The making of 144,000 prophets

“Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him....” (Rev. 14:7).

“... the Lord ... scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” (Heb. 12:6).

“Who does God think He is?” “Who does He think we are?” “Who do You think You are?”, I can hear the people say when they read Hebrews 12:6. The above Bible text would be a real turn off if it were taken out of context. There is a real offense that comes with the words from God. But, 1) who are we to speak against God? And 2) can’t we trust Him since He spared not His own Son and spared not Himself through His Son in worse ordeals than He puts us through? “Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered.” (Heb. 5:8). Father and Son suffered together. Here’s the context:

“And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: 

For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. 

If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? 

But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 

Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 

For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. 

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 

Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 

And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.” (Heb. 12:5-13).

In context, scourging is not so threatening. It meant fatherly, loving, and wise guidance, correction, and reproof.

Speaking of contexts, listen to a nine year old whom the Lord scourged “for [her] good^H2896 [H2896 ‘good in the widest sense’ ‘sweet’ ‘welfare’ ‘loving’ ‘kindness’, etc.]” (Jer. 24:5), “...for [her] profit” (Heb. 12:10). She learned years later that it was , as she put it, “for my good, to turn my heart away from the world and its unsatisfying pleasures, and incline it toward the enduring attractions of heaven.”

“In March, 1840, William Miller visited Portland, Maine, and gave his first course of lectures on the second coming of Christ. These lectures produced a great sensation, a

by Mr. Miller, was crowded day and night. No wild excitement attended these meetings, but a deep solemnity pervaded the minds of those who heard his discourses. Not only was there manifested a great interest in the city, but the country people flocked in day after day, bringing their lunch baskets, and remaining from morning until the close of the evening meeting.

In company with my friends I attended these meetings and listened to the startling announcement that Christ was coming in 1843, only a few short years in the future. Mr. Miller traced down the prophecies with an exactness that struck conviction to the hearts of his hearers. He dwelt upon the prophetic periods, and brought many proofs to strengthen his position. Then his solemn and powerful appeals and admonitions to those who were unprepared, held the crowds as if spellbound.

Special meetings were appointed where sinners might have an opportunity to seek their Saviour and prepare for the fearful events soon to take place. Terror and conviction spread through the entire city. Prayer meetings were established, and there was a general awakening among the various denominations, for they all felt more or less the influence that proceeded from the teaching of the near coming of Christ.

When sinners were invited forward to the anxious seat, hundreds responded to the call, and I, among the rest, pressed through the crowd and took my place with the seekers. But there was in my heart a feeling that I could never become worthy to be called a child of God. A lack of confidence in myself, and a conviction that it would be impossible to make anyone understand my feelings, prevented me from seeking advice and aid from my Christian friends. Thus I wandered needlessly in darkness and despair, while they, not penetrating my reserve, were entirely ignorant of my true state.

One evening my brother Robert and myself were returning home from a meeting where we had listened to a most impressive discourse on the approaching reign of Christ upon the earth, followed by an earnest and solemn appeal to Christians and sinners, urging them to prepare for the judgment and the coming of the Lord. My soul had been stirred within me by what I had heard. And so deep was the sense of conviction in my heart, that I feared the Lord would not spare me to reach home.

These words kept ringing in my ears: ‘The great day of the Lord is at hand! Who shall be able to stand when He appeareth!’ The language of my heart was: ‘Spare me, O Lord, through the night! Take me not away in my sins, pity me, save me!’ For the first time I tried to explain my feelings to my brother Robert, who was two years older than myself; I told him that I dared not rest nor sleep until I knew that God had pardoned my sins.

My brother made no immediate reply, but the cause of his silence was soon apparent to me; he was weeping in sympathy with my distress. This encouraged me to confide in him still more, to tell him that I had coveted death in the days when life seemed so heavy a burden for me to bear; but now the thought that I might die in my present sinful state and be eternally lost, filled me with terror. I asked him if he thought God would spare my life through that one night, if I spent it agonizing in prayer to Him. He answered: ‘I think He will if you ask Him with faith, and I will pray for you and for myself. Ellen, we must never forget the words we have heard this night.’

Arriving at home, I spent most of the long hours of darkness in prayer and tears. One reason that led me to conceal my feelings from my friends was the dread of hearing a word of discouragement. My hope was so small, and my faith so weak, that I feared if another took a similar view of my condition, it would plunge me into despair. Yet I longed for someone to tell me what I should do to be saved, what steps to take to meet my Saviour and give myself entirely up to the Lord. I regarded it a great thing to be a Christian, and felt that it required some peculiar effort on my part.

My mind remained in this condition for months. I had usually attended the Methodist meetings with my parents; but since becoming interested in the soon appearing of Christ, I had attended the meetings on Casco Street. The following summer my parents went to the Methodist camp meeting at Buxton, Maine, taking me with them. I was fully resolved to seek the Lord in earnest there, and obtain, if possible, the pardon of my sins. There was a great longing in my heart for the Christian’s hope and the peace that comes of believing.

I was much encouraged while listening to a discourse from the words, I will ‘go in unto the king,’ ‘and if I perish, I perish.’ In his remarks the speaker referred to those who were wavering between hope and fear, longing to be saved from their sins and receive the pardoning love of Christ, yet held in doubt and bondage by timidity and fear of failure. He counseled such ones to surrender themselves to God, and venture upon His mercy without delay. They would find a gracious Saviour ready to present to them the scepter of mercy, even as Ahasuerus offered to Esther the signal of his favor. All that was required of the sinner, trembling in the presence of his Lord, was to put forth the hand of faith and touch the scepter of His grace. That touch ensured pardon and peace.

Those who were waiting to make themselves more worthy of divine favor before they venture to claim the promises of God, were making a fatal mistake. Jesus alone cleanses from sin; He only can forgive our transgressions. He has pledged Himself to listen to the petition and grant the prayer of those who come to Him in faith. Many had a vague idea that they must make some wonderful effort in order to gain the favor of God. But all self-dependence is vain. It is only by connecting with Jesus through faith that the sinner becomes a hopeful, believing child of God. These words comforted me and gave me a view of what I must do to be saved.

I now began to see my way more clearly, and the darkness began to pass away. I earnestly sought the pardon of my sins, and strove to give myself entirely to the Lord. But my mind was often in great distress because I did not experience the spiritual ecstasy that I considered would be the evidence of my acceptance with God, and I dared not believe myself converted without it. How much I needed instruction concerning the simplicity of it!

While bowed at the altar with others who were seeking the Lord, all the language of my heart was: ‘Help, Jesus, save me or I perish! I will never cease to entreat till my prayer is heard and my sins forgiven!’ I felt my needy, helpless condition as never before. As I knelt and prayed, suddenly my burden left me, and my heart was light. At first a feeling of alarm came over me, and I tried to resume my load of distress. It seemed to me that I had no right to feel joyous and happy. But Jesus seemed very near to me; I felt able to come to Him with all my griefs, misfortunes, and trials, even as the needy ones came to Him for relief when He was upon earth. There was a surety in my heart that He understood my peculiar trials and sympathized with me. I can never forget this precious assurance of the pitying tenderness of Jesus toward one so unworthy of His notice. I learned more of the divine character of Christ in that short period when bowed among the praying ones than ever before.

One of the mothers in Israel came to me and said: ‘Dear child, have you found Jesus?’ I was about to answer, ‘Yes,’ when she exclaimed: ‘Indeed you have, His peace is with you, I see it in your face!’ Again and again I said to myself: ‘Can this be religion? Am I not mistaken?’ It seemed too much for me to claim, too exalted a privilege. Though too timid to openly confess it, I felt that the Saviour had blessed me and pardoned my sins.

Soon after this the meeting closed, and we started for home. My mind was full of the sermons, exhortations, and prayers we had heard. Everything in nature seemed changed. During the meeting, clouds and rain prevailed a greater part of the time, and my feelings had been in harmony with the weather. Now the sun shone bright and clear, and flooded the earth with light and warmth. The trees and grass were a fresher green, the sky a deeper blue. The earth seemed to smile under the peace of God. So the rays of the Sun of Righteousness had penetrated the clouds and darkness of my mind, and dispelled its gloom.

It seemed to me that everyone must be at peace with God and animated by His Spirit. Everything that my eyes rested upon seemed to have undergone a change. The trees were more beautiful and the birds sang more sweetly than ever before; they seemed to be praising the Creator in their songs. I did not care to talk, for fear this happiness might pass away, and I should lose the precious evidence of Jesus’ love for me.

As we neared our home in Portland, we passed men at work upon the street. They were conversing with one another upon ordinary topics, but my ears were deaf to everything but the praise of God, and their words came to me as grateful thanks and glad hosannas. Turning to my mother, I said: ‘Why, these men are all praising God, and they haven’t been to the camp meeting.’ I did not then understand why the tears gathered in my mother’s eyes, and a tender smile lit up her face, as she listened to my simple words that recalled a similar experience of her own.…” Testimonies for the church, vol. 1, p. 14-18.

Young Ellen let the condemnation of God sink her deep into sorrow and conviction, which resulted in deep repentance and an offer from Jesus to prepare the way for the grand finale of the great controversy!! Amazing what the Lord can create after He recreates! Peace, Peace to them that are afar off and to them that are near. Peace that passes all comprehension. Eye hath not seen the things God has prepared for those who love Him and come to love His scourging. Out of great tragedy arose a soul and spirit that could faithfully give the Noah message of the last days. That message will be a one time event. The only practice run for that message is the life we have now, studying the Spirit of Prophecy counsels, and learning how to trust and obey. Full faith must be engaged throughout the final event. It must be accomplished by pristine commands from the Commander, and with pristine obedience from our generalissima’s counsels and from her 144,000 hosts.

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit.” (Joel 2:28,29).

Jesus will pour out His Spirit for preaching “afterward”? After what? Ohhh. Myyyy. Eeeesh… After trouble?

After Revelation’s fifth trumpet, voracious and tormenting locust hordes’ sweep across the Protestant world, and after a caving of its constitutional landscape, its biblical doctrine landscape, its middle class capitalist landscape, its free election landscape, its compliant-to-Noah’s-ancient-world-order landscape, its family-centered landscape, its liberty-loving landscape.

“They had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon [G3 Abaddōn, “a destroying angel”], but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon [G623 Apolluōn, “a destroyer”].” (Rev. 9:11). The fifth trumpet black smoke and locusts pouring out of the bottomless pit indicate the powers of hell being loosed by Him who permits Satan to go as far as the inhabitants of earth desire to serve that destroyer. These sons from the bowels of perdition are the beast power. “And when they [God’s Dark Ages witnesses who experienced salvation by faith (see Rev. 11:4, cf Zech. 4:6,14)] shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.” (Rev. 11:7).

Similar to the first three plagues upon Egypt that fell on the Egyptians, but also involved the children of Israel, the first three woes (i.e. the last three trumpets) are the first three of ten final plagues from the Dark Ages’ beast, plagues (see Revelation 9:20) that have been falling upon the Protestant world since the Sabbath conferences ended.

“The judgments of God are now upon the land, to give us warning, that we may know what is coming.” Maranatha, p. 200 (MS 173, 1902). 

“Satan works through the elements also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows.... It is God that shields His creatures and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. But the Christian world have shown contempt for the law of Jehovah; and the Lord will do just what He has declared that He would—He will withdraw His blessings from the earth and remove His protecting care from those who are rebelling against His law and teaching and forcing others to do the same. Satan has control of all whom God does not especially guard. He will favor and prosper some in order to further his own designs, and he will bring trouble upon others and lead men to believe that it is God who is afflicting them.” Great Controversy, p. 589.

And after Revelation’s ultimate, and most assuredly soon coming, sixth trumpet locust hosts’ throw-down and installation of their “new and improved” world government of enslavement, communist legislation, lying religious doctrines, communist dictatorial decrees, rulership by the 1%, state-owned children, then, and not until then, the “afterward” comes. “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh....”

“Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 

And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil.

Who knoweth if He will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind Him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?” (Joel 2:12-14).

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit.” (Joel 2:28,29).

But, His relenting and blessing only comes “afterward”. That is, after the “northern army” (vs. 20), the “vile” “king of the north”, after “the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.” (Rev. 11:7).

“The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Rev. 12:17).

These two witnesses mirror the remnant of the protesting church of Revelation 12 that fled into the wilderness during the same Dark Ages period of 1,260 years, while the heavenly Jerusalem is being trampled under unholy, uncircumcised feet. This killing is not a literal, but a spiritual, killing of God’s remnant Adventist and 11th hour Protestant people. Their faith and love are killed. They are suffering the divine consequences for breaking the covenant that their apostolic and Reformation forefathers made with the only true God, the living God, the God of heaven. We know it is a spiritual killing because 1) after they are dead for a symbolic 3 ½ days they will stand up from being laid out in the middle of Jerusalem like Jeremiah heard in his chapter 16:4 vision and like Ezekiel saw in his chapter 37 vision, 2) then they will hear a spiritual voice from heaven saying, “Come up hither”, and 3) they will spiritually ascend up in a cloud to heaven (the Latter Rain), per Ephesians 2:6 and Colossians 1:13. That’s when the great multitude that no man can number will fear God and give glory to Him because the witnesses will have finally preached that messages.

“Fear^G5399 God and give glory to Him”, doesn’t mean the watered down respect Him. Away with that pagan blasphemy! It means be afraid of Him and His scourging. It means have a phobia of Him and of disobeying Him because of the punishment that is forthcoming.

“For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?” (Heb. 12:7).

G5399

φοβέω

phobeō

fob-eh'-o

From G5401; to frighten, that is, (passively) to be alarmed; by analogy to be in awe of, that is, revere: - be (+ sore) afraid, fear (exceedingly), reverence.

If we won’t fear God we will express Lucifer’s vitriol, “Who does God think He is? Who does He think we are?” And we will miss the Latter Rain, which if we miss that, we therefore miss everything that heaven sends after it—we even miss standing at the Lord’s return. Instead, we will run from Him, we will be destroyed by the brightness of His coming, we take part in the second resurrection and end up outside the New Jerusalem when the whole divine government comes, instead of being on the inside of the holy city.

So, let’s not play games with the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy requirements. We are already dead in the streets of the church spiritually called Egypt and Sodom. All the virgins in the parable slumbered and slept. But, will we now go to the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, and stand before it as a mirror so that it shows us all of our deficiencies and deformities? Will we make up for all the lost time we’ve wasted, and be wise virgins when the time comes for every Adventist to wake up, instead of waking up to being foolish virgins? What will it be?

The scourging and growing of the 144,000 are going to happen. Will the 144,000 be us? Will the last message be our privilege to give? It will be if we will now be scourged by the prophet who Jesus sent just for this occasion.

It’s nonsense! No, it’s a mystery!

No, it’s mystical.

Why such a potent attraction to mysteries? What was the draw? People died to ward off the trinity formulation. People murdered to establish the new dogma. This was foretold in divine foresight. “And when He had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.” (Rev. 6:3,4).

“Thus, the Athanasian creed, which is a later composition but reflects the general conceptions of Athanasius [the 4th-century Trinitarian whose view eventually became official doctrine] and his school, formulated the conception of a co-equal Trinity wherein the Holy Spirit was the third ‘Person’; and so it was made a dogma of the faith, and belief in the Three in One and One in Three became a paramount doctrine of Christianity, though not without terrible riots and bloodshed…”

“The on-going disagreements were at times violent and bloody. Of the aftermath of the Council of Nicaea, noted historian Will Durant writes, ‘Probably more Christians were slaughtered by Christians in these two years (342-3) than by all the persecutions of Christians by pagans in the history of Rome’ (The Story of Civilization, Vol.4: The Age of Faith, 1950. p. 8.)

This second seal period followed the white horse period of church purity, and it preceded the black horse period of a spiritual darkening into midnight spiritualism. This apostatizing early church fathers period was the transition from obedient apostles and rejoicing people in the grace of God through His only-begotten Son.

How could Christians kill Christians during the red horse seal? What kind of madness possessed them to do such a thing? So far the two quotations above have come from the small paperback entitled, “Is God a Trinity?” And even though I am a Seventh-day Adventist and this book was published by the United Church of God, an International Association, its historical facts are well documented.

Here’s what it continues to say that I believe explains the bloodshed and the determination to make the Trinity doctrine official:

“‘The Trinity only made sense as a mystical or spiritual experience…. It was not a logical or intellectual formulation but an imaginative paradigm that confounded reason. Gregory of Nazianzus made this clear when he explained that contemplation of the Three in One induced a profound and overwhelming emotion that confounded thought and intellectual clarity.

‘“No sooner do I conceive of the One than I am illumined by the splendor of the Three; no sooner do I distinguish Three than I am carried back into the One. When I think of any of the Three, I think of him as the whole, and my eyes are filled, and the greater part of what I am thinking escapes me”’ (A History of God, p. 24). Little wonder that, as Armstrong concludes, “‘For many Western Christians...the Trinity is simply baffling’” (Ibid.). Please, don’t be doubtful toward the authenticity of this statement. Starving people, people whose souls are suffocating from lack of life and peace and hope, do extreme things and stretch further than those who are blessed with a society of peace and love, even if they take all their blessings from heaven for granted.

So, what was really going on here? A religious doctrine causing all of this extremism and chaos? The author quoted in my paperback begins to look for the goings on, but then pulls back from going for the real purpose for the confounding. Here’s what I see happening:

When the soul is separated from the living God, death ensues. And the church had lost its first love by this time. “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” (Rev. 2:4,5).

But, history attests to the fact that the church did not repent. Therefore its spirituality went dark. Spiritual death ensued: anxiety, depression, a dark world surrounds, no joy, no purpose in life. Such a case is as painful as Job’s boils. Such an existence is as horrific as a drug abuser badly in need of another fix. What to do? The Christian is not dying for an opiate. The Christian is not dying for tobacco or alcohol. He is clean from those intoxicants. But he is desperate for something to lift his spirits. He has what King Saul got after losing his first love and conversion into a new creature—the Christian is disturbed by Satan. “But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.” (1Sam. 16:14).

Centuries before, Israel was warned about this, but the warning was in writing, and the little red books were never read.

“Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: the LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and His jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.” (Deut. 29:18-20).

Like no other nation, Israel was to dominate the world by being spared the devastating emptiness that haunted the rest of the humanity. The remedy given them was the Law, and the curses of the Law. This would give them something to truly seek God for. It would give them something real to pray about, and really pray. Thus, Jehovah, the living God, the only true God, would draw near each heart and soul that experienced the exceeding sinfulness of sin. And some Israelites did just that. “But before faith came, we were kept under [‘the curse of’ (vs. 13)] the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Gal. 3:23,24).

Saul never read the Law, like he knew to do. “And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them.” (Deut. 17:18,19).

If the Israelites had kept themselves before the Law with all of its rightful curses and condemnations for their sinfulness, then the Spirit of truth would have faithfully brought them to Christ to be continually comforted because of the faith created by the pointed condemnation of their sins.

Here is the cause of the woeful need for the post-apostolic Christians’ peace and rest. They had adopted the pagan rule of lawlessness. Even though their behavior looked upright, “O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say My people, We are lords; we will come no more unto Thee? Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.” (Jer. 2:31,32).

Therefore, the next words of Jeremiah would soon apply to them. “Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these. 

Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely His anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned. 

Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? Thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria. 

Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.” (Jer. 2:34-37).

But, they weren’t idolatrous like the heathen around them! “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 

Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 

Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.” (Eph. 4:17-19).

No, they weren’t beyond conviction, but they soon would be. A veiled idolatry would consume them without their slightest knowledge that that was happening. An intellectual fornication, a mental practice, a strange psychological trick, fixating on a self-hypnotizing, mathematical mantra would be their beloved idol. This was not a new invention, but was done anciently by the god-forsaken, Chaldean priests of Nimrod. This philosophical, western form of meditation would keep them publicly clean and apparently holy, but would accomplish the same ill effects as eastern mysticism. And the same devil possession would be their sad cases, and would lead to the same occult perdition and total depravity as characterized the Greco-Roman civilization.

The western style of meditation comes in two forms: the secular logical, and the religious illogical. Either form of meditation is a refuge for the empty sinner to create his own little, personal monastery. Both secular and religious sought salvation, deliverance from the death of joy, the emptiness of soul, and the purposelessness of life. Both were and are atheistic; neither seek the living God. Both logic recreation and illogic recreation are salvation by works, salvation by human means, the works of our own hands, salvation by our own doing, by a religious temporary recreational high. By this engaging the mind in an impossible, nonsensical Trinity formula the church would fall into the same trap that took down the Jewish nation.

“Through heathenism, Satan had for ages turned men away from God; but he won his great triumph in perverting the faith of Israel. By contemplating and worshiping their own conceptions, the heathen had lost a knowledge of God, and had become more and more corrupt. So it was with Israel. The principle that man can save himself by his own works lay at the foundation of every heathen religion; it had now become the principle of the Jewish religion. Satan had implanted this principle. Wherever it is held, men have no barrier against sin.” Desire of Ages, p. 35.

Christians would, like the rest of the ungodly world, attempt a band-aid on their mind’s cancer. They would seek the fig leaves of Eden to fill their empty soul, to supply their missing fortitude. Primitive Catholicism was born and would develop as Satan would syncretize it with every world religion. Spiritualized Christianity would become a giant sucking machine for every pagan method that could turn off frontal lobes and ease the throbbing consciences.

“By thy sorceries [pharmekeia] were all nations deceived.” (Rev. 18:23). Every form of idolatry would be offered to attempt to satisfy their raging anxiety and nagging depression. Pagan doctrines, pagan substances, pagan rites and practices (modern contemplative, centering Spiritual Formation by no means excepted), all would be intoxicants to every frontal lobe and to every God-given conscience. All of this “the great dragon..., that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world” (Rev. 12:9), would abundantly supply all the nations to attempt to ease their death-like, occult-serving torpor. The Trinity god would make “the people and kindreds and tongues and nations ... they that dwell upon the earth” (Rev. 11:9,10) slaves to the fine wine of Mystery, Babylon the Great. Therefore, in their torments and in their drunkenness, they could never cry to the living God who listens for every heart’s repentance, return to His Law and gospel, and be reconciled to Him.

And the wine that they drink represents Semiramis’ avenging cup of martyrs’ blood. Under the authority of Satan, she and her perpetuated daughters who wear scarlet slippers, are the woman who rides the governments and nations to avenge Nimrod’s execution. “They that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is” (Rev. 17:8).“And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.” (Rev. 18:24).

The Council of Trent and Trinitarianism

Meriam-Webster dictionary reads:

BEING

be·​ing | \ ˈbē(-i)ŋ  \

Definition of being

1a: the quality or state of having existence,

b(1): something that is conceivable and hence capable of existing,

(2): something that actually exists,

(3): the totality of existing things,

c: conscious existence : LIFE,

2: the qualities that constitute an existent thing : ESSENCE my being. especially : PERSONALITY,

3: a living thing, sentient beings, a mythical being especially : PERSON.

Is the Trinity god a being Or three beings? If the trinity God is one being, is He one person? The person believing in the Trinity god says, “No, being doesn’t mean person. God is three in persons, but one in being.” But “being”, as with “one in being”, is not “being” as in “a being”. “One in being” means in perfect agreement, or of the same “qualities” or “essence”.

The Father and Son qualify as one in perfect agreement and of the same divine nature, which is why Christ always dwelled in His Father’s bosom. And Adam and Eve also were one because they were of the same nature, essence, as well as one in heart and soul. Therefore it was said referring to them, “they two shall be one”, which could also have been said of the King and His precious only begotten Prince. And what of the Spirit? Adam was made a living soul when Jesus breathed into his nostrils. The soul of Adam pervaded his entire being, and even beyond. The glory clothing both Adam and Eve was the result of their souls. And the human soul is the human spirit. Isaiah makes this connection,

“With my soul have I desired Thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek Thee early.” (Isa. 26:9). And Job, “Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.” (Job 7:11). and Hannah, “I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have ... poured out my soul before the LORD.” (1Sam. 1:15). Our spirit within us is our soul.

“This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him; male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam,” (Gen. 5:1,2). Since our spirit is our soul, and Father and Son made us in Their image, then Their Spirit is Their soul, and it is within each of Them. Romans 8:9 shows that each of Them has a Spirit. By an infinite union, the souls of “the LORD” and “my Lord” comes “the one Spirit” (Eph, 4:4), a synergy from Their union results in omnipotent and omniscient, creative power. And God used Adam and Eve, joined into one flesh to beget their own human race, doing by the oneness of human spirit and body the same image of process as Their one divine nature begat the progenitors of the human race.

In scripture, God is seen as one of two persons, real persons that can be quantified by normal mathematics. The doctrine of God is understandable to children. It need not be a mystery that covers over pagan philosophy. The doctrine of God was perfectly clear and plain to the old covenant Israel.

“I, even I, am the LORD; and beside Me there is no saviour.” (Isa. 43:11).

“Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his Redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside Me there is no God.” (Isa. 44:6).

“Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? Ye are even My witnesses. Is there a God beside Me? Yea, there is no God; I know not any.” (Isa. 44:8).

“I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside Me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me:” (Isa. 45:5).

“That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.” (Isa. 45:6).

“Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the LORD? And there is no God else; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside Me.” (Isa. 45:21).

“Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside Me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children.” (Isa. 47:8).

“For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside Me.” (Isa. 47:10).

Were we to ask a Hebrew proficient rabbi if Jehovah is one person or three, we would be insulting him, and, in an effort to make us go away, he would emphatically state, “One person!” And were we to dare to follow that with, “Is Yehovah one being or three?” we would hear his painful annoyance, “What are you trying to say? There is no difference between ‘person’ and ‘being’!” To a rabbi who knows the Old Testament Hebrew, Yehovah is a real person and a real being. So when we read the Old and New Testament testimonies of God, He is God the Father, “the only true God...O Father, glorify Thou Me...Holy Father, keep through Thine own name...I come to Thee”, “Him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever”. He is given all the singular pronouns He, Him, Thou, and the possessive pronouns, Thine, Thy.

“... surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before Him.” (Ecc. 8:12).

“Fear God, and keep His commandments.” (Ecc. 12:13). Shouldn’t this also refer to the Son of God who represented God the Father from the fall of man to the incarnation of the Son of man? Yes, this was the mystery that for ages had been hidden from human conception. “We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1Cor. 2:7,8). But this hidden knowledge was revealed. “God hath revealed them unto us.” (1Cor. 2:10). And that left no more mysteries of God.

So Elohim and Jehovah of the Old Testament were actually Michael. The only begotten Representative of Jehovah alone could “reveal Him” (Matt. 11:27). Therefore, the Deity revealed throughout the whole Bible has never been three persons or beings. During the great controversy until its central focus of Christ’s cross, the Father set Himself aside lest He break forth upon them. During those extended ages of His absence, His only begotten Son accepted the reigns of the eternal government, with all of its punishment and heartache and painful presence of rebellion. He managed the sin problem under the authority resulting from His Father’s covenant that would be confirmed at the infinite offering up of Their one Spirit. On Calvary, at the Son’s “It is finished!” trumpet blast, the divine defendant became the divine plaintiff, and He could now legally redeem mankind because His Father had been reconciled to humanity through His offering up the dearly Beloved of His soul.

Now, there was a new force of attraction to present before fallen mankind that had existed in a lesser force—the greater attraction of beloved children over beloved animals. With His Father having been reconciled to fallen man, and having come back out of seclusion and present before Him, Jesus could mediate between weakened man and his omnipotent God, mediating in behalf of His tempted and accused children for the gift of His Father’s reconciled Spirit. The holy Child was the new connecting link. The true God had come out of hiding. And now it became known that, at the side of the Lord God Almighty, who had heretofore been a doubtful God of love(?), there was a beautiful son. Now beside the omnipotent God there was also an omnipotent Advocate, God’s dear Child. “Thy holy child Jesus” (Acts 4:27), “The Spirit of His Son” “whereby we cry, Abba Father.” (Gal. 4:6; Rom. 8:15).

And hearts began to open to the God of love who provided for such reconciliation with corrupted mankind. And out of such love came perfect victory over the corruption. Not two Gods. Not two gods. One divine Father of holy love, and His one divine holy beloved Child.

“For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him.” (1Cor. 8:5,6). (Paul here holds Jesus in a distinctly different status from the one God, His Father and ours.) Any paradigm that adds to this scriptural truth is a relic of tradition. Paradigms can be good and useful. However, many paradigms are founded upon error and must be overthrown.

An article on the Council of Trent:

“The Reformers had constantly charged ... that the Catholic Church had apostatized from the truth as contained in the written word. ‘The written word,’ ‘The Bible and the Bible only,’ ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ these were their constant watchwords; and ‘The Scripture, as in the written word, the sole standard of appeal,’ this was the proclaimed platform of the Reformation and of Protestantism.​

Scripture alone or Scripture and tradition?

‘The Scripture and tradition.’ ‘The Bible as interpreted by the Church and according to the unanimous consent of the Father,’ this was the position and claim of the Catholic Church. This was the main issue in the Council of Trent, which was called especially to consider the questions that had been raised and forced upon the attention of Europe by the Reformers. The very first question concerning faith that was considered by the council was the question involved in this issue.

There was a strong party even of the Catholics within the council who were in favor of abandoning tradition and adopting the Scriptures only, as the standard of authority. This view was so decidedly held in the debates in the council that the pope’s legates actually wrote to him that there was ‘a strong tendency to set aside tradition altogether and to make Scripture the sole standard of appeal.’ But to do this would manifestly be to go a long way toward justifying the claims of the Protestants. By this crisis there was developed upon the ultra-Catholic portion of the council the task of convincing the others that ‘Scripture and tradition’ were the only sure ground to stand upon. If this could be done, the council could be carried to issue a decree condemning the Reformation, otherwise not. The question was debated day after day, until the council was fairly brought to a standstill.

The Archbishop of Reggio

Finally, after a long and intensive mental strain, the Archbishop of Reggio came into the council with substantially the following argument to the party who held for Scripture alone: ‘The Protestants claim to stand upon the written word only. They profess to hold the Scripture alone as the standard of faith. They justify their revolt by the plea that the Church has apostatized from the written word and follows tradition. Now the Protestants’ claim, that they stand upon the written word only, is not true. Their profession of holding the Scripture alone as the standard of faith, is false.

PROOF: The written word explicitly enjoins the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath. They do not observe the seventh day, but reject it. If they do truly hold the Scripture alone as their standard, they would be observing the seventh day as is enjoined in the Scripture throughout. Yet they not only reject the observance of the Sabbath enjoined in the written word, but they have adopted and do practice the observance of Sunday, for which they have only the tradition of the Church. Consequently the claim of “Scripture alone as the standard,” fails; and the doctrine of 'Scripture and tradition' as essential, is fully established, the Protestants themselves being judges.’

There was no getting around this, for the Protestants’ own statement of faith -- the Augsburg Confession, 1530 -- had clearly admitted that ‘the observation of the Lord’s day’ had been appointed by ‘the Church’ only.

The argument was hailed in the council as of Inspiration only; the party for ‘Scripture alone,’ surrendered; and the council at once unanimously condemned Protestantism and the whole Reformation as only an unwarranted revolt from the communion and authority of the Catholic Church; and proceeded, April 8, 1546, ‘to the promulgation of two decrees, the first of which enacts, under anathema, that Scripture and tradition are to be received and venerated equally, and that the deutero-canonical [the apocryphal] books are part of the canon of Scripture. …’

Inconsistency brings defeat

Thus it was the inconsistency of the Protestant practice with the Protestant profession that gave to the Catholic Church her long-sought and anxiously desired ground upon which to condemn Protestantism and the whole Reformation movement as only a selfishly ambitious rebellion against church authority. And in this vital controversy the key, the chiefest, and culminative expression, of the Protestant inconsistency was in the rejection of the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day, enjoined in the Scriptures, and the adoption and observance of the Sunday as enjoined by the Catholic Church.” Excerpeted from website The Council of Trent | Sabbath Truth

Doesn’t the principle of uniting biblical Sabbath truth + tradition’s Sunday keeping, that the article speaks of, bear a striking resemblance to the principle biblical Father and Son + tradition’s Trinitarianism. The Council of Trent was lost to the Reformation and the great persecution of Counter-Reformation commenced. Couldn’t the Trinitarianism in Adventism be the avenue to future persecutions of against their brethren in times of great catastrophies, non-Trinitarian Adventists under attack by fellow Trinitarian Adventists? This happened during the ancient, early Dark Ages, when the Church harnessed the power of the group by turning non-Sabbathkeeping multitudes to blame Sabbathkeepers for natural disasters. The comparisons of the past and the present are astounding and alarming.

Didn’t we seen this principle used concerning the mask-wearing crowds being turned against the non-mask-wearing individuals, blamed for the Covid-19 spikes? And aren’t we already seeing this phenomenon happening again between Covid-19 vaccinated 50% being turned against the 50% non-vaccinated? As the NIH-media alliance continues to exaggerate the statistics of Covid-19 deaths, and the government vaccine mandate takes effect, soon the vaccinated will be in the majority, and the un-vaccinated will come under tremendous fire, and probably fines. But this is only a practice model for the Trinitarianism-Sunday force that will sweep the world in order for the papal wound to be fully healed.