Alpha & Omega

A &Ω

Alpha & Omega

Ecclesiastes 1:9, 10

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

Selected Messages Book 1, p. 200

“In the book Living Temple there is presented the alpha of deadly heresies. The omega will follow, and will be received by those who are not willing to heed the warning God has given.”

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg The Living Temple 1903

The Ministry of Healing, p. 429

“"The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever." Deuteronomy 29:29. The revelation of Himself that God has given in His word is for our study. This we may seek to understand. But beyond this we are not to penetrate.”

Special Testimonies Series B, No.7, p. 39

“He [Kellogg] has not known whither his feet were tending. But in his recent writings, his tendencies toward pantheism have been revealed.”

Loma Linda Messages, p. 253

"The teaching regarding God that is presented in 'Living Temple' is not such as our students need. ... Those who express such sentiments regarding Him show that they are departing from the faith.”

What did Kellogg believe to warrant such strong warnings from the Spirit of Prophecy?

?

What was his belief in regards to God?

“Ever since the council closed I have felt that I should write you confidentially regarding Dr Kellogg’s plans for revising and republishing ‘The Living Temple’…. He [Kellogg] said that some days before coming to the council, he had been thinking the matter over, and began to see that he had made a slight mistake in expressing his views… He then stated that his former views regarding the trinity had stood in his way of making a clear and absolutely correct statement; but that within a short time he had come to believe in the trinity and could now see pretty clearly where all the difficulty was, and believed that he could clear

He told me that he now believed in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; and his view was that it was God the Holy Ghost, and not God the Father, that filled all space, and every living thing. He said if he had believed this before writing the book, he could have expressed his views without giving the wrong impression the book now gives. I placed before him the objections I found in the teaching, and tried to show him that the teaching was so utterly contrary to the gospel that I did not see how it could be revised by changing a few expressions.”

Letter: A. G. Daniells to W. C. White Oct. 29, 1903

Selected Messages Book 1, p. August 7, 1904 199

“It will be said that Living Temple has been revised. But the Lord has shown me that the writer has not changed, and that there can be no unity between him and the ministers of the gospel while he continues to cherish his present sentiments. sentiments I am bidden to lift my voice in warning to our people, saying, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked" 6:7).” “You are (Gal. not definitely clear on the personality of God, which is everything to us as a people. You have virtually destroyed the Lord God Himself.” --Letter 300, 1903. Himself

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg The Living Temple

He had come to believe in the trinity He believed in God the Father,

Revise

God the Son, and

Republis h

God the Holy Ghost

Selected Messages Book 1, p.203

“In the controversy that arose among our brethren regarding the teachings of this book, those in favor of giving it a wide circulation declared: "It contains the very sentiments that Sister White has been teaching." teaching This assertion struck right to my heart. I felt heartbroken; for I knew that this representation of the matter was not true.”

How did Dr. Kellogg summarize the whole problem?

“As far as I can fathom, the difficulty which is found in ‘The Living Temple’, the whole thing may be simmered down to the question: Is the Holy Ghost a person? You say no. I had supposed the Bible said this for the reason that the personal pronoun ‘he’ is used in speaking of the Holy Ghost. Sister White uses the pronoun ‘he’ and has said in so many words that the Holy Ghost is the third person of the Godhead. How the Holy Letter: J. H. Kellogg to G. I. Butler. Oct 28. 19 Ghost can be the third person and not be a person at all is difficult for

Selected Messages Book 1, p. 203

“I am compelled to speak in denial of the claim that the teachings of Living Temple can be sustained by statements from my writings. There may be in this book expressions and sentiments that are in harmony with my writings. And there may be in my writings many statements which, taken from their connection, and interpreted according to the mind of the writer of Living Temple, would seem to be in harmony with the teachings of this book. This may give apparent support to the assertion that the sentiments in Living Temple are in harmony with my writings. But God forbid that this sentiment should prevail.”

Battle Creek Letters, p. 103

“It is not safe to trust in Dr. Kellogg. I dare not do it. I have not written to him much, recently, but I may have to send something soon. I have not the least confidence in his present attitude toward many things. I learn that notwithstanding all I have written regarding "The Living Temple" a book that was written under the inspiration of the archdeceiver; notwithstanding with many plain messages that I have delivered in the "Review and Herald" and in letters to our brethren in responsibility, Dr. Kellogg now admits only a few of the mistakes he has made, and still supposes that in former years I taught the same errors. This reveals a blindness beyond conception.”

•Was Ellen White a Trinitarian? •Did she believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost? •If so, then how dare she rebuke Kellogg for bringing it to light?

•Was it God who told her to rebuke Kellogg? •How Could God inspire her to oppose the Trinity, if it is the truth?

?

•If Ellen White believed in the Trinity, then she was a false prophet!

Letter 52, 1903

“Your ideas are so mystical that they are destructive to the real substance, and the minds of some are becoming confused in regard to the foundation of our faith. If you allow your mind to become thus diverted, you will give a wrong mold to the work that has made us what we are-Seventh-day Adventists.--”

What was the foundation of our faith?

“The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God; it is also the Spirit of Christ.” U. Smith, GC. Daily Bulletin Vol. 4, March 14, 1891, pp. 146, 147 “Here we find that the Holy Spirit is both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ.” E. J. Waggoner, Christ And His Righteousness, p. 23. 1890 “We learn from this language that when we speak of the Spirit of God we are really speaking of his presence and power.” J. N. Loughborough, Review & Herald, September 13, 1898

Signs of the Times, November 23, 1891

“The divine Spirit that the world's Redeemer promised to send, is the presence and power of God.”

Therefore, in giving us His holy spirit, is God giving us another individual or himself?

“In giving us His Spirit, God gives us Himself, making Himself a fountain of divine influences, to give health and life to the world.” Testimonies for the Church Vol. 7, p.

Review and Herald, April 5, 1906 par. 12

“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." Christ is not here referring to his doctrine, but to his person, the divinity of his character.”

e Southern Work, September 13, 1898 par. 2

“That Christ should manifest Himself to them, and yet be invisible to the world, was a mystery to the disciples. They could not understand the words of Christ in their spiritual sense. They were thinking of the outward, visible manifestation. They could not take in the fact that they could have the presence of Christ with them, and yet He be unseen by the world. They did not understand the meaning of a spiritual

Desire of Ages p. 166

While Jesus ministers in the sanctuary above, He is still by His Spirit the minister of the church on earth. He is withdrawn from the eye of sense, but His parting promise is fulfilled, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Matt. 28:20.

view and Herald, May 19, 1904 par. 1 “Christ declared that after his ascension, he would send to his church, as his crowning gift, the Comforter, who was to take his place. This Comforter is the Holy Spirit,--the soul of his life, the efficacy of his church, the light and life of the world. With his Spirit Christ sends a reconciling influence and a power that takes away sin.”

{SW, October 25, 1898 par. 1} “The Holy Spirit is constantly at work, teaching, reminding, testifying, coming to the soul as a divine comforter, convincing of sin as an appointed judge and guide. Christ was the spirit of truth.” truth

14MR 84 “The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, which is sent to all men to give them sufficiency, that through His grace we might be complete in Him. The Lord has provided that we should always be under the teaching and influence of the Holy Spirit.”

The Home Missionary, November 1, 1893 par. 28

“…the holy Spirit is the Comforter, as the personal presence of Christ to the soul.”

Desire of Ages p. 669

The Lord knows all about His faithful servants who for His sake are lying in prison or who are banished to lonely islands. He comforts them with His own presence. presence

Who is your comforter? There is no comforter like Christ, so tender and so true. {RH, October 26, 1897 par. 15} “The Saviour is our Comforter. This I have proved Him to be.” {8MR 49} “As by faith we look to Jesus, our faith pierces the shadow, and we adore God for His wondrous love in giving Jesus the Comforter.” Comforter {19MR 296, 297}

Someone else?

Why are we weak? The reason why the churches are weak and sickly and ready to die, is that the enemy has brought influences of a discouraging nature to bear upon trembling souls. He has sought to shut Jesus from their view as the Comforter, Comforter as one who reproves, who warns, who admonishes them, saying, "This is the way, walk ye in it." {RH, August 26, 1890 par. 10}

What was the foundation of our faith? (The Son of God) “The Father was greater than the Son in that he was first. The Son was equal with the Father in that he had received all things from the Father.” {J. S. White, Review & Herald, January 4, 1881}

What was the foundation of our faith? (The Son of God) “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.” {J. N. Andrews, Review & Herald, September 7, 1869}

What was the foundation of our faith? (Tritheism) There were some very early that turned the doctrine of the Trinity into Tritheism, and, instead of three divine persons under the economy of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, brought in three collateral, coordinate, and self-originated beings, making them three absolute and independent principles, without any relation of Father or Son, which is the most proper notion of three gods. {J. H. Waggoner, Thoughts on

What was the foundation of our faith? (Objections to the Trinity) 1. It is contrary to common sense. 2. It is contrary to scripture. 3. Its origin is Pagan and fabulous. 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 threeone-God." If Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are each God, it would be three Gods; for three times one is not one, but three. {J. N. Loughborough, Review &

What was the foundation of our faith? (The Son of God) “While both are of the same nature, the Father is first in point of time. He is also greater in that he had no beginning, while Christ's personality had a beginning.” {E. J. Waggoner, Signs of the Times, April 8, 1889}

What was the foundation of our faith? (The Son of God) There was a time when Christ proceeded forth and came from God, from the bosom of the Father (John 8:42; 1:18), but that time was so far back in the days of eternity that to finite comprehension it is practically without beginning. {E. J. Waggoner, Christ And His Righteousness, pp. 19-24.

What was the foundation of our faith? (The Son of God)

"...His divine life could not be reckoned by human computation. The existence of Christ before His incarnation is not measured by figures" (Ellen White, Signs of

“The angels are sons of God, as was Adam…by creation; Christians are the sons of God by adoption (Rom. 8:14, 15), but Christ is the Son of God by birth. birth … and so Christ is the "express image" of the Father's person.”

“"God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son,"-- not a son by creation, as were the angels, nor a son by adoption, as is the forgiven sinner, but a Son begotten in the express

Ellen White taught Christ the Word, Trinity/Tritheism the Only From eternity ? Begotten of there was a complete unity between the Father and the Son. They were two, yet little short of being identical; identical two in individuality, yet one in spirit, spirit and heart, and

God, was one with the eternal Father,--one in nature, in character, and in purpose,--the only being in all the universe that could enter into all the

The Father and the Son alone are to be exalted. {YI, July 7, 1898 par. 2} God is the Father of Christ; Christ is the Son of God. To Christ has been given an exalted position. He has been made equal with the Father. All the counsels

The only being who was one with God lived the law in humanity, descended to the lowly life of a common laborer, and toiled at the carpenter's bench with his earthly parent. {ST, October 14, 1897 par. 3}

Selected Messages Book 1, pp. 204, 205. 1903

“The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result? The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church, would be discarded. Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have

Selected Messages Book 1, pp. 204, 205

…A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced. ... Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the new movement. The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice, but God being removed, they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is worthless. Their foundation would be built on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure.”

Selected Messages Book 1, p.156

Satan is determined that men shall not see the love of God which led Him to give His onlybegotten Son to save a lost race; for it is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance.

This Day With God, 128 “Angels werep.expelled from heaven because they would not work in harmony with God. They fell from their high estate because they wanted to be exalted. They had come to exalt themselves, and they forgot that their beauty of person and of character came from the Lord Jesus. This fact the [fallen] angels would obscure, that Christ was the only begotten Son of God, and they came to consider

“Christ has always been the Son of God; and there never was a time when He emerged from the Father. Father That statement appears to solve all the problems about Christ’s Sonship.” Defending the Godhead, p.17

“The second problem was the fact that there were three in the Godhead. It is difficult to identify with three leaders. Think about that for a moment. (For example, how would fallen man go about praying to three Gods?) Gods There was need for a special pattern, so humans would look to one sovereign God as Lord of all in their

1888 Materials, p.1633 There is no place for gods in the heaven above. God is the only true God. He fills all heaven. Those who now submit to his will shall see his face; and his name will be in the foreheads of all who are

“The answer to the second problem: One would maintain the supreme position; and He would become the central One to pray to and worship.” Defending the Godhead, pp.11, 12

How did Dr. Kellogg summarize the whole problem?

“As far as I can fathom, the difficulty which is found in ‘The Living Temple’, the whole thing may be simmered down to the question: Is the Holy Ghost a person? You say no. I had supposed the Bible said this for the reason that the personal pronoun ‘he’ is used in speaking of the Holy Ghost. Sister White uses the pronoun ‘he’ and has said in so many words that the Holy Ghost is the third person of the Godhead. How the Holy Letter: J. H. Kellogg to G. I. Butler. Oct 28. 19 Ghost can be the third person and not be a person at all is difficult for

Selected Messages Book 1, p. 203

“Living Temple contains the alpha of these theories. I knew that the omega would follow in a little while; and I trembled for our people.”

“It is of the highest significance that in this passage she always speaks of the Holy Spirit as a person, as a fully divine person (“the Third Person of the Godhead”); and she does not once speaks of Him as “it.”” Defending the Godhead,

It is of the highest significance that in this passage she always speaks of the Holy Spirit as a person, as a fully divine person (“the Third Person of the Godhead”); and she does not once speaks of Him as “it.”

“Is the Holy Ghost a person? You say no. I had supposed the Bible said this for the reason that the personal pronoun ‘he’ is used in speaking of the Holy Ghost. Sister White uses the pronoun ‘he’ and has said in so many words that the Holy

“Both the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy say there is a Holy Spirit, that He is an actual person, and that He is the Third person of the Godhead.” Defending the

“Is the Holy Ghost a person? You say no. I had supposed the Bible said this for the reason that the personal pronoun ‘he’ is used in speaking of the Holy Ghost. Sister White uses the pronoun ‘he’ and has said in so many words that the Holy

“God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are each eternal, and one in nature and purpose, but not in being a single person.” Such a statement would be in full agreement

He [Kellogg] told me that he now believed in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost

“[…] our Bro. Ferrell’s recent book upholding the three-member Godhead. That book is unanswerable.” The Remnant Herald, April, 2006, p. 1674. Editor: Dr. Russell Standish

Selected Messages Book 1, p. 200

“In the book Living Temple there is presented the alpha of deadly heresies. The omega will follow, and will be received by those who are not willing to heed the warning God has “We have nothing to fear for the given.”

future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and his teaching in our past history.” {RH, October 12, 1905 par. 22}

Did the Omega follow in a little while? “FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS 2. That the Godhead, or Trinity, consists of the Eternal Father …the Lord Jesus Christ… the Holy Spirit …”

(This statement was written by one man only!) 1931 Year Book Of The Seventh-day Adventist Denomination

Key points 1- Giving up the doctrines which stand as pillars of our faith. 2- Principles of truth would be discarded. 3- Our religion would be changed. 4- Fundamental principles [1853 ] will be counted as error. 5- A new organization would be established. 6- Books of a new order would be written. 7- A system of intellectual philosophy will be introduced. 8- God will be removed.

The Omega identified: “We are now to be on guard, and not drawn away

from the all-important message given of God for this time. Satan is not ignorant of the result of trying to define God and Jesus Christ in a spiritualistic [USED HERE IN REFERENCE TO A SYSTEM OF INTERPRETATION, NOT SPIRITISM POPULARLY CALLED SPIRITUALISM.] way that sets God and Christ as a nonentity. The moments occupied in this kind of science are, in the place of preparing the way of the Lord, making a way for Satan to come in and confuse the minds with mysticisms of his own devising. Although they are dressed up in angel robes they have made our God and our Christ a nonentity. Why?--because Satan sees the minds are all fitted for his working. Men have lost tract of Christ and the Lord God, and have been obtaining an experience

Matthew 7:24-27

Matthew 16:15-18

Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. … upon this rock I will build my church

Deuteronomy 32:17 Jeremiah 2:11

Selected Messages Book 1, p. 201

“He who declared that His truth would shine forever will proclaim this truth through faithful messengers, who will give the trumpet a certain sound. The truth will be criticized, scorned, and derided; but the closer it is examined and tested, the brighter it will shine.”

Selected Messages Book 1, p. 72

“Self-will and pride of opinion lead many to reject the light from heaven. They cling to pet ideas, fanciful interpretations of Scripture, and dangerous heresies; and if a testimony is borne to correct these errors, they will, like many in Christ's day, go away displeased.”

Selected Messages Book 1, p. 72

“It is God's plan to give sufficient evidence of the divine character of His work to convince all who honestly desire to know the truth. But He never removes all opportunity for doubt. All who desire to question and cavil will find occasion.”

A &Ω

The Desire of Ages, p. 459

“Those to whom the message of truth is spoken seldom ask, "Is it true?" but, "By whom is it advocated?" Multitudes estimate it by the numbers who accept it; and the question is still asked, "Have any of the learned men or religious leaders

The Desire of Ages, p. 459, 460

“…it is not an argument against the truth, that large numbers are not ready to accept it, or that it is not received by the world's great men, or even by the religious leaders.”