The Omega Experience
This article is third in the series called “Our Personal God and His Spirit Versus the No God Alpha and Omega”. Previously, we have examined “The Personality of God” and “the Personality of the Holy Spirit“. Here we will cover the places where Sister White warns us of the omega to follow the “alpha of deadly heresies,” which she identified with the pantheistic teaching J.H. Kellogg had in his book called “the Living Temple,” which denied the personality of God. But first I will provide a little background.
Kellogg taught that God was in all things and he was highly respected and became exalted; thus, his view was not challenged as it should have been. But was it any different than what the main tenet of apostate Christianity holds as a whole—that “God the Spirit” is everywhere? The only thing that may be different about it is the way in which Kellogg presented it. He clothed it with the most beautiful, thus deceptive words, as he was inspired by Satan; he also presented pantheistic ideas very directly. Trinitarianism tries to use biblical language, but Kellogg’s language sounded more new age than Christianity. So, Sister White was given visions in regards to this specific situation, but it was to also warn us what was to follow. Would we heed the warnings she gave to Kellogg, or would we repeat the same mistake, with error becoming much more widespread? God’s people would be tested and are being tested today.
Here is the first Spirit of Prophecy quote we will examine.
Heresy Dressed Up in Angel Robes
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 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 that is OMEGA to one of the most subtle delusions that will ever captivate the minds of men.
— Diary #48, p. 163, 8/28/1904
Notice that the focus is on the result of a spiritualistic view of God, and also how she called the “omega” an experience. This is important to realize as we go forward, because the omega is not a heretic belief as the things that precede it.
The next section is three parts of a long “pamphlet” that included various special testimonies, and she speaks of the alpha as a heresy, with more heresies to follow. ‘Alpha’ is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and ‘omega’ is the last letter. So, the omega must come last, after deadly heresies which follow the alpha one. Thus, the ‘alpha’ of anything is the beginning or cause of something, and the ‘omega’ of anything is the conclusion or end result of that thing.
The Alpha in “The Living Temple”
“Be not deceived; many will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils” (1 Timothy 4:1). We have now before us the alpha of this danger. THE OMEGA will be of a most startling nature.
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. […]
We need not the mysticism that is in this book. Those who entertain these sophistries will soon find themselves in a position where the enemy can talk with them, and lead them away from God. […]
“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. I knew that I must warn our brethren and sisters not to enter into controversy over the presence and personality of God. The statements made in “Living Temple” in regard to this point are incorrect. The scripture used to substantiate the doctrine there set forth, is scripture misapplied.
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.
Few can discern the result of entertaining the sophistries advocated by some at this time. But the Lord has lifted the curtain, and has shown me the result that would follow. The spiritualistic theories regarding the personality of God, followed to their logical conclusion, sweep away the whole Christian economy. They estimate as nothing the light that Christ came from heaven to give John to give to His people. They teach that the scenes just before us are not of sufficient importance to be given special attention. They make of no effect the truth of heavenly origin, and rob the people of God of their past experience, giving them instead a false science.
In a vision of the night I was shown distinctly that these sentiments have been looked upon by some as the grand truths that are to be brought in and made prominent at the present time. I was shown a platform, braced by solid timbers—the truths of the Word of God. Someone high in responsibility in the medical work was directing this man and that man to loosen the timbers supporting this platform. Then I heard a voice saying, “Where are the watchmen that ought to be standing on the walls of Zion? Are they asleep? This foundation was built by the Masterworker, and will stand storm and tempest. Will they permit this man to present doctrines that deny the past experience of the people of God? The time has come to take decided action.”
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 sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced. The founders of this system would go into the cities, and do a wonderful work. The Sabbath, of course, would be lightly regarded, as also the God who created it. 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.
Who has authority to begin such a movement? We have our Bibles. We have our experience, attested to by the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit. We have a truth that admits of no compromise. Shall we not repudiate everything that is not in harmony with this truth?
— Special Testimonies (Series B, No. 02), pp. 16, 50, 52, 53-55
The “OMEGA” she is referring to is clearly a new experience that replaces the old experience of the church in our pioneer days. It is the result of the alpha, which is spiritualistic theories regarding the personality of God. It is a no God experience—that is, an experience “WITHOUT GOD,” or living as if God did not exist. Why? Because a spiritualistic view of God is Satan’s means of having Him become a nonentity in our minds; He becomes no longer real to us, because our view of Him is not real but is spiritualistic, making our Christian and Adventist doctrines and experiences of none effect, thus making it easier for us to discard them for more popular doctrines and experiences.
Sister White said to Kellogg, “You are 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), yet Kellogg claimed that Sister White’s writings supported his view. That same claim is made by those who deny the personality of God today, in their belief in a “God the Spirit” being everywhere and using Sister White’s Holy Spirit personality statements to support their claim. But Sister White never taught such a thing, only a Spirit proceeding from God—a power representing Him, not Himself. When we see that the alpha of our apostasy was to virtually destroy God by destroying Him in doctrine (as Kellogg did aforetime), then it is no wonder that an apostasy resulting in a godless experience followed, so much so that women rule over men (Isa. 3:12) and babies are murdered before they are even born!
And what Sister White described in the last part of her big quote above is a perfect description of the new experience under the name ‘Seventh-day Adventist’.
The “New Organization”
and the things that Sister White saw associated with it in vision were not fulfilled in her day with the Medical Missionary Association during the Kellogg crisis, which was only a warning of what was to come. The enemy of souls did not succeed then, largely due to a living Spirit of Prophecy messenger. The iceberg was met and the gospel ship prevailed. But gradually over time after she died, it clearly came into fulfillment in the creed-bound denomination that has continued to carry on the name “General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists” (GCSDA)—the name only.
God is lightly regarded. Members, including ministers, live as if He did not exist. Reverence has been lost because He is not real to people due to an immaterial view of Him. On Sabbath, people talk about whatever and do nearly whatever. Human policies have replaced God’s standards because God is forgotten. All the things conditionally prophesied have unfortunately taken place. And it is a new organization because it is built on a Trinitarian creed, operates through multiple policy books made by man, including a church manual, and ministers no longer raise churches, and the churches are no longer organized for service. It is a worldly administrative organization, with its leaders going through schools of intellectual philosophy designed to sermonize the members, which only lulls them into a slumber of indolence.
We have all partaken—in one form or another—of this experience, and we all have need of repentance, for our exposure to this has had its due effect on us. Thus, we all must allow God to make a reformation in our lives to end our omega experience.
However, we must also follow this counsel, which was given in the original manuscript from which the Special Testimonies was derived:
I am instructed to say that those who would tear down the foundation that God has laid are not to be accepted as leaders of His people.
— Manuscript 117a, 1903
Since the leaders of the new organization teach the alpha of apostasy in a form of Trinitarian creed—which has become nearly universal among the GCSDA churches, as it is plastered on nearly every church website and is usually used when baptizing new converts—we cannot accept them as our leaders. The corrupted leaders, like Kellogg, have been highly respected and exalted, and thus, just like him, their views were not challenged as they should have been. We must learn our lesson today and not exalt men—even if they are in churches or ministries outside of the new organization—for this is a denial of the 1888 message, which exalts Jehoshua the Messiah and lays the pride of men in the dust, and it causes us to become Babylon.
Many believe that this organization will go through right to the end or near the end, but is this really what the Spirit of Prophecy teaches? No. Instead, through statements that Sister White made at different times as troubles erupted in her day, it teaches a very real possibility of the organization becoming so corrupted that there could be another coming out and that some other organization would finish the work. Let’s go through these statements in the sequential order they were given; they begin in the 1880’s, which is when the church had lost much spirituality through dwelling on theories of truth but denying the power thereof, leading to a rejection of light in 1888, and this followed by an exaltation of men.
We are in danger of becoming a sister to fallen Babylon, of allowing our churches to become corrupted, and filled with every foul spirit, a cage for every unclean and hateful bird, and will we be clear unless we make decided movements to cure the existing evil?
— Letter 51, 1886
I was confirmed in all I had stated in Minneapolis that a reformation must go through the churches. Reforms must be made, for spiritual weakness and blindness were upon the people who had been blessed with great light and precious opportunities and privileges. As reformers they had come out of the denominational churches, but they now act a part similar to that which the churches acted. We hoped that there would not be the necessity for another coming out. While we will endeavor to keep the “unity of the Spirit” in the bonds of peace, we will not with pen or voice cease to protest against *bigotry.
We see a people whom God has blessed with advanced light and knowledge, and will the people thus favored become vain of their intelligence, proud of their knowledge? Will men who ought to be more closely connected with God think it better to trust in their own wisdom than to inquire of God?
— Manuscript 30, 1889
* BIGOTRY, n. Obstinate or blind attachment to a particular creed, or to certain tenets; unreasonable zeal or warmth in favor of a party, sect or opinion; excessive prejudice.
— 1828 Webster’s Dictionary
The world must not be introduced into the church, and married to the church, forming a bond of unity. Through this means the church will become indeed corrupt, and as stated in Revelation, “A cage of every unclean and hateful bird” (Revelation 18:2).
Through association with the world, our institutions will become unsubstantial, unreliable; because these worldly elements introduced and placed in positions of trust, are looked up to as teachers to be respected in their educating, directing, and official position, and they are sure to be worked upon by the spirit of darkness so that the demarkation becomes not distinguished between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.
— Manuscript 39, 1891
Things had really deteriorated by 1903 CE, when kingly power was exercised, following worldly policies and the following pronouncement was given by Christ Himself:
I saw our Instructor pointing to the garments of so-called righteousness. Stripping them off, He laid bare the defilement beneath. Then He said to me: “Can you not see how they have pretentiously covered up their defilement and rottenness of character? ‘How is the faithful city become a harlot!’ My Father’s house is made a house of merchandise, a place whence the divine presence and glory have departed! For this cause there is weakness, and strength is lacking.”
— 8 Testimonies, p. 250
The rest of the statements are from this same time.
Jerusalem is a representation of what the church will be if it refuses to walk in the light that God has given.
— 8 Testimonies, p. 67
In the balances of the sanctuary the Seventh-day Adventist church is to be weighed. She will be judged by the privileges and advantages that she has had. If her spiritual experience does not correspond to the advantages that Christ, at infinite cost, has bestowed on her, if the blessings conferred have not qualified her to do the work entrusted to her, on her will be pronounced the sentence: “Found wanting.” By the light bestowed, the opportunities given, will she be judged.
— Ibid., p. 247
The Lord Jesus will always have a chosen people to serve Him. When the Jewish people rejected Christ, the Prince of life, He took from them the kingdom of God and gave it unto the Gentiles. God will continue to work on this principle with every branch of His work. When a church proves unfaithful to the Word of the Lord, whatever their position may be, however high and sacred their calling, the Lord can no longer work with them. Others are then chosen to bear important responsibilities. But if these in turn do not purify their lives from every wrong action; if they do not establish pure and holy principles in all their borders, then the Lord will grievously afflict and humble them and, unless they repent, will remove them from their place and make them a reproach.
— Manuscript 33, 1903
Has the GCSDA become part of Babylon? Read Chapter 21 for yourself in Great Controversy and see if this organization compares with how the Spirit of Prophecy describes Babylon. Here are a few snippets of it:
If God’s professed people would receive the light as it shines upon them from His word, they would reach that unity for which Christ prayed, that which the apostle describes, “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” “There is,” he says, “one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Ephesians 4:3-5.
Such were the blessed results experienced by those who accepted the advent message. They came from different denominations, and their denominational barriers were hurled to the ground; conflicting creeds were shivered to atoms; the unscriptural hope of a temporal millennium was abandoned, false views of the second advent were corrected, pride and conformity to the world were swept away; wrongs were made right; hearts were united in the sweetest fellowship, and love and joy reigned supreme.
Babylon is said to be “the mother of harlots” … Her daughters must be symbolized churches that cling to her doctrines and traditions, and follow her example of sacrificing the truth and the approval of God, in order to form an unlawful alliance with the world. The message of Revelation 14, announcing the fall of Babylon must apply to religious bodies that were once pure and have become corrupt. Since this message follows the warning of the judgment, it must be given in the last days; therefore it [Babylon] cannot refer to the Roman Church alone, for that church has been in a fallen condition for many centuries…
The term “Babylon”—confusion—may be appropriately applied to these bodies, all professing to derive their doctrines from the Bible, yet divided into almost innumerable sects, with widely conflicting creeds and theories…
Rome withheld the Bible from the people and required all men to accept her teachings in its place. It was the work of the Reformation to restore to men the word of God; but is it not too true that in the churches of our time men are taught to rest their faith upon their creed and the teachings of their church rather than on the Scriptures? Said Charles Beecher, speaking of the Protestant churches: “They shrink from any rude word against creeds with the same sensitiveness with which those holy fathers would have shrunk from a rude word against the rising veneration of saints and martyrs which they were fostering…. The Protestant evangelical denominations have so tied up one another’s hands, and their own, that, between them all, a man cannot become a preacher at all, anywhere, without accepting some book besides the Bible…. There is nothing imaginary in the statement that the creed power is now beginning to prohibit the Bible as really as Rome did, though in a subtler way.”—Sermon on “The Bible a Sufficient Creed,” delivered at Fort Wayne, Indiana, Feb. 22, 1846.
— Great Controversy, pp. 382, 388
Notice that Sister White, as did the pioneers, repeatedly associated Babylon with the various churches holding creeds, which bind the conscience of men by making human words into a test of fellowship and prohibit from its membership the very people of God who love the truth! Though God has His people in Babylonian organizations who are ignorant, not one of these organizations can possibly be His Assembly, being that His truth-loving people are kept out of it.
We are in danger of becoming a sister to fallen Babylon…
— Letter 51, 1886
Is this any different than being Babylon? What did we just read. The original mystical Babylon is the Roman Catholic Church. She later had daughters that are named after her, having her same character of unlawful alliance with the world, and the second angel’s message especially applies to these daughters. To be a sister of these fallen daughters is to be another one of them. In fact, the mystical Babylon city is made up of of three parts, and the Protestant daughters make up one of these parts, thus making the GCSDA of the third part:
And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
— Revelation 16:19
The [Christian] religious world has existed in three grand divisions, the Greek Catholics, the Roman Catholics, and the Protestants.
— J.N. Andrews, The Three Messages of Revelation 14:6-12 [brackets mine], p. 66
The following is plastered on most GCSDA websites in North America:
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a mainstream Protestant church.
What makes that statement so? It is her acceptance of the Trinity doctrine—”There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (#2 of the 28 Fundamental Beliefs). This is the main and principal doctrine of the Catholic Church, established at the Council of Nicea in 325 CE. And those who come out as believing differently are often removed from membership or at least have their ministerial credentials removed if they are ministers, with the 28 Fundamental Beliefs used as the standard—hence, made as a binding creed.
But what many Adventists, including non-trinitarian ones, do not realize is that this doctrinal heresy did not come on its own. A pure organization did not receive it. The GCSDA was already part of fallen Babylon before that. We already learned that the Lord Jehoshua, via. the Spirit of Prophecy, called her a harlot in 1903 CE, citing Isaiah 1:21, where the “harlot” is “Zion” (not Babylon). But the denominational fall into Babylon had not come yet. When did she become part of fallen Babylon?
This is crucial to understand. The gift of prophecy died from Seventh-day Adventists right after World War I began in 1914 CE, at which time the Seventh-day Adventist Church throughout Europe encouraged its members to fight in the war. This was a serious fall from the commandments of God, which defines who the remnant are (see Rev. 12:17).
Commenting on the Civil War 50 years earlier, Sister White said the following:
I was shown that God’s people, who are His peculiar treasure, cannot engage in this perplexing war, for it is opposed to every principle of their faith. In the army they cannot obey the truth and at the same time obey the requirements of their officers. There would be a continual violation of conscience. Worldly men are governed by worldly principles. They can appreciate no other. Worldly policy and public opinion comprise the principle of action that governs them and leads them to practice the form of rightdoing. But God’s people cannot be governed by these motives. The words and commands of God, written in the soul, are spirit and life, and there is power in them to bring into subjection and enforce obedience. The ten precepts of Jehovah are the foundation of all righteous and good laws. Those who love God’s commandments will conform to every good law of the land. But if the requirements of the rulers are such as conflict with the laws of God, the only question to be settled is: Shall we obey God, or man?
— Ellen G. White, 1 Testimonies, p. 361
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
— James 4:4
Friendship, or union, with the world involves a breaking away from God. How is this done? By breaking His commandments or by unbelief in His Son—the only one who can reunite us with Him. This can be done personally or corporately. Notice how the Bible describes the remnant of the pure woman (thus distinguishing her from the woman in Revelation 17 who is called the “Mother of Harlots,” Rev. 17:5):
And the dragon was angry with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jehoshua.
— Revelation 14:12
The test in 1844 CE pertained to the latter—”the testimony of Jehoshua.” The first angel’s message was the message of the Second Advent of Jehoshua, associated with the tenth day of the seventh month. And we know that “the Spirit of Prophecy is the testimony of Jehoshua” (Revelation 19:10). The prophecies of Daniel pointed forward to that exact day, and though His Advent was not on that exact day, that day did close prophetic time, and from then on, His Second Advent has been imminent—conditional upon the Assembly announcing it to the world under the third angel’s message. But because the first angel’s message was rejected, the second angel announced “Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen.”
What made Babylon what she was in 1844 CE? It was her rejection of the prophetic message of Jehoshua. The profession to be the Christian church and yet deny Him in their creeds which forbad His premillennial Advent meant confusion—Babylon. The mother of these creedal denominations had rejected both the “commandments of God, and the testimony of Jehoshua” in 538 CE when she thought to “change appointed times and a commandment” (Daniel 7:25). The appointed times testified of Jehoshua, and the Sabbath commandment was the seal of the entire Law of God. Catholic holidays of obligation replaced the holy days that God appointed for His worship, and “the Lord’s Day” (deemed to be Sunday) replaced the “Sabbath” in the central commandment written in the Decalogue before that year; however, it was that year that these changes were forced upon the Christian world.
Spiritual Babylonianism involves joining with the world, originally for the purpose of escaping its persecution, with the result of becoming the persecutor (via. excommunication, exile, or worse). This persecution originated with the dragon—”that old serpent, called the devil” (Rev. 12:9)—who had formerly played out his plans through Paganism. The mainstream assembly, to escape the persecution after the ten prophetic days ending in 313 CE (see Rev. 2:10), married Paganism to Christendom to become the persecutor (especially after 538 CE) of the true (non-Babylonian/non-confused) Christians that refused to align with the State and thus be pure. The Adventists were also persecuted in 1844 CE, with a good number of them disfellowshipped from their Protestant churches in America to become the second beast for loving the world more than the reality of having to face judgment of God and the Second Advent of the Messiah.
The whole chapter [Revelation 14] shows that Babylon that has fallen is the churches who will not receive the message of warning the Lord has given in the first, second, and third angels’ messages.
— Letter 16, 1893 [brackets mine]
The twin pair of testing standards are repeated in the third angel’s message, for the second angel’s message said, “Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen,” but the third angel, in distinguishing a separate group, says, “here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jehoshua” (Revelation 14:12). One word is changed since before the emphasis was on the Spirit of Prophecy testifying of Jehoshua beforehand, but now, since the seventh month in 1844 CE, the emphasis is in His work in the heavenly sanctuary. We are to have faith in His closing work there. But the main testing standard in the last days is over the commandments of God, particularly in the Sabbath.
This is where the Seventh-day Adventist Church failed, which allowed for its members to be part of the military, thus aligning with the State, which required the breaking of the Fourth Word of the Decalogue (the Sabbath), as well as killing people in war (breaking the Sixth Word of the Decalogue) who the governments deemed as enemies. Confusion! Babylon! Seventh-day Adventists were on both sides of the war, killing each other, because the chose to obey man rather than God, while yet professing to keep the commandments of God! The kings, or sovereigns, of the earth during World War I demanded that citizens fight in the war, and the GCSDA unlawfully united with them in this worldly policy. As a result, every principle of the Seventh-day Adventist faith was compromised.
We understand that the fall of Babylon is her rejection by God, that the Holy Spirit leaves her in consequence of her alienation from God and her union with the world, and that thus she is left to the spirits of devils.
— Ibid., p. 50
The Holy Spirit having largely departed, manifested in the death of Ellen G. White, there was nothing to hold back the spirits of devils inspiring Romish doctrines, and over the decades, trinitarianism grew in popularity.
We are in danger of becoming a sister to fallen Babylon, of allowing our churches to become corrupted, and filled with every foul spirit, a cage for every unclean and hateful bird.
— E.G. White, Letter 51, 1886
We are exhorted, “Touch not the unclean.” Those who associate with the impure, themselves become impure. If we choose the society of the ungodly, we shall be affected by their ungodliness.
— E.G. White, Review and Herald, 10/23/1888
It is generally not safe to fellowship with the mainstream Seventh-day Adventist assemblies due to the corrupting worldly influence of the omega. Just having the name “Seventh-day Adventist” means nothing. It does not make it the true church. The organization that Ellen White was a part of no longer existed after she died. The principles so changed that it became a new organization.
Not by its name, but by its fruit, is the value of a tree determined. If the fruit is worthless, the name cannot save the tree from destruction.
— E.G. White, Desire of Ages, p. 107
The churches of the existing organization have conference ministers hovering over them instead of them doing their biblical job as evangelists raising up new churches, as it was in our pioneer days. The elders are not visiting and training the members but are preaching instead of having social meetings like our pioneer churches had where the members can exercise their gifts in sharing their testimonies and experiences. The missionary meetings our pioneers had are non-existent because there is little, if any, ongoing local missionary work being done, meaning that the churches are not at all organized for service. “Prayer” meetings have more preaching or reading than actual prayer. Dress standards are not practiced but nakedness prevails. And the lack of reverence is offensive to heaven. These church and organizational qualities are proof that this is a new organization from which God established through our pioneers.
So, what does this all mean? Has God no organized body for over 100 years? No. The Seventh-day Adventist Reform Movement reorganized during the war, fulfilling Sister White’s plea for reorganization that she had held from the beginning of the century. It consisted of the two percent of Adventists (thousands) in Europe who stood against joining the military, thus standing true to the commandments of God; they were consequently persecuted and disfellowshipped by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, headed by L.R. Conradi in Europe, with approval of allowing combat by the General Conference headed by A.G. Daniells, thus making the international denomination fall into Babylon. The Reform Movement essentially continued the organized remnant Assembly that the Seventh-day Adventist pioneers began. Learn more about the history of this movement on the SDARM official website. I will note that the Reform Movement does not officially teach that the GCSDA is Babylon, but we have seen from the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy that it is indeed the case.
Yet the Spirit of Prophecy has not returned to the people of God. The Seventh-day Adventist Reform Movement is in need of revival and further reformation. Until this is experienced, the harlotry, dating back to at least 1903 CE, will continue. Yes, the Reform Movement is still of the harlot that existed while Ellen White was living as there has been no remedy to this; the remedy must take very drastic measures of humility and prayer. This state of compromise through worldly practices—though not to the extent of outrightly or deliberately breaking any of the commandments of God as to join Babylon—cannot be remedied until there is a recognition of her backslidden state, followed by “thorough repentance” and “thorough reformation,” so as to walk in all the light the Advent Movement has been given in the past along with the much light now coming in (“the revelation of the Holy Spirit”) which will be accompanied with the gifts of the Spirit. To see that these things are so, please read the several pages surrounding the 8 Testimonies, p. 250 quote, where I just quoted from.
It is troubling that the Reform Movement emphasizes a list of beliefs, though thankfully not universally using them as a binding creed. It is also troubling that some trinitarian sentiments have been brought in, but thankfully that official list of beliefs still identifies God as being the Father. The alpha of apostasy is unfortunately creeping in to some degree and this iceberg must be met as it was in Kellogg’s day so that the full omega experience that the GCSDA has experienced will not be repeated. The warnings that Ellen White were given should be well-heeded by the Reform Movement. I believe that the Holy Spirit will return in greater measure than ever before when the Holy Spirit’s pleas for revival and reformation are heeded. Until that happens, order and organization is very important and essential, and the Seventh-day Adventist Reform Movement is currently the most organized and biblical structure in Adventism, alone having a legitimate reason to exist due to the shaking in World War I.
Now, back to the main study…
The Omega: Apostasy, Spiritualism, Free-lovism
Already there are coming in among our people spiritualistic teachings that will undermine the faith of those who give heed to them. The theory that God is an essence pervading all nature is one of Satan’s most subtle devices. It misrepresents God and is a dishonor to His greatness and majesty.
Pantheistic theories are not sustained by the Word of God. The light of His truth shows that these theories are soul-destroying agencies. Darkness is their element, sensuality their sphere. They gratify the natural heart and give license to inclination. Separation from God is the result of accepting them.
Our condition through sin has become preternatural, and the power that restores us must be supernatural, else it has no value. There is but one power that can break the hold of evil from the hearts of men, and that is the power of God in Jesus Christ. Only through the blood of the Crucified One is there cleansing from sin.His grace alone can enable us to resist and subdue the tendencies of our fallen nature. This power the spiritualistic theories concerning God make of no effect. If God is an essence pervading all nature, then He dwells in all men; and in order to attain holiness, man has only to develop the power that is within him.
These theories, followed to their logical conclusion, sweep away the whole Christian economy. They do away with the necessity for the atonement and make man his own savior.These theories regarding God make His word of no effect, and those who accept them are in great danger of being led finally to look upon the whole Bible as a fiction. They may regard virtue as better than vice; but God being removed from His position of sovereignty, they place their dependence upon human power, which, WITHOUT GOD, is worthless. The unaided human will has no real power to resist and overcome evil. The defenses of the soul are broken down. Man has no barrier against sin. When once the restraints of God’s word and His Spirit are rejected, we know not to what depths one may sink.
Those who continue to hold these spiritualistic theories will surely spoil their Christian experience, sever their connection with God, and lose eternal life.
The sophistries regarding God and nature that are flooding the world with skepticism are the inspiration of the fallen foe, who is himself a Bible student, who knows the truth that it is essential for the people to receive, and whose study it is to divert minds from the great truths given to prepare them for what is coming upon the world.
I have seen the results of these fanciful views of God, in apostasy, spiritualism, and free-lovism. The free love tendency of these teachings was so concealed that at first it was difficult to make plain its real character. Until the Lord presented it to me, I knew not what to call it, but I was instructed to call it unholy spiritual love.
— 8 Testimonies, pp. 291-292
This entire passage, without saying the word, discusses the OMEGA—results, or conclusion—of the spiritualistic view of God—that is, viewing God as a Spirit that pervades all things, which is the alpha, or beginning, of apostasy. This leads to other heresies, such as a denial of a literal sanctuary in heaven where blood atonement is literally taking place, because it denies that God and Christ are in one place, placing God where all His creation is instead. And the end result of this—again, THE OMEGA—is separation from God, in which there is no divine power to subdue the lusts of the human flesh. This is because if God is seen as everywhere, then He and His Son are not personal beings in heaven, but He is wherever His Spirit is, which is everywhere.
For Thine incorruptible Spirit is in all things.
— Wisdom 12:1
Through His Spirit, God is powerful enough to be able to be “above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:6). He can exercise His power wherever He chooses, even though He is way up in heaven. But the supposed existence of an everywhere God can only exercise power where He actually is, thus bringing Him down to the same level as brute creation, not exalted in heaven where He dwells in glorious light unapproachable. If God is on the same level as us, then He is no more powerful than our carnal nature with its carnal desires.
But thank God that is not reality. He sends His power from on high to conquer the sin that is in us. This power comes from the atonement of Christ taking place at His throne. There is wonder-working power in the atoning blood there, and He sends that same all-conquering power by His Spirit to us as we claim it in the promises of His Word through prayer. This is the “whole Christian economy” that Sister White was referring to. This experience of overcoming sin by the blood of the Lamb is the experience we must have. But the omega experience destroys this, because it spiritualizes everything away. Even if we have embraced the truth of the Father and the Son, who dwell in heaven, if we have not also embraced the literal blood atonement there, we have not yet come out of the omega experience. The power of our salvation is in that sanctifying blood, which is applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Most Holy Place—the powerhouse of the whole universe.
The blood of Jesus also speaks to our dull senses what true agape love really is: sacrificial love. This is another reason why that blood has power. But the kind of love that is preached in nominal Adventism today, as part of the omega experience, is sentimental, not sacrificial. It has no power and is only a sentiment—an idea, only expressed in words—rather than a principle of action. This active agape love involves total consecration to God that lives according to all His standards and is expressed in kind actions toward others, especially the needy. But this is largely not the case today. Systematic offerings are not collected to relieve the poor as God’s statutes command us, nor are churches organized for service. Yet so-called love is talked about in sermons all the time, but it is only sentiment.
This is the “free-lovism” and “unholy spiritual love” that Sister White is referring to. It is love free from law—God’s Law. It is spiritualistic love, just like the spiritualistic view of God that people have. That love and that God is not real, but only a sentiment. Thus, it is unholy, unheavenly love. The defining Law of God must be the basis of our love, and we also must behold it in the life and sacrifice of Christ—both should be our daily study; hence, both are part of the Revival Reading Plan to help bring us out of our omega experience. And for more information on this topic of counterfeit love, contrasted with the genuine, please listen to the message called Free Unholy Love.
Don’t Remove the Old Landmarks
Those who seek to remove the old landmarks are not holding fast; they are not remembering how they have received and heard. Those who try to bring in theories that would remove the pillars of our faith concerning the sanctuary, or concerning the personality of God or of Christ, are working as blind men. They are seeking to bring in uncertainties and to set the people of God adrift, without an anchor.
Those who claim to be identified with the message that God has given us should have keen, clear spiritual perceptions, that they may distinguish truth from error. The word spoken by the messenger of God is “Wake up the watchmen.” If men will discern the spirit of the messages given, and strive to find out from what source they come, the Lord God of Israel will guard them from being led astray. But God is not to be trifled with.
The messages that we have received from heaven are true and faithful. When one man strives to bring in new theories, which are not the truth, the ministers of God should bear clear warning against these theories, pointing out where, if received, they would lead the people of God. Those who have received the light of present truth should not be easily deceived and readily led from the true path into strange paths. The watchmen are to be wide-awake to discern the outcome of all specious reasoning; for serious errors will be brought in to lead the people of God astray.
— Manuscript 62, 1905
We have a straight testimony to bear. We are not to enter into controversy, nor force people to hear us when they do not want to, nor get into endless debates on proving the correctness of our view of God. God is beyond discussion. We are to simply warn the people of where the alpha teaching of the spiritualistic view of God is leading them, and let the Bible, the Spirit of Prophecy, and the pioneers speak; all of our arguments are worthless. The power of God is to be manifest. Let the human agent be hidden out of sight.
Feel free to share these studies with people. Instead of spending countless wasted hours debating with people, send them to these articles, which contain the writings of Sister White and our pioneers that get right to the root of things.
Remember, trinitarianism is not the problem. It is neither the alpha teaching nor the omega experience. It is an aspect of the alpha, which the broader, underlying sophistry of Satan, who knows that it will eventually lead to an omega experience without God. The alpha is any view that destroys the personality of God and of His Son Jehoshua the Messiah. A class of non-trinitarians have held such a view, making the Holy Spirit Christ Himself, when it is only the representative of God and of Christ, thus bearing their titles. The Comforter is Jehoshua in us, because He is that mysterious personality which carries the very life and power and character and presence of Jehoshua the Messiah, as His representative. But He is “another Comforter” (Jn. 14:16). Making Him the one and the same makes the Messiah an essence, which does away with Christ from our mind, just as does making Him a separate essence, rather than the very life of Christ, flowing from God and the Messiah, where our attention is to be continually drawn—away from this earth, away from everything earthly and carnal.
The religion of this world says to look within. It is painted with flowery language (with “Christian” words in Christendom and new age words in spiritualism) to be the ultimate nirvana experience. But it is really the no God omega experience, which ends in destruction. But our experience is to be the Seventh-day Adventist experience, held up by sure pillars—the God-filled experience, the heavenly experience, the Most Holy Place experience, yea, the true and everlasting Alpha and Omega experience.
May your holy imagination and your hope ever be there, for everything we have here will be destroyed. May your experience be eternal and bright!
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely…
And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the Tree of Life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve him: And they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
— Revelation 21:6; 22:1-5
May you have a very rich experience with the one true God!
What do you make of the following statement from Ms 21, 1906. “There are three living persons of the heavenly trio; in the name of these three great powers, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized, and these powers as will cooperate with the obedient subjects if heaven in their efforts to live the new life in Christ.”
This was a statement by Sister White to refute trinitarianism because she used the term “heavenly trio” in place of Trinity.