A Line of Truth
1859
“The inconsistent positions held by many in regard to the Trinity, as it is termed, has, no doubt, been the prime cause of many other errors. Erroneous views of the divinity of Christ are apt to lead us into error in regard to the nature of the atonement. The doctrine which we propose to examine, was established by the Council of Nice, A.D. 325, and ever since that period, persons not believing this peculiar tenet, have been denounced by popes and priests, as dangerous heretics. It was for a disbelief in this doctrine, that the Arians were anathematized in A.D. 513.
As we can trace this doctrine no farther back than the origin of the “Man of Sin” and as we find this dogma at that time established father by force than otherwise, we claim the right to investigate the matter, and ascertain the bearing of Scripture on this subject.
Just here I will meet a question which is very frequently asked, namely, Do you believe in the divinity of Christ? Most unquestionably we do; but we don't believe, as the M. E. church Discipline teaches, that Christ is the very and eternal God; and, at the same time, very man; that the human part was the Son, and the divine part was the Father.” — Dennis W. Hull, Bible Doctrine of the Divinity of Christ, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Nov. 10, 1859, Vol. XIV, No. 25, pg. 193.
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1861
“QUESTIONS FOR BRO. LOUGHBOROUGH
Bro. White: The following questions I would like to have you give, or send, to Bro. Loughborough for explanation. W. W. Giles, Toledo, Ohio.
QUESTION 1. What serious objections is there to the doctrine of the Trinity?
ANSWER. There are many objections which we might urge, but on account of our limited space we shall reduce them to the three following: 1. It is contrary to common sense. 2. It is contrary to Scripture. 3. Its origin is pagan and fabulous.
These positions we will remark upon briefly in their order. And 1. It is not very consonant with common sense to talk of three being one, and one being three. Or as some express it, calling God, “the Triune God,” or “the three-one-God.” If Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are each God, it would be three Gods; for three times one is not one, but three. There is a sense in which they are one, but not one person, as claimed by Trinitarians.
2. It is contrary to Scripture. Almost any portion of the New Testament we may open which has occasion to speak of the Father and Son, represents them as two distinct persons. The seventeenth chapter of John is along sufficient to refute the doctrine of the Trinity. Over forty times in that one chapter Christ speaks of his Father as a person distinct from himself. His Father was in heaven and he upon earth. The Father had sent him. Given to him those that believed. He was then to go to the Father. And in this very testimony he shows us in what consists the oneness of the Father and Son. It is the same as the oneness of the members of Christ’s church. “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one even as we are one.” Of one heart and one mind. Of one purpose in all the plan devised for man’s salvation. Read the seventeenth chapter of John, and see if it does not completely upset the doctrine of the Trinity.
To believe that doctrine, when reading the scripture we must believe that God sent himself into the world, died to reconcile the world to himself, raised himself from the dead, ascended to himself in heaven, pleads before himself in heaven to reconcile the world to himself, and is the only mediator between man and himself. It will not do to substitute the human nature of Christ (according to Trinitarians) as the Mediator; for Clarke says, “Human blood can no more appease God than swine’s blood.” Com. On 2 Sam. xxi, 10. We must believe also that in the garden God prayed to himself, if it were possible, to let the cup pass from himself, and a thousand other such absurdities.
Read carefully the following texts, comparing them with the idea that Christ is the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Supreme, and only self-existent God: John xiv, 28; xvii, 3; iii, 16; v, 19, 26; xi, 15; xx, 19; viii, 50; vi, 38; Mark xiii, 32; Luke vi, 12; xxii, 69; xxiv, 29; Matt. iii, 17; xxvii, 46; Gal. iii, 20; 1 Jno. Ii, 1; Rev. v, 7; Acts xvii, 81. Also see Matt. xi, 25, 27; Luke I, 32; xxii 42; John iii, 35, 36; v, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26; vi, 40; xiii, 35, 36; xiv, 13; 1 Cor. xv, 28, &c.
The word Trinity nowhere occurs in the Scriptures. The principal text supposed to teach it is 1 John i, 7, which is an interpolation. Clarke says, 'Out of one hundred and thirteen manuscripts, the text is wanting in one hundred and twelve. It occurs in no MS. before the tenth century. And the first place the text occurs in Greek, is in the Greek translation of the acts of the Council of Lateran, held A.D. 1215.” — Com. on John i, and remarks at close of chap.
3. Its origin is pagan and fabulous. Instead of pointing us to scripture for proof of the trinity, we are pointed to the trident of the Persians, with the assertion that “by this they designed to teach the idea of a trinity, and if they had the doctrine of the trinity, they must have received it by tradition from the people of God. But this is all assumed, for it is certain that the Jewish church held to no such doctrine. Says Mr. Summerbell, “A friend of mine who was present in a New York synagogue, asked the Rabbi for an explanation of the word ‘elohim.’ A Trinitarian clergyman who stood by, replied, ‘Why, that has reference to the three persons in the Trinity,’ when a Jew stepped forward and said he must not mention that word again, or they would have to compel him to leave the house; for it was not permitted to mention the name of any strange god in the synagogue.” (Discussion between Summerbell and Flood on Trinity, pg. 38). Milman says the idea of the Trident is fabulous. (Hist. Christianity, p. 34).
This doctrine of the trinity was brought into the church about the same time with image worship, and keeping the day of the sun, and is but Persian doctrine remodeled. It occupied about three hundred years from its introduction to bring the doctrine to what it is now. It was commenced about 325 A.D., and was not completed till 681. See Milman's Gibbon's Rome, vol. iv, p. 422. It was adopted in Spain in 589, in England in 596, in Africa in 534. —Gib. vol. iv, pp. 114, 345; Milner, vol. i, p. 519.” — J. N. Loughborough, Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, Nov. 5, 1861, Vol. XVIII, No. 23, pg. 184.
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1863, 1864, 1865
“The divinity and pre-existence of our Saviour are most clearly proved by those scriptures which refer to him as “the Word.” “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” John. 1,1-3. This expresses plainly a pre-existent divinity. This expresses plainly a pre-existent divinity.
The first of the above quotations says the Word was God, and also the word was with God. Now it needs no proof—indeed it is self-evident—that the Word as God, was not the God he was with. And as there is but “one God” the term must be used in reference to the Word in a subordinate sense, which is explained by Paul’s calling the same pre-existent person, the Son of God. This is also confirmed by John’s saying that the Word “was with the Father.” 1 John i, 2; also calling the Word, “his Son Jesus Christ.” — Joseph Harvey Waggoner, ‘The Atonement – Part II, Review and Herald, Oct. 27th, 1863, Vol. XXII, No. 22, pg. 173
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“God “only hath immortality.” He is the one fountain from which all life is derived. But he has given this prerogative to his Son, that he may give life to them that believe. “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.” John v.26” — R. F. Cottrell, Life Through Christ, Review & Herald, March 15, 1864, Vol. XXIII, No. 16, pg. 125
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“Having noticed some of the evil effects of the doctrine of immortal soulism, and the errors growing out of it, we propose to refer briefly to another erroneous belief, equally popular and quite as unscriptural, if not fully as mischievous in its tendency, namely Trinitarianism. By this expression we mean the doctrine that the Father, Son and Spirit are united in one and the same person, making Christ the very and eternal God. We call it belief, although we question very much whether any one ever did really believe anything which the human mind cannot comprehend…. Some who cannot endorse the doctrine of the trinity, go to the other extreme, and utterly deny the divinity of Christ.
Another result of this doctrine is the serious difficulty in the question of the atonement. If Christ and the Father constitute only one person, and Christ died for our race, the death of God is thereby involved, and consequently a denial of his immortality; and, worse than all this, the unavoidable conclusion, that for the period of time in which Christ lay in the tomb, the universe had no God to uphold and govern it.” — William C. Gage, Popular Errors and Their Fruits, No. 3, Review and Herald, Aug. 29, 1865, pg. 101
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1868
“Jesus prayed that his disciples might be one as he was one with his Father. This prayer did not contemplate one disciple with twelve heads, but twelve disciples, made one in object and effort in the cause of their master. Neither are the Father and the Son parts of the “three-one God”. They are two distinct beings, yet one in the design and accomplishment of redemption.” — James White, ‘Life Incidents’ page 343 Chapter ‘The Law and the Gospel’ 1868.
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“My parents… embraced some points in their faith that I could not understand. I will name two only: their mode of baptism, and doctrine of the trinity.” — Joseph Bates ‘The Auto-biography of Joseph Bates’ p. 204, chap. 17, 1868.
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1869
“Our great Exemplar was exalted to be equal with God. All the holy angels delighted to bow before Him. "And again, when He bringeth in the First-begotten into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him." — Ellen White, 2T p. 426 Feb. 9, 1869
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“Even the angels of God have all had beginning of days, so that they would be as much excluded by this language as the members of the human family. And as to the Son of God, he would be excluded also, for he had God for his Father, and did, at some point in the eternity of the past, have beginning of days. So that if we use Paul's language in an absolute sense, it would be impossible to find but one being in the universe, and that is God the Father, who is without father, or mother, or descent, or beginning of days, or end of life.” — J. N. Andrews, Melchisedec, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Sep. 7, 1869, Vol. XXXIV, No. 11, pg. 84.
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“Christ is the only literal son of God. “The only begotten of the Father.” John 1:14. He is God because he is the Son of God; not by virtue of his resurrection. If Christ is the only begotten of the Father, then we cannot be begotten of the Father in a literal sense. It can only be in a secondary sense of the word. Moreover, we have all gone astray from God. Isa. liii, 6. Therefore we can never be any more than adopted children here, nor hereafter.” — John Matteson, Children of God, Review & Herald Oct 12, 1869, Vol. XXXIV, No. 16, pg. 122.
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The Doctrine of the Trinity — “This has been a popular doctrine and regarded as orthodox ever since the bishop of Rome was elevated to the popedom on the strength of it. It is accounted dangerous heresy to reject it; but each person is permitted to explain the doctrine in his own way. All seem to think they must hold it, but each has perfect liberty to take his own way to reconcile its contradictory propositions; and hence a multitude of views are held concerning it by its friends, all of them orthodox, I suppose, as long as they nominally assent to the doctrine.
For myself, I have never felt called upon to explain it, nor to adopt and defend it, neither have I ever preached against it. But I probably put as high an estimation on the Lord Jesus Christ as those who call themselves Trinitarians. This is the first time I have ever taken the pen to say anything concerning this doctrine.
My reasons for not adopting and defending it, are: 1. Its name is unscriptural—the
Trinity, or the triune God, is unknown to the Bible; and I have entertained the idea that doctrines which require words coined in the human mind to express them, are coined doctrines. 2. I have never felt called upon to adopt and explain that which is contrary to all the sense and reason that God has given me. All my attempts at an explanation of such a subject would make it no clearer to my friends.
But if I am asked what I think of Jesus Christ, my reply is, I believe all that the Scriptures say of him. If the testimony represents him as being in glory with the Father before the world was, I believe it. If it is said that he was in the beginning with God, that he was God, that all things were made by him and for him, and that without him was not anything made that was made, I believe it. If the Scriptures say he is the Son of God, I believe it. If it is declared that the Father sent his son into the world, I believe he had a son to send.
If I be asked how I believe the Father and Son are one. I reply, They are one in a sense not contrary to sense. If the “and" in the sentence means anything, the Father and the Son are two beings. They are one in the same sense in which Jesus prayed that his disciples might be one. He asked his Father that his disciples might be one. His language is, “that they may be one, even as we are one.”
It may be objected, If the Father and the Son are two distinct beings, do you not, in worshiping the Son and calling him God, break the first commandment of the Decalogue?
No; it is the Father's will “That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.” We cannot break the commandment and dishonor God by obeying him. The Father says of the Son, “Let all the angels of God worship him.” Should angels refuse to worship the Son, they would rebel against the Father. Children inherit the name of their father. The Son of God “hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than” the angels. That name is the name of his Father…. It is the will of the Father that we should thus honor the Son. In doing so we render supreme honor to the Father. If we dishonor the Son we dishonor the Father; for he requires us to honor his Son.” — R. F. Cottrell, The Doctrine of the Trinity, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, June, 1, 1869, Vol. XXXIII, No. 23, pg. 180-181.
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“…We understand that the term trinity means the union of three persons, not offices, in one God: so that The Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Are three at least, and one at most.
That one person is three persons, and that three persons are only one person, is the doctrine which we claim is contrary to reason and common sense. The being and attributes of God are above, beyond, out of reach of my sense and reason, yet I believe them": But the doctrine I object to is contrary, yes, that is the word, to the very sense and reason that God has himself implanted in us. Such a doctrine he does not ask us to believe. A miracle is beyond our comprehension, but we all believe in miracles who believe our own senses. What we see and hear convinces us that there is a power that affected the most wonderful miracle of creation. But our Creator has made it an absurdity to us that one person should be three persons, and three persons but one person; and in his revealed word he has never asked us to believe it. This our friend thinks objectionable... But to hold the doctrine of the Trinity is not so much an evidence of evil intention as of intoxication from that wine of which all the nations have drunk. The fact that this was one of the leading doctrines, if not the very chief, upon which the bishop of Rome was exalted to the popedom, does not say much in its favor. This should cause men to investigate it for themselves; as when the spirits of devils working miracles undertake the advocacy of the immortality of the soul. Had I never doubted it before, I would now probe it to the bottom, by that word which modern Spiritualism sets at nought... Revelation goes beyond us; but in no instance does it go contrary to right reason and common sense. God has not claimed, as the popes have, that he could “make justice of injustice,” nor has he, after teaching us to count, told us that there is no difference between the singular and plural numbers. Let us believe all he has revealed, and add nothing to it.” — R. F. Cottrell, The Trinity, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, July 6, 1869, Vol. XXXIV, No. 2, pg. 34.
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Without having a disposition to dwell to any great length upon the false hopes cherished by many, I will here notice some of the popular sentiments which are received by the mass of professors of Christianity. In doing this I shall call the attention of the friends to instructions that I with others received at a French Baptist Educational Institute, in Canada, several years ago. While taking Bible lessons, we were taught by Prof. Roux,
1. That God is an infinite and eternal Spirit, without person, body, shape, or parts ; is everywhere and nowhere present; or, is everywhere as a Spirit, and nowhere as a tangible being. I ask, Is not this making God almost a mere nothing?
2. That Jesus Christ is God himself; the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are one identical being; hence in describing one, we describe the other. Certainly this is doing no better by the Son than by the Father.
3. That man enters upon his reward at death. Then the immortal soul, which is the man proper, drops the mortal body, and goes directly to Heaven, or, if unjust, to hell. The just are then like the angels in Heaven.
4. That the angels and the saved in Heaven, before and after the resurrection, are spirits, having no person, form, nor parts; their nature is such that nothing can obstruct their way: they can with ease pass through the most dense, and the solidest wall in existence, and are so constituted that “des milliards” —millions of them (of the angels and the saved) can be
placed on the point of the sharpest needle. Truly they must be very delicate! It is wonderful how such beings (?) can exist! Let us add to this the testimony of Luther Lee. He describes the immortal soul as follows: “It is a simple, spiritual essence; immortal, immaterial, intangible, indissoluble; having no exterior or interior surface; cannot be extended; it is analogous to God; cannot come in contact with matter, and does not occupy space; and we might add, does not weigh anything.” Could any one do any better in trying to define nothing than to give it this description?
5. That Heaven is a spirit world, inhabited by spiritual beings; hence is not a tangible place; yet is filled with bliss and joy unspeakable, etc. To this add the words of the poet:
“Beyond the bounds of time and space, Reach forward to that heavenly place—The saints secure abode.”
Is this not spiritualizing away God, Christ, angels, saints, and Heaven? burning them down to nothing, as it were, by the fire of Spritualism? Yet this constitutes the Christian's hope as taught by popular orthodoxy. Heaven save us, and open our eyes, that we may see the truth.” — A. C. Bourdeau, The Hope That is in You, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, June 8, 1869, Vol. XXXIII, No. 24, pg. 185-186.
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1870
“The great Creator assembled the heavenly host, that he might in the presence of all the angels confer special honor upon his Son. The Son was seated on the throne with the Father, and the heavenly throng of holy angels was gathered around them. The Father then made known that it was ordained by himself that Christ, his Son, should be equal with himself; so that wherever was the presence of his Son, it was as his own presence.”
“The word of the Son was to be obeyed as readily as the word of the Father. His Son he had invested with authority to command the heavenly host. Especially was his Son to work in union with himself in the anticipated creation of the earth and every living thing that should exist upon the earth. His Son would carry out his will and his purposes, but would do nothing of himself alone. The Father's will would be fulfilled in him.”
“He was one with the Father before the angels were created.”
“Christ had been taken into the special counsel of God in regard to his plans, while Satan was unacquainted with them. He did not understand, neither was he permitted to know, the purposes of God. But Christ was acknowledged sovereign of Heaven, his power and authority to be the same as that of God himself.” — Ellen White, Spirit of Prophecy Vol. 1 p. 17, 1870.
“Christ wept at Satan's woe, but told him, as the mind of God, that he could never be received into Heaven.” — Ellen White, Spirit of Prophecy Vol. 1, p. 29, 1870
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“The angels united with Adam and Eve in holy strains of harmonious music; and as their songs pealed forth from blissful Eden, Satan heard the sound of their strains of joyful adoration to the Father and Son.” — Ellen White, Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 1, p. 34, ‘temptation and the fall’, 1870.
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1871
"We had hoped to leave Battle Creek a week sooner; but a pressure of business at the publishing house…detained us till May 30, when we left in company with Mrs. W.” “Here, upon the train, we met a man” [a missionary from China].
“This missionary seemed very liberal in his feelings toward all Christians. But after catechizing us upon the trinity, and finding that we were not sound upon the subject of his triune God, he became earnest in denouncing unitarianism, which takes from Christ his divinity, and leaves him but a man. Here, as far as our views were concerned, he was combating a man of straw. We do not deny the divinity of Christ. We delight in giving full credit to all those strong expressions of Scripture which exalt the Son of God. We believe him to be the divine person addressed by Jehovah in the words, ‘Let us make man.’ He was with the Father before the world was. He came from God, and he says, ‘I go to him that sent me…’”
“The simple language of the Scriptures represent the Father and Son as two distinct persons. With this view of the subject there are meaning and force to language which speaks of the Father and the Son. But to say that Jesus Christ “is the very and eternal God,” makes him his own son, and his own father, and that he came from himself, and went to himself. And when the Father sends Jesus Christ, whom the Heavens must receive till the times of restitution, it will simply be Jesus Christ, or the eternal Father sending himself.”
“We have not as much sympathy with Unitarians that deny the divinity of Christ, as with Trinitarians who hold that the Son is the eternal Father, [reference to Isa 9:6 “the everlasting Father”] and talk so mistily about the three-one God. Give the Master all that divinity with which the Holy Scriptures clothe him.”
“Our adorable Redeemer thought it not robbery to be equal with God, and let all the people say, Amen! Thank Heaven! Here we may sing, Worthy, worthy, is the Lamb; and on the other shore, by the grace of God, we will join all the redeemed in the highest ascriptions of praise for their salvation to both Him that sitteth upon the throne, and the Lamb, forever and ever.” — James White, Review and Herald, June 6, 1871, ‘Western Tour’. (The following week James identified “Mrs. W” in his editorial, “Mutual Obligation.”)
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“For more than twenty years has the Spirit of God been appealing to our people through Mrs. W.”… “We invite all to compare the testimonies of the Holy Spirit through Mrs. W., with the word of God. And in this we do not invite you to compare them with your creed. That is quite another thing. The trinitarian may compare them with his creed, and because they do not agree with it, condemn them.” — James White, Review and Herald, June 13, 1871, paragraphs 14, 18.
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“In a vision given me at Bordoville, Vermont, December 10, 1871, I was shown that the position of my husband has been a very difficult one… God has given us both a testimony which will reach hearts. He has opened before me many channels of light, not only for my benefit, but for the benefit of His people at large. He has also given my husband great light upon Bible subjects, not for himself alone, but for others. I saw that these things should be written and talked out, and that new light would continue to shine upon the word.” — Ellen White, 3T p. 85
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1873
“Never before had angels listened to such prayer as Christ offered at his baptism, and they
were solicitous to be the bearers of the message from the Father to his Son. But no, direct from the Father issues the light of his glory. The heavens were opened, and beams of glory rested upon the Son of God, and assumed the form of a dove in appearance like burnished gold. The dove-like form was emblematic of the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Notwithstanding the Son of God was clothed with humanity yet Jehovah with his own voice assures him of his sonship with the Eternal.” — Ellen White, Review and Herald Jan 21, 1873; Spirit of Prophecy vol. 2 p. 61, 1877 used later in Desire of Ages, p. 111
God's own Spirit shown down as beams of glory upon the Son of God. And the voice from Heaven was none other than God the Father, Himself. Not a third being, not another god involved. There were three beings present at the baptism of Jesus. However, it was God the Father, Jesus Christ, and John the Baptist! One Supreme Spirit being, and two human beings. This is what the Pioneers believed.
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1874
“That God is the fountain and source of immortality is plain from the statement of Paul. He speaks thus of God the Father: “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen nor can see; to whom be honor and power everlasting; Amen.” 1 Tim. 6:16. This text is evidently designed to teach that the self existent God is the only being who, of himself, possesses this wonderful nature. Others may possess it as derived from him, but he alone is the fountain of immortality.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the source of this life to us. “For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” John 5:26. “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.” John 6:57. The Father gives us this life in His Son. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5:11, 12. These Scriptures do clearly indicate that Christ is the source of end less life, and that those only have this who have Christ.” — John N. Andrews, Review and Herald, Jan. 27, 1874, Vol. 43, No. 7, p. 52.
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“Christianity, without the Spirit of God, is an empty, dry theory, and the mind, which is taken up with knowledge without the good influence of God's Spirit is like an observatory without a telescope, or a lantern without oil.
The Spirit of God is a reality. It is as really a living reality as God himself, and is the great moving agent of God in the establishment and continuation of Christianity in the world.
The absence of the Spirit has caused all our present indifference; and its presence will cause all our hardness and indifference to melt away.” — Jos. Clarke, Be filled with the Spirit, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, March 10, 1874, , Vol. 43, No. 13, pg. 103
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“In presenting to the public this synopsis of our faith, we wish to have it distinctly understood that we have no articles of faith, creed, or discipline, aside from the Bible. We do not put forth this as having any authority with our people, nor is it designed to secure uniformity among them, as a system of faith, but is a brief statement of what is, and has been with great unanimity, held by them...
1. That there is one God, a personal, spiritual being, the creator of all things, omnipotent, omniscient, and eternal, infinite in wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, truth, and mercy; unchangeable, and every- where present by his representative, the Holy Spirit. Ps. 139:7.
2. That there is one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Eternal Father, the one by whom God created all things, and by whom they do consist.” — James White, Editor - Signs of the Times, June 4, 1874, Fundamental Principles, Vol. 1, No. 1
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“The Spirit of Christ inspired the prophets of the former dispensations…. The apostle, speaking of the great salvation through Jesus Christ, says that the prophets had “inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you; searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified before-hand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” 1 Pet. 1:10, 11.
In this is seen the harmony of both Testaments, that the Spirit of Jesus inspired the writers of both…
The Spirit of Christ was in Enoch, the seventh from Adam…
The Spirit of Christ testified in Moses that Christ, as a prophet, or teacher, was to be like himself…
Moses was a prophet of God. Christ was with him and the children of Israel in the wilderness… The angel that went before them, Ex. 23:20, 21, 23; 14:19; 32:34; 33:2, 14; Num. 20:16; Josh. 5:13, 14; Acts 7:37, 38 was the Lord Jesus Christ…
The captain of the host of the Lord is the head over angels, or the archangel of Jude 9, and the Lord himself of 1 Thess. 4:16… Christ stands at the head of all the holy angels, and thus he is the captain of the host of the Lord…
And it is not a common angel that is spoken of in Ex. 23:20, 21. “Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into a place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions; for my name is in him.” Such language can be applied to no other than the Son of God…
The eternal Father is never called an angel in the Scriptures; while what angels have done is frequently ascribed to the Lord, as they are his messengers and agents to accomplish his work…
The plan of salvation, by which man is reconciled to God, and God to man, was devised by both the Father and the Son. And in carrying it out, the counsel of peace is between them both. Zech. 6:13. But it was given to the Son to reveal this plan in the several stages of its development to the fallen race in the patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian, ages.” — James White, Christ with Moses: Or the Spirit of Christ in the Prophets, Signs of the Times, Sept 17, 1874, Vol. 1, No. 7, pg. 52
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This is a chronological collection of Adventist statements on the nature, persons, and personalities of God recorded in print during the lifetime of Ellen White. You can trace the progression or consistency, change or lack of change, unanimity or discord concerning this topic among a multitude of authors over a span 90 years.
See for yourself where the church changed its theology and moved its pillars of faith.
In 1846, there was a small group of early Advent believers that would begin to form their faith that would carry forward into the pillars of our faith, the foundation of our faith. They had come through a difficult time and disappointment in 1843 and 1844 as they expected the return of Jesus Christ. They would be led by the SPIRIT OF GOD. These three in particular, Joseph Bates, James White, and Ellen Harmon (who would marry James White) were the co-founders of the SDA denomination.
1846
“The way spiritualizers this way have disposed of or denied the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ is first using the old unscriptural trinitarian creed, viz, that Jesus Christ is the eternal God, though they have not one passage to support it, while we have plain scripture testimony in abundance that He is the Son of the eternal God.’’ — James White, letter, The Day-Star January 24, 1846 the year he married Ellen Gould Harmon
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“In February, 1845, I had a vision of events commencing with the Midnight Cry. I saw a throne, and on it sat the Father and the Son. I gazed on Jesus' countenance and admired His lovely person. The Father's person I could not behold, for a cloud of glorious light covered Him. I asked Jesus if His Father had a form like Himself. He said He had, but I could not behold it, for said He, ‘If you should once behold the glory of His person, you would cease to exist.’” — Ellen White, To the Little Remnant Scattered Abroad, April 6, 1846, Broadside, Early Writings p. 54.
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“I saw in the night visions: and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, (described in the ninth verse) and they brought him near before him; and there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, never to be destroyed." Dan. 7:13,14. Now we all admit this personage was Jesus Christ; for no being on earth or in heaven, has ever had the promise of an everlasting kingdom but him. And does not the Ancient of days give it to him? Would it not be absurd to say that he gave it to himself? How then can it be said (or proved) as it is by some, that the Son is the Ancient of days; - this passage, and the one in fifth Revelations, distinctly prove God and his Son to be two persons in heaven. Jesus says, "I proceeded forth and came from God: neither came I of myself, but he sent me." John 8:42. "I come forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again, I leave the world and go to the Father.” — Joseph Bates, Opening of the Heaven, p. 18, 1846
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1851
“I have often seen the lovely Jesus, that He is a person. I asked Him if His Father was a person and had a form like Himself. Said Jesus, "I am in the express image of My Father’s person.” — Ellen White, Christian Experience & View, p. 64; also Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2, 1860.
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1852
“Says the true Witness, the only Begotten of the Father, ‘Blessed are they that do his [the Father's] commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the City.’ Rev. xxii, 14.” — Ellen White, ‘To the Brethren and Sisters,’ Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, June 10, 1852, Vol. III, No. 3
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1854
“In accordance with the doctrine that three very and eternal Gods are but one God, how may we reconcile …Acts [10:]38. "How God anointed Jesus with the Holy Ghost," &c. First person takes the third person and anoints the second person with a person being at the same time one with himself.” — Joseph Frisbie, Review & Herald Mar 7, 1854
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“God a spiritual being having body and parts as we may learn by his having a dwelling place and because he has and may be seen. Ex. XXXiii, 23.
Does not God say he fills immensity of space? We answer, No. Ps.cxxxix,7, 8. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there, &c. God by his Spirit may fill heaven and earth, etc. Some confound God with his Spirit, which makes confusion. Ps. Xi, 4.” — J. B. Frisbie, The Seventh-day Sabbath Not Abolished, Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, March 7, 1854, Vol. V, No. 7, pg. 50
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“We will make a few extracts, that the reader may see the broad contrast between the God of the Bible brought to light through Sabbath-keeping, and the god in the dark through Sunday-keeping. Catholic Catechism Abridged by the Rt. Rev. John Dubois, Bishop of New York. Page 5.
Q. Where is God? Ans. God is everywhere.
Q. Does God see and know all things? A. Yes, he does know and see all things...
Q. Are there more Gods than one? A. No; there is but one God.
Q. Are there more persons than one in God? A Yes; in God there are three persons.
Q. Which are they? A. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.
Q. Are there not three Gods? A. No; the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, are all but one and the same God'... These ideas well accord with those heathen philosophers... We should rather mistrust that the Sunday God [the Trinity] came from the same source that Sunday-keeping did.” — J. B. Frisbie, The Seventh-Day Sabbath Not Abolished, The Sunday God, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, March 7, 1854, Vol. V, No. 7, p.50. [emphasis supplied].
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“As fundamental errors, we might class with this counterfeit sabbath other errors which Protestants have brought away from the Catholic church, such as sprinkling for baptism, the trinity, the consciousness of the dead and eternal life in misery. The mass who have held these fundamental errors, have doubtless done it ignorantly; but can it be supposed that the church of Christ will carry along with her these errors till the judgment scenes burst upon the world? We think not. “Here are they [in the period of a message given just before the Son of man takes his place upon the white cloud, Rev. 14:14] that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” This class, who live just prior to the second advent, will not be keeping the traditions of men, neither will they be holding fundamental errors relative to the plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. And as the true light shines out upon these subjects, and is rejected by the mass, then condemnation will come upon them.” – James White, The Position of the Remnant, Their Duties and Trials Considered, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, September 12, 1854, vol. 6, No. 5, pg. 36.
Today’s leaders teach the people not to hold any respect for co-founder James White. They say, "he wasn't a prophet, his wife was." Ellen White corrected people who called her a prophet, however accepted herself as a "Messenger of the Lord." James White and those early, early Pioneers were led by the Spirit of God. Today's leaders were "learned" by professors at the university, the same institutions started by the Jesuit society. They are led by a false deity called god the (un)holy spirit and teach the same.
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1855
“Here we might mention the Trinity, which does away the personality of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ, and of sprinkling or pouring instead of being ‘buried with Christ in baptism,’ ‘planted in the likeness of his death:’ but we pass from these fables to notice one that is held sacred by nearly all professed Christians, both Catholic and Protestant.” — James White, Preach the Word, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, December 11, 1855, Vol. VII, No. 11, pg. 85
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“The doctrine of the Trinity which was established in the church by the council of Nice A. D. 325… destroys the personality of God and his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. The in-famous, measures by which it was forced upon the church which appear upon the pages of ecclesiastical history might well cause every believer in that doctrine to blush.” — J. N. Andrews, The Fall of Babylon, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, March 6th 1855, Vol. VI, No. 24, pg. 185.
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1856
“The ‘mystery of iniquity’ began to work in the church in Paul’s day. It finally crowded out the simplicity of the gospel and corrupted the doctrine of Christ, and the church went into the wilderness. Martin Luther and other reformers, arose in the strength of God, and with the Word and Spirit, made mighty strides in the reformation.”
“The greatest fault we can find in the Reformation is, the Reformers stopped reforming.” Had they gone on, and onward, till they had left the last vestige of Papacy behind, such as natural immortality, sprinkling, the trinity, and Sunday- keeping, the church would now be free from her unscriptural errors.” — James White, The Word, Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, Feb. 7, 1856, Vol. VII, No. 19, pg. 149
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“The doctrine called the trinity claiming that God is without form or parts; that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the three are one person, is another [false doctrine]…. The errors mentioned above are not only the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church, but the Protestant churches are poisoned with the bane of the mother church. I know it is hard for people to get rid of opinions formed from traditions of men, handed down through many generations; but we must get rid of them if we would be prepared to meet the Lord…. Will those love his appearing that knowingly keep the traditions of the elders instead of the Commandments of God? I fear not.” — Letter from Sarah Haselton to Uriah Smith, Communications Section, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, July 10, 1856, Vol. 8, No. 11, pg. 87
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1858
“Protestants and Catholics are so nearly united in sentiment, that it is not difficult to conceive how Protestants may make an image to the Beast. The mass of Protestants believe with Catholics in the Trinity, immortality of the soul, consciousness of the dead, rewards and punishments at death, the endless torture of the wicked, inheritance of the saints beyond the skies, sprinkling for baptism and the PAGAN SUNDAY for the Sabbath; all of which is contrary to the spirit and letter of the new testament. Surely there is between the mother and daughters, a striking family resemblance.” — Merritt E. Cornell, ‘Facts for the Times’ p. 76, 1858.
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