The SDA Trinity
BONUS LESSON REGARDING THE SDA TRINITY: THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Under the leadership of Ahab the Wife-fearer, one of the most spineless king in the history of the people of God, Israel has fallen into deep apostasy. Ordered by his wife, queen Jezebel, Ahab has redirected the entire nation of Israel to forsake the Lord, and turn to the worship of the abominable Baal. Gradually, God’s people can no longer discern between YHWH and Baal, which one is their Only True God.
After three and a half years of taking rain away from Israel, the Lord finally had their attention. He then sent the prophet Elijah to confront Ahab and his priests of Baal. “When Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, ‘Art thou he that troubleth Israel?'” I Kings 18:17. In the mind of Ahab, stunningly, the one troubling Israel isn’t him, but the prophet Elijah! “And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim. Now therefore send, gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table.” I Kings 18:18-19.
And then before all the people and the prophets of Satan, Elijah said: “Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under. And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God.” “And all the people answered and said: ‘Well said!'” I Kings 18:23, 24.
The showdown commenced. The priests of Baal killed the bullock, calling upon the name of Baal, dancing around the altar from morning till noon, but no god answered them. Elijah mocked them: “Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked!” I Kings 18:27. Thus the priests of Baal screamed even louder, even cutting themselves bleeding all over, according to their brainless customs, even unto the offering of the evening sacrifice, still no god answered or regarded.
And then, Elijah arisen, and build an altar of twelve stones, kill the bullock and lay it with the wood upon the altar. Then he dug a trench round about, and had the people pour twelve barrels of water over the sacrifice and the wood, that even the trench was overflowed. Then, the prophet prayed: “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.” I Kings 18:36, 37.
The fire of the Lord descended, consumed not just the sacrifice, not just the wood, but even the stones and even the water in the trench. I Kings 18:38.
“And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God!” I Các Vua 18:39.
With just one man, God has managed to defeat the entire legion of almost a thousand false prophets, and bring His people back to Him. The Bible tells us that Elijah didn’t die afterwards, but was translated to heaven without seeing death, unto life everlasting. He is the very shadow of the last generation of the Lord’s warriors in the history of mankind, raised and walk in the spirit of Elijah of old, to wage wars against false worship, false gods and apostasy unto the end of the world, to return the people of God to the correct understanding of the identity of the Only True God.
1. According to the Bible, who is the Only True God?
John 17:1, 3 Father… this is life eternal, that they may know Thee, the Only True God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
From the mouth of our dear Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in the New Testament, comes the cutting truth that strike directly at the false assumption that the identity of the One True God has somehow changed from the Old to the New Testament. Not only so, our Lord declares plainly that this truth, that the Father alone is the Only True God, is critical to our salvation.
2. Is God a Trinity, or what?
I Corinthians 8:6 But to us, there is but one God, The Father.
All through the Old and the New Testament, before, during, and after our Savior walked the earth, the Bible consistently declares that there is only one God, and that only true God is the Father. In the Bible, there exist only the term “God the Father”, no where can the terms “God the Son”, God the Holy Spirit”, and “Trinity” be found, not even once. Only faulty Bible translations in various languages, translated by those who are dumb enough to think themselves wise enough to add words to the Word of God, only those translations carry those terms in them. Beware of translations that translate terms like “the Son” into “God the Son”, “the Holy Spirit” into “God the Holy Spirit”.
In the time of the apostles, this doctrine of the Trinity was still no where to be found in the church. It is not until 325 AD at the council of Nicea – centuries after all the apostles are dead – was it made up by the Roman Catholic Church.
3. Then who is JESUS?
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Ma-thi-ơ 16:15-17 He saith unto them: “But whom say ye that I am?” And Simon Peter answered and said: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon son of Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
JESUS is the Only Begotten Son of the Only True God, the Father, He is the literal Son that the Father Himself literally beget in eternity past, before anything was created, in the most literal sense of the word of the Bible. Unlike us humans, God the Father doesn’t need a God the Mother to beget His Son. Amazingly enough, many people, despite believing that a virgin can give birth to a son without a husband, refuse with the highest determination to believe that God Almighty Himself – the very Being behind that miracle – can indeed give birth to a Son without a wife. They even mock at that ability of His.
It is the very Sonship of Christ to God the Father that give Christ His Godhood, divine nature. Just as a tiger father will give birth to a tiger being, and just as a human father will give birth to a human being, a God-being Father will give birth to a God-being Son. Christ is fully a God-being because His Father who begat Him is a God-being. They are the only two beings belong to the “God kind” in the entire universe. One of them occupies the title of THE GOD, the other is His Only Begotten Son, equal with the Father in the sense and by the virtue of possessing the same nature (like you and your dad are two equal human beings), but still, “the Father is greater than I am”, saith Lord Jesus in.John 14:28, because the Father is the origin of even our Lord Jesus Christ.
Many people misunderstood that whether someone is a God-being depends upon that person’s length of existence, but no. It actually depends entirely upon who, or what your daddy is: whether your father is a God-being. If God the Father, right now, beget another child besides Lord Jesus, that child will automatically be a God-being, even if he is younger than us!
4. What does the Bible mean then, when it says in various places that JESUS is God? Does it mean JESUS is THE GOD, or does it just mean He is a God-being?
In the original Greek, the word “theon” or “theos”, simply means “god”, and can denote a God-being, or the God nature. But when it has a prefix equivalent to the prefix “the” in English, the meaning changes into denoting a specific God (the equivalent to “The God” in English).
In the English translations, the translators usually eliminate all the prefix “the” before “theon” or “theos”, and translate all of them into simple “God”, this is not grammatically incorrect, but can cause confusion at times. For example:
John 1:1 “The Word was with ton theon, and the Word was theos“, was translated to “the Word was with God (“the” has been erased), and the Word was God.”
The first word “ton theon” denotes “The God” of the Bible – the Father; the second word “theos”, without the prefix “the” before it, denotes a kind, not a certain being anymore. This saying is similar to: “Eve was with The Human (Adam), and Eve was human.” Similar, “the Word was with The God (the Father), and the Word was God (in the sense that He is a God-being).”
Likewise, in John 10:33, where the Pharisees was accusing JESUS: “thou, being human, makest thyself God”, there is also no prefix “the” before the word “God”. They were not accusing Christ of claiming to be The God of the Universe, but they were accusing Him of claiming to be a God-being, because He said He is the Son of that “The God”.
These are classical Greek grammar mistakes, that can be uncovered easily when we pull out the interlinear of the original text. Let us be thankful still for the translators, though faulty human beings, were still effective tools of the Lord in the saving many souls.
5. Then why does Isaiah 9:5 call Christ “the Almighty God” and “the Eternal Father”?
The right understanding of the name “Almighty God” has been explained above. It does not mean that Christ is The God of the Universe, His Father, but it means He is a God-being, and an Almighty one, just like His Father is.
About the name “the Eternal Father”, in order for someone to be called “father”, that person only needs to have children, and oh boy, how numerous are the children of Jesus Christ!
Hebrew 2:13, Christ said: “Behold I and the children which God hath given me.”
I Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam a quickening spirit.
One of the names of our Lord JESUS is the Second Adam, or the Last Adam. Because as the first Adam was the father of the entire fallen mankind, having children born after his sinful fallen nature, the Last Adam is also the father of a new mankind, having children born AGAIN after his holy nature. We can well said: God the Father has reborn us the second time through our Lord Jesus Christ. THIS is the accurate understanding of the title “the Eternal Father” given to Christ in Isaiah 9:5. The Bible is NOT trying to say that JESUS is His Father.
6. Then what does JESUS mean when He said “I and the Father are one” in John 10:30?
John 17:22 (JESUS is praying to the Father) And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.
The “oneness” of the disciples was expected by JESUS to be just like the “oneness” of Him and His Father. Question: when the disciples became one in the day of Pentecost, did all of them merge into one person, or are they still separate entities, but having the same mind, the same purpose, the same spirit?
THIS is the accurate understanding of the saying “I and the Father are one”: our Lord JESUS Christ and His Father has the same spirit, same character, same purpose, same mind, there was never a disagreement of any kind between Him and His Father.
7. Isn’t Hebrew 1:8 saying that JESUS is The God of the universe?
Hebrew 1:8 But unto the Son [He saith]: Thy throne, O God, is for
ever and ever…
The word “God” in this verse indeed has a prefix “the” before it. If this verse is quoted out of context and cut short like this, it does it need seems to be saying that the Son is The God, but let us put it back into context, including verse 8 and 9, and see whether that’s true.
Pay attention to this: Hebrew 1:8-9 is the quoting of Psalms 45:6-7:
6 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever:
The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter.
7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness:
Therefore God, thy God,
Hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
Notice how the part “God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” is the conclusion made after several points above? We can see that clearly through the word “therefore” in verse 7.
So from what points does this conclusion made? 1: Thou (the Messiah) lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness; and 2: The scepter of thy (God’s) kingdom is a right scepter. Because of these 2 points, the character “The God” has anointed the character “thou” spoken at the end of verse 7. Isn’t it obvious that they have to be two different characters, one anointed the other?
By putting the cut-short verse back into its context, we can clearly see: in verse 8, the author first speaks to “the God”, and then in verse 9 speaks of Christ later. These 2 verses combined provide us extra information about the Son. The beginning part of verse 8 “but unto the Son [He saith]”, is talking about the entire quote, it does not at all mean that the subject “the God” right there mentioned has to be “the Son”.
8. What about the Holy Spirit? What is the Holy Spirit?
Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
I Corinthians 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit is the spirit of both God and JESUS Christ His Son.
In the Bible, the relationship between someone with his own spirit, is identical to the relationship between the Father and the Son with their own Spirit. Just as the spirit of someone is not a different being other than that person, the Spirit of God and of Christ is not a different, third being that is neither the Father nor the Son.
9. So who then is the Holy Spirit?
II Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
II Corinthians 13:5 Know ye not your own selves, how that JESUS Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
The Holy Spirit is our very Lord JESUS Christ come and abide in our souls. The Holy Spirit is not an emotionless sphere of energy, but neither is the Holy Spirit a third being that is neither the Father, neither the Son, but somehow is still God, like the Trinity doctrine teaches.
Granted: God has two persons: His bodily person that sits on the throne of Heaven, and His spirit person that roams outside His body; JESUS also has two persons: His bodily person that sits on the right hand of God, and His spirit person that roams outside His body. And because the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ is one and the same, sometimes the confusing expression “the third person” is used for the Holy Spirit, but it is critical for us to understand that expression in a correct way: there are still only TWO beings here, namely, the Father and the Son. the Holy Spirit is NOT a third BEING that is neither the Father, neither the Son, but somehow is still God.
Moreover, thus saith Lord JESUS:
John 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?
Meaning: our Lord JESUS always has His Father in Him. So when we receive JESUS into our souls, we receive both Him and His Father. This is the reason why Christ was call “Emmanuel”, meaning “God with us”: through out His entire journey upon the earth, His Father, God Himself, has been walking around using His Son as His vessel – the only vessel ever capable of housing the infinite God of the Universe in full. Everything the Son say and do, was His Father in Him talking and doing through Him.
John 14:10 The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
This is also the reason why Thomas, one of the apostles, when he saw the Lord came back to life with his own eyes, had screamed out from his lungs: “My Lord! And my God!” He didn’t mean that JESUS is The God of the universe – because he well knew the Father is the only true God from the mouth of JESUS Himself in John 17:3 – but Thomas was expressing his affirmation to the truth that JESUS had previously told him: the Father has been inside his Master all along. And Thomas was bowing down to confess to them both.
10. Then what about the “another” Comforter in John14:16? Isn’t the Holy Spirit “another” one than JESUS?
John 16:25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs.
John 14:17,18 ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
John 14:23 If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Our Lord JESUS Christ was speaking in proverbs, or parable, when he was teaching His final lessons in the night that He was betrayed. And He is well-known for His habit of talking to others about Himself as if a third party other than Him, especially when He was speaking in parable, like when He talked about “the Good Shepherd”. Same goes for the “another” Comforter: we don’t need to look any further than a few verses down to discover that JESUS Himself has plainly reveal unto us who this “another” Comforter is:
In verse 17: the one who was currently with the disciples is obviously JESUS Himself.
In verse 18: the one who will be coming to the disciples is “I”.
In verse 23: “We” – more precisely, “me” and “My Father” – will come to be with those who love JESUS and keep His words.
It is crucially important for us to understand that the Holy Spirit is JESUS Himself, with His Father in Him: the very being who defeated Satan with just a mortal human body like ours, thoroughly acquainted with temptations, hunger, pain and sufferings, is the One dwelling inside us, empowering us, and granting us the victory against Satan similar to His.
In the Bible, depending on the context, the term “the Holy Spirit” can be referring to the Father, or the Son, or both of them. For example, “the Holy Spirit” that descended unto JESUS in the form of a dove at His baptism, was simply the Father; but “the Holy Spirit” that later on descended upon the disciples in the book of Acts, would be the Son, with the Father in Him.
11. What about the many verses that mentions “the Father”, “the Son”, and “the Holy Spirit”? Like Matthew 28:19? Aren’t they evidences for the Trinity?
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Let’s see what this verse does tell us, and what it does NOT tell us.
It does tell us:
– There is “The Father”.
– There is “The Son”.
– There is “The Holy Spirit”.
It does NOT tell us:
– What is the relationship between “the Father”, “the Son”, and “the Holy Spirit”.
– Which one is God.
– Whether the Holy Spirit is God.
– The word “God” doesn’t even appear in this verse.
There is “the Father”, there is “the Son”, and there is “the Holy Spirit”, are obvious facts that nobody is disputing. But just from these simple information, to exaggerate into “the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three separate, co-eternal persons, each of them are God, and three of them together make up one God,” is obvious an act of fabricating up many things that are simply not there.
This is the reason why all the verses that merely MENTION “the Father”, “the Son”, and “the Holy Spirit”, and the works done through each, without providing any extra information regarding their relationship, like this verse Matthew 28:19, are absolutely disqualify as evidences for the Trinity. They simply doesn’t say or affirm anything about that doctrine. Only the mistaken interpreting style of imagining up things that the verses does NOT even say, would lead people to mistake these verses as evidences for the Trinity.
*Note: some reasoned since it is said in this verse “in the name (not names) of…”, then it must mean that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit must be a Trinity having one name, else it would have said “in the names (plural) of…” But if we take into consideration the plain use of language, doing something “in the name of…” simply means doing it “by the authority of…”. Not just when this term is used with a singular noun, even when it is used with a plural noun, “in the name of…” is never required to be changed into “in the names of…”. For example, I can rightly say “in the name (not names) of the members (plural noun) of the board, I demand that all discussion be done with love and order”, and it doesn’t mean that all of the members of the board must have one same name, does it?
12. In the Old Testament, the plural noun “Elohim” instead of the singular noun “El” was used to depict God. Isn’t that evidence showing that God must then be a plurality?
Not quite. The Hebrew language has this “pluralization” of a singular noun simply to show respect, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that the noun is actually plural.
For example:
Exodus 7:1 And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee Elohim (God) to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
See how Moses is obviously but one man, yet the noun Elohim is still used to depict him?
13. In the book of Revelation, the word “holy” was used three times to described God. See? Isn’t that a powerful evidence for the Trinity?
That argument is referring to this verse:
Revelation 4:8 “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”
How would saying “holy” three times means there are three beings?! Why can’t three hollies be offered up to One Being, the Only true God, the Father?
Actually, right here in this verse, the Bible has apparently revealed unto us why three hollies are used to refer to the Father: He is the God of the past, the present, and the future (who was, and is, and is to come).
14. How about this: the egg has three parts: the shell, the egg white, and the egg yoke; water also has three form: solid, liquid and gas… Aren’t these things evidences proving that God must then be a Trinity?
Let us see what the Bible said about those who use this kind of argument to deny the Only True God.
Romans 1:21, 22 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.
By the way: a year has 4 seasons, a hand has 5 fingers, a cherub has 6 wings, a rainbow has 7 colors, multitude of bugs, plus the octopus, have 8 legs, the solar system has 9 planets, and there are 10 commandments. Why can’t there be then: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 instead of 3, according to this reasoning?
Those who will deny the Truth despite all the most plain and clear evidences, will continue their path of willful resistance to go from one vain imagination to the next, even when they can answer none of the plain evidences that pile up like a mountain before them. None of us who have had the light of truth shone upon need to choose a similar course and join them. We can choose the plain Scriptural truths.
15. If Christians accept the Trinity doctrine, to believe that besides the Father and the Son, there is a third God-being, what will the next logical conclusion be?
A quote from the book titled “The Trinity” by Jerry A. Moon, John W. Reeve, Woodrow W. Widden II, of the Seventh-day Adventist church – one of the most, if not THE most zealous church in adhering strictly to the Bible – page 273:
“The oneness in nature and character of the three persons of the Godhead raises the very useful question of prayer, praise and worship… But what about direct prayer to the Holy Spirit? While we have no clear example of or direct command to pray to the Spirit in Scripture, doing so does have, in principles, some implicit Biblical support… It only seems logical that God’s people can pray directly to and worship the Holy Spirit.”
What we have here, are 3 leaders of a Protestant church claiming to be most zealously adhered to be Bible, advising their flock that they can pray to, even worship a third being who they believe is neither the Father nor the Son, despite the fact that they themselves acknowledge: there is NO BIBLICAL EXAMPLE NOR COMMAND for such actions.
How could they have given such an advice? Simple. Because they have been poisoned by the Trinity heresy. Indeed, if we accept that doctrine, praying and worshiping “God the Holy Spirit” is a most logical thing to do.
16. What if we still cling to the Trinity doctrine, but do not pray to or worship anyone besides the Father and the Son? Would that be acceptable?
John 4:23 the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
The Lord has never given the least permission for His children to compromise with lying heresies contrary to the Bible, especially when He had sent forth the light of truth regarding the matter. Besides, the Christian’s act of worship has always been performed in spirit and in truth: if we accept someone other than the Father and the Son to be our God, our spirit would automatically render worship to that being on the spot.
This is one of the most fundamental law of worship, applies to everything there is: whatsoever we considered to be God or Supreme in our mind, automatically receives worship from us, even if they are senseless objects like money or idols, or imaginary ideas in our mind, like a god that doesn’t even exist.
17. If our spirit worship a third being that is neither the Father nor the Son, who will immediately jump in to claim that worship as rightfully his?
Matthew 4:8, 9 Again, the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and saith unto Him: “All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.”
In the entire universe, there is only one being that is neither the Father nor the Son, yet lusted after their position and desire to receive the honor of worship.
Another fundamental law of worship: every worship that is contrary to the instructions of Scripture is automatically claim by Satan as his. And throughout the Scripture, all legal worships are directed to God alone either directly, or through worshiping His Son (Him who sits on the throne, and the Lamb – Revelation 5:13), and that’s it. There is no legal worship offered to any other third being besides them. See Appendix “Does JESUS receive worship?”
There are too many benefits for Satan in deceiving people to believe in this Trinity heresy. Through it, he receives worship and prayers, and can impersonate “the third one” to deceive and control man, even working miracles to lead multitudes astray.
18. Believing in the doctrine of the Trinity is a direct violation of which Commandment of God?
Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
Believing in the Trinity doctrine immediately disqualify a person from being among those “who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of JESUS” in Revelation 12:17. It is truly fortunate that we are saved by grace through a surrendered faith to our Lord JESUS, and violations that we made because we simply didn’t know any better are not counted against us. Thus many ignorant trespassers of the first commandment by believing in the Trinity doctrine would still be saved, because they never had the light of the Truth regarding this matter shining upon them. They can only follow their Lord to the best light they had.
19. However, if we have received the knowledge of the Truth, but still war against it, willfully believing a lie to trespass one of the Ten Commandments of God, can we still be saved?
II Thessalonians 2:9, 10 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
Please read aloud the entire passage and determine whether this isn’t talking about the Anti-Christ power – the Roman Catholic Church – and those who would not received the love of the Truth but stubbornly cling unto her heresies. The doctrine of the Christian Trinity DID originated from this organization at the council of Nicea, 325 AD.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, page 234:
The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the “hierarchy of the truths of faith”.
Athanasian Creed:
“And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.”
This is exactly the god that is worshiped in Rome, called “the Most Holy Trinity“, another wise known as “God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, three in one and one in three”. If you don’t understand what that means, don’t bother: you are not meant to. That’s the identification of Babylon: confusion.
20. Is the SDA Trinity different from the Catholic Trinity?
Many of the members of the Modern SDA church believing in the Trinity have said that the SDA Trinity is different from the Catholic Trinity. But this is the proof proving the exact opposite:
On the top left is the illustration in “My Catholic Faith” by bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow.
On the bottom right is the illustration in “The New Pictorial Aid” by Frank Breaden, p. 75, sold at the Adventist Book Center.
We can see immediately: these two illustrations are pretty much the same, only the decorations and the colors are different: the Father ≠ the Son, the Son ≠ the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit ≠ the Father, but the Father = God, the Son = God, the Holy Spirit = God. Some reasoned that the SDA’s trinity doctrine is different than the First Beast’s trinity, but if it is so, why not pick another name?! Call it trinitut, trinitat, trinitit, whatever you want, but not “trinity”, because the name “trinity” has already been taken and defined by the organization who took it. You do not take an already defined term and then use it with a completely different meaning, because that would be a willful attempt to misled people (a.k.a: lying). Let “apples” be called “apples”, and “bananas” be called “bananas”, shall we?
But of course, the reason why the Modern SDA church call their current god “trinity” just like the Catholic church, is because it is the exact same god! If there indeed are any differences when the two churches explain it, it is only because both sides don’t really understand just what it is they are believing in. This is precisely the “mysterious, unknowable, cannot-be-understood” god of the first beast of Revelation 13.
21. Does the Bible plainly declare who the god of the first beast of Revelation 13 really is?
Revelation 13:4 And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast.
Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.
The god that those of the first beast worshiped is NOT our Father the Only True God, but Satan himself, whether they know it or not.
The notion of some god that are 3 times greater than our Father, the “unity” of Him and two extra supposedly just-as-great beings, of course, are no where found in the Bible, because it is not until 325 AD at the council of Nicea – some hundreds of years after all the apostle are dead – did this god came into existence as a new disguise for Satan to receive worship. Understandable, since Satan is the only one insolent enough through out this entire universe to claim himself greater than the One True God. And lo and behold, when we come to Revelation 13:4, the Bible indeed has plainly declared who the god that the followers of the beast worshiped really is: the dragon Satan.
How can those be deceived into believing in the doctrine of the Trinity ever hoped to be admitted into the True Remnant Church of those “who keep the commandments of God and have the Testimony of Jesus”, when that very doctrine is a violation of the first commandment?!
22. Is the number “144.000” of those who are sealed with the seal of God a symbolic number, or a literal number?
In the letter to the Hastings family, comforting them after Mrs. Hastings passed away, Mrs. White wrote thus:
“I saw that she [mrs. Hastings] was sealed and would come up at the voice of God and stand upon the earth, and would be with the 144,000. I saw we need not mourn for her; she would rest in the time of trouble, and all that we could mourn for was our loss in being deprived of her company. I saw her death would result in good.”
<Selected Messages book 2, page 263> Letter 10, 1850>
The letter declared to us plainly that Mrs. Hastings, a member of the church with no special status whatsoever, died at 1850, IS a member of the 144.000. It shows that those who are sealed with the seal of God has already started to be formed even before 1850, when the three angels messages are starting to be preached. And according to Mrs. White, it is a literal number of 144,000, not a symbolic number.
The identity of the 144,000, whether it is an actual literal number or not, has been long called into question, and Willy C. White, the son of Ellen White, had answered thus:
“Now to the question: Did Sister White teach that those who died in the message since 1844 and of whom it is said, ‘Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth,’ that they shall be members of the 144,000?
“I can assure you, my brother, that this was the belief and the teaching of Ellen G. White. Many times I have heard her make statements to this effect, and I am in possession of a letter to Brother Hastings who is mentioned on page 237 of Life Sketches in which she says plainly that his wife who had recently died would be a member of the 144,000.
“In a letter recently received from a brother in Reno, Nevada, reference is made to a statement in Elder Loughborough’s book found on page 29 in which it is reported that Sister White said: ‘Those who died in the faith will be among the 144,000. I am clear on that matter.’
“And I testify, my brother, that that is in perfect harmony with her writings, her sayings and her teachings throughout the years of her ministry.”
<Letter of W.C.White, ngày 18 tháng 4, 1929>
Not just Willy White believes so, the ENTIRE SDA CHURCH in the time of the Pioneers believed so. James White believes so, Loughborough believes so, Joseph Bates believes so, Andrews believes so. Ellen White believes so. That the number 144,000 is an actual literal number, and it consists of all the true believers of the three angels messages since 1844! A fundamental truth of the SDA church that has now been buried in oblivion, because there is such a good reason why some people would want it to be buried.
23. Since the SDA church came to be, there has been tens of millions of believers. How come there are only 144,000 people sealed? Why are the others not sealed?
The fact that only 144,000 people are sealed, while this group had started gathering members since 1844, is positive proof showing that we must have been penetrated and compromised by the enemy along the way at some point, and that breach had disqualify the church as a whole from receiving the seal of God.
Revelation 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty four thousand, having His name and His Father’s name written in their foreheads.
The Seal of God, first and foremost, has to be the name of the Father and the Son written in their foreheads: a correct understanding of the identity of the Only True God and His Only Begotten Son believed in the mind, and then it will reflect outside into an obedient life of keeping the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. That is the first identification mark of the 144,000. Losing this correct understanding will cost the church the qualification needed to receive the seal. And thus the number of believers can keep on increasing, but the number of sealed people will ceased to increase.
That breach happened 31 years after Ellen White passed away, in 1946, a man suspected to be a Jesuit spy of the Roman Catholic church, named LeRoy Edward Froom, and his accomplices, have read countless manuscripts of Mrs.White to find out whatever they can alter, cut short and use as supports for the Trinity doctrine, and then compile them into a book called “Evangelism” to propaganda the Trinity doctrine in the SDA church, to become one of the 28 fundamental beliefs, changing the God that the SDA church worships.
24. What are the other identifications of the 144.000?
Identification no.2:
Revelation 14:4 These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.
They are true, surrendered Christians, not the lukewarm baptized worldlings that we can see rampant in churches nowadays. This, combine with the very suspicious number of 12.000 x 12, a very strong reference to the leadership of the church, should be enough to infer that this group is the last day apostles of the Lord, the main soldiers of His army.
Identification no.3:
Revelation 14:4, 5 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins… And in their mouth was found no guile.
In the symbolic language of the Bible, a “woman” is the symbol for a “church”. These people are not contaminated by any heresies from apostate churches: Babylon and her daughters.
<EGW, Testimonies for the church vol.1, 129.1>
“I saw that God has given His servants the truth so clear, so plain, that it cannot be resisted. Wherever they go, they have certain victory. Their enemies cannot get round the convincing truth. Light has been shed so clear that the servants of God can stand up anywhere and let truth, clear and connected, bear away the victory.”
The 144.000 are those who understand all points of Bible truth correctly, having no false doctrines in their understanding and preaching. This combines with the privilege of having JESUS as the indwelling Lord in the totally-surrendered soul, turn them from the useless tools they were into His invincible army in any areas of truth, before any enemies, against any lying heresies. They are the warriors through whom the Lord will deliver the most devastating blows to the kingdom of darkness, and will give the most crushing defeats to all the favorite heresies of apostate organizations and their advocates.
Conclusion:
The 144,000 are made up of two groups:
1) Those from the time of Mrs. White, died before the SDA church abandoned a pillar of faith to cling to the trinity doctrine, people like Mrs. Hastings.
2) Those who are sealed in the final days, right before the Lord returned, when the Father and the Son strive to restore the correct understanding of them in their remnant church, after the church had strayed and believe in the trinity, changing the God they worship.
There will be very few people receiving this correction, so few that the total number of them, plus those who died from the time of Mrs. White, only reach up to 144,000. These are the few who actually keep the commandments of God correctly, the first and the fourth commandments included, and have the testimony of JESUS (Revelation 12:17), possessing the full light which the Lord had been pleased to give Ellen White and the Pioneers.
The truth about the Father and the Son is the very core of the Laodicean message: that the Holy Spirit is our very Lord Jesus Christ with His Father in Him, not a third being that is neither the Father nor the Son. Mrs.White’s prophecy about this message causing the Great Shaking that will shake out all the lukewarm believers in the SDA church is indeed being fulfilled in our very sight. Just like the Jews had been disqualified for rejecting the Messiah, just like the Catholics has been disqualified for rejecting the Reformation, just like the Protestants has been disqualified for rejecting the Sabbath, it is now the turn of the SDA church: all those who reject the truth of the Only True God and His Only Begotten Son, to return to the pillars of faith that the Lord has given to their Pioneers WILL BE DISQUALIFIED. Only those who receive the Lord’s correction will proceed.
25. When will the final wave of persecution commence, so that the Lord can come the second time?
Revelation 7:3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred forty four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
As long as the 144,000 are not yet filled up, the final wave of persecution will still be hold back by the four angels, and cannot commenced. The preaching of all the pillars of faith to gather the 144,000 is the key preaching in ushering in the second coming of our Lord JESUS Christ.
As we speak, the campaign to call people back to the Biblical doctrines that the Lord has established in the time of the Pioneers is increasing the remaining group of the 144,000 rapidly. As the message of truth cut through the trinity heresy in the SDA church, and the preaching of the Pillars of Faith is going to all churches, the 144,000 will very soon be filled up.
Can you give an explanation as to how the Trinity doctrine can possibly survive these two verses:
I Corinthians 8:6 But to us, there is but one God, The Father.
John 17:1, 3 Father… this is life eternal, that they may know Thee, the Only True God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Then will you surrender this unscriptural heresy that can not survive the plain testimony of the Bible, to join the army of the 144,000 by returning to the Only True God and His Only Begotten Son, and reach forth to them daily in spirit and in pure truth, to be ready for the Latter Rain?
Appendix
Did Ellen White ever change her belief into the trinity?
In the time of the SDA Pioneers, the church never accepted the trinity doctrine. This fact is publicly admitted even by the Modern SDA church leaders, those who are believing in this doctrine, and is shown very plainly and clearly by numerous writings and documents of the Pioneers, such as the “statements of belief” in 1872, or the “fundamental principles of the seventh-day Adventists” published in the church yearbook in 1889. They are so vastly different from the Modern SDA church’s 28 fundamental beliefs regarding the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, that the Modern SDA church’s historians like George Knight plainly admitted:
“Most of the founders of Seventh-day Adventism would not be able to join the church today if they had to subscribe to the denomination’s Fundamental Beliefs. More specifically, most would not be able to agree to belief number 2, which deals with the doctrine of the Trinity.
For Joseph Bates the Trinity was an unscriptural doctrine, for James White it was that “old Trinitarian absurdity,” and for M. E. Cornell it was a fruit of the great apostasy, along with such false doctrines as Sundaykeeping and the
immortality of the soul.”
<Ministry, October 1993, page 10>
Or the below statement of James White, the same-faith husband of Ellen White, the one regarded as the apostle Paul of the Seventh-day Adventist movement:
<James White, 12/9/1954, Review & Herald, vol.6, no.5, page 36, par.8>
“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.”
However, the Modern SDA church after receiving the trinity, has been spreading the word that Ellen White, the prophetess of the church, had changed her belief into the trinity after she wrote the book “Desire of Ages” in 1898. Is this the truth, or is it a blatant falsehood? Let’s see what Ellen White herself has to say:
<EGW, letter 150, 15/5/1906>
“I should be an unfaithful watchman, were I to hold my peace, when I see the very foundations of our faith being torn away by those who have departed from the faith, and who are now adrift, without an anchor. In this time, when false doctrines are being taught, we are to teach the same truth that we have taught for the past half century. I have not changed my faith one jot or one tittle.”
<EGW, letter 38, 1906>
“And now, after half a century of clear light from the Word as to what is truth, there are arising many false theories to unsettle minds. But the evidence given in our early experience has the same force that it had then. The truth is the same as it ever has been, and not a pin or a pillar can be moved from the structure of truth. That which was sought for out of the Word in 1844, 1845, and 1846 remains the truth today in every particular.”
Both these statements are published in 1906, during the final years of her life, way after 1898, showing clearly that she did not changed her faith on jot or one tittle throughout more than a half a century. All the falsifying and editing that others may do to her writings will never be able to change this obvious fact.
Be warned: all the books of Ellen White we are reading today are edited versions that have been tampered with since Ellen White died in 1915: they do not have her read-through and personal approval that they have been edited according to her meaning.
Especially after Mrs. White passed away and the SDA church been infiltrated by the trinity doctrine, they have continued to publish books using her statements and credibility, but actually have been edited to promote this Omega of deadly heresy. One grand example of those books is the book titled “Evangelism” edited by Leroy Edward Froom – the culprit who have injected the trinity heresy into the SDA church, suspected to be a Jesuit spy installed by the Roman Catholic church. Perhaps only the Lord now know many falsehood have been mingled into the testimonies of Mrs. White. These books contains lots of light, because they copy many of Mrs. White’s statements, but readers must be extremely careful when reading them, to use the Bible to detect all the edited portions made to sustain heresies contrary to the truths that Ellen White normally taught – especially the trinity doctrine – as the instruction she had given: “the great Protestant principle,—the Bible, and the Bible only, as the rule of faith and duty.” <The Great Controversy, page 205>
When the Lord wants, that He granted us antique books of Ellen White published before she died in 1915 – books inspired by God and kept pure – having the prophetess’s read-through and personal approval, we shall be able to scan them out and published the scans of the originals throughout the entire body of Christ, with translations.
The blaspheming poem against the trinity by the SDA Pioneers
One of the most deciding evidence proving that the trinity doctrine was not some later-given-light that the Pioneers of the SDA church did not know about, but a ridiculous heresy that they have been fully informed of, perhaps is the infamous poem mocking the trinity god of the SDA Pioneers published in the official paper of the church, the Review and Herald, on 12/3/1857:
“That three are one, and one are three,
Is an idea that puzzles me;
By many a learned sage ’tis said
That three are one in the Godhead.
“The Father then may be the Son,
For both together make but one;
The Son may likewise be the Father,
Without the smallest change of either.
“Yea, and the blessed Spirit be
The Father, Son and trinity;
This is the creed of Christian folks,
Who style themselves true orthodox,
All which against plain common sense,
We must believe or give offense.”
We can see very clearly how the SDA Pioneers publicly denounced and mocked at the trinity god. If the trinity doctrine is true, there is NO WAY these “blasphemers” could ever hope to be counted as those “who keep the commandments of God”, because this daring poem publish in the official paper of the church would label the entire organization as clear violators of the first and the third commandments.
Some Modern SDA, believers of the trinity, reasoned that the trinity doctrine was a later-given-light that the church did not then know about, and they quoted incidents like “the vegan diet was not known to the church at the beginning either” to support such argument. But pay close attention to the difference: regarding every truth that the church did not at first believed simply because they never had the light shone upon them, they will never lift up their voice against it, but will simply stay silent, not knowing anything regarding it.
But this daring poem is an outright public assault against the trinity doctrine, showing that it is not some truth that they did not yet know about, but a glaring heresy that they have fully known to be a lying falsehood, and thus strongly lifted up their voice against it. Therefore the act of the SDA church in later on adopting this Catholic teaching after all the Pioneers have passed away, is not an act of receiving a new light that the Lord did not shine upon the Pioneers, but an act of betrayal, backsliding away from a Pillar of Faith that the Lord had establish in the time of their predecessors, as can be seen clearly in the “statements of beliefs” of the church in 1872 and the “fundamental principles of the seventh-day Adventists” published in the church’s yearbook in 1889.
Progressive truths will never contradict old truths, but will illuminate them ever clearer. All the Pillars of Faith that our Lord had been pleased to give to the Pioneers, including the correct understanding of the identity of the Only True God and His Only Begotten Son, will forever be truth in every particular, and will ever be there to expose everything that goes against them as lying heresies.