1987

lions of prophecy are not

enough.

we have

as well the assurance that

history will

e

repeated.

Which raises an

interesting

question: What does Ellen White

mean when she says that history

will e

repeated?

nd

perhaps even

more important, when o the cycles

stop?

That E ll en White placed

impor-

tance

on

this

thought

is well

at-

tested

by

the more than 40 t imes in

her

commonly available writings

that

we

find her assurance that his-

tory will be repeated. A

half

dozen

m re times

she speaks of scenes,

experiences, and the

things

which

have been being repeated,

Dave Fiedler

But what does it all mean?

Recent i nt er pr et er s o f

Ellen

White have proposed

that

when she

wrote

istory

will be repeated she

actually meant

uprophecy

will be

repeated,

After studying

more

than 50 examples

of her

use

of

this

phrase I would volunteer one

obser-

vation:

If

she d id

confuse

her word-

ing as

they suggest,

she

did

so

very

consistently.

Only

twice did I

find

the words repeated and

proph-

ecy in close connection:

I n [Revelation] the same line of

prophecy is taken up as in Daniel.

Some prophecies

God

has repeated

this

showing

that importance must

be given to them.

The

Lord does

not repeat things that are of no

great consequence, , , l Such a

reference is scant support for the

concept of repeated ui ilim llis of

prophecy,

and

J don t

mean

to

rep-

resent anyone as trying to use

it as

such.

Perhaps a look

at the second

ref-

erence,

one of

those

often

seen to

support this

concept,

would be

in

order:

We have no time

to

lose,

Troublous t imes are before us. The

world

is stirred with the spirit of

war. Soon the

scenes of

trouble

spoken of

in the prophecies will

take place.

The

prophecy in the

eleventh [chapter]

of

Daniel has

nearly reached its complete ful fi ll -

ment.

Much

of the h is tory that has

taken place in

fulfillment of

this

prophecy

will be repeated.

n

the

thirt ieth verse a power is spoken of

that shall be grieved, and return,

and have indignation against the

holy covenant,

.

.

[Daniel 11:30-36 quoted]

S cenes s imilar

to

those

de-

scribed in these words will take

place.

e

see evidence that Satan is

fast

obtaining

the control

of

human

mindS,

who have

not the fear

of

God

before

them. Let all read and

understand

the prophecies

of

this

book, for

we

are now entering upon

the t ime

of

trouble spoken

or.

[Daniel 12:1-4 quoted]


9/32

Will I have to find a second Messiah to

come 69 weeks after a second

command

goes

forth

to rebuild a second

Jerusalem?

Do

you see

the

problem?

A careful reading

of

this passage

shows that I) the prophecy of

Daniel

has nearly

reached

its

complete

fuifil/melll. (Does this

mean

that Daniel

J has a second

application, or

that its

first

and

only application

is

n ear ly c om -

pletely fulfilled?)

2 Much of

the

history that has taken place in the

fulfillment

of this prophecy will

be

repeated. 3) Scenes similar

to

those

described

in Daniel 11:30-36

will

take

place. 4) We are now

entering

upon

Daniel

12:1-4.

This

passage,

when

taken as it

reads,

does not support a

second

application of either the

eleventh

Or

the twe lf th chapter

of

Daniel.

does say, as do

many

other s ta te-

ments, that certain aspects

of

his

t r v will be repeated, and it clearly

points

ou t

that the

h ist ory whi ch

took place in a

past fulfillment

of

Daniel

will be

repeated

in the

fulfillment

of

Daniel

: 1-4.

would

consider this a

valuable

insight

indeed. But

1 canno t yet see

that

it

says

what

the

uninspired

heading (Much of Daniel

to be

Again Fulfilled)

suppl ied for

the

Manuscript Release seems to imply .

A

Note

of Cau tion

We

are well advised to take a

cautious approach to such teaching,

for-whatever its mer it s may e it

is

certain

that the idea has led to

mischief

in

the past. Indeed,

the

apotelesmatic principle

(the

for-

mal name

for

the

concept)

was the

philosophical basis upon

which

Desmond Ford built his denial

of

ou r

historic

teaching

of

the

sanc-

tuary. He

did not

deny that the

2300-day prophecy had been

ful-

filled in 1844; he

s imply saw

it as

a fulfillment rather

than

the

fulfi llment , which

so

weakened its

application

that he was led to

reject

the

concept of

th e

investigative

judgment.

This

is

not to say that

all who

entertain

ideas

of

dual applica-

tions have abandoned

the truth.

Only tha t all such teachings deserve

a

thorough

testing before we con-

sider

them to

be true. Because the

subject involves so many aspects, in

this article I can hope to offer

only

a

few suggested points

of

considera-

tion.

The Problem With Prophecy

The

problem,

of course, is

not

with

the p rophecy

itself, bu t

with

our ef fo rt s to understand

it.

The

problem

is this:

if any g iven

proph-

ecy is to have a

repeated

fulfill-

ment, what portion

is to

be re -

peated?

may

not

look like

much

at

first

glance, bu t this is a

very

real

questi on which must be an -

swered before any teach ing

of

dual

application could be

seriously con-

sidered. You see, very few

proph-

ecies stand

alone.

Most o ft en they

are linked

together

in a marvelously

constructed jigsaw. To

see in

any

sing le p iece of th e puzzl e

an

ap -

plication which fails to

match

with

the pieces around it is to invite jus-

tified skepticism

of

one's

theory.

The 2300-day prophecy for in-

stance.

Anyone

who is

at

all

famil-

iar with the contribution

of

William

Miller to the Advent movement is

aware

th at the 23 00- da y prophecy

of Daniel 8:14 is

inextricably

inter-

twined

with the

70-week prophecy

of

Daniel 9:24-27. If

I

should

wish

to teach a second

application

of

Daniel 8:14, I would be ,ompelled

to

define ol

mu of

the prophecy

will be fulfilled.

Only

that

found

in

the eighth chapter?

Why is

that? fs

there a biblical

reason?

or

is it

simp ly my own deduction?

Perhaps

cannot find

a solid

biblical

basis

for separating

these

two chapters which God

has

joined

together. Then [ am faced with the

prospect

of

finding

a

second

ap -

plication of the ninth chapter as

well. Now

what?

Will [ have to

find

a

second

Messiah

to come

69 weeks

after

a second command

goes

forth

to

rebuild

a second

Jerusalem? And

wil l this second

Messiah be cu t of f

a

second t ime

in

the

midst of the

seven tieth week? Do

you see the

problem?

O th er maj or prophecies have

their own sets

of

entanglements.

But we

can

be t hank fu l f or

every

specification

of

Bible

prophecy,

for

taken together t he y p rovi de the

identifying clues which the Lord

saw to be necessary

fo r

a

proper

understanding

of

His Word.

One

of the beauties of Adventist

theology is its

hundreds

of inter-

connect ions . How many

times has

the church been spared the desolat-

ing effect of false teaching because

what presented

a

fair appearance

on

one front failed

to

match up

on

another is

almost

impossible to

change any por tion

of our

doctrinal

truth without running into manifest

inconsistencies when attempting

to

harmonize

the new teaching with

other points

of

doctrine.

If you

tamper with

t he s ta te

of the

dead,

fo r

i ns tance, you

had

best be pre-

pared to mod ify your

teaching on

the second coming, the 2300 days,

th e

investigative

judgment, and

spi ri tua li sm , not

to mention the

Spirit of

Prophecy

and the remnant

church.

This

has been a

decided incon-

venience to

many

good

Adventists

with inven tive , inqui ring minds-

and pra is e t he Lord fo r it To those

now

studying the prophecies w ith

renewed

vigor would say, Be care-

ful that you don't f or ce you r way

over

the

boundaries

the

Lord

has

set up. If you take

an

interest in a

prophecy,

take

an interest

in every

point

of

the prophecy, or find a

clear

biblical

reason

not

to. To do

otherwise is too great a risk.

September 987 Our irm oundation


10/32

You

will

never

see an apostatized

Seventh day Adventist

Church

retaining

that name when the Sunday law and

the

death decree go

into effect

my next point

is so

basic

that it

doesn t need

to be

made.

I

would hope so but I

fear

some may

have overlooked

the

simple prin-

ciple of allowing the Bible and the

Spirit

of Prophecy to define

them-

selves.

This

is especially

important

when dealing

with the

specifica-

lions of

prophecy. If

we

open the

door to

uninspired

definitions of

the prophetic symbols,

where

will

we stop? There mny be a

great

deal

of plausible logic to suggest that a

cenain symbol may represent

such-

an d- suc h, but if that logic is not

clearly

based on

the

Word of

God,

of \\ hat value is it? What account

will

w

offer

when ou r Lord in -

Quires as to

the

use

we have

made

of I li s Word? Would any dare to say

that

they S:lW greater light

in

the

definitions

of their own making

than

in

those He chose to give?

-10\\

Long.

Lord?

Revelation 6:9

depicts those

who

H\ .rere slain

for

the word of

God

3S

crying

ou t

in uncertainty.

ques-

tioning

how long it

would

be

before

the

Lord

should judge t he wicked.

In the context of repeated proph-

ecy. or e\en repe:Jted history as

some would

present

the subject,

the

same quest

jon

might

be

asked.

How many t imes will the

proph-

ecie s be

repeated? If

twice. could

it

be

three

times? Three times

for

some and

two f or o ther s

and only

once

for

still

o thers perhaps? Once

again,

we find a

need for

a clear

answer from the Lord

Himself

be -

fore

\ e could

with confidence

ac-

cept

any

opinion 3S

the truth .

Of special interest

in

this regard

is

th e

matte r o f a po sta tiz in g

10

ur

i rm

OUl dOlioll

September

1987

churches.

The history

is

clear.

When

the

Jewish

church failed in

their

mission t hey were rep laced by

the

Chris tian church.

As t he mainl ine

church

of

the day

sank into gross

e rror dur ing

the

Dnrk Ages the

Lord

called for

the.

Reformation

movement of

Protestantism

to come

ou t f rom Catholicism. When the

PrOlestant

denominations rejected

rhe

first an gel s message, God

raised up the Seventh-day Advent-

ist

Church.

Now comes the

stickler: when

do

the cycles

stop? Is it nOt

n

bi t

simplistic to say thnt we have

finally arrived? that

th e

church

will go

through ?

Such questions

are

being asked more often in re -

cent years

and tOO often

with con-

siderable

reason. The

deterioration

of

church standards and the

aberra-

tions

of

theology

b ein g ta ug ht

among us

have given

pause to

many,

and

rightly

so.

But when

do

the cycles stop? If

we

assume that

this

church

is to fall

in apostasy, wl1:l1 is to prevent its

replacement

from

doing

the

same?

Will lhe plan of

salvation ever

be

completed,

or must we consign our-

selves to

the never-ending

cycles of

paganism?

I be li eve

there

is a

clear

answer,

a simple

circumstance

that will end

t he cycl es . We call it

the

death

decrcc.

In the past when the new and

purificd movement

has risen up at

God s

behest, the old and corrupted

form conrinued

its

existence.

We

can still

today

f ind Judni sm, Ca-

t ho li ci sm. and apostat e Protestant-

ism

coexisting

side-by-side

with

the

remnant

church. But the Lord

p lanned for His church a test

which

will end.

the

cycles. Having

adopt ed the name

Seventh-dny

Ad-

ventist His people took a stand

which-when confronted by

th e

determined

animosity of the devil-

could retreated from, but

nOt

held in apostasy.

You will nevcr

sec

an

apos-

ta t ized

Seventh-day Adventist

Church

retaining

that

name

when

the Sunday

law

and

the deOlh

de -

cree go into

effect.

To do so would

be

certain suicide, for

there

is

simply no possible

way for

an

or -

ganized evellth day Adventist

Church

to

come up

to the

standard

set

by the Sunday

law. Instead of

the purified believers rising up out

of

lhat body,

as

has

happened

before,

you will see th end of the

cycle. The name says too much.

Given the choice

of

renouncing

that

badge

of

loyalty

to I leaven

Or

facing all

the

terrors that can be

devised by demons and the men

they control, the falsehearted, the

cowardly, the hypocrit icnl,

and the

self-serving will no longer bear that

name. The recurring

cycle will have

finolly

been broken.

Though

there

is yet much to do;

though there a re unce rt ain ti es be-

fore

us and Questions to be

studied

ou t on

many

points; though there

are tares among the wheat. pe rhaps

outnumber ing

them

at times;

though we find every wind of

doctrine blowing within

the borders

of

ou r church;

though

we will yet

see many bright l ights going

out

in

darkness-st i l l we may with as-

su rance st and f irm

on

the

revealed

Word of

God, t est ing the

leaching

of all men by its precepts alone.

and holding

fast the

t ru ths and

the

name of the Seventh-day Adventist

Church. The

cycles will

finally

end.

The truth

will

triumph. God

grant

that we may

triumph

with it. II

Manuscripl 107. 1897 found

in

Manuscript

Release

667 1 2

2. Letter

103. 1904. found

in Manu-

script Release 489 1 2


11/32

LEITERS

TO

THE EDITOR

Please continue our subscription.

I was

putting

off resubscribing for

some insignificant reasons until

I

read

Elder

Ron

Spear s a rt ic le

(Editorial,

AugUSt 1987) in

your

last

issue.

r had just picked

up the

new

issue

and was

hal fway t hrough t ha t

f ir st a rt ic le when God s S pirit

impressed

me very

strongly

that

1

needed to r esubscribe . Each art ic le

has been such a blessing

It

seems

with every coming

issue

that

the Holy

Spirit speaks with

g reate r f orce

through the

lru1h-

f ;l led pages you publish.

I

was

especially blessed with the

rticle y Beth Jennings on how

you all go t

started,

and how

God

has sustninecl you

T;m, Lisa.

and Sarah Yates

Upland, Indinna

Though all of you

a re very

busy,

I think you will

appreciate

feed-

bnck

from

the

recent

c mp meeting

Persona lly, I saw a clear, vital Bible

t ru th combined

with

a living ex-

perience-a

faith

that

works

by

love,

resulting in unity, conviction,

commitment , and action.

We

especially

appreciated

the ab -

sence of criticism, the avoidance of

names. and the recogni tion that the

conflict is belween

truth

and

error.

not between

conference

and

self-

supporting.

I suggest more accurate

and

less

deba tab le t ermino logy. In

Africa

we

were truly self-support-

ing

and

supported

others.

But mOS

self-supporting

i ns ti tu tion s re-

ceive

donations. I would

say

there

are two cacegories: I) tithe-sup-

ported, conference-directed work,

and 2) pr;vately

supported

volun-

tary

work.

Moses

and

Jesus forbade none.

Every member should be a mis-

sionary volunteer, every home a

Christian educational

and

evangelis-

tic

institution,

while

supporting

the

clergy

also.

None are

independ-

ent, all ar e

church.

I

consider

myself

as

definitely

a

representative

of Seventh-day Adventists as th e

conference

officers,

with

all

proper

respect

fo r them.

Maurice Butler, MD

Sher;dan, Oregon

I just wanted

to

send

my

support

and

thanks for the e u l i fu l

campmeeting

:i t

Eato nv ille . My

sister (who

had not listened

to

p re sen t t ru t h

before)

attended

with

me, :md she sat through every

single

meeting and

came away in -

spired-never to be the same ag:tin

Thanks so much for your hard

work

and earnes t effort to ge t

God s mes-

sage

to

the

entire

world.

Name Witheld

Gresham,

Oregon

Enclosed

you will

find

a check

fo r a subscription to your fine

magazine,

Olir

Firm Fmmdalioll.

As a relatively

new Sabbath-

keeper formerly in the Pentecostal/

Charismatic movement I truly

enjoy

th e

straight message

that your

magazine

presents. Keep presenting

the truth at all costs and may the

Lord be with you and your staff

during these

last

days.

Jeffrey Burger

Dallastown,

Pennsylvani3

Response from Trlllh /01 Today

Telcl ision

Program

Just

by

accident

I

happened to

turn

my

TV on this afternoon about

1:30

and wat ched

the last

part

of

your program.

I was greatly impressed with th e

discussion that was in progress,

and, as a result, I \vill begin

walch-

ing

each week.

I ve

enclosed

a

donat ion and am

requesting

a

copy of

Tltc Crcal

COIl-

trorers P.

Ernest Jones

Proctorville,

Ohio

I would like to tell you what a

blessing it w tS to hear your

program on TV today. t answered

several questions I had.

Please

send

me TrUll /01 Today and

the

Tmth

fo r

Today Dible

Study correspond-

ence course.

Deborah Faye Cobb

Jacksonville, Arkans3s

I d like 1 order your magazine

Trulh

lor Today and the book

Creal

C 11 roversy.

I

have been a

Sunday

Chrislian

unti l th is year ; but now I feel I am

a

Sabbath keeper

as

much [IS

pos-

sible. There ar e times

\vhen

I

have

to

work

on S:uurda y (I m in the

Navy), bu t

I am willing to fo llow

and obey God s

law.

John Van Druten

FPO San

Francisco,

California

You wil l

f ind enclosed

my

dona-

tion for the book Gre l [ COll lrol ersy

and the

magazine Truth

lor

Todor

Your program ha s answered

Questions I ve

had

:tboul Sundny

and the

Sabbath. Our prayer is

for

you to

continue

to

revea l the

trulh.

Ernest Edwards

Columbia,

Kentucky

We are pleased \vith the i l/creas

iJlg respoJ/se

{

Ihe

Truth

For

Today

program 11 TI It

airs IlQliolllvide

at

J

p.m.

EDT J2

p.m.

eDT

a.m.

M T 1

a.m.

P T

on the

Tempo Sarel / i re jCahle

Network

Your

friends

can

find

it l

cahle

TV

or

al l Salcom 3.

Trollsponder

6.

-EDtTORS

Seplember 1987

O/lr Firm

FOII/ldalioll II


12/32

criptures

any

gil the vords

Scripture a

meaning

that suits

their own opinions

tures? Shall

we

d ri ve our stakes of

doctrine

on e

after another, and

then

tr y make all Scripture meet our

establi shed opinions,

or

shall

we

take

our

ideas

and

views

to

the

Scr ip tu res , a nd

measure

our the-

ories

on every side by the Scrip-

tures of truth? Many who read

and

even teach the Bible, do

nOt

com-

prehend the precious t ruth

they

are

. 3d-,-,-

be

la)d LOI -c h

ions,

regarded

as inffl l-

It t \Va the

unwillingness f

the J Jews to give up their Ion -

estaplisAed

ditions

that prove

1he r ruin.

T ile y wer e det ermine

no t to see

any\.

flaw in their own

opipipns

or

in

t p ir expositions of

th e \.Scriptures;

however lonS

men

may

have

cn-tertained

certain

views,

if

lhey

are not c1enrly sus-

tained by the written Word. they

should

be

disc3rded.

Those who s ince re ly des ir e t nl lh

will

not

be

reluctant to lay

open

thei r

posit ions

fo r

investig.:ltion

and

criticism,

nnd will

nOt

be an-

noyed if their opinions and

are

crossed.

This

was

the spirit

cher ished

alllong us

forry

years

ago. We

would

come togethe r bur-

dened

in soul, praying

thnt

we

might be on e in faith and doctrine;

fo r we knew

that

hrist is not

divided. One point at a time was

made the subject of investignrion.

Solemnity characterized these

coun-

cils of

investigation. The Scrip-

tures

were opened \\ itll a sense

of

awe.

Often

we fa ste d, that we

might be

better f i tt ed

to understand

the truth . A fte r earnest prayer , if

any

point

was

no t

understood,

it

was

discussed, and each

one

ex-

pressed his opinion f reely; then WC

would again

bow

in.

prayer,

and

e arne st s llpplic at ions wen t up O

heaven 111m God

would

help us to

see

eye

to eye,

that

we might be

one. as Christ and the F,lIher are

one. Many

tears

were shed.

If

one

brother rebuked another fo r hi s

I

-,

r

teaching

or

studying.

Men

entertain

errors, when

the truth

is clearly

marked out, and if

t hey wou ld

bu t

br ing the ir doct rines to the Word of

God, and not read the Word

or

God

in the light

of

the ir doct rines, to

prove

their

ideas r ight, t he y

would

nOt

walk

in

darkness and bli ndness ,

or

cherish error. Many

give

the

words of Scripture a meaning that

suits their own opinions, and they

mislead

themselves a nd d ec eiv e

others

by

their

of

God s Word. As we

lake up

the

study

of

God s Word, we should do

so wit h humbl e hearts. All selfish-

ness, all love

of

originality, should

The

e rch

C

HRIST HAS said: Search the

Scriptures;

for in them ye

think ye have eternal life: and they

;-Ire

they w hich testify

of

me.

[John 5:39]

The duty

of

searching

the

Scriptures is enjoined

upon

every

son

and daughter

of

Adam

Jesus says. An d they ar e they

which

testify

of me The Father

was revealed in the SOil, and In

studying

Christ

we shall learn of

the Father. Then let

us

come to

senrch

the Word of God

with

sor-

tcned, subdued hearts,

and r ead the

testimony concerning

our Lord

and

Mnslcr.

Shall we

not with intense

i nt ere st se ek to calch His

spirit,

copy His exnl1lplc and breathe in

the rtt il losphere

of

His

presence,

which is

light and

love? How ea-

gerly shou ld we

study every

lesson

1l1nt

fell

from

His

divine

lips

How

we should cherish His instruction

How

ardently we

should

seek to

im -

itate His character

and

lifc, and

press on to

know

more and more of

the heavenly t ru ths

He taught.

If

we

would but prac t ice

the truths He

has given, we should perfect an

ex -

perience tha t would be

of the high-

est

value

to us, and to the world.

Jesus presented

new

views of

truth

to

His

disciples,

and

how

much

deeper

was

the

meaning of

His

u({erances

than

the

meaning of

any lesson ever taught by

human

lips

God

was manifest in the

flesh, justified in the Spir it ,

seen

of

angels, p renched unto the Gen ti le s,

believed on in th e

wor ld , received

up

iota glory.

[I Timothy 3:16]

How shall we search

the Scrip-

llen G White

12

Our irm

OUI dolioll

September

1987


13/32

dullness

of comprehension

in not

understanding a passage as he un -

derstood it the one rebuked would

afterward

take his

brother

by the

hand

and

say. L et us not grieve

the Holy

Spirit of God.

Jesus

is

with us; let us keep a

humbl e and

teachable spi ri t; and the

brother.

addressed would say. Forgive me.

brother, 1 have

done

you an injus-

tice.

Then

we would bow

down

in

another

season

of prayer. We spent

many hours in this way.

We did

not

generally

study

together more than

four hours at

time yet sometimes

the

entire

night was

spent

in solemn

investigation of the Scriptures, that

we

might understand

the

tru th for

Our time. On some occasions the

Spirit

of God

would come upon me.

and

difficult POri

ions were made

clear through

God s appointed

way

JJ d

then there was per fect har -

mony.

We

were all

of one mind

and

one

Spirit

We

sought

most earnestly

that

the Scriptures should not be wrested

to

sui t any man s opinions.

We

tried

to make

our differences

as slight as

possible by not dwelling on points

that

were of minor importance.

upon which there were varying

opinions. But the burden of every

soul was to

bring about

a

condition

among the

brethren

which would

answer [he

prayer

of Christ that

His

disciples

might

be

one

as He

and

the Father are one. Sometimes one

or two

of

the

brethren

would

stub-

bornly set themselves against the

We have man

lessons to learn, and

many, ny to

unlearn

view presented. and would act out

the natur al feel ings of the hearl;

but when this d isposi tion

appeared,

we

suspended

our

investigations

nd

adjourned

our meeting,

that

each one

might

have an

oppor-

tunity to go to

God

in

prayer,

and

without conversation with others,

study

the

point of dif ference, ask-

ing light from Heaven. With ex -

pressions of friendliness we parted,

to meet again as soon as possible

for further investigation.

At

times

the

power of God came

upon us

in a marked

manner. and

when

clear light revealed the points of

truth,

we would weep and rejoice

together.

We

loved Jesus; we loved

one another,

In those days God wrought for

us

and

the

truth

was

precious

to

our

souls. It is necessary

that

our

unity today be of a

character

that

will bear

the

test

of

trial.

We

are in

the school of

the

Master here,

that

we may be

t ra ined for

the school

above. We must learn to

bear

disap-

pointment

in a Christlike

manner.

and

the lesson

taught

by this will be

of

great

importance to us.

We

have many lessons to learn

and many, many

to

unlearn. God

and heaven alone are infallible.

Those

who

think that they

will

never have to give

up

a

cher-

ished view. never have occasion to

change

an

opinion.

will be

disap-

pointed, As long as we hold to

our

own ideas and opinions with deter-

mined

persistency.

we

cannot

have

the

unity

for which

Christ

prayed.

Could those who are self-suffi-

cient

see how the universe

of God

regards them; cou ld they see them-

selves as

God

sees them; they would

behold such weakness

such mani-

fest want of wisdom that they

would

cry

to the Lord to be

their

righteousness; they would want to

hide from His sight . The apostle

says

Ye

are not

your own.

For ye

are bought with a price:

therefore

glori fy God in your body. and in

your

spirit,

which

are God s,

[

Corinthians

6:19-20] When our

schemes 3nd our

pl::tns

have been

broken; when men who have de -

pended

upon our judgment con-

clude

the Lord would lead

them

to

act and judge for themse lves . we

should not feel like censuring, and

like

exercising arbit rary author ity

to compel them to receive

our

ideas.

Those who are placed in authority

should

constantly

cult iva te se lf -

cont rol . I am

thankful that God is

a

wise ruler and everyone who is a

true disciple of Christ

will

be

humble, l if t his cross and meekly

follow

where

th e self-denying,

self-sacrificing

Jesus leads

the

way.

Disappointment may prove to be

the greatest of blessings to us. We

must learn

that others

have rights as

well as we have,

and when any of

our

brethren receive new l igh t upon

the Scriptures, he should frankly

explain his

position, and every min-

ister should search the Scriptures

Disappointment y

prove to be the

greatest

blessings

to us

with t he spi ri t of

candor

to see if

the

points

presented on a new

sub-

ject

can be

substantiated

by the in-

spired

Word. l iThe

servant of

the

Lord

must not

strive;

bu t

be gentle

unto all men,

apt

to teach patient;

in meekness

instructing

those that

oppose themselves; if God

perad-

venture will give them repentance

to

the acknowledging of

the

truth.

[2 Timothy 2:24-25]

Every soul

must look to God with contrition

and

humility , that God

may guide

and lead

and

bless.

We

must not

trust

to

others

to sea rch the

Scrip-

tures for us. Some of

our

leading

brethren

have

frequently

taken

positions on the wrong s ide and if

God

would send a message and wait

for

these

older brethren

to open the

way for its advance, it would never

reach the people. These brethren

will be

found

in this position until

they become

partakers

of the divine

nature to a greater extent than ever

they have been in the past.

There is

sadness in heaven over the spiritual

blindness

of

many

of

our

brethren.

Our younger minis te rs who fill less

important positions must make

decided

efforts to

come

to the light

to sink the shaft

deeper

and still

deeper

into

the mine of truth,

The rebuke of

the Lord will be

upon those who would be guardi ans

of the

doctrine,

who would bar the

way that greater

light

sh

not

September 987

Our

rm OUl dation


14/32

come

to the people. A great work is

to be done, and God sees

that

ou r

leading men have need of greater

light, that

they

may

uni te with

the

messengers

whom

He s ha ll s en d

harmoniously to a ccompl is h t he

\\lork that He designs

they should.

The Lord

has

raised

up

messengers

and endued them with

His

Spirit,

and

has

said,

C ry

aloud. spare

not,

lift

up

thy

voice l ike a

trumpet.

and

show my people their transgression,

and the house of

Jacob

their

sins.

[Isaiah 58: I} Let no one

run

th e risk

of interp osin g him self b etw een

the people and the

message of

The message of God will

come

to th e people; :lnd if

there

were no voice

among

men to

give

it the very s tones would cr y out.

Seek Ille Lord. put

away

pride, pUI

alvav

sirife

alter

suprell/({n

call upon eve ry minis te r to seek

the Lord, to

pu t

away pride. to

pu t

a\vay

strife after supremacy.

and humble the heart

before

God.

It is the

coldness

of heart, the

unbelief of those who ought to

have faith,

that

keeps th e

churches

in feebleness.

would

rejoice with

al l my

heart

to

see

all who

have been

connected with the

work, take

their

places

to

hold high

th e

ban-

ner of

Jesus,

t hat when their work

sh311

bc done. they may

say as

did Paul. I have fough t a good

fight.

have f in ished

my

course.

have kept the

faith:

henceforth

there

is laid up

for me

a

crown

of rightcousness. which the Lord,

the rigllleous judge, shall give me

at

that day: and not to me

only.

but unto all them also that love

his

appearing.

[2 Timothy 4:7-8]

RevielV

alld

Herald, July

26, 1892

Our Firm FOUI datioll September 1987

lVarrell E HOlVell 1869-1943

se rved as educator

missionary

secretary

of

the General Conference

Depnrtmelll of Educatiofl. and sec

retary

to

the preside t 0/ the Gen-

eral Conference.

T

HE

SPIRIT

of s implic ity and

distinction

from the world

[was}

inculcated from

th e

very

beginning of the

Advent

movement

till now. These

practices

[reducing

separat ion f rom

the

world} seem

much at variL lnce

with

the s3crifices

and deprivations of ou r

hard-work-

ing missionaries,

with their meager

means

and

facilities,

on

the

other

side of th e globe.

whither

these

same

graduates may sooner

or

later

b e c al le d.

Yet

on

the

other

hand, these

var ious things, though

serving

as

straws

to

show

the

direction of

the

wind, c an hardly be called the

111 st

impon::llH

factors

under

the

topic

of separ3t ion from

t he wor ld .

In

ou r

educational convent ion of

1910,

3 warning was

sounded,

which was not altogether untimely,

against the

menace

of a disease then

called

universi t i t is .

What

was

then a

possible

two

or three isolated

cases has s ince become epidemic.

The very psychology

of building up

Our standards to those of the

educational world. seemed to breed

the idea that if we were

going

to

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Our Firm Foundation -1987_09

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